For years I have had an interest in nutrition as well as holistic health and healing. I feel overall we have had a pretty good diet, although my husband and I both felt we could add a lot more veggies to our daily menu. For myself, I have always had strong cravings for sugary foods as well as baked goods, something I seem to struggle and fight with on a daily basis...and I say struggle because these cravings make it quite difficult to lose weight and also maintain my healthy weight.
About a year ago I came down with a serious sinus infection, it seemed to come on practically overnight. I had a fever and was quite sick. This was the first one I had contracted in years and was not happy about it. I saw my naturopath a few weeks in since I could not seem to clear it and she put me on several different herbals to help clear it, they helped but I was still left feeling not well. In addition to the infection I began having lightheadness, foggy brain, fatigue, I would sometimes experience bouts of dizziness which all led to bringing back anxiety, a condition I had struggled with years ago and felt, for the most part, I had conquered. Frustratingly it came back and was awful. I made another appointment with my naturopath, and she recommended I have a blood draw to determine food allergies, which I happily did. Turns out several things showed up on my results and after clearing and testing them, turns out I actually have some food allergies! Top of my list is eggs, which was my main source of protein since I am not a big meat eater. I ate a LOT of eggs. Wheat also seems to give me some troubles as well, and I am still not sure about the dairy.
Well, over the course of all of these food issues, I ran across several videos on Netflix. First I watched Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. Wow, what a life transformation! INCREDIBLE and inspiring! I followed that with Forks over Knives and Engine 2 diet. I was definitely intrigued....but seemed too hard, especially with a family. I asked my husband to view these movies as well and to my blissful surprise he was on board! He suffers with chronic pain and is looking for relief from that, as well as not using over the counter pain medications on a regular basis. He takes ibuprofen and is not a fan of putting that in his body regularly. So, together we decided we would take a journey with our diets.
Since Passover was approaching and we needed to clear our home of leaven, we decided this would be a good opportunity to try out the diet. So, as we are experiencing this week of unleavened bread, our journey has begun and today is DAY ONE!
Welcome to our journey!
As we go along, I am hoping to write about our experience, share our meal plans and document some photos...hoping for some good before and after shots. Make that GREAT after shots!
Meal plan 4/9
Breakfast:
Cereal mix, soy milk, strawberries and raisins
(Note, my cereal mix had to be modified because I am currently not eating wheat, so my mix contains: cheerios, organic puffed brown rice cereal, rice chex, flax meal), green tea
Snack: banana
Lunch:
Pasta salad: brown rice pasta, homemade soy mayo, broccoli slaw, bell pepper
Smoothie: mixed berries, frozen banana, greens powder
caffeine free earl grey tea
Snack: apple fruit leather
Dinner:
Tostadas, corn tortillas, baked at 425 for 10 minutes (came out perfect!)
Refried (fat free) pinto beans with salsa mixed in
Sprouts
Tomatoes
Avocado
Interestingly, I noticed for just being my first day, I did not feel hungry at any point. I also noticed at around 3 I was not in a crazed raid of my kitchen looking for something sugary to keep me awake...nor did I feel like flopping on the couch in hopes of catching a few zzzzz's. Instead I went outside and weeded the garden! Not a bad start! I am looking forward to where this leads....
Oh, in case you are looking for ideas for packable lunches, I pack my husbands breakfast/lunch everyday , so here is todays menu:
Soy yogurt, banana, whole wheat wrap with jalapeno hummus, sprouts, pumpkin seeds, tomatoes inside, builder bar (not exactly on plan, but he works in a physical field and needs the boost), spiced cashews, pasta salad
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