Sugar and Yeast Detox, Phase 1 - Day Done

I almost lost my mind.  I couldn’t seem to remember things like I used to.  I had to reset passwords and reset them again because I couldn’t remember what I reset them to.  Just the other day I made myself lunch, packed it in a cute bag, and left it on the counter.  I didn’t realize it until I was at the gas station where I couldn’t figure out how to operate the new credit card taker thing (machine?)  So I went all the way home and got my lunch and drove to a different gas station where they also had a new machine, but forced myself to use it anyway.  Then I completely forgot how to get to work from this other gas station, so long story not so short – I was late to work.

I blame the sugar/yeast detox diet and its lack of blueberries or really its lack of flavonoids that are supposedly good for memory. (For more information and details about the benefits of blueberries, read  Your Mind on Blueberries.)¹ And more so the lack of carbs.  Carbs are often viewed negatively in dieting, but they do provide energy for the body which includes the brain.  So, it might seem like a stretch, but carbs help the brain to process thoughts maybe even help power memory.  (Interested in more? Read How your Body Turns Carbohydrates into Energy.)²   Is that why I’m losing my mind?  Is that why I can’t find the fitbit that I swear I put on the edge of the bathroom sink?  Is that why I’m so clumsy that I knocked everything off the bathroom sink and now have a huge fear that I may have flushed the fitbit down the toilet?  Is this why I get so dizzy that I have to stop to steady myself so that I don’t fall over?  Is this why I actually do fall over sometimes?  Am I just needing more carbohydrates?

Or is it because this diet is so labor intensive that all I do is think about planning menus and buying food? And because I’m doing so much cooking, I’m doing even more cleaning. This diet is a lot of work.  I’m exhausted, forgetful, unbalanced, and HUNGRY!  And yet The Husband seems to have skipped all of my maladies and is just hungry until fed.  Then he seems to have more energy than before the sugar detox.  So…I don’t want to say this diet isn’t worth it.  I think it that it is.  It definitely gives you an idea about how much sugar really is in all of the foods that we normally eat even when we think we are eating healthy. 

We did make some delicious discoveries on this journey of no sugar and no yeast including: 

Coconut Almond Balls a/k/a Fat Bombs

These fat bombs as we began to lovingly refer to them are delicious little morsels of almond butter, coconut flour, and unsweetened coconut flakes.  Mix all the ingredients in a ball and refrigerate for 30 minutes and voila dessert is served.  On the days when we didn’t think we were going to make it through, we ate a few of these and were able to press on.

Avocado Omelets

Eggs were also a lifesaver on this diet.  I think eggs have a bad reputation because they are so high in cholesterol, but they are an excellent source of protein and excellent

source of energy for the body.  We experimented with a number of different omelets and frittatas, but the Avocado Omelet was my favorite.  The eggs were made savory with onions and bell peppers and the avocado added a creamy coolness that paired nicely with salty olives.  I will continue to make this even after the phases of this diet are complete.

Asian Turkey Meatballs and Slaw

One night my mother-in-law brought us pork meatballs and slaw which she had discovered while she was doing a similar cleanse.  They were so delicious that I found a recipe I had saved long ago for Gluten Free Turkey Meatballs and altered it to fit our diet.  I also found a delicious recipe for Bok Choy and Cabbage Slaw. The meatballs in my recipe were a bit dry, but the slaw was delicious.  It had crisp cabbage and bok choy mixed with tahini and coconut aminos.  I’ve never cooked with bok choy, but I think will in the future.  It adds a freshness and somewhat of a peppery flavor that is unexpected in a vegetable.

Going Forward

I think that Phase 2 will be much easier to maintain. (If we decide to continue with Phase 2!)  We can add grains and fruit, so hopefully my memory and energy will return.  Watching the sugar intake will be difficult and I don’t think we will cut it out completely, but hopefully we will make better and healthier decisions.

References

Franz, M. (2011). Your brain on blueberries. Scientific American Mind, 21(6), 54-59.

How your body turns carbs into energy. (n.d.). Dummies. Retrieved from http://www.dummies.com/health/nutrition/how-your-body-turns-carbohydrates-into-energy/.

Sugar and Yeast Detox - Phase 1, Day 9

In my first post, I promised to blog everyday about this sugar yeast detox that the husband and I have inflicted on ourselves.  We are still doing it and that is why I haven’t had time to post much.  This diet is labor intensive.  I plan elaborate menus that include snacks and then create grocery lists from the menu, go shopping for the ingredients, and then concoct them into something that is hopefully edible.  OK – I admit that it isn’t all that different from my normal life and diet, but because this is such a low calorie low carb diet, I have to make sure that I buy enough so that we aren’t still hungry after eating.  And for me that is the hardest part; making sure that I eat enough calories.

I will not lie.  This diet has been difficult.  Friday was a tough day and all I wanted was comfort food – fried chicken and biscuits or maybe a nice glass of wine to finish off a weird week.  What’s worse is that is exactly what the husband wanted too.  But we persevered and unwound with dry salads from Dion’s that I doctored up with fresh lime juice and olive oil and salted sunflower seeds.  We devoured the evidence so there are no pictures.

While difficult to maintain, this diet has been fun too.  The husband has been boiling eggs for ourbreakfasts – the days when we don’t have a delicious mixture of plain Greek yogurt and unsweetened coconut.  He puts them in a pot of boiling water along with an egg timer that looks like a blue egg, but this egg sings tunes like Oh Susanna, Take Me Out to the Ballgame, and Hail! Hail! The Gangs All Here so that you can tell the doneness of the egg by song. Thank you to my beautiful mother for finding such a treasurer.  It has added a bit of entertainment to this diet!

Here are some dinner highlights:

Roasted Herb Salmon

We roasted salmon in the oven that was drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice and sprinkled with salt, pepper, and a few other spices that seemed good at the time. It was served with zucchini "pasta" and grape tomatoes.  It was very fresh and almost seemed too fancy to be diet food.

Spaghetti Squash "Pasta" and Meatballs

I've made something similar to this before, but I made a tomato sauce that seemed to take forever to make.  This sauce is much more simple - diced fresh tomatoes seasoned with oregano and warmed with a little bit of garlic.  We roasted a spaghetti squash that was carefully seasoned with salt, pepper, and Italian seasonings.  Then we made the meatballs out of ground beef, an egg, onion, and more garlic.  We boiled the meatballs out top of the stop and then put them in the oven to get a bit crispy.  They were a bit bland, but I would try them again and add more spices to the meat.  Overall it was a delicious fresh take on common spaghetti.

We have also altered some of our usual recipes like turkey burgers and chicken fajitas.  We serve the burgers without bread and fajitas are served in a bowl with beans and bell peppers.  Today is the half-way mark.  We are going to make it to phase 2!

Sugar and Yeast Detox - Phase 1, Day 1

A few weeks ago the husband told me that he would like cut back on his sugar intake.  At first I thought he was kidding!  I have done sugar-free, grain-free, dairy-free diets before and I honestly couldn’t eat enough.  I was hungry all the time.  So, when he said that I was completely shocked.  Of course, his idea of cutting back on sugar and I my idea of not eating any sugar, didn’t match.  It didn’t help that he had a birthday filled with delicious bar food and beer at a very nice bowling alley.  The cutting back sugar diet failed before it really had a chance to begin.

Enter the sugar and yeast detox diet!  Phase 1, Day 1 begins the day after Easter, so it would not interfere with any celebrations.  We have a menu for the week and the fridge is full of healthy non-sugary, non-yeasty foods.  We just have to eat enough of these foods so that we don’t lose too much weight.  Yes, we don’t want to lose weight.  What we do want is to be healthy and have energy.  And what better way to get there than a 21 day cleanse with no sugar (and that includes most fruit!), no yeast (and that includes all grains!) and no dairy except for yogurt.

To keep us honest, I’m going to chronicle our progress.  I will keep the uninteresting parts brief and elaborate more on the meals that require the most creativity and the encourage the most response for the now sugar (almost free)  husband.

Breakfast

Plain Greek Yogurt with unsweetened coconut – It wasn’t as boring as I thought it would be.  It was a bit of a sour way to start the day and the new diet, but it could have been worse.  Because the husband had to eat his at work, I packed it to go.  I put the coconut and some walnuts for snack.  He forgot that the coconut was supposed to go in the yogurt.  I’m not sure how, but he managed to eat it the dry desiccated coconut with a spoon.

Lunch

Salad with chicken and black olives with a lemon and olive oil dressing – It was not that different than our usual lunches, but the black olives were a treat.  I added more chicken in place of a pita bread and chips though.  The husband was surprised how filling it was!

Dinner

Herbed Salmon with Zucchini Pasta and Grape Tomatoes – The husband said, “The salmon was on point!”  And I agree!  It was seasoned with dried dill and thyme and a little bit of salt and pepper.  It was cooked just right where the edges were crispy and the center firm.  (I like to eat things that I know are cooked, so burnt is better than mushy in my opinion.)  The zucchini was spiralized into thin pasta like curlicues and sautéed in olive oil and water.  I added a clove of garlic for flavor and grape tomatoes for color.  The zucchini had a slight crunch giving a freshness that true pasta will never have.  I would definitely make this again.  Who doesn’t like to be on point?

Day 1 of Phase 1 was a success!  We had good food and we weren’t hungry.  We are on point so far!

The Key to My Lime Pie

I decided to make a Key Lime Pie for St. Patrick’s Day.  Why would I make this decision?  Limes are not even remotely Irish.  I can’t even rationalize it and I can rationalize just about anything!  The best that I can come up with is that limes are green and St. Patrick’s Day is all about green, right?  (You know, that and St. Patrick converting the Irish from a pagan tradition to Christianity, but really about wearing green and drinking green beer.) The fact that my Key West Lime Juice is going to expire at the end of the month was also a huge motivation.  The bottle cost almost $4 and I don’t want it to go to waste.

And that is how we came to have Key Lime Pie for St. Patrick’s Day.  I have never made a Key Lime Pie before and I did not put a lot of thought into this recipe.  I honestly followed the instructions on the lime juice bottle.  I mixed all of the ingredients up and poured them into a prepared graham cracker crust and baked for 15 minutes.  I let it cool and then put in the refrigerator overnight.  I didn’t even cheat and have a taste!  For such an easy preparation, I did not have high expectations for this pie.

And maybe because of that, I was extremely impressed with the end result.  The texture was perfect – it set up like it was from a bakery – solid, but creamy.  And the taste?  I’ve never had anything like it before.  I tried Key Lime Pie one other time when the husband and I visited Destin, FL.  I was not impressed with the expensive sliver of pie that was served to us to share.  It tasted like it was straight from a cheap frozen box from the grocery store.  (It should be noted that I am usually a big fan of those frozen box pies!  Just not when I pay the price of a box on a tiny piece of pie.) 

Not the case with this thrown together pie in my kitchen!  It was delicious – sweet, yet slightly sour, but not the kind of sour that creates what my mother calls pucker power, where your cheeks are sucked in, your mouth completely dry.  No, this was the kind of sour that made you want another bite and then another just to make sure that the sour was actually sweet or was it the sweet that was actually sour? And then another bite, just to make sure.  Before I knew it, I had eaten an entire piece and I was never sure of the answer to sweet/sour combination!

It wasn’t until my piece of pie was gone that I realized how rich the pie really was.  Maybe that was why the restaurant pieces were cut so small.  Perhaps I will cut smaller pieces next time, but probably not.   Who knew that the key to a lime pie and a happy St. Patrick’s Day celebration was a $4 bottle of lime juice?!  What a delicious, rich treasure.