Wellness Challenge #3: Eat Veggies Every Day

  I think we can all agree that the average American diet is not very well-rounded. We eat a lot of fast food, carbs, refined sugars, and oils. Throw in excessive amounts of caffeine and you've got yourself just about the worst diet imaginable. 

  Personally, I don't think my diet is too bad. But I make many irresponsible choices when it comes to food, such as not eating throughout my work day. And I definitely do not have a well-rounded diet. Case and point, I don't like many vegetables and sometimes go a full week without eating any!

  So I figured this would be a perfect challenge for March- resolve to eat at least one serving of vegetables every day. 

  Considering I'm a not a huge fan of veggies, I thought a perfect way to eaasily incorporate them into my diet would be with smoothies! I planned out a different smoothie recipe for every week, using spinach or kale as the base. In addition to the smoothies, I made sure to add veggie side dishes on the nights I had time to cook dinner- usually in the form of a  simple garden salad. 

  Everything went well for about a week. Then things took a downward turn!

  Turns out, my body doesn't exactly like raw vegetables. Even though I've known this for a while, somehow I just didn't think it would be a problem! I can handle raw fruits and veggies in moderation, so I didn't give it much of a thought. But when I started consuming them every day... my body put a stop to that pretty quickly.

  So now my entire smoothie and salad plan had to be scratched and replaced with only veggies that were cooked, peeled, and de-seeded. That was not the easiest thing to do with my schedule, so I also decided to simply cut down on the amount of veggie servings I was eating per day, enjoying raw ones in very small portions. (Note: The amount I was consuming was in no way excessive, but I think for my body it was not working.) 

  Unfortunately, considering what my body went through, and having to cut down significantly on my plan, I cannot write this and pretend that I feel so much better after a month of veggie-eating. To be honest, I feel a little worse! It has made me wonder if my aversion to veggies was never really about disliking them. The truth is, I don't hate veggies- I just don't love them so I forget to eat buy them or incorporate them into my every day life. What if my lack of love is actually my body telling me what I need- or more importantly, what I don't. 

  Over the last month or so I have had some issues with nutritional health that need to be addressed and I am glad to have experienced this challenge. It brought to light some underlying issues and helped get me more in touch with my body's needs.

  **Please remember, before making any drastic change to your diet it is wise to consult your physician and get some well-rounded nutritional counseling. Not every body responds well to every diet (no matter how healthy that diet may seem)!

My April Wellness Challenge is a fun one- to journal every day! Join me!

  

  

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