Fast metabolism diet: week 1

Hello again!

Well the fam just got back from a week of family time in Virginia and immediately jumped into a new healthy eating project.

If you are interested, it is called the Fast Metabolism Diet. However, I warn you that it requires an insane amount of prep work and really is pretty difficult for a vegetarian unless you are happy to eat egg whites or tofu for 6 meals in a row. I wasn't, and I honestly felt rather sickly for those two days a week.

It divides the week into three phases that each incorporate different types of food. By doing this it supposedly helps heal the metabolism. It's a lot more complicated but that's what I'm gonna leave you with for now. 

Anyways, this week was a whirlwind. It felt like we spent all day either cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping, or eating (takes time to eat all these veggies!).

Phase 1 went pretty well. I made a delicious sweet potato with black bean. It had onion, tomato, spices, and crunchy green onion on top. Very filling and satisfying. I would eat this for dinner on a regular basis (and it is good cold too the next day).

http://hayliepomroy.com/loaded-sweet-potatoes-with-black-beans/

Phase 2 was honestly a bit hellish. Mom and I felt rather sluggish, probably due to the lack of carbs. As a vegetarian I found it a bit too difficult to eat egg whites at every meal so I decided to incorporate lox, and soy this week. Who knew I could get tired of lox?!? Anyways we made it through this high protein phase. Eating tons of veggies.

Phase 3 has been lovely. Avocado, raw nuts and seeds, hummus; makes you appreciate the simple pleasures of life. Lots of recipes for this phase. Indian spiced chickpeas were a grand success: my first ever use of garam masala! Also made Kabocha and black bean stew which is an absolutely A+ dish. So filling and the squash is incredible, who knew? A delicious pumpkin relative.

http://hayliepomroy.com/kabocha-squash-and-black-bean-stew/

So I made it through the first week and I will admit that total family weight loss  was 14 pounds between the 3 of us! Gold stars all around. Here's hoping we'll make it through the next three weeks. 

Ps. While this may sound like fun and games, the food prep is seriously hard core. So attempt at your own risk!

Update: In hindsight, I don't think this diet was the best thing for us. It made me feel pretty lousy and our weight loss plateaued quite a bit after the first week. However, it it did result in some tasty new dishes, so lets focus on that.