Hi everyone!
I’m here checking in on Day 8 of my Elimination Diet. If you missed my intro post, check it out here. I am going to keep this post short because I’m typing it up before heading to bed, so if it seems a little rushed, I apologize!
Days 1 and 2
I have to say, the first couple of days were fairly easy because I had school in the mornings and work in the afternoons/nights. I ate overnight oats for breakfast each day, so breakfast was made pretty easy! If I remember correctly, I had chicken and veggies for lunch and dinner each day. Thankfully, because I was so busy I didn’t really have a lot of time to think about food and what I was eating/not able to eat. Then came Day 3…
Day 3
Day 3 was the first really hard day. I was home for most of the day, surrounded by all the yummy junk food (and even healthy foods that I’m not allowed) all.day.long. It was pretty miserable. Thankfully I made it through, but it was definitely getting tough mentally at this point. I was on Day 3 and I was already sick at the thought of eating more chicken.
Days 4, 5, 6, and 7
Day 4 was another busy day, so I didn’t struggle too much. Day 5 was a little tough because I was home all day again, but thankfully that night my dad cooked us steak and baked potatoes! I can’t explain how good it felt to eat a meal that was appealing and satisfying. I told Ben that the hardest part about this process is that there isn’t much eating simply for the sake of pleasure. This has been extremely difficult for me- so much so that I’ve started to feel depressed, which brings me to Day 8.
Day 8 (Today)
Today is Monday, so it was nice to have a fresh start to a new week. To be honest, I felt completely unmotivated and empty of all joy. I know it is a bit ridiculous to feel this way (I have an awesome life!), but I think I am experiencing a range of emotions from a combination of stress from school and this elimination diet. I had a really hard time today, but thankfully I’ve been able to stick it out.
Key Things I’ve Noticed:
- I’m eating way too much peanut butter. All day long, it seems like I’m eating peanut butter (bad, because I have a feeling this could be one of my offenders). I was eating it for a pre-workout snack upon waking up, in my oatmeal every morning for breakfast (because I have a hard time stomaching it without it), for a snack in my granola bars, and usually somewhere else throughout the day too. That’s a lot of calories, fat, and sugar that I’ve been eating every single day. Today I made an effort to cut back on my intake.
- My breakfasts have been really sweet. All of my breakfast last week consisted of chocolate and peanut butter with oatmeal (as you can see from my photos throughout this post). While I’m not necessarily complaining, I think this was horrible for me because I began to wake up with a sweet tooth first thing in the morning. I am switching it up this week by eating lots of turkey sausage, potatoes, and fruit for breakfast. Unfortunately this doesn’t keep me nearly as full, but at least it’s something a little different.
- I’m still really bloated. I don’t get really bad stomach pains anymore (unless I seriously overeat), but I am still just as bloated as normal. As you can imagine, this has made the process a little discouraging.
- I haven’t had any headaches. To end on a positive note, I haven’t had headaches since starting the elimination diet! I’ll take any small victories I can get!
Well, there you have it! I’m definitely struggling emotionally, but I’m hoping this process will not only help me physically, but will also help me break the obviously unhealthfully strong hold that food has over my emotions and happiness. Wish me luck!
More Than the Miles 