Diary of a 25 Year Old – (3/24) Spring, New Foods, and Coming Back to Life.

MONDAY, MARCH 24TH.

I’m laying in bed with my laptop balancing on one leg. They’re crossed because I needed the height to reach over the cat laying on my belly. He loves to do this when I’m working (“working” meaning writing, scrolling through Pinterest, watching YouTube, etc.) The arm that reaches over his back is already cramping up, but I wouldn’t dare push him off.

It makes me sad sometimes – all the time, really – that one day my sweet, tailless, little furball won’t be doing this. So I don’t push him away.

I just finished showering. We worked out this morning: a back and bicep session with cardio afterwards. I’m proud of myself for how committed I’ve become to my health.

Since December, when I started going to the gym and focusing on a high protein diet, I’ve already seen progress in how I feel mentally, physically, and even in my menstrual cycle.

Of course, it could just be that we’ve finally begun reaching 70 degrees in Denver, that my mental health is significantly better than it was two months ago. But I’ve also noticed that I don’t feel as foggy or as fatigued as I’ve felt in springs past. I don’t feel as though I need a post-seasonal-depression resting period to finally get back to living life. Even the severe anxiety that I’ve struggled with since I was a child seems to be dulled down, but I won’t get too ahead of myself.

Actually, I’ve been feeling a bit restless, excited for the opportunities to deep clean the goblin lair that is my bedroom and bathroom, to plant the patio garden that was the highlight of last year’s summer, and to explore brain stimulation that isn’t from my Tik Tok “For You Page”. I’ve been watching (yes, actually watching, not just sitting on my phone while it plays) the films on my watchlist rather than bingeing comfort shows. New recipes have got me in the kitchen prepping and cooking like never before. It’s an exciting time and I’m genuinely content. An extra five hundred dollars and a new pair of sandals certainly wouldn’t hurt though – looking at you, IRS.

Speaking of the kitchen, I tried papaya and peanut sauce for the first time this week. No, not together… Could be good, though.

Papaya was finally on sale at work and I felt the urge to jump on it. I had heard that it’s great for digestion and gut health, reducing inflammation, and aiding in skin and heart health.

Today I pulled it out of my fruit basket to make one of those papaya yogurt boats I had seen on Pinterest and Tik Tok awhile ago. I cut the fruit in half and scooped out the seeds, which I’ve heard can also be great for you, but I tried one and immediately spit it out… So, I’m good on that.

I tasted the fruit on it’s own and wasn’t too sure how I felt about it. I didn’t hate it but I don’t think I could enjoy a full one without the help of other flavors.

(Update: Upon consuming the second half the next day, I have decided that I like papaya. The texture and flavor reminds me of cantaloupe which I enjoy but don’t ever go out of my way for. Papaya definitely ranks higher in taste, though I’m not entirely convinced that I had a fully ripe one? There was a slight bitterness to it that supposedly isn’t present in a perfectly ripe papaya.)

Fresh lime juice is apparently great for enhancing the papaya flavor so I drenched it before adding a vanilla protein yogurt and some blackberries into the hollow center. I didn’t have any granola or I would have added some for crunch. As I’ve told my loved ones many times, I am a whore for a good crunch.

This was a great post workout snack. My intention was to have it for breakfast, but I had made banana and oat pancakes for a pre-workout carbs forward meal instead. I don’t think papaya will be a must-have fruit for me, but I’ll enjoy it on rotation this summer, for sure. I’d love to try it in a salad!

I had peanut sauce with a Vietnamese-style spicy shrimp salad I made last night. It wasn’t an authentic brand, so I’m not sure how true to flavor it is, but it reminded me of a peanut butter barbecue sauce, which is a huge yes for me.

Another significant win for my taste buds was finding a pre-cooked chicken sausage that not only tastes amazing, but has the ideal protein-to-fat ratio that I was looking for.

The extra energy my body has with the amount of protein I’ve been eating feels wonderful. It’s crazy how much the body changes when you’re giving it the nutrients it needs. Who would have thought? Not me.