ERA Days 5 - 7: Today requires a list!

by durham, February 8, 2010 | Permalink

I have so much to report to you about the past few days on the Eat Right America 28 day program.  I think I just need to make a list!

1) Fatigued and Grumpy! The ERA plan sends you an email every day with suggestions and tips about how to maximize your experience on the 28 day plan. The email I got on Sunday said I’d be feeling one of two ways: Better than ever OR Fatigued and grumpy. It explained that it was okay to feel the latter of the two because many people’s bodies go through some serious withdrawal when eliminating sugar and refined foods. I felt much better knowing that the fact that I was feeling pretty grumpy about the whole thing was normal. Granted, I was still grumpy, but a better grumpy.

2) Detoxing. Let’s talk about detoxing for a moment. I have done a lot of different detoxification programs over the last 6 years or so. Everything from the “Master Cleanse Lemonade Fast” and a basic juicing fast to an elimination diet combined with one of those boxed cleansing supplement packages that we sell in the Whole Body Department. At different points in my life, I’ve needed to detox for different reasons. I didn’t really think about this diet as a detox. But last night I noticed the tell tale sign that my body is detoxing. I apologize in advance if this is too much information, but my tongue turns white when I detox. It’s one of the visible ways that I can tell my body is detoxing. Who knew? I’m getting a good detox on this diet. Rock on!

3) Boredom vs. Hunger? During the past 8 days I’ve realized that I often eat simply because I’m bored or uninterested in what’s in front of me.  I’ve had to stop that because this program strongly recommends eating only 3 meals a day and limiting your snacking. So, I’ve found other ways to occupy my time. But an interesting thing I’m noticing is that my stomach seems to “growl” out of boredom just as much as it does out of hunger. I realized that when I eat a smoothie, there is just as much food in there as my normal salad at lunch contains. But shortly after eating a smoothie, my stomach starts growling. But it takes much longer after eating a salad for my stomach to start growling. It’s just as much food! Shouldn’t it take about the same amount of time for me to be hungry again after eating? See the picture below to see what I’m talking about with the smoothie. There’s a lot of food in there!My stomach just wants something to do in the same way that I do!

4) Weight Loss. I decided that I would “weigh-in” every Monday morning  before eating breakfast. Since I started the program on a Monday it made sense. I started last Monday weighing 149.5 lbs. This morning I weighed in at 144.5 lbs. WOW! I’m really shocked. I’ve never lost that much weight in a week. I have to wonder a) if it’s all water weight lost with the reduction of sodium in my diet or b) if this is fat loss, then is it healthy to lose that much in a week? I don’t know folks, but the scale doesn’t lie.

5) Weight Training. I have started the weight training portion of this 28 day program now. The first few days I just didn’t have the energy or interest in lifting a finger, much less lifting a dumbbell. But it’s happening now. It feels good. My body likes it.  I’m a little sore, but I always enjoy the feeling of being sore after a good workout. It tells me it worked! So, I expect to see some of the weight lost last week to come back as I build muscle mass with the weight training routine.

6) FOOD! Y’all, I love food. I love food so much! It’s the reason that I love my job here at Whole Foods Market so much (well, one of many reasons). I have to admit that I’m surprised by my cravings over the last few days. I’m not missing dairy, which is one of the things that I thought I would miss the most. I wasn’t a huge meat eater before I started this diet - I would go many days without including meat in my diet. But when I chose to enjoy meat, I wanted it to be awesome. Local grass-fed beef or local pork (BACON!). And I am really craving those things now. The program guidelines do allow for occasional consumption of grass-fed beef, so I might be breaking out one of those occasions pretty soon.

7) SUGAR! Sugar deserves a whole separate category in my list. I am definitely still craving sugar. More than a couple times every day I have gotten this deep craving for sugar. My body has been addicted to sugar since I was a teenager. I guess I suspected this all along. But now I really know it. I try to ease those cravings with fruit. My smoothies go a long way towards satisfying that sugar craving. But I am extremely proud of myself for not giving into the cravings. I have 2 pints of ice cream in my freezer that I couldn’t stand to throw out before I started the program. And both are still in their frozen home, untouched. The thing with sugar is that I can’t really just have one bite and walk away. The one bit will make the craving for more so unmanageable that I’ll make “secret” trips back to the freezer all night long for “one more bite” and before I know it the pint is empty. So I’m being as strong as I know how. And it’s good.

8 ) Football. Seriously, what could football have to do with this diet. Well, most of you know there was a big football game on last night. And here’s where I have to admit that I didn’t even watch the game. Had no real interest in watching the game. But I felt VERY left out that I couldn’t enjoy football-watching-food like everyone else in North America last night.  So, I decided to fix myself a fun finger food that would meet the guidelines of this program and make me feel a little more included. I took a couple Ezekiel brand sprouted grain tortillas and put them in the oven to crisp up like a tortilla chip. And I made a batch of yummy guacamole with so much lemon that it didn’t even need salt! I was really proud of myself for figuring this out! So proud I took a picture! See below.

Smoothie ready to be blended, from top to bottom: coconut milk, orange juice, spinach, ground flax seeds, frozen blueberries, cherries & strawberries

Game Day Guacamole w/ Sprouted Grain Tortilla Chips

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