Day 28: Aversions!

Today was a breaking point of sorts. That stew from yesterday sat with me through the night. I was fitful up past 2 am thinking about how I could possibly eat one more grain of brown rice, one more pinto bean, one more slice of carrot, or one more noodle. I started to question the health benefits of losing 20 pounds in 27 days, I started to get nervous about being able to make it through the last 3 days. And I was, for the first time in awhile, really hungry. Nonetheless, I awoke refreshed and whipped up another bowl of oatmeal and raisins. For some reason, that is the one thing I have not had an aversion toward, and bonus, it really sustains me for a good 4 hours or so. All of this being said, lunch was pretty good. I've enjoyed the refried beans, so I did a full cup of those. And it hit me, I had never enjoyed mashed potatoes without adding them to something else, so I thought that might help on the variety front, to just eat them straight, with a little Season-All, and that was nice. I threw in another rendition of my egg drop soup, this time with brown rice added, and it was enjoyable but still did not feel up to eating the whole thing. I'm also getting a bit of blog fatigue. Tonight, I just honestly don't feel like doing the math to tell you how much this meal cost me. But I know this one was probably around 40 cents or so...

For dinner, I just literally could not dream up anything. A friend had recommended adding a little more water to my rice on the next batch, to yield some rice milk, so I did that yesterday. She had said I might try adding some raisins to this to come up with a sweet tea of sorts. I tried this by blending some water-soaked raisins, and I felt it was a valiant try, but it was just not my cup of tea! Might have come in handy on the vegan shepherd's pie, but not straight up. For your amusement, here's the shot...

But, back to dinner, I did end up having a small rice burrito and a bit of pasta with some Season-All, but I just could not bring myself to eat anything else. Cabbage: no! Carrots: no more! I feel like my 2 year old! But I will say, isn't it amazing that my 3-lb. $0.75 head of cabbage is still going strong?!

Prayer focus: I'm heading up to Taylor University on Wednesday to present some thoughts at an evening event as part of their annual Social Justice Week. Pray for me, as really I have no idea what I'm going to say at this point. But I am looking forward to it. I'll be spending the night in their cardboard village; seems an appropriate book-end to my 30 days! This year they are focusing on India and the caste system. I feel honored and humbled that they would invite me to be a part of this. Thanks for praying!

Estimated Savings for Day 28: No clue. Maybe a real cup of tea at Starbucks? Buck-sixty? Add this to my normal estimated daily grocery cost of $7, subtract $1 for today's actual cost, and I'm at $7.60 for my orphanage donation today. This puts my running total up to $421.01. This is ridiculous and humbling to admit. Lord, may I be more mindful of my spending after this 30 days!