So I'm on the last leg of the 21-DSD. Tomorrow is supposed to be my last day, but I guess I have to be honest and say I officially ended it last night with the gluten-free pizza I dominated! But let's rewind a little bit and go through this week.
Day 16
Tuesday is my day off. I'm fairly certain it was again a snacky kind of day. I had eggs, chicken and avocado for breakfast. Then I started in on meal prep, baking 4 salmon fillets, a pot of chili from the 21 DSD book, and another batch of the chocolate almond coconut bites from Primal Palate. Had to try a couple of those! Lunch was some of the salmon and leftover broccoli and brussel sprouts. And then I had a late second lunch of eggs and sausage before going to crossfit. After my husband and I got home, we each had a bowl of chili and some apple crisp. Oh yeah, I made that, too! Haha, a busy day in my kitchen! But everything comes together so easily. It just takes a little bit of time to chop and peel, but after that everything is a cinch!
Day 17
I worked all day Wednesday, so I had eggs, bacon and avocado for breakfast. I packed pecans for my mid-morning snack. And I brought ground beef and sweet potato hash for lunch. Dinner was more chili and dessert was the apple crisp. I LOVE that stuff, but I think I need to hold off on making it again for a while! Guess I could do a LOT worse though when it comes to dessert!
Day 18
Eggs for breakfast. Ground beef, brussel sprouts and sweet potato hash for lunch and dinner (plus extra sweet potato at dinner for extra carbs) and two of the chocolate almond coconut bites for dessert!
Day 19
Eggs and salmon for breakfast. For some reason this didn't settle very well. To be honest, the salmon isn't very good. It was basically just some frozen stuff I had on hand. But I was able to get through the morning. I had ground beef and sweet potato hash for lunch, and ALL the coffee today! I had coffee with breakfast (which is typical) and then went for a coffee run at lunch. Work was busy and kept me occupied for the afternoon, so I didn't eat again until about 5:30 when I had a banana before heading to crossfit. For dinner ... well ... I chose to destroy a gluten free pizza from Minsky's Pizza*, a local chain here in Kansas City.
I know what you're thinking: WTF, why?! Why so close to the end of the challenge?! Well, I have three words for you: Smolov Jr. Squat Cycle. At Crossfit, we've been doing a really challenging squat cycle for three weeks, which basically coincided with the 21 DSD for me. After the first week of the 21 DSD, I actually felt pretty good energy-wise, and I was surprised to find that clean carb sources like sweet potatoes were enough to get me through even the really tough days of the squat cycle. (Although I have to wonder how differently the cycle would have gone with a bit more carb back loading, but there's always next time!) So last night was the culmination of the cycle in which we tested our new 1 RM back squat (1 RM = 1 Rep Max, or the heaviest amount of weight we can lift one time ... basically testing for a new personal best back squat.)
It. Was. Awesome!!! People were getting PR's left and right! It was a really fun and encouraging environment with everyone cheering each other on, knowing what we'd all been through these past three weeks! The cycle had us squatting on Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, with varying amounts of sets and reps while getting progressively heavier compared to the week before. Anyway, I hit a new back squat PR of 215 freaking pounds!!!! My goal for the end of this year is a double body-weight back squat, which would be around 235-240# for me. I was so pumped to find I was only 20-25 lbs off of my goal this early in the year!! So yes, I rewarded myself with food, and I'm ok with that. Because it was pizza, dammit, not a veritable buffet of cakes and cookies and ice cream and god knows what. I know you can argue that sugar is sugar and it acts the same way in your body, but I also really believe that when you lift heavy, it's ok to replenish your stores with a bit of a carb rush.
So here's where I'm at with the whole 21 DSD program. I am going to still finish out the weekend eating within the guidelines of the program so that I can say I did 21 days, but not without a few slips here and there. After going through these three weeks, even with those slip-ups, I realized that this is how I want to continue to nourish my body. I learned a lot about how much sugar I was eating, and what it really means to make an effort to make good choices. So no, I wasn't perfect. But I still feel really good about how I ate these past three weeks. Even though I was doing a detox, it felt right to allow for a bit of fun every now and then because going in to the program, I had more than the 21 days on my mind. I didn't want to work so hard at hitting this reset button only to go crazy on sugar on day 22. What is the point of that? The reason I did the program in the first place is because I wanted to kick-off my new gluten-free lifestyle with a bang, I wanted to get control over my sugar cravings, and I wanted to make good, healthy choices more often than not. I had hopes of building better habits over all, habits that I could take with me going forward. So when I think in terms of the big-picture or how I wanted this experience to impact the way I eat, not just for three weeks but for the rest of my life, then I think I executed the 21 DSD perfectly for me. Because I accomplished those goals. I ate WAY less sugar than normal, I stayed away from gluten entirely, and I made healthy choices like 97% of the time.
Once the detox is "over" I will continue to strive to make better choices, I will do my best to stay on top of the food prep so that we have healthy options on hand, but I will refuse to treat the occasional indulgence as some kind of mistake. I will treat it as simply living life and enjoying good food! I don't want to feel guilty every time I enjoy a particular food that I love. But now I realize that I don't need to eat those particular foods on a daily or even weekly basis. This program helped me to realize that I have more control over my cravings than I ever could have imagined. It helped me shed light on how I was eating and how I can do better. I've gotten rid of the excuses and discovered that there are only choices. And that is very empowering.
*Side note, I know that it's basically a no-no to get pizza from a pizza restaurant, even if they say it's gluten-free, because of the risk of cross contamination. However, Minsky's has this paragraph on their menu about how they've been specifically trained by GREAT - Gluten-free Resource Education and Awareness Training - with specific emphasis on taking the safety of those with celiac disease in to account. Thoughts?? I'm still new to this, and I know I shouldn't just hope that a restaurant lives up to their word when it comes to my health, but damn do they make great pizza!
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