The Virgin Diet

In my continuing journey for health, I've started a new "diet" today. It's slightly different, but not much of a stretch from what I've been doing for the last year and a half. It's just more strict, because obviously my diet wasn't strict enough (read with sarcasm). Before I get into what this new diet change entails, let me give you some details of what's been going on for me lately (since I've so rudely disappeared lately). For the past three or four weeks, I've been severely lacking in energy/will power/excitement. Suffice it to say that I've been feeling burnt out. I wasn't sleeping well and I was under stress, which resulted in a massive migraine that left me crying at work and being driven home by one of my co-workers. The pounding headaches lasted for the next five days, and consisted of me taking my migraine medicine more over the course of one week than I have in the past year. The irony of the whole thing was that I had just gone in for a 6-month check up with my doctor a few days before and talked about how my daily headaches were manageable and I wasn't having to take the migraine meds. I should have known better than to say that out loud and jinx it.

At the beginning of this month I started a 6000 squat challenge, meaning 200 squats per day for 30 days. After the first day of squats, I had to start icing my knees. For the next couple weeks, I was icing my knees every day. Walking up and down stairs as well as just plain walking was painful. Then it seemed like all of my joints started hurting. Both knees, my left ankle, my shoulders, both elbows, my left wrist and thumb, my right fingers... it was ridiculous. I'm 26 years old and sitting hurts. Something obviously isn't right. Add in the fact that my jawline has been breaking out like crazy for the last month or so, and I think I need to make a change.

So that's what I'm doing. Last week I listened in on Real Food Con and while most of the sessions I listened to talked about eating quality foods while cutting out gluten and dairy, I heard something new. What I heard was the Virgin Diet. It's very similar to Paleo, but it doesn't exclude legumes. On the other hand, you can't have any eggs. I took the leaky gut quiz associated with the Virgin Diet and scored a 52. 16+ is a "high likelihood of leaky gut," so I'm literally off the charts. I needed a change, so here goes. The 7 foods that you can't have are:

1. Gluten
2. Dairy
3. Eggs
4. Corn
5. Soy
6. Peanuts
7. Sugar and Artificial Sweeteners

So the things that I'm going to be changing are cutting out eggs (which supposedly will help reduce joint pain - please!), and reducing my sugar intake. No, I don't eat foods with granulated sugar or artificial sweeteners in it, I'll be cutting down on the amount of natural sugars I consume. So when I eat fruit, I'm going to try to stick to berries and citrus fruits which tend to have more nutrients. Anyways, let's see how this goes.

BLT Salad

2 cups butter lettuce/radicchio salad mix

1 handful grape tomatoes, sliced in half

3 slices bacon, sugar-free, no nitrates

Lemon Vinaigrette Dressing

juice from 1/2 lemon

1 1/2 tsp olive oil

sprinkle of pepper

pinch of dried thyme

dash of garlic powder

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with tinfoil and lay strips of bacon on the pan.

2. Cook the bacon for 20 minutes or until the bacon reaches your desired crispiness. I prefer mine super crispy, but not burnt.

3. While the bacon is cooking, mix together the lemon juice, olive oil, pepper, thyme, and garlic.

4. Chop the cooked bacon into small pieces, and toss in a bowl with the lettuce and tomatoes. Add the dressing and enjoy.

I tossed in a couple blackberries and some mushrooms because I had them lying around, but make it your own and add in whichever ingredients you want.

Which is worse: gluten or dairy?

My friends (BK and DK) and I went to a basketball game last night. As you can see, I wore my glasses so that I could actually see what was happening on the court. The most exciting part of last night was that we magically got upgraded from our level 4 seats to level 1. And by magic I mean that as we were riding the escalator up to the 4th floor, a guy on the escalator (who works for the team) asked us if we wanted better seats. We said yes. We got new tickets, and all was well with the world.

Anyways, I got myself a G&T and was Paleo-bad and ordered a buffalo chicken tender basket. Surprisingly there was a separate  "restaurant" for gluten-free food available, but most of it was hot dogs (I shudder at the meat) and cheese-covered options. And for me, I choose gluten headaches over dairy-induced stomach cramps.

I often wonder which is worse for me, and I'm not really sure. I know that I react poorly to both, but overall it's a person-by-person sort of decision. I fell like every time I eat dairy, it's with gluten, but no necessarily the other way around. So if I have to pick one or the other, I choose gluten, plus I love bread. Though a lot of Paleo people out there would say gluten is worse.  What's your thoughts on the matter?

(Of course after I got my food, I realized that there was a salad place just past the gluten one. I smacked myself in the head for that smart move. Note to self: put on glasses when looking at things far away.)

I'm being healthy at work though. Here's what I ate for lunch today:

Chipotle Chicken Stuffed Sweet Potatoes (recipe to come soon), Thrive Brussels Sprouts, and salad with carrots, celery, and a hard-boiled egg.

My snacks for this week have been: celery, carrots, plantain chips, roasted unsalted pistachios, bananas, oranges, and almond butter.

Whole 30 - Primal

If you don't read Mark's Daily Apple, you should. If you don't care about the science and facts behind Paleo/Primal and are purely searching for recipes, Mark also has authored a few cookbooks. He just announced the release of his newest book (Primal Blueprint Healthy Sauces, Dressings & Toppings) and is offering awesome giveaways. So check it out!

In other exciting news, I went to the gym today for over an hour! I haven't done that in quite some time, and I feel wonderful. Tomorrow may be a different matter. I'm hoping the 20 minutes I spend icing my ankle while I'm writing this will keep the pain from getting too bad tomorrow

I brought my pumpkin trifle into work today in a small-ish jar for people to taste. One of my co-workers who NEVER gets second helpings of desserts went back for more (and also got a bit of whipped cream in his mustache). My supervisor ended up finishing off the dish, then washed it and returned it to me, "ready to be refilled." I think they liked it.

Anyways, I wanted to share some products I found while perusing Whole Foods tonight. First off is Go Raw Organic Lemon Super Cookies. I was intrigued... Gluten free, wheat free, and nut free. I tried one of the "cookies" and I am NOT a fan. I do not recommend these. It tastes a little strange.

The second thing is Eden Organic Spaghetti Sauce. If you're like me and sometimes get too lazy to make things from scratch. Here is a Paleo option for spaghetti sauce. It just contains tomatoes, olive oil, and herbs/spices. So give it a try.

Hiatus - Paleo Pumpkin Brownies

Ingredients
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
2 Tbls sunbutter (sunflower seed butter) or any nut butter
3 eggs, whisked
2 Tbls maple syrup
1 Tbls honey
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup almond flour
2 Tbls cocoa powder
1 Tbls pumpkin pie spice
1 Tbls cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup Enjoy Life Mini Chocolate-Chips (Dairy-free, Soy-free, and Gluten-free)

Preheat oven to 350F. Mix all of the wet ingredients together with a hand mixer. Start with the pumpkin puree and the sunbutter, adding each wet ingredient one at a time. Mix in the flours, cocoa powder, pumpkin pie spice, cinnamon, and baking soda. Now, fold in your chocolate chips. Spread in a greased (with coconut oil) 8"x8" baking dish. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick entered in the center comes out clean

It even looks good before baking!

So Enjoy Life Mini Chocolate-Chips are made in a dedicated gluten-free and nut-free environment, so you wind up with vegan, kosher, gluten-free, casein-free, dairy-free, soy-free chocolate chips. Intense, huh? Definitely makes you wonder what's left. And since you're wondering, I'll let you know: evaporated cane juice, chocolate liquor, non-dairy cocoa butter.

Nom nom nom...

P90X - Day 1

I decided yesterday to start the P90X program again. So when I woke up yesterday morning, I changed into my workout clothes and did P90X Chest and Back. Of course this was after I shot out of bed because I thought it was Monday morning and I was going to be late for work. At least it got me out of bed and moving at 7:30 a.m. Chest and Back consists of a ridiculous amount of push-ups and pull-ups. I don't have a pull-up bar, so I used bands instead. And because I haven't done push-ups in so long, I did a lot of the push-ups with my knees on the ground. Despite my doing the "easy" version, my arms are aching from the exertion. Thus, the P90X Pain begins again...

MN, KAOS, and I went to Cafe Brussels (Belgium restaurant) for brunch on Sunday morning for their buffet, where one of the options I grabbed was rabbit sausage. Delicious! The brunch buffet came with a mimosa, two eggs, and a Belgium waffle. We all skipped the waffle because it was more than enough food without the waffle. Everything was yummy! And I definitely want to go back.

As shared over the weekend by Mark's Daily Apple, recent research has identified the existence of non-celiac wheat sensitivity using a double-blind placebo-controlled study. So you can be sensitive/intolerant of wheat products and not actually be diagnosed as celiac. For more information on celiac, check out Celiac Central. They also have a short symptoms checklist to determine if you may have celiac. It's estimated that 3 million Americans have celiac and an estimated 95% of those are undiagnosed. So look through the checklist and see if maybe you should talk to your doctor about celiac.