H – Week 1: Making it Automatic

So the first week of our ETL challenge has officially gone by! 1 down, 5 more weeks to go!
When C and I decided to do this challenge we knew that it was going to be tough. For starters, the diet is extremely restrictive and from C’s sister’s research, the odds are against us as most people drop off ETL at the 2 week mark. Well, I’m proud to report that after the first week there are no indications of our will powers wavering.

From C’s blog you can see that one of her strategy is faking it until you make it, so basically using substitutes to mimic the food you would usually eat. I guess from that, my strategy would be: Making it Automatic. I figured that if I was super organized and disciplined during the weekend and made things really easy for myself on the weekday I would be able to resist temptations.
The first day of our ETL Challenge was Monday April 12, so dutifully the Thursday before I began the challenge I planned out my meal plan for that week. Luckily for me, laziness has always won out variety during the weekdays so I’m used to eating the same thing for breakfast and lunch during work days. Prior to ETL, my breakfast usually consisted of a bowl of cereal with a cup of coffee, lunch would include a deli wrap, which I made the night before. Dinner would be the real challenge for me as my boyfriend’s parents used to own a restaurant and are both excellent cooks, so our typical we would go over to their place for dinner.

For breakfast and lunch, I just wanted to make slight adjustments to mimic my old ways but so that it also complied with the ETL rules. It now looks something like this:

Breakfast

• 125 ml of unsweetened So Nice Soy Milk
• 2 – Mandarin seedless oranges
• For the first 2 days I would have a very very small handful of fibre rich cereal to curb my desire for carbs. But by the 3rd day I replaced this with a banana.
• Cup of unsweetened coffee with soy ( I used Silk for Coffee). On days that I can’t stand to have my coffee unsweetened I add a 2 teaspoons of Agave nectar
To keep my energy up, I would snack on a small helping of raw almonds from breakfast to lunch. But this was only as needed.

Lunch

• Steaming hot cup of tea
• Giant leafy green salad either with strawberries or tomato with a touch of low fat dressing
• 1 - Yummy veggi wrap

includes:

o Weight watcher’s 100% whole wheat wrap
o Sautéed veggi with fajita / tacho mix. I use mushrooms, bell peppers, onions, and garlic
o Spoon full of Salsa
o Spoon full of Guacamole

For dinner the first week I decided to have my favorite leek and garlic soup but I adjusted it by replacing chicken stock with veggi stock and omitted the chicken and the pasta. This soup is super easy to make and it’s delish!

Directions : All you have to do is add a 1 L of veggi stock, 1 large can of diced tomatoes, 1 leek, 6 cloves of garlic, 1-2 celery, 1-2 carrots, to taste I would add Italian spice, salt, pepper and Tabasco. Wait until it comes to a boil and simmer for 2 hours or until carrots are soft. I typically add in some spinach right before I take it off the heat.

I also made a vegetarian chili and would have a big serving of this for dinner. The chili turned out flavorful but I would reduce the amount of chili powder used – it was really hot! I got the recipe off the Food Network website, it is the vegetarian chili made by Emeril.

Another important thing for me was to know my body well and when you get cravings. For me, I always get my major munchies about 1-2 hours after dinner and right after work. Before I would always crave crunchy things, so naturally I reached for the crackers, chips, and popcorn. To combat that, I prewashed a bunch of fresh fruits and veggi and kept them readily in sight. Every counter in my house and at my boyfriend’s house had a bowl of strawberries, tomatoes, or grapes, waiting for me to munch on. If I craved something really savory I would have a spoon full of guacamole or hummus and that always satisfied.

Also, try to consume as few calories from drinks as possible, but sometimes tea and water gets a bit boring. So one of my favorite things to drink while I was on WW was sparkling water with lime juice – it’s really tasty and refreshing and it curbs your desire to have a pop.
But I have to say the HARDEST challenge I had this week was on Saturday when I attended a Chinese wedding and was faced with a 10 course banquet of delicious food during the reception. It was pretty funny when the first course came and everyone was getting their share of roast pork, marinated meats, and other Chinese delectable, and I skipped it all and ate some of the cucumbers used as garnish. Of course, after that I had to explain to everyone that I was eating vegan for 42 days and I was trying my best to stay on track. After some looks of horror and surprise people were genuinely curious about what I was doing and how I could resist this tempting feast. For the remainder of the meal, I ended up eating the only 2 veggi dishes served and that included lots of cooked sugar snap peas, baby bak choy, and Chinese mushrooms. To reward myself for all the hard work, and also because C had cheated the day before, I allowed myself to have a glass of red wine

I think that’s the main reason why people drop out of diets in the first place. It’s so easy to get caught up on being perfect and following the rules to the T that you forget why you started this whole thing in the first place. I think it’s all about mind set, is it more important for me to finish this 6 week challenge and end up being healthier than I started? Or is it more important to follow every single rule Dr. Fuhrman outlined for us and deprive yourself so much that you end of dropping out due to all the guilt you’re feeling?

I think it’s more important to keep your eye on the prize and cut yourself some slack.