Day 9 - Plus a Knotts Bery Farm Food Pass Map I created (I know it's random)

It's not as hard as the first time.  I've come to realize that.  I can get through all my cravings and still say no.  I've been exposed to temptation after temptation after temptation.  Still I have resisted each one.  I have been thinking of what Angie said.  She did a 2 week cleanse and she did absolutely NO grains.  I have been eating gluten free grains, including popcorn, at least once per day most of my 7 days so far.  Today I opted out.  The problem is that it can be hard to eat only veggies.  My hunger feels more strong and I don't want to eat an egg or meat each time that occurs.

Today I went to Knotts Berry Farm to use my free food pass to bring home food for dh and dd, and I was so hungry!  I knew there was a well-made veggie wrap in my cooler, (hopefully softened), and ready to go.  My blood sugar was low and I felt weak but I was intent on finishing this task.  Not only was I delivering food back to John and Nat from our free food passes, but I wanted to visit each food spot on the list and see what the menu offered.  So I snapped pictures of each stop and created a little photo map montage for future use.

  

It's messy, I know, but it serves it's purpose for me.  I have it on my phone so I can get in close to see the numbers on the map, and correspond with the menus.  Maybe someone else can use it too. 

I ended up getting our meals from Cantina, and delivered home the yummy-looking Burrito and 2-Taco meals - on an empty stomach!  It was hard, but I did it. 

 

Ok, so this picture was snapped AFTER I cut the burrito in half, and removed one taco for dd.  The rest was for dh.  Rice and beans along with them both.  I think that is a fine way to eat junk take-out when we may be in a hurry or something.  It really did look yummy when I was starving.  The picture isn't that great.  But then I turned to my veggie wrap / with homemade Guac and all was well.

 

The great thing about this wrap is that it is filling.  I can only eat about half, or less and have to put it away.  Then - sometime later - it's another great snack.  That really is a good thing because the wraps were expensive. I found them at Whole Foods and they are made of dehydrated veggies.  I've also realized it's best to NOT eat them immediately after making a sandwich because they're too hard to bite into. You have to let them sit in the fridge to soften the "dough".  That's really a great thing, though, because I can hold a LOT of stuff inside without anything breaking.  

When finished making a wrap, I keep it in that tupperware with all the veggies around it so I can munch something with it.  Even though I had smeared the inner wrap with Guac it still is a bit dry so I need to dip while eating. The wraps were about $8, and their were 3 in a bag.  I guess that's about 2.65 per wrap.  But since I get two meals from them... it's more like $1.30 per meal for each wrap. There are other brands I think but this one is RawP, and the flavor is "spicy", (though I can't tell).  Inside the above pictured wrap is green pepper, cucumber, spinach, onion, watercress, cilantro and parsley.  I also have a layer of guac and a seaweed layer.  On prev wraps I didn't have seaweed and only a little bit of guac.  All were great but I think I will stick with the seaweed.

I've not had any major health issues except sore muscles.  Nothing a massage and an epson bath can't help with so I did just that, (thanks dh).

I wrapped (hahah) the night up with a piece of steak, very small. I used our mini iron skillet and but a couple dabs of coconut oil and ghee in it, with diced onions and garlic. Then threw the thin, frozen, organic beef fillet onto the pile and browned both sides, about 3-4 min.  Then I cranked the heat up and let it really darken the meat. I had to remove the semi-burnt/carmelized onions and garlic and the smoke turned on our smoke alarm.  But it was worth it.  The whole thing was delictious, meat, onions, garlic and all.  I had seasoned it in the beginning with a bit of cayanne.  And when it ws almost done added sea salt and more cayanne.  I was too hungry to take a picture.

I'd say I'm thirty a lot since starting this diet.  Seems it's hard to stay hidrated.  I'm almost out of my yummy almond milk (2nd batch) so it's about time to make my third batch.  This is really a helpful treat for me when I feel anxious for sweets.  Plus, I would like to try freezing it as a popsicle, but I think our freezer won't work for it as it's not working like it should.  

Oh I also made some bone marrow beef stock for sipping on  when I want something to sip that's hot.  It's really good. I tried to follow the recipe from Nourishing Traditions but couldn't get ahold of all the meat bones...so I used a small marrow bone with less amounts of water, etc.  It took a long time to make - about 17 hours - and it's well worth the wait.  I got about 3 cups out of it in the end.  Plus the marrow in the bone was great with my guac on one of my wraps.  I gave the bone to a friend's pooch.