Baked Goods vs. Fresh Greens

Full Disclosure: (1) I ate half of a banana muffin today, (2) I popped a cream filled croissant pastry in my mouth only to spit it out seconds later and (3) I also took a bite of a cookie and immediately threw the rest in the nearest trash can.

Yeah, that's me, the newbie vegan on a journey to become a full fledged plant-based Nutritarian. And yet today, I fell to the temptation of not one, not two, but three different baked goods. This might sound like a bad day but I call it progress. I haven't taken a bite of baked goods in weeks and, after today, I'm confident I'll be even less tempted. That's because today wasn't a typical day and on typical days I make it a point not to be around these things because as I mentioned before, I'm a gluten for dessert. And for now, I'm officially stamping all baked goods that enter my space as...DESSERTS! The white flour, the processed sugar and chocolate chips it was all once so yummy to me but today it tasted artificial, overly flavorful and heavy. The kind of heavy that once it reaches my stomach hangs there (quite literally) making me feel stuffed all day like a turkey on Thanksgiving.

Green leafy vegetables - which I affectionately refer to simply as leaves - don't do this to me. Fresh green leaves are the center of my usual eating routine now. Even when I stuff my face with a bowl of leaves to the point where I feel full, I never get that sluggish heavy feeling in my stomach. In fact, the stomach-full feeling subsides rather quickly and I don't feel hungry between meals.

So why did I break down and eat those baked goods today?
Partially because I was responsible for a workshop that included all of these things appearing throughout the day but more importantly it's because that's what I would usually do when I saw baked goods. The savory, sweet, filling feeling of baked goods always made sense. Especially once I told myself that if I made a healthier version of them (e.g. vegan, whole grain, low/no sugar) that they were perfectly healthy. Well now my body is talking to me and I know that eating baked goods should happen rarely for me. The more I eat of them the more they slow me down. This further proves to me how ridiculous my coffee and muffin habit once was. All along I thought grabbing those two things for breakfast was at its worst a decent meal. Now I know I'm essentially giving my body uppers and downers all in one meal. No wonder I had no energy!

Now take this meal for instance:

This became further proof over the weekend. On Sunday, I tried one of Dr. Fuhrman's great recipes for a banana, blueberry oatmeal for breakfast. Unfortunately, I decided it made more sense to eat it for lunch since I hadn't had a "hearty meal" in awhile. Plus, I had a green smoothie for breakfast so I was well on my way to meeting my veggie quota, right? Boy was I wrong! Three things happen when I make and eat this oatmeal. The smell of that all of the sugar released in the warm bananas is intoxicating for me which makes me want to eat more than a normal portion. And grains, in general, tend to conjure up an addictive reaction for me. I think it's that warm, comfy, cozy food feeling again that was once so prevalent in my food choices. Lastly, eating these grains in what would be considered normal amounts (for most people) makes me sleepy. So much so that eating that bowl of oatmeal literally put me to sleep. In the middle of the afternoon, I passed out for a good two hours despite initially waking up feeling fully rested. This wasn't the first time I've taken a midday nap on the weekend. I used to do it all the time. Until I started eating like a Nutritarian. Since eating this way, I haven't felt like a zombie at work and not once (prior to eating that oatmeal) have I felt sleepy or wanted to take a weekend nap.

So anyway, I'm learning how my body reacts to grain and how my mind still tempts me with baked goods while still making sure that I reach for the leaves. This was (what was left halfway through) my lunch salad today:

It's turned into my daily meal by way of my favorite oh-so-fabulous balsamic vinegar:

These leaves have provided me with all of the nutrients I need while the balsamic vinegar makes them tasty to eat. Not a day goes by that I don't taste them both. And today, in an effort to get back on track, I'm going another round with a salad and a green smoothie at dinner for good measure.

So the battle of leaves vs baked goods continues...

Are there any foods battling for your attention at meal time? How do you get through it? And if you fall to temptation, how do you recover?