As I move forward with my new nutritional plan I am struck by the realization that it's not easy to make one meal that satisfies everyone in my household. With one vegetarian, one emerging flexitarian, and one committed omnivore meals are a little more challenging.
Because my choices are limited by my rotation diet I am having to think and plan ahead more so that I can make multi-stage meals that can be finished off or enhanced for the other members of the family who do not need to avoid dairy, etc. Quite honestly I haven't really gotten the hang of it yet and it's definitely an eye-opener.
I hadn't thought that it would be so difficult. After all over the years I have managed various different dietary needs folded into what was once a household of five. Low fat, low cholesterol, low carb, various different dietary plans all rotated through our house before I became a Nutrition Educator and learned more about whole foods and eating according to the needs of your body rather than a one-size-fits-all dietary plan. Obviously through my training and work I have come to see clearly how we are all bio-individual and one-size does not fit all. I'm feeling a little humbled as I learn to juggle this new nutritional state of affairs.
On the other hand I'm feeling fairly good about the dietary change. I did try a few bites of chicken, and the next day my stomach wasn't too happy, I am taking it slowly and plan to start introducing some broths into my diet as well. And I'm reasonably content with what I am eating the rest of the time. It turns out (at least a few days in) that I don't miss dairy as much as I thought I would. The biggest challenge at the moment is to remember what day of the rotation I am on and to plan meals. For example, today is corn for my grain and black beans for my protein. So we're having taco bar. That's easy I can set everything out buffet style and folks can help themselves. But I do need to think ahead if anything, like beans, needs to be soaked or otherwise prepared.
It's a learning adventure and one that I realize will help me have a deeper understanding of what I suggest for some clients. As I mentioned in my last post, I've written a lot of Rotation Plans, but I've never followed one myself. It's one thing to comprehend it and entirely something else to understand it.