I’m on day 3 of my L.E.A.P diet…

Some of you may have read a while back that I had food allergy/sensitivity testing done. And there are about a million things I can't eat anymore, including tomatoes, garlic, lentils and all sorts of other good stuff. So, for the last couple of months I've cut out all my "red" and "yellow" offenders. But didn't start my prescribed super strict rotational diet, or L.E.A.P (lifestyle eating and performance) diet until this past Monday.

Now, having to cut out many of the foods I love was traumatic enough. But now, due to this restrictive diet, I've also had to start eating fish in order to get enough protein. I've been a vegetarian for 20 years, so this is no easy task for me. But, I can be really stubborn and shrivel away to a string bean, or I can eat some fish for 6 weeks. So, there ya go.

What I've discovered about this diet is that I'm going to have to end up getting really, really creative in the kitchen. So I figured I might as well blog about it...and maybe you folks and help me out! Who knows, maybe I'll come up with some really good recipes.

Here is what I'm allowed to eat, on a rotating system for at least 6 weeks, but should try to continue longer. I eat what's on day 1 list, then day 2, then day 3, then I can go back to day one...and repeat. There is no deviation from the list. If it's not on the list, I can't eat it. Period. No processed foods.

Day 1: Egg, Garbanzo bean, pinto bean, sole,amaranth, tapioca, oat, buckwheat, asparagus, peas, lima beans, onions, bananas, olives, papaya, raspberry, strawberry, American cheese, cottage cheese, cheddar cheese, bows milk, whey, yogurt, cashew, olive oil, sesame seed, Ginger, honey, leek, turmeric, vanilla

Day: 2 Tilapia, barley, kamut, spelt, weat, carrot, celery, mushroom, zucchini, avocado, blueberry, cantaloupe, honeydew melon, pear, cocoa, goat's milk, hazelnut, pecan, walnut, cane sugar, cumin, maple, parsley

Day 3: Salmon, tuna, crab, quinoa, rice, white potato, eggplant, lettuce spinach, apricot, cranberry, grapefruit, peach, coffee, tea, almond, sunflower seed, basil lemon, mint, mustard, paprika

Day one is definitely the best! But you start to look forward to the one or two things you really like on the other days. For dinner on Monday I had a big bowl of oatmeal with some milk, honey and lots of fresh bananas and strawberries. Mmmmmm. Yesterday, I bought some goat's milk and some raw cocoa (cant' have any additional ingredients, like soy lecithin or sweeteners, etc.). Made myself a cup of hot chocolate. It was actually really good.

Last night, I made tilapia for the first time (remember folks...it's been 20 years!). Using the ingredients I'm allowed to eat, I made a blended marinade/sauce from some goat's milk, cumin, salt, a piece of cantaloupe and some parsley. Covered the fillets with the sauce and bake/steamed it with Julienned carrots, zucchini and mushrooms. Because I can have hazelnuts, I found hazelnut oil to use. Which is very tasty! Also cooked some barley pearls and served the fish and veggies over that. The husband liked it...It was ok for me. It's going to take me a while to get used to this fish thing! But the tilapia is not toO "fishy" so that's good.

Today I made light tuna with lemon juice, basil, green peppers, and a little mustard. Served with lettuce and spinach. I went looking for sunflower oil to use as a salad dressing, but haven't been able to find it yet. Anyone know of a good local source?

That's my challenge now...how to make decent salad dressings and mayo...Wish me luck!