Oh my god.
Who knew that squash would be so delicious?? But I get ahead of myself.
So I was asked by a friend, “Rachel, what exactly are you eating? Can you write out some of your menus?”
Why yes, I can. So here’s what a typical day has looked like for me over the last couple of sugar-free weeks:
Breakfast
- Coffee – 6-8 AM
- Okay okay, I know. But every day for me starts with coffee. Coffee fasting is for a different month. Not this month. Let’s not be crazy.
- I take my coffee with cream, no sugar.
- If you haven’t yet, try the paleo version with grass fed butter. It’s ridic. (And yes, a dairy fast is on my mind too…but not this month. See above notes on coffee.)
- Breakfast omelette: between 9-11 AM
- Throw some coconut oil into the pan.
- Saute in whatever you fancy!
- My favorite ingredients were organic turkey sausage, spinach, kale.
- Three eggs. Bam, done.
- If you’re sugar free, you can do cheese and stuff, but I stay away from cheese personally.
- Add some sides to your breakfast.
- Yes, sides! More sides! A slice of squash, or some hummus, or some sauerkraut (great for a happy gut!). Or avocado. Add enough fat that this will hold you over for a good long while and you will feel satiated. No toast. No potatoes. Forgot those pasty white things! Squash. Yummmmm.
Snack options
If you’re hungry, which you really may not be:
- Squash. I love squash. Oh squash, where you have been all my life?? This one deserves its own blog so that I can get really poetic, but let’s just say that squash is my new favourite food. Squaaaaaash. Quick and dirty:
- Heat oven to 400 or so (honestly, I never really check).
- Cut squash in half.
- Take out seeds.
- Coat inside with coconut oil.
- Put facedown on foil or cookie sheet.
- Bake for awhile. 45 minutes-ish? (Again, I just leave it in there until I remember I put it there. Then I check. If it’s not done, I leave it longer.)
- Once it’s all bubbly and soft and awesome, take it out.
- Wait for it too cool.
- Eat it.
- Store by covering it and putting it in fridge, then cutting off pieces during the day and going NOM NOM NOM NOM.
- I eat the skin. Is that weird? I dunno. But I do.
- Nuts: Almonds, walnuts, cashews. Raw, please.
- Cucumber, celery, cut up veggies – if your gut is happy eating crudite. Mine is not. Cucumber’s fine but the other stuff I would steam.
- Reminder: no fruit. Who needs fruit?! Not you! At least not til next month.
Lunch
If you want it. If you ate breakfast late enough, you might be fine through til an early dinner. But just in case. Eat 1-2 pm. Remember, no deprivation! If you’re hungry, then eat!
- Salad. Huge salad. With almost anything. Favourite toppings of mine:
- Chicken
- Avocado
- Cucumber
- Shredded zucchini
- Celery
- Steamed broccoli
- Sun-dried tomatoes (okay, okay, a little fruity, but as a treat)
- Roasted garlic
- Himalayan salt and pepper
- Peppers
- Mushrooms
- Asparagus
- Radish
- Balsamic vinegar and olive oil
- You could add nuts and seed, if your tummy takes such things (soaking nuts/seeds makes them easier to digest)
Dinner
- Eat early if you can. Before dusk.
- Protein (steamed fish, turkey, chicken, etc)
- Warmed, steamed, dark green vegetables (think kale, broccoli, rapini, brussel sprouts, bok choy, collards, etc)
- Salads if you like.
- Squash! I’m serious. (But then again, I have developed a bit of a squash problem.)
- Curry cauliflower (yummmm)
- Cut up cauliflower into bitty bites
- Put in a mixing bowl
- Toss by hand in olive oil and curry (and maybe nutritional yeast). Get it all yummy coated.
- Back in oven at about 350 for about 20-25 minutes
- NOM NOM NOM
- Kale chips
- Strip the kale from the stalks
- Massage with coconut oil
Drinks
- My favourite treat ever. Dessert. Yum.
- Tons and tons of water. Tons. Seriously. Tons. I drank a lot of pellegrino, too, but you want plenty of the old fashioned straight stuff.
- Make cucumber water, lemon water, lime water. Water.
I’ve been looking into paleo sites as well for ideas. They have tons of good sugar free options. My next step is going to be to figure out how to do what I’m doing and move towards the vegetarian side of things. Oh, and the darn coffee. And the dairy.
Shucks, it’s always something.
Meantime, here’s some places to be inspired! Let me know if you stumble on anything you love!
