Cleansing Day 2 - eating nothing sure has it's benefits...

8:00am
The scale this morning said: 331.8 - that's a 4.4 lb loss... IN ONE DAY.

After seeing that, I actually WANTED to drink my morning lemonade concoction.

I woke up several times during the night absolutely famished. But I forced myself to close my eyes and eventually fell back asleep. When I finally woke up for good I wasn't feeling too hungry.

8:40am
Just drank my first lemonade concoction of the day - next comes the detox tea. My back hurts. I don't know if that's because I'm sleeping too much or that I sit in front of a computer 12 hours (at least) a day. Maybe I should go swimming today and do something besides sit in front of a computer. Of course, I'll have to complete my online homework first... ugh

11:45am
An hour and 45 minute nap - couldn't last much longer than that. My back hurts, I'm still feeling exhausted and I want to sleep more. 2 more glasses of lemonade down the pie hole. mmmmm pie....

2:30pm
Helloooooo procrastination - I'm your homework. You should totally be doing me right now! But look how sparkly the pool is in the backyard...

More lemonade! I could start quite the nice compost heap with the accumulation of lemon and loose leaf tea waste I've got going on in my kitchen.

3:30pm
The sun is an amazing source of energy! I just went and laid in it for 5 minutes. I feel so recharged! Must remember to do this at least once a day.

5:23pm 
Hungryyyyyyyy

More to come...

Cleansing - Day 1

Day 1

Starting weight: 336.2

8:00am:

In everything I've read over the past month about this cleanse, the constant in all the literature seems to be: follow the "rules" and each day of the cleanse can be very different from the next. I started my cleanse this morning with a prayer. I'm not an exceptionally spiritual person - and I'm not a church-goer anymore. But I believe that there's someone out there looking over us and that death is not the end of our spirits.

Whether you agree with me on that aspect or not is irrelevant. Maybe one day I'll start a theology blog and we can all duke it out over there about who and what God - or anyone else - is.  But this, this is a weight loss blog and there's one thing I have never really asked God for any help with. Weight loss.

4:00pm:
My head hurts already - like, really hurts - and it hasn't even been 24 hours since I last ate. I've had 4 glasses of lemonade so far today, a glass of detox tea and a glass of mint tea. I think I need to drink some water. I drank my lemonade this morning and went back to bed. I woke up around 2 - drank more lemonade and now I think I'll drink water, shower and find some way to occupy my time.

What I've learned so far: the lemonade takes care of the physical hunger pains. I am not physically hungry after I drink it. But I want to eat everything in sight. I don't have to go anywhere or do anything for the next 3 days - and I am feeling fairly certain at this very moment that I won't BE going anywhere or doing anything. We'll see how I feel after a shower...  

The Skinny Dip

No features this week - ready for the weekly round-up? 

Here we go!

• Alicia Silverstone clears up that little rumor about the French being healthier than Americans on her blog The Kind Life - which by the way, is fabulous and you should check it out if you haven't already! 

• Over at My Thirty Spot we were treated to the Women We Love in Their Thirties: Vintage Pin-up Edition - which I loved, considering my recent vintage pin-up girl fashion obsession! 

• At Defining Your Beauty this week we learned how to make a super easy facial recipe that you can make at home. AWESOME!

• I've got two gem posts from TheFruitPursuit this week - have I mentioned I love her blog?!? Awesomeness... Here they are: 
• Intuitive Eating: Combat Emotional Eating
• Nutrition 101: The Difference Between Foods and Products

• I've also made some fun discoveries this week in my search around the web. I wanted to share with you Chef Chloe's website - she's got some awesome recipes I'm dying to try after my cleanse! 

• And guess what else I found... (I was pretty much giddy about this one...) Skin Deep is an online safety guide for cosmetics and personal care products, launched in 2004 to help people find safer products, with fewer ingredients that are hazardous or that haven't been thoroughly tested. Skin Deep combines product ingredient lists with information in more than 50 standard toxicity and regulatory databases. The database provides easy-to-navigate safety ratings for tens of thousands of personal care products. It's FANTASTIC!!! So check it out - we want our beauty products to make us prettier, not kill us. 

Tomorrow I start my cleanse. I've been prepping myself for the past week. And by prepping I mean - eating a lot of things that I know I'm not going to be eating after he cleanse. I know that's not healthy... But I'm going to be making some major changes. And some of this stuff I won't be eating at all anymore - like meat and cheese. So - wish me luck!

An Update & Bloggy Awards!

There's so much that I want to share with you - I've been reading so much and learning so much - but I'm a bit short on time. Because I've been out DOING not just sitting here TALKING about doing. It's good to sit here and talk to all my bloggy peeps - but there also needs to be balance. I have ya'll to help keep me on my path, but I've got to go out there and carve it!

And BTW - no, I'm still not exercising - aside from the random water aerobics episode here and there. I still hate all forms of exercise... (grumbles) water aerobics being tolerable because I like being in the pool. Sometimes.

That having been said - I am preparing for my detox, which will begin this Saturday (gasp!) I'm nervous but excited. I'm happy to be getting rid of the toxic things my body is harboring - that have built up over the years. I am also hoping that not eating for 10 days in a row will help me to get a grasp on my issues with food. If you are having issues in a relationship - perhaps you need some time apart from each other. Some space - time to clear your head. I'm planning to use this as a time for me and food to "see other people". I have no idea how I'm going to make it a 10 whole days - but gosh darn it, I'm gonna give it my best!

I have received two lovely awards recently from 2 of you fabulous readers that I am so appreciative of! It makes me happy when people appreciate what I have to say. It's makes this blog and my hard work all worth it!

I was awarded the Butterfly Award by Skinny Bean

And a Stylish Blogger Award by Chasing Joy! 

Thanks SO MUCH ladies! 

The rules are a bit different for each award - but since I'm not much for rules anyway, let's do this my way! :) Combine both sets of rules and pass on the love!

Share 7 Things About You

1. one of my biggest pet peeves is when people have all short, stubby nails except for one. You know - the "coke nail"
2. my room is a total DISASTER area right now - my mother would shit herself if she saw it
3. I have 2 baby teeth in the back of my mouth that don't have "grown up" teeth underneath them - I also don't have wisdom teeth. Explains a lot, eh? ;)
4. I hate peppers, tomatoes, fish and cilantro. I hate cilantro the most. It. Is. VILE! 
5. My grandmother (on my mom's side) went by the name Evelyn. It wasn't until she passed away and my mother found her birth certificate that we found out her name was actually Eva Lynn. My mother had no clue.
6. I mostly prefer to be by myself. If I go an entire weekend without seeing another person I'm perfectly ok with that. I'd probably sleep most of the time - and catch up on blogging the rest of it. I'd maybe eat some gluten free donuts in between... I'd make a great military wife - leave me at home with the kids... go overseas, see ya when ya get back...  
7. My male dog likes to pee and poop in my closet. Nowhere else in the house - just there. I can't allow him to be in my room by himself, he'll head straight for the closet and relieve himself.

Answer the Following Questions:

Favorite Color: Pink
Favorite Song: I can only pick one?!? "Why Georgia" by John Mayer is one of my favorites. I have many...
Favorite Dessert: Baklava
What Wizzes You Off: I'm going to assume that by "wizzes" they mean "pisses" and say: people who talk out of both sides of their mouths. They are the ones who frequently prompt you to use the phrase "Well - that's the pot calling the kettle black...". 
When you're upset you: eat and sleep. In that order.
Favorite Pet (Black/White): huh? Those are colors, not pets...
Biggest Fear: My parents passing away. It's inevitable - I know. shaddup... 
Best Feature: my shining personality - or my boobs - depending on the sex of the person you are asking ;)
Everyday attitude: "I need a nap..."
What is perfection?: insanity - because then you just won't know how bad it all really is - and you won't care!
Guilty pleasure: currently the iced sprinkle donuts from Gluten Free Creations. omg.... I want one! Or 6...

Award to 15 Other Bloggers:

If you don't necessarily want to do a post about the awards, that won't hurt my feelings at all! I just wanted to send a shout-out to some of my favorite bloggers and hopefully pass along some interesting new blogs for my lovely peepsto check out! 

Lindsay @ Scenic Glory

Sabine @ The Fruit Pursuit

Sam @ Love Never Fails

Chrissy @ Whimsical Poppysmic 

Lady E @ Adventures in Estrogen

Jenny @ Zero Gravity Living

Nicole Marie @ La Mia Vita

Alicia Silverstone's The Kind Life

Sarah @ A Beach Cottage Life by the Sea

Jenn @ A Girl Who Loves Cupcakes 

Caroline @ Chocolate & Carrots 

Christine @ The Raw Project

Gretchen @ Honey I Shrunk the Gretchen

Sue @ Mrs. Fatass

Jennifer @ She's a Fit Chick

Lesson Learned.

Something convinced me it was a good idea to go to a Chinese buffet yesterday afternoon for lunch.

I'm really not sure what I was thinking - but I DO know that I spent the remainder of the day sick as a dog thanks to it. I asked the cooks and waitresses if things were gluten free - they said yes. They were not. I'm fairly certain they had no idea what I was saying.

So it looks like my Chinese buffet days have come to an end. I'm actually ok with this. I was so sick from it that I couldn't even eat dinner last night. My body was SCREAMING for a green smoothie this morning. I'm happy to report that I am feeling much better now.

I was also able to take part in an opportunity yesterday thanks to Living Light International. They offered their email subscribers a link to be one of the first 300 people to purchase the groundbreaking raw food ebook by Nomi Shannon entitled What Do Raw Fooders Eat? 

This ebook gives a peek into the kitchen of 48 well known raw food chefs and provides samples of their daily menus for one week. I am SO EXCITED about this book! But to make it even better - she threw in several additional ebooks to go along with it! I can't wait to dive into them! I'll share more about those with you later. For now...

FOOD PORN!!! 

Today was co-op day - check out the booty!

D-Day

Well I have decided to start my Master Cleanse on July 30th. This will give me 2 days of cleansing before I have to go back to work. I'm considering taking that Monday off as well - as I hear it takes about 3 days to really get acclimated to drinking nothing but a lemonade concoction all day. I will be doing the cleanse for a total of 10 days.

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I have had an AMAZING week this week. I've spent a significant amount of time concentrating on me. I've done a lot of reading, some studying and plenty of soul searching in preparation for the Cleanse.

I completed the Green Smoothie Queen's free 3 Day Mini Challenge - and obtained a wealth of information regarding green smoothies. I am now making mine with fresh greens and fresh fruit - and as it turns out, I was using much less fruit than I could have been! Just incorporating one green smoothie into my daily diet this week has made me feel so much better! I make them first thing in the morning, bring them to work and eat them when I begin to feel hungry. I really encourage you to check out the Green Smoothie Queen's site, it was a wonderful 3 day mini course that I enjoyed thoroughly!

I'm also incorporating a modified version of the "Body Clock Plan" into my daily routine. This is a plan developed by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond and outlined in their book Fit for Life.

They say our "Body Clock" works something like this:

• Noon to 8:00pm Appropriation Phase: this is eating time - the time when your body is eating and digesting most of it's food. Nothing should be eaten after 8:00pm.
• 8:00pm to 4:00am Assimilation Phase: This is the absorption and use phase, NO EATING during this phase!
• 4:00am to noon Elimination Phase: this when you eliminate body wastes and food debris from your body. During this time you should eat only fruit, if anything. I eat my green smoothies and if I get hungry, some more fruit.

I haven't finished reading that book yet - but when I do I will share more from it with you.

I've been phasing out meats, dairy and animal by-products from my diet in preparation for my post-Cleanse diet. 

OH! And I'm back down to 330.8 lbs on the scales! 

But back to the diet - I am aiming to be approximately 50% raw at first post-Cleanse - 100% vegan. Through my research I've discovered that switching to a completely raw diet will likely take some time - so I think it's best for me to aim for a 50% raw diet for now. The Cleanse will serve as my way of eliminating the animal by-products I've been eating over the years. 

So that's where I'm at right now. I'm feeling very good - and quite optimistic for the first time in a long time. I really appreciate all of your kind words and encouragement lately. It's meant a lot! 

Be sure to check out today's Skinny Dip - I received a great submission from What's New Peg for this week!

How are YOU doing with YOUR weight loss goals?

The Skinny Dip

Welcome to the weekly Friday Feature - The Skinny Dip at Shrink to Fit! This week we have some great stuff from Peg at What's New Peg! 

Enjoy - and please stop by to show her blog some love if you get the chance!  

Take it away Peg!

"Like many people, I have had a love hate relationship with food. Most of the time I used to only eat because I had too, this is the hate side of the relationship. The other was because I was feeling so miserable that I would eat as much as possible, but then after a few minutes I would feel awful about what I had just done. I think it will be one of those things that will stay with me for the rest of my life.

Before I left college my size didn’t bother me, I mean I have always been the big one out of all my friends and I used to make jokes about it and I sort of accepted that , I mean I wasn’t happy but I accepted it. However, this changed drastically when I was bought the Wii fit for my 20th birthday, and I thought I needed to face up to what I weigh. I was horrified by the numbers that came up 18st 8 or 260lbs. That figure still horrifies me today and that was almost 3 years ago. How had I allowed myself to get into this state? Therefore, I knew that was the time to change. Now the hard part was about to begin and I knew it was not going to be easy.

It’s very difficult to break a habit of a lifetime and I knew it wouldn’t be an overnight thing. The early weeks were not too hard as it was summer and salad season, as well as having the Wii to exercise on. In just over a month, I had lost 14lbs and I was quite pleased with myself. The only down side to that was my motivation, it was not focused on myself it was focused on suiting other people, well my family in this instance. Unfortunately, I was set to go to university and once again, this would shape my motivation, I was worried that when I got there was that they would think about my size and make fun of me. So I had my motivation, to not let people think ‘oh look at the fat girl eating again.’

I can see that some people would take this to the extreme, not let people see them eat, eat very little or even do some other bad things medically, please don’t do this, doing something like losing weight this way can only harm yourself and those around you, so please please don’t do it. I quickly found a better way to lose this fear I had about eating around people and that was to make all meals from scratch and actually eating with people as it makes you eat slower as you have conversations with people.

A unexpected plus was that it forced me to dives meals that were healthy and balanced. I made sure that all my meals were mainly made up from alot of veg with a little protein and carbs. For instance I love chicken stir fry and the only change I made was substitute the noodles for a small cup of rice. I always have a glass of water with me at meal times, except breakfast. I know that chocolate is a big thing in most women’s lives, well it’s like a comfort blanket to me, and so I needed to find an alternative, which I found in dried fruit.

I know we all worry about exercise and sometimes the gym isn’t an option , but before uni I never appreciated walking from place to place, from walking that little extra too and from the bus to simply taking the stairs. Slowly the weight began to melt away and I realised how big I used to be when I couldn’t wear my jeans without a belt. It is such a great feeling; I only wished it lasted longer.

I’ve had quite a few ups and downs in the last 12 months and have used food to feel better about the situation,which only made matter worse. My lowest weight I had got to was 14st 12 or 208lbs and then I threw it away because emotionally I was incapable of looking after myself let alone following my goals, I didn’t want to go anywhere do anything, I just wanted to hide and that meant comfort eating. This had a bad impact on my weight as it has crept back to 16st or 224 , which devastated me. I had worked so hard and I just gave up on myself.

But, my friends have brought me back to a good place where I can refocus on my goals and what I want in my life. So now I am off to the gym over the summer and hope that the motivation of going into my final year at uni and I want to be the best I can be, which is myself but at a weight I am happy with.

So what are my tips to try to keep the weight off?

1. Swap your favourite things for alternatives. In my case I love cheesecake and the way I replaced it was a rich tea with a teaspoon of soft cheese and a bit of fresh fruit.

2. You can’t go wrong with veg at lunch/dinner. Its a great filler and it’s good for you.

3. Enjoy your exercise. You don’t have to join a gym. At least twice a day I put my headphones in and dance around my room, or I spend a day looking after my cousin, lots of energy burnt I assure you."

Thank you Peg! 

The Skinny Dip was originally made to feature you, the Shrink To Fit readers - and allow you to share YOUR stories and tips. I am SO appreciative of the stories you have been sending in and sharing with my readers. Please keep them coming! 

In addition to that - and so I have a Friday Feature to post when I have no stories sent in for the week - I'm introducing...  

The Skinny Dip Weekly Blog-O-Sphere Round-up! 

Each week I will post some of my favorite finds from around the web. They may be health related links, fashion, food, fun, anything that catches my eye! I hope you all enjoy them as much as I did! Here's this week's round-up:

• The Tales of Genesis: Advice to The Two Heart Clubs - For the owners of lonely hearts.
• TheFruitPursuit.com: Healthy Eating on a Budget 
• PlusSizeWellness.com
• Yoga For Round Bodies
• Is Honey Really Bee Vomit? 
• Create Yourself!

When life hands you lemons...

I have been kicking the tires a bit more recently on an idea that has been stuck in my mind since I started this blog. I want to do a cleanse. Not a fad diet thing to lose as much weight as possible in the shortest amount of time - I want to cleanse my body. I've spent 31 years doing horrible things to it. I've stuffed it full of processed foods, fed it decomposing and rotting flesh, ate an abundance of gluten - which I know now it has difficulty processing - and filled it to the brim with sugar, Splenda and countless other things that in reality, are quite toxic to the body. I'd like to give my body a clean slate, a fresh start.

I was talking to a friend on Twitter the other day and I told her that I had been considering doing a cleanse and then spending a year eating vegan raw whole foods. She told me about a cleanse she'd done before - the Master Cleanse or "Lemonade Diet" as it is frequently referred to. Considered a "fad diet" by many - when you delve into the logistics of it however, the cleanse has merit. I've been wanting to do a cleanse - but had not found one that I felt was plausible. I still have to go to work, I can't take any time off of work to be at home in bed and too weak to move. I still have to complete my school assignments. I need something I can work into my life.

On my friend's recommendation, I immediately purchased The Master Cleanserand The Complete Master Cleanse: A Step-by-Step Guide to Maximizing the Benefits of The Lemonade Dietfrom Amazon.com (you gotta love Amazon prime...) I've only read through the first book entirely - it's the original book by the man who created the Master Cleanse. It was quite eye opening. I've also purchased  The Raw Food Revolution Dietand once I make it through the 2nd Master Cleanse book, I'll be starting on it. This is the book I will use to guide me through my year of raw food.

Why only a year on raw food, you ask? Well, I may decide to do it permanently, I may not. The fact of the matter is that a life without baked things is a rather daunting thought. I can handle the thought of 10 days without food and drinking nothing but a lemonade concoction. I can live without meat. I can live without dairy products (I pretty much do that now as it is). I can even handle the thought of eating nothing but raw food for a year. 

I cannot however, handle the thought of doing it for a lifetime. I know through my research that raw is the best way to eat. Of course food in it's purest form is the best - unprocessed, the way nature intended. Perhaps once I do it for a year and reap the benefits it will be easier to transition to a lifetime of eating this way. For now, I'll say a year.  

So - 10 days of a lemonade concoction and then on to a year of raw food. This is what I am contemplating. It's drastic - I know. Then again, so is a lap band. Not that getting a lap band is an option... But this requires no cutting. Either way, you have to drastically alter your lifestyle for it to work. This way is far less expensive and much safer - in my opinion.

I'd like to know, dear readers - have you tried any cleanses? If so, did they work for you?

The Skinny Dip

Welcome to Friday! Congratulations - you made it through another week :)

For this week's Skinny Dip, I've rounded up some of my favorite posts from around the blog-o-sphere to share with you. These are some of the posts that have inspired and/or entertained immensely me this week - Enjoy!

First of all - I'd like to share this picture with you. You've read here about my struggles lately - and this picture hit home for me. I absolutely LOVE IT. Skinny Emmie shared this picture on her blog recently:

Now for some links:

My Thirty Spot: 20 Reasons Why I Don't Miss My 20's

Sabine @ thefruitpursuit.com & her food porn & honesty. I dig real bloggers! 

Eclipsed: Setting & Achieving Goals

Curves & Chaos introduced me to the Skinny Minority

Extra Large As Life shared this amazing video about loving yourself at any size and promoting choices for plus size fashion.

Enjoy your weekend!!!

"The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek. 

Fear of the unknown is our greatest fear. 

Many of us would enter a tiger's lair before we would enter a dark cave. 

While caution is a useful instinct, we lose many opportunities and much of the adventure of life if we fail to support the curious explorer within us."

- Joseph Campbell

Today's weight: 341.0 

My starting weight was 348 - so I'm slowly creeping back up toward it. I don't quite understand. At one point I'd lost 30 pounds. Perhaps I am afraid - afraid because fat is all I know. It's much easier to sit in a safe place that you know, that you've been accustomed to your entire life - than to do something that is hard and that will likely completely change the world as you know it - and it will change you as you know yourself.

I said I wanted that change, and I think deep down that I do. But it will mean so many, many changes in my world and right now it's a daunting task. It's weighing me down more than all this extra weight I'm carrying around. 

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Friday Food

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3:30am 1 cup strawberry kefir

4:00am 1 cup organic apple juice, 8 oz water, 1 scoop Macro Greens

5:00am mango

8:00am lots of pistachios (maybe a cup?)

12:00pm 1 large piece of GF banana bread and a GF chocolate donut, an ENTIRE bag of salt & vinegar Popchips. Lunch time carb-o-rama!

5:00pm 1 cup organic apple juice, 8 oz water, 1 scoop Macro Greens

6:00pm Salisbury steak topped with onions, cheddar cheese & bacon, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, summer squash

8:30pm GF chocolate donut

Accountability

Obviously I am going to be a tougher nut to crack than I'd originally thought... 

Perhaps this whole "over-coming my weight issue" thing is going to require some of my professional skills to master. Over-eating is an addiction. Just like those who use drugs, over-eaters eat when we're stressed, when we're angry and/or simply because it's another day. That's why they have things like Over-eaters Anonymous.

Personally, I don't like groups. As a counselor, I know they aren't for everyone. Some people do well talking about their issues in a group setting - others don't. I think my form of "group therapy" is this blog.

What makes food addiction hard to handle is that unlike illegal substances, one cannot simply avoid food for the remainder of their life. We have to eat daily in order to live - so our form of crack cocaine will always be there right in front of us, tempting us to dive right back in.

In the addiction world we would say that I am in the Contemplation Stage of recovery at this point. Yes, there are stages of recovery. Precontemplation is the first stage in the "Stages of Change" model we learned about in my very first addiction counseling class. In that stage you are not really thinking too hard about changing - maybe you are still in a little denial that you have a problem.

Here's a little visual of the whole process:

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The Contemplation Stage comes next - or preparing for action. This is when you have acknowledged that there is a problem and you are trying to figure out how to solve it. You may not know how, you may not be completely committed to the change yet, but you have progressed from denying it to at least admitting it is there and that it's not ok. 


I think I'm actually on the threshold and moving into the next phase in the change process, the Preparation/Action Stage of change. This is a stage that combines intention and behavioral criteria. What does that mean? Those in this stage intend to take action in the next month and have unsuccessfully taken action in the past year. We're trying.

The next stage will be Maintenance. At this stage I will have made the changes and will be maintaining the action of changing. The word Maintenance here is deceiving - it makes you think it's easy to maintain. Well it isn't so easy to maintain. Especially when what you have to maintain is hard.

Next is Termination - when the behavior has been eliminated and the new behavior is so ingrained that you aren't having to actively maintain it anymore. Then there's Recycling - or relapse as we call it around here. You go back to square one - or just slip back into an old behavior.

So... What do I do with my clients when they are in the contemplation stage or slip back into old behaviors? I hold them accountable.

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So in an attempt to hold myself accountable (with your help of course, dear bloggy friends) I am going to try to log my food intake each day. I may miss days. I have a lot going on - but this is important. Ultimately it's my life at stake here. So I'm going to give it the old college try... So here's what I ate yesterday:

6/30/2011 Food/Drink Log:  (stay with me here - it's going to seem a bit weird. I have an insane daily schedule!)


4:00am 1 cup organic apple juice, 8 oz water, 1 scoop Macro Greens
5:00am (breakfast?)1 Berri Berri Bar
8:00am 1 serving Beanitos black bean chips and celery with Trader Joe's Spicy Hummus
11:00am 2 servings of Seasnax Seaweed
12:00pm 1 cup organic apple juice, 8 oz water, 1 scoop Macro Greens
it was all well and good until I got home from work...
1:00pm: (lunch?) 1 (large) piece of gluten free banana bread AND one gluten free chocolate donut
A sugar induced coma/nap came next - after a short bout of seaweed & chocolate indigestion. Blech... One Pepcid to the rescue!
5:30pm 1 cup organic apple juice, 8 oz water, 1 scoop Macro Greens, 1 Laughing Giraffe Organics Gogi Cacao & Maca Snakaroon
7:00pm Cracker Barrel grilled roast beef with green beans, baby carrots and a side salad with Ranch dressing (which apparently was not gluten free - as evidenced by more tummy issues.) and iced tea with Splenda