The French Polynesian Diet - a.k.a. If You Were Stranded on a Desserted Island Diet: Week 2

 

 

 

The first week of the diet seemed to fly by, and part of the reason the minimal amounts of food were sufficient for me, is because I was under a lot of stress. When I get stressed, I can't eat. It's not that I don't love food, but if I have stress in my life, food is like the last thing I want.  I might want to sleep more or to pray more, but definitely not eat more. So, again, the amounts that I was giving myself of the very light items were perfectly adequate.

Even at the beginning of the second week, I really wasn't grumbling, nor was my stomach because I was starting to get use to the small portions and light dishes. But let's get to Week 2 of the diet, and see what the week was like, exactly.


Breakfast on Monday consisted of leftover Orange-Coconut Cake, followed by lunch which was the rest of the baked sweet potato from the night before, and a marinated chicken leg which I'd prepped a couple of days prior. The same as the week before in orange juice and lemon juice with a little bit of salt.

Dinner was as light as it gets, and pretty bland - not going to lie.  But this is the epitome of what losing weight looks like.

Lemongrass Chicken Breast with Endive & Cabbage Salad

And that is why I had ice cream immediately after this...but we'll get to that in a moment.

First, let's talk about how I made the above dinner. Now, I will acknowledge that the lemongrass (which was the first time I tried it) gave the chicken some flavor. But it's not a flavor I will be experimenting with again in the near future. So mark that down as vegetable number 3 I am taking off my list of possible items to use this month.

Ingredients:

1 stalk lemon grass 

1 can full-fat organic coconut milk 

1 orange 

1/2 lemon 

salt to taste 

8 oz. diced 100% grass-fed chicken breast

coconut oil

3 leaves of Napa Cabbage 

1 small head of endive (I used Belgian endive)

less than 1 quarter of a cucumber, sliced

1/2 lemon

Instructions:

1. In a cast iron skillet, add the coconut oil

2. Cook up the chicken breast with salt to taste until you can see that it is cooked thoroughly; set aside 

3. In the same skillet, add diced lemongrass with some more coconut oil 

4. Once the lemongrass turns a nice golden color, add the chicken back into the skillet, and add the can of coconut milk (note: you may not need to add the entire can)

5. Squeeze one half of the lemon and one half of the orange into the skillet 

6. Slice up the other half of the orange, and add the pieces to the skillet 

7. While the chicken is cooking, dice up your cucumber, cabbage and endive 

8. Once  the chicken is done, remove from skillet, and serve with salad. 

9. Squeeze other half of lemon on top of salad and serve 

 

Tuesday, I attempted to make Banana Pie, and I failed miserably. That went straight down the garbage disposal. So instead, I tried to make a smoothie with an orange...which, also failed miserably, but I did not know this until I got to work. No breakfast? No, no...I had succumb to eating an orange, though I'd brought that as a snack to go with lunch, and munch on some coconut slices, which was also intended for lunch.

And lunch was one piece of a baked chicken leg marinated in orange and lemon juice - with a few more of the coconut slices on the side.

Dinner was also rather light, but I discovered a new recipe on the "Tasty" app which I will be making again in the future. Baked sweet potato fries. While I'm still not a big fan of sweet potatoes, the fries are a tastier recipe than some of the others out there, and the Mahi Mahi. Well, it was pretty bland but healthy, low-cal and honestly - filling.

Baked Mahi Mahi with Sweet Potato Fries

Ingredients:

1 fillet of Mahi Mahi

1/2 lemon 

Sushi Rice 

1 large sweet potato 

salt to taste 

coconut oil 

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. Clean and slice sweet potato diagonally into strips, thick but not too thick in width

3. On a baking sheet with tin foil place the strips of sweet potato, adding coconut oil and salt

4. Bake for 20 minutes, remove from oven, stir to flip them and place back in oven for another 20-25 minutes until they are golden brown and soft/crispy 

5. Approximately 15 minutes before the fries are done, place Mahi Mahi on a baking sheet with tin foil as well, add juice from half a lemon and bake at the same temperature for between 15-25 minutes, or until you are satisfied with the level the fish is cooked 

6. Serve both items with a small helping of sushi rice on the side

 

 

 

Wednesday's breakfast was the last bit of my leftover Coconut-Orange cake, followed by lunch...

And dinner, which was my delicious crab and scrambled eggs with a sliced up orange

Thursday's breakfast was a banana and coconut water smoothie, while lunch consisted of some grilled chicken breast with sushi rice and sliced cucumber...

Dinner was more grilled chicken breast (and just to note, the chicken is cooked with coconut oil and salt), with sushi rice and some endive on the side

Friday morning, I brought two scrambled eggs with sliced cucumber to work with me for breakfast...

For lunch...go ahead and guess! Yup...more grilled chicken breast with rice...mmm-mmm!

Dinner was a piece of chicken leg with orange and lemon juice as flavoring, some sushi rice and sliced cucumber on the side...

Saturday was my cheat day - Hallelujah! It's always a stretch waiting 2 weeks, but when it finally comes it's so nice. In some ways it's almost bittersweet though. You want to eat all the yummy foods you don't get to eat day to day, on the other hand you feel a little bit sick afterward because you're body develops an intolerance to those "bad foods" over time. Which is a good thing...but it makes those cheat days less enjoyable when you don't feel well by the end of them. It might be worth it though...

Breakfast was heaven. I had my delicious coffee with half n' half and I swear that is the best part of the day. I long for the diet I will be on in a couple of months where cows were available so I can drink milk with my coffee.

The actual breakfast was my own creation of sorts. I like reliving my days in Italy, so I created my own brioche cioccolato. I bought a couple of croissants (and was only able to eat one because my stomach has shrunk so much!) - and filled them with Nutella, then stuck them in the oven for 10 minutes til the spread was gooey and amazing.

Lunch...well, lunch was kind of a disappointment, it looked so delicious but the meat was super dry and inedible. The sides were amazing though...a variety of BBQ meats, mac n' cheese, potato salad and BBQ beans...

After some lunch and a trip to the pool, I came home and sort of collapsed and fell into a coma for a couple of hours.

When I awoke I had some tortilla chips and then ordered...

...the most delicious pizza...maybe not ever, but definitely here in my area.

Finally, I topped off the evening with a hot fudge sundae, and much later that night, some of a chocolate candy bar...

All in all, a good day.


Back to the grind stone it was Sunday, and I usually take that one full day I have off from work to do a lot of cleaning and cooking for the week.

Breakfast was more of the delicious orange cake I'd made the week before...

And then lunch was something brand new but absolutely delicious which I will absolutely be making again in the third week of the diet...

Tuna Crab-Cakes

Ingredients:

6 oz. wild-caught lump crab meat 

2 eggs 

1 can albacore tuna in water (drained)

 

1 tbsp fresh grated ginger 

 

salt to taste 

 

coconut oil

Instructions:

1. In a bowl, mix together the eggs, tuna and crab, adding salt and the grated ginger

2. Whisk together

3. In a skillet, heat roughly 4 tbsp coconut oil 

4. Form the mixture into patties, and place in skillet allowing them to turn a golden brown on each side (approximately 4 minutes on each side) 

5. Once the patties are cooked thoroughly, serve with sweet potato fries on the side

Finally, dinner was a new experiment. I stole the recipe from a guy on YouTube but took out a lot of the ingredients, and added a few of my own. Technically it's his recipe but really I made up the whole thing anew since I can't have many of the items he listed. Even still, though it may not have been quite as yummy as his - mine was still very satisfying.

Healthy Chinese Orange Chicken

This is a recipe I stole from a video I watched on YouTube, but as usual, I changed up several of the ingredients and took out several as well.

Ingredients:

4 oz. 100% grass-fed, no hormones added chicken breast, sliced up into small chunks

2 free-range eggs

1/2 cup organic coconut flour

Coconut oil for frying

1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice

1/2 cup  organic pure raw cane sugar

1/4 cup organic rice vinegar

orange zest from 2 oranges 

Instructions:

1. Dice up your chicken and set aside

2. Zest 2 oranges into a bowl, then juice each orange and add the juice to the bowl

3. Add the rice vinegar and salt to taste; set bowl aside

4. In a separate bowl add the eggs, and beat well

5. In yet another separate bowl, add the coconut flour 

6. Heat a skillet with the coconut oil; In a small pot, start cooking sushi rice - follow instructions on bag

7. Dip the chicken into the egg batter, then into the coconut flour and shake off any extra flour

8. Once oil is heated, add chicken to pan

9. Cook on high-medium heat well until the chicken is sufficiently cooked

10. In a separate skillet, add the orange liquid mixture, heating it up on the stove

11. Once the orange liquid is heated, add the chicken to the orange liquid; stir continuously for approximately 5 minutes until completely cooked.

12. Once rice is finished, serve the chicken with the rice

And this was Week 2. Stay tuned for all the foods I'll be eating next week during my third week of The French Polynesian Diet!

"....'Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared.  This day is holy to our Lord.  Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.'" -Nehemiah 8:10