Day 21 - let's recap.
21 days of:
No sugar of any kind
No artificial sweeteners - this means no Coke Zero, Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi!
No grains
No legumes
No alcohol (ok that was a freebie since I don't drink)
No dairy
No white potatoes
Yeah I'm bragging just a bit.
Easy? No. As hard as I thought it would be? No.
Eats for Day 21
Breakfast: pulled beef/chicken hash (like yesterday); fried egg
Look Ma - no protein shake!!! I didn't enjoy the hash this morning as much as I did yesterday. Today's version had a mix of chicken/beef - maybe that was it. Or, I just wasn't feeling meat so early in the morning.
Lunch: @Milestones. I met my friend Tiffany for lunch. I ordered this:
But I ordered it without sauce and noodles and with a plain chicken breast. It was good and filling since I requested extra greens in place of the noodles. Hmm..I didn't get a double breast though, I just noticed that!
Dinner: pork cutlet dredged in almond meal and pan fried; green bean salad (green beans steamed then cooled and tossed with olive oil/lemon juice, salt, pepper); fresh strawberries
I've been spending my time on my train ride home reading the forums and posts at Mark's Daily Apple and also the Whole9 site about using almond meal and other nut flours. MDA seems to completely shun it because of the PUFA (polyunsaturated fatty acids) content when nuts are cooked at high temps and something to do with rations of Omega 3 to Omega 6...I'm still trying to get my head around that part.
Whole9, specifically for the Whole30 challenge says its ok to use it sparingly but its not a Paleo replacement for flour or other "bread" like products.
However, both sites have recipes using almond meal and coconut meal...so it's a bit confusing. And MDA links to another site for a recipe for Carrot Walnut Bread that looks and sounds awfully good!
Personally, I know that if I start eating bready/cakey/sweet goods type stuff, I will continue to eat that stuff and it will be short leap off a almond meal muffin into a white flour, full sugar, chocolate cake. And it might be a leap I can't come back from again.
There's no such thing as just one cookie in my life. It is way easier to have zero cookies than to have one and stop. Now, supposedly these recipes don't raise blood sugar the same way as wheat and sugar would and there should be no sugar binge type cravings, but some of why we (meaning me) eat the way we do is a conditioned psychological response. Something tastes sweet and good and I want more. The other thing that is a bit worrisome that I've not seen addressed on either site yet, but I may not have come across it yet either, is that these "treats" made with almond meal and coconut meal are soaring in fat content. These are ground nuts! Do you how many nuts it would take to get 1 cup of almond meal? Me neither, but I'm sure its a lot. I know the Primal/Paleo way of eating doesn't count calories, but I think at some point, you gotta use common sense too....no?
Having said that, I tried the almond meal on my pork cutlets tonight to make them crispy like a traditional breading would (flour, egg, breadcrumbs) to see what it would taste like.
Verdict: Not bad. Not as crispy as the traditional breading and it doesn't stick as well. I pan fried in coconut oil so it also had a coco-nutty taste as well as the almond-nutty taste. And I had to watch them very carefully because they browned very quickly
Not ...bad...but different. Liam loved it. I swear that child will eat anything!
I'm not saying I'll never have sugar or wheat again and I'm not saying I'll never have a treat like food again either. I'm just saying for right now - its too much to gamble on.
I've been spending my time on my train ride home reading the forums and posts at Mark's Daily Apple and also the Whole9 site about using almond meal and other nut flours. MDA seems to completely shun it because of the PUFA (polyunsaturated fatty acids) content when nuts are cooked at high temps and something to do with rations of Omega 3 to Omega 6...I'm still trying to get my head around that part.
Whole9, specifically for the Whole30 challenge says its ok to use it sparingly but its not a Paleo replacement for flour or other "bread" like products.
However, both sites have recipes using almond meal and coconut meal...so it's a bit confusing. And MDA links to another site for a recipe for Carrot Walnut Bread that looks and sounds awfully good!
Personally, I know that if I start eating bready/cakey/sweet goods type stuff, I will continue to eat that stuff and it will be short leap off a almond meal muffin into a white flour, full sugar, chocolate cake. And it might be a leap I can't come back from again.
There's no such thing as just one cookie in my life. It is way easier to have zero cookies than to have one and stop. Now, supposedly these recipes don't raise blood sugar the same way as wheat and sugar would and there should be no sugar binge type cravings, but some of why we (meaning me) eat the way we do is a conditioned psychological response. Something tastes sweet and good and I want more. The other thing that is a bit worrisome that I've not seen addressed on either site yet, but I may not have come across it yet either, is that these "treats" made with almond meal and coconut meal are soaring in fat content. These are ground nuts! Do you how many nuts it would take to get 1 cup of almond meal? Me neither, but I'm sure its a lot. I know the Primal/Paleo way of eating doesn't count calories, but I think at some point, you gotta use common sense too....no?
Having said that, I tried the almond meal on my pork cutlets tonight to make them crispy like a traditional breading would (flour, egg, breadcrumbs) to see what it would taste like.
Verdict: Not bad. Not as crispy as the traditional breading and it doesn't stick as well. I pan fried in coconut oil so it also had a coco-nutty taste as well as the almond-nutty taste. And I had to watch them very carefully because they browned very quickly
Not ...bad...but different. Liam loved it. I swear that child will eat anything!
I'm not saying I'll never have sugar or wheat again and I'm not saying I'll never have a treat like food again either. I'm just saying for right now - its too much to gamble on.
I sort of feel the same way about all the paleo 'baked goods'. I think it'll be helpful to find a few recipes for those 'special occasions', or times I feel like baking, but I certainly don't want to make them a habit -- like you said, it's a psychological response as much as a physiological one.
ReplyDeleteYour porkchop looks yummy, must try that! How awesome that LIam likes all this stuff. Definitely makes things easier on you! :)