Elimination Diet

As I mentioned Saturday, we're doing an elimination diet. What does that mean? Well, we eliminate a whole bunch of stuff (anything that could cause a reaction) and eat a non-reactive diet for several weeks, allowing the body to heal. We then start adding in potential problem foods one at a time, with enough time in between each to make sure there's no reaction.

So where did we find this elimination diet? Awhile ago, when I first started searching for gluten free, vegan recipes, this is one of the sites I found that was an excellent resource for recipes and information: NourishingMeals.com. The couple who run the blog (they have a website also) are nutritionists who have also written a book, The Whole Life Nutrition Cookbook.

I bought the book after Christmas, and I have to tell you, I love it! Not only are there recipes, there's also a lot of good nutrition information, including the elimination diet. I can prepare most of the recipes as written, though there are a few with tofu or eggs that I would have to adjust. I've prepared several of the recipes in the cookbook, as well as some from the website (there's some overlap, but not all recipes are in both places), and they've been very yummy.  I really like that the ingredients are whole foods: fresh fruits and veggies, herbs, spices, gluten free grains, legumes, lean meats, etc. It's a bit more work to cook completely from scratch, but the chances of cross-contamination are reduced to almost nil, it's healthier for us, and the food really does taste good.

We're a week into the elimination diet, and already I've lost 3 pounds, which is in addition to the 13 pounds I've lost since eliminating dairy, eggs, corn, and soy. Goal #37 is almost accomplished!

Admittedly, it hasn't all been fun and games. We had colds all week plus we had to deal with the detox die-off that makes you feel crappy. And we had to adjust to eating A LOT more vegetables than we're used to. In the past we tried, but never succeeded, in eating as many as we should. Though I can honestly say that we are now getting more than the recommended servings of veggies (not quite on fruit, because that's too much sugar).

The recipes from the book and website make it really easy to incorporate more veggies into your diet. And if you eat leftovers from dinner for breakfast or lunch the next day, that's more veggies for very little work. I balked at eating lots of veggies for breakfast, but it's not that bad (I really like being able to just re-heat leftovers, and then maybe whipping up a green smoothie to go with it), and it does stay with you. I made this broccoli soup (from another site I use a lot) a few days ago, but instead of serving it with rice, I served it with quinoa. We had leftovers for breakfast the next morning, and it stuck to my ribs very well.

Have you tried eating veggies for breakfast?