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detox

get fit!! // jump-starting the wheat belly diet

January 21, 2014 by Rachel 7 Comments

My husband has been super preachy with me about my love affair with carbs over the last year. Prior to my pregnancy in 2012, we ate very healthy. We would obviously have ‘cheat days’ — aka our Vegas trip — for special occasions. But overall, we ate clean, we ate healthy, and we rarely (if ever) got sick.

Then pregnancy — dun, dun dunnnnn!! Carbs were the one thing that staved off the nausea. And boy did I eat them! Postpartum it’s been hard to give them back up.

I love potatoes. LOVE them. I love french fries and baked potatoes. Heck, even the french fries can be baked! I just love the crap out of potatoes!!

And bread. Which is weird cause you will rarely find me eating a sandwich. But I will eat me some bread, man. Especially brioche. And challah. And other buttery, flakey goodness.

And sugars. Well, aren’t these all really sugars?? Yes. Yes, they are. But I also have a sweet tooth. I won’t eat your normal ‘junk foods,’ like Little Debbie. Nope. My tastes for all of these foods are really specific. Local artisan breads, local cookies from teeny bakeries in town, and, well, with the potatoes I’m a lot less picky. Ha! I’ll eat any potatoes from anywhere.

wheatbelly2

So after one self-indulgent weekend, I looked at Chad and said “OK, I’m all in.”

The Wheat Belly Diet is based on the premise that if you cut out the wheat, you’ll lose the weight.

Wheat creates an insatiable appetite for that cycle of blood sugar spikes that make a person crave wheat and go back to it time and time again.

Here’s an article on MindBodyGreen about the effects of Gluten and Wheat on the body.

wheatbelly3

So here’s what I can eat unlimited amounts of (eating ’til full):

  • Unlimited fresh or frozen veggies (excluding potatoes).
  • Raw nuts & seeds.
  • Healthy, unheated oils (such as coconut and avocado oil).
  • Red meat, pork, fish, chicken, turkey, eggs. We use consider free-range, grass-fed and/or organic sources.
  • Teas, coffee, water, unsweetened almond milk, coconut milk or coconut water
  • Real cultured cheeses only (no processed ‘cheeses’ like velveeta or singles).
  • Avocado, guacamole, and hummus.

I-heart-veggies

Here’s what I can eat limited amounts of:

  • Fruits are limited to 2 servings a day. Stay away from bananas and pineapples if possible because they are very high in sugar.
  • Real fruit juices (which is nice because I love fresh juice!). But it’s limited to about 4 oz.
  • 1 serving of any fat content milk per day.
  • Legumes, beans, peas.
  • Dark chocolate.

dark chocolate

And here’s what I’m not allowed to eat at all:

  • ”Gluten-free” foods made with rice flour, cornstarch, tapioca starch, or potato starch. Which is OK because we rarely eat anything with rice flour anyways. Chad ends up either grinding his own almond flour or using Bob’s Red Mill Coconut Flour!
  • Fried foods (womp womp = my beloved french fries! Ha!)
  • Fast food (which I never eat anyways).
  • Hydrogenated fats/oils.
  • Cured meats like hot dogs, sausages, and bacon with nitrates. (But Yay for nitrate free bacon! That’s what happens when you buy locally sourced and organic meats).
  • Anything with high fructose corn syrup.
  • Salad dressings.

 

Chad has been eating like this since the first of the year. I, on the other hand, am one week in. And in the last 7 days, I’ve lost 4 pounds!

I’ve eaten a lot of avocados (just plain – I know, I’m weird.), a lot of salads with chicken topped with homemade salad dressing (no yucky stuff!), raw/unsalted peanuts, pork chops, cheese and dark chocolate. And I didn’t have the opportunity to work out once during those seven days. Not once, and I lost 4 pounds! No joke.

I feel good. I feel really good actually. I had a moment of “Give me pizza!” Friday night. But I didn’t cave. And I’m so happy about that. It’s a long and slow process but I’m confident that this lifestyle change will produce amazing results for our family!

  photo (14)

Filed Under: detox, fitness, food, goals, health, life, living sustainably, weight Tagged With: being green, fitness, food, goals, health, life, weight loss, Wheat Belly Diet

still caffeine free!

November 20, 2010 by Rachel 4 Comments

Yesterday I indulged in my first post-cleanse Starbucks beverage. It was a tall non-fat decaf pumpkin spice latte. It was warm and delicious, but not nearly as awesome as a regular non-fat latte.

Perhaps due to my water-only intake, I’ve been thinking a lot about caffeine in recent weeks. My body has felt so much better without it, that it’s led me to question the hazard effects of caffeine on our bodies.

I’ll definitely be doing a little bit more research on caffeine before indulging in any regular lattes.

Image and information source here.

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Filed Under: detox, health, opinions

detox: week four.

November 16, 2010 by Rachel 5 Comments

Woo hoo!! I made it!

Our four week detox program is complete!

I am proud to say that I have gone four full weeks on only water and food.

No coffee. No diet coke. No Starbucks run at lunch.

No caffeine whatsoever. And zero alcohol for four weeks.

That being said, I feel amazing.

My body is not retaining nearly as much water; I’ve figured out some of the foods that make me feel downright blah; and I’ve kicked my caffeine habit!

Three things I am very excited about:

1. Being able to go to my early morning yoga class again.
2. Having a glass of wine.
3. Getting a Pumpkin Spice Latte before they are gone for the season.


However…

Knowing I have kicked the caffeine habit and not had a sip of wine in 4 weeks makes me feel like if I have a latte or a glass of vino, my body will revert back to feeling like yuck {there really is no other way to explain it other than ‘yuck’ and ‘not yuck.’}.

I mean, I feel awesome without it. But is there a way to have caffeine in moderation? If I have a latte, will my body expand with water weight, yet again? Will I go back to frequent daily hourly stomach pains??

To be honest, all of these things have been going through my head since Saturday, which was the last day of our cleanse. But it is now Tuesday and I still have not had any caffeine or wine. Because I’m scared. No joke.

Anyone cut caffeine and then dabbled again care to offer some advice?
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Filed Under: detox, fitness, health

detox: week three.

November 11, 2010 by Rachel 4 Comments

I feel like it cannot be true unless I say it out loud: I have been without caffeine for over three weeks. Three weeks!

This is a huge feat. Prior to this cleanse, I would guzzle caffeinated beverages like it was my job. Coke Zero, Starbucks, and Diet Coke were all par for the course.

But now I find myself day dreaming about caffeine less and less. In fact, only once in the last couple of weeks have I really wanted to give in and get a fancy drink from Starbucks. In actuality, I think it was more about the fact that I wanted a taste of a Pumpkin Spice Latte, rather than a craving for caffeine.

In addition to cutting out caffeine, I’ve, almost accidentally, cut out most gluten. I have had some belly issues for as long as I could remember, but nothing has seemed to help. I tried cutting only gluten from my diet in the past, but it didn’t work. I’m wondering if the combination of less gluten and zero caffeine is what is really starting to do the trick!

I now have less than a week to go!

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Filed Under: about me, detox, fitness, health

detox: week two.

November 1, 2010 by Rachel 1 Comment

Week 2 of the colon cleanse is done.
Before I get into the details of how this week went, I should answer a reader question.
The “can you eat food during this cleanse” question.
Yes! Yes! Yes! There are no specific requirements for eating habits while on the cleanse. We have been eating as we normally would. The only thing that has changed for me is cutting out all beverages except for water and the one cup of tea I have before bed.
This second week went really well.
I have felt so good without caffeine.

I haven’t been retaining any water and my skin has cleared up completely!

I did travel to North Carolina last week and my co-worker and I got stuck in a few airports thanks to less-than-awesome weather. The only place to hang out in a crowded airport? The airport bar. For hours and hours. and. hours. And I didn’t have anything but water! Win!
I’m craving less and less coffee, but the diet coke is another story. Serious cravings for diet coke still.
The only other “side effect” is that my morning yoga routine has… faltered. It’s difficult to know how my stomach will feel early in the morning, so I’ve had to skip my morning yoga routine.
Two weeks left to go!

…see part one here.

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Filed Under: about me, detox, life

detox: week one.

October 25, 2010 by Rachel 10 Comments

LA week ago BF and I started a colon cleanse detox. {I know, I know. You probably didn’t expect to hear the word colon first thing on a Monday morning, but it happens!} This is my first time doing the cleanse so I was a little nervous about it.

It’s a thirty-day program. I’ve officially been on it for 8 days. I did not want to mention the cleanse until I was a week in cause, honestly, I was afraid I was going to fail miserably and give up.

The Colonix program is composed of three parts:
1. herb-filled capsules {to ‘purify the colon and liver‘}
2. intestinal cleanser {a fiber supplement}
3. and herbal tea {for ‘regularity and detoxification}.

And, to top that all off, I have given up caffeine completely. Completely.

Am I insane?! It has been 10 days since I have had coffee or a diet coke. I am losing my mind, but somehow I am feeling much better.

So my thoughts after the first week:

The fiber supplement is disgusting. I have almost gagged drinking it on multiple occasions.

I have no idea what the herb-filled capsules are doing, but that’s OK.

The tea tastes delish, and it’s the only beverage I’ve had besides water so it’s like a treat. Ha!

I feel like I’m not retaining any water now. I’m guessing it has something to do with cutting out coffee and diet soda.Wish me luck this week! It’s going to be a crazy week to be without caffeine!

Filed Under: about me, detox, life

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