Who am I kidding, I do that every week.
But I had a doctor's appointment coming up today anyway so I started adding to my whine, "I wonder if I should just get my iron checked."
"They're probably just going to tell you to stop staying up until 1am," husband informed me.
"You shouldn't be anemic if you're eating enough vegetables," husband's best friend, who is Vegan, added.
Men.
I knew they were right on both counts. Hate it when that happens. I can give you 803 reasons to justify staying up until 1am, but not eating enough vegetables as a vegetarian...yeah. That's totally my bad.
When I started this lifestyle, I was excited to load up my grocery cart with green things. I was inspired to discover how to do this healthy, ethical-eating thing. And I did well. But then I got lazy. I started eating like a preschooler again. The priority was horking down the cheese and the carbs before even considering a vegetable or even a fruit, because they tasted better. Kids eat up all the pears? I play the martyr and "let them eat them all," as they do, after all, come first. What? Have an at-the-ready apple instead? Uh, no thank you.
Bad. Bad bad bad bad bad. I also think I get my water needs met through coffee and the milk in my cereal. So.
I had my labs drawn anyway today; my iron is fine, but we're still waiting on results from folic acid levels, which can be more accurate in diagnosing anemia. In the meantime, I went on a grocery run today and stuffed my cart with green. Okay, it wasn't stuffed with green, but at least five items were, and that's four more than I've been tossing in there. I strategically placed them on the check-out belt first before the check-out clerk, who most certainly doesn't give a flying head of cauliflower what I purchase, could cast a judgemental glance at the Scooby-Doo snack crackers and Oreos that came just behind the bag of spinach.
Maintaining this vegetarian thing isn't easy. But today I'm returning to kicking myself in the fatigued butt, folic acid be damned, and working harder to enjoy what really should be on my plate. And considering the baked goat cheese and herbed tomato bruschetta with Caesar salad and fresh parmesan dinner I had tonight, really, I think I'll be okay.
