One of my quests for SuperBetter is to document my a-ha moment, the eye-opening experience that moved me get back on the eating healthy horse. I've been putting off doing this quest for a few days because I don't know if there really was one a-ha moment, and I wouldn't consider any of them juicy or interesting (unless you count the food as juicy, which it might have been). It was more like several little moments that each took me one step closer into my descent toward carnivorous helplessness and death and destruction when I turn 70. I suppose I'll document those, and if it turns out something was juicy, I'll take about the juice.
It All Started with a Bucket of Chicken
Really, when does it not start with a bucket of chicken? I decided to go vegan just after Thanksgiving, and did a really good job of maintaining that diet for a few months. Then, on one really bad day, I wanted a bucket of chicken from KFC because I wanted comfort food and fried chicken is comfort food. Ever since then, it's been really difficult to go back to being vegan. I still manage to eat one vegan meal per day, and I am much more conscious of what I eat and of what I put into my cart at the grocery store (and of what other people put into their carts, which can be pretty awful sometimes), but it hasn't been the same since that bucket of chicken.
All Those Times When People Thought I Was Vegan
Even though I haven't been keeping up with my diet as well as I hoped, there were (and probably still are) a few people who thought I was vegan. So, accommodations were made to ensure that I had something to eat at gatherings or that we went to a restaurant that offered vegan options. Although that was very nice of these people and I will still happily eat vegan options, it had gotten to a point where it wasn't necessary to make the arrangements in the first place. I felt bad about this because it was unnecessary trouble as I no longer really needed those special arrangements. I didn't want to feel bad, but I also didn't want to have to say that I wasn't vegan anymore, as if being vegan isn't all that it's cracked up to be. I think it is since I lost weight and felt very healthy.
I Devoured a Box of Taquitos in Four Days
This might have been the "tipping point" moment, where I ate an entire box of taquitos (24 per box) in four days. For four days straight, I had six taquitos as one of my meals of the day. Although these things are delicious, that's an incredibly unhealthy way to go and I knew I needed to do something or else I was going to gain the 10 pounds I lost while I was vegan. I really didn't want to be eating so many of these processed foods, or foods that we think that are good for us but really aren't (like yogurt. You got to be really careful with yogurt. The little Yoplait cups have more sugar than a can of soda. And let's not get started on those things like Gogurt and Danimals.) I don't each much yogurt anyway (unless it's soy yogurt), and I have no idea what the big deal is about Greek yogurt. It's probably not much different from the other stuff and the hype is just marketing hype or something.
Anyway, that's the gist of these a-ha moments and my downward spiral into eating, well, a normal American diet. I felt like it so much easier to go vegan the first time. Why is the second time around so difficult?