Today was rough. It was our first day without our “normal” foods and I felt hungry most of the day. Thankfully, working from home allowed me to snack whenever I could drag myself away from the computer.

Breakfast

For breakfast I normally have cereal. Today I had some plain oatmeal with a little less than a teaspoon of sugar (which is actually again the diet rules, but aspartame is against our rules) and a banana. It didn’t take me long to get hungry again.

Second Breakfast

Part of this diet is to eat small meals often. When you’re diet is limited to raw fruits and veggies, it’s pretty hard to eat a big meal, in my opinion. Thankfully, I have an awesome wife who loves to cook and has come up with some sweet ideas that I’ll list at the end. Back to the point, I snacked throughout the day on sunflower seeds, some almonds and some cashews. I also had some frozen grapes and lunch was just an apple and various other fruits. Again, been a green-veggie-hater, this diet is particularly hard for me as salads are out.

Dinner

Dinner was actually pretty cool. We had brown rice mixed with tomatoes, beans, cilantro, and some feta cheese - Christina figured out that low-fat cheese is an option so we were happy to add that in there. She had some broccoli, but not me.

Tired

At this point, both of us were feeling quite tired and Christina actually took a nap. I think the drastic change in our diet and the lack of protein felt pretty big for day 1. As I said yesterday, I’ve never gone more than a day without meat, even living in Japan, so I’m not sure how my body will react. Hopefully, tomorrow will be better.

Workout and “Dessert”

We failed miserably at working out for a solid 30 minutes, as the book recommends, but definitely got our exercise in. After 7-8 minutes of intense cardio, we were both out of breath and pooped, so we called it a night, ate some cooked plantanes, some stove-cooked-almost-tasteless-but-satisfying popcorn and watched Modern Family.

Food Ideas to Survive the Rest of the Week

Christina came up with a few ideas that I thought were exciting. If you’re attempting this diet, I hope you have an awesome cook in the family, because there’s no way I could do this without her.

• Feta and Parmesan Cheese. These both great additions and low in fat, so technically allowed
• Pineapple for dessert. Saving one fruit just for dessert seems like the only way I’m going to get to have it
• Smoothies. Throw in ice, 100% fruit juice, and as many fruits as you can think of. Can’t wait to have one! It’s been a while.
• Onigiri aka “Rice Balls”. In Japan, they often eat a “ball” of rice with some fish flakes on top. It took me a while to like it, but now I’m hooked. We’re going to try one made with brown rice as white rice is a no-no at this stage. Hope it works!