Walking the Walk, Day 2.

Another great day. I have eaten tons of food, lots of flavor and I have lost 3 pounds already! Like I have said, I am not doing this to loose weight, although that would be great, but when you eat right, that just happens. I might chalk that up to, and excuse the potty talk, the cleansing out effect of my colon. I am a regular gal but getting rid of the hard to digest proteins has caused me to visit the bathroom regularly. I feel cleaned out. I used to have a regular full feeling which made me not want to eat a whole lot and never really feel totally empty. That sounds like it should work in my favor, but it really just meant that my gut was not emptying properly. Now food moves quick and I feel famished! 

I have had lots of questions and I will do my best to answer them for you. Ask away if I have missed something.

Why no citrus? I am doing this to reduce inflammation in the body. Citrus can be a high inflammatory food. I also drink too much orange juice in the morning or in my smoothies so I thought I should eliminate it for a while. It is also high in sugars. Berries, pears and apples are much lower in acid and sugars so they are in but I try to not eat too much. I favor them for breakfast as I have always been a sweet breakfast girl. I feel good when I eat them. 

What else do I eliminate? My big no's, as I said before are refined sugars, dairy of all kind, soy, corn and gluten grains. This means that you need to check all labels of anything you are using to make sure it is clean of these foods. Many dressings will have dairy or gluten. Your best bet is to make it yourself but there are some dressings you can get that are fine. I am eating some meat but I don't eat lots of meat so I keep that down to a few times a week. However, I am finding that my body is craving meat right now which I never do. I don't like meat but I am going to listen to my body. My body is healing and repairing and sometimes it needs more protein. Also, since I ambeliminating more starches, I will probably add a little more meat to fill the void. I will listen to my body as I go along.

To get rid of yeast, you try to get rid of the foods that feed the yeast. Sugar and starches of course are the worse but moldy type foods, like pistachios and peanuts can be offenders. I love natural peanut butter so I will eat some of that but make sure it tastes fresh and not rancid. Mushrooms and vinegars can also be moldy type foods but just use them sparingly. You need them in dressings and a little isn't going to hurt you. There are good benefits as well.

I am using a little honey, coconut sugar and real maple. A little. 

Am I having a cheat day? No. That won't work in an anti-inflammatory diet. However, we are having a group over tomorrow for dessert so instead of the brownies, hot fudge sauce and ice cream they are eating, I will be making me a brownie with coconut flour and coconut sugar. There is not too much coconut sugar and they taste like a dark chocolate. They are delicious. It will be my little treat. I plan on only indulging like that maybe once a week, if I feel like it. So far, I don't want it. I will post that recipe tomorrow.

Where to get arrowroot flour? I have gotten mine at sprouts in the baking section. Ask them if you don't see it. If you can't find it, I get lots of stuff online. Anyone can chime in here if they know where to get it. 

D3 dosages? I can tell you what I do for my family here. Kids under 3 about 1000-2000 IU's daily. 4-12 5000 IU's daily and over 12, 8000-10000 IU's. You can overdose D3 so don't exceed the limits. D3 is important for the healing process and for energy.

Yesterday's meals were great. I look forward to what I am eating. I am NOT deprived in anyway!

Breakfast: I have gotten ahead of myself and posted that yesterday. It was the buckwheat and blueberry pancakes. See yesterday's post. Super yum. I ate 4 of them.

Snack: I made a green smoothie with produce I picked from my garden; an Armenian cucumber, chard and a very small little cantaloupe. I didn't use much of that since I don't want all the sugars. I added ice and water. Not super tasty but I felt energized.

Lunch: I normally don't eat much lunch. I am usually pretty full from a big breakfast but since it moves pretty quickly now through me, I was famished. I ate a good sized lunch this day:

For starters, I had an egg, a couple slices of a previously cooked potato sliced and fried in coconut oil and a little spinach. Getting good fats is important. So many diets don't do this. You don't feel full if you don't have fats and your organs need it. Coconut oil and olive oil are great to use.

Then....

I made a quinoa salad. Quinoa is the only grain that has all the amino acids. It is a complete protein and gluten free. I steamed it in my pressure cooker, although you can cook it easily on the stove then added chopped cucumbers and tomatoes and Italian dressing. I added a little salt and pepper and ate up.

I was full! 

Dinner: Date night. I was not going to cook. We went to Pei Wei's since they have a gluten free menu. It was pretty limited, unfortunately. I had the gluten free sweet and sour chicken, which you need to specify gluten free. I don't love sweet and sour but I didn't have to cook it, so I was grateful. I had the brown rice with it and water. I was beyond full.

Last night I had a sick stomach. I felt this way before dinner so I am not sure why but I feel good today. Maybe detox? Maybe a bug. But, all is well. I had a fabulous breakfast but I won't get ahead of myself. You will have to wait till tomorrow. 

I am not spending all day in the kitchen. These meals are quick. They have flavor. I am happy. 

I hope I have answered your questions. I am so happy that many of you are jumping on board. When you don't sacrifice flavor, it isn't hard. You will start to feel so good that you don't want to cheat.