Tag: elimination diet

Delicious and Nutritious

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I promised that I would share some of the delish food that we’ve had while on the elimination diet. I can’t believe that we are already 1/2 way through. I can say that we have made some great food discoveries and substitutions to make this  feel less like an elimination diet and more like a culinary challenge. Chopped, anyone?

Here in no particular order are my favs.

1) Almond crusted cod with asparagus. The almonds added some texture, and were our substitute for breading.

Almond crusted cod

2) White bean and kale soup. I did not expect this so be such a popular item on the diet, but it is a staple. It’s rich and savory soup goodness. We might never go back to box soup.

3) Almond butter. With everything. Seriously. I ate a whole jar of it in the first week. It’s yum in smoothies, with celery, apples or in a pinch by itself.

4) Bison burger lettuce wraps. When we discovered we could have wild game we decided to try it. Frankly, we were getting a bit chickened out and wanted to mix it up a bit. We sliced the bison burgers and served them with pineapple salsa (garlic, onion, pineapple, lime juice and avocado) in a lettuce wrap. The salsa made a great condiment! I am a massive condiment lover so that has been really hard for me. I was happy to find I didn’t miss my burger being slathered in mayo, mustard, A-1 steak sauce, BBQ sauce, ranch and whatever other saucy goodness I could add.

5) Salads. When I was growing-up I loved salads. Well I loved ranch dressing so maybe the salad was a vehicle for that, but still I was getting my veggies in. As an adult I’ve learned that making your own salad requires slicing, dicing and chopping– not my forte. And ranch dressing really isn’t that good for me. So salads have been a thing of the past. Well, not anymore. I’m learning it’s really not that hard to throw together a salad. I bought a fun dressing maker shaker thingie from Target which probably helps matters. It lists the ingredients for a variety of dressings with measurements on the side of the container so it’s pretty fool proof.

Now that’s what I call living well.

Who Does That?

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I had to share this because I can’t stop wondering if it’s just me or if the situation I’m describing below is a “who does that?”

As I mentioned in my last post, I’m on an elimination diet. On Monday (my second week of said diet) I walked into work, went into the break room to stash my diet essentials that would get me through the day and immediately noticed a massive baking pan of brownies sitting not so inconspicuously on the table.

I immediately knew who was responsible. With an office of 4, it’s pretty easy to figure out who staged a major temptation, on a MONDAY of all days, to thwart my diet. My lovely coworker who never brought treats for us in over a year suddenly had the impulse over the weekend to go into a major baking frenzy. And then bring it into the office to share. And talk about how she felt kinda weird bringing them in since one of us was on a diet. But not really.

Because seriously if you felt weird about it then the logical thing seems to be to parade it in the public break room versus in your massive corner office where you have plenty of room to host visitors and eat brownies.

So not that I really care, because anyone who knows me knows that I’d be much more tempted by mac n cheese or ruffles and french onion dip, but still who does that??

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Elimination Diet

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Sooo, remember that time I did a cleanse and it was intense and not really that fun and and I pretty much hated it?? Well, I’ve discovered a different way to torture myself  cleanse my body and reset for the summer. It’s called a 21 day elimination diet and it’s main function is to determine potential food allergies that may cause a myriad of symptoms that really make life kind of a pain. When my doctor suggested that my complaints might be food related, I wasn’t surprised due to a family history of that sort of thing. Not to mention that summer is coming. Call me vain but I want to be in prime form!

It took me awhile to wrap my head around the idea of eliminating gluten, dairy, soy, alcohol and various other fun foods from my diet for an eternity three weeks. My logical side reasoned that it would no doubt help my daily headaches and other random ailments, but my indulgent side screamed for mercy. As a wise thirty year old, reason won out. I am happy to report that we are on day 7 of our elimination diet. Oh yeah, Garett graciously agreed to join me on this food adventure. I like to think of it that way. We are exploring other food types and options in lieu of our normal fare.

While it takes a lot of planning, prep, patience and dedication to follow this program, it’s been quite a learning experience and eye opener. A tasty dressing can be whipped together in a jiffy. Almond butter is a great alternative to peanut butter. I can make soup that rivals the box soup that’s my go to quick meal. I don’t really miss bread. I really miss sushi. My headaches probably are food related. I have been headache free since embarking on this diet which is pretty flippin awesome.

As we settle into a groove it definitely gets easier. Could this be habit forming?? Yes, please! I can actually say that I am not dreading the rest of this experience. I’m looking forward to continued health improvements and discovering what foods are hot buttons in the reintroduction phase. In the meantime, I’ll be tantalizing your taste buds with tales of our delicious and nutritious meals!