Day 18

First time trying mackerel, one of the oily fish I should be eating. Tasted just like tuna to me!

This broccoli was delicious! I fried it in a bunch of olive oil and sea salt before steaming it for the remainder of its 30 minutes of cooking.

Not pictured: filtered water

Day 17

Today's sustenance:

I know, I know, the picture above is of processed meat, which technically isn't allowed. I was hungry, and walking through Costco's seas of food that I am not allowing myself to eat this month, and feeling anxious and deprived and really not wanting to run a caloric deficit like I apparently have been, since doing so makes it harder for the body to heal...so, I ate an all-beef hot dog without the bun.

The treat in the silver wrapper is an elimination diet "coconut macaroon," consisting of unsweetened coconut flakes and melted coconut oil mixed together and then frozen. With a flavor similar to almond joys and some calories to keep me full, all while supplying my daily coconut oil quota, these things are lifesavers.

Day 16: A Bit More Than Halfway Through This Elimination Month!

To mark this halfway point, I thought it would be fitting to share some of the foods I'm looking forward to reintroducing over the course of the next few months after January  (following The Paleo Mom's/Chris Kresser's/the-SCD-and-GAPS-books' recommendations for how to successfully test if I tolerate certain foods, of course):

• Bacon! Oh my gosh. I spent a great deal of 2012 joyfully consuming bacon. I miss it. 
• Avocado! Mmm. Avocados have always been a favorite of mine. I love the creaminess and texture. They add so much to salads, burgers, dips, you name it. Except that weird avocado chocolate "pudding" some people love so much. Ick. 
• Chocolate! I so hope that I find that my body tolerates chocolate. I love creating food wonders with chocolate, and  I love enjoying it. It will be interesting to experience chocolate without a sugar addiction, and I will be trying to go as dark as possible with this delicacy. I realized recently that plain cacao is not something I desire to eat (currently, at least - maybe my taste buds will adjust!), so that maybe the sugar that is in different types of chocolate to varying degrees was really what had me hooked. 
• Blueberries! I ate a lot of blueberries in 2012, and I miss my frozen bowls of blueness a great deal. Something to look forward to! 
• Come to think of it, I am looking forward to ALL FRUIT! Nature's candy, man. That nature knows her sweets better than any candy store - mango, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, lilikoi (passionfruit), strawberries, bananas, nectarines, peaches, raspberries, and plums are just some of her wondrous creations that I am so looking forward to eating again. Maybe it's just me, but I would take a fruit orchard over a candy store any day. 
• Nuts! In particular macadamia nuts. YUM. 
• Garlic!
• Onions!
• Sweet potatoes
• Taro
• Cassava
• Eggs
• Things made out of almond flour and eggs! 
• Carrots
• Pumpkin (mm with cinnamon!)
• Dairy

Now, I know some of these items may turn out to be ones that one of my various sources recommends staying away from. For instance, I think eggs are cross-reactive with gluten, and Dr. K and Chris Kresser recommend that anyone with an AITD (Autoimmune Thyroid Disorder) avoid gluten for the rest of their life. So, maybe no eggs. And, sadly, The Paleo Mom blogged that people with autoimmune conditions often cannot succesfully reintroduce dairy into their diets. :( But, only thorough and thought-out experimentation with my diet can tell. So, wish me luck! 

Until the 1st, it's meat, leaves, and olive and coconut oil...in the context of the world's population, I'm so very lucky to have such healthy sustenance. 

Day 15's Menu

Not Pictured: filtered water, unsweetened coconut flakes 

Day 14

...and raspberry leaf tea, many glasses of filtered water, and a bit of beef tongue. 

Day 13

Menu:

• 2 organic free range chicken thighs
• steamed allowed plant matter (a mix of watercress, beet greens, and red swiss chard I believe)
• probiotic supplement
• grass-fed burger with extra grass-fed burger grease and chives
• lettuce
• my homemade bone broth from grass-fed beef
• leftover pork chop 
• more steamed veggies 
• more bone broth
• And, not pictured, organic unsweetened coconut flakes and organic unrefined coconut oil

 

 I think even Dr. Terry Wahls would be satisfied with the quantity of vegetables I consume these days. I probably will have consumed more vegetable matter in this one detox month than I did during the entire last year (eek, right!).

I saw an ad for V8 vegetable juice in a TIME magazine today, and it referenced the fact that most people don't eat the 5 servings of vegetables that are recommended by the USDA. Other food groups so easily crown  out the vegetables, even as the health benefits of vegetables are touted by groups as varied as vegans and Paleo eaters.

So, here's to eating those veggies! This year I can say that I am actively cultivating a healthy habit.

Day 11: Making paleo cookies for a friend

Today's menu: 

 Grass-fed beef with chives, olive oil, and sea salt; steamed allowed veggies; and grass fed beef bone broth. 

 Grass-fed 80% lean beef burger with salt, local artisan's hydoponic and baked dirt lettuce with cilantro from the mainland. 

Me trying to artistically arrange yet another dish of meat and green vegetables. :) 

Not pictured: organic unsweetened coconut flakes as a snack at the movie theater. 

Local artisan's lettuce, cilantro from the mainland, steamed broccoli with organic extra virgin olive oil and sea salt, organic free range chicken thighs (I ate two, plus the skins from two more - believe it or not, baked chicken skin cooked with olive oil and salt is a real treat these elimination-diet days). 

Recipe for the chicken thighs:

Coat both sides with olive oil

Sprinkle with salt

Bake in oven preheated to 400 degrees for 45 minutes. YUM!

In other news, for this first time this month I made some food that I can't eat. A paleo friend's birthday is coming up and I decided to make him paleo chocolate chip cookies, a true test of my willpower and possible humongous downer. I was hesitant about doing this to myself (to add insult to the injury of not being able to eat something I bake, chocolate has always been one of my favorite foods and I've never gone without it before), and in fact I seriously considered backing out of it multiple times. BUT I decided to go for it, and it really wasn't a big deal. It seems that I'm starting to view items like the ones pictured below as non-foods. Much to my surprise, it truly only bothered me a tinge to not be able to try the end result. 

Anyway, I used a recipe crafted by Simone over at zenbelly (click to see the recipe on her site). I trust her recipes completely and wanted to get the crispy and chewy texture she raved about. 

 After liquefying the first few ingredients in a Blendtec all-powerful mixer....

The little treasures glowing in the oven! 

I didn't have any parchment paper like Simone recommends, but they came off very easily, just leaving a little residue on the pan.. They also held their shape very well. I'm impressed! 

The recipe made 12 cookies. 

I had some of my roommates taste test these puppies. No, I didn't have any! 

I'm excited to get to add fruit back into my diet after this month is over, and my favorite meat product, bacon! But as far as sugary baked goods, I think this month is really helping me get over the slight sugar addiction I still retained through last month. I was already way better as far as food addictions are concerned that I had been before going paleo and then mostly paleo.

 It was amazing to break free of the wheat addiction last year, and now it's great to break free of the sugar addiction. I highly recommend this elimination diet to anyone looking to go cold-turkey on their food addictions. 

In other news, I need to go shopping for smaller clothes! I'm guessing that could be a nice bonus of the diet for a lot of us out there. :) 

Day 10: Successful bone broth, first time cooking pork chops

Locally raised pork chop cooked with lemongrass, bay leaves, and rosemary with steamed veggies and bone broth. 

I made them last night for the first time, seemed to work okay. 

Iced mint tea, one of my favorites. :) 

 I made my second batch of bone broth yesterday. This time I just put in local grass-fed beef soup bones, water, and salt. I cooked it in my slow cooker on low for 13 hours.

I invested in a small strainer and borrowed some wide-mouth jars in preparation for concocting more gut-healing bone broth. These made the straining process go much smoother than last time!

 Ta-da! Two jars of golden broth. These should last me a few days.

The morning after, I have myself some beef-flavored jello! I'm so glad this stuff liquefies when it's warmed, my ex-vegetarian self would shrink even more from eating a jiggly bone substance. 

 Local grass-fed beef, free range lamb, steamed allowed veggies, bone broth. 

Frozen organic coconut oil and organic unsweetened coconut flakes. 

Not pictured: Grass-fed beef burgers and steamed veggies, chamomile tea