It's been too long. For that, I am deeply sorry. I'm starting a new subject and therefore will be writing consistently about my daily struggles with going carb-free.
As some of you may know, I suffer from migraine headaches. For the last 8 months I've had too many incidents of migraines that I can't take care of with medication. So, finally I went to a Neurologist who instructed me to try the Paleo Diet, also known as "the caveman diet".
Basically the idea is to eat nothing processed, which includes carbs and dairy. Now, I understand carbs aren't great for you, but my normal diet consisted of every carb you could think of. Not to mention cheese, milk and yogurt. All of which I now have to give up. **I should also mention along with this diet, I'm also on a medication to help with chronic pain.**
I made some notes from the day before I started to today. Hope you'll enjoy my musings....
The Day Before the Diet: Carb Party
A few things I'm eating today are: PB&J sandwich, some French bread with margarine, a pop tart, chips, soda, cereal. It's not the entire menu for the day, but I really want to carb-overload.
Day 1: Grapes and Carrots
I should have gone shopping.
All I have in the house is grapes, carrots, yogurt, frozen chicken, frozen pizza, string cheese, milk, pop tarts and more carb/dairy -related foods. So my breakfast consisted of water, grapes and carrots. In fact, my entire day, until my chicken thawed, was grapes and carrots. Without even thinking about it I had a small cup of cranberry juice. I'm still counting this day as Day 1, even with the juice. I've had a headache all day, but it's probably because I've only had grapes and carrots. I was extremely proud of myself because I had a lot of food in the house and I kept looking at it, but stayed away! Instead I went starving.
Cravings: 0
Day 2: Punch Me If I Ask For Carbs
I'm totally ready for today. I have breakfast (apple, almonds, diet iced tea), lunch (chicken breast, grapes, carrots ((surprise!!)), celery, 12 oz. Diet Coke) and snacks (almonds, cashews, dried apricots) for the work day. I tell all my co-workers to not let me eat carbs or dairy for the next week, maybe two. I just need to get over the hump! Everyone was super supportive and hoping this helps with my migraines. I even posted on FB and got a ton of comments and support. Others have been through this, so I know I can do it! Breakfast is the hardest for me. I always eat a yogurt and have something around 10am - maybe a granola bar/Fiber One, or some caramel mini-rice cakes. Now I'm left with fruit? I found out later in the day I can have eggs - so maybe I'll start making eggs at night and reheat in the morning. I'm definitely very hungry at lunch. I'm glad the doc said to wean off Diet Coke instead of going cold turkey. I'm doing 12 oz (cans) for 8 days, then 8 oz (mini cans) for 8 days. Hoping this can help me get off soda for good.
Cravings: 0 (yay!!)
Day 3: Are You Eating Chinese Food?!
Ready for the day with the same food lists from yesterday. I packed more grapes for today as I was really hungry yesterday at lunch. I also got freeze-dried strawberries. These aren't as good as I was hoping they would be. And to be honest, I'm not sure I can eat them on this diet. There isn't any sugar, but there might be some dairy. I'll have to look into it if I want to buy them again (probably won't). I definitely need to make more chicken. The chicken breasts I got were small. The diet says you can eat as much as you want of meat, fruit and veggies. And by lunch I could easily have an entire chicken. A co-worker today at our team lunch brought in Lee-Ann Chins (Chinese food). ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! Tempt me why don't you?? She even had wontons! Funnily enough, I really didn't care. I'm making a big deal out of it here, but honestly it was ok. I'm incredibly surprised that I'm not craving anything yet...seriously Reader, I was made of carbs. Imagine a stick figure made of rice, bread, pasta, cereal, chips, and cheese. That's me. So now, cutting that out of my diet all-of-the-sudden should shock my system, right? I dunno, but Reader...I'm feeling good!
Dinner this evening is a chicken breast, diet iced tea, raspberries and a few almonds. I've realized people do this diet to lose weight - while that would be AWESOME - I am so excited to see if this helps my migraines. Yesterday and today I had minor headaches, but nothing some Excedrin couldn't handle - which is saying a lot since it's never worked before. Crossing my fingers this really helps. If I can get through even 4 days with no headache, I will freak out, which will probably cause a headache. ;)
Cravings: .1 - If I'm honest I did want a bite of wonton.
Reader, wish me luck for the rest of the week! Hoping I can keep this up for at least 2 weeks. At this point, if I make it 7 days without eating a carb, I should get a gold medal. These stupid, weak athletes got nothing on me!
In memory for Phil Hartman and what I'll look like in 2 weeks:
