Eat Your Veggies!

My month of working nights in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) has led precipitously into an absolutely atrocious diet. With the obligations of residency keeping me up from 7pm-8am watching over the tiniest of babies, the emotional pull of motherhood preventing me from sleeping more than 3-4 hours before rushing to daycare to cuddle my baby girl for as long as possible, and my burning desire to be a good wife (read: not wanting to be a worse wife that I already am for seeing my husband for 1 hour a day) hustling me to tidy the house and prepare a homemade dinner during the baby's naps, there was no time left to worry about what I should be eating.

My daytime (8am-8pm) food intake looked something like this: a big old coffee accompanying an egg and cheese muffin sandwich with ham or - I shield my eyes in shame as I admit it - bacon before leaving the hospital, handfuls of whatever I could find in the fridge/pantry (dry cereal, crackers, graham crackers, carrot sticks, or cheese wedges) and an iced coffee on my way to daycare, and then as much as I could stuff in my face for dinner (usually at least a well prepared meal) before having to rush out the door - sometimes this was not enough, others it was WAY too much. I'd usually bring another coffee with me or grab one on my way up to the NICU.

So, by that point, I'd already eaten 2 1/2 meals and was starting my 13 hour shift. I'd bring healthy things like carrot sticks and yogurts with me to eat, but - let's be honest - they usually made their way into the trash after being transported back and forth from home to hospital three or four times. It would be an understatement to say I've made a few trips to the all-night Dunkin Donuts in the hospital with a longing nothing but more caffeine and lots of disgusting processed carbs could abate.

Finally, last weekend I hit a breaking point. Not only was I intellectually stressed by the vast expanse of medical knowledge I needed to acquire to be a good resident in the NICU and emotionally stressed to the point of tears each night when I left my baby and husband, but my body was stressed and angry. Too much caffeine, not enough water. Too many complex carbs, not enough produce. Too many processed meals, not enough fresh ingredients. All of my goals for healthy, clean, organic eating had dissipated and I was merely in survival mode scurrying about the corriders of the hospital by night nibbling on highly processed egg and cheese wraps and raiding the pantry without conscious by day.

Enough is (was) enough. I've been on an extremely low-carb and high vegetable diet (a modified South Beach diet of my own creation) for the past 5 days and I feel like a whole new person. So there it is people, take the time and EAT YOUR VEGGIES to feel your best.

Yummy recipes I've stumbled upon or created soon to follow.