First Mono-Meal Day: Too Early on the Journey

Well I'm in the middle of a good intention.  My teenage daughter has a summer job, and asked if I would please not make smoothies Friday mornings, as it is her only day to sleep in.  Since I've been depending on two giant smoothies to help get me blissfully through each day (along with a few containers of cut up fruit or a few handfuls of dates), and since I blend them all up early in the morning before work, this was a challenge.  I decided I'd try to make it a mono-meal day. A noble experiment.

I think it's too early in my transition to 811 to do this.  I find I still cannot eat enough carbs to sustain me very long without smoothies.  For example, I was able to eat 6 cups of pineapple for breakfast, but then was hungry again less than two hours later.  So I had 8 dates -- felt stuffed, but was hungry again in an hour -- ate 2 cups of uber-sweet grape tomatoes ('til I was again stuffed) and in an hour was craving something so I had a few more dates, etc... It ended up being a graze-fest more than anything else.  I'm staring down about 6 cups of papaya as I type.

Plus, for the first time in weeks, I actually found myself craving and wanting cooked food or even non-vegan food.  I haven't had any cravings until today.  I also am finding it hard to focus at work.  And while I've enjoyed the food I've eaten, I don't look forward to it, and a tiny bit of the joy in this way of eating is gone today. Also, I track my calories, nutrients etc.. on fatsecret.com and I'm really going to have to struggle to make it to 2500 today.  Not as hard on a mixed meal day.

So back to my other regimen of smoothies, mixed fruit meals, etc.  Will try mono-meals again in a few months, after I get more accustomed to this way of eating, and have expanded my capacity for carbs I can eat at one sitting.