My dad is the most self disciplined man I know. Seriously, I defy any of you to surpass him in self discipline. And he makes it look so easy! But sadly I did NOT get the self discipline gene. No, I'm quite the opposite and I've been pretty convicted by the Lord recently on my lack of self control. I can see it in various areas of my life, but it became most evident in my addiction to sugar. I just can't say no! I've been thinking about how I want to do a makeover on my general diet. But I knew that I wouldn't be able to just moderate the sugar in my diet. First, I would need a detox. I know someone who does this cabbage diet every once in a while. So I looked into it and decided it just might be the best way to detox from sugar. I read all the different recipes out there, found one that I could make here (things like V8 juice and lipton soup don't exist here!). I added some brown rice to the soup and I think I might allow some hard boiled eggs into the diet. To be honest, I'm pretty nervous. I crave sugar. I love sugar. But I also realize that I don't want to be controlled by food. Last night I made a huge pot of cabbage stew. It's chalk full of veggies: cabbage (obviously!), green onions, greenish orangish peppers, carrots, zucchini, and tomatoes. Mix in a few spices and I'm ready to go! I hosted a pancake breakfast for some gringa friends this morning. It was a preplanned unavoidable (and delicious!) event. But besides my two pancakes, I've kept to the soup. It's gone ok today. It took me a while to fill up on the soup, but after 3 bowls of it, I met my limit and went for an hour walk to help digest the mountain of veggies. Each day will probably be a challenge. I'll want my sugar fix. But it's only a week and then I can move into a well rounded healthy diet. So... vamos!
I live near a long thin park called Parque Forestal. It's really quite a nice park and it has a long stretch of a lane for riding bikes or jogging. And since I have a fear of riding bikes in this city, I jog. It's really pleasent. I usually listen to radioDisney on my mp3 player and jog along to Jonas Brothers, Beyonce, or Julieta Venegas. Great stuff. Yesterday on my jog I noticed that the trees were beginning to change. Fall has finally arrived and I am glad for the change. But as I was jogging through the falling leaves, I began to think about how much I like fall. And I had this special moment when I realized that I want to be here in Santiago, jogging through this park for many falls to come. After the past few weeks of cultural adjustment being a little more painful than normal, this was a nice thought to have.
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