Week Two

Throughout week two, I added back 7 new foods: lamb, cumin, green pepper, American cheese, honey, oats, and chicken. I planned out a gradually increasing recipe for my week to add the new foods. To get it started I went with lamb chops with garlic, and asparagus (allowed from the previous week) to get lamb added to the menu. For days two through four, I created a chili that got improved each day. Since I was already allowed to have pinto beans, I started with ground lamb, pinto beans, garlic, salt, and a significant dose of cumin for my "new" ingredient. The next day I added sauteed green peppers, and finally American cheese. In retrospect, I don't even like American cheese, and should have just skipped it to allow for something more...... good.

Once the chili experiment was complete with no noticeable issues, I went on to add oats to spice up breakfast, which allowed for basic oatmeal with raisins, honey, and slivered almonds. And finally, I added chicken back in primarily to have access to a pretty normal food that is generally accessible in most restuarants, attempting to plan for the inevitable.

Since this weekend was a pretty physically exhausting one, I was REALLY starting to miss carbs, since I was not really taking advantage of the barley, millet, or amaranth options from the previous week. While working through some yoga sequence work, I had an idea! PANCAKES! Maybe.. just maybe.. with some homemade almond milk (to prevent any additives that have not been tested yet), some amaranth flour, eggs, baking soda, and vanilla, somewhat respectable pancakes could be made. I will post the recipe in an upcoming post, but let me tell you... No one else in the world would probably think these were amazing, but to me, having not had any real starches to speak of for two weeks, they were GREAT! I topped them with a bit of almond butter (single ingredient: almonds), and honey. Not only did they hit the spot, they also turned out to be really filling. After a bit of research, amaranth has about twice the carbohydrates, but also about twice the fiber as wheat, so each of those pancakes packed a punch.

By this weekend my energy does appear to be picking up somewhat. I am cautiously optimistic that this trend will continue. I have been having a bit of an easier time getting up in the mornings, I am not totally wiped out by 8:30pm, and the mid-day slump seems to have disappeared.

As a recap, the new total of foods allowed from week two:
Proteins: Pinto beans, sole, egg, lamb, chicken
Starches: Barley, millet, amaranth, oat
Vegetables: Cucumber, cabbage, asparagus, cauliflower, green pepper
Fruits: Cantaloupe, avocado, honeydew, grape
Dairy/Misc: Coffee, yogurt, American cheese
Nuts/Seeds/Oils: Almond, pistachio
Flavor Enhancers: Vanilla, paprika, garlic, honey, cumin

With the addition of more and more foods, recipe ideas are becoming a bit easier, but the lack of green leafy things is still very obvious. It is a bit fun to experiment with new ideas with a severely limited spice set. Time will tell if the work pays off.