A Wheatastic Weekend

I've been wheated and that is not a good thing. 

I had a wonderful weekend but oh, the inflammation I'm now dealing with.

I went a little wild and crazy this past weekend during my BFF's wedding weekend extravaganza. I had a wonderful time with my girls, catching up, acting crazy, celebrating the union of a great friend to her boo. However, my normal wheat free life style went out the window.

It started on Friday with happy hour. Flat bread mushroom pizza, cheesesteak eggrolls, fish tacos...

It continued with Saturday brunch. Breakfast sandwich on sour dough bread, a piece of my friend's french toast. 

By this time, I was wondering if I was going to feel bloated and yucky. Nope. I felt perfectly fine. Stomach was still relatively flat and my digestive system was still moving things along nicely.

That evening at the reception for all of the out of towners the wheat party continued. Mini deep fried crab cakes. More flat bread pizza. Bruschetta. 

By Sunday, the jaws of wheat had me contained. Can't stop, won't stop was running through my head and I ended up eating more wheat that day at all three meals. 

On Monday, I was still feeling good. No ill effects from wheat so I figured, I don't have an intolerance for wheat. It was all in my head!

On Monday and Tuesday, I continued to push the wheat envelope by eating wedding weekend leftover sandwiches on soft, white bread.

On Wednesday, I met a friend for brunch and instead of forgoing the toast with my scrambled eggs and bacon, I decided to try the biscuit. Yes, a biscuit. I haven't had a biscuit in years and boy was it good. 

By Thursday, I started feeling a bit puffy. Not bloated in the belly, but my body just seemed inflated. When I was working out, I noticed my muffin top which had been shrinking, seemed to poke through my workout shirt. I also felt like my neck was bigger. You know when you get sick and your lymph nodes are swollen? That's what my neck felt like. Just big. 

Today, Friday, I feel like I gained a few pounds. Again, it's not a bloated feeling in my belly, but an overall feeling of puffiness. My new size 8 jeans that were fitting so good last week, now feel tight. When I sat down at my desk earlier today, I actually unbuttoned AND unzipped them so they weren't so restricting. *sigh*

What the heck happened? I overdosed on wheat for 6 days and for me, the negative effects shows up as inflammation in my entire body. Apparently, my wheat free way of life was working pretty well, but it took an overdose on wheat to realize it. They say sometimes you don't know how good you have it until you feel bad. 

Yep, I feel pretty bad. 

Now, I'm determined to eat only inflammation fighting foods and hopefully my body will respond positively over the next few days. Somebody pass me the fish oil. 

Cheers.

Have you ever over indulged and ended up feeling not so great? Tell me about it in the comments section below. 

Counting calories is not for me

Day 17 of the 30 day green smoothie challenge!

After having a love hate relationship with My Fitness Pal (online calorie tracker) for years, I finally realized that counting calories won't work for me long term. Now, don't get me wrong, there are a few folks out there who are die hard calorie counters. I have a good friend who is one. She's kept a daily online food journal for YEARS and it works for her.

I can't do it.

PROBLEM #1 
I question the validity of some of these online food databases. Why are there 18 different entries for the same food? 

PROBLEM #2
You have to be precise with your measurements. Scales, measuring cups, measuring spoons...yawn. If you have to calculate the nutritional value of an entire meal without a recipe you're in trouble! Oh and don't even get me started if you want to eat 3/4 of a serving. How the heck do you calculate that accurately?

PROBLEM #3
It's extremely time consuming. When you're not entering your food, you're thinking about entering your food. It's a vicious cycle. You never really stop thinking about food. All day. Food is the main thought of the day.

A SOLUTION
Have fun instead of calculating!

Yep, have fun. 

Sarah Jenks, health coach extraordinaire  recently challenged me to drop the diet mentality and focus on having fun every day. When you're focused on doing fun things, you're NOT focused on food. When you're not focused on food, you're not focused on eating. And when you're not focused on eating, you don't eat needlessly. Amazing, right? 

I truly believe all that time spent focusing on food calculations (and not seeing immediate results) was putting my body in a constant state of low grade stress and we all know what stress can do to the body. 

Now, having fun on a daily basis is a lot harder than it sounds. I had a daily routine that did not include having fun. Wake up, workout, eat, work, eat, work, eat, drink, sleep. 

Repeat. 

It's taken me a few months to really into the habit of doing something fun each day. Going forward, I will include my fun for the day (FFTD) in addition to my drink of the day. That will be a challenge for me, but I'm up for it.

FUN FOR THE DAY 
Gave myself a steam facial at home with my new sample of Glamglow Mud Mask. I read a review of this miracle mud by Nadege and I had to try it. My skin definitely felt tighter and cleaner after the first use. It's SUPER SOFT! Can't wait to see how it does after more applications.

Oh, did I mention I had a glass of Merlot while steaming? :) That was a fun facial for sure! 

This morning's green goodness was comprised of:
2 c organic kale, stems removed
2 tbsp goji berries
1 serving Amazing Grass Organic Wheat Grass
1/2 frozen banana
1 c organic carrot juice

Blend. Enjoy. Cheers!