Meatless-Stage 1

I want to do that "21-day health challenge" where you don't eat any meat, dairy, animal products, gluten, sugar or caffine for 3 weeks but doing it all at once in one day totally freaked me out. I think if in one single day I became a gluten-free, sugar abstaining, uncaffinated vegan my body would go on strike. I have visions of being carried out of my house in a straight jacket. So here's the plan, 3 days with no meat then on the 4th day delete gluten also. On the 7th day add dairy/eggs to the "no-no list and on the 10th day subtract sugar too. Then on the 13th day go for broke and eliminate all 5 and maintain that for an 21 additional days. Yikes!

Can I do it (and avoid the straight jacket scenerio)? I think so. Why do I want to do it? I feel totally out of control with what I'm eating. It's like my body has a mind of it's own shoving whatever it craves down my throat. Sugar and wheat especially. So I decided I want to give my body a rest from the foods I've been binging on in an effort to regain control. Make sense? I hope it works. I am so tired of looking at an empty box of cookies with regret.

I picked meat to start with because it's the easiest one on the list for me to abstain from. I went totally meatless yesterday and it was very easy. The only trick was making sure I had enough protein from vegan sources. Even though I haven't eliminated dairy yet I know it's around the corner and I'm trying to think ahead. I had a black bean and rice burrito for lunch. I don't think that was enough protein for an entire day but I'm working on it.

My plan after the 21-days is over is to reintroduce 3 of the foods (caffine, dairy and meat) but continue to abstain from sugar and gluten for a while. Sugar and wheat are the things I binge on so I think they are the things I should keep out of my diet for longer. I'm not sure when I will feel "safe" eating sugar and wheat again. Of course all of this is not just an effort to regain control of my eating but also to shed a few (okay, many) pounds. I'm looking at this 21-day challenge as a jumping off point for a weight loss diet.

Well, I'm off to enjoy some vegetarian spaghetti leftover from last night and a lentil salad. I still have a day and a half to enjoy pasta.......................