21DSD: Getting Started, Part 1

Nope. This post is not about my first day actually doing it. I hate when bloggers jump right in and act all Mary Poppins, like it’s the best thing they’ve ever done. I don’t buy it. I need to know I’m not the only one who was freaked out, and I need to see how a person was able to move through feeling overwhelmed. 

By the same token, I also don’t like the bloggers who jump right in with all the reasons they don’t want to do it, it’s bad all the way around, but they’re going to do it anyway. Those are people who were already looking at it as something they would write cynically and sarcastically about. 

My dad always says, “You find what you’re looking for. If you look for the beauty in things, you’ll find the beauty. Look for the ugly, you’ll find the ugly.” I think he’s right about that. I don’t think you have to go over-the-top gung-ho on things, but at least give it a chance to work. 

With that in mind, I decided to accept Dr. Neale’s challenge. In a nutshell, it’s basically a fruit-free, sugar-free Paleo diet for 21 days. That may be an oversimplification, but I think it’s pretty close. I’ll be sharing my recipes because they will be fruit-free, which is the big point of this blog. I hope it’s helpful to anyone working through not only the 21DSD, but being fruit-free or grain/potato combo-free or anything else you’ve been diagnosed as needing to do for your health. 

My dad also always says, “If it was easy, anybody could do it.” He’ll add, “Honey, you’re not just anybody,” and tell me why. For my entire life that has been his advice when I was ready to give up on something difficult. I think this is why I don’t back down from challenges/dares very often. Don’t get me wrong, if you dare me to jump off the bridge at Moulton Falls, I’m not doing it. I have limits. But I think you get the idea.

After about a week of rolling this whole thing around in the hamster wheel I call my brain, I was feeling pretty overwhelmed and anxious, and I even started to feel a little panicky. As a writer, the only way I know how to work things out for myself is to put it all down on paper, and I’ve decided to share my journal entries. I think it’s important to be honest about how it’s going. It makes me feel better about my own struggles. It’s normal. It’s okay. 

My dad always says it’s okay to trip, to fall. It’s part of life. It’s okay to stay down for a minute or two to reflect and regroup. But we always have to get back up and keep moving. 

If it was easy, anybody could do it.

My dad is a very, very wise man.