Three Weeks and counting...

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!

The Breakfast Dilemma

I love breakfast, let me start out by saying that. My typical breakfast options involve opening some packaged cereal, or perhaps some really good granola, and adding yogurt or milk. Extra effort means making a scrambled egg sandwich on wheat toast. But by avoiding dairy and wheat products for the moment, I needed to come up with some new options. And I needed to figure out options that didn't involve spending hours preparing.

I was starting to realize that preparing good food takes time. And it takes even more time if you're not used to it. My learning curve was pretty steep. Most of my usual limited repertoire was verboten. I would have to go out of my comfort zone, and not just for breakfast. So I started experimenting.

On our way home from a visit with friends over New Year's in southern Spain, I ate an egg and potato dish at the airport that was very good (for airport food, that is.) It was pie shaped with layers of potato slices surrounded by egg. I decided that even I could probably replicate something that looked very simple.

First try involved boiling the potatoes. How hard could this be? However easy it is, it turns out I am not very good at it. I overcooked the potatoes on the first go and undercooked them on the second. I then sliced up a few potatoes (not very easy to make those thin, even slices), whisked my eggs and put it all into the fry pan. It looked reasonably appetizing, although nothing like what we'd eaten in Spain. Worse, the damn potatoes were rock hard. Now starving, I had to pull out all the potatoes, microwave them, and return them to the eggs. Not what one would consider a real success.

Luckily, one of my friends came to the rescue and showed me a recipe for a Spanish tortilla. Now I had some direction! My enthusiasm persuaded my boyfriend, the General (he comes by his moniker honestly), to try one out. He found a recipe for the Italian version, called a frittata, that involved 18 eggs, numerous potatoes and onions, and our biggest fry pan. The correct way to cook one of these is to saute the sliced (raw) potatoes, onions, and peppers in olive oil in the fry pan. When mostly done, they are taken out of the pan, mixed with the beaten eggs and poured back in the still hot fry pan. When the edges are set, the pan goes in a very hot oven. The egg mixture fluffs up as it bakes. Neither of us had made anything like this before and were impressed when we pulled it out of the oven. It looked great. More importantly, it was absolutely delicious. We stuffed ourselves and still had lots of leftovers. The frittata kept well in the refrigerator and reheated easily in the microwave. The General had figured out how to do it. Now it was up to me to attempt on my own.

Concerned about the vast quantities of eggs that I might end up consuming on this program, I followed the General's advice and used a ratio of 50% eggs with yolks to 50% egg whites only. And it turns out that raw potatoes are much easier to slice thinly than cooked ones. Feeling quite gourmet, I remembered to add some of our fresh rosemary that we had brought in from the cold. Et voila! Here's a picture of my final result. I had discovered a really great breakfast food for following a big workout or lazy weekend brunch with friends, one that tastes great and is full of fresh ingredients. No feelings of deprivation here!

My next conquest was oatmeal. I knew that steel cut oatmeal is better than instant or rolled oats. I also knew that it took about 30 minutes to cook. And what would I put on it to make it palatable? I'm normally one for lots of brown sugar. First experiment was on the topping front. I tried blue agave syrup as a sweetener which worked well. Then I added Udi's gluten free granola sweetened with honey which was delicious. This made a great combo. Now would the refrigerated oatmeal reheat acceptably in the microwave? I had a made a big batch to test out. Worked like a charm.

My experiments had been worthwhile. Compared to the first days of following this program, when it took me close to two hours from start to finish for breakfast, I had achieved two timely and healthy alternatives. Nothing like a little success to keep you going!

One Week Report Card

Ok, it's time to take stock. I've given up Clif Bars, gluten, dairy, sweets, and alcohol for a period of time. Why? I hear that a lot. I'm not overweight, and most folks would consider my eating habits reasonably good. I think they're that way because every couple of years I make an adjustment.


After college, I realized I needed to adjust my regular menu of Cap'n Crunch for breakfast, five hot dogs for lunch, and big cans of Chunky Sirloin Burger for dinner. And at work in NYC, I needed to adjust my ritual pre-lunch snack of two Mrs. Fields cookies. Later it was the super greasy Chinese fast food take-out around the corner.

My adjustments usually were successful because they never involved total withdrawal and were made gradually. And some things I must say I have thankfully grown out of. So this new program has been somewhat of a shock to the system, both internally and externally. My goal is to recalibrate the choices that I make on a regular basis. I have been reading some interesting new research and viewpoints that seemed worthwhile. Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) runs in my family and has no doubt affected many of my eating habits. Bonking is such an awful feeling (and maybe worse for those around me) that I try very hard to avoid it. It's one of the reasons that I began eating Clif Bars as snacks, not just as training food.

So, how am I doing:

No Clif Bars: I've somehow managed not to eat a single one, even though there's a White Chocolate Macadamia Nut staring me in the face in a basket on the kitchen counter. Good replacements as snacks have been cashews, almonds, raisins, cranberries, pepitas, fruit. Not so good snack replacements: potato chips (once), french fries (once). Instead of a Clif Bar before swimming in the morning, I am making an extra strong sports drink (Heed). And for long rides, I am eating Hammer Gel and drinking Heed.

No gluten: This is also a hard one as I am the pasta queen, but somehow have done ok. Replacements: homemade non gluten, non dairy corn bread (actually very good), brown rice, lots of potatoes, rice cakes. Bought quinoa but haven't made it yet. Had almond butter on toasted corn bread instead of my normal pre-ride waffles. Learned how to make egg and potato frittatas as a post ride recovery meal. Delizioso!

No dairy: I love cereal, two bowls at a minimum. But this is one of the habits I am trying to break. Not much nutritional value there. Gave up hot milk in my coffee, Harder was giving up my Reggiano cheese which I grate onto practically everything. No dairy has also affected my recovery drink. I couldn't use whey protein powder so I got something called Hemp protein powder from Trader Joe's. It tastes like ... rope. I did find chocolate almond milk to mix it with which has improved it a bunch.

No sweets: Not having post dinner chocolate was difficult, especially as the chocolate bars were still out on the table the first day. I like having something to chew on after dinner, either something crunchy like pita chips, or really good dark chocolate. So far, the only decent replacements are cashews or almonds.

No alcohol: Sparkling water has been the replacement of choice.

So, I've managed to stay technically on track. One of my overarching goals is to replace much of my processed food carbohydrate intake with whole foods. Replacing Clif Bars with potato chips and french fries is not going to help me get there!

The Fifth Floor Walk-up

My daughter had laid out a rough schedule for the move. We'd already blown it on Friday as we had to fix a last minute screw-up with her new bed frame. Saturday would now include loading all the furniture and boxes from my mom's garage into the U-Haul, driving into Brooklyn and unloading with the help of her boyfriend, roommate and two other friends. All in the freezing cold with the remains of a significant snow storm on the ground. It was until Friday night that I finally remembered to ask about her apartment building. No elevators and an apartment on the fifth floor. The pain and aggravation factor had just been exponentially multiplied.

Since I've always been in the habit of anticipating my next meal, I realized that executing a move of this nature on the fourth day of my newly restrictive diet would require some serious preparation. After all, this is not a starvation program. I generally don't go more than two hours before eating again. Without being able to rely on my normal staples for this sort of all day scenario (cereal, sandwiches, pizza, beer, and Clif Bars), I am forced to relinquish my morning run on moving day to prepare more elaborate and healthy alternatives. Concerned about eating enough, I make a giant 10 egg & red pepper scramble and proceed to eat about 3/4 of it. Coffee is not on my verboten list (couldn't give up everything!) so I finally figure out how to get my mom's coffee maker to brew up some really strong stuff.

While making the breakfast, I also cook up brown rice in a bag (only ten minutes after boiling!) and green beans. Lunch would be a pre-made brown rice salad with roasted chicken (bought at the grocery store) and green beans. Just in case, I cook two bags of brown rice. I also prepare a "food bag" to accompany me with the following: a mixture of raisins, dried cranberries and pepitas (a new food group for me), a bunch of bananas, big bag of cashews, and an apple. Maybe they should make me an honorary boy scout.

In the end, the move went incredibly well. I had just enough cash to pay the highway robbery toll of $13 at the Triboro Bridge. We got a parking space right in front of the building. The boyfriend and his roommate worked so hard hauling furniture up five flights that they were in t-shirts in below freezing temps. And I loved the apartment, roomy with lots of light. Her new neighborhood is very diverse and largely Hasidic, and since it was Saturday, we saw many in their distinctive Sabbath dress.

Leaving the new apartment mates to celebrate, I headed over to relax with some of my best friends. I would have really enjoyed doing that relaxing with a glass (or more) of wine, but somehow managed to stick to the plan.

Lesson # 3: Preparing real food takes time, energy and planning, much more than I'm used to doing. But the payoff was big, providing not only the necessary calories, but the opportunity to savor and enjoy them with my daughter.

The First Test

When I made the decision to start this 28 day food reconditioning program, I tried to pick a time frame that would be most conducive to the abrupt shock and possible anti-social tendencies that might ensue. First part of January seemed ideal, home after indulging in much good cheese and wine in southern Spain. But just as I was settling back in I got a phone call from my daughter, who graduated from Georgetown University last May. She is working in NYC and had just signed the lease for her first apartment in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. So I headed north to help move into the city.

My Clif Bar habit was already in full swing when she was in high school. I was a working single mom, and by that time she had out grown her nanny. That meant our house in CT was the preferred hang out spot for her girlfriends. The drawback was that her friends didn't think we had very good snack food. There were no cookies, potato chips or candy at our house. In desperation, they started helping themselves to my stash of Peanut Toffee Buzz Clif Bars, simply because they were adorned with a couple of swirly frosting like lines on the top. And in a testament to the broad appeal of Clif Bars, I unknowingly created a mini cult of Clif Bar Junkie juniors. Peanut Toffee Buzz became a staple at their high school lunch table. Her best friend (and soon to be apartment mate) created a special "Clif Bar drawer" at her house. I'm not sure I could have done much better if I'd planned it.

So when I told her I was giving up Clif Bars (along with gluten, dairy, sweets and alcohol), she said "Forever?"

Shopping for dinner the night before the move in an unfamiliar store was no fun. I was hungry and couldn't rely on simply buying something and eating it while shopping as I usually do in this kind of situation. While I don't mind showing up at the check out with a empty wrapper to be scanned, even I can't condone showing up with a half eaten apple core to be weighed. When I got back to the house, I was reduced to eating celery sticks with salsa. I tried to convince myself that they were delicious. Then in weak moment, I discovered the remainder of a bag of Cape Cod potato chips. No gluten or dairy there, so I easily justified it.

Lesson #2: No one ever said change is easy.

It's time to cut the three a day habit

Yes, I have to admit, I have a Clif Bar problem. A good friend asked me recently, "well, you don't eat the whole Clif Bar do you? " It has honestly never occurred to me not to eat the whole thing. My problem exists because I like they way they taste. Not every flavor though. I've been through a long testing process. I had finally settled on Peanut Toffee Buzz, which was my mainstay for a couple years. Then during the terrible peanut butter crisis, Clif had to pull them off the grocery shelves and rejigger their manufacturing process. That took forever. Once I found a Peanut Toffee Buzz that I had stashed away somewhere. I didn't even look at the date on the wrapper to see if it was from a potentially contaminated batch. My joy at this discovery made me begin to understand the extent of my problem.

The peanut crisis and ensuing fix forced me to search for a new favorite flavor. Luckily Clif came to the rescue with White Chocolate Macadamia Nut. Even though Peanut Toffee Buzz is back, White Chocolate Macadamia Nut is my new flavor of choice. I buy my Clif Bars at Trader Joe's which generally has a great selection and good prices. Either I buy boxes of them if available, or I count out 24 or 36 at a time. The checkout clerks are always happy when I tell them that I've already counted out how many I have, so they don't have to swipe them all.

I started eating Clif Bars on the bike and then before swim practice. That, of course, is exactly what they're designed for. Where my problem starts is eating Clif Bars as snacks during the day. I mean, why not, they're delicious! But it's time for one of those periodic efforts to revamp eating habits and improve nutritional intake. That means it's time to reorganize the Clif Bar position in my own personal food pyramid. Fruit and vegetables should not be consumed in lesser quantities than Clif Bars.

To achieve this very difficult and major change in eating behavior, I am embarking on a 28 Food Detox of my own design. I'm not very good at complete abstinence with food groups, but have willingly committed to stop consuming Clif Bars for 28 days. In order to give the Clif Bar deprivation some company, I am also eliminating dairy, gluten, sweets, and alcohol. This is only temporary, and not because I don't like any of the above. It simply occurred to me that this would be an interesting experiment, and I am bound to learn something from it.

Lesson # 1: It is very difficult to shop at Trader Joe's on this program. Even the nut aisle was hard as I had to buy new products like seeds and dried fruit. Who knew there were so many choices! Then I ran right into one of my all time favorite snacks -- pretzels filled with peanut butter. That hurt. But not as much as walking by the Clif Bar aisle and realizing that this would be the first time in my life I had shopped at Trader Joe's without bringing any home.

It's only four weeks, that's my mantra.