I have a lot of ground to cover in this report, so bear with me. I’m still working out the kinks in my system to figure out the best way to present this information. If there’s anything in particular you’d like me to highlight, please let me know!
Week One Results
I know in last Friday’s report I said I would post my weight loss results in Sunday night’s report. But then I realized that although I did a lot of prep last Sunday, I didn’t actually start the program until Monday. So to post the results today would only be for 6 days, and I’d rather report the results on a weekly basis. I’ll post the results Monday morning on my Facebook page, as well as in Monday evening’s Week Two Day One report. So check back then!
Observations from Week One
I didn’t realize how hectic this exercise would be. Had I done more planning, I wouldn’t have to keep updating my lists for essential kitchen equipment items (see this post) and pantry items (see this post). So if you plan to follow along with me on this program, please check back on those lists occasionally for anything new.
Bragg’s Amino Acids/Soy Sauce Pose An Issue For Me: Two recipes I made this week used this ingredient. What I realized is that using Braggs or soy sauce at dinner just doesn’t work for me. The salt content leaves me puffy in the morning and I won’t have any weight loss. However, it doesn’t seem to pose a problem if I have it for lunch. I think the difference is that by having it at lunch, I still have many hours before bed to drink a bunch of water and otherwise work it out of system before it becomes a problem.
Although Bragg’s has about 320 mg of sodium per teaspoon (as opposed to table salt which has 2,325), it makes me puffy in a way that salt doesn’t. Go figure! Anyway, I just thought I’d point this out in case anyone else has the same sensitivity to these ingredients as I do.
Carbs from Pasta versus Beans: This was an interesting discovery this week. On Day Three for dinner, we had Asian Orange Broccoli Tofu & Shitake Mushroom Stir Fry Over Brown Rice/Quinoa Pasta. We bought the pasta from Trader Joe’s because it was gluten free and thought we’ve give it a try. As soon as we ate it, both of started sweating – and I mean a lot! It was the strangest thing. Neither of us have that reaction from eating beans, which have a lot of carbs. And we eat a lot of beans. It must have something to do with how quickly the carbs are absorbed. It’s not going to stop me from eating this pasta again, but I think I’ll probably limit it to once or twice a month. Anyway, I just decided to point this out in case anyone else experiences the same thing.
Exercise: You were probably wondering why I didn’t specify in my daily recap reports what exercise I did during the week. That’s because I didn’t do any. The week before I started the program, I came down with a cold. I thought I was over it last week, but every time I tried to exercise, it triggered a horrible coughing attack, and I clearly didn’t have the lung capacity to do anything strenuous. Now that my lungs are mostly cleared up, I can start up the exercise routine again, and I’ll let you know about what I do in the daily recaps this week.
Let’s Talk About Salt
This is something I didn’t get around to addressing last week, but I think it’s important so I’ll bring it up now. In Eat To Live, Dr. Fuhrman makes it very clear that for optimal health, he does not recommend adding any salt to your food. Americans consume 5 to 10 times the amount of salt as needed which leads to high blood pressure, heart attacks, thickens the blood by causing the platelets to clot, and pulls calcium and other trace minerals out in the urine which is a contributory cause of osteoporosis. I really suggest you read his book further on this subject.
Now I’ve never been a big salt user, but completely abstaining from using it almost derailed me from following the program. Dr. Fuhrman says that the longer you go without salt, the less you’ll want it as your taste buds become more accustomed to the natural flavors in food. And I’m certainly all about letting vegetables shine on their own. But there are some dishes that, I feel, need a small amount of salt to bring out the flavors. I would rather stay on this program using small amounts of salt, as opposed to completely abandoning it because I just couldn’t stand the food. There, I said it.
Dr. Fuhrman recommends that you keep sodium intake between 700 to 1,000 mg per day. If you must use salt, he suggests adding it after cooking because it will taste saltier that way and you won’t need as much. I completely agree with that. In fact, here’s what I do. At the beginning of each week, I place 1 teaspoon of salt in a small dish and keep it on the counter. Throughout the week, if I have a dish that needs salt, I’ll take a small pinch or two from the dish to add on top of the food. Would you believe that by the end of the week, I still have some salt left in the dish? Here’s my Week One salt use, before and after photos (I use sea salt).
This allows me to flavor my food just enough while staying within Dr. Fuhrman’s ” recommended limits. If salt has 2,325 mg of sodium per teaspoon, and I spread that teaspoon of salt over 7 days, that means I have about 332 mg of added salt per day. If I also happen to have a teaspoon of Bragg’s Amino Acids the same day, that adds another 320 mg, for a total of 652 mg. Adding that to the low amounts of sodium found in the foods on this program, I’m still consuming less than 1,000 mg of sodium per day. But I get to flavor my foods so they are enjoyable to me. Try this out sometime – you might just surprise yourself with how little added salt you really need on your food.
What I Ate Over The Weekend
I tend to use the weekends to eat whatever is left over in the fridge before I do the next round of grocery shopping. As such, it’s not that exciting of a menu – just throw together whatever is around before it expires!
Saturday Eats
Breakfast: Would you believe that I had, once again, the Vegetable & Bean Soup? It still tasted delicious although things might not be looking as pretty as they did at the beginning of the week. That’s why I love making a big pot of soup – it really does last ALL week.
Lunch: I had a smoothie made out of 1 banana, 1 cup of frozen mango, 1 fresh orange (seeds and rind removed), ½ cup soy milk, ½ cup water, and 1 tablespoon of hemp seeds. I know that I swapped what I normally have for breakfast and lunch, but it happens that way sometimes!
Snack #1: We were out running errands all day so I brought along a big apple and 1 ounce of raw cashews to munch on when the urge hit.
Snack #2: It was turning into a long day of shopping and we were getting really dragged out. So we went to Whole Foods and I made a monster salad (1 pound, 3 ounces to be exact) of mixed greens, edamame, chick peas, kidney beans, green peas, mushrooms, grape tomatoes, green onions, and I topped it with balsamic vinegar. I ate the entire thing.
Dinner: We made the Asian Orange Broccoli Tofu & Shitake Mushroom Stir Fry, but this time we left out the pasta! I don’t usually eat 5 times in one day, but between getting up really early and eating breakfast at 7 a.m., that triggered my appetite, so I ended up eating once every 3 or 4 hours. But everything I ate was on the program, so I didn’t cheat!
Sunday Eats
Breakfast: I had a smoothie made with 1 banana, 1 cup of melon (finally finished it), 1 cup frozen mango, ½ cup soy milk, ½ cut water, and 1 tablespoon hemp seed. Almost the same as Saturday’s smoothie, I just swapped out the orange for the honey gold melon. (That’s the photo of this delicious drink up above!)
Lunch: I finally finished the last of the Vegetable & Bean Soup!
Snack: 1 banana with 1 ounce raw cashews.
Dinner: As part of my prep for Week Two, I made a huge pot of chili (recipe to appear in separate post), which is really outstanding. I was going to have a salad, but ended up finishing the bag of arugula and baby kale in the fridge. I threw in some spinach, a splash of lime juice, 1 tablespoon flax seed and water. Salad in a glass!
So that’s the recap for Week One on my Eat To Live Challenge. Later tonight, I’ll do another post with my Week Two prep including the grocery list and pre-made dishes to munch on throughout the week.
I’d love to hear from you readers, so if you have any questions please let me know. And if you’ve tried the Eat To Live program before, I’d love to hear how things went for you!
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