Cleanse day 15: The 'good' and 'bad' of eatting out during a cleanse

I stink, I have been really bad about posting on my cleanse and for that I apologize.  A couple of days ago I sprained my wrist, it’s fine now but made it too difficult to type.  In addition to the wrist, I must admit that I haven’t had much to say about the cleanse.  In general , week two of the cleanse went well (with the exception of eating a little too much protein the first night and feeling sick).  With that being said here is something I noticed during the week that others might be able to relate to or learn from.

I was talking with my boyfriend, who is being a good supportive boyfriend and doing the cleanse with me, and saying how week two didn’t seem so bad to me and that I sort of felt like I was eating normal (and during a cleanse I felt like I should feel like I’m eating abnormal for some weird reason).  His reaction to this comment was funny (at least for me), “are you kidding me! There are so many foods I’m craving or haven’t been able to eat!”.   At that time I thought to myself, well maybe I just normally eat similar to this, but I was quickly brought back to reality and proved wrong later that night when I was out to eat for a girlfriends birthday.  My moment of clarity first arrived when the basket of bread was brought to the table. It smelled amazing! I wanted to eat it so bad, but in hindsight was glad that I couldn’t eat it or I would have over indulged.  The second moment can when looking at the menu.  I came across 2 items I could eat without modification and several more if I changed the side/asked for no cheese.   Then while eating and everyone had a glass of wine or a drink, I was the odd ball out. Later, everyone shared a dessert …. Everyone but sad me.  I kept looking longingly at the warm chocolate waffle and ice cream.

Again in hindsight I’m glad I couldn’t eat most of these things because it prevented me from over indulging and feeling stuffed, eating things I know I shouldn’t, and racking up a higher bill. I will admit while it was painful to watch everyone slowly pick away at their oh so yummy looking dessert it was really nice when the bill came and mine was half of anyone else’s.

Cleanse Day 9: the difficulty of business lunchs during a cleanse

Today was the first day I have eaten out at a restaurant since beginning the cleanse.  It was a business lunch with a pre-set menu where I could choose one of four items.  This proved to be somewhat difficult since I wasn’t able to ask for something on the side and forced me to change what I would normally order. Typically I would have ordered the Greek Salad, but because I can’t have cheese this week I had to order chicken and rice instead. Normally, a meal comprised of just protein and rice is not ideal (where are the vegetables or fruit?) so I decided to just eat the meat and then ate some carrot sticks when I got home to round out the meal.

What I ate today…

Breakfast – apple and peanut butter

Snack – Greensfirst shake

Lunch – Grilled chicken with carrot sticks

Dinner –  Sautéed Kale, mushroom and asparagus risotto, and grilled shrimp. I cooked the Kale in a skillet with some olive oil, mushrooms, diced garlic and leeks. It was my first attempt at coking kale and it turned out great!

Cleanse Day 8: the return of meat to my diet

Today I was able to eat meat again… YEY! I’m not that big of a meat-eater, but there’s something about being told you can’t eat a certain food that makes you suddenly crave it. It’s not until I do a cleanse and can’t eat meat for a week that I realize how hard it is to get enough protein in my diet without it, which then makes me realize that I’m probably not getting enough protein on a regular basis since I don’t eat that much meat.  While it was hard, this time I was able to find a lot of alternative forms of protein that I can add into my normal diet to ensure I get enough protein.

What non-meat foods do you eat to get protein?

My diet for day 8…

Breakfast – apple, walnuts and coffee

Snack – Clementine

Lunch – leftover vegetable quinoa from yesterday

Snack – Grrensfirst shake

Dinner – Chinese lettuce wraps. This is my homemade version with a great orange taste. You can tinker with the spices to get the exact flavor you want, and then the leftovers are great for lunch the next day.

Cleanse Day 7: getting creative with other forms of protein

Today is the last day of the first week, which means I can start adding proteins and rice back into my diet tomorrow. I must admit that I do not miss protein that much, but I am looking forward to having a larger pool of recipes to pull from.  During this week I have had to modify a lot of my previous recipes to fit the cleanse mold, and am excited to get back to an almost normal diet. Sadly chocolate will not be included until the last week… boo

Breakfast – half an apple and banana with some walnuts

Snack – other half of the apple and banana

Lunch – Carrots and Humus

Snack – Greensfirst shake

Dinner – Vegetable Quinoa (Quinoa looks similar to rice or coucous but is actually closely related to the spinach family. This item is high in protein and a great addition to a normally vegetarian meal), steamed broccoli, and one of the eggplants with humus and spinach from the other night. I had some extra eggplant leftover from the other night (just sliced, not cooked) so I made one of eggplant steaks.  

Cleanse Day 5 and 6: my two biggest difficulties

Confession time, I have been really bad about eating the past two days.  I still kept to the cleanse as far as not eating certain things, but I just did a bad job of eating. The first day (Friday) I ate plenty of fruit, nuts and beans but was definitely lacking in vegetables.  Vegetables are such an important part of a diet, even though I wasn’t eating anything ‘bad’ for me I still wasn’t eating the things I needed to provide me with the nutrients I need. The second day, I ate breakfast then got busy and didn’t eat again until dinner.  While doing a cleanse I should be eating more food than normal (because of the fact that it’s mostly fruits and vegetables) and not less.  So, here is my plan of attack for next week….

1.  Look up more recipes that involve vegetables.

2.  Pre-cut a bunch of veggies (carrots and celery mostly) for easy eating access when I want a snack

3.  Make sure my snacks are vegetable related.

Cleanse Day 4: First dinner at a non-cleanse doing house

Last night I had dinner at my Dad’s house. I love going over there because there is always good food that is also healthy (along with the company), but I was a little nervous for last night because my boyfriend and I are doing the cleanse but he isn’t. He asked what I could eat, and was willing to be very accommodating but I was still a little hesitant. Luckily, my dad is amazing in the kitchen and came up with a great dinner!

What I ate….

Breakfast – banana and almonds

Snack – Greensfirst shake

Lunch – Moroccan Salad (same as the other day)

Snack – rest of the homemade vegetable soup and a clementine.

Dinner – Bean Stew with spinach salad (had cranberries, walnuts, and carrots with olive oil and salad vinegar).  

Cleanse Day 3: craving chocolate

I miss chocolate.   In an attempt to eat healthier, and less ice cream at night, I started keeping a chocolate bar in the refrigerator and having a small piece after dinner as a treat.  But a small piece started to become a couple of medium size pieces and has now replaced my dessert. Yes dark chocolate is a much healthier dessert than ice cream, but my hope is that after this cleanse and not eating chocolate for 21 days that the cravings will be less (cause I could sit down and eat a whole large bar). Because it may have only been 3 days, but every time I open the refrigerator door and see the chocolate bar I want to eat the whole thing!

Breakfast – apple with peanut butter

Lunch – Homemade soup (leftovers from the other night), but this time I added some fresh sliced avocado to it (after it was heated) which added a nice flavor and gave it a little more texture.

Snack – Greensfrist shake and later some walnuts and cranberries

Dinner – ‘Eggplant dinner’ and asparagus.

I cooked the eggplant two different ways, one with humus and spinach and the other with tomatoes. Click here for my recipes.  Note: The tomatoes-eggplant dish wasn’t as good at the other one. It was lacking something in the flavor. I tried adding olive oil/balsamic vinegar to it but it didn’t add much. Typically you would do this recipe with mozzarella cheese (which is stated in the recipe) which adds a lot of flavor, but I’m not sure what to replace the cheese with. Suggestions?

The asparagus was really easy to cook.  I just cut the ends off, put it in foil, added a little olive oil, salt and pepper to taste, wrapped the foil up and baked at 350° for about 15 minutes (until tender but not mushy).