I had the strangest dream last night. It seems the lack of sugar in this diet was the reason for everyone being so tired. To combat it, we had to mix some table sugar with water, and inject it into our thighs before each round of the WOD. My thighs were getting all bruised up, and I hate needles. Right about then the high winds outside woke me up. WTH?
I really haven't been craving sugar that much. A couple dates after dinner has worked out great to satisfy my sweet tooth. And while the diet guidlines suggest limiting dried fruit, it come in handy keeping a bag of non-sweetened dried mixed fruit from Costco at the office for daytime snacks.
Yesterday was the first time I had restaurant food for lunch. I ordered Chipotle for the office, and I got a steak salad. Now I love a good Chipotle steak fajita burrito - steak, rice, fajita veggies, a big scoop of the hottest salsa, cheese and sour cream all wrapped in a warm flour tortilla. The Challenge version in a salad - lettuce, veggies, steak and salsa. Kind of boring and not really worth the $8 or so it cost. I think my left-overs are much better.
Saturday, January 28, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
The End of Week 1
I miss pizza. Hot, gooey pizza. Add a couple bottles of wine and you've got a great way to finish up a hard week at the office.
Not that I've been hungry during this challenge. It's just that there are still some cravings there that can't be replicated.
It appears the best way to make it through this diet is meal planning. Dez and I spent Saturday visiting Whole Foods, Costco and our local Ralph's stocking up on Challenge-friendly foods. The hot ticket at Whole Foods was some really tasty nut mixes without prohibited oils to have for snacks.
Dinner was cocoa spice rubbed elk steaks cooked in ghee, braised spinach with toasted pine nuts and sun dried tomatoes.
Sunday was spent making food. A huge pot of venison chili simmered on the stove all day long and then packaged up for lunches during the week. While the chili was cooking it was sausage making time: duck and mushroom sausage, wild boar chorizo and wild boar hot links.
I decided to do something NOT allowed by the Whole30 program - I stood on the scale. In one week of eating healthy I lost the 9 pounds I had gained over the holidays. Sweet!
Not that I've been hungry during this challenge. It's just that there are still some cravings there that can't be replicated.
It appears the best way to make it through this diet is meal planning. Dez and I spent Saturday visiting Whole Foods, Costco and our local Ralph's stocking up on Challenge-friendly foods. The hot ticket at Whole Foods was some really tasty nut mixes without prohibited oils to have for snacks.
Dinner was cocoa spice rubbed elk steaks cooked in ghee, braised spinach with toasted pine nuts and sun dried tomatoes.
Sunday was spent making food. A huge pot of venison chili simmered on the stove all day long and then packaged up for lunches during the week. While the chili was cooking it was sausage making time: duck and mushroom sausage, wild boar chorizo and wild boar hot links.
I decided to do something NOT allowed by the Whole30 program - I stood on the scale. In one week of eating healthy I lost the 9 pounds I had gained over the holidays. Sweet!
Thursday, January 19, 2012
The Start
Day 1:
Out the door with a banana and my big jug of ice water. Normally I would have added a breakfast bar, but not allowed on the diet. I'm going to miss my diet Mt. Dew.
For lunch ran to the local Albertson's to get something to eat. It shouldn't be that hard, right? Grabbed a big tub of lettuce then off to the dressing. Every single bottle contained some sort of oil that wasn't allowed on the diet. Fine, I'll grab a can of tuna. So I started reading the tuna cans. Tuna packed in oil all had soy or other veggie oil - not allowed. The ones packed in water contain vegetable stock - read the fine print and it contains soy. Screw it, I'll go grab some turkey meat from the deli section. All had soy or sugar on the ingredient list. WTH? I got appointments starting in 10 minutes so I got to get back to the office. I'll just eat my dry lettuce if I have to. The line to check out was 7 people back so it looked like I was skipping lunch today.
Conclusion - if you don't make your food without growing it in your own garden, or butchering it yourself, it's not on the Whole 30 diet. This is really going to suck.
Day 2:
I've decided that I have to make this diet work for my "real world". The Whole 30 folks say you have to avoid hidden soy and sugar in the ingredient for the duration of the challenge. I'm having trouble believing that little bit of soy in the vegetable broth in the can of tuna is really going to make a difference in my success or failure of this challenge. I'm going to make smart choices, read lables, and make extra food at night so I've got something to eat for lunch.
This diet is sometimes going to take planning and extra effort. I'm going to miss my grains, dairy, sugar and alcohol. But I'm going to make this work.
Out the door with a banana and my big jug of ice water. Normally I would have added a breakfast bar, but not allowed on the diet. I'm going to miss my diet Mt. Dew.
For lunch ran to the local Albertson's to get something to eat. It shouldn't be that hard, right? Grabbed a big tub of lettuce then off to the dressing. Every single bottle contained some sort of oil that wasn't allowed on the diet. Fine, I'll grab a can of tuna. So I started reading the tuna cans. Tuna packed in oil all had soy or other veggie oil - not allowed. The ones packed in water contain vegetable stock - read the fine print and it contains soy. Screw it, I'll go grab some turkey meat from the deli section. All had soy or sugar on the ingredient list. WTH? I got appointments starting in 10 minutes so I got to get back to the office. I'll just eat my dry lettuce if I have to. The line to check out was 7 people back so it looked like I was skipping lunch today.
Conclusion - if you don't make your food without growing it in your own garden, or butchering it yourself, it's not on the Whole 30 diet. This is really going to suck.
Day 2:
I've decided that I have to make this diet work for my "real world". The Whole 30 folks say you have to avoid hidden soy and sugar in the ingredient for the duration of the challenge. I'm having trouble believing that little bit of soy in the vegetable broth in the can of tuna is really going to make a difference in my success or failure of this challenge. I'm going to make smart choices, read lables, and make extra food at night so I've got something to eat for lunch.
This diet is sometimes going to take planning and extra effort. I'm going to miss my grains, dairy, sugar and alcohol. But I'm going to make this work.
The Challenge
Let me start off by saying I'm a trained doubter. As a scientist I've been taught to not believe any claims unless they can be substantiated with facts. So I have trouble believing any fad diets. You want good nutrition? Eat a well balanced diet. Want to lose weight? Calories in vs. calories used - eat less and work out more.
I guess it is fair to say I didn't start this challenge with a lot of enthusiasm. Heck, limit the items in any diet and you will probably lose weight. But I'm willing to try for the next 30 days. Which means a weekend of enjoying all the things I won't be eating for the next month.
Day 0
The weekend before starting the challenge. Sat on the couch watching movies, drank lots of wine and ate things like nachos and hot fudge sundaes (no alcohol, no sugar, no grain or dairy products allowed after Monday). Damn nice weekend.
I guess it is fair to say I didn't start this challenge with a lot of enthusiasm. Heck, limit the items in any diet and you will probably lose weight. But I'm willing to try for the next 30 days. Which means a weekend of enjoying all the things I won't be eating for the next month.
Day 0
The weekend before starting the challenge. Sat on the couch watching movies, drank lots of wine and ate things like nachos and hot fudge sundaes (no alcohol, no sugar, no grain or dairy products allowed after Monday). Damn nice weekend.
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