Day 1- Not so bad

By the end of yesterday I began to suspect the confidence I gained through success I had all day on the Paleo might begin to wain in the next week... That said, it has not worn off yet. My breakfast came in two parts, a small pick me up on the way to CrossFit, and the rest after I got home. Without further adu, my first menu:

Breakfast: 4oz Mango Naked Juice

Breakfast 2: 2 Eggs, scrambled with 1.5 oz organic shredded turkey. While I scrambled the eggs, I diced half of a Roma tomato and picked 3 large, fresh leaves of basil. I placed the eggs 'n turkey in a bowl, sprinkled shredded basil and freshly ground pepper over it, and added the fresh tomato (still cold). Absolutely divine. I also ate an apple with this meal for a carbohydrate boost.

Eggs are almost like a wonderful cheese substitute, the whites are like a light mozzarella and the yolk like a mellow cheddar. I'm working on a theory that eggs will be delicious in almost any context you would normally find cheese, so the classic basil-tomato-mozzarella combination is what inspired this meal.

Snack: A handful of raw almonds combined with a handful of HUGE fresh raspberries. They were seriously gigantic- I could have stuck one of these raspberries on the end of my nose and joined the circus! This snack is a great combination because the almonds are flavorful, nutty, sweet, but leave your mouth a little dry, and the raspberries are usually varying levels of sweet and tart, but always nice and juicy- combined these two practically dance.

Lunch: Cool lettuce wraps. Inspired by the appetizer bearing the same name on the Pei Wei menu, I sauteed some chopped chicken in lemon juice, cracked black pepper, garlic, minced shallots, and red pepper flakes. The red pepper flakes are in total control of the heat in the dish, so if you like it spicy, apply liberally, if you hate spice, leave it out completely! Since I would be taking this meal to work, I then wrapped two washed, large lettuce leaves (I prefer romaine, more vitamins and more flavor) in paper towels. You can eat this meal like they serve it at Pei Wei, and use the whole lettuce leaf to wrap around your chicken filling like a burrito, but I find that to be messy and gives you some bites with almost no filling and others with almost no lettuce, so I tear bite-sized pieces from the lettuce and use it to pick up some filling- Moroccan style!

You may be catching on to the fact that there are many flavor components missing from this diet that seem impossible to use a substitution for, such as Salt. Yeah, kind of a big one. Many low-cholesterol diet gurus will encourage you to use lots of herbs such as rosemary on your proteins to make up for intensity lost in the flavor from not using salt. I totally agree with this idea, EXCEPT that I personally only crave french food every once in a while, and any meal that primarily tastes of rosemary tastes french! What should I use in place of salt in other situations? SHALLOTS. The shallot is one of the most underrated, tragically under appreciated flavors in food. A shallot is like the kinder, more tactful middle child of the onion family, both in flavor and reputation. The onion is loud, brazen, often offensive, and yet everyone knows it better than the shallot! Shallots can be used in many more applications than the too-strong onion, and the depth of flavor, I have found, is an ideal substitute for salt- it's subtle, but adds a LOT to the dish.

Snack: Apple and iced herbal tea.

Dinner: 2 medium boiled eggs with black pepper and 3 oz shredded turkey.

Dessert: Sliced banana with fresh squeezed orange juice drizzled over the slices, dusted with cinnamon.

I'm not tallying or otherwise recording just how much water I've been drinking, but unless herbal tea is listed, assume at least 16 oz with each meal, 8 oz with each snack, and more throughout the day.

Workout: Lunge 100 meters, then do one burpee for each lunge. I ended up doing 89 lunges, 89 burpees. I don't remember the time so I'll edit it in later today.