I keep meaning to get back on the sensitivity diet, but I've not restarted, so there's that.... :)
At the same time, I am really feeling unrepentant. I've been having a grand old time enjoying life and foods and friends since the Texas Bar Exam, and I haven't gained much weight back (just three pounds), so I've been sitting pretty at about 110. This is a good, comfortable weight for me, but I WOULD like to check and see if I'm sensitive to any more foods and thus will probably dedicate another month of my life to it in the near future. (It won't be as bad as the first go-round, since I know that I can eat eggs and rice and chicken and pretty much any other meat.)
I've also introduced Lactaid into my life, and I.LOVE.IT. It's lactose-free milk and milk products, and they're keeping me sane. I was so unhappy when I discovered I had a lactose intolerance (although I was thankful, because the gas and accompanying cramps could have been attributed to many other things, so narrowing it down and honing in on this sensitivity was a big deal). Now? It's like old times!
Which brings me to my experiment of the day--I know I'm sensitive to sugars. When I'm not eating it, I FEEL better, and after eating it again after a month of having not, I was shocked at how sluggish it made me feel, and how disgustingly SWEET it was. I tried Truvia in its place, but it gave me a headache, so I swapped to honey and agave because they're much less processed alternatives. That being said, sugar seems to be added to EVERYTHING, and you never know what kind of sugar it is (as in, it says 11 grams of sugars--aside from the label telling you what's in the product, you don't know if the product derives most of its sugars naturally, like fruit, or from additions of sweeteners). Particularly, there is a LOT of sugar in Greek yogurt. This product is like the trifecta of awesomeness and stuff I'm not supposed to eat, since it contains both sugar AND lactose.
Today, I got irritated with the fact that a 100 calorie portion of Greek yogurt contains ELEVEN grams of sugar. That's absurd, in my opinion. So I got out my Lactaid cottage cheese (I hate the texture of cottage cheese, but it's good for you) and decided to try to make something similar to Greek yogurt. I put 1/4 cup of it into a food processor, added 1 tablespoon of Lactaid milk, spooned in 1 teaspoon of organic honey, then sprinkled a pinch of cinnamon and cocoa powder in it and put it in motion. I topped it with 1/4 cup Kashi cinnamon crumbles (yes, it has sugars, but I'm looking for some awesometastic alternatives and considering making my own granola because it's not really *that* difficult). And do you know what? IT TASTED A LOT LIKE GREEK YOGURT. And I was able to control the type of sugars that went into it. :) And with the Kashi on top, it had 10 grams of protein and 130 calories. I'm going to count that as a win.
Monday, I also had the opportunity to get my body fat tested at my gym. They used a 3-spot test, and measured me as between 19 and 20 percent body fat! Because I know that about three months ago, I would have been AT LEAST 28% body fat, I was both shocked and excited. I've also started a new work out regimen in the gym to increase strength, so I'm going to see how that impacts my body and am going to try to stick to it as closely as I can (aside from adding more cardio than is recommended--I'm not a bodybuilder and I think that the cardio recommendations were made with bodybuilding in mind).
So, do *you* have any "healthy" food substitutions that you like to make or any recipes that can double as a deliciously decadent counterpart?
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