Wonderful discoveries:
- Brown rice veggie sushi at Publix (local grocery store)
- Fauxjitos - muddle mint with a little agave, add ice and diet tonic water (no high fructose corn syrup)
- Chris can be counted on to fix a tasteless black bean soup (lots of cayenne and our go to spice --herbs de provence)
I'm officially over soup.
The second day of my zucchini soup tasted better than the first, and I thought things were looking up. But I was still bored with the consistency. Last night I attempted to make a cauliflower/mushroom soup based on a fabulous soup I had a great local restaurant. The problem is that the soup I was trying to copy had butter and cream and bacon...and there is no way to replicate those flavors, no matter how much almond/cashew cream I add. Cauliflower and mushrooms can be pretty bland on their own so I added thyme and garlic, then resorted to garlic powder. Between the bitter aftertaste of the garlic powder and the watery, baby-food consistency of the soup I just gave up and ate some delicious chicken and veggie curry that I'd made for lunch. I may have to switch back to clean solid food for awhile, or at least have a salad or tiny solid food portion with soup at dinner.
Please pass on any other soup recipes. The carrot ginger was good, and I liked my own version of the butternut squash, but I need something really robust and flavorful for it to surpass the consistency issues.
(hmmm, this seems to be the achilles heel of the whole clean system. Tonight we made a non-clean split pea soup. It was non-clean because of the smoked turkey leg that simmered in the pot with the peas... I don't know that for certain, but I'm guessing that smoked meats are not on the good list. But, other than that, the soup had onions, garlic, carrots, celery, dry peas and after cooking with the turkey leg for about 45 mins, you add in fresh sage and lemon zest. It was really flavorful, and I bet might still be good without the turkey? I'll keep an eye out for other soups. That vegan Thai Pumpkin soup at the restaurant we went to was still hands down my favorite. I wonder if they would give away their recipe..- Megan)
Days 10-15, Jan. 25-30
This week was particularly tough. We formally entered the soup stage, while I also faced a New Faculty dinner at Maggiano's and a weekend away with Chris' old DC crew. It was surprisingly easy to stick to Clean at home, and even for the most part when we were in Deep Creek, but when I had to enter the regular world and face with non-Clean foods all around me, it just becomes too tough.
When I stick to Clean, I don't have the bloating and gas problems that have plagued me most of my life. It's surprising that in only 2 weeks my body reacts to such little changes. Last week I had a burrito bowl from Chipotle with white rice, and started feeling bloated soon after. Today I had almost the exact same burrito bowl from another place with brown rice and mango salsa, but still with chicken and beans, and I had no stomach issues. How is it that even the smallest cheats make such a big difference on my body?
It all makes me sympathize with those dealing with re-entry, but still makes me wonder, if we feel so good eating "Clean" why are we still trying to go back to the old ways? Of course I know why, it's because it tastes so good and it's 'easier.' But then we pay for it later. Listening to all of your re-entry tales, I'm making a plan for myself about how much gluten, lactose, and white rice I will allow back into my life. I can't figure out which one it is that makes my stomach tumble, but I know it's impossible to cut it out completely. It's also interesting to hear Dave and Chris' comments about beer (hopefully Chris will post about his experience). I guess beer/alcohol is an easier item for me to give up, but I guess we have to keep questioning do we really NEED it? Do we drink for the taste, to get drunk, to relax, or because alcohol is simply the norm for socializing. We (me and Chris) seem to be fine without our nightly beer with dinner, but in a group when everyone else is drinking, suddenly we're pariah's and high school peer pressure kicks in from our friends.
The book "Clean" suggests that this should, in fact, be a detox with a set end date, so we shouldn't feel bad about eating non-clean foods again. But to me it seems like this is not just a question about what our body accepts, but also what is socially acceptable at times. I don't want to be the weird girl special ordering everything and not drinking, but I also don't want to be the girl who has to pop a Gas-X after every meal.
Sorry, that was awfully preachy...the next post will be much lighter.
Sabrina, I agree with you. I don't want to go completely back to my old ways either. I am glad to add some of the healthy food from the "bad" list back into my diet - like oranges and tomatoes - but I don't want to add the unhealthy foods. It was nice this morning to eat waffles though. Being socially acceptable isn't the only problem either. In most social settings that I was in during the cleanse, like you said, "clean" food was barely available if at all. Also, I have a friend who says she is allergic to alcohol. I've never heard of that before, but I also haven't heard anyone question her on it. Maybe you can use that excuse the next time your out drinking tonic water : ) -Amy
Days 6-9, Jan. 21-24
A weekend of cheating. Everything was moving along fine and dandy until we had to go out into the real world. Chris' co-worker's going away party was TOUGH. Avoiding alcohol has never really been that hard for me, but plates of onion rings, spinach dip, and chicken fingers were scattered everywhere and I almost cut the onion out of the ring, but resisted. Instead, Chris and I shared a salad with grilled salmon that didn't come close to hitting the spot.As everyone geared up for a big night out, we attempted to get a real meal and settled on a burrito bowl from Chipotle (grilled chicken, vegetarian beans, guacamole and white rice). The white rice was the first cheat, which didn't seem so bad, but it snowballed.
We planned a dinner out on Saturday with friends and purposefully chose Indian (upon Clean's suggestion). Although I can't stress enough the amount of restraint he showed on our Friday night, 2am outing as beer, soju, and Jack abounded, Chris fell off the wagon with some celebratory wine Saturday night. And I followed suit by having naan with dinner. Oh, how I've missed gluten. Of course, dinner came with white rice, but I've decided I shouldn't feel bad about it.
Sunday was much more successful. Chris has become our expert smoothie chef and we dined on leftover Indian for lunch. He even enjoyed Pelegrino during the Packer game. I know that doesn't sound very Packer like, but hey , the bottle is green. We ended the night at my friend/co-worker's place who is on Clean with us. She prepared some great Clean snacks: chicken wings w/ no sauce, just seasoned, my leftover white bean dip, mango salsa, and I brought some backed chickpea chips at WF.
I made my first soup last night - asparagus, parsnip, leek - and happily bought an immersion blender to make the next 3 weeks easier. I thought the soup was so-so, but Chris really liked it. I'm going to try the Carrot, Ginger, Lemon soup recipe that Megan suggested. I'm hoping to get her same great results.
In general, I'm feeling good. I'm getting out of bed faster and managed to do 15 minutes of yoga, shower and get out of the house in a little over an hour, when it used to take me that long just to simply wake up enough to leave. Of course, having my own smoothie chef does cut back on the time. And I got my weight mixed up, I only lost 4.5 lbs last week, so hopefully the slow down Jenny talked about will happen to me too and I'll stay closer to normal.
I must say that I am getting a little tired of cooking, and I LOVE cooking. Jenny - I now feel your pain. It takes a lot to prepare soup for dinner and a meal for the next day's lunch. I think my recent lack of excitement while cooking has affected the way I feel about the food. Chris loved my soup, I thought it was ok, my co-worker liked my parsnip, kale pasta - while I was already over it. So tonight, I'll make the soup and Chris is cooking some lamb for tomorrow, hopefully it will renew my tastebuds.
Days 4 and 5 - Jan. 19th and 20th
Day 4 started out rough. I was nauseous and extremely tired in the morning. And I wasn't the only one, my friend at work was in pretty bad shape too. After a cup of tea, and teaching my awesome 5th period kids, I felt much better; and things have only gone up from there.
In general I'm drinking a lot more water (very similar to Megan) and I've realized the need to up my food intake. I'm now doing about 24 oz of smoothie in the morning and slowly drinking them during my morning classes to keep hunger at bay. I made a white bean dip for a get together with friends and the leftovers have become a great midday snack with carrots or rice cakes. And I'm eating about 1 to 1 1/2 avocados a day between my smoothies and my afternoon avocado cashew salads.
I'm upping the calories both to fend of hunger and because I've lost 6 pounds already! I'm a little nervous about it all. I'm giving myself through the end of next week as Chris and I enter the smoothie breakfast/soup dinner phase. If I'm still dropping weight this fast I may have to reevaluate my "Clean" plan.
(My super fast weight gain slowed in the second week and even more in the third, I guess I also was "cheating" a little more each week, but no dramatic cheats and still my weight seems to have slowed, hoping the same for you my friend. -Jenny)
In other news, I had my first cheat yesterday. Thankfully, my school posts the lunch schedule a week in advance, and my co-worker and I have been planning around which days we have to bring lunch and which days we can eat in the cafeteria. The food here is great and they often serve brown rice and other healthy options. Thursdays lunch had parmesan crusted tilapia listed. We figured as long as we scraped off the crust every thing would be ok.
Yeah, I couldn't scrape off that crust. Breadcrumbs never tasted so good.
(scraping off the breadcrumbs at school is just one clean step too far--good choice! JJ)
Day 3 - January 18th
Hunger and Headaches.
Breakfast: mango, pineapple, coconut milk, hemp protein
I thought being back at school would make me less hungry. Chris claimed that at work he was too busy to think about being hungry. I guess that doesn't work with me. By 9am I had a low grade headache. By 10am it was more fierce. I ate cashews and drank tea, but it did nothing. I forced myself to wait until 11:30 before I ran to the teacher's lounge to heat up my leftover cashew chicken.
After eating, I felt surprisingly full and didn't bother to eat my salad. That feeling just barely lasted through my 3rd period class of 9th graders who clearly forgot how to be students over the snow break.
By the end of the day, I had a crippling headache, devoured my salad between classes, and secretly wished that my sweet student who came to chat with me after school would just leave so I could run home and eat. Then other teachers came by and dragged me into a mini-meeting...and all I wanted to do was eat.
I finally sped home, rushed in the door, and without taking off my jacket made a quick avocado and cashew salad (trying to up the good fat). My headache subsided, but not enough for me to go to my regular yoga class. I did about 25 minutes at home while my chicken cooked.
Dinner: Walnut crusted chicken, brown rice, braised red cabbage
This is tougher than I thought.
(Ahh, this is a tough start. I hope it got better today! Maybe you should consider wearing a fanny pack stuffed with snacks for easy access? :) I hear they're making a comeback...- Megan)
Day 2 - January 17th
Chris started our day by making a mango, pineapple, blueberry smoothie with almond/cashew cream and hemp protein. He had to work, but I had the day off, so I woke up to have smoothies together at 7, then went back to sleep for an hour.
At about 8:30, I started feeling hungry, but had a cup of mint tea and some cashews instead. I then set off to right some of the wrongs I committed while shopping the day before:
- Bought probiotics as suggested in 'Clean,' then found out that most of them are cultured with lactose. I tried to return them for a veggie version, but the clerk at GNC claimed the only non-lactose probiotics in-store were cultured from a baby in Japan in 1950! Umm...I think I rather ingest a little lactose then a little baby.
- All soba noodles are not gluten-free. Buckwheat is naturally gluten free, but the package I picked up at Whole Foods apparently had wheat flower as well. Was too lazy to go to WF, will try to find a full buckwheat version later this week.
- Tried to find Tamari for my cashew chicken lunch (see below), but realized that it's just wheat free soy sauce. I'm confused, is Tamari allowed or not? It's recommended in some of the 'Clean' recipes, but I was unsure. In the future I'm going to use fish sauce as a soy sauce/tamari replacement. It's not really healthy (basically water, anchovies, and salt), but it doesn't included any excluded foods and it's pretty much the soy sauce of Thai cooking.
- No more faux vodka tonics for us. Tonic water apparently includes high fructose corn syrup. Why is that stuff everywhere! So faux vodka sodas for us now.
***I've moved the cod and cashew chicken recipes to the new RECIPES tab***
In non-food related 'Clean' activities - Is anyone else besides Dave doing the olive oil at night? Chris and I forgot 2 nights in a row, it sounds utterly gross. Can you guys blog about the taste/benefits you've seen so far?
I also tried the hot/cold plunge thing in the shower last night. I could only stand water a little colder than lukewarm, and I only switched the temp twice. It felt weird, but my stomach did have a physical reaction of sorts (use your imagination) between each temperature shift.
Tomorrow's the first day back at school trying to stick to 'Clean,' let's see how this goes.
Day 1 - January 16th
It's been 3 hours since dinner and I want to nibble on something. I'm not hungry really, but it's interesting to see the habits we fall into. So I'll blog instead of snacking.
I was both excited and anxious about today. Chris and I are starting the optional ease-in week, which means we'll still be sipping smoothies and soups while the rest of you are back onto beers and burgers, but at least I get to eat 3 solid meals for one more week.
We started off the morning with a smoothie made of frozen mango and pineapple, mixed with rice milk and agave. I added hemp protein to mine. It took away from the pretty yellow color, but the taste of the hemp wasn't as bad as I imagined. Just a mild sawdust aftertaste on an otherwise refreshing smoothie. Hopefully it will do the job of keeping my weight up, plus it has added Omega 3s.
Lunch was courtesy of the Whole Foods hot bar. As for the grocery shopping, we must have spent an hour and a half in there. I was pretty surprised by how closely I had to read the labels, even in Whole Foods, to find products without additives or other forbidden items on the Clean program. I'm most excited about the sugar free coconut milk we found, cashew butter (since I sometimes have a mild allergy to almonds) and a container of almond/cashew cream that should do wonders for creamy veggie soups next week. We decided to stock up on basics at Whole Foods today (nuts, rice and nut milks, quinoa, soba, etc) and do our regular shopping at the local grocery store to keep costs down. With ingredients for a couple of good meals, and our foundational stash, we made it in just under $200.
And then there was dinner...I made baked Alaskan Cod with lemon, capers, and thyme; warm quinoa salad; and garlic kale. There were some missteps: I overcooked the quinoa and to me the kale just tasted...healthy, even though Chris loved it. But the cod was a revelation! I'd only had it as fried fish and chips or the salted, dried version that, when reconstituted, makes up Trinidad and Tobago's national dish, but I'd never cooked it myself. It was amazing: firm and flavorful with almost a buttery finish.
Finally, I attempted to make coconut brown rice pudding with mango for dessert. Thanks to Amy for helping me figure out rice to coconut milk proportions. I had to cook it way longer that expected, but the flavors were really good, although the texture was off. We ate it warm to get it in before our 12 hour window between dinner and breakfast began to close. The warm bits of cinnamony mango among the coconut rice were quite a treat. All in all it made for a great finish to the first day.
Oh, the other discovery, faux vodka tonics with dinner: tonic water, lemon and ice. Simple, but a good replacement for the usual beer with dinner.
I know I won't have this much time everyday to cook (or this much to write), but it made the first day a lot better.
(Welcome to the club, S + C. The cod sounds delish-- can you share the recipe?- Megan)
(I was going to recommend almond milk over rice milk until I read your almond allergy bit. For Chris maybe. Also, I'd love the Cod recipe too. I tried salmon this week and I was not a fan. Welcome! -Jenny)
January 8th
I'm one week away from starting the cleanse and I'm both excited and scared. I've recruited a co-worker at school to join the cleanse with me, so I'll have partners in crime at work and one at home (Chris). But right now I'm freaking out about the weight loss that Jenny mentioned. She lost 10 lbs in 1 week! As annoying as it may sound, I've worked my whole life to keep weight on, and I'm finally at a weight that I'm happy with. If I start losing too much weight I'm not sure if I can stick with the cleanse.
I am excited about all the new recipes I get to try, and simply to see if I can defeat my foodie cravings. But in this last week I'm going to enjoy everything that I want.
I don't know what everyone else is doing about nutritional supplements, but I'm going to order some from my mother's company (my parents sell vitamins if anyone needs some) and I'm looking for a protein powder that doesn't include lactose. I'm hoping if I add this to my shakes in the morning I can keep the extreme weight loss at bay.
All I keep thinking is that my students are going to hate me that first week of the cleanse when I'm hangry (angry from being hungry).
P.S. Dave and Megan I still think you're crazy for the clay shake situation.
(Sabrina- truer words have never been written. D + M. Also, you can DO ITTT!!!!)
