Three days on the Prehistoric Diet

Day one went pretty well.  (Y'all can see what I ate here.)

Days 2 and 3?  Well...not to plan.  I went camping in the mountains.  Not real camping where you carry stuff on your back and set up a camp somewhere in the wilderness, but the kind of camping where you drive to the campground, complete with large heated lodge and mess hall, and then unload your machine-quilted comforter into little cabins retrofitted with modern (as in handicap-friendly) plumbing and access.

It was a weekend full of me not being in full control of my food choices, that is, if I didn't want to starve, but it was also only four meals (and dozens and dozens of snacks!!!) and lots of hopping over puddles during freezing downpours, so there wasn't an overall weight gain.

I knew I would be in trouble when I saw one of the women near the kitchen.  THE VEGAN ACTIVIST!!  She's very nice, but insists on vegan food at all gatherings because she is convinced that her husband's fatal heart attack was caused by the deadly saturated fat and the paleo people are mean to animals.

To placate all the people who don't like vegan diets, there were some small optional additives, so, yes, I was able to add some cheese and sour cream to my vegan gluten-free burrito.  And even with the cheese and sour cream, I was reminded why I always had trouble with a vegan diet.

Every meal and snack seemed stuffed to the gills with tomato products.  Tomato wasn't optional.  It was in the burrito for lunch, the cheese lasagna for dinner, the omlette for breakfast and the chili for lunch.  There was no way you could pick the stuff out.  It went through and through.  It reminded me of when I tried the MacDougall program.  I could only do it for a few days.  It is just that terrible combination of wheat, green peppers and tomatoes that showed up in practically 100% of Mary MacDougall's recipes that made the program so horrible for me. 

The other thing I was reminded of is the enormous amount of milk fat in a vegetarian diet.  We had sour cream, cream cheese on bagels, ice cream for two meals, lasagna stuffed with ricotta and loaded with melty cheese.  The vegans seemed to have no fat options except maybe a bit of coconut ice cream for some meals.  I was longing for some bacon just for balance.  Well-meaning friends suggested I go down the hill for a burger at the local McDonalds, but I had forgotten my wallet and money and also didn't want to be reminded that I was just down the street from Mickey D's and 20 million people, and I am not thrilled with their food either.

By the second day, my stomach was paying for the diet transgressions, and I was extremely grateful for modern plumbing!  When I got home, I sat down to a huge bowl of fatty pork shoulder before I even started unpacking the muddy camping gear.  Good food is THAT important.  And today is a new day, full of full food freedom, and freedom from beans, tomatoes and wheat!!!