By Deb Powell,
Healthy Planet Columnist
Going out for a meal once in a while can be a nice break, but wow, can it have challenges!
Being pressed for time, my friend and I went to a nice, popular, pizza restaurant for dinner. He can’t eat gluten, and I’m vegan, but we knew what we wanted. I’m also missing a couple back teeth, so chewing some things can be difficult. For a change, I ordered a root beer. Soon, the server came and asked if we were ready to order our food, we said we sure are! We were also hungry.
I confidently stated I would have the sweet potato fries. They’re quick, easy to eat, and I love sweet potatoes. Nope. She said they had no sweet potato fries, they’d run out yesterday. So while my friend ordered I peeked at the menu, I’ll just have an order of the daily cooked vegetables. Nope! We took them off the menu long ago. But she offered me a chicken salad. I’m vegan. So she suggested they could make up a nice plate of raw vegetables. Can’t chew them I said to myself.
How about the quinoa and rice side dish I said, I bet that has a nice spice mix on it, or cooked veggies in it… or something… Nope! It’s brown rice and we’re out of them both. And, there is nothing on them. We only have boiled white rice. Great! I’ll have an order of that with some soya sauce. Nope! We don’t ever have soya sauce. Oh, my, gosh. This was too much. I just wanted to get up and leave.
So, I resorted to ordering something I haven’t eaten for over 3 months. Pizza. White flour and cheese. She quickly suggested lots of pepperoni, and I forget what else, but I said no, vegetarian please.She spoke as she wrote gluten free, and I said I don’t need gluten free, only my friend does.So, I totally went off my vegan lifestyle, with sugar, flour, and dairy. No guilt, just pretty frustrated!
Oh, update! I’ve lost 30 pounds, and still feel great! ☺Just like these trees, we will have challenges. Some we’ll win, and some we won’t. DON’T GIVE UP!
Join me next month for updates, inspirations, and more fun!
For questions and feedback: debmag04@gmail.com. I’d love to hear from you! ☺