Day 6

So we are 6 days into 30 day elimination-type diet, and I have to say, it's going better than I thought it would. We are eating mostly raw fruit and vegetables during the day and meat and veggies for dinner. I have been really good about trying to make sure I eat something every 3 hours, so that I can keep my metabolism moving, and so I don't over-eat at dinner. The hardest thing for me to stay away from is the nuts and cheese (I don't know why.) We cook with coconut oil instead of vegetable/canola oil and you can't even tell a difference. You would think that all of your food would taste like coconut, but it didn't. Just in case you are wondering, here are the things we can not eat for 30 days: Arrowroot, Gourd, Green Bananas, Chestnuts, Jicama, Kohlrabi, Okra, Parsnips, Plantains, Sweet Potato, Taro, Tapioca, Yams, Yucca, Eggs, Dairy (of any kind, including butter) Seeds (including spices made from seeds), Nuts (of any kind), Cocoa, Coffee, Potatoes, Tomato, Eggplant, Peppers (including spicy and bell), Gluten (wheat, rye, barley), so no bread at all, Rice, Pasta, Beans (of any kind), no soy (of any kind), which means no tofu, no alcohol, no caffeine, and no sugar (unless it's naturally in the food), so that means no soda :o( I have to say that I already feel tons better. My stomach doesn't hurt, my headaches are going away, and I'm not having any digestive problems. I just feel healthier... Here are some of the things we have had for dinner this past week (not in any particular order). This is Cinnamon Beef Braised with Buttenut Squash. It tastes WAY better than it looks in the picture...

We had it with Braised Kale (the one with the mushrooms). Bouchet and the boys loved it and I liked this so much that I have made this,(the kale) for lunch almost every day this week.

This is Chicken Pad Thai. It was made with a Broccoli Slaw, instead of noodles. And let me tell you this was by far my favorite dish of the week. The flavors were amazing. This is probably going to be a go to for us because it was so easy to make.

We had the Pad Thai with Ginger-Garlic Cauliflower Rice. This is by far better than any rice I have ever eaten. The flavor of the cauliflower gives so much to this dish. A perfect match up.

This is Crockpot Honey Apple Pork Lion. Sorry, I don't have a picture of it cooked. This was also really good and one of Bouchet's Favorites.

We had the pork with Bacon Braised Brussels Sprouts. Now I have to admit, that I was a little skeptical about this one. I have never had Brussels Sprouts before, but had heard that most people don't like them. But the picture looked too good not to try. And I'm glad we did because they were awesome!

Friday we had Egg-Free, Tomato-Free (Hidden Liver Meatloaf). This was not one of my favorite dishes. I just am not a meat-loaf kinda girl. A little too much meat for me. The flavor was good, Bouchet and the big boys tore it up. I will probably make it again, because Meatloaf is Bouchet's favorite food, but next time, I am not putting the liver or the fennel in it.

We had the meatloaf with Mashed Cauliflower. It was slammin. Again, this was just as good as mashed potatoes. I put some of the juice from the meatloaf on top of the mashed cauliflower, and it was really good. Didn't even miss the gravy... (we also had a side of steamed broccoli with it)

We had so much food this week, that we were able to do a night where we just ate main-dish leftovers (there weren't any veggies left over). I don't think we had to throw anything away. Hoping the next 24 days go as smooth as the past 6...I will do a post sometime next week explaining why we are doing this diet and what we hope to gain from it. Ps... I didn't take the pictures, I copied them from the websites that I got the recipes from.