Almost Grain Free Diet Day 26: I Felled Off Tha Waggon!

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It’s true, I felled off tha waggon!! I had an unplanned “cheat” meal on Friday when we went out to lunch with my cousin. I started the day off normally, and even planned to order a salad when we went out, but I just wasn’t feeling a salad on that cold, rainy afternoon, especially after the GINORMOUS one I had for breakfast!

2 heads romaine lettuce, half a bag of mixed lettuces, red bell pepper, red onion, scoop of red cabbage cole slaw, half of an avocado, 1 plum tomato, 1oz reduced fat/sodium cheddar cheese + apple wood smoked Swiss cheese, EVOO, red wine vinegar, drizzle of honey

It was an extreeeeeeeeeeeemely filling salad!! Lots of fiber and fats, but low on protein. So: you can imagine how hungry I was 5 hours after this!

We went to Avocado Restaurant in Cornwall for a mid-afternoon lunch. I found their web site when I was reading reviews and thought their menu sounded great. I really did intend to have something that complied with my grain-free, legume-free challenge, but changed my mind when we got there and I don’t feel bad about it whatsoever!

First came the chips + salsa. Put me down for 5 chips with a little salsa. I’m not crazy about freshly made corn chips for some reason. They taste burnt and oily to me.

We started with their avocado fries: breaded avocado slices with honey chipotle dipping sauce

Brilliant! I’ve never heard of such a thing. They were amazing, totally worth straying for.

I ordered the shrimp fajitas. This plate of toppings came out first:

Then the shrimp + veggies and flour tortillas

I know I could have limited my “cheats” to the chips and breaded avocado, but I wanted those warm flour tortillas, damn it!!

I had 3 small flour tortillas, 9 small shrimp, a few bites of the refried beans, a few bites of the yellow rice, and all of the guacamole + pico de gallo

Oh, but it didn’t stop there. Then we ordered dessert to share!

Vanilla fried ice cream

Tres Leches

I’ve never had either of these desserts, so of course I had to try them. The fried ice cream was just “meh,” I had 3 small bites. It wasn’t that impressive. Tres Leches literally means three milks; it was so moist and flavorful, I had several bites of that. SO GOOD!! It tastes like vanilla cake soaked in milk. YUMMM

Yeah, I covered every single food that I was supposed to be avoiding, LOL. The only problem with this unexpected cheat meal was that I woke up 2 lbs heavier that morning from all the salty olives I ate the day before. So: the extra water weight from overdoing it with the olives was compounded by this salty, carb-heavy Mexican meal. Plus, I ate half of a ham sandwich later that night and had more olives that morning. *sigh* I know it will drop off quickly, though. I’m not worried about it, nor do I feel guilty.

Friday’s Almost Grain Free Diet Menu (unexpected stray day)

Handful of salted cashews
Few pieces of dried pineapple
Olives from olive bar, about 6 of them
Enormous salad: romaine + mixed leafy greens, red bell pepper, red onion, avocado, red cabbage + radicchio cole slaw, diced tomato, reduced fat/sodium cheddar cheese, apple wood smoked Swiss cheese, EVOO, red wine vinegar, honey
5 corn chips with salsa
2 pieces breaded avocado fries with honey chipotle sauce
3 small flour tortillas with shrimp, veggies, sour cream, sour cream, pico de gallo, guacamole
Few bites of yellow rice
3 small bites vanilla fried ice cream
About 6 bites tres leches
2 Honeycrisp apples
1 slice Martin’s 100% whole wheat bread with 2 slices Boar’s Head reduced sodium ham, spicy mustard

I really need to stop buying olives from the olive bar!!! They’re SO addictive! It’s hard to just eat 2 or 3 of them, I eat like 10 at a time, lol. I wish I could find lower sodium green olives. Olives are excellent for you, but the salt kind of cancels out their benefits when you are sodium-sensitive. I need to track down raw olives. I’m sure there’s several places to buy them in NYC, and we just happen to be going there on Thursday. Chelsea Market: I’m paying you a visit!

I’m still taking my usual Saturday stray day even though I just had one yesterday. With only 5 days to go on this almost grain/legume-free diet, I still think I did fairly well sticking to my original plan. One extra day isn’t going to change anything, especially if I am adamant about staying on track for the remaining days. I’m in the final stretch now! Definitely looking forward to the conclusion. Thankfully it’s in sight!!

By the way, I didn’t notice any unusual changes in my tummy after yesterday’s Mexican meal or ham sandwich. After eating the huge salad for breakfast I did feel very bloated and hostile digestion, but that’s typical for me. Plus I was already feeling puffy and bloated from my olive fiesta, so Friday wasn’t one of my better days in general. Ah well, no worries.