Monday = The Rice Diet …What?

Before I get started on the details I wanted to explain the reason for The Rice Diet. A friend of mine mentioned that they were thinking about trying The Rice Diet so I wanted to know more about it. I picked up the book at the library this weekend, along with the cookbook. Today I decided to not only read the book but give the diet a go for a week. My thought was by doing the diet I would get firsthand experience and then could discuss it in more depth. You will not be surprised to hear that I added items to the first meal of the diet to make it more nutritious. Something tells me that isn’t the best sign but we will see how it goes.

I must have been exhausted last night because I slept almost 12 hours last night. That or the grey rainy weather (no sunlight this morning) caused my body to think it was earlier, or it could have been the thunder last night disturbed my sleep. Either way we did not get up at 5am to head to the gym. There wasn’t time to exercise together this morning either. So much for my morning and evening exercise plan if we didn’t make it to the gym. Oh well, there is always tomorrow. The good news is that half of the 2 pounds is gone, only one more to go. I am going to drink extra water today in the hope that this will help to flush out any excess sodium that is still lurking around.

This morning Dan had a green smoothie before he left for work. The smoothie contained: kale, frozen bananas, walnuts, freshly ground flaxseeds, wheat germ, cinnamon, powdered ginger, stevia and water. I make him an extremely large amount of smoothie which was two large glasses like the one pictured about.

After Dan went to work I knocked out my exercise at home and then decided to give The Rice Diet a try for a few days. The first day of the diet is only grain and fruit which I wasn’t too sure about but we will see how it works after all it is only one day.

My breakfast this morning was: ½ cup oatmeal cooked in 1 cup water. I also added ½ teaspoon cinnamon for flavor and antioxidants. Additionally I decided to add 1 tablespoon freshly ground flaxseeds (for the omega 3’s) and 2 tablespoons wheat germ (for the vitamin E). I topped this with 2 cups of fresh sliced strawberries. Except for the flaxseeds and wheat germ this followed the guidelines for the diet. Surprisingly I was quite full after this meal and didn’t miss the nuts that I usually put on top of my fruity oatmeal.

Then it was time to finish reading the book so that I knew more about the diet. I am going to review the book once I have been on the diet a few days. Overall I would describe the plan as low calorie, low salt and low fat. It differs from how I usually eat by including more grain, less fat and having structure. Typically I don’t like to be required to eat anything specific, example 2 starches and 2 fruits for a meal but maybe it won’t be that bad. Time will tell right?

Lunch was another 2 starches and 2 fruits. Boring! Since one starch was defined as 1/3 cup of cooked grain I opted for quinoa (since it is a complete protein) which I topped with diced tomato (since it is fruit) and I seasoned that with no salt seasoning. My lunch was 2 cups of no salt diced tomatoes topped with 2/3 cup quinoa and flavored with no salt seasoning. Clearly I could not eat this way long term. It was filling but it was also beyond dull.

After lunch I decided to go for a walk to get outside and get some fresh air. While I was out I took a few pictures to share with you.

Here are a few pictures of some of the different houses in the neighborhood. I love that they are all different.

Here are a few blooms from my yard. I love looking at the flowers in the spring.

Guess what dinner is supposed to be on day 1 of this diet? If you guessed 2 starches and 2 fruits you would be right. OMG really? Thank goodness this is only one day a week because I can already tell you that I don’t think this is something that I could not do more than one day a week.

I knew earlier that the entire day would be eating grains so I made extra quinoa at lunch time. I decided to make a salad with equal parts of quinoa and lentils which I flavored with turmeric, black pepper, no-salt seasoning, cumin, fresh grated garlic, fresh grated ginger, julienned carrot, green onions and cilantro. It would have been much better with a few seeds or nuts. I had an orange and a few prunes to accompany the grain and legume salad.

For Dan’s dinner I made a pot of red lentil and tomato soup which I flavored with Indian spices. I made a big pot of soup that Dan can eat for a few days and I will freeze some of it if I have to since I am trying to stay on this diet for a few days.

Speaking of the diet I can safely say that I am starving. I realize it is only my first day on this diet but I am not feeling it at the moment if you know what I mean. Since I don’t typically eat that much I can’t imagine how the average American would feel on this diet.

Happy thoughts:

Why does it seem that no matter what week it is that Monday is always hectic? I can’t tell you everything that I did today but I can tell you all the things that I didn’t get to. *sigh* Oh well, there is always tomorrow to get back to my to-do list. Here are my happy thoughts at the moment.

• It was nice that the rain stopped this morning since the weather people were calling for it to rain all day. I was very happy to be able to get outside after lunch to get a little fresh air.

• I was proud of myself for sticking to day 1 of the Rice Diet, particularly since I was ready to bail on it by lunch time. ;-) I can’t say how long I can keep this up. Initially I intended to stay on it until Friday but I am already mentally backing out. We will see how long I can do it. I now hope to make it at least 3 days so I can tell you more about it.

• Dan was giving me computer lessons this weekend which was nice. As odd as this sound I really am not great with technology. I am very lucky to have my very patient husband to help me with technology.

• I love that spring is in full bloom. There is something about flowering bulbs that always makes me smile. Also the blooming forsythia always reminds me of my maternal grandmother.

Signing out:

It is time for me to wind down and get ready to turn in. I hope that Monday treated you well. Talk to you again tomorrow.