Elimination Diet Days 1 and 2 (or Green Smoothie 2, Sara 0)

According to the Whole Foods Nutrition method of doing this elimination diet I am partaking in, you are supposed to do a 2 day green smoothie cleanse or detox to kick it off.

And I really wanted to....the idea of packing all of my leafy greens into a smoothie that tastes like fruity frosty goodness sounds like an AWESOME plan to me. So I looked up some recipes. Went to the store and filled my fridge with green leafy things, my counter with lots of ginger and my fruit bowl with lots of, well, fruit.

I woke up super excited to make my first green smoothie. I mean this is going to be great. I can have these as snacks throughout this whole experience. I am going to be getting in all my greens. Puppies are dancing through rainbows and unicorns are farting glitter as I dance to the kitchen and fill up my blender so it looks pretty layered with all the fresh produce goodness. I blend and I blend and I blend and I blend.


So I try it and kind of gag. It was warm. Ewwwww....... So I add a boatload of ice to my shaker cup and add about half the smoothie from the blender. And I shake and I shake and I shake and I shake. And I sample it. And it tastes like colder lumpy spinach water. Kind of like half chewed spinach. Seriously it was gross. I. Just. Can't.

I made the executive decision to treat this 2 days like the Shakeology cleanse. Smoothies during the day. Salad for dinner at night. I needed something and after 2 smoothies I just couldn't handle another one. I had an apple for a snack and then ate a big salad for dinner.

I still wanted to workout but knew I had to take it easy. I couldn't go crazy and push myself and wake up with night sweats and the shakes again (the last time I did the cleanse I did double workouts and that totally happened. I learned my lesson.) So I busted out the Pilates Fix with Autumn. (That is by far my favorite Fix workout.)

The next day I hit up the store determined to make this smoothie thing work. I added more potent fruit Vitamix or fancy blender to make it really smooth. But I do love my Black & Decker. It is my food processor too and other than this lumpy spinach drink issue I have never had any problems with it. It works well for things like hummus and salmon burgers and sauces. So maybe it was me?)
(blueberries) to cover up the spinach taste and lots of cinnamon. Then at the last minute dumped in some chia seeds. I tasted it and it was better. I went overboard with the cinnamon and it was still not as smooth as I wanted (I probably need a

I then sat down an my laptop to drink my full of awesome tastes more like blueberries than spinach glass of goodness and proceeded to dump the entire thing on my laptop. Seriously like a tidal wave of blue goop all over the keyboard and screen. I went into save the computer mode and ignored the giant stain on my carpet (my laptop is worth more than the apartment carpeting for sure) and unplugged and flipped the entire thing upside down. I had a mild panic attack thinking back to my first laptop (which was also the first major grown up purchase I made on my own) and the coffee in the keyboard incident of 2002. So I took this as a sign that maybe I just needed to stop with the smoothie cleansing thing. I proceeded to make fish and veggies for dinner. (And my laptop survived! My hubby came home and asked me if I was going to eat my smoothie with a spoon. I am pretty sure the gelling quality of the chia totally saved me. Chia in everything. All the time. It is now my favorite seed.)

All in all my first two days were not a huge success. But on the upside I am already down 4 pounds which puts me halfway back to the plateau weight  I have been at the past year. For me I am pretty stoked and think it is a great start.

I am not totally sold on giving up the green smoothie thing either. In theory it seems like a great way to get in more veggies. So if you have any tips or tricks or awesome recipes, help a girl out!

Onward to phase one!



For more info on green smoothies check out the links below:

http://www.vegkitchen.com/tips/top-10-benefits-of-green-smoothies/

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2013/12/26/green-smoothie-recipe/

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-8715/is-your-green-smoothie-actually-healthy-and-balanced.html

The Elimination Diet - What it is and why I am giving it a shot

When I started talking about trying an elimination diet the biggest questions I got were "Why...you eat so healthy already?" and "But I thought you were feeling great from eating clean, what gives?"

Welcome to my frustration.....I am eating clean. I was feeling great. Last year at this time I was full of energy and really reaping the benefits of eating a diet that consisted of real, whole foods. And I continued to feel this way until about a two months or so ago. I wasn't able to get up in the mornings. (Which I blamed on getting used to sleeping in the apartment again, noises, neighbors, a different bed, etc.) And I was suffering from brain fog especially when I woke up (which I blamed on being tired.) Eventually that brain fog was lasting most of the day. I couldn't focus. I couldn't write. I didn't want to play with my kiddo. No more trips to the park....I didn't even want to drive because of my inability to focus. The house was always a mess. I didn't have the energy to fight with my kiddo (or come up with a game) to get her to clean up her toys. I was making myself workout everyday but I felt like a zombie when I was doing it.

My business was suffering. My family was suffering. I had to do something.

So I do what I always do and I researched and researched and researched. I read about hyperthyroidism. I read about adrenal fatigue. I read about all other sorts of scary things that could be wrong with me (gotta love google!) And I decided that since I am out of state and don't want to find a new doctor for a month and because my thyroid has been tested in the past, that for now, trying an elimination diet is the best thing I can do. (Although I will probably follow up with my regular doc when I get home.)

The only real difference in my diet that I have been letting myself enjoy some diary. (Seriously....gelato has been my downfall. That and good cheese.) I have long suspected that I have some food issues. I grew up allergic to everything. My friends used to joke with me that they would visit me in my bubble. Allergies and asthma triggered by animals, pollen, dust, you name it and I would probably react to it. So if I have issues with all of those things....why wouldn't I have any issues with food?

The biggest question I have is why all of a sudden was I starting to feel terrible again? I wasn't eating processed foods. I was eating clean, working out and drinking my Shakeology every day. Nothing changed except for the fact that I was letting more dairy back into my diet. The only explanation I can come up with is that I am just more in tune with my body and how it reacts to things. The cleaner I eat the more I notice how I feel after eating something I shouldn't. I know that I shouldn't feel tired all the time or bloated after I eat. I know how good eating right feels.  I may be more sensitive to certain things now that I am not eating garbage all the time. (And this could be completely out in left field. This is just my own opinion based on what I have observed about myself over the last year.)

What is an elimination diet? 

An elimination diet is something done to determine if some of the foods you are eating are irritating your body. Basically, you eliminate anything that could be a trigger food for a period of time. Typically for a few weeks. In theory, this allows your body to come back to balance so that you can recognize the symptoms when you start reintroducing foods.

After the first few weeks, foods are introduced one by one and any reactions are noted. Foods are typically by a few exposures on one day then taking two days to note any reactions. Then repeat until all the foods eliminated have been tested.

What am I doing exactly? 

I am going to commit to eliminating all the trigger foods for 28 days. I am doing this based on the Whole Foods Nutrition elimination diet. I ordered their cookbook, The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook, to help me plan my meals. I decided to do this instead of sign up for their elimination diet program.  Why? They have a ton of info on their blog which I can access fairly easily and I wanted all the recipe options over the food lists. This is going to be overwhelming enough without looking at a giant list of individual foods. I can handle the list of 10 no no foods, not a list of hundreds. In hindsight, I may regret trying to go it alone but I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

I am really happy with the cookbook though. (Each chapter starts with a great quote so they kind of had a piece of my heart right there.) It has tons of recipes, lots of options for gluten free, dairy free, and soy free meals (among others.) I do wish it had more pictures (I love a cookbook with tons of pics.) But it does have a ton of info on different styles of eating (think paleo vs vegan vs mediterranean and others) and explains what they are and who they might work for. There is also a huge section on health, nutrients, stocking your pantry and how to go from eating completely processed foods to eating whole real foods. It has a ton of info that makes me very happy with it (even though there really are not enough pictures.)

So here is what I am doing:

Days 1 and 2: 2 day green smoothie cleanse

Days 3-8 - Phase 1 (which is pretty  much a vegan diet without citrus and nightshade veggies)

Days 9-28 - Phase 2 (eliminates only the 10 main trigger foods)

Days 28 on: Add trigger foods back in one by one and note any reactions

This may change as I am going through the process. I am not married to the schedule above and need to make it work for me. I am not going to stop working out during this process so I may need to tweak what I am eating to make sure I can power through those. Ideally, this is what I want to stick to.

So what are the 10 trigger foods I am eliminating?

1. Dairy

2. Corn

3. Gluten

4. Citrus

5. Eggs

6. Nightshades (tomato, potato, eggplant, peppers)

7. Nuts

8. Soy

9. Meats & shellfish (except turkey, wild game, and fish)

10. Sweeteners (except limited pure stevia and maple syrup)

There is  A LOT of info out there on elimination diets and different ways to do it....which is why I am going to try and follow the schedule above but am not going to beat myself up if it doesn't work for me. I have a feeling this is going to be quite a challenge so I am not going to make it harder than it has to be. 

If you would like to join me or follow my journey for the next month find me on Facebook or sign up for a free account with me as your coach. I would be thrilled to help inspire and motivate you through this process. 

For more information check out the sources below:

http://global.oup.com/us/companion.websites/9780195371109/pdf/00_Mullin_Appendix_3.pdf

http://www.nourishingmeals.com/p/elimination-diet.html

http://www.tenyearsyounger.com/topics/elimination-diet/