My husband and I just completed week 2 of the 21-Day Sugar Detox at Level 3. This week has gone much better than the first, and we are both feeling like normal, but with lots more energy and mental clarity. Day 10 was the day that I really felt like my hunger levels were back to what I considered to be "normal" for me.
Just like last week, I've got the breakdown of all my meals and exercise with photos. A reminder, I took these photos from my Instagram, come follow me for more! @thecuriouscoconut
Day 8
- Breakfast: 3 leftover "cookie" coconut flour biscuits. Still not sure why that happened! Subsequent batches have all looked like biscuits, not flattened cookies.
- Snack: None.
- Lunch: Big bowl of guacamole with carrot and celery sticks. Guacamole: avocado, fresh-pressed garlic, lime juice, cilantro, red onion.
- Snack: None.
- Supper: Southwestern-spiced braised chicken thighs with red onions, side of leftover dilly mustard veggies with the broth they were cooked in.
- Exercise: 1 hour walking; Qigong just after getting up.
- Comments: My hunger levels are finally evening out so that I don't need to eat snacks. This is awesome.
Day 9
- Breakfast: 2 strips of bacon, 2 eggs cooked over medium in the grease, and a side of wilted spinach + coffee with cinnamon and vanilla.
- Snack: None.
- Lunch: Big mixed greens salad with radishes, carrots, castelvetrano olives, celery, 1/2 avocado, 1/4 package of Applegate Farms smoked chicken breast, large mug of yerba mate.
- Snack: None.
- Supper: Slow cooked chicken heart red curry, inspired by South Beach Primal's chicken heart stroganoff. I had to modify her recipe to make it dairy-free, and the only thing I could think to do was to make the base entirely out of coconut. So, I reconstituted a box of creamed coconut in water and used that. I wasn't sure how the seasonings would turn out in a strong coconut base, so I just took the easy way out and made it a curry, since I knew that would taste great. I used a whole jar of the Thai Kitchen red curry paste. Yum yum! Though, I can't wait to try her recipe as written, once I can include dairy again :-)
- Exercise: 1 hour walking; Qigong just after getting up.
- Comments: Feeling great today!
Day 10
- Breakfast: 3 strips of bacon, spinach cooked in the bacon fat, 2 coconut flour biscuits, black coffee with cinnamon and vanilla.
- Snack: None.
- Lunch: Big mixed greens salad with castelvetrano olives, tomatoes, alfalfa sprouts, green onions, baby red bell peppers, 1/4 package of Applegate Farms smoked chicken breast.
- Snack: Finished off the guacamole from Day 8 with lots of celery & carrot sticks.
- Supper: leftover chicken hearts, lacinato kale, San Pellegrino + lime.
- Exercise: 30 min walking; Qigong just after getting up. FINALLY more convict conditioning, done before breakfast! Pushups, level 3: 8,5,5; Leg Raise, level 1: 25,10,15; jumping jacks 40,20,20. Also went swimming in the ocean off and on for a total of about 30 min swim time.
- Comments: Feeling super energized today and happy to report my hunger levels are NORMAL!
Day 11
- Breakfast: 2 coconut flour biscuits, 2 eggs fried in bacon fat, spinach wilted with a little bacon fat, black coffee.
- Snack: None.
- Lunch: Big mixed greens salad with castelvetrano olives, tomatoes, alfalfa sprouts, green onions, baby red bell peppers, 2 hard-boiled eggs, large mug of yerba mate.
- Snack: One green-tipped banana and coconut flakes.
- Supper: 1/2 lb of vaca frita (flank steak slow cooked or boiled with lots of seasonings until tender, then pan-fried with onion and lime), lacinato kale sauteed in coconut oil with 1/2 onion, homemade chimichurri, San Pellegrino + lime.
- Exercise: 1 hour walking; Qigong just after getting up.
- Comments: Still feeling great! Lots of energy, not hungry, not missing any of the foods I'm cutting out now :-)
Homemade Chimichurri
Day 12
- Breakfast: 2 coconut flour biscuits, 2 eggs fried in bacon fat, spinach.
- Snack: None.
- Lunch: Treated to another meal out, this time at Salsa Fiesta. They have an option to put your tacos in a lettuce wrap. I had one chicken, one steak, and one carnitas topped with guacamole, pico de gallo, lime, and lots of their fun spicy salsas.
- Snack: None.
- Supper: Went to Burger & Beer Joint and had a 1/2 lb burger on a lettuce wrap with bacon, 1/2 avocado, mushrooms & onions, tomato. I didn't even miss the duck fat fries.
- Exercise: 1 hr walking; Qigong just after getting up; Convict Conditioning Bridges, level 1: 30,15, 25
- Comments: I went straight from work down to South Beach to go to the Wolfsonian Museum to see an exhibit called Modern Meals: Remaking American Foods from Farm to Kitchen. It was a neat exhibit, looking at how food culture changed in the 20th century to become mass-produced and so far removed from the farm. It's free admission on Friday evenings.
Day 13
- Breakfast: Leftover coconut flour biscuits, 3 slices bacon, 2 eggs fried in the fat, coffee with cinnamon
- Snack: None.
- Lunch: None. Was working on the computer all day, and just never felt hungry; had an early supper instead. Drank some iced unsweetened black tea.
- Snack: None.
- Supper: 1/2 lb of vaca frita (flank steak slow cooked or boiled with lots of seasonings until tender, then pan-fried with onion and lime), wilted mixed salad greens, homemade chimichurri, San Pellegrino + lime.
- Exercise: 1 hr walking, Qigong after 10pm.
- Comments: Feeling very productive, clear-headed, and happy. Thoroughly enjoying myself.
Day 14
- Breakfast: Leftover coconut flour biscuits, 3 slices bacon, 2 eggs fried in the fat, coffee with cinnamon
- Snack: None?
- Lunch: Same as yesterday, just didn't feel hungry for a proper lunch (went for a swim in the morning, but the rest of the day was working on the computer). Had a handful of pecans and a green-tipped banana with some iced unsweetened green tea. This is a snack, not a lunch.
- Snack: None.
- Supper: I discovered a new ingredient today: aji panca, a chile from Peru. I used it in a marinade for anticuchos de corazón (beef heart kebabs), and loved it so much that I decided I just had to cook with it tonight. I was inspired by the barbacoa meatballs recipe from Health-Bent that I enjoyed so much last week, and I came up with my own mix to put with the ground beef: aji panca paste, fresh garlic, fresh red onion, fresh cilantro, and salt. Because I read an article that said aji panca + avocado + lime was divine, I also made a batch of guacamole using the stuff. Holy. Cow. I may never make guacamole again without it! I'll post these full recipes on the site soon!
- Exercise: 30 min walking; Qigong just after getting up; 20 min swimming/treading water in pool without touching bottom or sides + treading water with hands above head (and head above water), 3 sets, 20 sec, 40 sec, and 45 sec. Working up to 60 sec at a time; Convict Conditioning: Pushups level 3: 9,5; Leg Raises level 1: 21,15.
- Comments: Remember those skinny jeans I referenced that were not fitting me well? They're back to normal now. Woot!
I've got some exciting meals planned for this upcoming week: beef heart anticuchos, homemade vaca frita, and later in the week I'll be trying a new lamb kidney recipe. This weekend I'm also going to do a large batch of ropa vieja. All of these recipes will be on the site!
I got the idea today that I might just stick with this way of eating until my 3 year paleo anniversary, which would total me out at 7 weeks. The only thing I might do differently after the first 21 days is let myself have a square or two of dark chocolate and maybe a glass or two of red wine some nights. Those really are the only things I'm missing right now!
I'll post the recap of week 3 next Monday. Thanks for reading!
