PALEO!

So far paleo isn't too bad!  I bought a BBQ Grill and have used it a few times and that makes paleo pretty easy.  I have placed a few of the recipes I've tried on the recipe blog.  My next thing I'm going to do is try some crock pot paleo recipes. 
I have had some cheat days (too many) with some family in town this past weekend. I have to say if I eat a lot of sugar or carbohydrates I feel awful!  My stomach will hurt and I just feel sluggish.  Maybe I should remember that for the next time I really want to cheat!  I had 3 cheat days in a row and I think it was 3 too many!
I went cycling with a friend on Saturday and she talked me into riding 20 miles.  I survived and my back survived but my bottom sure did hurt that day!  It was a good thing we rode for so far or else I would've gained weight with all the junk I ate this weekend. 
I'm still down about 1/2 lb lower than when I first started paleo 2 weeks ago. Not what I wanted so now it's time to get serious again...
On a very good note I finally got my Vit D level back and it's in the normal range and at a great level!  FINALLY! 

WHEAT BELLY DOWN!!!

So I admit, I'm the worst blogger in the world.  The 3 months of Wheat Belly happened at a crazy time in my life.  I bought a new place and had to pack and move and clean and it has ruled my life for the past 3 months.  I do have to say I give credit to people who can blog all the time.

I didn't try many wheat belly recipes so that was a downside of this diet.  Overall the Wheat Belly wasn't bad at all. I was expecting much worse. 

One of my friends talked me into doing a Dietbet.  Pretty much you join a game or make your own and there is fee to pay.  They are all different amounts and then you have to lose 4% of your body weight in 28 days.  You have to submit pics weighing in and weighing out and then if you lose 4% you get part of the pot.  So we both paid $25 and both lost our 4% and just found out that we won $40.35!  I hate losing money so it was a big motivator for me.  I'm planning on doing another one starting next week sometime.

I lost 16.3 lbs on the diet.  My goal was 20lbs but I'll take the 16.3lbs anyday!! I think I was even more excited when I saw my labs this morning!

LABS:
1/02/13 (before starting diets)          4/01/13 (after Vegan)       7/1/13 (After Wheat Belly)
Total Cholesterol 226                       236                                    179
Triglycerides       245                       218                                      95
LDL (bad cholesterol) 136               147                                     109
HDL (good Cholesterol) 40              45                                       38.4

Other than my HDL, I don't think my cholesterol has ever been this low! So this diet was a success on a few levels. 
On to paleo!

I'm really bad at blogging!

Blogging is just not my thing! It's so hard for me to get on here and write about the diet and what's going on. 
I was down almost 10 lbs last week and then I went home to Oregon to help my mom who just had a knee replacement. I cheated on my diet every day, multiple times a day!  But after all of that cheating I only gained 2.2lbs so I can't be too disappointed.  So now I'm back and sticking to my diet.  I even talked one of my other friends into joining us on the diet so I have one more person trying the Wheat Belly diet!
Since I've been gone I haven't tried any new recipes. I have a spaghetti squash sitting in my fridge just waiting to be cooked...I really hope this week it will happen. 
Other good news is that I bought a road bike while I was in Oregon, it didn't hurt my back and I've already gotten a few short rides in.  I just bought a townhouse so I've been busy trying to move and paint so once that calms down I can ride more.
I promise to try to do better and get some new recipes up!  I'm living off of the the flaxseed wraps and salads lately because I haven't had time to cook!

3 weeks down!

I did really well last week on the Wheat Belly Diet. The only cheat I had was one small chocolate covered strawberry and some Yogurtland Frozen yogurt (mmm...taro and roasted coconut....). I even worked out the most last week than any other weeks and I didn't lose one pound and I didn't gain one pound...A little discouraging.  But I still feel good so I can't complain. 

One of the things people talk about with the Wheat Belly Diet is how tired they are the first 1-2 weeks after starting the diet.  I haven't noticed any difference in how tired I've been.

I did try making the pumpkin spice muffins (I will post later tonight on the recipe blog) and they didn't turn out completely but they tasted pretty good. 

I'm planning on trying the squash pasta in the next couple of days. Meghan made it and said it was really good. 

Still no cravings for breads and cereal!!! I still find this very shocking knowing how much I love the stuff!

I started tracking calories yesterday using My Fitness Pal app on my phone.  It's a great free tool that you can either do online or on your phone.  Should be interesting to add this to the equation.

2 weeks down!

So far the Wheat Belly Diet isn't killing me...It actually hasn't been too bad. 

My mom called me the other day and she just had her labs done last week and after being vegan for 3 months her Cholesterol dropped in all areas!  She is on cholesterol medicine and before she started the diet they told her if it didn't come down then they would have to increase her dose of medicine.  I guess my body just likes my cholesterol too much to give it up and get it lower :)

Anyone who knows me will know that my favorite food is....CEREAL!  I could eat it three times a day and never get tired of it.  I've never met a cereal I didn't like.  On the Vegan diet I could still have most of my beloved cereals.  Now I can't have them and I was really worried about it.  Miraculously I haven't missed cereal at all. There is a hot flaxseed cereal in the Wheat Belly recipes that I need to try.  Meghan has tried it and said it wasn't too bad if you like slimey hot cereal. My goal this week is to try it.

My other goal is to also try to make the spaghetti squash "pasta."  I've also found some good recipes for zuchinni lasagna where you use zuchinni in place of the noodles. 

What I've had a few times are my egg/banana pancakes which aren't too bad.  I'll post the recipe on the recipe site. 

I lost 2lbs this past week so a grand total of 5.6lbs.  Still feeling good and not missing carbs as much as I thought I would.  I've always loved dark chocolate but usually 60-70%.  the diet lets you have 90% dark chocolate.  It took me a few times to get used to it that dark but now I love having a little square of bitter dark chocolate for a sweet snack.

Until next time....

Week 1 of Wheat Belly

I was pretty intimidated to start this diet.  After one week there is still some intimidation but I'm learning more and more what I can eat so it's making it better.  My Vitamin D level came back still LOW!  Actually 1 point lower than last time, so I've really stepped up the Vit D intake.

Still haven't eaten a lot of meat but I have eaten a lot of cheese.  I am down 3.6lbs from last Monday so that is good.  I was able to get some good bike rides in this past week and they didn't bother my back at all. 

I've been eating some good flaxseed wraps that I make and even made cauliflower crust pizza on Saturday night.  I'll be posting the recipes this evening when I get home from work. I really enjoy the flaxseed wrap and the pizza wasn't terrible either. 

I'm back to taking Fish oil supplement, glucosamine with chondroitin and my tumeric.  All of these I had to stop when I was Vegan. 

I had a cheat meal last night for my aunt's birthday.  My friend and I made chocolate covered cherries and they are amazing! Lets just say Saturday morning I was down 5lbs for the week and after my cheat meal of taco salad (minus the shell), homemade strawberry ice cream, homemade horchata, birthday cake and chocolate covered cherries I gained a little back...

LABS & WHEAT BELLY...ONE DAY DOWN!

The Wheat Belly Diet started yesterday and so far not too bad.  I'll be posting some recipes later tonight when I get home of what I've tried so far.  I'm not as intimidated by the diet as I thought I would be but it's only been one day so far.  I got a call from my friend Meghan yesterday telling me that so far she had probably eaten 20 eggs yesterday! She hadn't planned ahead for the wheat belly so that's about all she had to eat...I'm sure my cholesterol would love that!

I got my labs done and got almost all the results this morning.  Not as good as I was expecting...

BEFORE:                                                 AFTER:
Total Cholesterol 226                              236                    Normal (<199)
Triglycerides 245                                    218                     Normal (40-150)
HDL (good cholesterol) 40                     45                       Normal (40-96)
LDL (bad cholesterol) 136                      147                     Normal (0-130)
Vitamin B12 449                                     893                     Normal (211-911)

Total Weight Loss 6lbs.

So not what I expected.  I have to take into consideration that my family genetics sucks when it comes to cholesterol.  There are very few people in my family (on both sides) who are not on cholesterol medication! But I was expecting better than that, not worse!  I'm still waiting on my Vitamin D levels. 

Supposedly the Wheat Belly Diet is great on cholesterol so we'll see if it can help a broken cholesterol like mine! 

Last Day as a Vegan!

Wow! I can't believe 3 months have already come and gone!  I also can't believe I was a Vegan for 3 months.  I have to admit the past 2-3 weeks have been a lot harder.  Not sure if it's because I knew it was ending soon or I was just getting sick of it??

Most of the diet I didn't mind at all...It was easy.

So what am I going to keep from this diet?  The first thing is Almond Milk.  I love it!  I also really enjoy coconut milk ice cream.  I will also take the recipes that I tried with me because I liked them all.  I learned that I can cook better than I thought I could.  I learned a lot more about using spices in my cooking for flavoring.

Tomorrow morning I'm getting my blood drawn and will check my Cholesterol, Vit B12 and Vit D levels.  I will post the differences as soon as I have results.  I will also see how much weight I lost tomorrow after I get on the scales. (I'm not expecting much after the last couple of weeks!!).

In the end I'm really glad I did the Vegan diet.  I feel great being on the diet and was able to get off my blood pressure medicine.

On to the WHEAT BELLY!!! I can do anything for 3 months....right?????

Less than a week!

I can't believe that the Vegan diet is about to end! Sunday will be our last day being Vegan. I am planning on having my blood drawn on Monday to check my cholesterol.  Should be interesting.

I went to some friends for dinner on Sunday night and had meat for the first time.  We had pork sandwiches and they tasted delicious!  I am not a huge pork fan but it was the best I've ever eaten! I had a bad week and actually had 3 cheat meals. The other 2 contained a lot of cheese (still the thing I missed the most).

This week I'm trying to figure out what I'm going to start eating next Monday.  Looking at some new recipes and convincing myself it won't be too bad...

10 weeks down!

So this is what I've learned about blogging.....I'm really bad at it. 
I really never imagined it would be this hard to blog once a week.  I'm not doing the best and getting it done weekly.  I talked with Meghan last night and she has the same problem.  But blogging does hold me more accountable so I will continue to try my hardest to get it done. 

Still losing a little bit of weight and still feeling good.  I went to my cousins birthday lunch on Saturday and they all had pizza and I settled for the salad bar.  I really wanted that pizza because once again it's the cheese that is my biggest craving.  I did use my cheat meal to have a piece of cake and wished I would've used it on the pizza instead :)

I made one of the greatest things I've ever made last week. It's called Red Red and it's delicious. It was my favorite dish when I was in Ghana and when Barbara would make it for us (about 2-3 times a week) I would always get excited.  I tried to make it a few years ago and didn't have a good recipe and it didn't turn out.  Sometimes in Ghana they put fish in it or fish oil or shrimp powder but other than that it's Vegan. So I just left out all of the gross seafood stuff and it was still delicious.  I recommend trying it, you will not be disappointed.  The recipe is on the recipe blog. 

Time is almost here for the new diet.  I'm excited to see if my cholesterol has changed much.  I am a little scared of knowing what I'll eat for the next diet but that just means I have to try new recipes!

7 weeks down....

Ok, so I've come to the conclusion I'm a really bad blogger.  Yesterday was actually 8 weeks down but I was a little slow blogging about week 7! Before I know it the Wheat Belly will be here!!!!
 
Now on to things that have nothing to do with being vegan...My biggest accomplishment this past week was that I was able to get on the eliptical for the first time since my surgery and my back didn't get worse!  Not sure I could do it everyday with my back but it's a huge step forward. My second big step forward is that I'm starting to be able to walk a little better on my heels. After my 1st surgery I got foot drop on my left foot and it was nice and floppy.  Since my second surgery I've been doing PT and helping get the strength back in it. I know all this seems minor to most people but they were 2 huge accomplishments for me!

Now back to the diet....The first thing I can say is that I had a really great cheat meal this week.  I have a friend who told me about a great Thai place.  After she told me all I could think about was Pad See Ew....So I had some and it was amazing! 

My friend Meghan and I went to whole foods to buy a slice of our favorite Vegan chocolate cake this past weekend.  We found out that they also have Vegan cupcakes and Vegan brownies in addition to the vegan scones and cookies.  We decided to do what any good Vegan would do...try new desserts.  So we got a banana cupcake and a chocolate peanut butter cupcake along with our chocolate cake.  Overall they were all delicious. 

I wish I could say I tried a new recipe this week but all I tried was new food!  I'm planning to make something this coming week but just haven't decided what yet...

Don't forget to check out Meghan's blog...she is supposedly trying to make some Vegan Fried Pickles and should be posting about it soon!

6 weeks down!! Half way there!

I have to admit, I think I'm sort of dreading the next 6 weeks.  Not because it will be hard but because I'm dreading the next diet!
Wheat Belly is going to be sooooo hard for me! But I guess that's part of this experiment I'm doing. It's not supposed to be easy.  I keep trying to look ahead for recipes to figure out what I'm going to eat and then all I think about is how hard it will be.  I really think that the Vegan diet will be the easiest diet for me.
I haven't craved any meat at all since I've started the Vegan diet.  I'm not a huge meat eater to begin with so I knew that would be easy.  I haven't even craved my daily yogurt!  The only thing that I keep craving is cheese.  The Vegan cheese isn't terrible, but it isn't great.  This week my cheat meal consisted of making a birthday cake for a friend and having a piece.  Then last night I was talking to a friend on their way to Vegas and I'll I could think of was getting The Bobbie from Carpriotti's.  If you've never been or heard of Carpiotti's you need to check them out and you need to eat a Bobbie for me!
I did try 2 new recipes this week.  One was Pumpkin Hummus and it was NOT good so I will not be posting that on the recipe blog.  But I did make a Fresh Vegetable Basil Soup that is quite good and will be posted on the recipe blog.
I will cherish the next 6 weeks because I know what will happen after that!  I guess it's good we started slow with an easy diet!

5 weeks down!

I was a total slacker this week and didn't try any new recipes.  But I have one that I am planning to make this week so we'll see if I can stop being a slacker. 
Things have went well.  I have to say that Whole Foods makes a great Vegan Chocolate cake!  It is a little spendy but Meghan and I sure do love it. 
I can't believe that I'm almost half way through being Vegan!  I'm a little nervous starting a new diet and reintroducing certain foods back into my diet. I am very curious what my labs will show though.
If you are ever looking for a great documentary to watch I would recommend Forks Over Knives.  It's a great film about a plant based diet.  It goes into some research behind plant based diets and the benefits from that.  It is on Netflix to watch.  Their website has some good recipe ideas and hopefully I can try some this week and post them on the recipe blog. 

4 weeks down!!

This is still a very easy diet to do. I still feel great, and still dropping a little weight. Everyone kept telling me how hard it would be and most people tell me they could never do it. I think both of those statements are false! I can eat so many good things on this diet.

I had 2 of my co-workers over for a vegan meal this week. One of them is gluten free so I had to change a few things up but overall it turned out fairly well. My advice is make sure you read the high altitude instructions while making brownies, if not they will turn into a brick!!!  I made vegan lasagna  and used rice lasagna noodles to make it gluten free.  I also made a kale avocado salad and vegan peanut butter ice cream.

Once again check out our recipe blog so you can see for yourself that not all vegan food is gross!

And as always don't forget to read Meghan's blog. I guarantee you will laugh!!

3 weeks of being Vegan!!

So I have made it 3 weeks as of yesterday!  Last week I ate a lot of "bad" Vegan food-cookies, licorice, etc. But once again, it wasn't hard to stay vegan.  I'm not craving anything that is non-vegan so that's good.

My friend Meghan (check out her blog!!!!) had me over for dinner last week to have Seitan Sandwiches.  They actually weren't bad.  I was a little skeptical because it didn't look too appetizing but they were good and I even took some home and had more the next day.  Meghan also bought some Tofutti ice cream bars at Whole Foods. I have had the Tofutti ice cream sandwiches and they were great.  Meghan told me she bought chocolate covered cherry ice cream bars but they tasted a little like perfume. So after our Seitan sandwiches we both got one to eat.  I took one bite and thought..."there is no way this is supposed to be cherry flavored."  It really tasted like I was eating chocolate covered potpourri.  I looked at the box and sure enough the ingredients showed  natural flower and nectar flavors (rose, marigold, calendula, citrus blossoms, hibiscus, jasmine and lavender). I then looked at the box and while she thought she had bought chocolate covered cherry ice cream bars, she actually bought Chocolate Covered Flowers ice cream bars.  Lets just say I will not be buying myself a box of those! I think Meghan put it perfectly when she said, "Only a Vegan would think of making chocolate covered flowers ice cream!"

Don't forget to check out the recipe blog and Meghan's blog! 

2 weeks down!

It's funny that when I tell people I'm Vegan how they react.  Most people ask me what I am eating since I can't eat "hardly anything."  And they almost always say that they could never do it.  Well it's only been 2 weeks but there is PLENTY to eat and it hasn't been hard at all.  Going out to eat makes it a little challenging to find something Vegan at some restaurants but not impossible. 

I took my friend Tom out to eat this week for his birthday. He chose a Mediterranean and I don't think the lady knew what Vegan meant.  She showed us all the items on the menu that were "Vegan" and I think most of them were just vegetarian.  So I ended up getting a grilled veggie platter with rice, pita and hummus.  Not bad but there was butter on the vegetables so I did have a cheat this week. 

The exercising is going great, still losing weight, still feeling great, still off my blood pressure medicine. 

I have a doctor friend who talked me into doing a 3 day smoothie cleanse starting on Friday. It's all Vegan products but I'm not sure how I'm going to like only having smoothies to consume for 3 days!!  But I told her I'm up to challenges these days so I'll try it!  I've never done a cleanse and don't really believe them but I do have a lot of friends and patients that do them so it should be a good experience. 

Don't forget to check out the recipes page and my friend Meghan's blog.  If you haven't checked out her blog you are missing out!!!!!

One Week Down!

So far being vegan is great. I've lost some weight, feel great and the biggest thing is I'm completely off my blood pressure medicine!  At day 4 I took 1/2 a pill and then day 5 I went completely off and have been off ever since.
The week was actually pretty easy.  I didn't have one cheat meal.  I exercised 5 times.  I even feel like I have more energy.  I'm trying new foods and actually liking them!
I did my labs and they didn't look terrible...but not great.
My cholesterol is actually down from when I checked it in August but still high.  So that will make it even more interesting to see what this diet does to the numbers.  In the end I will post the actually numbers to see what it does.
My Vitamin B is normal.  And sadly my Vitamin D is a few points low.  Those of you that know me know that I'm a huge vitamin D advocate and take mine daily so I was a little shocked I was on the low side.  But that will change!
People have asked me what supplements I'm taking.  I take a daily Multi-Vitamin, Vitamin C, Garlic,  and Calcium + Vit D.  I usually take Turmeric but the ones I have are not Vegan because they have gelatin in them so I'm looking to see if I can find one without gelatin. If you don't know the health benefits of Turmeric you should check them out here. If I can't find any then I will start using Turmeric in my cooking.
I made some great recipes this week and will place them on our recipe blog hopefully today so check the out.
Bring on week 2!!!

Day 4....Still Surviving!

So far everything is going GREAT! I don't miss dairy or meat at all...at least not yet.

It's been freezing cold in Salt Lake but I managed a 30 min walk outside twice! Once in 11 degree weather and the second time in 9 degree weather! I just hope it gets a little warmer and that it happens quickly!

Everyday I learn something new about Veganism.  Did you know they have Vegan shoes?  Even my favorite brand of work shoes, Danskos have vegan ones! Check out this site to see more brands that have Vegan shoes.

Last of all, my friend Meghan finally got her blog up and going.  It's HILARIOUS so check it out!

www.yourmicrowavedoesnthavetobeclean.blogspot.com

And don't forget to check out the recipe page here.  We are adding new things all the time!

Going VEGAN...Day 1

How in the world did I get the idea to spend the next year of my life trying 4 different diets?? Well it started as a really simple idea and then I decided why be simple?

Here's how the idea all started:

I had two back surgeries in October and was out of work for 5 weeks.  I had A LOT of time to think! I was watching Ellen and she was talking about being Vegan.  I thought, "maybe I should try that."  At first I thought I would try it for a month.  The more I thought about it the more ideas came to mind.  I have patients ask me almost daily about certain diets and what my thoughts and opinions about these diets are.  Well what better way to really know about these diets than to try them? 

So I will be doing 4 diets for 3 months at a time.  The line-up of the diets are:

January-March====Vegan

April-June===The Wheat Belly Diet

July-September===The Paleo Diet

October-December===To be determined (if you have any good ideas I'm taking suggestions). 

I've made some rules to my diets:

1. I must exercise for 30 mins 4 times a week

2. I must weigh myself once a week

3. I must blog at least once a week

4. I may have 1 cheat meal a week if I want

5. I must check my cholesterol at the beginning of every diet

6. When I'm on vacation I will try to follow the diet as well as possible

I have talked 2 other into joining me on this adventure.  

Meghan will start blogging soon so I will post her link as soon as I can.

My mom will also be helping me with the blog and with the recipe blog that you can access here

I have a lot of goals over the next year and doing these different diets.  It's going to be quite the journey and challenge...I can't wait!