What is a Diet Bet???

So I’m thinking about joining one of those Diet Bets. Ever heard of them? I hadn’t until today but it seems like something that would be very helpful in keeping up my motivation.  So the way it works is you and everyone else playing, pay in a certain amount of money in to the “pot”.  Then at the end of the 28 days those who made their goal of losing 4% of their weight get to split everything in the pot (minus a 15% fee they charge)  So if for example 10 people each put in $10 but at the end of the challenge only 3 people managed to take the weight off then those three would each get $28.  So they basically just made $18 while losing weight! Win win!

To me, I just wish I had known about it sooner! Before I lost 50lbs.  I could have made a little bit of cash on the side just for doing something I wanted to anyways!  The only bad thing about it all is if you don’t make the 4% well then obviously you don’t get your money back but that also means that the money I would be taking for having made it is those of people who failed.  If I think too hard on it, it does make me a bit sad.  But at the same time they knew what they were getting into and hopefully they can get back on track next time.  I mean heck, maybe that will be me! Who knows?!

 

So in prep for the challenge, tonight I splurged on a special treat 🙂 A strawberry kefir, banana split with chocolate chips.  Yum!

For those interested I will be doing the PriorFatGirl’s DietBet.  It’s only $20 to join that challenge and at the moment it’s up to 139 players.  That makes the pot $2780!  It starts this Friday (March 1st) so this is going to be a great way to start the month!  Let me know if you’re going sign up so we can help each other out!

Sugar Detox round 2!

Yesterday was crazy.  I spent most of the day trying to perfect my daughters cupcakes for her birthday but forgot to eat anything during the process!  Since her birthday will fall right in the middle of the next 21 Day Sugar Detox I knew I had to get all the test baking in on Sunday.  But I think I had one too many taste tests because I turned into a complete disaster.

I had no patience with anything or anyone.  My daughters cries were going right through me and I said to my husband all I wanted to do was punch her. I mean really?!  But yes I did! That’s how insane I was.  I then stormed out of the house because I was fighting with my husband and honestly nervous over what I would throw at him.

Here’s the good part though, in the past when these kind of things would happen the first place I would go is through the taco bell drive through.  I’m not joking when I say I would get the 10 taco meal deal, but just for me.  It was like I would want to punish myself for being so crazy and make myself so full until I was sick.

Well I did go through the drive thru again, but I didn’t stop I just kept driving.  I was even adamantly trying to shut God out and NOT listen to him because I just wanted the sweet relief of a crunchy taco in my mouth.  God is so amazing though and knew the true desires of my heart and seriously I felt him push my foot down and steer the wheel the opposite direction.  It was an amazing feeling overcoming something that had been such a huge part of my life for the past year.

To try and break the habit I went over to Starbucks and got a peppermint tea.  I sipped on that and read my book while I tried to relax before going home.

Then that night I felt like I had the flu!  I could barely move I was in so much pain, I was just so achey. I took my temperature I thought I had for sure caught something. But nope I was fine, and it was then I realized I was having the opposite effect of carb flu.  I had in fact had TOO MUCH sugar and was getting sick because of it!  Crazy to think I of all people could have too much sugar.  Even it was all in the form of dark chocolate, maple syrup and honey.

I woke up this morning with a crazy headache and just resigned myself to the fact that I was going to have to get over this sugar hangover for the rest of the day.  Thankfully I started to feel better later on.  And the one good thing about all this was when I went out to dinner tonight with some of my girl friends I didn’t even think twice about dipping into their fondue deserts.  There was no way I wanted to feel that way again.

Day 20 – Brokenness with boundaries.

So as a part of my 21 DSD I have also been apart of the Made to Crave 21 day challenge. Perfect right?! I have been getting daily e-mails that revolve around our desires with food and how those should be focused on God instead. I have read the book already and it has basically changed my life.  but receiving these e-mails while going through this detox has been perfect, even though all the stories are basically from the book.

For example, even though I read today’s story already in the book it spoke volumes more to me today. She talks about her dog and how he needed to be fenced in to keep himself away from the car tires he enjoys chasing and had just been recently run over by one. I love how she put it “My brokenness couldn’t handle freedom with food outside the boundaries of my plan. Not yet.”

Wow! Just wow!  I have been struggling with whether or not to actually come off of this “detox”. Thinking that it would be a good idea to introduce some more fruits in.  But another part of me is actually afraid.  I’m afraid of what will happen when I start getting that sweet tooth again.  Will I start to crave the cookies and the chocolate that got me into this mess in the first place?  Because if I’m honest other than a few cravings here or there this has been the easiest removal of sugar I have ever done.  In fact it’s been the only removal of sugar that’s ever been successful.  I’ve done 4 other whole 30’s and never made it past the second week.  But this?  This was easy.

Was it because of the way Diane laid everything out?  I think so yes.  The introduction of a green apple or green banana has been a saving grace, as has kombucha.  All of those things have allowed me to have something just slightly sweet when al

l the savory stuff was getting too much. But the key was not having TOO much fruit and thus those craving would continue like they had during whole 30’s.  So I’m back to my question.  Should I continue?

I think I answered my own question.  Yes I think I will. Because my brokenness, my addiction, my eating disorders can’t handle the freedom outside of the boundaries of the 21 DSD.  Not yet,  I need to recognize that these boundaries are a gift from God to keep me safe.

Day 10 – Pumpkin/Chocolate Chili Recipe

One of my favorite versions of chili is with added cocoa.  But lately since I haven’t been able to have tomatoes I have been wanting to experiment with using pumpkin instead.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp coconut oil (I like the taste of virgin oil here)
• 1 large red onion, diced into chunks
• 3 teaspoon garlic (4 or 5 cloves)
• 2 lbs ground beef (I like to add  2 “icecubes” of defrosted liver I grind up myself)
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 2 tbsp cumin
• 1 1/2 tbsp 100% cocoa powder
• 1 tsp all spice
• 1 tsp salt (I use Himalayan salt)
• 1 tsp dried oregano (crushed up)
• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree (replacing tomato paste)
• 2 zucchini, chopped up into cubes (replacing chopped tomatoes)
• 2 cups homemade broth (beef tastes best but chicken works too)
• 1 cup filtered water

Instructions:

1. Melt Coconut Oil in stock pot or dutch oven.
2. Throw in onions and cook until they do that translucent thing (5-8 min)
3. Add garlic, stirring for about 30 sec
4. Add the ground beef, cook until there is no pink left
5. In a small bowl add all your spices and mix them together well (you can make this in bulk to always have on hand to make this yummy chili)
6. Once beef is cooked add your spice mix and stir until all the beef and onions are coated.
7. Add pumpkin puree, broth and water
8. Stir until everything is mixed together
9. Place lid on top and let it simmer for 2 hours or more.
10. 30 min before serving if you may feel like you want to reduce it down a bit (if it’s too liquidy)  If so, just remove lid turn the heat up slightly and let the water/steam escape to make it a thicker chili.

Day 2 – Modified Level 1

I seem to have NO energy today.  Seriously I haven’t left the house all day.  Thankfully my daughter seems to be entertaining herself today. But that could also be because I let her watch an extra Elmo episode this morning.  Oops? hahaha. I wasn’t hungry again when I woke up so all I had was some water and then I had my lunch after my daughter went down around 1:30.  For lunch I had some left over Thai food from the weekend.  It was part brocoli chicken, part pineapple curry (I picked out the pineapple).  On the side are my daily supplements and a glass of homemade kombucha

I am personally doing the modified version of the 21 DSD that is a mix between the athletes and the pregnant ladies. I am allowed 1/2 cup rice OR 1/2 cup sweet potato OR 1 cup butternut squash once per day if I feel I need it. I have read people who have hard core sugar addictions, and those that have trouble finishing detoxes such as this one, have done amazingly well adding some extra carbs into their detox.

Since this is my first 21 DSD and I have failed 4 previous whole 30’s.  I was a bit nervous to even start.  But after much praying God helped me to see that following the above modifications don’t make me a failure.  If I could I would eat the Milk and Legumes as a part of level one to help curb some of the sugar detox pain. But as I’ve learned after a year eating Paleo, milk makes my IBD flare up like crazy, and rice is more benign than legumes so I’m actually safer eating it.  (I also know for my body personally it doesn’t make my bloated like it does or may do for others).

So this is like my own personal Level 1.  I hope for the next detox down the road that I can move onto “Level 2- no rice” and then your average 21 DSD Level 3.

The Good: I did my work out today!  This one took me nearly 45 min, but I hardly felt it was that long at all. I also cooked up an amazing tasting pumpkin/chocolate chili that I was experimenting with.  I’ll post the recipe soon!

The Bad: I may have had more like 12 oz of Kombucha today, so I’ll need to keep an eye on that.

The Ugly: I didn’t see the sun other than threw a window the whole day.  Very, very bad.  I need to make sure I’m getting some natural vitamin D

Christmas left overs

Started my period today.  While shopping around at Whole Foods non the less, always fun.  Ugh sometimes I get so annoyed with being a woman and having to deal with this every month.  Of course for me sometimes it’s every other month so I suppose I should be rather excited that my body seems to be putting itself on course.

Of course this does explain the face first binge into some Ferrero Rocher (left over from Christmas gifts naturally).  Seriously worst thing to have.  Afterwards I read the ingredients list and there was soy, milk but even worst of all wheat. Thankfully I didn’t have any IBD attacks.  And I am glad to say that after 4 I realized I was being stupid and just threw the rest out.  So, phew, crisis averted.

Let’s just say I am looking forward to (or actually maybe I’m not) the 21 day sugar detox.

Just say no

So after getting back my daughter and I went to Whole Foods grocery store to get some healthy food in the house because obviously we came home to an empty house.  Usually we eat lunch there when I take her shopping so it was no big deal, but then I went past the bakery section. Mmmmmm.  I asked the lady if there were any gluten free treats behind the counter.  That was probably my first real mistake, I just shouldn’t have asked at all.

There were no cakey type gluten free treats but there was this delicious looking chocolate mousse in a cute chocolate made mug.  It was called a “hot chocolate” dessert.  So I said YES! We’ll take it! And let me tell you, it was amazing.  But here I was just home from spending a whole week with my family being so super good at not eating any sugar or dairy, and I wound up eating both at the same time upon coming home and at Whole Foods of all places!

I suppose it just shows you that even health food stores can get you at your weakest moments.