In July, my husband and I celebrate a couple of different anniversaries. It’s our wedding anniversary, as well as the anniversary of when we reconnected. (Quick recap for those playing at home: he and I met ten years ago, dated a while, then it fizzled out. Five years later, we reconnected, and were engaged nine weeks after that initial contact.)

Last year, we went to Capitol Cider to celebrate, as that was where we’d first reconnected. I made the conscious decision to not follow my diet that evening. I didn’t “fall off the wagon”, nor was I a “bad person” for making that decision. It was a choice I made, and I dealt with the consequences of it.

This year, instead of driving into Seattle, we stayed out near up, and went to Imbibe, in Maple Valley. (http://imbibebeer.com/) They didn’t have the gluten free beer that I’d been looking forward to trying out, but they did have three ciders. I tried all of them, absolutely falling in love with one that was a cucumber hibiscus cider. (It was YUMMY–not too sweet, not too sour.)

Imbibe lets you bring in your own food. As they don’t have anything on their menu that I could eat, and it was very hot outside, we decided to bring in a bag of potato chips (cooked in avocado oil) as well as some trail mix.

And that became dinner–half a bag of potato chips and eight ounces of cider.

OMG was that good. I honestly don’t remember the last time I ate like that…had to be years ago.

It was a choice. To eat junk for the night, and to drink way more alcohol than I usually do. (Generally, I’ll have an ounce or two of wine with dinner, and that’s about it. I can no longer drink an entire glass of wine or I feel lousy the next day.)

However, unlike last year when I made a similar choice, this year had much lighter consequences. Last year, I had a horrific headache after choosing to not follow my diet. This year, I had a kinda-sorta-vague headache, and I had a touch of intestinal issues.

That was it.

This was a good indicator of how much better I’ve gotten. I’m no longer as sensitive as I once was to deviation in my diet. I’m a lot more resilient.

This doesn’t mean that I’m about to suddenly go back to eating SAD (standard American diet). No, I’m going to continue to primarily eat dead critter and fresh veggies, as well as lots of fat.

While I sometimes get a craving for things I used to eat, for the most part, I really enjoy what I now eat. For example, I get to eat all the bacon I want. (Mmmmm. Bacon.) I make the best salads. I keep meaning to do a post on how to level up your salads. Particularly since I get to go out into the yard and clip herbs to add to my salads. I also make the best smoothies. Yummmm.

When it gets cold, I’ll probably go back to eating a lot of bone broth. Which also, yummmm.

Along these lines, I’ve found I can tolerate cheese a lot better than I once could. Forgot to tell my waiter “no dairy” when I went out to eat recently–got a steak with herb butter all melted into it. Had no reaction whatsoever to the dairy. No headache. No congestion. Nothing.

Again, not about to start using dairy again on a regular basis. That I can have a little just proves resilience.

And it gives me a few more options. I’m going out of town in a month or so, visiting a friend. I will be eating out. A lot. (^_^) It will easier to have more options, to know where I can push the boundaries. I will eat pretty strictly both before and afterward. That, I know is part of what enables me to be more resilient.

Other than that, hubby and I have projects and there will be pictures soon.