Day One, part three

I'm starting the 100-mile diet for the third September in a row. I'll get to the rules and exceptions soon, but first I want to address commitment.

I've been feeling some reluctance in recent days about doing this all again. I eat peanut butter realize I'll have to give that up. I threw out leftover bean and corn salad today because the beans weren't local -- even though the corn, onion, and tomato were. It feels silly to deprive myself of nutritious whole foods just because peanuts grow down south and the canned beans were from an California organic food company.

But then I remember the sense of discovery I've felt the last two Septembers. I read through my past posts and reminisce. The successful dinners and the new-to-me foods. The shift in my diet to more fruits and vegetables and less meats and grains. The experimentation in the kitchen throwing things into a pot and calling it soup -- and delicious soup at that, because I started with just-picked veggies.

On the one hand, it feels so much easier. I’ve been eating more locally throughout the year. But on the other hand, it feels less important in that lazy kind of way. I mean, I’m doing so much better, eating locally and more seasonally, why do I have to do without baked-goods-unless-I bake-them? For a whole month?

I guess I'll have to trust that I'll learn something new, something worthy, once again.

Today's meals
Breakfast: Half a melon
Lunch: Leftover cabbage-escarole soup
Snack: Apple and plum
Dinner: Pork chop, potatoes, applesauce, and tomato salad