It’s starting to feel more like a habit, or new lifestyle this week. It’s interesting for me to note just how much stuff I turn down on a daily basis. For example, today I turned down (vegan) doughnuts, caramel popcorn, a ton of cheese and chocolate, just to name a few.

I’m having more quinoa (I like it for breakfast with rice milk/cinnamon/raisins or with leftover indian food). I had Mexican food for BREAKFAST one day, and it was great – black beans, guacamole, tacos, corn, salsa, chicken. I might do that a couple days a week. Had a great big salad using marinated chicken as the dressing. For desserts, having bananas and raw chocolate/peanut butter and I ate a ton of baby coconuts with yummy coconut water this week (like 6!). I gave up microwave popcorn after learning the commercial variety can have carcinogens in the bag lining. Loving salted almonds as a snack, and enjoying the decaf, sugar-free 5-Hour Energy shots when possible. I’ve been drinking more coffee for some reason.

I’ve found the hardest food items to avoid this week were ketchup, sugar in soy milk or coconut milk creamer for coffees, dairy in chicken dishes in the sauce preparation, and beer, mixed drinks, or (ahem) jello shots. I feel like more sugar and dairy snuck into my diet this week in the prepared foods I had when eating out, but I think the wheat stayed out pretty well. I’m going to avoid the coffee creamers unless I know for sure they are sugar-free this week.

I love the way my stomach looks this week. I think there’s something about turning down foods you don’t need and being disciplined that makes a big difference when it all adds up (over the past 21 days). For example, today at the Oscar party, I ate a bunch of raw asparagus, carrots, even a raw pepper slice with my corn chips & chili. In the past I would have slathered my chili with all the cheeses and sour cream on the table and gnawed down on the caramel corn and chocolates being offered. I feel awesome just practicing making good decisions, and it’s not like I’m suffering. I love the healthy food I’m eating. It tastes amazing and makes me feel only good. It’s just that the food I crave would make me feel instantly 10x better, then, only afterward, worse. I can see how this will be a hard balance to strike in the future when I’m not as fully committed (or I may just continue down the path for the most part; I’m really getting used to this).

And I don’t know if this is a coincidence but my libido is very high and healthy, I’m totally maxing out my romantic life and loving it. That may just be the fabulous romantic month of Pisces rolling in backed up by the Neptune in Pisces cycle that is here to stay for a looong time. **bats eyelashes** YaY

On to week four!

This week involved a bit more creativity. I bought some gluten-free flours and experimented with banana quinoa-flour muffins and banana bread. Amazed to learn that 3/4 tsp. stevia = 3/4 C. sugar in a recipe, for same amount of sweetness (without the crack-like high nor addiction, however). Banana muffins were slightly overcooked (gluten-free recipes don’t take as long to cook, major bonus!) so were not delicious.

Banana bread was ALMOST good. That’s a high a compliment as I could give it. Unfortunately, without the sugar the dough is not as tasty, so any slight undercooking brings out the flavors of the flour (chick-pea flour stood out, not in a good way). Maybe coconut and rice flours would be better ideas for this bread. I am a bit of a banana bread snob and cannot tolerate odd flavors. It needed more than 2 bananas, too. But it was quite delicious as french toast the next morning, and found a Rice-Pecan gluten-free, sugar-free bread at Rainbow that was also delicious as french toast.

This diet seems to have made me more alcohol-sensitive. Went out on Valentine’s day and was highly intoxicated after just over 3 drinks. Ate half a cliff-bar powerbar in my toxic state (which I knew contained sugar but was the only food around), and proceeded to vomit it all up, so that was a blessing in disguise, at least for the diet, haha. Two drink limit from now-on. Good thing my date was cool and understanding.

Met a woman in her late forties, I’m guessing, mother of two, with beautiful skin, totally healthy, and she said she was just on her first week of gluten-free and sugar-free after the holidays. She said she feels much better, less bloated when she does that. When a beautiful person tells me what they do to stay healthy, I listen ;-) Also reference: www.rosecole.com

Anyway…

That reminds me of the most beautiful girl I had ever met. We met at a summer camp in Montana. She had perfect skin and teeth, long, lush dark hair, and was so gorgeous that boys our age would not dare approach her, so she seemed to be alone a lot. I befriended her like a little puppy dog, and one thing she said to me made an impression. I was eating a piece of candy, offered her one, and she refused. She said she only has about 5 pieces of candy a year. A YEAR. Basically, she never ate sugar. I thought that would probably be impossible for me.

So, keeping on with my beauty diet…ha :-)

Also, I’ve been eating Omega-Three eggs and taking fish oil, and no more bumps on the backs of my arms, yay!

First time ever giving up wheat and dairy. I never considered myself to have a “problem” or addiction to these substances but I figure it won’t kill me to find out!

I accidentally had cheese yesterday on day 6. It was in a quiche. The taste of it quite threw me off. It tasted extremely strong, powerful. That was a strange experience. The taste filled up my whole mouth. I actually felt slightly ill after eating it, the taste was really overpowering to anything else in the quiche.

I’m also forced to eat more vegetables in this diet, which I can only imagine is good for me.

Bakeries are out of the question. Whenever you see something that is gluten-free, chances are it is not also sugar-free.

My athlete Isa lost 10 pounds in her first week on this diet, down from 278 to 267. She did not perform quite as well in the 20# weight throw (which requires more counter-balance control) but improved her shot put (which requires jumping ability) to a national-qualifying level for the first time in her career. She also reported having enough energy to get through her Monday classes and was actually complimented by her professor for participating in class (her ear infection is causing her to have to sit up front too, haha).

I have not been keeping track of my weight, but I imagine that I’m not gaining anything and appear to have lost a bit of fat.

The biggest thing I’m noticing is that I never feel “full”. You know, that kind of sick feeling like you can’t possibly eat another bite and you feel kind of uncomfortable. I just don’t feel that way after cutting out bread and dairy and sugar. I just feel satisfied, not yucky. That’s pretty cool.

We’ll see if I can continue to say no to pizza and ice cream for the next 5 weeks… :-)