Never before in my life have I eaten so many fresh vegetables than when I first started the Atkins diet. In order to make this fit into my budget, I knew that it would be helpful if I could find an inexpensive source for these healthy foods. The local Farmers’ Market was the perfect place for veggies. Unfortunately, it was also filled with foods that I wasn’t supposed to be eating.
Why is it that fresh fruits and vegetables cost so much more than junk food does? Fresh foods expire quickly, and never, ever, come with a coupon to use on your next purchase of them.
Starting the Atkins diet meant that I was switching from eating mostly TV dinners and granola bars to plenty of fresh vegetables. The Induction Phase of Atkins doesn’t allow me to eat fruits. I assume that comes later.
I learned that an excellent source of inexpensive, fresh, vegetables was right in my own backyard, (so to speak). I live in a mobile home park, surrounded by concrete, so I don’t really have anyplace to grow a garden.
If you have a large backyard, and a green thumb, then your backyard garden might be the least expensive source of vegetables for you. You would only need to purchase the veggies that you don’t grow yourself, to supplement your diet.
As for me, I happen to live in a town that has an incredible Farmers’ Market every week, all year long. Local farmers come here to sell their produce for a lower price than I can get for the same foods in the grocery stores. I like the atmosphere of the Farmers’ Market, and being there makes the mundane activity of shopping for vegetables into a good time. You are going to be buying a lot of veggies, so you may as well find a way to make it into something that you will enjoy.
There are “dangers” at the Farmers’ Market to watch out for. The one I go to has plenty of food vendors that grill foods that look and smell absolutely delicious. There also are booths selling pies, cookies, kettle corn, and chocolate covered treats that I should not be eating while I am doing Atkins.
My husband and I usually eat dinner while we are at the Farmers’ Market. This is something that I think both of us look forward to. This time, however, I had great difficulty locating food that would fit into the Atkins diet. It was both frustrating and disappointing.
It would have been easy to just give up, and decide that the struggle to find acceptable food made it “okay” to cheat on the diet. I am an extremely determined person, however, so that did not happen this time around. Next time, I might need to quickly purchase my veggies, and get out of there.
Image by Natalie Maynor on Flickr