Before we get to the celebration post of our first week on South Beach (and, no, it’s not as glamorous as you might think), I’m going to indulge in a bit of complaining. I could probably rationalize and justify this as “stuff I wish someone had told me” or “this is the hard part they don’t tell you about in the book”, but really it’s just me complaining. And yes, I will enjoy my snack of one part-skim mozzarella cheese stick while I’m at it.
Here goes…”The Top 10 Whines of Week One” (drumroll, please):
10. Cooking, cooking, cooking. When I do meal planning, I plan for leftovers. Not these guys. You’re cooking at minimum two meals every day. Breakfast and dinner. I love to cook, but not every day, and certainly not multiple meals every day.
9. Dishes, dishes, dishes. A subsequent corollary of the cooking all the time every day complaint is that I am now doing dishes multiple times every day in order to have clean dishes with which to cook the multiple meals. Yes, I know I’ve said that I love to talk to God when I do dishes, but I think He’s starting to need a little “alone time”.
8. I can’t get out of the kitchen! Between cooking breakfast for Matt, making his two snacks, fixing his lunch, making breakfast for the kids, feeding the pets, making breakfast for me, making my morning snack, fixing lunch for the kids, making my lunch, making my afternoon snack, feeding the pets, fixing dinner for the family (sometimes with additional/separate sides for us and/or the kids), and making our evening snack/dessert, I feel like I’m tied to the kitchen. Hmmm….wonder why?
7. Sick of salads. I love salads, I really do. But after a week of having salad EVERY DAY for lunch and nearly every day at dinner, I feel like I’m growing bunny ears.
6. I want my….CARBS! So those cravings for carbs that the book said would be gone after “just a few days on the diet”? Yeah, notsomuch.
5. That’s not me, it’s my stomach talking. A sub-set of the cravings for carbs means that I have yet to feel truly “full” after eating a meal. Oh, sure, I’m not ravenously hungry any more, but there’s a tiny little part of my stomach that says, “Hey, what about the BREAD?” It’s like Chinese food. I feel full for about 30 minutes, then I’m hungry again. Made for an interesting morning in church yesterday. My stomach crescendoed at the same rate as the sermon. Ironic that it was about Jonah in the BELLY of the whale….
4. You think GAS is expensive? Try produce. Try lots and lots and LOTS of produce. And cheese. I keep telling myself we’re saving money by not eating out at all, but that’s hard to believe when you see the totals at the checkout stand.  Bread, cookies, and chips are a whole lot cheaper, and have the added bonus of being more fun to eat.
3. There’s no place like home. I love my house. I love spending time at my house. But I also like getting out of my house sometimes. I like not eating at home and having someone else do the cooking and cleaning up. *sigh* It’s not that I CAN’T eat out, it’s just that with the limited food choices (including what you can cook the food in – no vegetable oil) it’s less stressful to eat at home.
2. You call THAT dessert? I appreciate the effort to liven things up and accomodate those who (like me) have a massive sweet tooth. That’s a tall order for a diet consisting of mainly protein and fiber, with a sprinkling of artificial sweetener thrown in for good measure. And while I applaud the opportunity to have “dessert” at lunch and dinner, does sugar free jello REALLY count as dessert? Matt and I are looking forward to ending the experiment of “101 fun things to do with Ricotta cheese.”
1. A sore spot. This is a serious gripe. And it’s probably the only non-whiny, actually legitimate gripe I have at this point. All my life I’ve been susceptible to mouth sores (mouth ulcers, canker sores). Although the frequency of outbreaks has diminished in my adult years, the severity of each attack has risen significantly. Unfortunately, I began to develop one right before we started this diet. With the highly acidic foods on the menu – balsamic vinegar, tomatoes, vegetable juices, lemon juice and cooking wines, and lots of salt – eating this week has not only been difficult, it’s been downright painful. And unlike previous outbreaks, when I could switch my eating habits for a few days to allow my mouth to heal, I haven’t had that option this time. Three sores grew until they have merged into one massive, painful sore which, after a week, is nearly bean-sized.  I’ve now added a list of over-the-counter medicines as a sort of “cocktail” to my diet in an effort to minimize the pain and hopefully promote some healing.
So there it is. My list of top-10 gripes for this week. Thankfully, I’m not one to dwell on the negatives for long. In a few minutes, I’ll be off to the gym where there is a scale with my name on it. Despite my gripes, that scale has been kind to me this first week. When I return, I’ll be back to my usual chipper, perky self and mentally prepared to share the excitement and joy of why all this complaining is worth it!