Phase One -> Two

Anybody who has ever embarked on a quest for healthier eating habits can attest that the world is not a friendly place. At least not if you don't plan to get along with it.

From day one of embarking to eat dairy free, grain free, sugar free, fruit free, and starchy veggies free I was met with resistance from every angle. Day one, a coworker brought a bag of bagels and cream cheese (all contraband in my new life style) and it was torture to see the uneaten remnants trashed a few days later. Perhaps those were the bagels I would have eaten in a regular ole week.

Secondly, there is an extremely decadent and hip food truck (as gourmet as a truck can get) that I recently found prior to starting these lifestyle changes. I've tried their Sliders with Bacon Bling, a "new york" style falafel in pita, and a Chai Brownie (not all at once, of course) from them. There were so many more things that I wanted to try. Like say for instance the mac n' cheese cone, a red velvet waffle, or a fish taco. But now those aspirations shall have to wait, until labor day, ie final oppurtunity for swimwear. Until then, I find myself trekking with coworkers to this forbidden truck every Thursday this Spring that they inadvertently "forget" their lunches, RIGHT! But I'm just a spectator, I swear!

Lastly, and more recently (This past Memorial weekend Sunday evening), I attended a wedding with a catered buffet. I was really hoping it would be a buffet so that I could exercise freedom of choice. And although, there weren't many choices for my lifestyle, I did find three things extremely satisfying and therefore gorgeworthy in the merriment. Fresh strawberries, mushroom caps with italian sausage, and Grilled Beef Fillet with Chimichurri Sauce (Oil, vinegar, and other spices). Okay, so I probably overdid the Fillet because a) I was hungry b) Two vodka sodas reduced my inhibitions or c)It was ridiculously good. Answer: All of the above. I will consider this a minor oversight thusly corrected with complete abstention from the dessert, cupcakes. Yea, I did it! [Takes bow] -_-

I'm trying my best with this lifestyle swap, but it gets increasingly more difficult on the weekend blowouts with family and friends. Because I want to relieve my conscience I will leave you with a short list of my indiscretions so far in phase two.

1.I had a beer pre-Hangover II opening night. Self Explanatory.
2.I had a little pineapple at the wedding. I forgot they were amoung the no-no high sugar fruits.
3. I had one fruity concoction signature drink at the wedding. It was brought to me and I couldn't say "no I'll be having none of your delicious drink" and it was :)
4. There were empanadas on the fruit table, yea still talking wedding, I took one, broke it open, ate the meat inside, and just took a tiny sample of the shell, just to see what it was like ;-)
5. At a special lunch this weekend my salad had bleu cheese and fried onion straws. I did my best to avoid them, but, you know...it is what it is
6. Soy milk is just so often more convenient than other non-dairy options...

All in all, I am very proud with my ability to avoid the obvious villains: Bread, Pasta, Rice, and Sugary treats. It hasn't been easy but it's getting easier. And although I haven't officially tried any recipes yet, I have been receiving special inspiration from this blog. This young lady is not sugar free but she just has a way of making decadent (yes, DECADENT) desserts seem possible for the health conscious. Check it out!

Phase One

It's been two weeks since I wrote a blog post. Mainly because I had started writing all kinds of interesting (to me) stuff last-last week and blogger rudely hit some reset button which deleted all my saved drafts... What can I say? I discourage easily.

So here we are two weeks later and I have been doing some things differently. I took the suggestions of this blog pretty seriously, at least for the last two weeks. I have completed the two week no white stuff-no fruit phase. I can sum up my experience with this graph:

Now, the graph looks horrible in blogger. So I can sum it up by saying there is a light the end of the sugar craving roller coaster. Mainly, I have successfully resisted sheet cake and free sandwiches and I am all the more excited to add back some fruit this week. Fruit has now become my most indulgent friend.

Although, I have come out of phase 1 fairly successful, I did have a couple flubs. Here are my confessions:

1. I have been drinking coffee mainly with almond milk, and occasionally (when almond was not an option) with soy milk. I think soy products are no-no's, so oops.

2. There was one instance when I had depleted my truvia stash and settled for a little splenda, only once, it was necessary.

3. Peppers are fruits. But I ate them frequently anyways. Dipping them raw in hummus and salsa or chopped in omelets.

4. I wasn't supposed to eat fruit until today. But I was feeling deprived Friday night and ate my first ever Larabar (peanut butter cookie). And it was surprisingly better than I could have imagined. I expected a dry mash of nuts but I received a moist nutty brownie. Nom.

5. I was having a particularly low Sunday evening in yesterday. So, in order to not hurl myself on a box of cookies I opted to make a super light pumpkin pudding with Libby's pumpkin, almond milk, cinnamon and **gasp** a packet of Jello's sugar free vanilla pudding mix. Yea, I know aspartame is another no-no, but it did it's job lowering me off the sugar ledge.

6. Once or twice thrice I ate processed deli meat, pepperoni, or jerky. For the record their sugar counts were resoundingly nil and I reasoned that having passed up sheet cakes and bagels (from eagerly distributing members) I perhaps earned the right to some kind of flavorful indulgence (within a semblance of the rules).

I think those are all my missteps for phase one.

Now on to phase two, where I will continue to avoid the white stuff and add back some choice fruits to keep me sane.

LOL

This made me laugh!

I don't know what else to say about this. It's just funny to me, that is all.

The Live-It Diet

Upon blog surfing (compulsive jumping from blog to blog depending on who has an interesting blog title or shoutout) I came across the Live-it Diet. I was drawn, by the brave blogger's before and after shots, to investigate further. Now, this blogger's before was not too bad. Maybe she had 10-15 more lbs to lose to feel completely jiggleless. And that's really not alot of jiggle to begin with. So anyways, I started feeling hopeful and reading on because, you know, I have like 15-20 I'd love to say good-bye to (but not enough to stop eating awesome food). So upon dissecting the "plan" I began to think this sounds so simple, why haven't I tried this before? Maybe because the "plan" requires you abstain from dairy, sugar, bread, baked goods, pasta, and potatoes. Well that rules out nearly everything I eat.

Wow, that's like rewiring my entire go-to grocery list (milk, bread, cheese, yogurt check check check check). This list has allowed me to eat week to week while maintaining a minimalist approach to actual meal planning. In other words it supports my laziness. So then I started wondering how hard this transition might actually be... I forsee two road blocks: 1) What do I do with the existing bread, sugar, and dairy that I already own? I hate to throw that stuff out because its wasteful but I can't keep it because it would be too easy to fall off the "plan" and 2) How can I function with friends and family without 1) offending any pushy chef-like types and 2) appearing to have a vain eating disorder. It all just sounds so daunting. Ideally, May 9th-29th would be the easiest in terms of JW being gone and needing a project to occupy my freetime. But what happens when I go visit SN (at her parentals' home with her broken leg and a dad who should open his own restaurant). I can already see the astonished and dismayed faces as I reject homemade fried rice and spring rolls. Ackkkkk. Those are the tough times I am never really prepared for.

In conclusion, the live-it diet blog post I found has given me alot to think about (in terms of how bread and dairy will likely be the death of me) but I'm just not sure if such a drastic approach is worth trying.

Wednesday Funk Schlump

This is a dreary, rainy Wednesday for which I wish my mood didn't match. But it does. So I will listen to The Beatles Pandora station all day and try to quash any particularly low Wednesday thoughts. Not even the offer of Indian food could pick me out of this schlump :(

Funky Schlump oddly reminds me of Shake you wanny fanny funky song! Nobody else watched that episode of Sabrina?

You are welcome

Self Deprecation

See that there!


Do you see that roll of paper on my desk right now? That's a chocolate covered french crueller. Actually, its one of my favorite donuts (due to its half baked doughy center...yummmm). Anyways, I dub thee yonder post self deprecation due to the shame that has lead me to this wrapped confection on my desk. You see, today, my office had a box of donuts (12) for about 6 people. Most of which would never dare eat more than one. Can you see the conundrum. I floated into the office today on a cloud of sparkly fairytale dust after watching the royale wedding way too late for work. Greeted by the box of donuts and on a spectacular high I partook of two (neither of which were crullers, because there were none in there at the time, or so I thought) donuts. Come 3:30pm and there are still two donuts staring back at me in said box. Clearly, my favorite donut must have been hiding at the bottom of this deep box of awesomeness because now I see what was not visible before. I decided that in lieu of my donut heavy breakfast I should pack it for later. And here we find my shame laden donut for later.

But don't worry, I don't beat myself up AFTER eating awesomeness (that's just a cruel waste). I just do it up until the moment I get to experience the culinary awesomeness. Please don't be confused by my GBLA. It was the bread's fault not mine!

Sorry I cannot proofread or spell check this confession because it is time to close up shop.

Thank you for listening.

GBLA - GOOD Bread Lovers Annonymous

Hi, my name is Minoo, and I'm addicted to good bread. Yes, I said GOOD bread. I can't buy any type of GOOD bread because it is guaranteed that I will eat it at an unnatural pace.

Let me demonstrate the power GOOD bread has over me.

This past Sunday I did my groceries with a standard list. (Milk, Eggs, Meat, Yogurt, Cheese, etc Bread) As I perused the bread aisle something possessed me to stand head-on with and stare at GOOD bread. In the past I have made a general practice of walking past GOOD bread straight to MEH bread. I usually buy MEH bread because its healthier and its mediocre flavor (and texture) limit its usage to sandwiches ONLY because that's the only way MEH bread can be deemed acceptable. Oh, and also, in this fashion MEH bread can last (as a meal option in my fridge) for up to 2 weeks. But Sunday, I had the misfortune of forgetting the "game plan" and gazed too long upon GOOD bread. I didn't stand a chance.

And neither did the GOOD bread in my fridge. It was gone in three days compared to the 14 days MEH bread lasts. Sorry love-handles, I have failed you with my poor decision making on that fateful Sunday.

Due to my addiction to GOOD bread I was forced to make a midweek grocery run for a new bag of bread, MEH bread of course. And now I am in a self imposed GBLA state until my next encounter with the enemy. But damn, why are things that are so good usually so bad for you?