The Skinny On Fat – The Five Day Challenge

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I will start this post with the legal disclaimer, the opinions expressed in this column are OPINION. I am NOT a registered nutritionist. In today’s litigious society, I wouldn’t want anyone to sue me because they had to buy a new wardrobe in a SMALLER size!

Next, I’m going to challenge you to go WHEAT-FREE (I will not say “Gluten-free”) for 5 days. Just FIVE days.

I’ve thought about this topic for a long time, and just hesitated posting it. In the last few months, I’ve gotten a lot of questions about What A Girl really Eats. A lot of people think I don’t really eat the food I cook. OR that I don’t eat very much. Or how I can stay slim and still cook and eat! I LOVE food! I LOVE eating!

I stopped ‘dieting’ when I turned 50. Life is too short. I eat real butter, I put WHOLE milk in my tea and I don’t eat anything LITE! I drink a lot of water and tea and of course wine, (but no soda and I almost never drink juice…more on why not, in a future post). In addition to mainstream medicine, I also visit a Holistic practitioner and this is what I’ve learned. When I don’t eat wheat…and by wheat, I mean WHOLE WHEAT as well, I feel peppy and perky. When I eat wheat, I am lethargic and droopy. My friends who know me well, could tell you that most days, I am like the Energizer Bunny, hopping out of bed in the morning and zipping around until I go to bed.  Wheat consumption has also be attributed to depression and said to exacerbate the symptoms of ADHD. (Another reason we are mostly wheat free) BTW, Spencer eats what I cook, and weighs exactly the same as he did at 26 when I married him 23 years ago.

The second thing I’ve learned is that eating FAT at every meal is vital to staying slim and feeling full between meals. By fat, I mean “good” fats. Omega 3 oil, fatty fish, nuts and seeds, olive oil, olives and avocado.

Olive based fats.

So I am challenging you to try going wheat free for just 5 days. That’s it. Not the rest of your life. Just 5 days. “Like” my What A Girl Eats Facebook page, if you haven’t already, and we’ll continue the comments there. If after 5 days, you don’t feel better, haven’t lost some weight and don’t feel peppier, go back to eating whatever you want. And by the way, I won’t stop posting cookies and cakes and other flour based products. Because, life is too short not to eat cake, cookies, doughnuts and pasta…just not every day! People have asked me what I eat, so here’s is what I eat on a typical day.

Breakfast

Most days I start out with a protein shake. I can whip it up quickly and I usually will drink it in the car on the way to work. In it goes:

1 scoop of Trader Joe’s Soy Protein Powder or Whey protein powder. (Men need to watch their consumption of soy products)

1 banana (sometimes I use frozen mango or strawberries)

8 oz. low-fat milk (you can also substitute low-fat plain yogurt)

drizzle of honey, the riper the banana, the less honey I use.

small handful of walnuts or almonds

2 teaspoons of flax seed oil

1 or 2 ice cubes

Lunch

Usually a salad with protein, turkey, chicken or wild Alaskan salmon (canned from Costco, instead of canned tuna) and/or some cheese.

lots of chopped veg

vinaigrette with olive oil

sunflower seeds, or chopped nuts, olives or avocado (good fats)

Or a portion of homemade soup from the night before

AND an apple…every day.

Greek Tomato Salad

Dinner

Whatever I’ve cooked for the family, but no wheat. That means if they eat burgers, I skip the bun and eat it “animal style”, wrapped in a lettuce leaf. How about Shrimp Seviche Tacos, Middle Eastern Burger without the bun, Seared Ahi Tuna with Wasabi Butter or Grilled Vegetables with a steak?

Here’s what you CAN eat:

Breakfast:

Eggs, oatmeal, bacon, oat cereal, (Cheerios), plain Greek yogurt with fresh fruit and honey. Just make sure to have a portion of good fat with each meal. I put chopped nuts in my yogurt and on my cereal. Fruit.

Weekday breakfast , oatmeal and bacon.

Lunch:

Anything but flour products. That means no bread, cookies, cake, doughnuts,  flour tortillas or crackers.

But you CAN have a big, fat salad, sandwich wrap with lettuce, soup, steak, cheese, brown rice, potatoes, quesadilla made with corn tortillas. Just make sure you have a good fat, avocado, nuts, olives, olive oil etc. at every meal.

Dinner

Chinese lettuce wraps with mint and cilanto

Any or all of the above.  Here’s the link for Chinese Lettuce Wraps.

I generally am so full all day long, I don’t need to snack between meals. But if I do, I’ll have some nuts, an apple, a bowl of air-popped popcorn with a little butter and salt, tortilla chips and salsa or some cut up veggies with hummus.

Oh, yeah…if you want a very flat tummy…skip the soda. Sorry. But how about a glass of wine?

Don’t count calories…don’t write anything down…just eat! Stop when you are full, (or maybe a little bit before) and enjoy what you are eating!

Comment on how you are feeling, what you are eating and if you are losing on Facebook! If you don’t like Facebook, leave your comment here.

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