21-Day Food Challenge Week One: The Hunger Games

THE DAY BEFORE

I suppose that in hindsight I shouldn’t have gone on a binge-eating spree of all things “insanely bad for you” in my hometown the day before.  I just couldn’t help myself.  I treated myself to some Starbucks in the morning on the way down to my hometown at 5:30AM in the morning.  I had to be at my parents house at 6:30AM to help set up for a garage sale, so Starbucks was definitely in order. 

Coincidentally, the garage sale I was helping to set up for was a fundraiser where half of the proceeds would be donated to support research for EoE.  We had a great day.  The weather was beautiful and we raised close to $500!  It was also a day of lots of eating, for me anyway.  I started out the day with the most delicious cream-filled donuts from one of my favorite bakeries.  Lunch consisted of roast beef and fries from my favorite fast-food non-chain restaurant in town.  In the afternoon, I stopped in to Dairy Queen to see my mom and to order my favorite ice cream treat, the Chocolate Old Fashion Soda that only she can make just right.  I topped off the day with a pizza from this hole in the wall place that only townies can truly appreciate.  Best. Pizza. Ever. 

Chocolate Old Fashion Soda - yum!

My mom also kindly brought home a cookie dough Blizzard as a treat for my hour-drive home.  I was so stuffed at that point, but I plowed through it… well, half of it anyway.  My mom and sister evidently laughed at the eating display I put on that day after I left.  According to my sister, I was acting as if I was about to have my last supper.  Ironically enough, that was exactly how I felt.

DAY ONE

Day One was not pretty.  I’ll just put that out there.  I woke up that morning, a bit nervous and excited.  Although the excitement quickly died down as I realized what my diet was going to look like.  For breakfast and lunch, I had the Virgin Diet shake.  The shakes are recommended for breakfast AND lunch for the first seven days.  The shake consists of the following ingredients:

§         1 cup unsweetened coconut milk

§         ½ cup to 1 cup organic frozen berries

§         1 cup frozen spinach

§         1-2 scoops vegan pea rice protein powder

§         1-2 Tablespoons of flax seed/hemp seed/chia seed

§         Ice

I bought the Ninja blender last week and it does the trick of mixing it all up into a smoothie.  As for the flavor?  I’m not quite ready to discuss it.  Evidently it’s an acquired taste.  I asked my husband what he thought about the shake.  He replied, “I thought it was going to taste a bit more like berry, and not so much like grass.”  I concur, my dear husband, I concur.  I will say I’m pretty lucky that my husband, Nick, has decided to come along for the ride.  We’re both going through the challenge together as a way of offering support to one another and ultimately as a test for what life could be like for our son, Brady, some day.  Not easy, I can safely say right now.

Me and my hubby, Nick

SNACK TIME

After lunch, I needed a snack.  I had a laundry list of foods I wanted for my much needed snack, however I referred to the The Virgin Diet book for snack ideas.  The result was “kale chips”.  Evidently it’s as close to potato chips you can get on an organic, top 6 plus sugar elimination diet. 

  

I bravely put together the kale chips.  I cut up the kale leaves into 1-2 inch pieces, drizzled the lettuce leaves in a little bit of extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), and sprinkled sea salt on top.  I put the “chips” in the oven for 10 minutes before turning them over for an additional 10 minutes.

At around minute 7 or 8, Brady looked over at me in our family room and said, “What is that smell?!”  He even buried his face into the blanket.  Brady never complains of smells when I cook.  So, it’s incredibly ironic that the first time I make a safe food for him in the house, he immediately complains of the smell.  Brady was so offended by the baked kale that he even went into another room to “escape” the heinous smell coming from the kitchen.  I also came to the quick realization that Brady was absolutely right.  I had successfully stunk up the entire house.  I put on our Scentsy warmer to no avail.

My husband and I gave the kale chips a solid effort.  In all honesty, they’re not that bad.  Really!  I could actually learn to like them.  They’ll never be a Lays potato chip, but a pretty decent and very healthy alternative.  However, because the house smelled like something had died, my husband and I promptly decided that a bike ride with the kids was in order.  A very long bike ride far, far away from the house stinking of baked kale. 

Kale Chips. Believe it or not, must tastier than they look.

DINNER

Well, I’ll be honest.  I didn’t think this challenge out very well.  I didn’t order The Virgin Diet recipe book until last Thursday and I should receive it this week sometime.  I dutifully went to Whole Foods and shopped the organic section at Krogers to fill up with the must-haves for our pantry, freezer and frig.  However, I didn’t think about the actual recipes.  I guess I’m so used to throwing stuff together.  But the items I bought at the store were like a foreign language and I had no clue what to actually do with them.  Details, details.  In the end, I decided on quinoa pasta, tossed with EVOO, basil and sea salt.  My husband and I were absolutely famished by then and anything would have tasted good at that point.  I think I may have even caught my husband licking the bowl.  I’m not judging though because I thought about doing the same thing myself.  Desperate times call for desperate measures.  We were starved!

HUNGER GAMES

By the end of the day, I felt like I was personally going through my own Hunger Games.  However, the odds did not seem to be forever in my favor.  I was not feeling that well by the end of the day and felt a bit shaky.  I just wanted to go to bed… even though it was only 8PM.  And as predicted, I was grumpy.  Very, very grumpy.  But I didn’t cheat, not once.   However, if Katniss were a real person, I don't think she would be very impressed with my moaning and complaining of being hungry.   

This 21-day challenge is SO much harder than I thought it was going to be.  I have no doubt the coming days will be even harder.  But that’s the point.  It’s hard to eliminate all top six food allergens out there because it feels like they exist in almost everything!  Temptations lurk around every corner and those are so hard to ignore.  However, I have already discovered that this really is making me look at food very differently.  I am so personally affected by this diet so far and I have such an appreciation for what many kids with EoE go through.  And I’m only on Day 3! 

My goal for the next week is just to survive.  And of course, learn recipes!  I will somehow try to make these odds work forever in my favor, at least for the next 19 days… but who's counting???