Inflammation Diet, Phase 3: We're Done!

Aaaaaaah, finally-- we finished the last phase of this plan!  These have been a hard three weeks.  But happily, we were able to introduce more types of food back into our diets during this past week, so that helped greatly with variety.  However, I'm very much looking forward to our cheat day today!  It's been three weeks since I've seen the inside of a restaurant, and I'm going to really enjoy it.

Cheesy tostadas--these were good!  I'll post the recipe soon.

Before I go on, a huge thank you needs to go out to my husband for all of the help he offered in
making dinner, doing dishes, and prepping for upcoming meals and snacks during this.  There wasn't enough time in the day to do it all on my own, and I'm extremely grateful to him for all of his assistance, assurance, and encouragement.

Since this is the end of the actual plan, here is my summary of pros and cons that I've found:

What I liked about this diet:

• Relatively short-term (although it didn't feel like it)
• Results were easily seen and measured
• It did help with the inflammation and irritation (especially after I quit eating/drinking all of the dairy in the plan)
• Some revelation about possible causes/triggers of inflammation
• Some recipes were tasty, with some simple alterations (that fell within the guidelines of the plan)

What I didn't like about this diet:

• Not an easy change
• So much dairy!
• Did not relieve all of my inflammation symptoms (still experienced symptoms, but they were decreased some in intensity)
• Hard to adjust to not using any sort of seasonings other than salt and pepper, which led to
• Bland recipes
• Recipes that weren't quite right in terms of quantities of ingredients or total number of servings
• A LOT of work in the kitchen!
• Searching for some of the ingredients in the recipes got a little frustrating
• I wouldn't consider this a sustainable way of eating long-term

Our total weight loss was 11 pounds for me and 3" off of my waist, and 12 pounds for my husband (he never did any measurements).  My goal was to lose 15 pounds during this diet, but even I realize that's quite a bit of weight to lose in three weeks.  Plus, I wasn't incorporating the exercises and treadmill workouts during the diet plan, because I just did not have time.  Also, the third week/phase is called "maintenance", which indicates that the meal plans during this time are not meant for rapid weight loss.  We plan to continue our healthier eating and weight loss in the weeks to come, and will be able to incorporate exercise from here on out.  I do have a target weight goal that I would like to reach by summer, and it will be nice to have a little more flexibility in our diets now.  Overall, I would recommend this plan for anyone wanting to lose weight, or, like us, wanting kick-start their weight loss and be encouraged.  I wouldn't say that this is a long-term lifestyle change plan, although for the right person, I suppose it could be.  Apparently, I am not that person!

I should probably mention that I wasn't doing this diet as an endorsement for the book or as a promotion for anyone or any company.  We just decided to do it on our own, and thought that our experience with it might help others who are considering this diet plan.

Inflammation Diet, Phase 1

Well, we were finally able to start our 21-Day Tummy routine on Sunday.  Due to some events that were out of our control, we had to postpone our start date until then.  We had hoped to have three weeks of uninterrupted time to just focus on the plan (but that's already out the window).  The reasons for doing this diet?  My inflammation and gastrointestinal problems, and to lose weight and be healthier.  Good reasons.  So, what do we think so far?

This first phase, lasting for five days, has been hard for both of us.  You pretty much cut out all sugar cold-turkey and eat a  very low-fat meal plan, with limited amounts of olive oil for cooking.  That has been hard for me!  I have a affinity for sweets (like, a whole mouth full of sweet teeth), and the cravings for sugary foods and fats (like using butter for cooking) has been hard to fight.  We've both experienced what I call withdrawal headaches from the lack of sugar--I know it's not caffeine withdrawal, because coffee is allowed, and hubby still drinks it daily.  I don't drink coffee, but I do drink pop, although I don't drink it enough to cause headaches when I don't have it for a day or two.  Ergo, sugar withdrawal!

Simple dinner--baked salmon and potato, sprinkled with parmesan

We've tried several recipes, and have liked most of them.  We have made some slight alterations to account for items we didn't have or personal tastes.  I've also had a need to make quick meals due to a family emergency, and found that it's easy to just use elements from other meals to make something fast, like a piece of fish and a baked potato or sweet potato.  The smoothies are the worst for us--it took a few days to find a tolerable smoothie flavor combo, and because smoothies are part of the first 14 days, finding a palatable combination was important.  Neither of us likes yogurt, and it's more tart than either of us cares for, but we'll soldier on.  I'm hoping that my tastes might change, or I find a sweet enough combination to get me through the duration.  So far, the most tolerable smoothie flavor combo has been banana, cocoa powder, vanilla, and cinnamon.  I miss real food for breakfast, and am counting down the days to no more yogurt smoothies.  Other than the smoothies, the meal suggestions and recipes have been decent so far.  I say "decent" because the book states that spices like garlic are inflammatory (despite the fact that I've always heard that it was anti-inflammatory), so they recommend not using them, and the food can be a little bland when following the recipes exactly (the Hearty Roasted Vegetable Soup recipe should be renamed Cooked Vegetables in Hot Water Soup).  It helps to have a little cooking knowledge under your belt with this plan to make the meals a little more flavorful.  

A typical smoothie--I make them the night before and store them in the fridge in insulated glasses so that we can just grab and slurp in the morning.

The format of the book is taking a little time to get used to.  There are recipes in the book, but there are also general meal directions on the day-to-day meal plans that are not found in the recipe section.  There are shopping lists in the back to make buying groceries easier, but depending on what you plan to make, you might end up with more than you need if you discover you don't like a recipe or if the recipe makes four servings and there are only two of you (such is our case).  I decided to make my own meal plan for Phase 2, and it took a while to go through all of the recipes and come up with a tailored grocery plan.

There is also an exercise section of the book, but I have yet to try any of the routines--I just haven't had time yet.

Vegetable soup--a very bland recipe.

I also found new foods that I like, such as chard (never had it before), sweet potatoes (just never cared for them), kale (a little bitter, but great in salad), curry (although I think it caused some of my symptoms during the week, and will be limiting its use), and zucchini (I've never liked it prepared in restaurants).

I have still experienced some GI issues during this phase.  It's possible that my body is adjusting, but it's also possible that the foods we've cut out so far have not been the cause of my problems.  I think that the severity and frequency of the problems has decreased, and I am not kept up at night with intestinal pain, but the fact that the symptoms still remain gives me pause and makes me continue to wonder what could be causing this.



Here's my summary of these first five days:
Pros--rapid weight loss, decrease in inflammation symptoms (but not elimination).
Cons--constantly hungry, some of the recipes are bland, still experiencing GI symptoms. 

However, after the first five days, I've lost 5 pounds and two inches off of my waist, which is enough encouragement to keep going.  I guess.

Deep Dish Pizza Casserole, Chicken and Cheese Casserole, Chicken Piccata

Tuesday-Deep Dish Pizza Casserole (for recipe, click the title)
Tonight we tried the Weight Watchers recipe for Deep Dish Pizza Casserole.  Hubby and I worked together doing the prep work and had all of the ingredients ready for the oven in about 15 minutes.

We did the dishes as the casserole baked and the crust browned, and then added cheese and baked it for 5 more minutes, until the cheese melted.  It smelled so good as we were cleaning up!  The finished product was not disappointing, either.  It's a great food when you are dieting and still craving pizza like a Ninja Turtle.

I only used half of the amount of ground beef, and I bought Meijer brand refrigerated pizza dough and Meijer brand Italian diced tomatoes, but that was all that I changed in the recipe.  Upon first bite, I thought it needed a little extra help from herbs, but the more I ate, the better it tasted, and by the time we were done with our pieces, we decided we needed more!  So far, we have been very pleasantly surprised with the recipes we've tried.  I am more than happy to add this recipe to our rotation now too, and will probably continue to make this long after we part ways with Weight Watchers.  Very tasty, and highly recommended!


Wednesday-Chicken and Cheese Casserole (for recipe, click the title)
This was not as good as we had hoped.  Regardless, we were hungry, so we ate it anyway.  Our biggest complaint was that it was very bland.  It was easy enough to make, though--cook the chicken and macaroni at the same time, then mix all of the ingredients together in the casserole dish and bake for about 45 minutes.

We didn't have any low-fat cheese, so we had to use the regular shredded cheddar that we had in the fridge, which probably affected points a bit, but we hate to let the food we already have go to waste now that we are eating healthier.  I also halved the recipe, since it's just the two of us and used a can of cream of chicken instead of cream of mushroom (the nutritional values on the cream of chicken were slightly better than the mushroom--go figure).  I admit that I forgot to add garlic powder to the chicken, but I doubt that it would have affected the flavor that much.  I might try spices, such as mustard powder (frequently used in homemade mac and cheese recipes), paprika, garlic, and maybe a little seasoning salt.  I will have to play around with it if I make it again.  If you try it and add spices, please let me know what you used!

Thursday-Chicken Piccata (Original Recipe: Pork Piccata)
Nope.  Didn't like it.  So, I'm not going to share the recipe.  Sorry...I'm sure there are good recipes out there in cyberspace.

Time To Change Things Up A Bit!

Well, hello!  It's been a while since I've written a new blog.  I've been dealing with some pretty low moods lately, and when I get that way, I have no interest in doing much of anything.  That all seems to have changed with the change in the weather, and as I sit here on St. Patrick's Day in shorts with the windows open, listening to the birds sing outside, I am having a hard time believing it's still winter!  But I'll take it, if it means getting me out of my funk and in a better mood (I'm sure hubby will, too).  I'm hoping this beautiful weather is here for a while, but I don't believe that the cold weather is gone for good just yet.

Thanks also to the weather, my thoughts over the past week have turned to gardening.  Hard-core.  I am eager to begin a new garden for the year, and be able to enjoy delicious fresh veggies from my backyard.  On the plan this year will be corn, pumpkins, cucumbers, green beans, peppers, and of course, asparagus.  I had hoped to see an asparagus shoot poking its little head out of the ground when I went out to look yesterday, but alas, nothing yet.  I'm sure I'll see something soon, though.  Hubby and I went to the home of a coworker/friend this afternoon who was offering to give us some lilies that she had split from her garden, and she also gave us some black-eyed Susans to replant, too.  They are sitting on our back patio right now, but hopefully they will be in the ground by tomorrow.  I'll take pictures once they start growing and blooming.

Ingredients for Candy Bar Cake--NOT on the WW plan.

My thoughts have also turned to losing this extra weight (I'd call it winter weight, but honestly, it's about three winters' worth of weight, so it would be a bit of a misnomer).  Hubby and I broke down, after not having much success or motivation trying to manage our diets on our own, and purchased a Weight Watchers membership.  So far, it's working well, especially for hubby, and it's only been a week.  It's not a bad plan, but I think I'd rather go back to counting calories.  Once the membership expires (in May), I may go back to doing that, since I should be back to within my normal weight range by then.  Not down to my goal, but at least back to acceptable.  So, I went online and printed out a bunch of recipes from the website, and I plan to begin trying them over the course of the next several weeks.  I will also review them on here, and if they are good, I'll post them for you to try as well.  I figure, even if you are not trying to lose weight, why not eat healthier anyway?  I went on Pinterest and did a search for Weight Watchers recipes, and found quite a few that sounded good.  You can also just do a Google search and find them.

Since we've started the Weight Watchers plan, I admit that I feel like I'm not eating enough.  According to them, though, I am.  I just feel hungry all of the time!  I know that it's for the best, though, if I want to be healthy.  It's nothing compared to what Jesus experienced in the desert--He fasted for 40 days and 40 nights!  If that's not hunger, I don't know what is.  Just the fact that He was able to go without food for over a month shows that He was more than human.  When the devil came to tempt Jesus to turn stones to bread to eat, and prove that He was God, Jesus replied, "“It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’" (Matthew 4:1-5).  Jesus could have done it, but it wasn't the reason that He was fasting to begin with.  Maybe when I'm hungry, I should turn to the "soul food" that God offers each one of us every day through His word in the Bible.  Hmm.  Food for thought.