Last day!

Hooray, I made it! Today is the last day of 3 weeks of healthy eating. I feel really good and so proud of myself that I was able to get through it without any issues. I've really enjoyed cooking healthy meals and eating much more veggies, fruits and whole grains than usual. I will definitely incorporate all I've accomplished into my daily routine. I learned that it doesn't take much to make healthier choices. It's not expensive or as time consuming as one may think. I've heard time and time again that healthy cooking/eating is expensive. It really isn't! In fact for this particular diet, my grocery bills were nice because all I bought were fruits, veggies, beans, tofu and whole grains. No processed, packaged products at all which really cut down on the expense.

I feel like after doing this, I will keep making better choices and learn to center myself and not give in to too many unhealthy cravings. I've even lost about 4 pounds, so knowing that will help me try to maintain it rather than gain it all back again!

Last day eats:


Breakfast: Green smoothie (spinach, banana, dates, mango)

Snack: Celery and sunflower paté plus a square of date brownie and later on, a banana.


Lunch: We went to The Veggie Grill today and I tried my best to make a healthy choice. This was the soup of the day: "Chickin'" Gumbo. It was delicious.


This was the Baja Fiesta side salad. It has romaine, papaya, avocado, roasted corn salsa, quinoa, cucumber, cilantro and a ginger-papaya vinaigrette. Yummy!

Dinner will probably be leftover pizza from yesterday. And most likely another salad. And maybe a brownie? :)

Detox Week 3, Day 18

Hello! Time for some food porn! I totally dropped my camera a few minutes ago and freaked out. I thought I had broken it and lost all these great pics of food! Luckily I didn't break it as it still works. There are a few little cracks and dents though. :( I may have to shop for a new camera in the near future if it starts shutting down. Hopefully that won't happen as I love this camera.

Today was a busy day as I had to drive Grandma to a few appointments and then take her home to Torrance which I don't mind one bit because she lives around the corner from the 99 Ranch market! I only had $20 on me but was able to bring home this:


yams, chinese eggplant, broccoli, celery, bananas, baby bok choy, water chestnuts, vanilla essence, baby corn, golden plum sauce, wasabi paste and korean bbq sauce. But wait, you're thinking...I missed one!


That would be this intriguing item. Sweet Potato Noodles! I have no idea what this tastes like as I've never seen it before. I believe the ingredients are just sweet potato starch and water and the noodles are green! Weird. Can't wait to try it. I'm imagining a stir fry with peanut sauce or something...

Today's eats:

Breakfast: granola with soymilk (not pictured as I had to eat and run!)
Snack #1: a banana and a half (eaten in the car while driving)


Lunch: Oriental chopped salad. Green leaf, romaine, spinach, red peppers, shredded carrots, mandarins and almonds tossed in a sesame miso dressing recipe which I got from You Are What You Eat cookbook.


Snack #2: a small serving of brown rice pudding. I was so mesmerized by last night's rice pudding that I had to make some. This is Gillian's healthier version though which is only half as sweet as last night's pudding. It's made with brown rice, cinnamon, lemon juice, lemon zest, raisins, brown rice syrup and soymilk. It's good but only slightly sweet. I don't mind that though. It still feels comforting and is a nice dessert.


Dinner: Beautiful veggie stirfry with broccoli, baby bok choy, carrots, red peppers, zucchini, baby corn, water chestnuts and onions. I made it healthy by using only a little soy sauce diluted with water.


To go with the stirfy I made this korean bbq baked tofu. I marinated thick slices of extra firm tofu with 1/2 water and 1/2 korean bbq sauce. I also had brown rice with my meal.

Detox Week 3, Day 16

I can't believe it. I threw my back out yesterday! And it wasn't even a big movement, I was bending over to put my dog's lead on and when we took a few steps on our walk, I thought "Why does my lower back feel funny?" Great. Now I'm pretty much immobile and I can't exercise which really annoys me. I wanted to work out every day this week to get the full benefit of my last detox week. :( Now I have to bed rest for a couple days. Argh.

Anyway since I'm here in bed, I might as well spend some time typing. Someone asked me today about this detox I'm doing and wanted to know what my experience was like and what, if any recommendations I may have. Well, as some of you know I decided to do this diet based loosely on the principles of Gillian McKeith's book/show 'You Are What You Eat'. It's not what you might think of detox. It doesn't require fasting on lemonade concoctions, or juice fasting or going 100% raw. What she recommends is cutting out things like processed foods that come in packages with ingredients you can't pronounce, sugary sweets, caffeine, alcohol, white refined breads/rice/pastas, store bought juices, salty snacks, meat, dairy....etc. The focus should be on whole foods, fresh fruits, vegetables, salads, homemade soups, smoothies, whole grains, nuts and seeds. I thought it sounded easy enough. What makes her plan great is that she balances raw salads, fruits and veggies alongside cooked meals which I was very happy about. I love a good hot homecooked meal. I think most people who's diets are a bit out of control will find this diet not so bad and quite easy to follow. If you look back on my last two weeks of journal entries, I was able to have quite a variety of food from pizza to pasta, to stews and stuffed peppers. Not everything I made came from Gillian's cookbook. I was able to improvise existing recipes by taking her principles into account, for example leaving out the salt but using low salt tamari or soy sauce, decreasing oil and replacing ingredients for healthier alternatives. A lot of recipes out there adapt very easily to this diet.

An important part of this diet is to have the correct foods and staples in your kitchen. This is what I had in my kitchen at all times:

-Dried Herb and Spices: I used cumin, paprika, turmeric and italian herbs a lot. The sky's the limit with herbs and spices. Fresh herbs: cilantro, parsley, basil.
-Savory flavorings: Instead of salt, I used low salt soy sauce, tamari, veggie broth powder, miso paste, cider vinegar, nori flakes, tahini and dijon mustard.
-Sweet flavorings: Instead of sugar, I used brown rice syrup, maple syrup, agave syrup, carob powder, dates and vanilla extract.
-"Milks": Plain soymilk and rice milk
-Nuts and Seeds: pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, flax, almonds, cashews, macadamias, pine nuts, walnuts.
-Oils: Olive, Sesame and Sunflower.
-Beans: aduki, black, chickpeas, lentils, kidney, white beans, split peas
-Tofu (tempeh is also recommended)
-Flours: whole wheat, oat flour
-Grains: brown rice, quinoa, bulgur, oats, millet, brown rice pasta
-Fruits: ALL KINDS! My favorites: bananas, apples, plums, mango, strawberres, blueberries, pears. I used fresh as well as frozen which are especially good for smoothies.
-Veggies: ALL KINDS! My favorites: broccoli, bell peppers, carrots, green leaf lettuce, spinach, onions, sweet potatoes, celery, onions, tomatoes, rocket, kale, collards, cauliflower, garlic, cabbage, squash and leeks.

The hardest time I had with this diet is my sweet craving and bread craving would kick in often. I also had a difficult time without my usual black tea and coffee. I found that snacking on a few dates (or date brownies!) or fruit would help with the sweet cravings. Herbal teas like lemongrass and licorice spice were great in place of coffee. There was really nothing that could replace good old white bread though. I love a good fresh french baguette and there were some dinner times where I wished I could have a slice of french bread with some Earth Balance margarine. I also missed Vegenaise but I didn't eat any sandwiches at all so I guess it wasn't all that bad without it. The lovely thing about this diet is that my fridge was always fully stocked with loads of vegetables and it would really inspire me to cook something wonderful. I also really enjoyed the yummy smoothies I made for breakfast as well. It felt good to eat so many fruits and vegetables which I felt were lacking in my diet before. I know that I will incorporate them much more after the diet is over. Being a vegan, vegetables and fruits are a big part of my diet anyway but I've been known to get lazy and go for foods that are not the best like quick processed stuff, carb heavy meals and sugary desserts.

So on to today's eats!


Breakfast: Strawberry, mango, banana, soymilk smoothie

Mid morning snack: 1 piece of carob date brownie and a tangelo.


Lunch: Super Green Kale Soup (from You Are What You Eat cookbook). The soup was delicious! It has kale, celery, onions and zucchini. It's even creamy without having a drop of dairy in it.


Along with the soup I also had a green salad that had green leaf, cucumber, red peppers, carrots, onions and sunflower seeds. I drizzled it with 2 tsp. of raw goddess dressing.

Afternoon snack: 1 apple, 3 sprouted grain chips, a few grapes


Dinner: Quinoa casserole (quinoa, chickpeas, onions, celery, broccoli, diced tomatoes, curry powder, soy sauce). I found the casserole recipe on Recipezaar. I served the casserole with a salad. It was very good, though a little plain. You can bump up the curry powder or soy sauce and it should be better I think.


I also made a healthy granola which I will have for breakfast tomorrow. Here's the recipe:

2 1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1/3 cup slivered almonds
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup ground flax seeds
1 TB cinnamon
1/3 cup brown rice syrup
1/2 cup raisins
Combine all ingredients except the raisins, thoroughly. Spread on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes at 300 degreesF. Stir after the first 15 minutes into baking. Let cool. Pour into a container and combine with raisins.

Detox Week 3, Day 15

Hello week number three! This is my last week of my diet and I'm feeling good. I'm definitely going to continue eating healthy foods after the diet as much as possible.

This morning it was raining heavily and it made me lazy. I didn't want to do anything but lay in bed or on the couch with a bag of chips watching Doctor Who re-runs. How very tempting. But I didn't do that. I ate breakfast which was a bowl of oatmeal with half a banana, raisins and sesame seeds and a little after I exercised for half an hour.


Lunch: miso soup w/ spinach...


..and green salad w/ walnuts and goddess dressing

Snacks: mid morning I had 1/2 banana and in the afternoon, 1 plain brown rice cake...AND


I also made another batch of carob date brownies. This one has chopped macadamias, almonds and coconut on top. Mmm! This I had with my tea.

Dinner: Grapes and a bowl of aduki bean stew.

Detox Week 2, Day 14

So...my husband has quit the diet and is now back to his regular foods. He ordered a sausage pizza yesterday. :( I'm a little disappointed but it's not my place to force him to do anything. He did it for almost two weeks and it was enough for him. He said the raw salads and vegetables were giving him heartburn. So, it's just me now ready to finish off the last week of healthy eating. I have to say that I'm starting to really crave white bread and coffee like crazy. I made a gluten free butternut oat bread today that bombed big time. I'm not even going to post a picture. It was very sad. So no bread for me today. But other than that, things are good. I've lost about 3-4 pounds which is nice! If I can stay on track with my workouts this week, I can probably lose another pound or two.

Today's eats:


Breakfast: Banana, date, mango, tangelo and strawberry soymilk smoothie.


Lunch: Chopped salad with spinach, green leaf, rocket, cucumber, red peppers, onion and walnuts. Drizzled with goddess dressing.

Snacks: Veggie crudités and white bean dip, sprouted grain chips, a pear and three 1" pieces of carob date brownies.


Dinner: Aduki Bean Stew (from You Are What You Eat cookbook) on top of cauliflower mash.


After dinner tea.

Detox Week 2, Day 13

Yay weekend! When I woke this morning, I hung out on the couch for a while watching 'You Are What You Eat'. Today's episode was about a lady who ate nothing but bread and butter, bread and jam, pastries, cakes, crumpets, bread, bread and more bread. It was pretty astounding! And it was all white processed refined bread too which made it worse. I'm a carbohydrate addict and I could have easily become like her. In fact, I WAS her a long time ago! I was in my first year of college. I was 17. I was living in the dorms and our daily breakfast, lunch and dinners were at the dining hall which served the worst foods: fried chicken, meatloaf and mashed potatoes and gravy, tuna melts, chicken nuggets, grilled cheese, ice cream, french fries, cake, cookies, you name it... I ate a lot of that stuff and a lot of bread and cakes which helped me gain my freshman 40! Yep, I gained a hefty 40 pounds instead of the usual 10. It was not good for my 5'2" frame. I think I was about 180 at the time. After I moved out of the dorms, I slowly lost the weight and several years after was able to get to a healthy weight of 135-140 pounds. Then I got married and it went up again to about 155-160. Then later I went vegan and went down to 146. Up and down, up and down... Now I'm still in that 146-ish range which is alright but I think I can afford to lose a few more considering my height.

ANYWAY, enough of that weight talk, it's time to refocus our energies on feeling good and most of all healthy. It shouldn't be so much about weight. It's about eating foods that make you feel alive and not dead!

Today's eats:

Breakfast: a bowl of oatmeal with sliced bananas, raisins, sesame seeds and brown rice syrup.

Snacks:


Herby White Bean Dip with veggie crudités.

Recipe:
I can white beans, drained and rinsed
1 TB tahini
2 cloves garlic
juice of 1/2 a lemon (or more if you like)
1 tsp mixed herbs (I used Trader Joes 21 seasoning salute)
1/2 tsp low salt soy sauce
black pepper to taste
a splash of olive oil
a little water to help it blend better
Add all ingredients to blender and blend til smooth and creamy. Garnish with paprika.


Fresh homemade salsa with baked sprouted grain tortilla chips.


Lunch: Split pea soup (again!), red grapes and a salad w/ steamed broccoli

Dinner was leftover curry from last night and 1/2 a minneola tangelo. AND how could I forget my brownie treats? I had about 6 little 1" pieces throughout the whole day.

Detox Week 2, Day 11

I'm halfway there. I'm starting to fall into the lazy trap though. I am tired of eating fruit and salad. I had to force myself to eat a salad for lunch. I saw some chocolate brownies yesterday, valentine's day brownies in fact. It reminded me that I won't be having any chocolate for V-day. I'm thinking about making the fudge carob brownies from Gillian's book for a treat on Saturday. Maybe I'll do that. And maybe a loaf of her butternut squash bread as well. That should help my comfort food cravings. Yesterday I was ok with eating out with family and seeing bread and fries on the table and not touching them. Today my mood is different.

So here are today's eats:


Breakfast: Pear, mango, plum, dates and banana smoothie.


Lunch: Curried Split Pea Soup. My favorite soup recipe from Vegan w/ a Vengeance. To make it diet friendly I decreased the oil to 1 tsp and and added water to steam-fry the onions, garlic and ginger. I used low salt soy sauce instead of salt to season. It was very good despite the unflattering photograph.


Lunch: The pretty salad I forced myself to eat: rocket/arugula, zucchini, bell peppers and tomatoes lightly drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice.

My snacks today were 1 date and 1/2 banana mid morning, a handful of raisins several hours later and after a long dog walk I made this...


This is a peanut butter, banana, date, soymilk and carob smoothie. Heaven in a cup. My sweet tooth has gotten the best of me today.

Here's the recipe:

1 cup plain unsweetened soymilk
4 pitted dates
1 cup ice
1 banana
1 tsp carob powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 TB unsalted natural peanut butter
Blend the dates and soymilk then add the rest of the ingredients and blend til smooth. You may add more soymilk if it's too thick.

Dinner was stuffed peppers! This recipe is from the latest issue of Vegetarian Times. It's got quinoa, black beans, spinach and tomatoes. I topped the peppers with sliced olives (to entice my husband who loves olives) and one of them with a tablespoon or so of cashew cheese (Gooda uncheese) for a little indulgence. A nice green salad and a dollop of homemade guacamole made the meal complete. Mmmm. They were delicious and so filling. I'm sitting up in bed typing this right now feeling very stuffed.

Detox Week 2, Day 10

Ooh yay, we're heading into double digit numbers now! Day 10!

Breakfast was a weird mistake. I wanted to revamp yesterday's disappointing millet porridge into something else. I heated it up with a little soymilk in the micro, then I dumped it into the blender with about 1/4 cup of my husband's leftover berry smoothie, half a banana and a little more soymilk. I ate half of it with a spoon until I realized the color and texture reminded me of vomit. Ugh. So much for experimenting. It did taste good though, just couldn't get past the color and texture.

My cousins came over today to hang out and go for lunch so I didn't work out and instead did a mini Robin Hood marathon with them! We watched about 4 episodes. (by the way Robin Hood is a BBC show that we love.) Afterwards my brother came by and we all went to lunch at M Cafe.


I ordered the 3 salad combo: kale w/ spicy peanut sauce, grilled veggies and a green salad. It was lovely and looked so beautiful. But even as I was munching away happily on my leaves and veggies, I was secretly checking out these delectable items that the others were having...


My cousin Wendy had the Panino Provencale which had grilled veggies, pesto and tofu cheese. Mmm!


My other cousin Jessie had the tempeh club. Wow! And on yummy sourdough. You don't know how much I want bread right now.


Look what else tempted me on the table. My brother got these fries with his tuna burger. I was seriously salivating over these fries! I had ONE measly stick and went straight back to my salads. After this diet, I'm seriously helping myself to some bread and potatoes.

Snacks for the day: 4 dates and later after an hour dog walk, an apple and a rice cake.

Dinner: Nothing special. I'm planning to eat the leftover chickpea burgers from yesterday and a salad.

Detox Week 2, Day 9

Moving along...moving along...

Had millet porridge for the first time today. I think I undercooked it because it wasn't as soft and mushy as I expected. And I made way too much and was only able to eat half of it. No need for a pre-workout snack apparently.


Here it is with sliced bananas, raisins, sesame seeds and a nice drizzle of brown rice syrup.

Lunch was pretty boring. I had a bunch of red grapes and a medium bowl of spinach soup. Yawn. No need for pictures.

Snacks: some macadamia nuts and raisins and later after a dog walk, a nectarine.


I finally made Gillian McKeith's infamous Chickpea Burgers. These guys are supposed to be a favorite of most people on her diet plan. They are much like falafel except they have sunflower seeds, carrots and tahini in them. They were very tasty. I served them with rocket salad, brown rice and garlic aioli from 'The Country Life Vegetarian Cookbook'. The aioli is made with unsweetened soymilk, garlic, lemon juice and some olive and canola oil. I also added some chopped cucumber to it. Because of the bit of fat in it, I didn't have very much.

Detox Week 2, Day 8

Ugh, Mondays. They are always depressing and dreadful. And especially now that it's pouring rain outside. I was determined to not get lazy and work out today.

Today started out with a breakfast smoothie that I didn't get a picture of because it was horrid looking. It had banana, dates, nectarines, blueberries and collard greens. The color combo was a mucky greenish-brown. Really ugly but thankfully very very sweet and filling.

Preworkout snack: 1/2 cup fortified plain soymilk and 1 small nectarine. I never used to snack before I worked out and now I know why I could never keep up! A little nibble before a workout works wonders.


Lunch: cup of spinach soup...


...followed by a green salad topped with courgette and carrot slaw, avocado and red onions. Drizzled with goddess dressing and lemon juice. (soup and slaw from You Are What You Eat cookbook)


Snacks: Mid-morning I had rainbow veggies and hummus and late afternoon after a hour long dog walk, I had a brown rice cracker with PB and brown rice syrup.

For dinner I planned to make a Gillian McKeith recipe for pizza with a sweet potato crust. This recipe intrigued me the first time I saw it on her show. I love sweet potatoes and thought it would be interesting as a base for a pizza crust. I was a little apprehensive at first because I never made a yeast free crust before and I had no idea what the texture was going to be like, if it was going to be easy to roll out, if it was going to bake up dry, hard, brittle...etc..etc.. I was pleasantly surprised that it baked up soft, tender with crispy edges and a slightly sweet flavor that took well to the toppings.


Here is the dough rolled out. So pretty with flecks of sweet potato here and there.


Out of the oven. Toppings are homemade chunky tomato sauce with onions, zucchini, mushrooms, red and yellow pepper, black and green olives and red onion.


A slice of delicious pizza. I have to say I am very excited that my husband liked this as well. And he's a "pizza purist"!

Detox Week 1, Day 7

Yay, one week down, two to go!

Here are today's eats:


Breakfast: Mango-Date-Plum-Banana-Strawberry Smoothie. This was really nice.




Snacks: Mid-morning we had baked chips and salsa, Carrot sticks and the hummus recipe from You Are What You Eat. My early evening snack was half a banana and a handful of raisins.


Lunch: Thai Vegetable Curry (zucchini, carrots, mushrooms, broccoli, red peppers and kidney beans) which I served with brown rice. I based this curry on the recipe in You Are What You Eat. It feels much lighter than the curries I normally make. It doesn't have much coconut milk so I added a little bit of plain unsweetened soymilk. In place of the spices she uses (coriander, cumin, kaffir lime etc), I used some lime juice and a tsp or so of red curry paste which has all those ingredients in it and not to mention some red chilis which in a curry is a must!

I wasn't very hungry at dinner so I made myself "Ants on a Log", a stalk of celery filled with unsalted natural peanut butter and dotted with raisins. Totally unspectacular and did not need to be photographed!

Detox Week 1, Day 6

Husband and I went grocery shopping and spent $27 on loads of fruits and vegetables. Some of the things we got: lettuce, tomatoes, cilantro, avocados, spinach, zucchini, red bell peppers, yellow bell peppers, butternut squash, sweet potatoes, celery, jalapeno peppers, granny smith apples, fuji apples, nectarines, bosc pears, bananas and fresh roasted peanuts. Some organic, some not. A very affordable and lovely haul if I do say so myself!

Saturday is quite a lazy day for me. I usually do a few chores in the morning and then just chill out the rest of the day. I wanted to spend the least amount of time in the kitchen today. At least that's what I tried to do. I didn't cook anything from You Are What You Eat today but I know I used ingredients that are A-OK in Gillian's book!


Breakfast was this berry blast smoothie that had strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, dates and apple.

Mid morning snack was a handful of fresh roasted peanuts in the shell (no salt) and late afternoon was a banana and a handful of raisins. I also had a cup of lemongrass tea.


Lunch was a rendition of last night's dinner. I had to use up these sprouted grain tortillas before they went bad as there are no preservatives in them. I made a black bean wrap with fresh yellow peppers, fresh homemade guacamole and salsa.


Salsa made with fresh ripe roma tomatoes that we bought today.


My husband is a snacky kind of guy so I had the idea to make these baked tortilla chips. I just cut up a couple of sprouted grain tortillas and put them into the oven on a lightly oiled baking sheet at 400 F for about 4 minutes. You can tell the bottom ones are burnt. That was my first go at them and I left them in too long! These were so nice. They baked up perfectly crisp. I liked them so much that I only ate half of my wrap and abandoned the other tortilla half to use a few chips to scoop up the beans. I think these will be my new favorite snack after the diet instead of crackers.


Dinner was a salad of green leaf lettuce, spinach, red onions, red and yellow peppers, thinly sliced cucumber and sunflower seeds drizzled with yummy goddess dressing.