I’m feeling awful today. On Saturday, our dog got bit by a snake and she’s been in the ER since then, slowly recovering, but not without a few extra and costly complications. We visit her daily, and she’s going to be fine with hopefully no permanent damage. It’s just been rough. We’ve been stressed about her and money and not getting enough sleep.

I even shot up 2 pounds on the scale from the stress alone by Sunday morning with no diet change. Stress alone can do that to me. I puff up and get ready to store for the impending famine. My body is naturally built for hardcore survival mode.

Former me, many years ago, would have been all over the comfort food by this point. High fat and salt, processed vegan junk… craving to turn it all off and binge out on way too much, whatever could get me to no longer feel anymore – a manual shut-down override on my body to escape from reality. Also, lots and LOTS of cheap alcohol to help me numb out. And perhaps it would have worked temporarily, but made me feel 100 times worse on top of everything else after the drugs wore off and I was left with the junk food hangover.

Me today, I am craving ataulfo mangoes and golden honeydew melon and papayas and cucumbers and tomatoes. I want all the juicier fruits. Even the thai bananas aren’t really calling to me today, but I’ll probably snack on them further into the afternoon after I get my hydration on.

I’m anticipating going on a primarily banana diet for a while to help my budget recover from this. My menu will simplify to mainly bananas, celery, and cucumbers. I may get tomatoes, greens, peppers, lemons/limes, papayas and other melons when they are on sale, but everything is going to go super tight for a while.

It will be okay. It’s okay to keep it very simple sometimes. I’ll use it as an opportunity to explore creativity within a restricted menu, which I’ve enjoyed doing several times in the past. Target is $50 or less per week on groceries without sacrificing caloric intake. Let’s do this.