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Day 9: No White Food Diet
It's been over a week- 9 full days with no white food! Well, there have been a few cheats and exceptions.
We allowed ourselves a very few alcoholic drinks over the week. On Valentine's Day we were at a restaurant and had one each. I don't think that one was worth it. Then I did have one glass of wine Saturday night when we were out to dinner for a birthday- and that one was totally worth it. An excellent glass of soave that was the best part of the meal. Last night I had a glass of Ferrari-Carano sauvignon blanc that someone brought to our house because it's like my favorite wine. Still, three drinks in 9 days? Averaging 1/3 of a drink each day? That's a big step down from our previous habits. Yay!
Random sugar fact: Mormons are crafting mini-temples out of sugar cubes, possibly as I write this.
Today I had 2 bites of a lemon brown sugar crepe that was almost surely made with white flour. I know, so bad, but it tasted so good. However within 20 minutes I felt extremely sick to my stomach, a feeling that did not pass quickly. I have no intention of getting graphic since we're supposed to be talking about food, but let me stress, extremely sick. While I can't be sure it's the culprit, under the circumstances it sure makes a convenient scapegoat, eh? The way I felt afterwards was more of a deterrent to sugar than anything else thus far, so if I can associate the feeling with sugar in my mind a la Pavlov then I may just be able to get off white foods for good.
Things I'm newly in love with and will keep close to me when this is all over:
Related Posts:
We allowed ourselves a very few alcoholic drinks over the week. On Valentine's Day we were at a restaurant and had one each. I don't think that one was worth it. Then I did have one glass of wine Saturday night when we were out to dinner for a birthday- and that one was totally worth it. An excellent glass of soave that was the best part of the meal. Last night I had a glass of Ferrari-Carano sauvignon blanc that someone brought to our house because it's like my favorite wine. Still, three drinks in 9 days? Averaging 1/3 of a drink each day? That's a big step down from our previous habits. Yay!
Random sugar fact: Mormons are crafting mini-temples out of sugar cubes, possibly as I write this.
Today I had 2 bites of a lemon brown sugar crepe that was almost surely made with white flour. I know, so bad, but it tasted so good. However within 20 minutes I felt extremely sick to my stomach, a feeling that did not pass quickly. I have no intention of getting graphic since we're supposed to be talking about food, but let me stress, extremely sick. While I can't be sure it's the culprit, under the circumstances it sure makes a convenient scapegoat, eh? The way I felt afterwards was more of a deterrent to sugar than anything else thus far, so if I can associate the feeling with sugar in my mind a la Pavlov then I may just be able to get off white foods for good.
Things I'm newly in love with and will keep close to me when this is all over:
- Ezekiel's sprouted wheat bread (it's so dense, I like to pretend it's a sesame bagel and put cream cheese on it)
- barley as a starchy side dish for dinner
- agave nectar as a sweetener
- not being hungry all the time because the whole grains take longer to metabolize
- Whole wheat tortillas
- Whole wheat pita
- sprouted wheat pappardelle noodles
- brown rice pasta
- only drinking 1 glass of wine
- whole wheat pasta and/or flax pasta
- brown rice
- avoiding wine and sweets altogether
- disgusting flavorless crackers
- how long it takes to cook whole grains
- the fact that this is supposed to make my skin look better and it totally hasn't
- potatoes in all their resplendent forms
- a cookie
- giving up coffee for tea (not white food exactly, but part of the whole healthicizing thing)
- eating brown crunchy stuff all the time and liking some of it
- trying new stuff and making more things from scratch
- reading labels and learning to be more creative
- denying myself food pleasures for a greater good
Related Posts:
I was introduced to the no white food diet through Mark Hyman's Ultrametabolism/Ultraprevention books (and I recently picked up the companion cookbook, which is great except for the lack of desserts). I recommend the basic features of his program, although some of it's a bit extreme for me (he's VERY anti-chemical, far beyond what I can really integrate comfortably into my lifestyle).
Anyway, I've learned to love some things I found from eating his way (and I'm happiest when I'm doing that, although I do "cheat" a bit). Sprouted corn tortillas are very yummy, for example (Whole Foods carries them), Alvarado Street (aka Trader Joe's) sprouted cinnamon raisin bagels, soy milk sweetened with brown rice sweetener (TJ's sells this), olive oil roasted garbanzo beans are a lovely snack, almond meal as a substitute for flour (TJ's again), and brown rice pecan bread sweetened with fruit juice (by Food for Life, which also makes the sprouted corn tortillas) is wonderful with cashew butter and bananas.
Of course I also went off dairy (and found almond cheese!), which made it even more restrictive, but found I am even more sensitive to dairy than white flour. Anyway, there are numerous resources for this kind of eating, which is clearly the new "in" philosophy of healthy consumption. I'm planning on getting Veganomicon after Heidi Swanson's review. Which reminds me: her recent power bar recipe is awesome, although it does contain a bit of raw sugar. I've also been frequenting Elena's Pantry lately, and LOVED this recipe: http://www.elanaspantry.com/2008/02/05/cranberry-lemon-muffins/
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Thanks Robin, loads of good resources! Many to try... I'm planning to keep everything up as much as possible even after the official time period is over, so I need all the help I can get
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