When I used to work as a director for the TV station, we’d have a very brief meeting after the evening newscast. We’d go over everything that didn’t go as planned (breaking news, technical difficulties) and figure out where mistakes/discrepancies happened so we could prevent them in the future. The crew called this meeting “discreps”. Here are my discreps from the 3-week challenge:
- Wedding food tasting
Technically, I knew about this in advance. I had a few bites of meat, a little cheese, and I’m sure a few other bits of “outlawed” foods, but this was contained to the afternoon of the first day, and it was for my wedding!
- Peanuts
Whoops! Since I could basically only eat fruits, veggies, nuts, & seeds during Week #1, I assumed peanuts were legal. Then I remembered they were actually a legume & common allergen. I ate them 3 times in the course of the challenge.
- Pickles
Really? My tried & true standby diet food? Even YOU have added sugar? No excuse here. I read the label. It said “less than 2% high fructose corn syrup”. I was tempted. I rationalized it and ate some.
- Olive oil spray
I got sick of all of the oil in the recipes, so I tried this and realized even the can labeled “Olive Oil” contains propellant & lechithin.
- Bottled lemon juice/lime juice
I learned that “Real Lemon” is a half truth. The bottle actually contains lemon juice from concentrate, sodium benzoate, sodium metabisulfite, and sodium sulfite. But because nearly every recipe called for lemon juice – I gave in and allowed myself the cheat. A couple teaspoons here & there can’t hurt – right?
- Craisins
It is flippin’ impossible to find unsweetened dried cranberries. Impossible, I tell you! Even at the health food store, the best I could do was “cranberries infused with pineapple juice”. I did what I could, but I ended up eating about 2 tbs of Craisins, which contain sweetner. Blurg.
You heard me – coconut flour & oat flour! What? You don’t have these in your cabinet? I got –really curious after perusing recipes on vegan blogs. I found a vegan, gluten-free, no-sugar added cookie recipe! It used these two types of flour, plus some sunflower seed butter and a few eyedroppers full of stevia. All of these were WHOLE ingredients (only “coconut” and “oats” were listed on the flours’ ingredients), so the only processing was the milling. I ruled it legal and shared the cookies. Yum!
What I’ve learned:
- Although I couldn’t do follow all of these restrictions long-term, I think I could totally go vegan OR gluten-free. In fact, we’re going to attempt to prepare a vegan/whole foods dinner weekly. Who wants kohlrabi??
- People who tell you green smoothies are delicious are lying liars. Lettuce and parsley do not a breakfast make. Even with pineapple added.
- The health food & specialty food stores in this town are awesome! I will definitely be doing more of my shopping at Open Harvest or Red Clover or Akin’s or Trader Joe’s!
- Roasting vegetables is super easy & Ben loves them! It’s so easy to throw some frozen cauliflower or sweet potato wedges or kale on a cookie sheet with some olive oil & whatever seasoning you want. This’ll be a habit that sticks.
- The garbage disposal in my sink doesn’t like to eat vegetables as much as I do. When fed too many, it spits them into the sink and dishwasher in rebellion. Yuck.
- Weird food alternatives & are not just for hippies and people with food allergies. Coconut flour, almond milk, and stevia drops are all in my kitchen. I baked with sunflower seed butter. I drank coconut water and beet juice (Not mixed together. Gross.) I grilled bok choy & learned to love prunes as dessert.
- Failures –although sometimes inedible– are often funny. My no-egg-no-baking-soda falafel turned into an oily sesame soup…and the salvaged part wasn’t much better.
- You knew this already, but the interwebs rule. When I got tired of the challenge recipes, I was actually able to find vegan-whole-food-gluten-free-no-sugar-added recipes. I’ll never understand the people who rotate through only 7-10 go-to recipes. I love me some vegan blogs.
- I learned that I should get my thyroid checked out! After 3 weeks of cutting out calories & possible culprits, I’ve lost ZERO weight. I also just found out about some family history of thyroid problems. And since January is National Thyroid Awareness Month, why not? If it’s not to blame, at least now I know it’s not the chocolate, either J
- And finally – I learned that I have a phenomenal support system. Fo’ reals. Ben put up with my whining, my caffeine headaches, helped me prep meals, and dried when I washed. My future father-in-law saved the day when my vegetable peelings clogged the sink and dishwasher. My friend & lunch buddy Audrey actually jumped on board and started doing the cleanse with me! My other co-workers lent their juicer or gave me healthy snacks. My family offered to eat cleanse-friendly meals with me for Sunday night dinners. And Facebook friends, blog readers, fellow cleansers & and even Martha watchers J have been great cheerleaders & resources. Not to be melodramatic – after all, this was just a 3 week detox diet – but my friends & family pretty much rule. It made this a fun experiment.
So…what am I giving up next?
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