Creative Meals for Days 3 and 4

After the first couple of days of the cleanse I was pretty tired of bland food. So Marzipan came over and we made homemade pico de gallo, guacamole, and Chpolte black bean burritos. It was the first time I'd felt full in 3 days.

Recipe for Chipolte Black Bean Burritos
The only variations were using whole wheat hi fiber tortillas and also not adding any cheese or salt.

Pico de Gallo Recipe
2 diced Roma tomatoes
1/4 onion
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Fresh lime juice

Pico de gallo is an awesome quick and easy side that is just delicious with blue corn tortilla chips (better for you).

Vegan Spaghetti
The next night, Guinea Pig was finally home for dinner, so I decided to try a healthy spin on one of his favorite meals so that we could both eat together. I made spaghetti with 'meat' sauce. Whole grain spaghetti and homemade tomato sauce with Smart Ground 'beef' as the meat.

I didn't like it very much, but he did, which surprised me. Even though I added a ton of garlic, homemade pasta sauce just isn't the same without salt...and parmesan...and cheesy garlic bread...

 

Low Sodium Spaghetti Sauce
2 tbsp.  Olive Oil
½ medium onion
Garlic powder to taste
Italian Seasoning to taste
1 8 oz can tomato sauce, no sodium added
1 6 oz can tomato paste, no sodium added
1 8 oz can diced tomatoes w/basil, oregano, and garlic, no sodium added
1 cup water

Heat oil in a dutch oven.  Saute onions and a dash of garlic powder.  Stir well.
Add tomato sauce, tomato paste, and tomatoes.
Cover pot and simmer for 30 minutes.  Add Italian Seasoning to taste and simmer for 15 to 20 more minutes.

Notes: I left out the oil to simmer the onions and used water and chopped garlic instead. Also, my grandmother told me the longer the let our pasta sauce cook, the better the flavor. She starts hers 2 ours before we eat and it's out of this world!

Deep Cleansing

And So the Journey Begins


I will not lie, the first 3 days were hard. I found myself near weeping over the delicious foods, candy, and caffeine drinks that I wasn't ingesting. How sad is that? I just really love good food, and the first days of my cleanse were boring in the food department. I also tried to minimize my caloric intake to 1200 calories per day, eating 4 small 300 calorie meals throughout the day. So I felt hungry for junk food.

The first night I tried to make a large batch of oatmeal treat for the whole week. I boiled some chopped apples in a pot with some cinnamon until they were soft and then added the quick oats and dried cranberries. It turned out ok, but as it was my first day on the cleanse, I was bummed about not having butter or brown sugar on it. If I ever make this again, I'll be sure to add a lot more liquid, because this got a little to thick.

For lunch I had to get creative because bacon bits and cheese were out of the question for salad toppings. I cut oils as well, so balsamic vinaigrette was out, but I could still use balsamic, so that was the base of most of my dressings for the week. Two dressings that I made up (neither of which were very good without oil added) are listed below. Apparently Dijon mustard is totally vegan and healthy, so if you like mustard you're in luck. Too bad I really don't.

Lemon Balsamic Mustard Dressing
Balsamic
Lemon Juice
Dijon mustard (w/o honey as I had cut sugar)
Pepper

Balsamic Applesauce Dressing
Organic Natural Applesauce
Balsamic Vinegar

The applesauce dressing turned out to be great on the spinach salad with a couple of chopped nuts. I needed something sweet to cut the bitter and luckily that worked! I think it'd be good on a salad with chicken and orange slices. Nice little spring salad.

I also purchased some all natural peanut butter, which I had tried before, but buddy, without sugar or honey, that stuff will make your mouth dry like you ate sawdust. Trying to be a bit creative, I took some of the frozen strawberries and bananas I had and added them to my natural peanut butter whole wheat sandwich that I made for my lunch the night before. When I took out my lunch at work the next day, the fruit had melted into the bread and peanut butter and made an almost-jelly! Surprise! Didn't plan that, but the sandwich was great.

Gathering Supplies

To start off my super health conscious vegan cleanse, I went to the most appropriate store to buy health food- Walmart, of course! No, I just went to Walmart because I didn't want to pay insane prices at Whole Foods, if I couldn't follow through on my diet. And you may be surprised to know that I found every item on my list except for nutritional yeast and plain almond milk. Walmart has kale AND ground flax seed. I found out later from old Marzipan, that Bi-Lo has an entire organic/ vegan section and a MUCH better selection of food than Walmart, while still being cheaper than Whole Foods or Earth Fare. 

When deciding what to buy to start out my cleanse, I pulled from a few helpful articles including this one from Whole Foods called: Stock a Healthier Pantry

I also tried to think of foods that I already eat that fall into the restrictions of my cleanse and the Four Pillars of Healthy Eating.  For example, I eat salad every week anyway, so I knew I'd be buying both baby spinach and romaine lettuce. Somewhere I got the idea in my head that romaine is better for you than iceberg. Not sure if that's true. But since I was cutting cheese and all my favorite dressings, I had to come up with some other things to eat on my salads.

Nuts are supposed to be good for you if unsalted,  so I got some chopped walnuts, almonds, and pecans (my favorite nuts) from the baking aisle. I also looked up some salad recipes and remembered that clementines are usually good with a spinach salad, as are strawberries. I'm not a blueberry fan, but those would work too. 

I also bought as many whole wheat and high fiber items as possible. 

Marzipan told me you just have to turn the package around and read what it says on the back. The packaging has to list the ingredients in the order of what's in the food the most. So if it lists 'wheat flour' first, then the product has the most of that in it. It took me a good two hours to shop, because I read the back of every item I considered buying. If it said 'salt, sugar, or oil' in the ingredients, I put it back on the shelf. 

Overall I spent about $130 on a week and a half worth of food. And I think that's pretty good. 

One thing to note is, if you don't think you'll be able to stick to your diet or cleanse, don't buy a whole basket full of fresh vegetables that you're not sure you'll eat. Thats a waste of money. Walmart has a variety pack of veggies in a Market Fresh bag that includes carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower. I then just purchased a cucumber, onions, tomatoes, and some fresh herbs. The last 3 are items that you frequently cook with, so those are good to get a lot of. 

*My mom said 'When you're cooking without salt, be sure to add lots and lots of herbs and lots and lots of garlic to make up the difference.*

Introduction

Hello all you lost souls out there that can't seem to find the perfect diet, 

This is a blog about my journey to achieve the most balanced healthy lifestyle for myself. My blog about becoming a health conscious 'flexitarian'. The main reason I'm starting this blog, is to share the recipes I try out, with other 20-something wanna be chefs that might be in the same boat as me. 

The Problem
What boat do I find myself in these days? Well, I'm a 25 year-old working professional (though I don't FEEL old enough to call myself that) and I'm beginning to realize that working 40+ hours per week, taking business trips all the time, and attending some sort of function or out of town trip with my boyfriend every weekend of the year, is no reason to let my physical and mental health fall to the wayside. 

There's a big change from walking across campus to classes every day of the week and lifting heavy trays of food while you serve at night, to going to sitting at a desk 45 hours per week and then coming home to have a beer or a glass of wine every night after work. But you can't help it! You're just tired from work and want to relax and unwind! 

I'm not overweight by any means, but I've been finding, lately, that my body is not near in the shape it used to be when I was younger. The big wake up call was having to change the style of clothes I wore to hide the beer/ wine belly I had acquired. And I'm not a generally lazy person! I just pour all of my energy and efforts into everything in my life except for my diet and health.  It doesn't matter what size you are though, if you don't like the shape that your body is in, then you owe it to yourself to make a change. 

The Background
I love to cook. I picked up cooking as a hobby about 3 years ago. You can ask my family, before that, I wasn't even allowed in the kitchen. Plus I had no desire to cook before I lived in a house without home-cooked meals for a year. There's just something incredibly rewarding about following a recipe, cooking a dish, and then having someone else try it and say "Man that's really good!" Enter my boyfriend, the guinea pig. And the Guinea pig can't complain, because he wouldn't have a home-cooked meal otherwise, and most of the time the meals turn out great. 

I love good food. My parents are divorced, but in each of their households they were the cook. My mom and dad have different styles of cooking, but both are incredibly delicious. Dad's style was that of fancy savory dishes, which is why from the time I was 10, I've had discriminating tastes for a perfectly cooked steak. Mom's style of cooking was a little bit more southern and always 'good for your soul' food. Mom's dishes I can cook every night of the week, Dad's are Friday/Saturday night meals. So I have a well-rounded pallet. 

Over the past few months a couple of my out of town friends have started getting into shape. Which I admire them for, but my subconscious screams "you should be doing the same!" 

I also have a friend here in town who  works at Whole Foods. She's not a 'granola' but every now and then she non obtrusively mentions a healthy alternative. Not sure I could be doing this healthy journey without her. She's like my healthy partner in crime. 

The Cleanse
The cleanse I've chosen: 1 week of being vegan with other health considerations: No alcohol, no meat, no dairy, no caffeine, no sugar, no salt, no oils, nothing pre-made that has been extremely processed, lots and lots of water, and walking/running my dog as many days after work as I had time for. 

Why this cleanse? I started thinking about doing a cleanse because I really wanted to kick start myself into a new diet. I did some research about cleanses, but they all seemed like some desperate super model attempts at getting really skinny really fast. I mean, come on, the cayenne pepper cleanse?  Luckily, my very good friend that works at Whole Foods (let's call her Marzipan) sent me this link to everything you need to know about a healthy cleanse. 

Whole Foods article about Cleansing Questions

This was the single most helpful source of information I read on cleanses that are good for you. The point is to set your body back to zero. Let your colon and your liver have a week off. Give them a chance to clear out, so that they work better in the future to help you stay healthy. The article talks about doing a cleanse once every year, not to lose weight, but just to refresh your body . It can give you more energy and make you feel happier. A cleanse paired with an active lifestyle will make your body thank you. So, for my ultimate cleanse, I decided to do a combination of all the cleanses I had read online and all the diets I had read online. 

But Im not Vegan. I love meat. I love a medium rare juicy steak and I have a love affair with cheese dip that cannot be topped. I love deep dish cheesy Pizza Hut Pizza, and ice cream. And I couldn't survive without a cup of coffee in the morning at work. And sugar? Dont get me started on the sweet treats I love to eat. The goal was to do the cleanse for a week and then step it up to a new type of full-time life-long diet. 


This diet, if I try really hard to follow it, will mean that I'm now a Flexitarian. I'll make wise choices regarding the food that I eat, and incorporate a little bit of vegan and vegetarian into my diet every day. This is the most realistic diet for me, personally, because I have no reason to give up meat. But I do have a reason to make myself eat the most well-rounded variety of nutrients that are available to me. And, let's face it, I like cooking new things, so this is just one more challenge for me to conquer.