Phase Two, Day Two

That's right folks, I made it! Two whole weeks of deprivation. I am a little shocked myself. 2nd week was a tad easier than the first week from a routine stand point, but I think the cravings were actually worse. I think the idea of being closer to being able to eat other food again, made me want those food so much more. Sunday night I was sitting there impatiently and decided I would start to reintroduce my first food that night. Hey! I deserved a little something something for sticking it out! So I poured myself a nice cold glass of 2% milk and gulped it down. It was delicious. But anything new compared to what I've been eating would be delicious at this point. I didn't experience any issues. Last night, I had the same and again so far so good. I'm hoping my third night with La Leche will be a success. Then you are supposed to go back into detox for 3 days and try the next food. These are their recommendations for testers...

 Soy: Organic tofu, edamame, home-made soy milk
 Corn: Organic fresh corn, polenta, grits
 Yeast: Vinegars (balsamic, white), pickles, olives canned in vinegar, other fermented foods
 Eggs: Organic eggs, cooked in any manner (scrambled plain, poached, hard-boiled, etc.)
 Dairy: Milk, cheese, butter or yogurts
 Gluten: Whole wheat pasta, shredded wheat cereal, whole wheat tortilla, bulgur wheat, rye or spelt.

I don't see the reintroduction phase going as planned for me, but I will do my best. An in the spirit of being honest, I do have a confession to make. I cheated. This morning I broke down, walked over to the cafeteria at work and bought a sausage and cheese croissant. I took 3 bites and threw it out. It's not that it tasted bad, I just literally started to feel guilty about giving in now, after ALL that hard work. So I picked up my regular scheduled breakfast, a banana, ate it and moved on. The good news is, no upset stomach, so far, but I did only have 3 bites, big bites, but just 3 none the less.

It's so funny, of all things to cave on, I didn't think it would be that! I think my momentary slip was due to my lack of energy. I'm still extremely fatigued. I think I need carbs! It may be time to consult with a nutritionist some time in the near future. I honestly don't know if eating healthy is worth it if I have to deal with feeling THIS tired all the time. I don't even have the energy to go walking right now. Eat and sleep is all I do. :(

So, I am hoping I can power through this lull and keep progressing. I will check back in, in a few days!

Phase One, Day Eleven

Soooooo verrrrrry tired. Like, soooooooooooooooooooooo very tired. I've been sleeping more than find, in fact all I want to do is sleep. But I have slowly but surely lost all the pep in my step during the daytime. I am grouchy, testy, moody and did I mention sleepy already????  So what are the pros you may be asking???

Well, I'm not sure I'm in the right frame of mind to talk to you about pros, but I will try to anyway. They go a little something like this...

1. The Scale! Can you believe I would EVER put The Scale in a pro column? The numbers have slowly but surely been declining. Probably the pro that keeps me going.
2. Baggy clothes! Along with item number one above, all my clothes have been just a little less clingy, which is an amazing feeling. Enough said.
3. Tummy Issues are far and few between. This is HUGE! I do have a slight feeling that I can no longer have the almond milk. I've had a few instances where the glass of almond milk in the morning hasn't sat well and I think it's time to remove it. I didn't have it yesterday or today and again, I had some tummy issues this morning. So now I'm looking at the banana and almond butter. :( I will be devastated if it turns out I can't eat bananas because they have been saving grace. So has the almond butter, for that matter. I'm going to drop them for a couple days and try again and see what happens. For now, I have less than 24 hours to figure out what my breakfast is going to be now!!!!!!

Until my body decides to recoup from the yawns, I will probably start looking reading up on foods ( I can eat) that give you energy! Any suggestions?

Phase One, Day Seven

We're you expecting me to say I only made it through day two and caved!!!??? Maybe that I slipped and forgo I wasn't supposed to have something and decided to give in and just start all over another time!!??? Believe me, both of those scenarios crossed my mind as cop outs, but I am here to tell you the this ship has stayed it's course! 

I have survived through multiple dining out adventures, a birthday party with about 4 different kinds of cake and even a Father's Day brunch buffet fit for a king! I would have killed for a piece of cake today. Like yellow cake with chocolate icing or a double dose, chocolate cake and chocolate icing. Mmmmmmm. Sorry, I've been distracted. Alright, minus having to battle daily cravings popping up  at random, so far so good. I am eating a lot of chicken, have embraced quinoa and am officially having a love affair with bananas. They are my sweet tooth contender. I've said it before and I'll say it again banana ice cream is my savior, and I'm hoping I will one day be able to throw a little Nutella into that mix. Yumness! I can't seem to buy enough lemons and avocados and rice and veggies and the name of the game. Fruit is my snack and dessert for several meals!

Another item I am missing is drinking anything other than water. I miss my coffee and tea. I feel like I will find out that caffeine is one of my no no items and that makes me so sad. But water has taken over my life, so refreshing but very boring at the moment. Not to mention the multiple bathroom breaks make me feel like I'm 9 months pregnant. I've never been 9 months pregnant, but I'm just guessing.

As for how I'm feeling, I flip flop between have random spurts of energy and feeling like I could fall asleep anywhere at anytime. Again, bloating and fullness in my stomach is gone! I think some if that is the foods I am eating don't make my innards feel like they are being stretched to the max! Bowel movements have been regular and that's about all I will share on that. :) I didn't weigh myself when I started this cleanse and I hadn't weighed  myself prior to that in a while. From the last weigh in, several weeks ago and the latest weigh in there is a difference of about 13 lbs. I know that wasn't all in this week, but I bet a good 5 of it was! May e that's wishful thinking. But I weighed tonight and will weigh again next Sunday, so we'll have a more accurate number. 

Will update you guys soon. Until then I will leave you with my dinner tonight, which was baked chicken wings marinated in almond milk and then sprinkled with salt, pepper, garlic powder and a little paprika. I served them with rice and asparagus and it was delicious! The leftovers will make lunch for tomorrow, score!

Hope you had a great Father's Day!

Phase One, Day Two

Things got a little hectic this evening. A little panicky, if you will. But let me start from the beginning.

Breakfast consisted of the same as yesterday, banana with almond butter and a cup if unsweetened almond milk. Fulfilling enough, but starting to think my stomach doesn't care for the almond milk. I'll give it one more try tomorrow.

Lunch was leftovers from last night, the pork and quinoa. I chopped up the pork mixed it in the quinoa and added half an avocado. It was amazing, but it got the job done! I ended things with a bowl of strawberries and cantaloupe, yum!

For a snack I had a handful of rice chex mix. Apparently that wasn't enough because by the time I got home and started preparing dinner I started to get the shakes. I kept switching back and forth between feeling of utter starvation and wanting to puke. It was really weird. I finished cooking as fast as I could and scarfed it down when it was ready, two servings!!!!! Dinner was a ground beef patty seasoned with cumin, Brussels sprouts and rice. It was delicious, but then again I was starving!

I started to calm down a  little, but was still pretty shakey. And then, the craving hit! I needed something sweet or I was going to die! I immediately remembered the banana ice cream recipe I pinned on Pinterest and made a bee line for Target. I needed 4 bananas and a blender, STAT!

I ran back home, peeled and cut the bananas and threw them into the freezer, where they would sit and freeze for two hours. I decided to try and walk off the rest of my anxious jitters. I went for a 30 minute walk, came back and blended my frozen chopped up nanners into frozen perfection.

After all that, in spent! A hit shower and a chick flick is what's on the agenda. Day two was definitely not as easy as day one. The lack of caffeine is killing me and the sugar cravings are enough to make me want to jump off a bridge. Am I being too dramatic? Cause it doesn't feel like it.

Any suggestions on a healthy way to curb the cravings?

Until tomorrow,goodnight.

Process of Elimination

Tomorrow (hopefully) I start the Dr. Myers Elimination Diet. I hate that it's called a diet, but I'll make do. One of my best friends Mother in Law and Aunt are currently on the program and were sweet enough to pass along the ebook so I can follow. Her Aunt is Gluten Intolerant and allergic to corn! The diet pretty much is broken down into two phases, the elimination is phase 1. For 14 days there is no alcohol, caffeine, sugar, artificial sweeteners, no fast food, junk food, processed foods, no sweets, no wheat, flour, corn...basically the list of what I can eat is shorter than what I can. Those items are just the ones that hit closest to home. Phase 2 is reintroducing these foods one by one to see how your body reacts. At the end, you should know what foods are working for you and what foods are working against you. At least, that is the plan!

Yes, I am totally aware of how difficult this is going to be. I know my success is solely dependent on my ability to apply myself to this plan. And to STICK with it. But here's the thing, if I can't do this I get to continue with exactly how things are currently. Yes, I will be able to eat all the crap I want, but I will also be able to continue being overweight, unhealthy, tired, have stomach issues, be insecure and self conscious. OR, I can make a solid attempt to take control of my eating habits. What's the worst that can happen? I feel better? How terrible would that be? Maybe even lose a little weight? Man, that would just be horrible!

So over the next 14 days, I need instant reminders of what I am gaining from this to help me stay the course. A super list of pros that is so phenomenal, the option of not succeeding isn't even a possibility! I am going to work on this list tonight and post tomorrow. I have a feeling I will need  the reminder/ motivation tomorrow.

Thanks for lending the ear/ eye. Have any of you done the Elimination diet? Any advice?

What A Difference A Day Makes!

Feels like I've been whistling that song (in my head) all day long, so much so, I'm feeling a little Mr.Roger-ish. Then I slowly start to get creeped out because, well, as an adult, Mr. Rogers is more creepy than cool. Anyway, back to whistling dixie! Today was a great food day! And those, if you've been reading (PLEASE BE READING!) are very hard to come by. I had my usual english muffin egg sandwich with a little butter and jelly (my total GO TO breakfast meal) and even splurged on some Community Coffee last night at the grocery store. That for sure put a little pep in my step for the day. I headed back home for lunch. Lunch is always so hard! The only thing that keeps me from eating a healthy meal at dinner time is me cooking. But I feel like I don't have time to cook something for lunch. And the sodium really limits the usual quick fixes like sandwich and chips, soups and did I mention sandwiches????? So what was on today's menu, a taco bowl!!!! If you are thinking to yourself yum, well, hold that thought.. I browned some extra lean ground beef and seasoned with black pepper, cumin, garlic powder and a hint of chili powder for a teeny, tiny kick. To be completely honest, I didn't even miss the salt!!!!!! I scooped a cup full into my bowl, added a 1/4 cup of monterrey jack cheese (which I could definitely scale back on) and topped it all off with a tablespoon of sour cream. Okay, now you may YUM! It was so delicious and filling and totally stuck to my low sodium needs. I'm still having issues kicking my something sweet habit, so I ended my lunch with a cup of fresh strawberries and 2 tablespoons of Nutella (my new best friend)! Not to mention the icing on the cake that was my awesome lunch, I caught the last 20 minutes of "Save the Last Dance", totally toats my goats. :) A day like like, really makes me think this whole healthy eating is actually do-able. May not be in tip top shape, but we're getting there. I'm not 100% sure what all was involved with dinner as we dined with Vance's Grandmother at her retirement community, but I can't imagine the grilled chicken in a honey dijon sauce on a rice pilaf and steamed veggies was all that bad. And I will leave out the Apple Pecan pie a la mode. Work in progress my friends.

No walking on the agenda for tonight, but it's on the books for tomorrow. I actually have some late night work to attend to, but thought I would share my food day with you guys, aren't you glad!!!

What about you guys, any GO TO meals or great lunch ideas you'd like to share????