Week 2 has been a great week for me. Yes there were a few bumps in the road, but nothing that took me off the path of my plant based diet. I tried a few “vegan” options (cookies w/oil) that aren’t going to work for me going forward. Another bump was the delicious batch of peanut butter pancakes my wife was making, and while I decided to give it a try, I held back, no butter, no syrup, I just split that bad boy in half and filled it with bananas. I love my wife’s cooking, but after only a week of this plant based eating, both resulted in a bad after taste and an oily film inside my mouth. Needless to say, nope back on the path to clean eating and the search for better options.
As I continue to research, I feel like there aren’t a ton of options, and not much that I have the desire to make on my own. That said, I love French Fries and mustard. Both are part of this plan, so I’ve been a French fry making fool. I’ll quickly cut up two or three potatoes, skin and all, and season them with a “burger and fry” seasoning that I’ve come to love. Pop them in a 425 degree oven for about 35 minutes. NO Oil. They come out crispy on the outside, tender on the inside, and I’m able to dip them in a healthy mustard. Look at me, I’m cooking!
Note: I need to play around with my spices, because the “burger and fry” seasoning has salt, but I’m getting there.
I knew I needed something other than fruit and potatoes, so went out searching and found “Mary’s Gone Crackers”. I love them with a bit of hummus (who knew that could taste good). I bought a prepared spicy red pepper hummus, but then realized that it had added oil, which I didn’t need or want. So my wife quickly looked up recipes for “oil free” hummus and boom, back in business…Mary and I were having lunch together on a daily basis.
If you don’t want to go through the “trouble” to make your own, check out Recipes Archives | For Those Who Savor they have good oil free options. The only question that is unknown is how processed the crackers really are and should I really be eating these in the first place.
I did end up having a couple of meals off plan, not really sure why but it happened and now I am back on track. To be totally transparent, on Friday I had Five Guys and in the morning I had Panera, not a good ending to the week. I wasn’t craving anything, I think I was just down on myself for not loosing. I didn’t gain anything either so I shouldn’t have let myself get so worried about it. But the good thing was it was easy to go right back to it. The more we researched the more we learned, and it turns out the hummus that I purchased had added oils and was not the best choice. Another bad choice I made this week was all the plant based hotdog/sausage alternatives, as it turns out, the meat alternatives are not recommended for this diet. I purchased several books on Plant based eating, which is where I’m getting additional information on what is really “healthy” and what isn’t. So I needed to take a step back and reset my approach. I am not giving up or quitting this, just making a few minor adjustments.
I’m not going to beat myself up over this because I know this is going to be a process. One of the things my wife read in one of the books I purchased was that no matter what you have to be kind to yourself through this process.. If you are going full on or if you’re gradually easing yourself into this. Food will go sour, because I’m not eating as much as I thought I would need to feel satisfied. I’m not saying that I am never going to eat a juicy bacon cheeseburger ever again because I know I will. I just will not be eating them as often, and ultimately if i go off plan, I will eat what I want, but I know I won’t eat as much because slowly my tastes are changing. I’m starting to realize that if I don’t ever “crave” these foods again, that’s okay too, because I’m totally fine with the results I’ve had over the past couple of weeks. To me the benefits have already been huge, seeing my blood sugars go low and stay that way has been a shock. The key take away from this is I am still learning and experimenting, and realizing it’s not a diet, it’s really a new way of thinking and living.
Here is a glance at my blood sugar readings for the last 14 days. Remember, I only really started tracking as I started writing this blog. On the days/times that my numbers were high, those were the readings after “inappropriate” meals. I had one test where my number was considered below normal range, but I felt just fine. My average for the duration was right on target at 108 and that is not bad at all.
So you might be asking, what do I have planned for week 3? Well I am going to be a little more adventurous and try to cook the majority of my meals. I’ll let you in on a secret, I cannot cook at all and I have no idea what I am doing in the kitchen. I am learning, though it’s not fun yet, I know I need to take action for myself. I can’t rely on my wife to do everything for me because I will never learn. I need to overcome the fear/avoidance and the excuse of not knowing what to eat or how to make things.