For me known allergens include gluten, dairy, eggs, bananas, peppers and pineapples; along with lots of legumes so it is not a huge jump to just exclude them all. Goodbye peas and soya milk! In reading "The Paleo Solution" by Robb Wolf he adds in a few other autoimmune caveats... nuts, seeds, tomatoes, potatoes, and eggplants. I am not sure if autoimmune is an issue for me or if any of these are allergies but for the first bit gonna eliminate those as well, reintroducing 1 at a time later just to see. It also means no Quinoa as lots of people are showing allergies to this as well.
Processed, sugary, packaged crap that is out too but for good. I will be sticking pretty pretty close to natural source...no I'm not gonna go out and kill my supper with my bare hands and raid gardens. It will all still come from a store,, preferably organic and when I can find it grass feed beef but not gonna do much with it beyond cook and lightly steam...less will be done in the first week then in upcoming weeks but as I said gonna stick to K.I.S.S this week.
I have a tonne of left over free-range turkey meat in the freezer from Thanksgiving so I will use that up. I have lots of tuna, arctic char, mahi mahi and salmon steaks in the freezer as well and chicken breasts so those will be the varieties of protein I will have over the next 7 days. I will pre-cook for when I travel on the weekend so I just have to re-heat and not even think about it.
Veggies will be broccoli, cauliflower, spinach or carrots...simple and easy and a variety of colour so that is good. Fruit I am going to limit to lemon in my water in the morning, grapefruit and apples. Rice is also fine and to "spice" it up I'll throw in some coconut oil to make it taste a bit better. I will also supplement with EFA (essential fatty acids) in the amount of 20-25g daily. I have some that tastes like orange/lemon so it is easy to take, I will continue with a multivitamin, vitamin D, iron (I am anaemic), and vitamin C.
For the next 7 days my meals will look like this:
Pre-breakfast - 500 ml Lemon water (equivalent to 1 lemon)
Breakfast - veggies and protein such as Cauliflower and Turkey; 4-5g EFA
Snack - grapefruit; 4-5g EFA
Lunch - veggies and protein such as Broccoli and Tuna with 1/2cup of rice; 4-5g EFA
Snack - apple
Supper - veggies - 2 and protein such as Carrots, Spinach and Chicken; 4-5
Snack (if needed) - protein - turkey
Of course I will still have 2-2.5 litres of water to drink throughout the day as well. Only gonna allow green tea as an alternate and I will limit that to one glass if need be. So that means point 2 and 3 (see pic at the top) will be taken into account with this plan (YAY me!)
Yeah it sound boring and it will be but simple, boring and short-term repetitive will give me very little room to "negotiate" around my plans...to begin with I think less choice will work in my favour.
During this week I am going to spend lots of time reviewing my 3 paleo cookbooks and planning what to try in week 2 and beyond that adheres still to all the caveats listed above...at least for the first month.
This picture really struck me when I found it today...time to stop wishing...
I will be logging my meals for the next 7 days here at the bottom...I know the pic at the top says to count calories...and I will for the first month...but I will do that separately as I have a spreadsheet for that...I will post daily summaries here but not a running total...I don't want my life to become about calories...so this will just be short term...if anyone is asking how will I get my carbohydrates (carbs) and fibre I suggest you take a look at the dietary profile of the veggies/fruit I listed; there are carbs in there and a tonne of fibre...and even better they come in a delicious all natural, vitamin, mineral and antioxidant rich package without being GMO fortified by some multinational conglomerate...stepping down from my soap box now - LOL.
Day 1: Followed the example above, except didn't eat the grapefruit...was not hungry between breakfast and lunch and forgot to take the EFA with supper. No green tea, and instead of turkey for an after dinner snack I had 2 slices of ham (Naturals brand - no hormones or antibiotics). Drank almost 3 litres of water.
Day 2: Decided to not wake up to an alarm today and just let myself wake up naturally, so 1030 am was when my body decided it needed to get up and pee....kinda a waste of a morning...but I have been fighting a sinus cold for weeks so probably needed it...hopefully sinus will clear up soon too...so basically jumped right into lunch...chicken, broccoli and rice...then headed out for some bowling with friends...snack not an apple... there was veggies (carrots, broccoli, tomatoes and snow peas), and a rootbeer...yeah some of those veggies and the rootbeer are not on my "APPROVED" list <FACE PALM> honestly didn't even think about it...just did it and didn't think anything off it till I typed it out here...gonna have to work on being more mindful..right now.prepping meals for my time on the road, have chicken, paleo meatloaf and ham cooked up, will take broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, spinach and romaine lettuce with me on the road...got the dishes coming with me too...hopefully this time the hotel room has a microwave...and a fridge...supper will be chicken and romaine lettuce with EFA - almost like a Caesar...minus the cheese and the croutons...not actually hungry but eating anyways as I know I have not eaten enough today.
Day 3: On the road again...breakfast was good...just like the plan and things were good till my tummy got upset while on the road...not even hungry since then...drinking some ginger tea with honey while chillaxing in the hotel. But what a crappy drive...winter roads are bad enough but wow the bad drivers passing me at like 150 makes it so much worse...gonna need to book myself a massage for the end of the week since my shoulders and jaw are so tense from the almost 6hrs of driving...having an apple and a couple of slices of ham is my tummy settles down.
Day 4: <sigh> So the hotel fridge froze all my veggies...managed to salvage enough for breakfast and lunch but supper...with a blizzard blowing in I opted for quick and easy...pizza...which goes against everything I planned I know and I'm not going to make any excuses, it is one meal not a complete side track...what sucks it that it wasn't even all that good...
Day 5: With food frozen in the hotel and a lunch out with the boss and newest staff...I strayed big time...right now I just want to go home...travelling back tomorrow...so will basically be extending my 7 day plan...at least it will be a week and a bit before I have to travel again...
Day 6: Finally home - long drive crappy roads - think nicely polished ice covered highways....when the semi's are going slow you know the roads suck! My plan...begin again tomorrow...
Day 7: My day...wish I had stayed in bed where it was warm...nothing was on track today...not even my brain...realizing that I am very much an emotional/stress eater...and I keep letting it side track me...points for me to ponder...but now time for bed...8hrs...maybe.
Day 8: Started the day with grocery shopping and then finished it with cooking. I will have more to do tomorrow with the ground beef and turkey I bought but will need look at a few more recipes before I decide what I am going to make...since it will be what I am eating for the next week.
Day 9: Ate on plan except for a coke mid-afternoon, still trying to decide on something interesting to do with the ground beef and turkey...hard to do when eggs and tomoatos (salsa, spaghetti sauce) are on the no fly zone...trying to figure out a substitute binder - thinking chia or flax seeds soaked...but still researching... all else fails and I will just cook it up with some spices and uses as something to mix with the rice...not the best idea...but won't let it go to waste.
Been a bust for about a week now...have lots of stuff prepped and in the freezer...but with all the goodies at work, eating out with friends and stress eating...not my finest hours...but small victories here and there...keeping my water intake up, sleeping really well, increased my long runs to 13k..it will all come with time and effort...as they say...
Namaste
Amber
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