What have I been eating?

Gosh, I haven't even thought about it. That's a good thing, right? That eating local and healthy food is natural and normal...But I'm not gonna lie, I don't think I can consider myself ultra strict anymore. 

I did two weeks of no treats, breads, caffeine, chocolate, processed food. I felt great! Then I was bored. It's not that it was hard. It was annoying. I missed my grape seed oil. My chia seeds. My raw coconut water. So I have caved for the sake of my health (and mind). I couldn't cook with butter and pecan oil anymore! I just couldn't. The cool thing is, even though I'm not "strict" anymore, I'm still only consuming my veggies, grains, and meats locally! It's what I was doing before anyhow. 

And what's also cool is I seem to have developed an even stronger distaste to purchasing anything processed or packaged (i.e. I went to Fresh Market to pick up some staples, and when I got to the hummus, I was all like,"hell no, I can make this myself!") This probably is also from working in an awesome food environment where I have access to fresh, healthy, organic (and pretty darn local) food all the time. The principles behind The Green Fork is to create delicious healthy food from what is in season, while preserving the integrity of the product and conveying positive intentions throughout the whole process. We all truly believe you are what you eat, and you can heal your body with whole foods. Can you tell I love my job?

Anyway, what have I been eating? I bought 8 pounds of pork shoulder from Cleaver and had a pig feast with my neighbors. It was so good! I marinated mine with local peaches, onions from my garden, garlic, balsamic vinegar, and some ginger syrup. To make this totally local you could use the Steen's cane vinegar and Inglewood's pecan oil. We threw them on the grill to get them a bit charred them let them finish in the oven. The meat fell apart into delicious shredded porkiness and we ate them in tortillas. There was nothing left. Except for a pork coma. 

I took advantage of the coals and cooked a chicken I picked up from Cleaver as well. I think this will become a weekly ritual, as it makes weeknight dining easy. 

Lately I've been taking salads home from work and pimping them out. I add whatever stone fruit I have (peaches, plums, and nectarines from Crescent City Farmers Market are OUT OF THIS WORLD!), chia seeds, flax seeds (btw, I just found out that flax seeds do nothing for you; they pass right through your body. To get the health benefits of flax, use in either oil or meal form), whatever nuts I have, grapeseed oil, crumbled kale chips, and raw shredded zucchini or squash. 

I'm so happy to be able to enjoy my breakfast bowls again. I mix cottage cheese, gluten-free granola, berries, chia seeds, and grapeseed oil in a mason jar and go to town. It's pretty much the most delicious thing ever. 

I'm still not snacking, and have only had coffee a couple times since I "fell of the wagon" (and a couple macaroons from Sucre shh don't tell). The fresh fruit from the farmer's market is so good right now. I've never had melon like this in my life. 

I'm still going to participate in the health screening at the end of the challenge. I hope my results aren't going to be considered skewed. I actually have started exercising more (I got a balance ball and found out how unbalanced I was, whoo!), running to the pool to do a couple laps. And if anything, I am now super excited to blog about all the other healthy and interesting things I think are super important to add to your diet!

Happy eating ya'll 

PS; What's In Season Right Now and Awesome to Eat: eggplant, tomatillos, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, blackberries, peaches, melon, beets, arugula, kale!