Thanksgiving

For a holiday based purely on eating, I think I did fairly well.  No, in fact, I think I did a STELLAR job at not gorging myself for the sake of doing so. 

I went with a traditional menu and was going to try to do everything wheat free.  But when you are preparing for a group of 12, that really isn't always feasible -- especially if you are the only one that really cares.  First I put about six loaves of gluten free bread in my cart, only to see that they cost over $5 apiece.  That is ridiculous, so I bought a couple of loaves of cheap, white (but full of wheat) bread.  My intent was not to eat any.

Okay, so here is the thing.  I love stuffing.  I love and ADORE stuffing.  It is my most favorite food on the Thanksgiving plate.  So I put some on.  Just a little, teeny, tiny bit.  The rest of the plate held a perfectly brined organic turkey, organic sweet potatoes, organic mashed potatoes, organic green beans and I skipped the rolls.  Oh, and cranberry sauce, yum!  And gravy.

I had most of the stuffing on my plate, mixed with everything, it was all delicious, but I could hear my stomach start gurgling almost immediately.  Uh oh.

I actually had to leave the dinner table and hit the bathroom.  It is amazing to me that such a small amount of food can have such a violent reaction in such a short amount of time.  Needless to say, I did not touch the stuffing again.

The following day we went to a Flatbread pizza restaurant and they said that their wheat was organic and locally grown.  There was NOthing else to eat but pizza, and I was hungry.  Hmmmmm.  I had several pieces of it and wa la ... nothing happened!  I guess all wheat is not created equal.  And it is good to know that I can eat some form of it with no problem.

We took this crazy walk on Thanksgiving day, after the turkey was in the oven and most everything else was prepared.  It was called a brisk walk with spectacular views.  It started out going up a steep hill.  It continued on on a steep hill.  It kept going on a steep hill.  We were all huffing and puffing ... and my heavens if it didn't continue on even further UP HILL!  Later we clocked it in the car and we walked straight up for 2.5 miles.  Wowsers!  The entire walk was 4.3 miles, with the latter half being all steeply DOWN hill.  My legs still hurt.  Some of those muscles haven't been used in a while!  But it was certainly a way to start a day based on eating!