Let's face it - a diet change can be daunting. Relying on old eating routines to fuel your days can be easier and more comfortable than committing to breaking old norms and creating new habits. But you have to start somewhere. Whatever your reason for wanting to overhaul your food habits, from health reasons to environmental to new year's resolutions, the goal of Splendid Spoon is to make that change as easy and seamless as possible. We like to think we're a simple, mindless way to take healthy eating off of your to do list while still having a real impact.

Meet Erin*, who put this idea to the test by embarking on a 90-day complete diet overhaul. Her goal was simple – improve her health in order to avoid becoming diabetic (read more about Erin* here). She committed herself to these simple rules:
1) Eat Splendid for breakfast & lunch every weekday, and do a Reset Day monthly.
2) Move more by doing something active daily.

Here's Volume 3 of her unedited, unfiltered 90-day journey.

Day 15 - This Looks Crazy ________________________________

I know, I know. This intake reads like, “What in the H E Double Hockey Sticks?!?!?” I’m of sound mind, I promise. It’s just that I weighed this morning and haven’t lost anything this week. I decided to take a calculated risk and shock my body. Again, still on the proverbial wagon, but the thing is I’ve read a lot on diet and how food works in the body. Especially so in the literature on food combining/cycling and Keto, many dieticians and nutritionists talk about the controversial tactic that is the cheat day. I wasn’t planning on incorporating cheat days at all. But, while there is always room to improve, this week was a pretty good week and I thought for sure I’d lose at least two pounds. So, when the scale hadn’t moved, I thought I’d take a chance and see if this might not work for me. Am I premature in doing this? Maybe. But guess what? I’ve already won! First, my cheat day wasn’t a free-for-all. There was no bingeing, there were no thoughts of get it all in while I can. It was quite the opposite in fact, where my brain and body were in total agreement that this was to be a controlled experiment, emphasis on don’t lose your whole mind! Secondly, I did not have any coffee. That alone is worth a praise dance!!! If there was any day, this was the day to do it; to go running into Dunkin’s arms like a long lost love. But, I couldn’t. Better, I didn’t want to. I knew that I could not go back down that road. I was so firm in the fact that I didn’t want to eat or drink anything that would have me itching for more the next day. So, I had no bread, no coffee, no cookies, no cake, no fries - none of the things that send me careening down the path of no return. I can’t even begin to express how major that is for me. So, I chose to splurge on things that I enjoy but won’t miss. Now, here’s the real kicker: I have a pint of cashew milk ice cream that has been in my freezer since before I started Splendid. I thought, ok...there’s a bunch of sugar in this, but it is dairy free and I can just have a scoop. If I’m gonna have a dessert, this will be the one. I got the ice cream all melty like I like it and took 2 spoonfuls and instantly felt to throw it away - it was SOOOO SWEET. I couldn’t do it! What a revelation that was! I end the day eagerly looking forward to the return to my new normal, and that, my friends, is a BIG WIN.

Food Intake
2 Eggs
4 Sausage Links
3 Van’s Waffles
1 Ground Beef Taco on Corn Shell
1 Shrimp Taco on Corn Shell
Vermicelli with Pork
Banana and Nut Butter
Water - 3 x 16oz bottles

Day 16 - Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Program ________

I am happy - THRILLED - to be back on plan. I feel so much better. I had a pretty clean day today and I also walked AND did yoga! I am pretty excited about how good it felt to eat clean and that I wasn’t hankering for more foods that don’t do this ol’ body any favors. I had to know what the damage was and the scale showed that I’m up 1.4lbs. I know that’s water weight, but it still sucks to see the scale go in the opposite direction. Again. But that’s ok...today was a great day and I’m gonna focus on that. I also am tweaking my snacks a bit. I think I may have been overdoing it on the trail mix and guacamole. It wasn’t out of control but I think I could go lighter, hence the introduction of the veggie straws and cauliflower pretzels. We’ll see how this goes.

Food Intake
AB&J Smoothie
Cucumber and Tomato Salad
Zucchini Puttanesca
Nut Butter and Banana
Ripple Milk (Unsweetened Vanilla)
Veggie Straws and Cauliflower Pretzels
Sautéed Shrimp
Riced Cauliflower
Water - 3.5 x 16oz bottles

Day 17 - H2O, You Filthy Animal ________________________

I woke up this morning with a pounding headache, which usually signals dehydration. I drank a quick two bottles and voila! No more headache. Dadgummit, water!!  Sooooo, H2O...can we talk about it? For my weight, I’m supposed to be drinking 9, count ‘em, 12345678 NINE bottles of water a day!! That’s 144 oz a day, kids. More than a gallon! To this point, on my best day, I’m approaching ½ this much.  So guess what? We’re about to change that and here’s why: 1. dehydration is no bueno health-wise, and 2. I think it impacts the scale. I admit I weighed again this morning. I know. It’s really not a good idea to weigh daily, especially, if like me, there’s an emotional response attached. But I’m always so curious. Well, from Saturday, I’m up .6. So, putting two and two together, this is what I know: I doubled my activity yesterday, with a 3 ¼ mile walk + a 40 minute yoga sesh. I drank the same amount of water as I would on a normal day, actually a little less. This morning’s headache was my body ringing the alarm. So I’m about to drink water like it’s my job. I’m about to beat this water game like it stole something. LET’S GO! :)

Food Intake
Nut Butter Banana Smoothie (Justin’s + ½ banana + Ripple)
2 Tilapia Fillets
Steamed Broccoli
Veggie Straws and Cauliflower Pretzels
Masala Khichri
Nut Butter Banana Smoothie
Water - 9 x 16oz bottles

Day 18 - SOS: Water Rescue _____________________________

I love when I talk big talk about something I’m gonna do because invariably I end up humbled! Remember way back, long, long ago (yesterday) when I said I’d own water’s butt and it didn’t want it with me? Yeah, straight up drowned today and juuuuust barely got seven bottles in.  Hydration is hard! So, while I managed to get all nine in yesterday (yay!), I think I got up no fewer than 6 times in the night (boo!). That aside, I still managed to get to the park early for my walk, recycled all my Splendid packaging, packed my food, showered, dressed and was only 10-ish minutes late to work. KILLING. IT. I mean, what’s 10, 15 minutes when my health and the health of the planet is involved?!? LOL. #stayemployed Anyhoo, I had a couple of impromptu meetings today that threw my water schedule off, but I am still pleased with my progress. I’m always assessing and tweaking and I noticed on my cheat day that after my big breakfast, I was pretty full for the majority of the day, not even thinking of lunch until about 3PM. So today, I thought I’d switch things around a bit and had my fish and veggies for breakfast. It was awesome! Between that and the H2O, I was very content. So when I did finally get home, I wasn’t super hungry. It was part of the reason that my dinner consisted only of meat, which was so not the plan. I had cooked some carnitas in the Crock Pot and after that serving, I was full. I even made an after-yoga smoothie, but didn’t drink it because the water had taken up so much space. Good day.

Food Intake
2 Tilapia Fillets
Steamed Broccoli, Cauliflower and Carrots
1 Grapefruit
Tiny bit of trail mix
Cacao Almond Smoothie
1 Apple
Stewed Carnitas
Water - 9 x 16oz bottles

Day 19 - Weather Monster _____________________________

The weather has been CRAP here - torrential rains, flooding, humidity - just yuck all around. I had to take the workout indoors for the first time in a while. It was actually pretty pleasant, so the day started off pretty good. However, as the day went on, it got darker and darker and darker….and my snacking got bigger and bigger and bigger! It was as if I were going to find blue skies at the bottom of my veggie straws bag. It was mindless eating, plain and simple, fueled in part by not-so-great time management on my end. I keep getting caught up in these random conversations and before I know it, It’s time for me to cover a point of service and slurping my soup may not make for the best customer service. Just sayin. So I have to manage my time better and stave off the mindless snacking.

Food Intake
Carnitas
Steamed Broccoli, Cauliflower and Carrots
1 Apple
½ Matcha Green Smoothie
Vanilla Tea
Waaaay Too Many Veggie Straws
1 Grapefruit
Ikarian Stew
Cucumber, Tomato and Avocado Salad
Water - 7 x 16oz bottles

Day 20 - Upside Down Turned Right Side Up _________________

Wednesdays are our staff meetings and it’s been stressed to us that that we be on time. I got home from the gym a little later than I planned, so I was really rushing. When it’s just a normal day, I actually eat my first meal at work, but on meeting days that doesn’t happen. All that to say that I started off with a smoothie, but I realized by the afternoon, that I really wasn’t on top of my intake like I needed to be. Next thing I knew, it’s almost 1PM and I hadn’t had really had anything to eat. I scarfed down ate a delicious salad before heading down to our service point. I snacked on some veggie straws and cauliflower pretzels, but I wasn’t satisfied. I didn’t get to my soup until a little after 4PM, letting me know that switch to the larger meal first really does work for me. A successful day is my big meal first, smoothie and snacks in the middle and soup and veggies at the end. Noted.

Food Intake
½ Matcha Green Smoothie
Strawberry Banana Smoothie (Homemade)
Cucumber, Tomato and Avocado Salad
Handful of Veggie Straws + Cauliflower Pretzels
Chana Potato Soup
Matcha Tea
Carnitas and Beef Riblets
Steamed Broccoli
Nut Butter and Banana
Cucumber, Tomato and Avocado Salad
Water - 8 x 16oz bottles

Day 21 - Snacky for No Reason __________________________

Weather was still on ridiculous status today, but I made it to the gym AFTER my morning yoga. I was so proud of that and I actually prefer this combo because as many times as I’ve said I would do yoga after work is as many times as I haven’t done yoga after work! I like to come in, throw on comfy clothes and woo-sa. SO, I think we’ll be implementing this more. That said, I don’t know if it was the grey skies or the workout, but I could. not. stop. Snacking. I had a great meal to kick off the day, but all I wanted was to snack. I was a bit off on my H2O, so perhaps that accounted for my snackish ways??? I have no clue. I was just about ½ way through my soup when it was announced that we were closing early due to the storms. So I was able to go home and veg guilt-free with my workouts already complete. I felt like I wanted to eat something, so I scrambled up some eggs and they tasted like rays of sunshine! OMG, soooo good!

Food Intake
Beef Riblets
Steamed Broccoli and Cauliflower
Matcha Latte w/ Almond Milk
Handful of Veggie Straws + Cauliflower Pretzels
Handful of Trail Mix
½ Split Pea Soup
Scrambled Eggs
Nut Butter Smoothie
Water - 6 x 16oz bottles

WEEK 3 IN REVIEW ________________________________________

Week 3 Starting Weight 294.4
Ending Weight 292.6
Starting Waist Measurement 50
Ending Waist Measurement 49

It’s been three weeks now and I’ve net a loss of 7.4 lbs and 5in from my waist. You can’t see my happy dance, but it’s happening. Right now. I’m majorly celebrating the lost inches! However, I’m bitter beer face-ing the weight totals because all things considered, I really haven’t moved beyond the first week’s total. Given my how much I weigh, I feel as though I should be down close to double what I am now. I spoke to a friend about it who suggested that I might not be eating enough. I have read over the years about caloric intake, not going below the magic 1200 calories, etc. As I reflected on how I instinctively felt compelled to conduct my experiment - shake up my intake - this really resonated with me. So, I decided to log Thursday’s intake in the app, Lose It!, and just see. I couldn’t believe my eyes. At just shy of 5PM, I had only consumed 900 calories. My friend was right!! I have not been eating enough. What’s even crazier? I didn’t work out Friday. So here I am with what has been a pretty typical day for me and I could’ve potentially reduced that by about half from exercise!!!!

Wow. I am so grateful for this info because the pounds just aren’t coming off the way I think they should and I was starting to get frustrated. I’m eating the cleanest I have eaten in a very, very long time, so what is the issue? Now, let me just say: weight isn’t the whole story. I know that. But, it is a goal of mine to really drop some pounds; so, ever assessing and tweaking, I think I’m going to explore some ways to healthily increase calories while sticking to my goal of consuming more whole, nutritious foods and implement this next week.

Smoothies: This week started off a bit weird. I have my shipments delivered to my job so that they aren’t sitting outside in front of my house all day. Well, I forgot the box at work Wednesday so I had homemade smoothies for the first couple days. I kicked off Saturday with Strawberry Coconut. It was so red and pretty, I couldn’t wait to try it! Sooooooo, here’s the deal: I like the flavor of coconut, but I don’t actually like real coconut. One would think I would have paid attention to the description, but no. My review is that this smoothie is for real coconut lovers because it is chock full.

Soups: Again, all the soups are hitting it out the park! I am surprised on a weekly basis, with the sleeper hit this week being the Split Pea. I don’t do peas, y’all. I mean, at all never ever! Delish. I am eating veggies I never thought I would with these soups. It’s super exciting to expand my palate in this way. A newbie to the rotation was the Zucchini Puttanesca. I found it really light and delightful. I am a zucchini lover so I hoped it would be good, though I admit to being a bit curious of how zucchini would hold up in a soup. It did and was very tasty. One of this week’s soups was very peppery, which I personally love, but for some, it might be a bit much. I can’t remember if it was the Zucchini or the Ikharian. So helpful, right? “It’s this one, or that one...or maybe this one.” I know, you’re welcome. 💗

Want to read more about Erin's 90 day journey? Read Volume 1 and Volume 2 and stay tuned for Volume 4 soon.

Interested in committing to a diet change yourself? Get started with a weekly delivery and see for yourself what a difference it makes. Questions? Email us at hello@splendidspoon.com.