Sunday, March 22, 2009

7 Days Done

So I told you about the 7 day challenge I gave myself last week to avoid wheat, sugar, and dairy products. Well, I'm happy to report that I'm now on Day 8!
In total honesty, I didn't really think I'd get this far. Sure, I might have been able to make it on the weekend, or on my first Monday, when I was working from home, but on Tuesday, I was back in the Ottawa office, with the pharma plus, in all its Toblerone-selling glory, and the Marcello's, with its rice pudding and nanaimo bars and apple fritters and chocolate chip muffins. Well, at 2 p.m., as the afternoon yawning came in, I went down and got a coffee and some celery sticks. Yup, celery sticks...
Wednesday and Thursday were similar. On Friday, I spent most of the day in the Montreal office, and had to walk by the best bakery ever 5 times, without buying anything I couldn't eat. I discovered that the Pharma Prix sells almond and date bars in the back of the store. I checked the ingredients. I bought two. They were yummy, if overpriced, but they helped me get through the day...
7 days may sound like not a big deal, but before I started this, I was eating "allergy food" nearly every day, often more than once a day, so I'm really, really relieved to have gotten this far...
Oatmeal is one of my best friends when I'm craving dessert. Put some dates or berries in it, sprinkle a little cinnamon or cocoa on top, and it's gooey like something baked would be, and just sweet enough.
My next goal is to hit next Sunday. If I get there, that's 14 days. I'll keep you posted.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Good luck! I haven't had dairy products or sugar in the house in at least 15 years. Wheat only very occasionally. I'm always amazed at how I can feel it immediately when I eat wheat -- and I have no allergy to it as far as I know. There are so many other tastier and more nutritious grains to make bread and other baked goods from. Kamut baguette... oh my!

Anonymous said...

XUP - yeah, I feel the same thing with wheat & I don't have allergies either. I think it's not very well digested though.

Noha - Good luck - heartily cheering you on from Dubailand! & so proud of you, the first week is the hardest!

Way to go withthe celery sticks the hubby & I watched a movie today & as much as I wanted Toblerone and chips, thank God, he said he wouldn't have any junk & so I got motivated too. Our movie watching snacks: Carrots & dip, nuts, & figs. It was actually pretty good. I didn't miss the tobler to tell you the truth & that was a surprise to me.

noha said...

XUP, thanks! You're right that there are TONS of other yummy grains. the catch is that then you either have to buy them and make the bread/baked stuff yourself, or buy them ready from a small handful of places that make them, and they're usually pretty expensive...
The other thing is when you're trying to avoid a bunch of stuff at the same time, it's harder. E.g. I signed up for this mailing list for gluten free recipes, but almost EVERY recipe has either milk products, or sugar, or both, so I can't use them as is anyway... Luckily, I'm pretty good now at figuring out the right substitutes for most recipes...
HH - WAY to go for the movie... That's awesome. We (M and I) watched Kung Fu Panda last night (sooooooooooooooo cute and funny. Jack Black is HILARIOUS) and I had nuts, raisins, and oats with dates... For some reason, today seems a bit harder though. I'm feeling like I want chocolate right now... No plans to cave though.

Anonymous said...

It's realy hard to get breads made with other grains in my little community. I can drive to the nearest city, but it's not a practical option. But this post is food for thought (ha ha) about some changes in diet I've been thinking about.

noha said...

COTW, when I first started buying wheat free bread, it was SUPER expensive. the loaf was 1/2 the size and twice the price. Three years later, I can find it pretty easily (still more expensive, but not by much) at a few different grocery stores in both Ottawa and Montreal. Of course, they're fairly large cities. Hopefully, you find what you're looking for, and even if it's not changing as drastically, good luck with the changes you're planning (and yay for corny-ness! I approve)

Anonymous said...

There's a bakery in Quebec that makes awesome spelt bread -" Ynew". We buy that and Grainfields whole grain kamut (with yeast). They're both really good and ya, they're around $5, but we put them in the freezer and they last a long time and I really don't mind spending money on really good food -- it's what keeps us alive afterall. Both of those breads are available at most of the natural food stores in Ottawa

noha said...

Hey XUP... Yeah, I buy it in Montreal and I totally agree, it's SUPER SUPER yummy. Sometimes the Metro near my house has it, and other times I just buy the stonemill spelt bread. Both good... and both last in the freezer forever...
by the way, I'm now done day 10!