While we were Sunday-brunching on Valentine’s Day to celebrate my mom’s successful completion of the LA Marathon, Sohrab and I chatted up my cousin, TC, about healthy eating and exercise habits. She really inspired us to change things up, and we decided right then and there that we would start the week off with a new challenge.
We are cutting bread from our diet for 30 days.
This is really a test of our ability to find new ways to make our meals filling. It’s so easy to resort to having a slice of toast in the morning or to have a sweet treat at the end of the day that’s loaded with carbs.
Welcome to the #Osati30DayChallenge.
Day 1
The first day was not as difficult as I anticipated it to be. Although we ended the day at Disneyland, we were able to get our fill of delicious food without dipping into the bread arena. Keep in mind that we are not cutting carbs entirely, but rather strictly staying away from bread. Here’s what was on the menu for the day:
- Nature’s Path Organic Sunrise Crunchy Vanilla Cereal
- Smoothie (with strawberry, banana, peanut butter, 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder, almond milk)
- Khoresh karafs with basmati rice
- Kind Madagascar Vanilla Almond bar
- 1/2 Chicken Caesar Salad from Pizza Port at Disneyland
- 1/2 spaghetti and meatballs from Pizza Port at Disneyland
This breakfast and mid-morning snack were a great way to start the day. The cereal, which I doused in non-fat milk, is gluten-free and has a satisfying crunch to it with a sweetness that keeps you craving more. This was our first box of the vanilla variation – and while it is undeniably delicious, Sohrab and I agreed that we prefer the honey version. Food for thought for our next trip to Sprouts. While the cereal isn’t exactly filling long-term, it was easy to fulfill my mid-morning hunger pangs with a homemade smoothie. I’m a sucker for a good smoothie and it’s liberating to finally make more regular use of our Bella single-serving blender, staying away a bit more from the sugar-heavy smoothies at Jamba Juice. Sohrab isn’t a huge fan of the strawberry addition, so I made him one with banana, peanut butter, 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder, almond milk, and coffee. That was definitely up his alley, and a testament to the ease of making different smoothies for everyone.
What on earth is khoresh karafs, you ask? Only one of the most delicious Iranian dishes. Made with herbs, beef, and celery, this stew (khoresh) is poured over basmati rice for a light but flavorful meal that will fill you up. Perhaps rice is another thing we’d like to try omitting from our diet at some point – but it would be incredibly difficult to get away from all of this delicious Iranian food.
This, my friends, is khoresh karafs.
Eating healthy at Disneyland is not easy. With so many delicious smells wafting through the streets – Dole Whip and popcorn and cream cheese pretzels, oh my! – it took a bit of that good old self control to keep myself from running around from cart to cart with grabby hands. But we were good! We carried around a water bottle and stuck to sharing a salad and some spaghetti for dinner. We even avoided the concessions at the AMC in Downtown Disney when we met up with our crew for a 4:10 IMAX showing of Deadpool (which was excellent, by the way!). Sohrab had enough foresight to bring us some Kind bars to nom on after the movie. Thank goodness for him.
Day 2
On Tuesday, we both left the house for work, so I heated up some oatmeal I had made from scratch over the weekend. Top it with diced apples and you’re off to the races. Here’s how I fared the rest of the day:
- Oatmeal (with almond milk, peanut butter, honey, flax seeds) topped with apples
- Almonds
- String cheese
- Chicken veggie rice bowl from Flame Broiler (with chicken, brown rice, carrots, broccoli, cabbage)
- Smoothie (with strawberry, banana, peanut butter, 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder, almond milk)
- Loobia polo with potato tahdig
Since we carpooled to work, we planned on eating lunch after Sohrab picked me up. I got a bit peckish while at the office so I stashed some almonds and string cheese, and once we reunited we went across the street to a new (to us) place called Flame Broiler that I’d recommend to anyone who likes a fresh bowl of chicken, rice, and veggies. They pride themselves on keeping it simple, but the taste was anything but plain. Delicious, healthy, and filling.
Before we went to the gym that evening, I made a[nother] smoothie with protein to give my body some fuel. This actually filled me up more than anticipated so when it came time to eat a proper dinner after working out, I didn’t have too much. Loobia polo is another Iranian dish, this time with rice, green beans, beef, tomato paste, and onions – and this time it was prepared with potato tahdig, meaning the potatoes were placed in the pot first and formed a bit of a crust (tahdig is fought over at parties, no joke).
I went to bed early.
Day 3
Sometimes you get a craving to try something new. I woke up early and was able to take the time while hubby slept to dig into a new recipe – complete with ground turkey, sweet potatoes, and yummy veggies for a healthy comfort food that works great as breakfast, lunch, or dinner. In the spirit of eating freshly-made food, we dug in for breakfast and got our day started right. Delicious!
- Ground turkey sweet potato skillet (with ground turkey, garlic, onions, yellow bell pepper, sweet potato, chili powder, salt and pepper, mozzarella cheese)
- Chobani Simply 100 Vanilla Greek Yogurt with honey granola from Sprouts
- Zucchini boats (filled with ground turkey, garlic, onions, green, red, and yellow bell pepper, parsley, salt and pepper, chili powder)
- Green beans with lemon and garlic (with butter, garlic, lemon zest, red pepper flakes)
- Mini baked potatoes topped with cheddar cheese
- Loobia polo with potato tahdig
- Salad topped with pear gorgonzola dressing
I’ve found that eating healthier and omitting bread means eating a bit more throughout the day. A mid-morning snack kept me going until a late lunch, when we put on our chef hats once more to try a fun and filling zucchini boat recipe. Look how cute these are!
There’s another one of those elusive Iranian foods on there – loobia polo. Rice is part of this dish, rather than being a stew served over rice like khoresh karafs is (polo = rice, khoresh = stew). Loobia polo has green beans, tomato paste, and beef in it – and it’s delicious when served with a dollop or two of cold yogurt. Yum!
Day 4
Sohrab is a huge fan of omelets. I like them, too, but my creativity with a few eggs and veggies just can’t hold a candle to his. Here’s one of his creations that we got to enjoy for breakfast:
- Green omelet (with eggs, spinach, hot pepper, Cantella’s chicken and apple sausage, topped with avocado)
- Strawberries
- Pulled pork, stir fry veggies (with carrots, zucchini, bell peppers, onions), with wild rice
- Popcorn
- Turkey spinach meatballs topped with homemade marinara
- Green beans with lemon and garlic (with butter, garlic, lemon zest, red pepper flakes)
The pulled pork was leftovers from Sunday’s post-marathon brunch, and it paired very nicely with some stir-fry and wild rice.
I have an obsession with popcorn. Sohrab has won the Best Husband Award multiple times over for getting us a bag of fresh kettle corn each time he goes to the local Sunday morning farmer’s market. It’s SO GOOD!
And now, for our favorite dish of the week. Turkey. Spinach. Meatballs. When we decided to try this recipe, we could not have foreseen how craveable the result would be. Topped with marinara sauce made from scratch, these babies boast lemon zest and fennel seeds that make them taste like spring. Who knew a meatball could be refreshing?
Day 5
This is the day that we traveled up the California coast to spend the night in San Luis Obispo, where I had a work event on Saturday morning. This means cereal, leftovers, and trying to avoid bread at a biergarten.
- Kashi Organic Promise Cinnamon Harvest Cereal with almond milk
- Ground turkey sweet potato skillet (with ground turkey, garlic, onions, yellow bell pepper, sweet potato, chili powder, salt and pepper, mozzarella cheese)
- Loobia polo with yogurt
- Rahmschnitzel from Beda’s Biergarten
- Gulch from Beda’s Biergarten
Sohrab and I shared the two plates at the biergarten, the first of which being a chicken dish with mushroom sauce, and the second being tenderized beef in spiced brown gravy. I don’t have any photos of these, sadly, because we were incredibly hungry after our drive north and dug right in!
Day 6
We woke up in a SLO hotel room and went downstairs to check out their continental breakfast options. Let’s see… waffles, bagels, pastries… things were not looking good for the Osatis on their 30 day challenge. We were about to “give up” and get something somewhere else, until we realized that there was also grapefruit, oatmeal, and cereal. Whew! All was not lost.
- Quaker Oats Cinnamon and Spice
- Half grapefruit
- Tall Latte Macchiatto from Starbucks
- Roast beef sandwich (without the bread) with a side mandarin salad from Urbane Cafe
- Salt and cracked pepper Kettle potato chips
- Thuringer brat from Hoffmann Brat Haus
- Garlic Belgian fries from Hoffman Brat Haus
This was also the day that we got lunch at my work event, which consisted exclusively of sandwiches. So, we ate the chips and the salad and the contents of the sandwich. Excellent, to be sure, but not quite as filling as originally intended. Once we headed back home, we stopped in Santa Barbara to check out another biergarten (we’re on a German food kick!) – and I thoroughly enjoyed a Thuringer brat, which is made from a 100-year old recipe. It was delicious!
And now for those incredible Belgian fries. I am not pretending that these were healthy. This was a bit of a cheat!
So, there you have it. Our first seven days of no bread. Although we didn’t eat healthy 100% of the time, this challenge has helped us to be mindful of the food choices we are making. So tell me – will you take the #Osati30DayChallenge with us?
