30-day challenge results!

So, after 30 days of following a 95% paleo diet, giving up alcohol, sugar, grains, dairy and processed foods, here are my results:

Start weight: 85kgs, now: 80kgs: a loss of approx. 5kgs
Start waist: 97cm, now: 91cm, a loss of approx. 6cms
Start hips: 117cm, now: 112cm, a loss of approx. 5cms

When I say 95%, I mean that I ate popcorn at the movies twice, ate out at restaurants 4 times (tried my best but cannot control restaurant food too much) and at Lori's baby shower I ate a small slice of rocky road and half a cupcake :)

Very happy with the results, and I will keep going. I will introduce back a few things that I miss, such as Paul Newman's Own Ranch Dressing on my salads (I can only eat balsamic and olive oil so much!). I dilute the dressing with balsamic anyway. I don't really miss eating bread, I just miss the convenience of bread, like toast, or a quick sandwich. But I am also cooking some great food and loving the end of the 3:00pm slump. I don't actually miss sugar at all, or things like hot chips, which is surprising.

The first week was when the most drastic results were gained in terms of weight loss, but I have gone down 1-2 clothing sizes and i can see the difference, even if the photos don't really show it. And now that I read food labels A LOT, it is amazing how sugar is in EVERYTHING!! Wow. I have discovered kelp noodles, which are fantastic, and I am in the process of cooking some of my favorite things (chicken schnitzel) in a paleo friendly way. so Hooray for paleo! bring on the next 30 days!

Embrace leftovers!

I'm not a huge leftovers fan but lately i'm learning to embrace them. they are so quick to heat up in the microwave, not a lot of thinking or planning required either. And the gas ran out on Saturday so I can't cook on the stove top at the moment! This morning I'm having leftover almond crusted chicken, sweet potato and pumpkin, and i chopped up a few cherry tomatoes and lebanese cucumber to have as well. Squeezed some fresh lime juice all over everything, yummy!

Bacon&chicken lettuce wraps

I could not face eggs this morning...instead I cooked up some streaky bacon and made lettuce wraps with bacon, cold roast chicken, cherry tomatoes, parsley from my herb garden, and a smear of mayo (i found some nice mayo with all natural ingredients that are paleo friendly). Delicious!

Day 27 breakfast

Well I'm not that hungry!! I boiled a few eggs for breakfast, with some zucchini and carrot, and I could only eat half of what's in the picture... what's going on!?

I'm 3 days away from the end of my 30-day paleo challenge....stay tuned to read my thoughts on the whole paleo thing, and my weight and measurement comparisons, and even maybe a photo of me!

Chicken & roasted slivered almond stirfry

I chucked a small handful of slivered almonds into the frypan and dry roasted them, then removed from pan. Next went in shredded cabbage, zucchini, carrots, kelp noodles and shredded BBQ chicken and a dash of wheat-free soy sauce. Mixed it all up and threw on top some fresh herbs from my garden (chives, coriander and parsley) and then threw the almonds back in. Nothing like a delicious lunch prepared in 5 minutes!

Banana&blueberry almond milk smoothie

Day 26: I found this week at crossfit incredibly tough for some reason, i felt like i had no strength, my shins feel like they are being stabbed with glass shards, you know. After crossfit this morning I could not even eat, i felt that horrible. So instead of my usual veggie and protein breakfast I had a yummy smoothie: almond milk, a small frozen banana, some ice cubes, and a handful of frozen blueberries. It really hit the spot. I almost forgot to take a picture, that's why the glass is only half full :)

BBQ garlic prawns

Last night I marinated some prawns in olive oil, crushed fresh garlic and parsley. My man BBQd them and with it I had some steamed cauliflower, pureed pumpkin, and a few panfried sweet potatoes...mmmm. I love sweet potatoes but try not to eat them that often. A squeeze of lime juice on the prawns made them just that little bit yummier!

Crushed almond encrusted chicken!

It's Day 23 and I just made some yummy chicken for dinner. I took a few chicken breasts, bashed them with a rolling pin to flatten them out a little, then coated them with coconut flour, dredged them in some whisked egg white and then dragged them through some crushed almond meal (left over from making almond milk). Fried them up in a hot oiled cast iron frypan, mmmmm and added some pureed pumpkin and fresh salad. I forgot to squeeze some fresh lime on top, but it didn't even need it in the end.

BBQ steak

Dinner was a BBQ steak, pureed butternut pumpkin and a fresh salad. For dessert I popped a fudge bunny in my mouth...yummy! I also prepped some more zucchini and carrot 'noodles' for tomorrow. It's good to have stuff ready to go.

Tasty Invention

I came home for lunch without knowing what I really wanted, so I quickly made something up while my cast-iron frypan was heating up. I put some olive oil in there, a handful of spiralised zucchini and carrot, some pine-nuts, shredded BBQ chicken, and handful of kelp noodles plus a dash of wheat-free soy sauce. I just heated it all up and mixed through, and had the most delicious meal! The kelp noodles are so crunchy, they really make the dish. I scattered some fresh herbs (coriander and parsley) on top. I love inventing dishes!

It's Day 22!

Had a great WOD at crossfit this morning. I think I am recovering faster than I did pre-paleo...or maybe it's my imagination?

For breakfast I had 'spaghetti' with fresh bolognaise sauce over zucchini and carrot 'noodles'. Mmmmm good!

Lamb roast

Roasting a leg of lamb, smells great! I've just taken it out to rest for 20mins or so, and added potato (for Mark) and pumpkin to the pan, covered it in juices and shoved it back into the oven for half an hour. I'm going to steam some broccoli and cauliflower for myself to go with it.

Prep for Week 4

Tomorrow is the 4th week of my paleo challenge...it's been great so far. I made a slow-cooked beef stew for my man today, now I'm cooking up a bolognaise sauce (beef, onion, garlic, celery, mushrooms, organic tomatoes) and i will throw some fresh basil in it from my herb garden) and I've got a leg of lamb roasting in the oven for dinner. I wish I had bought some beetroot to try with the roast..damn! I've ripped apart a BBQ chicken to have ready in the fridge, chopped pumpkin and I'm just about to spiralise some zucchini 'noodles' to have during the week. I'm wondering what else I can do to save time this week??!!

Quick & easy breakfast

Yesterday involved a lengthy time in my kitchen: the worst set-up kitchen in the whole world (oh i can't wait to move!) and it was a little tiring. Had some popcorn at the movies last night, so not paleo but after 21 days i felt i could have a little treat. No guilt!

This morning, after preparing a slow-cooked beef stew for my man (only a few vegetables, no onion or tomato), and squeezing out about 3 litres of almond milk, putting away all those leftover paleo cookies, and then making an almond milk/coffee/banana smoothie, i was OVER the kitchen! So i cooked up some bacon and made a couple of tiny wraps with lettuce leaves, tomato, BBQ chicken and bacon, with a few pecans on the side. Quick and easy.

Baking aftermath

I was on a mission this morning, went to several 'health food' shops in search of coconut oil, arrowroot flour, dried fruit, nuts, agave nectar...the list goes on and on. This is all fairly new to me, so I am stocking up. Today I baked. Now I won't be doing it that often as I'm not really missing the sweet foods much, but we are having a crossfit social gathering this afternoon and I though I'd take some paleo treats for others to try.

I made an orange and carrot cake; tastes delicious but it didn't come out the pan that well. It's very sweet too. I also made paleo cookies and they drove me CRAZY. the recipe said make sure you bake them on parchment paper (which i did) but there was so much honey, and they really stuck to the paper...what a pain in the ass. They taste great (almond&pecan&walnuts ground, heaps of honey, dried apricots, figs and raisins) but i'm not sure the effort is worth it....and now I'm having a well-deserved nap!

'Fudge babies' or...sheep turds.. you pick!

These are actually very yummy: i threw some pitted dates, cocoa powder, almonds and pecans into the food processor with a splash of vanilla essence, whizzed it all up, and then rolled the 'dough' into balls and chilled for a while. Easy! They do taste kind of fudgey.

BBQ prawns

Enjoyed some delicious marinated BBQ garlic prawns with a fresh salad. I whisked up some dijon mustard, vinegar and olive oil to dress the salad. And we tried a couple of 'fudge babies' for dessert. Very nice!

Beef & walnut salad

Lettuce, celery, walnuts, carrot, radish, cucumber, tomato and thinly sliced medium rare beef. Delicious!

Green curry chicken & veggies

Day 19. Not much to report lately, i've been eating well though! Had a dental emergency yesterday so wasn't able to make it home for lunch. I went to Nando's and for the first time, ordered something without hot chips! I had a chicken salad, which was quite expensive at $14 but it was nice. Not a huge variety of veggies: a hell of a lot of lettuce, a few cherry tomatoes , red capsicum, cucumber and red onion. There was dressing on the side but it lacked any ingredient information - it tasted quite sweet so no doubt full of sugar. But it was the best I could do 'on the run' and I was starving!

Tomorrow is Baking Day. I'm making a selection of paleo cookies and/or brownies to bring to our crossfit get-together in the afternoon. I hope they work out!

Big hunk of steak!

My man dragged the steak to the BBQ and cooked mine a perfect medium-rare...mmmmm. we also had sweet potato and pumpkin, and i had some sauteed mushrooms, onion and garlic, I sprinkled some fresh parsley over it. Eating by candlelight is always a bonus. ( my dog Mitchell was next to me, wishing he had a bite of steak too!).

Chicken salad

Ate the most yummy salad for lunch today on Day 17:
roast chicken
toasted slivered almonds
spiralized radish and carrot
lettuce
mushroom
celery
tomato
cucumber
balsamic& olive oil dressing

And, my non-vegetable eating man grilled himself a chicken breast, and ate that with a little of lettuce and carrot and almonds..he liked it!

Toasted slivered almonds

I love to throw a handful of slivered almonds in my ancient cast-iron pan and toast them lightly. They add a beautiful crunch to salads!

Beef & lots of veggies

Day 17 - breakfast was some slow-cooked beef & veggie stew along with some steamed broccoli and cauliflower. Delicious! I also whipped up some more almond milk (soaked the almonds overnight) and had a good weights session at crossfit. My day is going much better than yesterday so far!

Day 16 lunch: hard boiled eggs

Quick lunch: bacon, hard boiled eggs, steamed zucchini noodles and broccoli. Delicious!

Slow cooked beef

I rushed around like a crazy person this morning...after crossfit and the dogs to the beach, i seared some stewing beef and threw it into the slow cooker with diced carrots, celery, turnip/swede, pumpkin, yellow squash, zucchini, onion and mushroom, a splash of red wine (ok not so paleo but not much), salt-free tomato paste and some beef stock. i am a little pissed i could not find ANY beef stock that is just beef and veggies....so will have to research this. But at least i can eat dinner at 7pm and i don't have to do any prepping!

Day 15: update

Well, apart from 2 meals out in 2 weeks, I have been sticking to my paleo very well. I've lost that 3 o'clock slump i used to experience, and i feel like i have more energy in general. I have been growing herbs, cooking lots more, and trying out almond milk.

Regarding eating out: i have realised that Mexican is terrible for paleo eating!! rice, beans, cheese, sour cream, flour and corn........i had a burrito last night but it wasn't as enjoyable as it used to be, i kept thinking that the only thing useful in the whole meal was a)the chicken and b)the lettuce garnish on top!

This morning I had green curry chicken and then i shook up some almond milk with ice cubes and a splash of honey...yum! it was fantastic!

I have lost another centimetre from my waist and i think my total weight loss is around 2-3kgs.

Making almond milk

So i soaked 2 cups of almonds overnight, in lots of water. This morning i drained and rinsed the almonds, and split them in 2 portions. (I am doing 2 batches, on with James, who is awake at 8am, and the other, i will wait for Melly, who will probably sleep until 10!). half the almonds went into the blender along with around 4 cups of water. As soon as i turned the blender on, it went white, like straight away, like a miracle (I'm still amazed at this concept of nut milk, clearly!). I whizzed it up for a few minutes and then poured it through a strainer and a cloth, squeezed the bag of almond crush and got even more milk out of it. Just amazing. It made about a litre. so then i put a bit of the milk back in the blender, with a few ice cubes and frozen blueberries and made a yummy smoothie. And I had my first cup of coffee today - i frothed the almond milk and had a delicious latte. I think i like this almond milk thing...it's so easy!!

Chicken schnitzel, paleo style!!

Wow what a successful dinner we had with Melly(12) and James(11)....First i showed them my spiralizer veggie machine, they were so wowed by the spirals and carrots they couldn't wait to try them and they even had spiralled zucchini as well...james even had seconds and thirds! Big tick! (these kids rarely eat veggies so i'm stoked).

Then both kids helped me make the chicken schnitzels: i flattened pieces of chicken breast (well, bashed them with a rolling pin), we threw them in coconut flour, then dredged them in beaten egg, then into some almond meal. I cooked them up, and with them we had sweet potato and pumpkin. (i added a fresh tomato for myself). The kids said it was the best chicken schnitzel they have ever had! We enjoyed eating with candlelight, as we usually do and it was really special that I could make a meal that everyone would eat. Yay for me!!

Coconut prawns & salad

Had some leftover coconut prawns in the fridge so ate those with a small salad. Just enough!

I went out this morning, to a health food shop, thinking they might have a nut-milk bag for straining the almond pulp in my almond milk i will make tomorrow. Upon enquiring, i was told, 'we don't have any' so i asked, did she know where i could get one? to which the clerk replied, 'how would i know, i don't make almond milk!'. *sigh* is it any wonder I do most of my shopping online? Anyway. i'm going to soak my almonds overnight, and use a clean dish towel or something along those lines to strain the milk. And I'll find what i need online and order it as well. That means tomorrow, I'll be able to enjoy a latte! or make a milkshake! mmmmmmm.

Day 13: eggs & bacon

Today i got to sleep in. What time did i wake up? 5:00am. As usual. Took the dogs to the beach, it was magnificent this morning, and then enjoyed bacon & scrambled eggs plus cucumber and tomatoes. Delicious! I hope to soak some almonds tonight, to make some almond milk tomorrow. I might even splurge and make a coffee with it.

Last night we wanted to eat by the beach, so needed something portable. I suggested Red Rooster, and I had a quarter chicken (wing&breast) with a big salad i had prepared earlier. Even though there were hot chips involved, i really wasn't tempted. at all!

Paleo coconut prawns

Oh! i made the most yummy paleo coconut prawns tonight, even Mark ate them (and liked them!). I also made a coleslaw with raw white cabbage, carrot and red onion and the dressing was balsamic, olive oil and dijon mustard.

For lunch I steamed some zucchini and carrot ribbons and put some panang curry on top.

Wow, I'm eating better than I have in ages. I love that there's so many recipes for paleo food online and from other sources. It's actually very very easy to eat paleo. I find myself NOT missing sugar or chips or potatoes or things I used to eat very regularly. I think the problem with eating paleo is that it DOES take an effort - and it does involve educating yourself. It seems to be 'too hard' for some, but honestly, it's not that bad!!! I find it helpful to have a few options in the fridge at all times, pre-made things like bolognaise sauce or curry. That way it doesn't take long to put a quick meal together.

Day 11 - going great!

So last night I went out to a Greek restaurant for dinner. I wasn't too worried about 'eating paleo' as I have been 100% committed for 10 days now. Dinner is not going to kill me. I didn't drink (only water) and I had a few pieces of flat bread with 3 greek dips, then I had a moussaka, which was delicious. it came with lemon potatoes, of which I only ate about 1/4 of. Plus I only ate half my moussaka, the other half I enjoyed for breakfast with some zucchini ribbons from my new vegetable slicer woo hoooo!! I will, however, investigate a paleo version of moussaka, as it is very tasty and something I would love to make.....

Sexy vegetables!

Tried out my new vegetable slicer thingy...it's fantastic!

Tuna & pine nut patties

The dentist fixed me up, and when I got home, I had no idea what to eat for lunch. so I made up something with a small tin of tuna in spring water. I drained the tuna, and added some almond meal, chopped celery and red onion, a few pine nuts and then I used half a raw egg to bind it all together. (Kimberley and Mitchell, my dogs, enjoyed the rest of the egg, yum yum!). I dropped 4 blobs of mixture into a hot pan with olive oil and cooked them off. I ate them with a garden salad and some fresh lime squeezed on top! I can't help thinking this dish was missing something...mmm like ranch dressing or tzatziki dip or sweet chilli sauce...something to dip the tuna patties in, they were a wee bit dry...i'll have to look into a paleo version of dipping sauce. On another note, i received my spiralizer today and i can't wait to use it !!

Panang chicken curry

Good morning, Day 10. After Crossfit (working on my pull-ups skills) and walking K&M on the beach, I ate some delicious Panang chicken curry (which I made last night) and a garden salad with olive oil & balsamic vinegar. I have noticed that my portion sizes are getting smaller, which is a new concept for me.

Mmmmm meat!

While my beef fillet steak was cooking a nice medium-rare on the BBQ, i was sauteeing some julienne carrots, finely sliced cabbage and onion to have with it, and cooking some Panang curry in my electric frypan - roast chicken breast meat, cauliflower and broccoli, onion, red capsicum, pumpkin, Mae Ploy panang curry paste (no preservatives or colours or sugar or wheat) and coconut milk. I will have the curry tomorrow sometime.

I am going over my upcoming dinner in a Greek restaurant and wondering how I'll go with my choices. I certainly don't want to go off eating paleo at this stage of the game, but i want to enjoy myself as well. Will report after I get home......

Scrambled eggs with bacon and mushrooms

My teeth really hurt, i have a dentist appointment tomorrow so I had to have something soft for lunch. I made scrambled eggs with a bit of bacon and mushrooms, fresh parsley from my herb garden, and a few pine nuts. That's about all I can handle at the moment!

Chicken and kelp noodle stir-fry

Day 9 - for breakfast I had a stir-fry with kelp noodles, carrots, onions, celery, mushrooms, red&green capsicum, fresh coriander (from my herb garden!), chicken (roasted the other day) and a handful of cashews and a splash of wheat-free, sugar-free soy sauce. Yummy! These kelp noodles are amazing!

It seems that cashews are either allowed or not allowed when eating paleo, depending on what you read. I have decided it is ok to have them once a week.

More energy.

I felt like I had lots more energy today. Throughout Week One, i was sooooo tired and slept 9 hours a night. In the last few days I have been waking up feeling more refreshed. Also, last week, i was having a few dizzy spells (to do with the lack of sugar maybe?) but that seems to have passed. I have dinner plans on Thursday this week, we have chosen a Greek restaurant and i'm feeling confident I can pick menu items that fit in with the paleo style. My herbs are growing well already, and ready to use tomorrow.
Today I ate mostly leftovers from brekkie, lunch and dinner. There seems to be a lot of food in my fridge and a lot of choices, good choices, every meal.

Roast breakfast!

Enjoyed a delicious roast breakfast (leftovers from last night). And the good news is, after a week of strict paleo eating, I have dropped 5cm from both my hips and my waist. Weight-wise (my scales are a bit unreliable) I have lost around 1.5-2kg as well. Bring on Week 2!

Roast beef with dijon mustard and garlic

We had dinner guests and guess what...i forgot to take a photo of the delicious meal! With my beef, i cut about 8 slits in it and inserted half garlic cloves, and then spread over with Dijon mustard, yummy :) Also had roast pumpkin and garlic, and steamed broccolini and steamed baby carrots (they were delicious: fresh and with the stalks on). I did not eat the tempting roast potatoes OR the gravy (bonus points for me!)

Week One is finished: i feel good, I have only had one major 'craving' session, which I didn't succumb to. I don't actually miss anything really. My plan is after 30 days, or when I lose as much weight as I want (which is undecided at this point), I will occasionally enjoy the food/drink I really want...my goal is to aim for a 80-90% paleo diet. But we'll see after 30 days! Tomorrow morning I will take some measurements and photos and see where I stand after one week. I have ordered some coconut flour online, and also a vegetable spiral cutting machine thingy and I can't wait till they arrive (coconut prawns later this week....)

Growing herbs

Of course i only mean the legal kind! I love using fresh herbs in both my cooking, and also in fresh salads. I do NOT have a green thumb of any kind, but i CAN grow herbs....so today i refreshed my dead herb garden, and planted 4 herbs; sweet basil leaves, parsley, coriander, and chives. I'll start with that and see if i need to add more variety. (if i owned my house, i would definitely try growing my own vegetables too). It's almost 2:00pm and I haven't had lunch...and I'm not hungry. I am going to quickly make something small, later I will be cooking a roast beef, and some roast chicken breasts for eating later this week.

I slept through the cravings!

Day 7 - well i went to bed early last night, i really was trying to get over a few cravings. All is good this morning, had a leisurely walk and play on the beach with my dogs, read the Sunday paper, and cooked brekkie of 2 fried eggs, bacon, and some leftover roast pumpkin and sweet potato.

Almond meal-crusted pork

I am having severe cravings for a latte and baileys. I am not going to succumb. Not going to. Not going to.

For dinner I dredged some pork in egg whites, then coated in almond meal and panfried in a bit of olive oil. With this we had roast sweet potato (I'm going to limit myself to sweet potato once a week only) and roast butternut pumpkin. I added some fresh Roma tomato wedges and cucumber. Delicious! (and, my boyfriend liked it too, well except for the tomato and cucumber).

Salad a la Leftovers

Day 6: the day i have not been looking forward to, a Saturday. Monday to Friday is all good food-wise as I have a routine, and a job. Weekends are tricky because I have no routine, and I'm at home a lot....I am worried about eating crap food...but so far, so good. It's 3:30pm and I have had for breakfast: bolognaise sauce over steamed broccoli and cauliflower, mid-morning i had 3 almonds, and for lunch i had a big salad with freshly cooked bacon, leftover roast chicken and leftover marinated pork. I had planned to add walnuts as well...but I forgot.

Tonight will be another test: going to the movies! I think I will cook dinner first, and either eat it before we go, or pack it in a box and eat it at the movies. Sounds strange maybe, but I have rarely seen a movie without a big box of popcorn....and I cannot succumb to the habit now.....

I am alive after 5 days of paleo!

1. I am loving the food.
2. I am not hungry in between meals.
3. I feel like I am losing weight (will report back on Monday morning when I weigh in).
4. It takes an effort to eat this way but it is worth it so far.

Today I had some leftovers: chicken curry for lunch plus extra steamed broccoli, cauliflower and pumpkin. Dinner was zucchini ribbons with bolognaise sauce....mmmmmmm. I am investigating spiralizers (sp?) which cut veggies into ribbons, noodles and other exciting things. One thing i am is TIRED !! so I can't say I am full of energy or anything...but maybe it's early days.

Zucchini noodles: DELISH!

Day 5 - for breakfast, i ate my bolognaise sauce on top of some zucchini noodles, it is quite delicious and the zucchini noodles give me the 'feeling' of having pasta, without those nasty grains and carbs. I used one zucchini for this but i could have used 2 I think - preparing the 'noodles' with my small kitchen tool is really time consuming, i think i will have to get a better appliance for doing this. I lightly sauteed the zucchini noodles in a tiny bit of olive oil, and a sprinkle of rock salt. I don't each much salt but it was nice.

Grilled marinated pork skewers

So I came across the wooden-handled skewers i bought in the souk in Morocco earlier this year....had some pork fillet in the fridge, and thought, why not for dinner? I cubed the pork fillet and marinated it for about half an hour in olive oil, fresh garlic and a few herbs/spices. Once on the skewers, Mark took over (i hate cooking on the BBQ!) and I made myself a simple salad to go with them. Yummy delicious!

And P.S. Day 4 is over and I am not hungry at all. In fact, I don't even need snacks it seems. Today i had a few blueberries around 5pm but I had almost forgotten they were in the fridge at work! I found one of my nifty kitchen tools (from my years cooking on dive boats and outback tours) and scraped a whole bunch of zucchini into spaghetti strands. I will lightly sautee them tomorrow and have some bolognaise sauce (with beef, celery, capsicum, onion, mushroom and organic tomatoes) over top. I also bought a whole cauliflower today and will attempt making 'cauliflower rice'. Google it if you want to know more!!

Roast chicken and walnut salad

Day 4....i had leftover green curry chicken for breakfast, that kept me going easily until lunch when i used some BBQ chicken breast and had a big salad with walnuts, dressing was olive oil & balsamic dressing. It was delicious, but i do miss ranch dressing. Will have to research something to have as a substitute.

BBQ Prawns

Day 3 - dinner was delicious: BBQ prawns, i had marinated them in olive oil, a clove of garlic and the juice of half a lemon. The prawns were placed on a bed of cauliflower mash and surrounded by fresh salad.

I ate a small handful of blueberries this afternoon, and I am not craving anything. Although, when I was taking Mark's garlic bread out of the oven, it was just a little tempting!! (don't worry, not THAT tempting).

OMG kelp noodles yummy!

Ordered kelp noodles online, to try them. I had some for lunch with some stirfried veggies and a hamburger. They were delicious! they would be quite nice with some roast chicken, and cucumber..hmmmmm....i'm not feeling peckish at all throughout the day for the first time. Nice!