More challenges

I made it through the weekend but had a little slip up on Monday evening...ate some of those cookies in the freezer...then some tortilla chips. Did better on Tuesday, made it to the gym and back on track with my eating.
Tomorrow is my hike day. Should be good.

What a great weekend!

I feel like I did ok at the party last night. I had about 6 oz of wine total. That is very acceptable. I took my veggie platter and that is mostly what I ate before the dinner. I did have a piece of bread and some cheese. For dinner I had a small piece of abalone and small piece of tri-tip and rice and salad. Dessert was a peach with reduced balsamic vinegar and blue cheese. We hung around later than I wanted to and I broke down and had a brownie and then some pita chips. I wish I hadn't but I did. Oh well. Got to bed around 12:30 am. Slept very well.
What made the weekend especially great was that on Sunday we rode our motorcycles to church and then to breakfast and then we continued on and did 150 miles to Casa de Fruta and out by San Juan Bautista and back. I don't think it could be considered exercise but at least I wasn't in front of the TV munching on something. As for food, I had oatmeal with nuts and berries for breakfast, the first I've had since Day 1. Lunch at Casa de Fruta was a bowl of fruit. We got home around 4:00 and I had a shake and then made some lentils for the week and Dinner was salmon, brown rice and a salad. Just a great weekend. Tomorrow I weigh in and I just hope my Sat dinner didn't mess me up too much. I had such a good weight loss last week and with my cold this week, I only worked out twice this week. So I don't expect a weight loss this week, I would be happy to stay the same. We'll see.

Same ol' thing

Well, this past week I've eaten the usual stuff plus almonds, eggs and I did introduce corn and that multi-grain bread. I think the egg and almonds are ok but I had PMS symptoms and then a cold that kind of got in the way of me noticing any different feelings. I have not eaten any more corn or bread. For the most part, I think I can continue to avoid those foods without too much trouble.

Today I made it to the gym and had a very good workout and then I had my shake for breakfast but did not get a chance to eat my usual fruit snack at 10 because I was out running errands...well, I developed an excrutiating headache that has stuck around all day. I have experienced this before where I'll get a headache if I go too long without eating; sspecially following a tough workout. But of course it has me thinking that maybe it was the egg I ate yesterday. So I don't know. I checked my blood pressure and it is higher than what it normally is.

Anyway, tomorrow we're going to have dinner at a friends home, Surf and Turf. I'll eat the abalone but plan to only taste the beef...I have not had any beef in a long time and I don't want my system to suddenly revolt. I'll probably also have wine or beer. Hopefully I'll stick to just one glass. I plan to take a platter of veggies to help me get through the night. I'll report the results.

Caught a cold

Well so much for introducing foods and looking for a reaction..last week it was the PMS symptoms and this week it's a cold. I did try to introduce wheat...I didn't notice anything other than my stomach sure did a lot of gurgling trying to digest it. My stomach didn't hurt it just made noises trying to digest this strange food it hadn't seen for 28 days. So for now I'm just going to continue with the basic diet...a shake for breakfast, fruit for morning snack, lentils and squash/yam for lunch, veggies for afternoon snack, and it's usually a big salad for dinner followed by my evening shake. I try to eat fish once a week, usually on Thur or Fri. Other than that, I don't have a hankering for meat. At some point I want to try other type of legumes like black beans.
Because of this cold, I haven't been working out. That's a bummer. I had such a good routine going. Oh well, there is always next week.

Wowee!

I weighed in today and I've lost another 3.5 lbs! That makes it a total of 12.5 lbs lost in 28 days. You'd think I've been starving myself but I'm not. Now, I am not eating like I used to and I have not yet started to eat regular foods like pasta, bread, deli meats, canned foods, alcohol, but to tell you the truth I don't miss those foods right now. This weight loss is the most successful I've ever had with any type of weight loss program I've tried. I think that I have finally found the program that I can stick with. That doesn't mean I'll never eat those foods I mentioned earlier, it just means for the most part this will be the norm for me. I know, I know, I'm starting to sound like born-again Christian.

I will at some point need to eat regular foods and learn how to deal with it. Soon, like later this week, friend's bday + a BBQ at her house on the weekend. I plan to take some healthy foods to share.

So, the weekend went well. I cooked some more lentils to eat for lunch during the week. I was going to introduce wheat today but decided to hold off until my congestion clears up. I woke up congested and with a sore throat, probably because I breathed through my mouth all night and I didn't have Jim there to elbow me to roll over!

Corn

Saturday, had a very good workout. Ready to introduce corn. I had my usual breakfast shake and for lunch I added half a cup of organic corn kernels to my lentils. Within an hour I noticed developement of phlegm. Just to complete the introduction I added some high fructose corn syrup in the form of good old Karo Syrup to my afternoon shake then I ate some tortilla chips. I had some more corn for dinner. More phlegm and congestion. The good thing is that when I ate the chips I didn't feel like I was out of control. I ate a small amount and stopped whereas before I would have had cravings to eat more. And the Karo Syrup really didn't add much sweetness to the shake. I was thinking I would have this wonderfully sweet smoothie and that I would have a hard time going back to my regular smoothie, nope. I'll take my regular stevia-sweetened smoothie thankyou.

So I wonder if phlegm and congestion are the only symptoms. So now that I know what it does, I'll try to avoid foods with corn.

I'mI going to test wheat next. I bought a little round multiple-grain loaf from Sprouts. That will the first piece of bread I'll have eaten in over 28 days. I guess I'll be testing other grains too. I should have just bought 100% whole wheat, oh well. And I'll also be testing gluten too I suppose.

Meanwhile, other than testing these foods, I'm still eating vegetables and fruit. Today I cooked some more butternut squash and yams and tomorrow I'll cook up some lentils. I can't believe I'm not absolutely bored with this food yet but I'm not.

On Monday I weigh in again. So on day 21 last week, I had lost 1/2 lb. more giving me a total loss of 9 lbs for the purification part of the program. Not bad! Nine pounds in 21 days. Of course I want to continue losing weight so I'm going to continue doing what I'm doing.

I wonder when I'm going to crack

I'm still going strong...I am mostly able to stay on track because I accepted that this is a sustainable eating style for me. And the longer I can keep eating like this, the more natural and normal it becomes...so to that effect, I am purposely avoiding tempting situations....I did not think "when the 21 days are over, I'm going to have a cappucino and a piece of cake". Instead I continued as if I were still on the program and I'm following the re-introduction guidelines. I still have not had coffee or alcohol or sugar...well I think the almond milk probably has sugar in it.

In fact, tonight I baked some cookies and I was tempted, but I said to myself, "tomorrow I'm going to introduce corn and I really think I'll find out I'm allergic to it...I can't have any cookies because if I get a reaction, I won't know if it is from the corn or from the cookies" So for the first time in my life, I baked some cookies and did not eat any. (I did save two in the freezer) The rest of them are going with Jim on his trip.

So all this goodie two-shoes attitude is making me wonder when I'm going to crack...probably next weekend when we get together with some friends. I hope I don't over do it when I do crack!

It feels very comfortable and natural...

to eat this way..really. Today I had my usual shake for breakfast and I had a cup of the almond milk. I also took 2 oz of almonds to work and ate them as snacks...this was in addition to my apple and orange that I eat as a snack. I also had about a cup of lentils that I had cooked up with a bunch of vegetables earlier in the week, and some cut up zucchini. For dinner I had a large salad with that special salad dressing and 1 oz of almonds and then another shake.

So, almonds were introduced today, in case you hadn't noticed. Again, I developed a headache by the end of the day. But again, I think it is a PMS symptom and not due to the almonds....I guess I'm going to have to go through this all over again next week, just to make sure. Oh well.

I played volleyball at lunch today and I played longer than I planned to...my boss is out on vacation. I was very tired that last game and I think my headache is partly due to the fact that I played longer and ate a very late lunch - around 1:40.

So, I don't have any challenges this weekend - Jim is leaving for a week so I should be able to have a very smooth week where I don't need to worry about temptations.

I'm liking this...and you know what? My legs feel slimmer, it's weird...I don't recall feeling this way when I was on weight watchers. My pants slip on a lot easier, I don't have to squirm to get them on.

If I could lose 5 more lbs before we go to Illinois I would be ecstatic....that's three weeks away. Gonna try to keep this going as long as I can.

I'm still here....

I've been busy but I'm still here and I'm still detoxing....during the post purification program I am following the same food plan as days 11-21 - fruits, veggies, lentils, rice, lean organic meats and high quality oils. However, now I get to introduce a new food every two days and I need to listen to my body for signs of an intolerance or allergic reaction. According to the information in the e-mail (a link in day 19) I should start with the 5 big offenders: Wheat, Dairy, Corn, Soy and Egg. I started with the Egg. So on Day 1 of post purification, I ate a hard boiled egg for bfast and one for lunch. I developed a really bad headache....but I'm not ready to blame the egg yet...I think my headache was due to PMS. It felt like one of those headaches. So instructions say to introduce a new food, make note of any unusual reactions such as gas, bloating, headaches, congestion, itching, that kind of stuff. After eating the egg on day 1, I'm not supposed to eat it again for 3 days and then, if I want to try it again, I can. The instructions also say I should introduce a new food every two days. So tomorrow I'm going to try almonds, just because I bought some almond milk and I want to drink some!

So, according my chiropractor and to all the information that I've read during this process...there are some foods that our bodies do not tolerate. Upon eating these foods, our system is not able to fully digest the intolerant foods and it ends up storing it in the fat cells - some of culprits are the food additives and preservatives, some are just foods that for some reason we are allergic to.

Today on the Health section of cnn.com, there was an article about the 4 reasons women have trouble losing weight. And one of the reasons was exactly what I mention above. The 4 reasons are 1) sluggish thyroid, 2)whacked out hormones 3)food intolerances 4)prescription drugs. I definitely fall into the category of having trouble losing weight...I try so hard, especially with exercise and the weight just hangs on. I used to wonder if it was a thyroid issue, but I've had my TSH tested and I do not fall into that category based on the guidelines in the article. I did not have the symptons as listed for the whacked out hormones and I don't take any prescription drugs. So I suspect it is food intolerance...and I bet I'm going to find out I'm intolerant of corn or wheat. I think corn because, growing up, we ate a lot of corn products, corn tortillas, tamales, and mom cooked everything with Mazola corn oil. As a kid I was always the fat one....I was never skinny like my sisters...now I'm slimmer than they are but I'm still overweight. So anyway, that will be interesting to see what my body does, I think I'll try corn after almonds, so that will be on Saturday that I'll introduce corn.

I tried to add the link to the article but something is not quite working. Look for it at Cnn.com, scroll down to the Health section.

I am really enjoying eating like this...sometimes I have a desire to eat regular foods but it's not an urgent craving. I'm really trying to make eating rich foods/drinks for special occasions. Today I went to Costco, and the pizza and hotdogs smelled so good and I just had to tell myself..."step away from the food court, this is definitely not a special occasion!"

One more day to go.

I had another dream where I messed up...I went to a store that I used to frequent and it had a coffee bar and bakery and I just automatically ordered my coffee with cream and whole wheat toast. I proceeded to eat and then I was at a meeting where someone brought goodies for the meeting and as they were offering the goodies to me, I reached out to take one and that's when I remembered I couldn't eat that stuff and then I looked down and realized I had already messed up with my coffee and toast! Oops! Good thing it was just a dream....I think it was warning me to be extra vigilant when I socialize with friends so that I don't fall back into my old bad habits!

And so with this warning, I made it through the weekend! Made it through the pool party and my birthday. The biggest challenge for me was the tortilla chips. I love tortilla chips and they are so easy and tasty to eat. But I managed, I stuck to the veggies and I made some chicken shish-ke-bobs and some yam+butternut squash + apple and blueberry and cinnamon dessert....well, it really can't be called dessert, it just wasn't sweet enough but if you used your imagination, it worked.

I still can't believe I really stuck to this.

My next step is to figure out what I'm going to introduce first. I'm thinking oatmeal because I would like to have something more to eat at breakfast than just the shake but, according to the guidelines that I read from the Day 17 e-mail, I should include protein with every meal. So now I'm not sure....the things that I want to re-introduce - nuts, seeds, oatmeal, beans.

I don't want to drink coffee except on special occasions. Same thing with bread. Alcohol, only one glass per occasion and only if it is really good.

Ok we'll see how I really do with these guidelines.

Another normal day...

eating healthy foods.

Nothing much to report. The usual breakfast, lunch and for dinner I had some soup with chicken...had to add cilantro, salt and seasonings, much better.

I am a little sore today from the hike yesterday...mostly my shoulders.

Day whatever

I can't believe it but I'm not counting the days anymore...I've found a good rhythm and I am not thinking "how much longer" or "when is this going to be done with" I just hope I can keep it up after the 21 days. Even though I'm no longer counting days and waiting for this to finish, I do have to make sure that I make it through day 21, that's on Monday.

I hiked by myself today and I pushed myself...I carried a 20 lb backpack. Ten minutes into the hike, I started to think this wasn't such a good idea, I was feeling it. 20 minutes into the hike I was debating whether to return and ditch the backpack. I decided to man-up and I soldiered on. The biggest problem was that the weight was on my shoulders, my already stressed out shoulders. But after a while I kinda got used to it. 3 hrs 5 min later, I was happy to be done. Polar watch stats: 1246 cal, 45% fat, Max HR 166, Ave HR 127.

I came home and fixed a huge salad with spinach, mushrooms, tomato, avocado, broccoli, kale. Followed it up with a yummy shake.

Then I took a hot bath with Epson salt.

Day 15

I made it to the gym! Did 50 min on the bike and then some lunges and ball squats (6 sets held for 30 seconds each). Polar watch stats: 1hr 16 min, 610 calories, 35% fat, Max HR 168 ave HR 139.

Breakfast was the usual shake, with flax seed oil - boy that really makes it feel like a real smoothie. And the blueberries and strawberries and banana - wish I had discovered this combination earlier. It seems line an obvious combination by I was reluctant to eat strawberries cause I had generally had bad experiences with tasteless ones. I wash them and de-stem them and store them in a baggie that I put in the freezer. Same with the banana, I peel and cut them in half and store them in the freezer.

Lunch was apple, orange, peach, lentils, zuchinni, butternut squash, yam and mushrooms and celery.

So last night I cooked some chicken into like a chicken vegetable soup. I had it for dinner tonight and I was quite disappointed, it just wasn't tasty. And the chicken was tough. I had heard that organic meats taste really good but I am yet to be persuaded. I ate 4 oz of it for dinner plus the broth and vegetables. Then I had another shake.

I have not had any cravings. Today, someone offered a piece of cake and I had no trouble declining it.

The toughest part may be this weekend but I know my friends won't let me mess up!

After the 21 days, I don't plan to go bonkers and eat everything in sight. I hope I'll be able to continue these healthy eating habits more often than not. Which is why it is important that I don't lose total control, cause as soon as I do that, I know it will be hard to get back on track. I'm glad to be getting the e-mails and I understand that I'll continue to get some post-purification support and guidance.

Just a few more days.

Day 14

Yippee! I've lost another 2.5 lbs! And, my fat percentage went down 2 percentage points from 39% to 37% (I have one of those scales that measures this...I don't know how accurately it measures fat% but I use it more as a comparative guideline)

Today was a very good day. I tried some new vegetables that I've eaten before but so far, had not eaten on this program - broccoli and kale...Actually, I'd never eaten kale before but according to the e-mails and to my chiro, cruciferous vegetables are very important this last week of purification and for my ongoing weight-loss goal.

So I steamed some up and made a very healthy dinner salad and added the cooled broccoli and kale into my salad. I also added about 2 oz of salmon that I had cooked the other night.

There is a little discrepancy between the patient guide and the e-mail as to how much protein I can start eating. The patient guide says "Total servings: 2-4 per day with 1-2 servings being fish" serving size is 3 oz. The e-mail says "you can have up to two portions per day, if desired" I'm following the second guideline, and probably not eating up to the 2 srvgs per day. I'm still eating lentils at lunch time for now.

Following this program takes a lot of time...buying, cleaning, chopping, cooking, washing dishes... It's ok, it keeps me from sitting in front of the TV. Tonight, I
cooked up chicken in a soup using organic vegetable broth and I threw in carrots, celery, onion, garlic and zucchini. I haven't decided if I'm going to eat some of this for lunch tomorrow or if I'll stick with lentils...

This is going very well. I'm very happy with how I feel and of course with the weight loss!

I never thought I'd be eating like this without hating it. It's actually kind of fun trying to figure out how to make things more tasty....

BTW, the best shake I have determined to be is what I call, Red White and Blue: Strawberries, banana, blueberries then I add the two scoops of powder and 1 Tbs of Flax seed oil and 7 drops of liquid stevia. yummy...the flax seedoil is better than the coconut oil because the coconut oil is a solid at room temperature and often it does not blend in very well.

7 more days to go!

Days 12 & 13

Wow, this is really starting to feel like it's normal to eat like this. Saturday and Sunday went very well, no challenges. I even went out for breakfast on Sunday and found something I could eat...large bowl of fruit. I'm sure it wasn't organic but it did the trick.

What I'm really pleased with is that I've re-discovered how good fruit tastes. I think that because of my Weight Watchers mentality of having 2 fruits per day, I had just relegated myself to eating the basic apples, oranges and bananas. Yesterday I ate the most delicious nectarine and I've bought fruit that I would not have purchased before because of this "limitation".... strawberries, blueberries and kiwi, figs, peaches...I also remember having this idea that fruit had too much sugar and calories...compared to what? Water? I'm sure my weight problem is not because I've eaten too many bananas!

It's funny because even when vegetables were unlimited on WW, I did not eat as much as I do now, and I didn't make an effort to make a healthy salad or to experiment with cooking different squashes or whatever. But limit me to just eating fruits and vegetables and I start looking at vegetables in a whole different way...How can I cook this? Wonder how this tastes?

So, I experimented with cooking butternut squash to make it more tasty....I put it cut side up in a pyrex dish, I brushed it with olive oil, I sprinkled it with cinnamon, I put fresh blueberries in the cavity part and then I put slices of apples on top of all the pieces and baked it for about 40 mins. I really liked the outcome.

Tomorrow is day 14, again, If someone were to say "Don't eat bread or pasta or cheese or sugar for 21 days." I would have said "nope, can't do it". One more week to go and I know I'm going to do it!

By the way, my iron level for my blood donation was just fine, not even borderline.

In about a week, I get to see the cholesterol reading....that will be interesting.