Day Two - Food

The biggest change to the diet thus far is not the lack of meat, but the addition of grain.  Grain in every meal - whole grains of course, but grains none the less.  My intake in grain is greater than my loss of animal protein.   I am ravenous by the time dinner comes around, and I find myself to be hungry 2 hours after eating.  I am hopeful that this will change as my body becomes accustomed to the new diet.

All of the food is delicious, I'm just not feeling the positive effects of the diet quite yet, and find myself craving something sweet within a short time after eating.

When I began Paleo the first three days were the most challenging - at that time I was craving grains, but soon moved past that stage - let's hope the same is true on day three of the Engine 2 Diet.

Today I had:

• Breakfast: Apple
• That's right, one apple. This was not part of the plan - this was due to my oversleeping and missing breakfast (thankfully I had an apple in my bag).  This could explain why I was so hungry by dinner.  I wasn't terribly hungry this morning, so I didn't feel that I was missing breakfast - and actually was hoping that the break would help with allowing my body to continue to digest the previous night's dinner

• Lunch: Engine 2 Pizza, Steamed Greens with Kale Butter, and Roasted Cauliflower

• The pizza crust was made from whole wheat and spelt flour.  Did I mention yet that there is NO OIL allowed in this diet (aside from what is naturally occurring).  The crust was dense but thin with a pasta sauce topping.  Quite delicious.  The Kale Butter is a recipe from the Engine 2 book, and is nothing more than a puree of steamed kale, walnuts, and water.

• Pre-Dinner Demo: Polenta Stack
• Ok, so that isn't the name of the dish - but best describes what we had.  Prior to each dinner we learn to prepare a simple meal or appetizer.  Tonight we had made an appetizer that comprised of a slice of polenta, sliced of tomato, slice of sweet potato, dollop of cilantro and lime, held together with a walnut cream paste (blend of walnuts, water, and garlic) and a drizzle  of   balsamic vinegar paste.

• Dinner: Meat Loaf, Steamed Collard Greens with Kale Butter, Green Beans, Mashed Potatoes, mixed Salad

• The Meat Loaf we had tonight was made with Lentils rather than meat crumbles (as in the linked recipe).  This was good - I mean really good, and I would definitely make this at home.  Using lentils rather than "meat crumbles" gave it a nice meat loaf like texture without.  Nothing unique about the greens, potatoes, and green beans.  The salad however was incredible.  I must find the recipe,  The chopped salad had a little bit of everything: lettuce, scallions, cashews, blueberries, tomatoes, carrots, all topped with a balsamic dressing.  Yum.

• Dessert: Berry Tart
• A fruit tart on a crust of what seems to be dates, oats, and pecans.  The fruit is covered in a raspberry puree.  This was so sweet and so delicious.