Gluten-free Sugar-free Day 1

After spending the past few days researching the South Beach diet (I bought the book and read it cover to cover twice) I have to say I am really intrigued by the science behind what I had previously thought a 'fad diet'. While I don't foresee testing it out over the holidays, it's definitely a possibility for the new year.

I do however want to try a couple of the rules emphasized by the diet for the short term. (mostly for fun, but also to end the year healthier)

1. Eliminate Gluten - this includes breads and other starches and grains such as rice and oatmeal

2. Eliminate added sugar - this includes any foods that have added sugar, all sweets, chocolates, and pastries are out, same with a lot of dressings and condiments

I will be on this 'diet' for at least a week, and will assess whether it's possible to keep going when I'm home. Currently, it does not remove too many foods from my everyday diet, the main ones being oatmeal, bread, and chocolate. The goal is not to eat low-carbs, so I will be trying to supplement legumes in place of starches, and will still be eating high-carbed fruits (grapes, bananas).

This morning's breakfast wasn't any different from usual. 1/2 cup cottage cheese, 1 TBSP almond butter, half a chopped apple.



Cardio for 20 minutes and watched a movie before the sun rose, snacked on a few frozen grapes. (unpictured)

Then I decided to take advantage of the Tuesday morning by getting some xmas shopping done. Here are a couple of things thrown together before I left the house worthy of being deemed 'lunch'.

Vega wholefoods bar (raw, gluten-free, no added sugar), string cheese, and apple slices (from the remaining 1/2 of apple)



This bar is great! Tasted like a Larabar but with crunchy seeds. It's too bad it's usually so expensive ($3.79 each) or I'd eat them a lot more often.



I shopped myself silly for 5 hours and then endured the miserable weather heading home. By the time I got home, all I was craving was something warm and sweet. I wanted a cup of hot chocolate, but settled for microwave pumpkin pie instead. 1/2 cup pumpkin, 1/4 cup egg whites, cinnamon, vanilla extract, pinch of baking powder in the microwave for 4 minutes.



It was good, but I still wanted some chocolate. Luckily the chocolate protein powder I use is sweetened with Stevia so I mixed a tsp of that in with a TBSP of cottage cheese and a splash of almond milk. Kinda weird, but did the job.



I've been doing 20min of cardio before dinner and that seems to postpone my appetite for a couple of hours, it's annoying in the sense that I don't like to eat at 8, but also that I'm trying not to eat when there's no hunger. Today I compromised by waiting for an hour after working out and making something light.

Baked sole on a spinach/orange pepper salad dressed with apple cider vinegar and a little bit of blue cheese.



Followed by dessert. My 3rd time eating cottage cheese today ... this time with a tsp of sugar-free wild berry jam and a half cup of frozen mixed berries over top. Cottage cheese goes great with everything. It has become my replacement for yogurt.



So Day 1 of GFSF has been successful! Aside from the hot chocolate craving this afternoon, I don't feel like I have been deprived of anything. We'll see how I do tomorrow at work since my sweet tooth is usually RAGING by the mid-afternoon.