I started my LEAP diet on March 28th. I am starting with a ½ phase due to my daily headaches; since sudden food detox can cause headaches in someone without chronic headache, my dietitian didn’t want me to feel atrocious. However, I’ve still been having some issues with phase ½, but it could also be due to my poor health. (This post has details about the diet.)
Right before starting the diet, I ended up with a pretty nasty virus and a sinus infection (see this post for details about being sick while chronically ill). I also got an infected hangnail (common for me) on my thumb that just wouldn’t heal, so I ended up on oral antibiotics. Then, since I went to urgent care for my thumb infection, I picked up another virus. When I went back to urgent care (Dan had to call them to make sure they had all the tools I needed, because he thought I looked like death), it was confirmed that I had picked up influenza B. First virus and sinus infection were confirmed March 23, thumb infection urgent care visit was April 6, started showing signs that I had a different infection April 7, and an urgent care visit confirmed the flu April 9. It’s been a really rough several weeks.
My mental health also started deteriorating during week 2. Several of my food experiments failed, and that is always stressful, especially when you can’t just go “I guess I’m eating pizza tonight;” instead, it’s a “I need to choke down this gross failed food, or I can spend another hour trying to make a different meal.” I also lost all of my usual comfort foods and I’m running myself ragged trying to get everything cooked and prepped. It’s absolutely exhausting! (I will probably do a more elaborate post about my mental health in the near future.)
LEAP Diet Phase ½ Week 2: April 4 – April 10
Tuesday, April 4
- 11:15am: oatmeal with brown sugar
- 12:45pm: rice cake with sunbutter
- 6:30pm: chicken noodle soup; millet flour oil biscuits
- 10pm: edible cookie dough #1
- Fluids: 79.3oz (2.35L)
Chicken Noodle Soup with Millet Flour Oil Biscuits
Wednesday, April 5
- 11:10am: oatmeal with blueberries and maple syrup
- 12:30pm: sunbutter rice cake
- 5pm: homemade energy bar (sunbutter, oats, lemon juice, freeze dried blueberries)
- 7pm: chicken noodle soup
- 10pm: edible cookie dough #1
- Fluids: 66oz (1.95L)
Thursday, April 6
- 10:15am: blueberry maple oatmeal
- 1:30pm: sunbutter rice cake
- 7:45pm: steak; mashed sweet potato; broccoli
- 9pm: edible cookie dough #1
- Fluids: 66oz (1.95L)
Friday, April 7
- 11:20am: brown sugar oatmeal
- 2:12pm: sunbutter rice cake
- 4:15pm: rice with a little ghee and cinnamon sugar
- 7:45pm: pasta with olive oil, basil, and garlic sauce; chicken
- 9pm: some cheddar cheese slices
- 9:30pm: edible cookie dough #1
- Fluids: 92oz (2.72L)
Saturday, April 8
- 10:15am: brown sugar oatmeal
- 1:30pm: sunbutter rice cake
- 4pm: a slice of cheddar cheese
- 8:40pm: sweet potato pancakes with maple syrup
- Fluids: 96oz (2.84L)
Sweet Potato Pancakes (no syrup)
Sunday, April 9
- 11am: brown sugar oatmeal
- 12:30pm: sunbutter rice cake
- 7pm: plain noodles (rice and quinoa noodles from Trader Joe’s)
- 8pm: blueberry maple oatmeal; slice of cheddar cheese
- 10:30pm: edible cookie dough
- Fluids: 99oz (2.93L)
Monday, April 10
- 11am: brown sugar oatmeal
- 1:30pm: sunbutter rice cake
- 7:30pm: chicken noodle soup
- Fluids: 145oz (4.29L)
I’m still struggling a little with fluids. I’ve discovered that drinking any water, unless it’s ice cold, causes me to get headaches. All water gives me stomach aches, and the more I drink the worse it gets. If I drink other stuff, it doesn’t bother my head nor my stomach. I have no idea what is going on or why that is happening!
I’m also struggling with salt, I think. Very little of my food has salt in it anymore, and I really hate adding salt to things (everything just tastes like salt that way). Plus, I can’t have a lot of salt or I get hypertensive. It’s not fun. But I think all the headaches I’ve been getting are from a lack of salt. I’ve been trying to figure out ways to get more salt, but it’s not easy. (I used to get salt from tortilla chips or French fries, and I can’t have the corn my chips are made from nor can I have white potatoes.)
As always, comment below to let me know what recipes you’re interested in!
More LEAP Posts
Finding Life's Silver Sun 
For water…have you tried natural flavorings? I sometimes have trouble stomaching plain water, but sparkling might work. Or still water with a squeeze of lime, lemon, orange, grapefruit, a mashed berry or two….I love the TrueLemon products (without sweeteners) but they may not work for your diet. Even the tiniest bit of honey or maple syrup? I’ve heard people using cucumber…but I’ve tried it and IMO that shiz is nasty….lol
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I actually enjoy cucumber water in small amounts 😛 (though, once I went to a bridal show that was roasting hot and the ONLY thing to drink was cucumber water and after an entire day I thought I was going to die if I had to drink anymore of it! Didn’t eat cucumbers – my fave veg – for a few months after that…)
I just bought an infusion pitcher, so I’m going to start playing.
I also just bought a SodaStream because all store bought sodas/sparkling water have either bad ingredients or untested one.
Dan found honeydew juice, which is great mixed 50/50 with sparkling water (and plenty of ice)! I was super surprised! And I don’t have to add any sugar to it 🙂
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Ooh, I also hate melon LOL!!! But yeah, I don’t add sweeteners to my water. Just a squeeze or a squish!
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Haha! I’m sorry 😛
I don’t like weak flavors in the water… I’ve tried lemon infused water, and it bugs me. But orange is worth a try for sure!
Having chunks in my water is sgross too… So I had to find an infusion pitcher so that it won’t put bits into the water 😛
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Blueberry is surprisingly good!
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I’ll have to try it! Thanks!
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