My (Almost) Vegetarian Life – Taking Time for Myself

Hi everyone. I just noticed that my last post was almost a month ago! I can’t believe it’s been that long. Things have been quite hectic here lately and I had a very stressful 2 or 3 weeks at work to the point where I almost made myself ill. I’ve been down this road before, many years ago, and so I recognized the signs and knew that I had to do something about it before I ended up taking time off work.

It’s funny how stress can affect us so very badly. The first thing I noticed was I started to feel very unhappy. I don’t want to say depressed because that’s not what I was. But I just started not liking anything at all and I had the feeling that I wanted to run away to a beach somewhere and never come back. I also found myself in tears quite a lot and not wanting to go to work. I think hubby noticed the irritability and anger before I did – poor man, he was so very supportive. I definitely felt overwhelmed. I started drinking more wine and eating more junk food, particularly chips and chocolate – in copious amounts. And then I became angry at myself because it had taken me so long to kick the sugar habit and now here I was right back at the beginning again. Oooh but it was sooo good. I guess I can be grateful that was wasn’t taking anything stronger.

I wallowed in this for a couple of weeks and then I just got tired of being tired, and tired of being angry and tearful and tired of my jeans feeling tight, and so I pulled myself together, did quite a bit of meditation, put some lovely soothing essential oils in my diffuser, listened to some music and had a chat with some good friends. I think there was tea involved too.

Almost overnight, I started feeling better and decided I needed to get back on track in the food department. My body was craving salads and vegetables, but I also didn’t want to spend too much time in the kitchen until my body was completely destressed. So this week’s menu is an easy, but delicious and healthy one:

Monday
Breakfast : Fruit Smoothie with Chia seeds
Lunch : Slow cooker Ham, Cabbage & Bean Soup (from Canadian Living Magazine)
Supper: Chicken Fajitas from last week’s left over chicken

Tuesday
Breakfast : Almond Butter, Strawberry & Banana Overnight Oats
Lunch : Slow cooker Ham, Cabbage & Bean Soup
Supper : Margarita Pizza, Green Salad, Garlic Bread

Wednesday
Breakfast : Fruit Smoothie with Chia Seeds
Lunch : Slow cooker Ham, Cabbage & Bean Soup
Supper : Spinach Manicotti, Green Salad

Thursday
Breakfast : Almond Butter, Strawberry & Banana Overnight Oats
Lunch : Slow Cooker Ham, Cabbage & Bean Soup
Supper : Greek Shrimp with Tomato and Feta, Briam (Traditional Greek Roasted Vegetables), Asparagus, Greek Salad

Friday
Breakfast : Fruit Smoothie with Chia Seeds
Lunch : Slow Cooker Ham, Cabbage & Bean Soup
Supper : Cheddar Corn Chowder, Crusty Bread

Saturday

Date night!

Sunday
Breakfast : Vegan French Toast with Lavender-infused Syrup
Lunch : GYO (Get your own)
Supper : Roast Beef, Batata Harra (Middle Eastern Skillet Potatoes), carrots, beans

My body loves me again!