Processed
Well, it has been one week (and a day) since rice and beans month officially ended for me. I have had a lot of time to process the experience, and I think it will be interesting to even further process through writing about it.
I really didn't have too much trouble sticking to the simple diet of rice and beans for several weeks. When it was new it was hard. But the next few weeks weren't bad at all! I got excited about meal times (mostly because I was ravenously hungry)! Rice and beans were tasty (I created a concoction with grilled onions and garlic, and it was so good!!), and it was sufficient to fill my hunger needs.
When it got interesting (and incredibly difficult) was the very last week. Once there was only one week left in the rice and beans month, people started commenting. And asking me what the first thing I was going to eat was. And I started thinking about all the foods I had missed out on (including foods that I hardly ever eat anyway...). And all the food that I wanted to eat (and I think this is evident in my previous post). And then life got a lot harder. I was so tempted to give up (especially the night before it was all over - we had a Princess and the Frog party for one of our staff, and there were beignets, gumbo, and jambalaya, and homemade ice cream!). It was the hardest it had been since the third day!
I think the big difference was that when the end wasn't in sight yet, I didn't think about it. I didn't think about other foods. I was completely content with the simplicity of the rice and beans meals. But when I lost my focus (or switched my focus to something else), it got really hard.
I think because of that switch in focus near the end, when I was able to eat other foods again, I went crazy. I had so much sugar the first few days, it was ridiculous. I continuously made myself sick.
Since then, I have had time to re-evaluate things and remember that I SHOULDN'T eat so much sugar. And that I want to treat my body well. And that I was supposed to have LEARNED something this past month.
It really gives you a lot to think about. I don't know whether to consider the millions and billions of different food options we have available to us in America as a blessing or a curse. Are people in Africa content with their simple rice and beans diet? Or do they constantly wish for variety and excitement in their food? I would like to think the former. How can they miss something they have never had? Or maybe this is extremely ignorant of me. I guess I just know that when I didn't dwell on what I didn't have, I was completely content (and even happy) with what I did have.
And that right there is a million dollar revelation.
So how can I apply that to my eating habits here at camp? How can I make healthy choices? How can I exercise portion control? And self control? How can I be a good steward of my body and of the food that is provided? And how can I apply that to the other areas in my life, as well. How much time do I waste dwelling on the way I wish things were, or what I don't have? (How shameful is that?!) How can this experience translate into more than just a month-long commitment? How can it be a permanent lifestyle change?
Seriously. How?
I really didn't have too much trouble sticking to the simple diet of rice and beans for several weeks. When it was new it was hard. But the next few weeks weren't bad at all! I got excited about meal times (mostly because I was ravenously hungry)! Rice and beans were tasty (I created a concoction with grilled onions and garlic, and it was so good!!), and it was sufficient to fill my hunger needs.
When it got interesting (and incredibly difficult) was the very last week. Once there was only one week left in the rice and beans month, people started commenting. And asking me what the first thing I was going to eat was. And I started thinking about all the foods I had missed out on (including foods that I hardly ever eat anyway...). And all the food that I wanted to eat (and I think this is evident in my previous post). And then life got a lot harder. I was so tempted to give up (especially the night before it was all over - we had a Princess and the Frog party for one of our staff, and there were beignets, gumbo, and jambalaya, and homemade ice cream!). It was the hardest it had been since the third day!
I think the big difference was that when the end wasn't in sight yet, I didn't think about it. I didn't think about other foods. I was completely content with the simplicity of the rice and beans meals. But when I lost my focus (or switched my focus to something else), it got really hard.
I think because of that switch in focus near the end, when I was able to eat other foods again, I went crazy. I had so much sugar the first few days, it was ridiculous. I continuously made myself sick.
Since then, I have had time to re-evaluate things and remember that I SHOULDN'T eat so much sugar. And that I want to treat my body well. And that I was supposed to have LEARNED something this past month.
It really gives you a lot to think about. I don't know whether to consider the millions and billions of different food options we have available to us in America as a blessing or a curse. Are people in Africa content with their simple rice and beans diet? Or do they constantly wish for variety and excitement in their food? I would like to think the former. How can they miss something they have never had? Or maybe this is extremely ignorant of me. I guess I just know that when I didn't dwell on what I didn't have, I was completely content (and even happy) with what I did have.
And that right there is a million dollar revelation.
So how can I apply that to my eating habits here at camp? How can I make healthy choices? How can I exercise portion control? And self control? How can I be a good steward of my body and of the food that is provided? And how can I apply that to the other areas in my life, as well. How much time do I waste dwelling on the way I wish things were, or what I don't have? (How shameful is that?!) How can this experience translate into more than just a month-long commitment? How can it be a permanent lifestyle change?
Seriously. How?
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