And the new plan is (drumroll please): Whole30. It takes the clean eating that I have been working hard at and takes it a step further - no grains, no dairy, no sugar and no legumes - which means no quinoa and no chickpeas. I'm not sure what I am going to do. It's kind of like
if the Paleo diet went on a diet.
Whole30 is supposed to hit the reset switch on your metabolism. My metabolism could use a re-wiring, not just the flick of a switch, but you only do what you can do, you know?
I'm also lucky because a great friend is joining me on this journey. It works out well - she is very good at coming up with new things to eat and I'm good at, um, eating those things. So I guess it works out better for me than for her, but who's really counting? We're all friends here.
For the next 30 days (or really, 28 days, because I am currently on day 2), it's me against my pantry. I can't really throw everything my kids and Josh eat into a big black garbage bag(not that I didn't consider it), nor can I go live in the attic with my George Forman grill for a month (thought that one too), so sheer willpower will have to work. It would also be nice if I could lose so much weight that my long black skirt falls down, but I'm not holding my breath. However, my stomach does look flatter when I hold my breath, so maybe I should.
Anyway, on to the real question: So What Is There To Eat?
Good question, but let me backtrack for a minute. I did not do what I should have done. I did not go to Shoprite and stock up on everything I need, instead I am working with what I have for the moment and hope to get to Shoprite tomorrow. Surprisingly, I have a lot in the house: I have ground turkey, chicken breasts, flounder, raw almonds and cashews, a jar of
olives and tons of eggs. And lots of lettuce, tomatoes, carrots and sweet potatoes. Oh sweet sweet sweet potatoes, how I love you.
Oh, and many many water bottles. It's all about the drinking of the water - no matter what you eat.
I ate the same breakfast yesterday and today - I take comfort in the sameness of it all, the unthinkingness of it. Two hard-boiled eggs, a small handful of cashews, ten green olives and an apple for dessert. Sounds like a gross combo but it was actually good - kind of like ordering a bunch of different appetizers at a (very boring) restaurant. And I was full for a good three hours, which really surprised me.
I wasn't very hungry come lunch time. I know, I also couldn't believe it, but I was nervous about getting hungry and cranky later on so I had some plain tuna (no mayo), another apple (I need to go to the fruit store) and because I am a creature of habit, a couple of olives.
Dinner came and went and I still was not that hungry but of course, I ate anyway. I sauteed an onion in some olive oil, added a bag of cole slaw mix and let that steam. Then I added one pound of ground turkey and let that cook itself until it was done and mixed it all up. It was very very good and one of my kids joined me in my ground turkey experiment - he even gave up a pancake dinner.
How it feels? Well, it feels kind of like that last sentence - incomplete, a fragment, if you will. Around 2pm, I started getting a headache, my back started hurting and I felt kind of angry at the world. But then I told myself that the toxins leaving my body were going to take the anger with them and I felt, at least emotionally, better. I know, so yoga-ish to say that and I have not even been doing any yoga, I'm not even sure why my mind went there. Weird. Physically, everything still hurt so once the kids were in bed I took a very long, very hot shower and went to bed. And felt so much better in the morning.
Day 2 was better, physically. Also, I felt very even-keeled all day, which is a new feeling for me. One of the kids would do something slightly irritating and I didn't even have to bite my tongue, nice words seemed to be flowing out of my mouth of their volition. I know. Forget parenting classes, just stop eating dairy.
Today I ate the same breakfast as yesterday. Still have not gone to the supermarket - I had planned to go this morning but it was raining and I really dislike going in the rain. I don't like a wet shopping cart.
Lunch was leftovers from last night's dinner, the turkey and cabbage stir-fry.
Dinner was some plain rotisserie chicken, a baked sweet potato and some cherry tomatoes. I could really use something sweet right now but I already washed the dishes and did the lunchboxes for tomorrow so I am not going back into the kitchen, even if that means I need to park myself in front of the tv.
Let's see what happens on day 3. Should be interesting.