“When I finish this book, we are going on this diet” said my well-meaning husband. The book was by Dr. Asa Andrew. The diet: no wheat, no dairy. How long? 4 weeks. My first thought? “You have to be kidding me. What are we going to eat?”
The diet not only excluded wheat and dairy, but we were not allowed to have refined sugars, table salt, and canola oil. We could only cook with butter. We could flavor our foods with sea salt, pepper, herbs, honey, and other unrefined products. We were allowed to have almonds, but peanuts were out. We also were to drink half of our body weight in ounces of water per day. Of course, soda was out.
Once Steve finished the book, we went on the diet. The first few days were really difficult. There was much planning involved for meals, and I had to learn a whole new way to cook. There was no more quick sandwiches for dinner, and no more could I just call Steve and have him pick up something on the way home. It was amazing how much thought had to be put into each and every thing we ate. Thankfully we could have dark chocolate over 70% cacao.
Not only did the preparation for the meals take getting use to, but the actual flavors were a shock to the system. Before the diet, Steve and I were pasta-aholics. I had to find something to replace for noodles, and I had seen on Dr. Oz how one woman replaced noodles with Spaghetti Squash. It was different but great.
We would eat organic scrambled eggs cooked in butter with no salt or pepper for breakfast, roast beef with honey mustard and veggies for lunch, almonds and chocolate for snacks, and whatever I could figure out for dinner.
As of today, it has been 2 days shy of 4 weeks. Steve got home from work and said, “It is time to cheat. We are going out to eat, and we are cheating in a big way.” Excited, I agreed and almost tripped over myself to get out the door.
We had to go to Costco and pick up our “good” foods with a few other things, and afterwards, we were going to a fried chicken tenders joint. It was once my favorite fast food place. I was so stoked about this eating experience. As we left Costco, I could smell the tenders cooking. We barely got the baby in the car before we were jumping in and racing over to the tender’s restaurant. We were like lions going to a feast. I was overwhelmed with complete and total ecstasy.
We walked in and placed our glutinous order and found a place to sit. I had packed Asher his dinner, so I started to feed him as soon as we had him settled in. The food came out, and I couldn’t wait! This was the thing I had dreamed of for the entire diet. Ah…fried food. My heart’s desire.
My first bite was a french fry. I had taken a french fry from a friend once while on the diet, and was quite disheartened. However, these were crinkle fries. These were my favorite. As I bit into the fry, I stumbled over my vision and fell flat on my face realizing it tasted bland. There really was no flavor. Then, I realized that in order to get flavor, I was going to have to pile on the table salt. “Ah,” I thought “maybe I should just cover it in sauce!” I did. Still, it was bland. The sauce had lost it’s luster.
As I stared down at my half eaten plate, it hit me. It is all a lie. A lie conceived by brilliant men and women to feed Americans junk and get rich in the process. I had blind folded myself to the truth all of my life. It was as if a veil had been lifted. I could see the wizard.
Four weeks ago, I would have had a good belly laugh at a blog such as this. As I downed my cheeseburger, I would have thought, “Yeah, but if you only had this burger, you would be changing your tune.” My taste buds have taught me so much about not buying into something just because it is popular and easy.
Steve and I discussed the matter in the car on the way home. I felt as though I would vomit, and he, after loosing 20 pounds, gained 2 inches in his waistline in one meal. We thought about how much money we were saving by not eating junk, and how much money it would cost us to get a quality meal if we were to go out to eat.
From one recovering junk food enthusiast, I challenge you to take on this diet we were on. I challenge you to learn a new way to eat. There is no room in our bodies for lies and much room in our bodies for truth. Don’t buy in to the lie. The truth tastes so much better!
Your diet sounds exactly like something that my Anthropology teacher had us read about called the Paleolithic Diet. Essentially, it’s a return to the way we were waaaaaaaaaaaaay waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay back in the day when humans were still nomadic foragers. If you wanted to read about it, here’s the link: http://www.earth360.com/diet_paleodiet_balzer.html
I may try and convince Sam to test-drive this diet. I’d have to watch what we made though, Isabella is BIG time allergic to nuts.
GREAT link! Thanks Daniella! Yep, it is very similar to the diet we are on with a few exceptions. We do eat beans.
The nuts are important, but, you may have to cut them out for the sake of Isabella. We only put them in one recipe. We eat a hand full at snack time.