bit by bit

We are slowly adding food back into my diet, and so far so good.  I have successfully added sugar, red meat and wheat back in for the last few days and so far the pain has not returned.  I am hoping the pounds don't return as well.  I have lost about 15 in the past 2 weeks!

If you ask me, I think that the cause of the pain is the increase in processed foods, so once I am back in Italy life should be back to normal.  Not to say I am totally pain free in Italy, but it is drastically  better than here. 

ups and downs

I have to say this last week of the Elimination Diet sucked.  I was feeling better yes, but I was tired and cranky from the lack of Caffeine, Boyfriend, and Variety.  Funny how when you Eliminate everything you enjoy in life, it does not really matter whether you are in physical pain or not you are still gonna feel down in the dumps.  On the up side I have finally begun to see some pounds disappear. (while this is not the goal, it is one of the only good things so far)  I have lost 11 pounds!

The other nice thing in my life at the moment is that I spent the week at friends home last week and had a bed and room to myself.  This week I am house sitting, so now I have a whole house to live in for the week.  The lovely lady from church who lives across the road from this house went shopping for me after hearing about this lame diet...and hooked me up with Chicken, Salmon, and a Gluten Free Corn Bread mix that I had for dinner tonight along with some Chili I made up with just beans and Chicken Gravy and some spices.  It was so nice to have corn bread.  Also on Saturday I had possibly the largest and best Artichoke of my life.

I am hoping and praying that things will continue to look up, and that my pain, weight will continue to disappear.

Pictures to come later

temptation

Today is my Little Brother's 11th birthday and he really, really wanted an ice cream cake.  Being the ultra cool kid he is he is addicted to pinterest as am I.  We browsed pinterest together and got inspired to make an Oreo Crunch Brownie Ice Cream Cake.  I looked up a few DIY sites on Ice Cream Cakes since I had never attempted one, then like always I just went for it and made it my own.

I will not get to sample this amazing cake but it sure looks good sitting in the freezer waiting for the party of boys to devour it...

Here is how I went about it:

I made 1 box of Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Brownies in the bottom of a round spring form pan.  I cooked it for 9 min less than the box said.

Then I allowed it to cool, and then added the chocolate fudge topping.

Once that had some time to set up, I added one layer of Dreyer's Cookies N' Cream Slow Churned Ice Cream One Layer was one whole tub.  On top of which I added broken Oreo Cookie Crumbs and Hershey's Chocolate Shell Topping drizzled over it.

I placed it back in the freezer to firm up.  Then once it firmed up, I added yet another layer of Cookies N' Cream Ice Cream.  Once again I returned it to the the freezer and then finally I added a Whipped Cream Frosting, and decorated with more Chocolate Shell and Oreos for good measure.

1 fish 2 fish

I made my first yummy fish.  Cashew encrusted Talapia  with a side of baby asparagus, pretty dang good.

Fluffy Food

I made Pancakes this morning!  Don't worry I did not give up on my 6 week cleanse, I simply used Gluten Free Flour and fake sugar substitute and yes almond milk instead of normal cow milk. They turned out good, but they tasted nothing like a pancake.  They tasted more like Snickerdoodle Cookies.  Not a bad thing.  I ate 2 about 2 hours ago and I am still stuffed.  It was nice to eat something bready, but I kinda felt sick after.  So maybe one would be better.  I just spread a bit of butter on them and ate them with my hands, cause it seemed better that way.  I suppose you could put fruit on top, but I opted to leave them plain, since I have had a-lot of fruit lately.

On a side note, I think I am feeling better though I am so tired from the lack of caffeine that it is hard to say I feel great.

today's news

I woke up to discover that I had lost 7 pounds somewhere, don't care if I ever find it again. :)  Not much else to share other than I tried the Quinoa Pasta with some pesto, and some pan-fried Polenta for dinner.  It was alright.  Nothing worth writing about.

What to do, what to do

I got brave and tried the Alter Eco Quinoa the other day.  In fact, I have now had it twice.  It is pretty bland by itself, though it smells like corn, but with a slightly nutty flavor, so I added some much needed salt and veggies.  The end result was a dish resembling fried rice. 

I like the fact that by purchasing the stuff I am helping support small family farms in Bolivia...but, then again according to this article in the New York Times, it seems that by helping Bolivian farmers export the crop it made it too expensive for the locals, and thus the rate of malnutrition in these areas is on the rise.  What to do, what to do.  Seems it is a no win situation, as the increase in jobs has been a huge blessing in these communities allowing people to stay in Bolivia instead of head to another neighboring country to find work.

On an entirely different note...


  I started out yesterday with a healthy and beautiful breakfast, a bowl of fresh fruit.  I even made a bowl for my mom and sister.  Would have made it for the guys too, but they went camping for the weekend.

I think the combination of all these new grains, beans and fruits has done a number on my stomach.  I have been in a world of pain the last two days.  So much so that I decided  on drastic measures of drinking Herbal Smooth Move Tea, just to see if it would help.  I have had 2 cups in the last 48 hours, it is not helping.  (I realize not everyone in the world wants to know that, but this is also serving as my medical journal...and if you are going through this process with me you should know what you are getting into)