Week 1: No Grains

I decided to give up grains for Lent this year.  Since I was subjecting myself to the pain, I of course also guilted G$ into doing it with me.  In addition to grains -- bread, pasta, rice -- I'm refraining from eating anything made from regular potatoes -- fries, mashed potatoes, chips.  Sweet potatoes are still on the table, but since G$ isn't the biggest fan of sweet potatoes, I've given him a pass on regular potatoes. 
 
Caveats. Before setting out on this fun torturous adventure, I did create a few caveats, which I realize is completely against the purpose/intent of lent, so don't judge me, G$'s mom.  :)

• No rules for my birthday weekend.  No further explanation needed. 
• Cheat meals are allowed IF we have plans with friends.  If it's just G$ and I wanting to cheat, no way.  However, we do have some dinner plans with friends scheduled at restaurants I've been wanting to try, so I didn't want to limit myself while there. 

Why!?!  Throughout February, I was consistently working out and trying to watch my portion sizes, but didn't see the scale budge, at all.  After a few binge weekends, the scale actually went up and sadly stayed up.  I kept chalking it up to muscle gain after 3+ months of not working out (I'll get to that in a separate post), but if you are losing fat and gaining muscle, you should start noticing your clothes fitting better.  That was sadly not the case. 
 
I knew removing grains from my diet would eliminate a lot of the simple carbohydrates that provide zero nutritional value and force me to eat healthier foods.  Since I refuse to starve myself, not filling up with bread, pasta, or rice meant that I would automatically eat more vegetables so I'd feel full after eating.  So far so good.  

What it means in practice?  Well, one week in and I can honestly say I am not missing grains.  In the mornings, I make a banana, chocolate milk, peanut or almond butter, protein powder, flaxseed, and chia seed shake.  Lunch is either a salad or an assortment of meat/veggie items from the salad bar in the cafeteria at work.  Dinner is a meat with a veggie side. The biggest change for G$ is no oatmeal or cereal for breakfast.  And for the both of us, no sandwiches at lunch. 
 

Salad (left), Random Assortment (right)

I say I haven't missed the grains yet, but I also haven't had a meal that I typically associate with grains.  For example, my favorite Indian meal -- Tikka Masala chicken.  I love it at an Indian restaurant, but I also love the jar of Masala sauce from Trader Joes.  It was one of our go-to, easy-to-cook-after-work-meals.  Despite the fact that I would put chopped spinach into the sauce, it still meant we were eating rice AND naan (bread).  Oh my gosh, nothing is better than sopping up the extra sauce with naan.  I have Chickan Tikka Masala on the meal plan for this week, but instead of rice, using mashed, steamed cauliflower.  Sadly, I could not come up with an alternative for the naan. 
 
Dessert.  G$ always wants dessert after dinner, so we haven't eliminated that.  A handful of chocolate bits chips, chocolate covered raisins, or chocolate covered almonds fill the sweet void there.  I'm excited to try a chocolate chip cookie recipe made with almond meal instead of flour.  If it turns out ok, I'll post the recipe here.   
 
Only 5.5 more weeks until Easter Sunday!  I'll do another update after a few more weeks. 
 
<3
K$