Swiss Chard Wins


Today’s test is for swiss chard. Not my favorite veggie, but one that I tend to include in my diet for its array of healthful benefits. I've heard it described as the world's second healthiest vegetable. (Second only to spinach)

Now, it is possible that it could be an unfriendly food for my body chemistry, so it deserves a test. One thing I did learn was that swiss chard, especially if eaten raw, is highly goitrogenic. So, as long as it passes this test, I will still be including it in my diet, although it won’t be to the degree it has been in the recent past. And I will be cooking it.



For lunch today, I had a big bunch of it, chopped and sauteed with shredded carrots and beets for a bit of sweetness and then seasoned with cayenne, black pepper and lemon. I crumbled in some goat cheese and then topped it with a handful of sunflower seeds. Along with that I had a bowl of my spicy vegetable and chick pea soup with a handful of chia seeds mixed in. 



About an hour after eating I felt strangely bloated and experienced a weird energy drop. The sensation didn’t last long, maybe for an hour at the most. 
It could have been due to the fact that I was immersed in the project of packing up my bags for the car trip, which for some unexplainable reason, is something I really do not like to do. I love to travel; hate to pack. My theory is that it’s due my not liking to decide what I think I will and won’t need and want two or three weeks from now. 

I’ll have a typical, friendly dinner and then in the morning, the scale will tell me what my body thinks of swiss chard. And then I’ll tell you.

Thursday
******************
Friday

Well, despite the fact that I felt those strange gurglings in my stomach an hour after yesterday’s lunch, and that I thought I felt the twinges of unhappy muscles in my back after dinner last night, which I thought for sure were signs that I was filling with inflammation after eating, the scale showed otherwise.

I lost a great deal of weight yesterday. Over a pound. So I can’t deny the clear message that swiss chard is a friendly-to-me food.

The twinges in my back were possibly a passing fluke, made into something bigger by my overly sensitive and active imagination.

I’m feeling fine today.

This is the last day I’ll be in town before hitting the road for “The JAG & River Mountain States Tour 2013” and tomorrow, the day I leave, is my birthday. So today I’m not going to be doing any food testing. I’m going to allow myself a cheat day.

I will be going to the store and buying food supplies for the trip and even making some healthful soups and sautees for the cooler to enjoy over the next few days, but I’m not going to be following the Plan, nor doing any food testing while I’m on the road.

I will most likely be ready to get back on The Plan when I return in early July. Until then, please enjoy my blog posts about River and my travels through the Mountain Time Zone of the USA.

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