Day 11 of 40 - On "Treats"

So who's sick of hearing about sex with your pants on yet? I know I am. I'm sick of thinking about it, worrying about breaking the rule, blah blah blah. I've decided to revisit this topic one last time, and draw my line in the sand.


The whole idea is that you're not supposed to Paleo-fy old junk food favourites. Just because you're using "approved" ingredients doesn't make it a good food choice. On my first Whole30, I just said, "screw this rule!" and made whatever I want, as long as the ingredients were clean. This time, I decided to go back and re-read the article with a more critical eye.


Here's the main reason behind the rule:
"If you come out of your program with the same habits, patterns and food choices you had when you started, what are your chances for long-term, life-changing success? After all, those very same habits, patterns and food choices are what got you into trouble in the first place!"


But here's the trip-up:
"Now, does this mean you can't substitute a poor food choice with a healthier option? Of  course not. To help you critically evaluate whether you're attempting to engage in SWYPO, ask yourself this question. Am I trying to exactly duplicate or recreate the poor food choice with "approved" ingredients, or am I merely looking for a healthier, more nutritious substitution for that food?"

Okay. So doesn't that leave a lot of wiggle room? For me, eating meatza on our anniversary wasn't about trying to duplicate or recreate pizza, it was about finding a healthier substitution for pizza. And yet pizza is the food they use to illustrate their whole point in this article.

Basically, I don't think this rule is quite as black and white as I originally thought. I think it needs to be entirely personal for me. Since neither fried chicken nor pizza were ever my "problem" foods, I don't think eating Paleo versions of these things is going to screw up what I'm going for here. My problem foods were always in the true junk-food, no-nutritional-value-whatsoever realm. You know, like milk chocolate. Or ice cream. So one thing you'll never catch me doing is using cocoa (other than in chili as a seasoning) during a Whole30, even though I know that some Medjool dates pureed with cocoa, a little vanilla and some macadamia nuts is so very good. Why? Because it will still trigger that "I want chocolate!!" switch in my brain. And you'll never catch me doing the old frozen-banana-in-a-blender-tastes-like-ice-cream trick, either. Because that will just make me want Baskin Robbins. (In fact, bananas are so dessert-like for me, I've given them up entirely during this Whole40.)

Blah, blah, blah, right? I know nobody really cares about me dissecting all of this, but I feel like getting it out helps me to make my own ideas more concrete.

So. All that being said, I realize that even though there's nothing inherently wrong with me eating zucchini bread or banana muffins right now, it's also not the most conducive thing for my fat-loss goals. (Because it's yummy and I eat a lot of it!) So when it comes up, I won't beat myself up for sampling, but I'm not going to go out of my way to make it right now either. And I'm continuing to work on not eating dessert of any kind, and getting out of the habit of expecting something sweet after supper.

Breakfast: Tuna salad with sliced cucumber and grape tomatoes
Lunch: Hamburger patty with leftover cabbage.
Supper: BBQed pork chops (with homemade BBQ sauce) with grilled patty pan squash and eggplant. Oh, that eggplant was not good. We have one more from our veggie box, so we'll tweak our cooking method and try again, but HOLY COW that was just gross. Spongy!
Snacks: One date stuffed with two macadamias, some cinnamon and shredded coconut. One thick slice of the second attempt of the zucchini bread recipe. It's almost there - I'll post the recipe when it's good to go. (Deliciously gluten/dairy/soy/sugar-free!)

P.S. The rest of the zucchini bread is wrapped up and in my freezer.
P.P.S. Today was farmer's market day - in addition to a beautiful array of fresh veggies from our CSA box, we picked up a large cheddar cauliflower for $3. And by large, I mean 6.5lbs. Yeah, I weighed it. :)