Eight




I-75 North near Forsyth, GA, 1-7-11



From talking to NDJ participants, it sounds like the hardest part of not eating dairy is remembering not to eat dairy.  We eat on autopilot--at least, I do.  Yesterday, I started to make pasta for lunch and realized after the water was boiling that I can't put Parmesan cheese on it.  I had to scramble to figure out what else I could put on plain pasta.  Luckily, I had an open jar of marinara in the fridge.  It seems natural to pick up a piece of cornbread and put butter on it, or to stumble to the kitchen in the morning and pour milk on bran flakes.  Okay, that one doesn't seem that natural to me, since I haven't poured cow's milk on my cereal in at least 5 years, but you know what I'm saying.

It makes me think about what I'm eating while I'm eating it.  Rather than just grab something in the kitchen and go eat while reading a book, I have to think first about what this food is, what it contains, and whether I really feel like eating it. 

I like the concept of mindful eating, paying attention to the food and the experience of eating food, instead of TV or a book.  I don't like having to do it, though.  I end up thinking about stuff while I'm eating, and when I start thinking, I want to do something or write things down; it's an ADD trait that took me years to accept.  For example, I'll remember something I forgot to do earlier, like take out the trash, and I'll want to go do it before I forget.  Or I'll remember something I want to tell someone, so I call them.  Or I suddenly remember that I'm teaching at a band camp on January 22, and I better write it in my planner right now.  If I'm not remembering something that I forgot to do, I either stress out about something (often it's something I forgot to do earlier), or get bored; my brain gets restless, and I want to read a book or check my Facebook.

I feel like I'm getting better at it, though.  I ate in a restaurant tonight and had to ask the server whether certain dishes had dairy products in them.  I'm not the type to do that very often, so it felt weird, but it's been 8 days and I feel pretty good, so I don't want to screw it up.

In other news, my college teaching starts up again next week.  My contract for the semester is jacked, because my students didn't all register when they were supposed to.  That means my contract was written for a smaller number of students than I actually have, which means...wait for it...less $$.  I'm hoping that I can have it adjusted right away, because the payroll department has deadlines.  If my contract isn't in by a certain time, sometimes I have to wait a month before I start getting paid.  It sucks to have to sign a new contract every semester.  Someday my prince full-time tenure track job will come....