Wednesday, June 12, 2013

Week 1 COMPLETE

Hey everyone!! Sorry I haven't posted in a while.  I guess I've been busy writing in my "journal" for my 6 week Behavior Health Change class assignment instead.  So I thought I would copy and paste what I've been writing, into this blog!  

I just finished Week 1 of my "Detox"/100% Paleo diet that the Naturopath has me doing.  I should be 2 weeks into it, but I cheated the first week when my friends were in town and had to start over.  :(   Anyway, I'm feeling great!!   Here are my journal entries from the past couple weeks:


Week 1
Day 1 (Tues, May 28):
            Today went well.  I had my detox smoothie for breakfast, and packed my lunch to take to school.  The only thing that I didn’t have prepared was dinner, so I got Quizno’s with a classmate- got a “paleo” salad.  I was in class from 11am-9pm, so I didn’t exercise today.  I picked my best friend and her 2-year old daughter up from the airport after class this evening.  I’m hoping that I will be able to stick to eating clean and exercising this week while I have visitors!

Day 3 (Thurs, May 30):
            Today I “cheated” and had a beer and a gluten-free pizza.  My friend’s husband flew in this evening, so we went out to dinner at one of my favorite restaurants which has great beer, so I decided I would allow myself a few cheats this week while I have company.  I know I should be strong and stick to clean eating, but I also want to enjoy my week and not feel deprived while my friends are here.  So, I’ve decided I’ll stick to my Paleo diet as much as possible, and only “give in” a few times.  Since I am still at “baseline”, eating gluten and sugar this week won’t mess up my “liver detox” that the naturopath wants me to do.  I’ll just start it 100% on Monday. 

Day 5 (Sat, June 1):
            Feeling good this week- energy level has been consistent.  Having friends in town, it’s been difficult to stick to my Paleo diet since we’re going out to dinner every night, and they are beer drinkers.  Although I really wanted to resist and stick to my “diet”, I’ve decided to just enjoy this week with my friends and eat and drink with them.  I feel a little upset with myself that I couldn’t be disciplined, but it’s a little hard to eat clean Paleo all of the time, especially when on “vacation”.  We drove to Santa Barbara today.  Did some walking in Santa Barbara, probably walked about 2 miles.  Tomorrow we are going to the zoo and I’ll be doing more walking, so I’m glad that I’m at least getting some exercise while my friends are in town.
           
Day 7 (Mon, June 3):
            Friends flew back to Cincinnati this morning.  My little “vacation” that I had for a few days is also over. No more eating out or drinking beer!  My money will only be spent on quality groceries like meats, vegetables, and fruits.  Today I made sure that I had my meals prepared and planned out for the day, so that I could easily stick to my Paleo diet.  Tomorrow I will finish the pork roast that I made last week for lunch, and dinner I am eating out with a classmate since we have a long break before our last class at 7pm.  We are going to Freebirds, so I’m sure I can get a salad made with lettuce and meat, and maybe some guacamole.  

Week 2
Day 9 (Wed, June 5):
            Last night I was bad and got the 3-cheese nachos at Freebirds for dinner.  I had planned to get a salad, but couldn’t get myself to do it since I knew the nachos were so good.  I figured I would start my “diet” tomorrow.   So today I ate a clean Paleo diet and hopefully I’m getting myself on the right track.  I have to keep in mind that I am doing this not only for myself and this 6-week project, but for the naturopath.  She is expecting me to stick to this, so I can’t push back “starting” any longer.  Although I was feeling tired today and took a long nap, I made myself do a Crossfit workout.  Again, the naturopath is expecting me to workout 5-6 days a week, so I need to make sure that I’m doing that.  I also want to get back to strength training workouts, since I haven’t done much in the last 6 months due to half-marathon training.  I definitely feel stronger and more confident when I do my Crossfit workouts consistently.

Day 11 (Fri, June 7):
            I’m finally feeling like I’m getting back into the groove of Paleo eating.  I’m feeling better- skin starting to clear up, no GI issues, energy level is up, and my mood is improving.  I’m also feeling more energetic which makes workouts easier.  Today I did my 2nd Crossfit workout of the week, which feels great to get back to strength training.  Eating clean and exercising consistently makes life a lot better for me.  I’ve been feeling a little depressed and homesick since my friends left on Monday, so it’s going to be very important that I keep my mood up by sticking to this behavior change.

Day 13 (Sun, June 9):
            Feeling really good this weekend.  Slightly sore from strength workouts, but legs feel good.  Today instead of doing my usual run to the beach, I decided to do it using sprint intervals.  I walked up the steep hills, then did intervals on the flats and downhills.  Felt really good, even faster.  I think I’ll do it this way more often.  As for diet, I am noticing that it’s not easy to eat low-carb due to the high carb content of my breakfast detox smoothies (46 carbs- without honey).  If I add honey to my smoothies or hot tea, that adds another 20 grams of carbs.  Also, I’m eating more vegetables than I am meat right now.  My goal for this week is to get more meat into my diet.

Week 3

Day 16 (Wed, June 12):
            I’m finding that eating is becoming a chore.  It’s not something that I look forward to, I only do it because I’m hungry and know my body needs the nutrients.  I am somewhat happy to feel this way, because it means that I am lacking the craving for any junk foods.  I do feel like eating this way is fairly easy.  The hardest part is the time it takes to prepare food.  I’m also having a hard time getting in enough calories.  I think I need to take in more calories so that my body doesn’t lower my metabolism due to a lower caloric intake.  Although I do think it is ok to eat low-calorie on occasion, I also think it is important to eat high-calorie every now and then so that they body knows it always has food available, and won’t store fat or burn muscle tissue instead. 
            Today I decided I’d try a new recipe- spicy ginger cashew chicken.  I made it paleo friendly by substituting with almond flour and coconut oil (in place of vegetable oil and some kind of starch).  It took about 30 minutes to make, but it tasted good and makes three meals.  Energy was a bit low this afternoon after I did my Crossfit workout, but probably because I was sitting at the computer for hours straight doing schoolwork.

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