Getting Back Into The Swing of Things

For some reason, I'm finding it very hard to get back into my French routine. Early in the week, I came up with menus for this week. Tuesday, I was supposed to make a Salade Niçoise, with imported Spanish tuna in olive oil, green beans, hard-boiled potatoes and eggs, and other assorted delicious and healthy components.

But then, it started to get late and I realized I didn't have the right tuna on hand, so instead, I went to Johnny Rockets and ordered this:

Well, at least I didn't get the shake or the fries. But still, it was not exactly the best thing I could have chosen to eat. Still, you could argue that the French diet is all about freedom and not having foods be labelled as "off limits". In a certain sense, that is true. Having a hamburger out is not going to kill you or completely derail you. The problem, of course, is that this was not the only poor choice I'd made this week. Tuesday and Wednesday's lunches were both eaten out, and were both not the healthiest.

Last night, I did manage to go to the market and get ingredients for a home-cooked meal, and it was reasonably French. And tonight, I had some fish with some oven fries and a tomato mozzarella salad. 

So, all in all, there have been some hits and a few misses.  

And that's what got me thinking, "Why is it so hard to get back on track once you've gone off of it??" Is it because I'm still trying to make the French diet second nature and forming a new habit takes time? Or, to put it another way, "Will this ever get any easier??" I hope so. 

Maybe it's just like any other thing that requires some discipline and you just have to keep at it. Today, for instance, I went for a bike ride. I probably did about 6-7 miles when all was said and done, and boy, was I out of shape. Any prior progress seems to have vanished and I was having to shift down sooner and for longer stretches of time. But the good news is I rode, and I pushed myself to go a bit farther than I originally planned, just to stretch a bit. If I go for another ride again soon, then I will notice that I'm making progress and not having to start all over again.  Maybe I just have to do that with my diet, as well. Just make sure that there is always some French element to it, so that I don't feel like I've lost ground and am starting back at ground zero all over again.

Time will tell...