Thank God for coffee: Day 5

We can totally have coffee. And this one is amazing. I got it at Mother's Market yesterday, and it is fantastic. When you can't put any sugar or milk in your coffee, the quality definitely does matter!

Breakfast: Chicken sausage omelette with tomatoes, onions and cilantro

I saved all the left-over ingredients from yesterday's omelette and made it again today. I think today's version was better than yesterday's. No idea why.

Lunch: steak tacos

Yep. A steak taco in a vegan tortilla. The irony is not lost on me. Somewhere somebody is angry about this. Sorry.

I bought these vegan wraps at Mother's Market yesterday. They were actually surprisingly good. Even better than I had hoped. There was a faint taste of coconut; but for the most part, they didn't taste like anything, and certainly didn't taste bad. I was afraid they might be flimsy--but they were pretty thick and actually held together better than a regular tortilla does. And their square shape, although kinda weird, actually made it easier to eat. A definite two thumbs up. Once we start Phase II, we can have corn (and corn tortillas!), so after the first two weeks are done we won't need them, but they are definitely worth the money to have once or twice during phase one. Here's what I put inside:

Left-over flank steak from dinner last night, tomato, red onion, cilantro and avocado. I mashed the avocado with some lime juice, salt and pepper.  Andy says this is the best thing we've had so far.

Dinner: Tamales!

OK, so I know I just told you we couldn't have corn and all, but we may have kinda sorta fudged on that one tonight. One of Andy's co-workers had a birthday party tonight with some amazing homemade tamales. We figured homemade tamales should never be passed up on; and really, once I researched it, they aren't too far off the mark for the Maker's Diet. The dough is actually not too bad (I felt like this was pretty OK since we can have corn in another week and a half anyway). And the filling all just depends on what you have in it. We had some chicken tamales that were out of this world. I'm very glad we decided to go for it on this one. We also agreed that this does NOT count as our cheat meal for the week, since I've completely got my heart set on what we are planning for dinner tomorrow night. 

I told you Mexican was pretty easy to do in this diet. Today was kind of like exhibit A.



We've starting feeling much better. Not only are we not craving carbs and feeling starving; we both feel really good. I've definitely noticed a difference in my skin, and I've been sleeping much more peacefully and waking up feeling much more rested. Andy is starting to look pretty lean (I hate how men can do that so much more quickly). We both definitely have more energy. And all in just 5 days. I'd say it couldn't be true, but we've had this same experience twice now. Turns out this whole diet thing works.

A long time ago a read an article about how when someone finally starts seeing results from a diet or exercise plan, it begins to get easier to stick with because they are beginning to receive the gratification for it.  I can definitely vouch for that. 

Day 4: Vegans have more fun.

I did something I hate today. I went to Mother's Market. But it was SO worth it. This vegan cookie sandwich and vegan chocolate brownie were exactly what we needed today (even if they were $3.99 each!).

Breakfast: Chicken Sausage Omelette

eggs
chicken sausage
1 tomato, diced
1/4 of a yellow onion, finely chopped
a few sprigs of cilantro, finely chopped
1 avocado, sliced

Start by grilling the sausage in a pan. Trader Joe's makes some fantastic chicken sausage--the one I got was maple-flavored.  Once the sausage is cooked, remove it from the pan and add the onions, after 2-3 minutes, add the tomatoes and cilantro for another 1-2 minutes. Remove that from the pan, and add the eggs (already beaten). I like to do about 3 eggs per omelette. Here is a link to some great tips for making the perfect omelette.  Once it's all said and done, sprinkle the avocado on top.

Lunch: Taco Salad

Yes. This actually is a picture of my lunch. Some friends from Maine were in town, so we met them for lunch in downtown Huntington Beach. In my experience, Mexican food and Thai food are the easiest to eat on the Maker's Diet. I had a taco salad with lettuce, shredded beef, pico de gallo, onions, cilantro and avocado. I used salsa instead of dressing. It was delicious. I forgot to take a picture of it. Blame it on the cute baby.  If you're in this area and you haven't been to Stuffed, you need to go!

Dinner: Flank steak with spring salad and avocado

Flank steak:
Remove the steak from its packaging and let it come to room temp. Rub the steak with salt, pepper and crushed garlic (my favorite recipe also adds brown sugar to that rub....but that's not quite gonna make the cut on this diet). Grill in a pan on MedHi heat, turning about every 5 minutes or so.

Wanna know how to know when it's done? Check out this awesome article on how to know how well-cooked a steak is without using a thermometer. I swear by it. I just explained it to my husband as I was writing this up.....He's now convinced that God clearly wanted us to be successful grillers or he wouldn't have created our hands that way. Anyhow, once the steak is cooked to your level of done-ness, remove it from the pan and let it rest for about 10 minutes. Then slice it against the grain.

Salad:
I simply used a bag of spring mix from Trader Joe's and an avocado. I made the dressing. This is my favorite salad dressing and is quite simple to make. I got the recipe from a Food Network magazine a few years ago:

Whisk together:
2 Tbs apple cider vinegar
1 tsp mustard
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper

Then add:
1/4 cup olive oil



Right before dinner, I made the dreaded trip to Mother's Market to get some fun goodies. I got the cookie sandwich and the brownie, and I also picked up a few things we'll be experimenting with over the next few days. I also picked up an old favorite to cap the night off with.

Confessional time: Day 3

I ate two Starbursts today. I didn't mean to, I promise. It was an accident! My Bible study leader always has little pieces of candy for us each week, and this week when I walked in there was a little baby Starburst package sitting on my chair. I thought "Yum, Starbursts!" I opened it up, popped them in my mouth, and thought nothing of it. Then about 10 minutes later, as everyone else in my group was discussing the power of Christ in Ephesians, I was silently freaking out as I realized what I had just done.

Ok, I confessed. I feel much better now.

Breakfast: Smoothie and almonds

I mixed it up this time and went with blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and strawberries. Actually, I also tried adding some ice to the smoothie this time. I think Andy and I both liked it better that way. From now on I'll also be adding ice.

Lunch: Spinach salad with berries and chicken

Pretty simple. One bag of Spinach, sliced strawberries, raspberries, grilled chicken and the same Trader Joe's Red Wine and Olive Oil dressing.

Dinner: Garlic Citrus Salmon and roasted carrots

Carrots:

Butter

Salt

Carrots

Peel and slice carrots. Place in a pan in the oven at 400 degrees. Stir every 5-8 minutes. Cook until tender, then toss in a little melted butter and salt. 

Salmon:

Butter

Crushed Garlic

Lemon

Salmon filets

Melt a little butter in a pan, add a little of the crushed garlic (I use the kind in a jar from Trader Joe's) and let it brown. Then grill the salmon, usually it takes about 4 minutes on each side. Once the salmon is done, squeeze the juice from the lemon over the top while still in the pan, pull the pan off the heat and let it sit for a minute or two, then serve. 

They say that when you start writing down what you eat, you start to notice patterns. I've noticed that I clearly use a lot of butter when I cook (OK, so I kinda knew this, but now that all of you do, I guess I have to admit it). This is actually totally OK on the Maker's Diet, but I think I'd like to try toning it down a bit. Olive oil it is. 

I came home from Bible study today, and my husband also had a confession to make. He had eaten just about everything in our fridge. In his words, he was "hangry" (that would be hungry + angry....or I guess more accurately, angry because he's hungry). 

Today was still not awful, but we've been an awful lot of hangry today. We're already scheming and dreaming of our cheat dinner on Sunday night. Hopefully we make it over this hill soon. Looking forward to a big breakfast tomorrow, it's gonna be delicious!

Phase I

I've gotten a few questions about exactly what we  can  eat on this diet, so here's a bit of clarity for those of you who are interested. The diet is broken up into three separate phases, with the first phase being the most restrictive. As you move into the second and third phase, you add more and more foods back into your diet. You can always go to the  official web site to learn way more than what I've got here, but here's a snapshot of what's allowed in the first phase:

Meat:

• beef
• lamb
• venison
• goat
• liver and heart
• veal
• buffalo
• elk

Fish:

• salmon
• tuna
• scrod
• haddock
• pompano
• trout
• orange roughy
• snapper
• herring
• whitefish
• halibut
• cod
• grouper
• mahi mahi
• wahoo
• tilapia
• sea bass
• mackerel
• sole
• sardines

Poultry:

• chicken
• guinea fowl
• duck
• turkey 
• cornish game hen
• chicken or turkey bacon (organic and nitrate free)
• chicken or turkey sausage (organic and nitrate free, only in small amounts)

Eggs:

• chicken eggs
• duck eggs

Dairy:

• goat's milk yogurt
• homemade kefir from goat's milk
• soft goat's milk cheese
• goat's milk hard cheese
• sheep's milk hard cheeses

Fats and Oils:

• avocado
• extra-virgin coconut oil
• extra-virgin olive oil
• flaxseed oil
• hempseed oil
• goat's milk butter
• sesame oil
• coconut milk/cream
• cow's milk butter

Vegetables:

• broccoli
• asparagus
• cauliflower
• cabbage
• squash
• beets
• brussels sprouts
• carrots
• celery
• eggplant
• garlic
• okra
• spinach
• peas
• string beans
• artichoke
• leafy greens
• sprouts
• sea vegetables
• cucumber
• pumpkin
• onion
• lettuce
• mushrooms
• peppers
• tomatoes

Beans and legumes:

• small amounts of fermented soybean paste (miso)
• lentils

Nuts and seeds:

• almonds (raw)
• hempseed (raw)
• sunflower seeds (raw)
• pumpkinseeds (raw)
• almond butter (raw)
• Sunflower butter (raw)

Condiments, spices and seasonings:

• salsa
• guacamole
• salt
• all herbs and spices
• wasabe
• tomato sauce (no added sugar)
• apple cider vinegar
• mustard
• Omega-3 mayonnaise
• soy sauce (wheat free)
• organic flavoring extracts (vanilla, almond, etc)

Fruits:

• blueberries
• blackberries
• cherries
• lemon
• strawberries
• raspberries
• grapefruit
• lime

Beverages:

• purified water
• natural sparkling water, no carbonation added
• herbal teas
• raw vegetable juice
• lacto-fermented beverages
• coffee

Sweeteners:

• raw honey, no more than 1 Tbsp. per day

Miscellaneous:

• Goat's milk protein powder

So maybe you're looking at this and thinking "Hey, that's a pretty long list of stuff. Why is this girl complaining so much?" You need to look again. Duck eggs? Homemade kefir? Sea vegetables? Lacto-fermented beverages? Yeah, maybe other people have a different experience, but the majority of stuff on this list I will not be eating anytime soon. And I like goat cheese probably more than most people....but just because you like goat cheese, doesn't mean you should try putting goat's milk yogurt in a smoothie. Actually, let me be more clear: DO NOT, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES, EVEN IF YOU ARE SICK OF COCONUT MILK AND THINK IT WILL BE JUST FINE BECAUSE, HEY,  YOU LIKE GOAT CHEESE, PUT GOAT'S MILK YOGURT IN A SMOOTHIE. I'd rather drink something I squeezed out of Uriah's dirty diapers. It was disgusting in the weirdest of ways. 

Notice what's missing from this list? Any and all carbs or grains, in any form. No bread, no pasta, no oatmeal. That's one of the most difficult parts. 

Good thing this only lasts for two weeks. 

Day Two: How many days left?

I realized last night that whatever the first picture of a post is gets used in the heading if you're reading this on a phone....and that if I always post my breakfast first, then you'll always get a picture of my breakfast. Which would be....BORING. Let's be honest, we're pretty much looking at eggs and smoothies every day for the next 38 days. I might spice it up with some turkey bacon soon. In another 12 days I can add a little cheese and make an omelette. But pretty much, eggs and smoothies. So here's this instead:

Now that we've gotten that over with, on to today's meals.

Breakfast: Egg Scramble, berries and a smoothie (told ya!)

Egg Scramble:

1 Tomato, diced
1/4 of a white onion, diced
5 eggs
butter
salt and pepper


Melt a little butter in a pan (just enough to cover the bottom), add onions and grill until transparent (that's how you know they're cooked!), add tomatoes and stir, add beaten eggs and salt and pepper. Makes enough for two people.

Smoothie:

Pull smoothie out of freezer. Remove foil. Place in microwave for approximately 45 seconds. Ha.
(Yep, I made these yesterday when I made the first ones, they sat in the freezer overnight.)

Lunch: Steak Salad

1 bag of romaine lettuce
1/2 of a cucumber
1/4 of a red onion
thinly-sliced steak (I grilled an extra steak last night and saved it for today)
Trader Joe's Red Wine and Olive Oil dressing

The dressing is a bit of a cheat. But if you look at the ingredients on the back, there are actually only two things on the list that are questionable:

The vegetable oil is pretty much a no-no. Mostly because of the soy, I think.  The Xanthian Gum I'm not totally sure about. You can click on the link I just gave it to read more about it if you're interested. Sounds like it probably is on the no list, but it also sounds like there is probably only a teeny tiny bit in here. And there's a small chance it's actually fine. Clearly, I am not a nutritionist. Either way, I used the dressing. It's delicious. I do have a great recipe for a salad dressing that 100% fits in this diet that I'll be using in a few days.

Dinner: Baked chicken, broccoli and avocado

Chicken:
Frozen Chicken Tenderloins
Lemon Pepper
Salt

Place the frozen pieces of chicken on a piece of foil, sprinkle liberally with lemon pepper and salt (or whatever other seasoning you'd like to use), wrap up in the foil and put in the oven at 350 for approximately 45-60 minutes. This is my favorite way to make chicken. It's super juicy and tender, and it's pretty much impossible to over-cook. If you need to let it sit in the oven for a bit, it holds extremely well.

Broccoli:

Buy a bag of broccoli from Trader Joe's. The purple one. You can put that in the microwave. I put a little butter and salt over the top of it once it was done cooking.

Avocado:
Slice the avocado, then cover with a little lemon juice, salt and pepper.


I was supposed to do carrots tonight, but I got lazy and did the broccoli instead. Mostly because we were on our way to a baseball game, so the less clean-up the better. This dinner has literally no clean up. Throw away the foil you used for the chicken, throw away the broccoli bag, throw away the avocado skin. That's my kinda dinner.


After last night's post, I was feeling pretty good about how things were going. 30 minutes later, we sat down to watch some TV, and every commercial was for food. Andy and I sat there, lamenting about how badly we wanted pizza, ice cream, cinnamon rolls and burritos. Didn't set us up any better tonight either. The carrots and almonds I packed for us to take to the baseball game weren't a very good consolation for the smells of hot dogs and nachos.

I've actually been pleasantly surprised though. Last time around, the second day was the WORST. That was the day Andy got shaky and I got a migraine. This time, just a small little headache. We did both feel starving all day (hard to believe when you look at the amount of food we're still eating), and are definitely craving carbs (more specifically I'd like a carb shaped like a Cinnabon).  I think last time, we were at a point in our lives that we were both eating a lot more carbs and junk food, so it was a more drastic shock. Also, we were both working. Not only am I at home with Uriah now, but Andy is home from work this week with bursitis in his knee. Makes it much easier. Convenient, I guess. But then again, who knows? Maybe it will be worse tomorrow.

For now, I guess we can just enjoy the fact that we didn't feel to terrible to enjoy the Angels game.

Day 1: And it begins....

My headache didn't start until about 2PM. But I definitely got one. For those of you not familiar with the Maker's Diet, it's split up into three separate phases. The first phase (2 weeks), is all about detoxing your body off of all the sugars, carbohydrates, chemicals and other junk that your body doesn't need. The first few days can be a little rough as your body adjusts to not getting all that stuff. Today wasn't too bad though.

Breakfast: Smoothie and scrambled eggs

Yes. That is a red solo cup. So maybe I don't like to do dishes, OK? 

Smoothie:

coconut milk

flax oil

honey

Trader Joe's limeade

frozen strawberries

 If you don't know how to make smoothie....google it. 

Eggs:

Eggs

butter

salt and pepper

Beat the eggs, add a little melted butter and salt and pepper. If you don't know how to scramble eggs, you can also google that. 

The limeade is a little bit of a cheat--it's made with lime juice, lemon juice, water and a little sugar. But it does WONDERS for the smoothie, so I figure a little bit in a smoothie doesn't make me feel terrible about myself. I also put a tiny splash of it in my water sometimes too (after about day 14, drinking pretty much only water starts to get a little boring). I love coconut, so I think these are great. Andy isn't the hugest fan, but he can tolerate them. They can also be frozen overnight, which is great for grabbing on the go if you have to get out the door quickly in the morning. 

Lunch: Tuna salad and asparagus

Asparagus:

Drop asparagus into a pot of boiling water for 3-5 minutes, until they turn bright green. Immediately transfer them to a warm pan with a little butter and salt. Toss them in the butter and salt for another minute or two, then serve immediately. 

This is kind of a weird way of making asparagus. I discovered in in The Joy of Cooking a few years ago, and it results in the perfect asparagus every time. If you haven't gotten yourself a copy of The Joy of Cooking, you need to. It's better than the internet. It explains how to cook everything. If you've ever wanted to cook a particular dish or meal, but have no clue where to start, that book will explain everything you needed to know about it. 

Tuna Salad:

tuna

olive oil

celery

red onions

salt and pepper

garlic powder

Mix the tuna and olive oil until it reaches the consistency you'd like, then add the celery and red onions; then the salt, pepper, and garlic powder. 

Dinner: Steak and Sauteed Zucchini

Steak:

Grill the steaks over high heat and season with salt, pepper and crushed garlic. I once read that you're not supposed to turn steaks very often. Then someone else told me that the more you turn it, the better it will cook. I've chosen to go with lots of turning. Hasn't failed me yet.

Zucchini:

Chop the zucchini in halves lengthwise, then slice. Heat up a bit of olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the zucchini, then season with salt and pepper. 

All in all, not too bad today. Looking forward to tomorrow. 

Bummer

So apparently there's been a recall on Trader Joe's almond butter. Supposedly it's only for the ones with flaxseed in them, but I think I'll be skipping the almond butter this time around. Good thing Trader Joe's takes returns. Huge bummer, since that's the only thing that made me like eating the celery sticks that I'm stuck with for the next two weeks.

For more info on the recall, you can check out this article:

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Trader-Joe-Recall-for-Peanut-Almond-Butters-Expands-171041071.html

It lists every UPC code and product that has been included in this recall.


So far, so good this morning. I'll have a full post up tonight with our first day's meals.

Prep Day

I started today by cleaning out our kitchen of pretty much everything that we cannot eat for the next 40 days. Anything that would save for the next 40 days either went in the freezer or in a small corner of the cupboard.

Then I went to the store. $150 later, it was time to start getting ready for the week. Yes, $150. But that's because I had to buy a lot of things to get started that I won't have to buy again. Things like flaxseed oil and almond butter and a new bottle of EVOO. Those things will last for a long time. So normally I won't be such a big spender (I hope!).

Here's our meal plan for the week:

Phase I: Week 1

	Tuesday	Wednesday	Thursday	Friday	Saturday	Sunday
Breakfast	Smoothies and eggs	Egg scramble and berries	Smoothies and almonds	Egg scramble and berries	Smoothies and eggs	Egg scramble and berries
Lunch	Tuna salad and asparagus	Steak salad	Berry-spinach Salad with chicken	Tuna salad and veggies	Steak taco salad	Maui short ribs with broccoli
Dinner	Steaks and sautéed squash	Baked chicken breasts, steamed carrots	Salmon and broccoli	Flank steak with a spring salad	Marinated chicken legs and broccoli	Cheat Dinner
Snacks	Almonds, carrots, celery, berries, chicken

This was a very neat little chart in my Word Doc that I'm using to work on meal plans. I'm going to need to figure out how to make this transfer over or how to do it differently in the future. If anyone knows how, I'd love some help.  :)

I spent about 45 minutes tonight prepping snacks for the week. I washed and cut all our veggies and fruits, so they're ready to go when we feel like we just might die over the next few days. Last time we did this, it was the first 3 or 4 days that were the hardest. Not eating any carbs made us STARVING all the time. There was one point when I ate an entire carton of strawberries in one sitting. What I like about the Maker's is that you can totally do that. Here's what I've got ready for this week:

You're looking at 1 pound of carrots, 1 pound of celery, 2 pounds of strawberries and a quart of blueberries. I also cooked a couple of chicken breasts and cut them up to grab as a quick snack. If my memory serves me right, it took us about 3 days to go through all of this last time. We'll see how it goes. 

After that, we sat down as a family and lovingly said goodbye to a dear friend. 

Step One...

....buy the book again!

Found out my oh-so-generous husband "lent" our copy to someone.....and can't remember who it was.

Good thing you can get it used on Amazon for one cent. I also bought the book of shopping lists and recipes for a quarter. Last time we did it, I found I didn't like his recipes as much as I liked my own, but I figured I'd give it a few more chances.

Looks like we're gonna have to push back the start date of this whole thing by two days.....being out of town for a wedding has thrown us off a bit and I wasn't able to get everything ready by today. So we'll be starting on Tuesday, September 25. For realsies.

What I really enjoyed about the Maker's Diet in the past is that, after reading the book, I felt like I completely understood the philosophy of the diet and how it worked. It helped me make much more confident decisions about what we were eating. It's not just a list of do eat this and don't eat that--it's a whole way of looking at things. I also enjoyed that it wasn't about portions. I can eat as much as I want, until I am full. This makes life much easier.

Something else I really enjoyed was how much money we saved. The Maker's Diet more or less takes away your ability to eat out, at least toward the beginning of it. Gone are the quick stops for yogurt or coffee, gone are the "let's just go grab something for lunch instead". As cheesy as it sounds, it also forced us to spend more creative quality time with others. We realized that most often when we were spending time with friends, it was based around meals. Suddenly we couldn't eat those meals, so we had to find other things to do with our friends. It was kinda nice actually.

I suppose I need to put out a disclaimer that I don't plan on following the diet completely. There are a few places where I've chosen to deviate and/or modify based on what's actually realistic and going to work for me and my family (gosh, my family....last time we did this we were childless....should be a tad more fun with a toddler in tow). A few things to point out:

1. I am not hugely dedicated to organics. While I totally understand why they are (in theory) better, I also know that FDA standards are pretty loose and that you can slap an "organic!" sticker on just about anything you want. I fully agree that if something is truly organic, it is better for me. But I also believe that more often than not, people who buy organics are just paying more for pretty much the same product. We will not always be buying organic, sorry to disappoint.

2. We will not be adhering to any of the cleansing, prayer or fasting as outlined in the book. Not that I don't think those things are worthwhile; we just won't be doing them in connection with this diet (OK, so I guess that actually means that I don't think they're worthwhile in this case, doesn't it?).

3. We will be allowing ourselves one "cheat dinner" per week. Most often this defaults to Sunday nights, although it can easily float around to allow us to attend events, accept invitations, etc.

4. I do allow for a teensy, tinsy bit of chemical-ish stuff. As in, Trader Joe's sells a great assortment of pre-marinated meats that are totally great, taste delicious and are quite convenient. They tend to have a few minor ingredients in the marinade that aren't totally what they should be....but I've chosen to overlook that in favor of making my life much easier and giving us much more variety in our meals. So sue me.


Tomorrow is prep day. I'll be cleaning out our fridge and cupboards of everything we can't have.....and lovingly saying goodbye to each item as it goes.