On a mission for pizza

All I wanted was pizza. Finding pizza that fit my current eating rules was not an easy thing to find on short notice, however. I've actually been doing really well in my prep week for my Ultra Metabolism prescription. The caffeine, alcohol, HFCS, hydrogenated oils, and bad-for-you processed foods have pretty much been a breeze to eliminate. I wasn't even having a hard time with the white and wheat flour limitations. Sugar is the hardest. I'm not craving cookies or sweets at all, it's just that sugar is in EVERYTHING. So, while I haven't been able to fully eliminate sugar from my diet simply because I haven't prepared all of my food from scratch myself, I am keeping the sugar amounts down to what I feel is acceptable. A gram here or there is better than a Coke and a piece of chocolate layer cake, I figure.

Anyway, like I said, eliminating the stuff I had to for my prep week wasn't hard. Until I wanted a pizza. I have a couple of Trader Joe's pizzas in my freezer and I adore them. Best frozen pizza out there, I swear. The wood fired crust is to die for. But, alas, it has wheat flour. Not whole wheat flour. Just wheat flour. That's a no-no at the moment. I scoured the internet for delivery places that sell whole wheat crust pizzas to no avail. Did you know Papa John's used to have a whole wheat crust and they discontinued it? Sad. So, I decided I'd have to go and find me a pizza some way, some how. Thing is, starting Monday I won't be getting a pizza for like 5 weeks so I figured I had to take care of my cravings or else my cravings would win the war later. Off to Trader Joe's Tony and I go to read all of the labels on the frozen pizza there. All organic wheat flour, which is great, but not something I could eat at the moment. Luckily, they do sell pre-made dough that you bake at home. They have regular and whole wheat versions and they're cheap. Only $.99 for a package that you could use to make 2 small pizza crusts. I also picked up some of their refrigerated pizza sauce despite its sugar contents. It really wasn't too bad as far as sugar content goes, especially since I didn't use an entire serving on my pizza. I'm allowing myself a few grams of sugar to save my sanity in this whole plan, it's worth it. Again, not because of an addiction to sweets but instead because I haven't had time to make my own sauces. I planned to top off my pizza with cheese so I decided to go big or go home and got some Swiss and Gruyère shredded cheese as well. I also decided I needed more of the Fiberful Fruit Leather and some other dried fruit options without added sugar. Pitted prunes to the rescue! This bag is substantial and the prunes sweet, soft, and delicious. A perfect "pop anytime" snack to tide me over if I ever do crave sweets.

At home, the pizza took just a few minutes to put together including time to stretch out the dough. 12 minutes in the oven and I had a meal mostly within my rules (darn sugar) that satisfied my very intense pizza craving. I'm planning on making this again for myself on Saturday at a friend's house in Kansas City. She's having a birthday get together and I'm fairly certain very little will be available for me to eat that fits the rules. To make it easier on myself I'm making that pizza and I'm also making some Guacamole from the Ultra Metabolism Cookbook. I'll let you know how that goes and maybe even have some pictures. This blog needs more photos!

This way of eating is actually kind of refreshing. Sure, it has limitations that make things somewhat difficult and it'll get even more difficult next week, but overall it's pretty easy. I don't have to calorie count and worry about fat or any of that. When I read the label I look at the ingredients list first and foremost. I'll glance at the sugar and sodium content as well, especially since I'm salt-sensitive. But in total, it's a pretty easy thing to do. I'm a little scared of the next 3 weeks in particular but even longer since I don't get to add stuff back all at once. I just need to get better at planning/preparing my meals ahead and I think I'll be fine. The recipes in the book and the cookbook actually look really delicious and I'm excited to try them! Now if only I could get my anti-veg, super picky boyfriend to eat this well! It'd be much easier if he wasn't snacking on Chilean 1000 Layer Cake that he brought back from Costa Rica while I'm avoiding sugar, but he's supportive and holds me accountable and that's all that matters! I appreciate it a great deal!

Oh, one quick note. On Wednesday night I wasn't terribly hungry so I decided to have a slice of whole wheat bread with some hummus for dinner. I know, not balanced...but it worked. I hadn't really had any wheat products in almost 2 weeks until that piece of bread. At 3am I woke up with the worst sinus headache! I'm prone to those, but I thought it was interesting that I got one the night after I ate something with gluten. Sinus congestion is a common symptom of food allergy apparently. So, I'm going to keep an eye on that and see if I have fewer sinus headaches without gluten and if I get them more when I reintroduce it. I'll be heartbroken if I have a gluten sensitivity given my love affair with all things bread, but I'll manage I'm sure.