Mojo Mastery Week 2

Mara King and Marcie Goldman preparing a vegetarian soup with tofu and miso.

This week we strip it down. No dairy. No gluten. Oooo. It's hard.

Last week I added greens to nearly every meal I ate. My food consumption was really high, but I never felt hungry. Only satisfied. We feasted on kale, collard greens, brussel sprouts, spinach, lettuces.

We added herbal infusions and lots of water to our daily meals.

Adding was easy. Removing is not.

Gluten is the tough one for me. I have already eliminated most dairy because of a sensitivity to it. That hasn't been too bad. I am a bread freak. I eat it every day. Kicking gluten is harder than quitting caffeine for me.

My brother-in-law is in the process of mastering the round, hard-crusted loaves from Tartine Bakery in San Fran. He makes a loaf daily. We're his guinea pigs and try every perfect loaf with cultured butter.

I am only on day two and jonesing big time for a roll. I'd take anything - even a crappy, generic hamburger roll from the grocery store.

Our directive this week?

- No dairy

- No gluten

- Lots of water - 1/2 cup every half hour or a 1/3 of your water before breakfast, 1/3 in the mid morning, 1/3 between lunch and dinner.

- Breakfast - eat within 30 minutes of rising. Plenty of fat, protein, leafy greens and healthy carbs.

- Small meals - shoot for little meals every 2 to 4 hours to help stave off cravings for sugar and foods you're trying to avoid.

- Non-starchy vegetables - make these the mainstay of your diet including them whenever possible.

- Protein - eat 5 to 25 grams of protein with every meal. Make sure to eat grass-fed, local and non-commercial when possible.

- Healthy fats - include healthy fats like grass-fed butter and ghee, ocean-caught fish, fish oils, coconut oils, avocados, pasture-raised eggs, extra virgin olive oil, cold-pressed sesame oil, nuts and seeds.

- Increase enzymes - eat fermented foods like kombucha, kvass, raw cultured vegetables

Keep up with bone broths and herbal infusions.

Hoping I don't end up in a corner stuffing stale saltines in my mouth. Kicking my habit slowly ...