Elimination Diet: Day 9

Wow, the first 9 days of the Elimination Diet have flown by! This completes Phase 1 of the diet. We wrapped up this phase with our usual breakfast, a green smoothie to sip on throughout the day and a salad of romaine, celery, broccoli sprouts, beets and avocado for lunch. For dinner we sautéed collards and kale in a little extra virgin coconut oil and tossed in lightly toasted pine nuts with a side of cinnamon butternut squash. It was a wonderful way to finish up the day!


We are feeling great! This is 9 days with no chocolate, refined sugar, flour or coffee. That is really amazing! It has not been very difficult and I think that can be attributed to prayer and the Lord’s provision of wonderfully delicious fresh fruits and veggies. We have been so blessed to find a bounty of colorful fresh organic produce at the local co-op.

Tomorrow we begin Phase 2 to reintroduce possible trigger foods for allergies and sensitivities. We will begin with lemons and limes, having one or the other with each meal for 3 days. I’m praying for no setbacks as we begin to reintroduce these and other foods to come.

Elimination Diet: Day 8

It was another busy day and evening, so we had what has now become our usual breakfast: broccoli sprouts, quinoa, pears and raspberries. We snacked throughout the day on a green smoothie, plums and pomegranate. For lunch we sautéed red onion, broccoli, spinach, spaghetti squash and butternut squash in extra virgin coconut oil with Herbamare. It was so delicious!


We had to eat a quick dinner before heading out to church, so we had a salad of romaine, celery, beets and broccoli sprouts with a side of leftover mung beans and a little sauerkraut. Later, for dessert we enjoyed cinnamon apples with raisins.

Just one more day in Phase 1 and then we begin introducing other foods into the mix!

Elimination Diet: Day 7

It was a busy day of running errands, but we managed to stick to the diet, go for a walk and do a toning/stretching workout. We started the day with broccoli sprouts, quinoa, cinnamon apples and pears with toasted pine nuts.


For lunch, we made a quick cabbage and carrot salad to have with some leftover mung beans. We also sipped a green smoothie and snacked a little more on the salad and mung beans later in the day.


After our walk, we weren’t very hungry for dinner so we each had a little bit of celery followed by roasted butternut squash tossed with a little extra virgin coconut oil and cinnamon. It was such a yummy, sweet treat! A great way to finish out the day!

Elimination Diet: Day 6

Even though we’ve temporarily removed some foods from our diet, we have not felt deprived at all. It is really fun to try new foods and shop for fresh, organic produce. For day 6, we tried mung beans. They are these tiny green beans and really taste so delicious! We were pleasantly surprised by how much we liked them. We also added kombu to the cooking water to help with digestion. While waiting for our beans to cook, we toasted a little kombu in a dry skillet and tasted it…wow, very salty. It tasted like the sea! It must have worked great in the beans though because we had them for lunch and dinner and have felt great!

Day 6 began with broccoli sprouts, quinoa, pears and raspberries. We sipped on a green smoothie throughout the day for our snack. For lunch we sautéed red onion, brussel sprouts and sweet potatoes in a little extra virgin coconut oil to have alongside the mung beans.


For dinner we had a big salad of romaine, broccoli sprouts, beets, celery and avocado with a side of mung beans. We finished up our day with cinnamon apples and raisins sweetened with a little light agave nectar.

Our day 6 total different fruits and veggies: 14.

Elimination Diet: Day 5, Self-Discipline and Moral Support

Sunday, day 5 was a little difficult. I think it is more of a habit to have something decadent and chocolate on a Sunday afternoon than a craving…we really wanted something special all afternoon and evening, so we had to be disciplined and really support one another. One benefit to keeping the refined sugar and caffeine out of our diets has been great sleep. I love waking up feeling refreshed and ready for a new day. We are still feeling really good!

Day 5 began with a broccoli sprouts, quinoa, pear and raspberry breakfast. For lunch we made quinoa and cabbage soup with a side of cinnamon sweet potatoes. Lunch was so yummy!


Later we sipped on smoothies and snacked on cinnamon apples with raisins and pine nuts. Dinner was another crunchy salad with romaine, beets, broccoli sprouts, celery and avocado. We also had plum for a late snack. All in all, we really enjoyed our meals. I like the flexibility with the Elimination Diet. We can mix and match so many fruits and veggies and really be satisfied with our food. I think that really helps to keep cravings for other things away. Also, it is really good to develop habits of reaching for fruit or veggies for snacks rather than something out of a box.

Day 5 closed with a grand total of 15 different fruits and veggies!

Elimination Diet: Day 4

At the end of day 4 we are still feeling great! Clear headed, energetic, and enjoying our meals. One really good thing about this is that we are eating an even wider variety of fruits and vegetables. Breakfast this morning consisted of quinoa with peaches and raspberries. Of course, we appetized ourselves with ¼ cup of broccoli sprouts.


I had a plum for my morning snack and sipped on a smoothie throughout the day. Lunch was incredibly delicious! Fresh collard greens, toasted pine nuts, and sautéed sweet potatoes with red onion.


We went a little lighter again for dinner with a salad and lentils. The beets looked really good at Everman this week, so we decided to try some on our salad tonight…we were pleasantly surprised by how much we enjoyed them. Oh, and we always find a way to have dessert, so that was cinnamon apples and raisins.

Day 4 comes to an end with a total of 15 different fruits and veggies!

Elimination Diet: Day 3, Hypoallergenic Foods

The day started off wonderfully with breakfast! Quinoa, pears and raspberries make a really pretty and tasty combination! ¼ cup of broccoli sprouts or a few dandelion leaves are supposed to be eaten before grain meals, so this morning we tried the broccoli sprouts.




Lunch was equally delicious: lentils with sauerkraut (I recently tasted sauerkraut and learned that I love this stuff! Plus it is a great form of probiotics, so it is really good for digestion.) and red onion, sweet potato, and brussel sprouts sautéed in extra virgin olive oil with a little Herbamare for seasoning. I also recently learned about Herbamare, it is so yummy and just gives that little something extra!


Dinner was a simple salad of romaine, carrots, celery, broccoli sprouts and avocado with a side of lentils. Followed by dessert! We had cinnamon apples and raisins cooked in a little coconut oil with maple syrup for sweetness.




Between meals we sipped on a smoothie. It was a great day! Energy levels are good. Mom and I are both sleeping really well at night and waking up refreshed in the mornings. Mom is missing coffee, not because of withdrawal symptoms, but more because it is a comforting thing. We’ve neither one had any withdrawal symptoms from things like chocolate or sugar. Hopefully we will stay strong in the process!

Elimination Diet: Day 2 and Counting

Days 1 and 2 haven’t been incredibly difficult, but I am counting down the hours until tomorrow morning when I can have a hot meal and actually chew my food! I’m planning my meals already…breakfast will be quinoa with pears and raspberries. I might even wake up extra early to be sure I have time to linger over my breakfast and savor every bite!

Today began early for my mom and me. My sister-in-law brought my nephew and niece over at 7:15 a.m and my brother picked them up at 5:30 p.m. It was really great to have them here because they were a distraction from the whole not being able to eat thing! I tried to live vicariously as we fed them breakfast, lunch and snacks! We also managed to walk around the neighborhood, so our energy levels are pretty good considering. We both just feel a little tired, but there are only about 3 more awake hours before we can eat breakfast!

Tonight’s smoothie has cranberries in it, so it has a really pretty pink color to it. Now, we’ll sit down to watch Biggest Loser (we recorded it earlier in the week), sip on our pink smoothies and then retire for the night.


Breakfast truly will “break the fast” in the morning!

Elimination Diet: Day 1, Phase 1

Ok, so I’m attempting to make a blog post the day after a whirlwind 2-day trip to Atlanta, followed by the first day of the Elimination Diet as designed by the Whole Life Nutrition website. The shopping and dining in Atlanta was fabulous…I especially enjoyed R. Thomas Deluxe Grill which had so many yummy sounding and nutritious menu options I could hardly decide what to order. So, while I found some healthy foods to eat, restaurant dining for every meal is vastly different than cooking at home. Restaurant food is always filled with much more sodium. Getting home from the trip seemed like the perfect time to begin the cleansing process of the Elimination Diet. Plus it will finish up just before the busy holiday season begins. The purpose is to cleanse and heal the body while identifying food sensitivities. I’m supposed to track and journal each day to help identify how different foods affect me, so to help me stay disciplined in doing so, I’m committing to blogging the process.

Days 1 and 2 consist of a green smoothie fast. I drink fresh green smoothies made with different combinations of apples, pears, collards, kale, spinach, cabbage, parsley, mint and ginger. It doesn’t sound very appetizing, but is surprisingly very delicious. I can also drink purified water.


At the end of day 1, I’m already plotting my meals for day 3 when I can actually chew my food again! As a foodie, this is kind of difficult, but I can tell the cleansing process is working. My energy level is so/so, but that could be from a lack of adequate sleep for the last several nights. I feel good otherwise. I’m looking forward to more smoothies tomorrow and the reintroduction of hypoallergenic foods on Friday. Thankfully, my mom is doing this with me. It is good to support one another as we go through the process.