Confessions from an experimental fall/autumn weekend
First acknowledgement: I am blessed beyond measure, and I am so grateful!
This weekend i had my family come over to stay. This was the first time i have seen my family (2 of my out of town aunts) since starting WF.
The first thing was, one of my aunts cried when she saw me. She said I was looking absolutely beautiful. On the Friday night, we went for dinner at their friends home and the house owners there (2 sisters) kept commenting on my appearance and weight loss. The one is a nurse and was really interested in WF with the health benefits and the concepts. The other wanted skin just like mine, and wants to lose some weight. I will be sending them the WF masterclass link.
Throughout the weekend, my aunts kept checking how and what i was eating. they were curious to find that i would have an alkagizer salad. They tried it and liked it. it was a simple one - baby spinach, cucumber, olive and chili. the next day, i added moringa leaves and finely chopped raw brocooli and they loved that too. i just suggested to them, to start off small. add small quantities and see if you like them. (they were very worried about having moringa leaves as it has a specific aftertaste but they kept enjoying the alkagizer salad, whichever way it was made)
key takeaways from a 3 day (10 meal ?) weekend:
- people are willing to cater for you, even if its especially for you if you just let them know in advance and actually would be offended if you dont tell them (my one aunt who we visited out of town made ghee less veggie rice for me, and ghee veg rice for everyone else when she heard that I was 'vegan'. she especially called to find out what was included as a vegan) ?
- people will adapt their cooking styles to accommodate you (we went to visit another family and they made tea for me without the tea leaves, without the milk and without the sugar) ?
- back at my place, my aunts made up new recipies to accommodate my new lifestyle, complete with veggies i could eat (eg no white potatoes which is a staple in my home) ??
- my aunt (who is famous for her bireyani) is now devising ways of making a more wf appropriate bireyani ?
- they are already thinking of ways to adapt their cooking and cooking skills and styles to feed their families so that their recipes are well tried and tested when i visit ??
- they are already thinking of ways to make more wf appropriate food to stock their freezer so that when i visit, they can fill my freezer and larder with yummies ???
- they are already incorporating the alkagizer salad into their lives and as chief cooks, they have the most say about what gets put onto the table ?
- i still have loads of FOMO issues and my plate was wf piled high with rice, although a mere fraction of what it used to be ??so im concentrating on the wins; i decided that as long as i was getting in my alkagizer salad, the rice was fine.
- rice with dahl makes me really sleepy but butter beans and rice for some reason was not as taxing on the system as rice with dahl. very interesting. ?
- butter beans are yum and they give me far less tummy cramps than dahl ? i have missed beans. admittedly ??
- salad leaves (baby spinach) used as a roti pieces works equally well; in fact better! ?
- i can say no to wheat, white potato, diary and sugar. they are on my never list. ?
- i didnt stick to my ratio of spring to fall but am i way glad to be back in spring today!
- i am wondering what i will do when i visit india as the base of most meals are white rice, potato, wheat or some type of derivative, ghee, dairy. what in heavens am i going to eat. ???
altogether a successful weekend complete with social visits, social gatherings and family, just about wf approved. so grateful ?
