It's been a little over three weeks now on this four week program. Time for another update. My boyfriend, the General, and I embarked on this together, but with slightly different plans and goals. I gave up Clif Bars, gluten, dairy, sweets, and alcohol. The General gave up diet Coke, chocolate, alcohol and planned to minimize consumption of bread, dairy and red meat. My goal was to increase consumption of fruits and vegetables over processed carbs and see if eliminating gluten and dairy made any noticeable differences. The General wanted to reboot better eating habits as well (he's a chocoholic to my Clif Bar Junkie) and to lose at least 10 pounds, so he could climb faster on his bike.
At the end of our second week, we got an invite to go skiing with friends at Vail. We said yes before thinking about what this implied for our eating program. Skiing with no apres-ski? The General was the first to declare a "graduation" from that part of our program. In the meantime, I got an email from my friend Paul, who reminded me that moderation is the key to long term success. I had written him because he and his wife live in Boulder, CO -- one of the epicenters of healthy living. Their approach is a Mediterranean lifestyle, emphasis on wholesome foods (lots of veg and fruit), moderate alcohol intake, and avoiding processed sugar and animal fats. And they make exceptions when they want to! That was all I needed to give myself permission to "graduate" as well from the no drinking part of the program. Although no beer, because I was determined to stick with the rest of the plan.
We packed up for Colorado. One half of a suitcase was filled with food supplies. We were staying at a friends' condo, and I wanted to be prepared. Almonds, cashews, almond butter, corn bread (a really good gluten and dairy free recipe that I've learned to bake), rice cakes, and chocolate almond milk (recovery drink component). This was in case we couldn't find any of those at a store in CO. I admit to being a little paranoid about that, but I'd rather be prepared when it comes to eating.
Challenge One: Eating on the ski slopes. The first day was okay, as we sat down and had a real lunch. I had a white bean soup and french fries. The other days were harder, as nobody else wanted to stop for a real lunch. Those are the times when you really need Clif Bars, which is what our friends were doing. I had a ziploc full of almonds, cashews, and pepitas I carried around, plus some Hammer Gel. For two days, I supplemented with potato chips. Not the healthiest, but they did the trick. And I never bonked.
Challenge Two: Super nice restaurant with five course meal. This was a special occasion place where we took a snow cat up the ski trails. Starving when we got there, I had to avoid the fragrant offering of fresh bread. This is an absolute first for me. Bonus was that I finished my whole meal without feeling stuffed. I think I managed to mostly avoid gluten that night, but failed on the dairy front. I'm sure my barbequed grits were stuffed with butter and that the sauce on my pork chop was full of cream -- there was just no escape. I had tried hard, but wasn't up for total asceticism. So I did the next best thing and went for moderation. I had a bite of my sorbet dessert and then a couple of bites of the General's chocolate chip cheesecake. I enjoyed all of it.
Footnote: All that rich food did not feel that great the next morning and led to a very cranky start.
Challenge Three: Nachos. The General is a very good cook, and he planned to make nachos for all of us after skiing one evening. We settled on him making a special corner of the pan for my portion, sans cheese. Our friends said they no longer qualified as nachos and were, therefore, "nas." I figured this would be a lost cause, but not at all. The General added leftover chicken, vegetarian refried black beans, fresh jalapenos, black olives, and cilantro. My little corner was delicious, and I didn't feel left out one bit.
Challenge Four: Saying no to the freshly baked chocolate chip cookie at the base of Beaver Creek post skiing. Enough said.
Results? Mixed. Socializing with friends wins out over complete adherence to eating program rules. Since this is a plan of my own devising, I am comfortable with that outcome. I want to remain inspired to eat better on a long term basis. (I think if I were on a strict elimination diet I would have to become a hermit.) Fact is, I like how I feel eating this way and that is the best inspiration of all.
p.s. the General has lost 10 lbs in 21 days!
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