Quick Getaway and One Month Update

You guys, I survived a month of the anti-inflammatory diet! I can barely believe it's already been for weeks, in fact if I hadn't written it down in my planner I wouldn't have believed it. The first six and a half days I had the most terrible headache. But since then it's been pretty smooth sailing... That is if you don't count my break down in the kitchen where I almost cried because I wanted cheese.

We switched to getting a majority of my foods at Trader Joes or Whole Foods. This adds drive time- as we live a half hour from those places, but it's been very worth it. One day in fact while my husband was at a job interview, I spent about 2 hours and Whole Foods reading labels,  sampling things that they had out, and learning the store.

My idiots guide to anti inflammatory eating showed up in the mail yesterday, so I'm excited to crack that open today.

Meanwhile I made it through a whole trip to Peoria Illinois and back while maintaining my eating restrictions. I made this work by bringing along whole grain items I suspected I would not be able to get in that area (no tj's or WF there). I started out our Saturday morning with the trip to the grocery store with my mother in law to get some more of the things I would need. I even baked cakes for the family and had only one spoonful of frosting. My mother in law bought me some very dark chocolate and I had that instead of cake. Perfect.

Today I started taking turmeric capsules. Overwhelmingly people told me that it is fantastic for fibromyalgia, so I couldn't ignore the suggestion. My husband found it for me at Walmart for roughly $7. Not bad!

On a daily basis I'm making sure to get in all the things I need... And I can honestly say I have barely experienced hunger in any form. Stealing from Weight Watchers terminology it makes sense that when you eat filling foods all the time, you're full!

So far my favorite go to things have been Trader Joe's probiotic smoothies, steamed edamame, bananas, Trader Joe's whole grain flax seed crackers with hummus, multi grain flax seed tortilla chips guacamole made without Dairy, raspberries, and larabars.

I've very much have enjoyed the daiya soy cheese- I have the cheddar mixed in with a salad, and the mozzarella mixed in with brown rice pasta and chicken with mushrooms and red peppers and olive oil. I don't expect that it would taste good on its own but mixed in it does the job. I have also enjoyed soymilk and coffee creamer, almond milk, and coconut milk coffee creamer.

I have compromised and had occasional sour cream, and once I had cheese, but for the most part I have eliminated all white flour, eggs, Dairy, high fructose corn syrup, tomatoes, & potatoes. I have greatly limited sugar.

I lost 4.8 lbs in 4 weeks.

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Our trip to Peoria was a last minute decision. We went in time to have a legitimate date for Valentines Day. Our initial plan was to go to the place we met the Chili's on University- exactly 13 years to the date. We were stunned to find how many people were already out to dinner for Valentine's Day at 4:30 pm!! After calling around a few places realizing no reservations were going to be available we drove past a place and Theo mentioned "I've never been there before." A quick call and we were seated at The Lariat, and enjoyed a delicious dinner. I would have to say the best meal I've had in my life. Our appetizer included smoked salmon, crab legs and jumbo shrimp with some of the tastiest cocktail sauce I've ever had. For our meal I had lobster and a baked sweet potato. The salad was also delicious with a lemon poppy seed vinaigrette.

We got home early with enough time to play more with my mother in law's new rescue dog Cooper. He is adorable! Even more cute when he's in his bow tie or the raincoat. We also got to take out the ferrets and let them run around. Very fun!

We took advantage of having actual television and watched a little bit of the Olympics. The boys enjoyed it very much. We also rented some movies, had the whole family over, celebrated a birthday, and my mother-in-law and I went shopping both Saturday and Sunday to a few thrift stores, Ross and Gordmans. I came home with some awesome treasures including a cute old kitchen scale, and a faux fur coat that is going to make me look like a proper church lady.

We came home to more snow- in fact the last half of driving was in snow. I must have been exhausted because I slept through most of Monday. I got almost everything unpacked though!

Such a great trip!

Theo started his new job yesterday and he really likes it! God is good.