Day 7 - First Week Recap

No pictures today because all we did was eat leftovers from earlier in the week. It was nice to have a day without cooking, especially since we had to plan and prepare ourselves for week two! This coming week we'll be reintroducing the restricted foods into our diet one at a time. But first, a quick note about week one...

This whole challenge has indeed been a challenge, but a fun one. We've managed to maintain a diet that eliminated the most common food allergens, along with alcohol and caffeine, in order to give our systems a break. The food has been excellent, but what has it done for our health?

Well, it's hard to say. There were times this week when I felt much more energetic than usual, and I didn't have my typical 2pm need for coffee every day. However, given that there was no coffee to get me going in the morning, I found myself requiring a full 8 hours of sleep every night, which meant going to bed at 9:30 on the dot. And frankly I still felt kind of tired, like I would have done better with 9 hours. But there just isn't enough time in each day for me to spend 9 hours of it sleeping!

In other health areas, Matt experienced considerable improvement in his digestive issues (he suffers from bad acid reflux). I, on the other hand, found my IBS-like symptoms to be just as uncomfortable this week as any other. And we both felt hungry a lot. Which of course made it difficult to resist the junk food temptations that seemed to be waiting everywhere we went.

So overall, while I appreciate the value of this week's challenge as an exercise, it's not a diet I would want to be on permanently. Perhaps every so often to rejuvenate my body and remind myself of what healthy eating really means. But in general, I am more in favor of allowing treats in moderation than feeling constantly limited by dietary rules. Good to know...apparently I have a personal eating philosophy!