Ok, so I know I really dropped the ball on the Week 3 blog. I was still sick and it was somewhat comparable to last week and not super exciting. But now I’m actually full week behind…and I can’t just skip over it. So, please do me a favor and just pretend it’s seven or eight days ago. Given what’s going on in the country right now, I bet that doesn’t sound so bad.
So, this is week 3 of my 21 Day Sugar Detox, which I’m also doing concurrently with a Whole30. Once I’m done with the 21DSD at the end of this week, I’ll continue on through the end of January with the Whole30. In a nutshell, this means I’m following a super-strict Paleo diet with no dairy, very limited fruits, no natural sugars, no alcohol and none of the paleo-friendly store items I might normally buy
I started out the week thinking I was starting to feel better – I felt my appetite was returning and I found myself eyeing sweet treats longingly on Monday. The lemon R Bar was just mocking me…it was so smug, and tasty, and lemony but apparently NOT PALEO (sunflower oil) – but I wanted to eat it anyways. I wanted to eat the hell out of it.
I didn’t. I put it into my desk for Week 4 (this was before I realized that it wasn’t Paleo.)
However, my appetite and strength started to plummet again on Tuesday and I ended up heading to the doctor on Thursday who told me I had laryngitis and put me on a z-pack. I didn’t actually start feeling back to normal in terms of appetite and wellness until Sunday morning.
In retrospect, I think that probably I should have discontinued the Sugar Detox and Whole30 after I’d been sick for a week. I had increased my running to 20+ miles per week and was doing strength training – the drop in carbs in my diet from doing this while at optimal health would have an impact on my energy levels if I wasn’t careful while doing a sugar detox. I know that from previous experience. Now, throw in the fact that I wasn’t hungry and eating mostly soup, as well as fighting an infection, I could have definitely benefited with extra carbs from eating more fruit or natural sugars.
Well, I’ll remember that for next time.
What I Ate
Breakfast
- Coffee with almond milk and Vital Proteins collagen powder – getting really tired of coffee without sweetener. Plus, I got a french press to replace my Keurig (because that’s how cavemen would have made coffee, right?) and the resulting coffee is a lot stronger. Apparently, I don’t love the taste of coffee as much as I thought.
- Delicata Squash Frittata – I LOVE LOVE LOVE delicata squash and finding some at this time of year was a surprise and a treat. I dug out this recipe from the Primal Kitchen – basically, you slice the squash into thin slices, cook up some ground pork (I used turkey), take that out of the pan and then saute the squash in the drippings. After all the squash is cooked, you lay all the slices in the bottom of the pan (ends up almost being like a crust layer (since I have a smaller cast iron), add the ground meat back in and then 8 scrambled eggs with chives and salt and pepper. Cook at 350 – and YUM!
- Eggs, Bacon, Cherry Toms and Sweet Potato breakfast potatoes – the frittata took me through Saturday so Sunday I made myself a nice brunch after my run. This was the first time I tried making sweet potatoes in the Instant Pot and it’s a GAME CHANGER. I can have a steamed sweet potato in 10 – 13 minutes. Then, I cut it up and browned in the cast iron with some onions – if you can be patient for about 20 minutes, you end up with some pretty awesome breakfast potatoes. I gotta write that one down.
Main Meals
- Soup, soup, soup – when I’m under the weather, all I want to eat is soup. I’d made the Roasted Chicken soup the week prior, which is my go-to being sick soup and I had some left over. I also made some Egg Drop Soup out of my new Instant Pot cookbook from Predominantly Paleo (fun fact – she wrote the cookbook that I get my bagel recipe from.) I made two batches of the Egg Drop soup – one with turkey and one with pork. Both were good but pork version was definitely better. Well, duh.
- Paleo Moussaka – I wanted to make something really yummy and filling and even though I couldn’t eat a lot of it, a little bit of this moussaka goes a long way. According to the recipe it’s 4 servings, but I got six or seven with my reduced appetite. Fortunately, it freezes well. Seriously – go make this recipe immediately whether you are doing a Whole30 or 21DSD or not. It’s amazing. Everyone I’ve ever made it for has loved it.
- Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole – YES – I’m serious. You have to get your hands on some Primal Kitchen Ranch dressing (I got from Thrive Market – the price was much better than Amazon, but you do have to join. I think it’s worth it and will be posting why I think so in another blog.) Another winner from PaleOMG. I’d been dreaming about this recipe for weeks and finally made it Saturday night. I had seconds. Seconds and a half, actually – it was that good. I wish I’d gotten a better picture of it (the featured image of the blog is a closeup of it.) I also made the spaghetti squash using the instant pot – another game changer. Seven minutes to cook – that takes 40 minutes off cooking time.
Sides and Snacks
- Raw Veggies – nothing new here, but I definitely have been trying to get in plenty of vegetables
- Daily Fruit – grapefruit or green apples (always get organic – one of the dirty dozen) with sunbutter or almond butter (no sugar added – always have to check that)
- Dang Coconut Chips – still saying “Dang, these are good” every time I eat them. I’m so easily amused.
- Pizza Flax Snax – I rediscovered these this week on Thrive Market. I find them delightful. You can also find them in Whole Foods and they have several flavors – I like this one the best.
Guess what? Sunday is the last week of the 21DSD! Phase 1 of my “paleo reset” is accomplished!
*pause for happy dance*
I still have 9 more days of Whole30, but at least I’ll be able to start having more fruit options again. It’s not open season – they definitely recommend limiting intake but it will be nice to have more than just one serving a day.
Ok, now onto the Week 4 entry! I won’t spoil it for you, but it was a pretty rough week.
It's all about the Medals. And Bacon. 
It’s funny, I was looking for your week 3 blog last week and couldn’t find it! Glad I wasn’t going crazy haha.
Nope – totally my slacking, you are still sane. Although that’s awesome you were looking for it!