Monday, March 3, 2014

Daniel Plan...day 3


I’m hungry. I think a protein smoothie in the morning just isn’t going to cut it. Now, it’s not like I ate more when I wasn’t on the Daniel Plan, most mornings I had a protein bar or some peanut butter crackers. Maybe it’s the chewing I miss. I think I’m going to try to Quinoa Bars from the recipes in the back of the book and see it that works better.

So, for those that are not familiar with the Daniel Plan, it’s a 40-day plan that Rick Warren, pastor of Saddleback Church, came up with when he realized that he was a part of the growing issue with weight in America. ( Info about the Daniel Plan )He asked several doctors to partner up with him to create a healthy plan. It’s not just food and fitness that the plan focusses on, there are actually Five Essentials: Faith, Food, Fitness, Focus, and Friends. When they started the plan in 2010, they found that more people were successful who came together in a group and did the plan together. I know accountability helps…I lost 30 pounds a couple years ago simply because I had to weigh in and be accountable to a group of people doing a Biggest Loser contest at the school I worked at then.

My group consists of two of my daughters and two of my friends. We started eating “the Daniel Plan way” on Saturday and did the first week’s Bible Study yesterday. The eating is not fun. For the first 10 days, you are on a “Detox Diet” which means no caffeine, no gluten, no sugars and no dairy. After the 10 days are over you can choose to add gluten back in forms of whole wheat, sugars back but not refined sugars and dairy as in certain cheeses. They suggest adding one type of thing back at a time and waiting 3-4 days to see if you have a reaction.

Day 1 I had a Blueberry, Spinach, and Flax smoothie for breakfast. It was…interesting. The burps were interesting-er. Lunch was ½ cup quinoa, broccoli and the Antioxidant Dressing from a recipe in the back of the book (olive oil, garlic, lemon, dry mustard and something else…Meg made it). I enjoyed it. Meg wasn’t thrilled with the lemony taste. Dinner we ate out at O’Charley’s so Meg, my friends and I had their chicken salads without the candied pecans or cheese and with the balsamic vinaigrette. And we pouted. It wasn’t bad. And I’ve ate that salad before…but there’s something about HAVING to order it instead of wanting to order it. I also walked a mile with Meg in the subdivision for the fitness part. I drank all my water.

Day 2 I didn’t have time for breakfast as I was an hour off somehow. Lunch were Turkey wraps with nitrate-free turkey breast slices, romaine lettuce and artichoke hummus that I made, carrots and an apple. Dinner was FABULOUS!!! Meg and I were just raving over the taste…probably because it felt like “normal” food. I baked chicken breasts and roasted zucchini and then had brown rice. I didn’t get any exercise, which is sad. Day 2 and I’m already off track. I drank all my water.

Day 3…so far I’ve had a smoothie for breakfast and packed leftover chicken breast to put on a bed of raw spinach and have some of the dressing Meg made two days ago. I forgot my carrot sticks but did remember to put an apple in. I have to go to the grocery to get food that the Kennys can eat and then go to the church Leadership Meeting tonight so I’m planning on doing as many EMS loops (450 steps around the school I’m at today) as I can. If I can squeeze a mile in the subdivision, I will. Dinner is going to be turkey burgers, green beans and sweet potato “fries” (sweet potatoes cut in rectangular shapes and then baked).

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