Poop-plantation

Why I was at Souplantation the other night is a long story.
Let's just say it involves one of my favorite friends Vanessa turning 30 and wanting to revisit a place where we loved to pig out growing up.
So a group of girlfriends (including two of their small girl kids) met up at the Souplantation in Garden Grove. Over the years, Vanessa started calling it "poop plantation" because the food always made her have to go. Like immediately after eating. Which is obviously gross and should have been a red flag long ago to stay away.
STILL, when she decided "poop plantation" was the place where she wanted to celebrate her 30th, I was relieved because I figured, being a salad bar and all, that there would be plenty of paleo stuff to eat.
Not so.
The garbage they offer up disguised as healthy food is a perfect example of why America is fat. The idea here is that you build your meal around a heaping salad. Problem is, there's no protein. Anywhere. Not even the little cups of chicken you used to be able to buy for some outrageous additional price of $3 bucks.
Instead, they fill up hungry customers with starch and sugar, from a bakery bar with muffins and pizza and all sorts of gooey mystery cake to a pasta bar where you can choose from cream sauce, and oh, more cream sauce.
I remember eating here as a kid and feeling like, it being a buffet and all, that I had to eat my money's worth. At more than $10 a person now, I'm sure plenty of cash-strapped people in the working class neighborhood where I grew up are going back for seconds and thirds.
And I'm sure plenty of them feel like it's healthy. "Sure, I had a couple small squares of pizza bread dipped in ranch, but I had a salad for dinner. And it was frozen yogurt for dessert. I might wither to nothing."
I guess I never realized just how much bad for you food replaces quality nutrition in an effort to keep down overhead and increase profits.
Literally everything came with a side of carbs. Which is why my friend Michelle was surprised when she saw my plate, piled with salad -- some spinach and green lettuce, mushrooms, olives, tomatos and oil and vinegar -- and wondered why it looked so healthy.
My plate isn't healthy, I told her. I need meat. I tried to find it at the soup bar, where two of the chicken and veggie broth-based soups said there was meat inside. But even those were loaded with noodles or rice or both, so dinner felt more like a search for submerged meatballs than having a meal.
Then I went home and made a turkey bacon and egg scramble. And the world was right again.

Day 7: Carnivorous cravings

So today ends the first week of paleo challenge. I'm feeling great. And just now noticed, that instead of craving frozen yogurt or nachos, all I really want to eat is meat.
Anyway, I like lists. So I'm going to list some of the paleo foods I'm really loving so far.

• Sparkling water: It cured my cravings for diet coke quick. And it's so much more refreshing. Squeeze in some oranges and it's like a virgin paleo mimosa.
  
• Almond butter: So good on fresh apples.
• Paleo smoothie: Frozen blueberries, strawberries, a small splash of fresh squeezed orange juice with no sugar added and heavy whipping cream. Blended. Forrest's CrossFit trainer told him the heavy cream is ok because it's not pasteurized and processed the way regular milk is. Let me know if you hear differently.
  
• Turkey slices with avocado.

And here are some things I'm still missing.

• Hummus
• Cheese
  

Day 4: Going nuts

I haven't been sleeping well this week. Not sure if it's because of eating paleo, or because it's hot in Fountain Valley or because I've been sore lately from the workouts.
Regardless, my restlessness at least has one benefit: I can remember what I dream. And last night's was nuts.
Even though today is a rest day for me, sometimes I'll dream about what the workout will be at CrossFit. It's like my subconscious is anxious about what grueling workout awaits when I wake up.
Today, I dreamed that our WOD wasn't a workout at all and that instead, we had to make paleo food for old people. Justin had brought in these old 1950s grimy ovens, and we were supposed to be baking meat. But some people added beans and sour cream -- like they were making a cassarole -- and the food blew up in the oven. I woke up so confused, not because we were asked to bake at the gym, but because I thought for a minute that I might be allowed to eat bean burritos after all.
I definitely didn't eat burritos yesterday:
Wasn't feeling good in the morning, so I didn't eat until lunch. Had a shrimp salad during a work meeting with tomatos and almonds.
Then at 4, before crossfit, I was starving again so I went to this sandwich shop by my office and asked them to scoop some tuna in a cup and throw in half an avocado and tomato slices. I thought I might throw that up during the second round of lunges yesterday.
Then I met some girlfriends for day-after-birthday dinner and had a chicken salad with avocado and almonds on top.
Here's the lunchtime salad:

Day 1 recap

So it's the end of day 1 Paleo challenge, and already some delicious foods have tested my willpower. I went to the movies with some girlfriends tonight, and the smell of buttered popcorn was hard to resist. Then we went to Daphne's Greek for dinner, and I watched my friend eat spicy hummus and pita -- one of my favorites.
Still, after the meal when she was saying how uncomfortably full she felt, I was feeling satisfied and reenergized from my chicken kabob, glad I had passed on the starch. (My kabob was really good -- came with grilled onion, red and green peppers. I ordered it with a salad, minus the feta cheese and dressing. Instead, I squeezed some lemon on top of the lettuce and added salt and pepper. Was so yum!)
My goal for the week is to get the balance and portions of the meals right. I felt great after breakfast around 8:30 this morning, but I didn't eat again until after 2 p.m. (turkey slices, fresh kiwi and pineapple and a tablespoon of almond butter). I was feeling hungry again just a couple hours later, so I ate more turkey with avocado. Then I took some walnuts and water with me to the movies. But I felt tired for most of the afternoon -- until I ate dinner really. I don't know if that's because my body is adjusting to life without sugar, or because I'm eating too much or not enough of a particular food group, or because I had a long day at work and my brain was tired of being awake.
It's definitely tired of being awake right now....