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Sunset Eat Fresh, Day 3: Oatmeal for Everyone!

On Monday evening I had a doctor appointment, so I texted my (very sweet, but less than nutritionally savvy) boyfriend Chris to ask him to start the quinoa in the rice cooker before I got home. When the timer beeped, I opened the cooker to find not quinoa, but oodles of very soupy steel-cut oats.

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Who: Gina Goff, Sunset.com managing editor

I’m giving up: Caffeine, Alcohol, Red Meat

My biggest challenge today: Just as we started this challenge, I came down with a cough/cold. My usual feel-sorry-for-myself sick treats are out: no fluorescent-colored popsicles, no heavy-pour-of-whiskey hot toddies, no hearty beef stew. I might get creative and freeze some of the delicious herbal red raspberry tea that I’ve been drinking all day though.

My biggest temptation to cheat: On Monday evening I had a doctor appointment, so I texted my (very sweet, but less than nutritionally savvy) boyfriend Chris to ask him to start the quinoa in the rice cooker before I got home. When the timer beeped, I opened the cooker to find not quinoa, but oodles of very soupy steel-cut oats. “They looked the same!” Chris said. Amidst the chaos of trying to strain and salvage the oats, I missed the timer on the oven and overcooked our tilapia fillets, causing them to stick and fall apart when I removed them from the pan. This disastrous dinner almost had me reaching for last weekend’s pepperoni pizza in the fridge. But I couldn’t let myself fall apart on the very first day of the challenge, so instead I made an extra big batch of sautéed spinach and filled up on greens for dinner. Not sexy, but it got the job done. The silver lining: I have had PLENTY of precooked oatmeal for my breakfasts all week.

I feel: I was truly exhausted yesterday, but sniffles aside, I actually feel great today — energetic and pretty confident that I can make it through the rest of the week caffeine-free. The high energy MAY be a result of my getting eleven—yes, eleven—hours of sleep last night, but the withdrawal headaches still haven’t set in and I’m hoping that means I’m over the hump. And an added bonus I really wasn’t expecting: I am SO full from all this high-fiber, high-protein food! Yesterday I was home sick, so I made up for Monday’s disaster dinner by simmering a fresh tomato sauce on the stove all day to pour over Trader Joe’s Brown Rice & Quinoa Fusilli pasta, with seared bay scallops on top. It was delicious—even Captain Oatmeal thought so—but I barely had an appetite to finish it after my hearty breakfast and lunch.

48 hour countdown to that reward wine starts now! What should I drink? Leave me suggestions in the comments below, and follow more of my kitchen disasters on Twitter @ginamariegoff, Instagram @gmg415, or by following #SunsetEatFresh.