Sorry it's taken so long to write this final post about our diet experience. It's been a very busy month! Well this diet certainly was not easy. It took a lot of planning and even then we had a lot of curve balls thrown our way with illness, failed recipes, and a lot of time spent making more than normal from scratch. I ended up completing 24 full days and then remained on the diet about 80% of the time for Lola's last 6 days. Lola did the full 30 days but on day 28 her oh so generous brother was feeding her unapproved granola bars for breakfast while I was in the shower. Overall, we learned a lot from this diet and will continue to use some components of it in the future. Since quitting the diet we have gone back to our grains but have cut back quite a bit and no longer feel like there MUST be a grain at every meal. While I haven't had any stomach aches or reactions since going back to eating our normal food, I have felt the carbohydrate overload and we haven't even gone back to the full swing of carbs that we used to! My 4 am "I'm starving" pregnancy wake up calls have also returned. I'm realizing that carbs aren't really helping me stay full and I'm not liking this carbohydrate overload feeling. We will continue to try to reduce carbs but have a lot of carbs in our pantry that need to be eaten first. Since going back on the diet, I've significantly reduced how many junk and full of carbohydrate products that we purchase, although the guys in my life still "need" me to purchase their loaf of bread each week! If you are considering this diet, I recommend you try it but be very organized about it because it can be difficult and emotional. Good luck!
Day 22 - Thursday:
- Breakfast: Banana Blueberry Muffins and Clementines
- AM Snack: Apples and Strawberries
- Lunch: Leftover Chicken Tacos, Guacamole, Pico de Gallo, and Mixed Berries
- PM Snack: Mini Sausage Pizzas on Flat bread, Apples with Raisins and Almond Butter
- Dinner: Beef Roast, Salad and Mixed Berries
Day 23 - Friday:
- Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs, Almond Butter and Banana
- AM Snack: Unsweetened Applesauce
- Lunch: Leftover Beef Roast, Baked Potato, and Mixed Berries
- PM Snack: Apple Slices, Macadamia Nuts, Dried Cherries and Dried Blueberries
- Dinner: Smoky Lime Chicken, Green Beans, and Cantaloupe
Day 24 - Saturday:
- Breakfast:Mini Sausage Pizzas on Flat bread
- AM Snack: Cinnamon Raisin English Muffin (Tastes good but didn't hold together well.), Dried Cherries, and Larabar
- Lunch: Greek Meatballs in a Tortilla with Avocado Tzatziki Sauce, and Mixed Berries
- PM Snack: Chips, Dried Cherries, and Clementines
- Dinner: Leftover Smoky Lime Chicken, Chips, and Mixed Fruit
Day 25 - Sunday:
- Breakfast: Almond Butter with Banana and Applesauce
- AM Snack: Fruit Leather and Applesauce
- Lunch: Leftover Meatballs in Marinara in a Tortilla
- PM Snack: Apples, Raisins, and Almond Butter
- Dinner: Buffalo Bites Popcorn Chicken, Frozen Pizza (guys only), Chips and Blueberries
Day 26 - Monday:
- Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs and Blueberries
- AM Snack: Chips and Raisins
- Lunch: Popcorn Chicken, Green Beans, Oranges and Blueberries
- PM Snack: Applesauce
- Dinner: Butter Garlic Shrimp over Spaghetti Squash, Green Beans, and Blackberries
Day 27 - Tuesday:
- Breakfast: Chick-Fil-A Hashbrowns, Almond Butter and Banana
- AM Snack: Banana
- Lunch: Applegate Uncured Beef Hot Dogs, Spaghetti Squash, Orange, and Green Beans
- PM Snack: Fruit Leather, Raw Cashews, Chips and Dried Cherries
- Dinner: Pulled Pork Nachos and Oranges
Day 28 - Wednesday:
- Breakfast: Almond Butter Plantain Pancakes and Oranges
- AM Snack: Raisins and Fruit Leather
- Lunch: Popcorn Chicken, Green Beans and Grapes
- PM Snack: Leftover Lunch (Kids didn't eat their lunches.)
- Dinner: Leftover Pulled Pork Nachos, Grapes, and Clementines
Day 29 - Thursday:
- Breakfast: Sausage Tortilla Wraps, Fresh Berries
- AM Snack: Clementines
- Lunch: Buffalo Popcorn Chicken Tortilla Wraps, Broccoli, and Grapes
- PM Snack: Nuts and Raisins
- Dinner: Tacos on Tortillas, Green Beans, and Blackberries
Day 30 - Friday:
- Breakfast: Hash browns and Sausage Patties
- AM Snack: Grapes
- Lunch: Leftover Tacos, Broccoli, and Clementines
- PM Snack: Chips and Raisins
- Dinner: Officially done with the diet - Chick-Fil-A grilled nuggets, fresh mixed fruit, and waffle fries.
Recipes to Save and Use Again:
Things This Diet Will Change for Us:
- Read labels for unnecessary ingredients.
- Be more aware of obvious and hidden sugars and reduce them when possible.
- Limit or eliminate food dyes as much as possible.
- We don't need a grain at every meal.
- Overall, eat less grains but not completely eliminate them.
- Implement some of the recipes we've discovered into our weekly menus and continue to try new Paleo recipes.
- Make sausage from ground pork (that we now only purchase from the meat locker) and season ourselves.
