Meal Plan Monday

I'm copying Shellyfish's Meal Plan Monday blogging idea.  I plan out most of my meals every weekend.  When I go food shopping, I mostly stick to the list.  It makes grocery shopping and dinner making so much easier when it's all planned out ahead of time.  I pretty much use up everything I buy by the end of the week, so there's not a lot that goes to waste.  The time I spend planning on the weekend really helps me eat well during my hectic and busy work week.

This week, I plan on making:

Breakfast smoothies- I'm feeling organic frozen strawberries and coconut milk this week.  There's also a pear ginger smoothie recipe in Thrive that I want to try.  I have hemp protein, flax seeds, and chia seeds on hand, so no need to buy my smoothie staples.

Salad for lunch-I'm on a Romaine kick lately.  I have some brown rice, quinoa, and some beans I can add to it.  I will be buying random veggies that catch my eye to spice it up a bit, and I already have dressing.

Dinner:

Monday-Clean Mac and Cheese with Kale Chips

I made this last week and loved it!  Really, it's just brown rice pasta with kale, kale chips following this recipe, and tahini dressing from Vegan with a Vengeance.  I call it Clean Mac and Cheese because it's something I could eat during the Clean detox and it has a mac and cheese consistency.  The balsamic and garlic tahini paired with the crispy, nutritional yeast covered kale chips are amazing.

Tuesday-Apple Miso Tofu with Scallion Potato Pancakes from Appetite for Reduction (most of this week's dinners will be from this book)

Wednesday-Hummus and Curry Lentil Crackers from Thrive

Thursday-Spinach Linguine with Edamame Pesto from Appetite for Reduction

Friday- Buffalo Tempeh with Mac and Trees from Appetite for Reduction

Appetite for Reduction and Thrive are my newest cookbooks, I'm having some fun trying out new recipes!  Most of them have been amazing so far.  I'll share some of my favorites on Wednesday.

My New Weekday Morning Routine

Coffee Update, four hours after last post:

Ugh...crashing...hard.  Hard to concentrate.  Tired, fuzzy brain.  Thoughts are scattered, bad mood, cranky, snippy.  I didn't expect such a strong reaction, and I don't like it at all.

Reflection, today:

Though I couldn't wait to go back to coffee during Clean, this reaction left me feeling the worst I've felt in a month.  I could go back to my old ways, but why would I when it makes me feel like this?  The effect of caffeine was so strong!  I'm not saying I'll never drink coffee again, but I've definitely experienced a shift.  I felt horrible! As a former coffee junkie, I can see that I'm officially rehabbed.  What?!  Yes!  I'm no longer a coffee fanatic.  

Instead of the coffee maker, my new kitchen appliance of choice in the morning has become my blender.  During Clean, I made sure to add a full scoop of hemp protein to each smoothie.  It has a taste that can be a little overpowering.  Since I mostly avoided any sweetener during Clean, I decided to try a new smoothie recipe with bananas and dates to see if it would make the hemp taste mellow out a bit.

The chocolate almond smoothie from Thrive was a great inspiration.  I mostly followed the recipe.  I didn't use quite as much water, added a little almond milk, and used cocoa, not carob.  I think I used more than the tablespoon he recommended too.  This smoothie is sweetened with a banana and two organic dates, I used a little less hemp than I used on Clean, and it was perfect.  It gave me a sustained energy and left me full all the way 'til lunch.

I love the taste of coffee, so I will definitely have it again (probably on the weekends, and in moderation).  During the week, it looks like it will be protein smoothies for me.  I'll let you know how it goes!

Coffee, Straight Up

Wow, my first cup in like a month (no caffeine on the Clean Program)!

Can you just smell those beans?

Starting small, don't want to be a crazed maniac.

Oh yeah...there it is.  That's the good stuff.  Straight up, no sweetener, no milk.

How does it feel?  Fantastic!  Though my thoughts are a little scattered and I keep shaking my foot.  Woo hoo!  Coffee!!!

Vegan Clean Program, I'm Done!

Twenty-one days ago, I started following a veganized version of Dr. Alejandro Junger's Clean Program.  I drank a healthy organic smoothie for breakfast, had a whole foods lunch, and a soup for dinner.  I snacked on yummy things like organic kale chips and raw organic cashews, and sometimes I had a juice for dessert.

Blended curried split pea soup from Vegan With a Vengeance

Overall, I feel really good.  Three weeks later and no complaints here.  I've lost two pounds and a teeny bit of body fat, and my clothes fit better.  Weight loss wasn't one of my goals, I followed the Clean Program because I wanted to press restart after too many sugar cookies over the holidays.  I wanted to pick up some more healthy habits, and maybe make a difference in the way I react to certain allergens.

I discovered the deliciousness of kale chips while on Clean!

The verdict? I'm really happy that I saw this through.  It wasn't always easy, especially with my busy schedule.  I went without sugar for the longest time I can remember.  I mean, I had fruit and a bit of agave here and there, but I'm talking about straight up sugar.  I feel good about that.  We installed a water filter on the tap in our kitchen.  I thought it would be expensive or a pain, but it was like $20 at Target and really easy to install.  I drank filtered water with organic lemon throughout the day.  I started skin brushing regularly.  I left a 12 hour window between my last meal of the day and my first.  I started my day with a healthy smoothie and usually ended it with a healthy juice.  These are habits I could easily continue.

I have allergies to cats, and on Day 20, I spent some time at a house with a cat.  I love kitties, and they love me.  They always end up rubbing on me, and I always end up petting them (it's hard not to!).  Usually, this ends with hives, fatigue, and a stuffy nose.  On Day 20 and 21...no reaction.  I couldn't believe it!  Could it be that simple changes in my diet made this happen?  I've been getting allergy shots for almost a year now, but this is the first time I haven't had a reaction in what seems like forever.  The weird thing is, I was getting hives during Clean, so at one point during the 21 days I came to the conclusion that the Detox wasn't fixing my allergies.  The fact that I didn't react to the cat was really awesome and surprising!

It wasn't all smooth sailin' on Clean, though.  There were definite moments of frustration and hunger.  If I got hungry during the day, I'd snack on a Clean approved food.  I found I had the hardest time on Friday nights, after dinner.  It's hard to find the resolve to say no to seemingly healthy food like popcorn while watching a movie.  I would make some tea and move on, and I found my craving would pass without any drama.

Now that it's done, I look forward to sneaking in a little coffee back in my life.  It's been a almost a month!  The only strong cravings I had were for coffee, so I'm going to bring it back. After Clean, you're supposed to bring certain foods and drinks on the "no" list back gradually to see how you react.  Since my diet was healthy to begin with, I don't think I'll see too much of a problem.  It will be interesting to see how my allergies go.  After coffee, I'm bringing back peanut butter, bananas, soy, then gluten.  I'll definitely post updates on how it goes!

Have you ever given up coffee?  How did it go?

Clean Program, Week 2

Week Two is over, and I officially have seven days left on the Clean Program.  Today, I feel well rested, strong, and healthy.  I feel good! 

This week was a really busy one for me.  I got home late, I stayed up late, I woke up late, I barely had enough time to get dressed in time for my commute let alone make a smoothie.  I found myself randomly getting a strong urge for some coffee while at work, but other than that, it was pretty smooth sailing.
 

I skipped the breakfast smoothie on Day 11.  I made up for it on Day 12 with a frozen organic raspberry, cocoa, almond milk smoothie with hemp powder and chia seeds.  On most other days this week, the base of my breakfast smoothie was coconut milk, almond milk, hemp powder, chia seeds, and ground flaxseeds.  I added frozen organic fruit like peaches and blueberries.  They are super filling!  I found that I like cold, thick drinks in the winter.  I am so surprised by that!  There's snow on the ground, yet I like my cold smoothie.   Here's a particularly thick version, in a coffee mug.

For most of the week, lunch was not exciting since I have to cook it the night before and bring it to work, and I haven't had the time to do this important Clean meal any justice.  I tried to make a lovely millet and artichoke risotto from the Clean website that was supposed to be nurtured with frequent stirring but ended up being rushed.  The result was pretty blah.  I repeated the quinoa, lentil, spinach mixture from last week.  One definite winner this week was this meal made of balsamic glazed portabella mushrooms from Vegan With a Vengeance and saffron brown rice from Veganomicon. 

This weekend I made crabless cakes, a Clean recipe from their website.  It was made up of cashews, coconut flakes, celery, carrots, onion, sea salt, pepper, and kelp powder.  It was suggested to serve it with mustard and sauerkraut, but I would have preferred it with Vegenaise.  I'll probably make it again after the detox.

I eventually had time to heat up the artichoke millet risotto with more veggie broth, and it came out so much better.  Here it is with some kale and crabless cakes.

In addition to organic honeycrisp apples, hummus and carrots, raw cashews, and raw almonds, I made kale chips to snack on.  They are so amazing!  I'll post the recipe I used later this week.

Dinner during week 2 was either white bean and roasted garlic soup from my last Clean post or some green juice.  Here's spinach, celery, green apple, ginger, and lemon juice.

An exciting update on my allergies is when I got my allergy shots, the injection site didn't swell up like crazy like it normally does.  Weird, huh?  It will be interesting to see if this continues.  Does this mean that coffee and gluten make me more sensitive to allergens?  I hope not!  After week 3, I'm supposed to incorporate the foods I wasn't supposed to eat gradually into my diet and see how I react.  I'll have to think about what food on the Clean "no" list will make an appearance first.  Soy? Gluten?  Coffee?  Nightshades like potatoes?  Bananas?  I'll keep you posted!

Clean Program, Week 1 Recap

Week 1 is over!  14 more days to go!  This past week, I began each day with a smoothie and some supplements.  Monday and Tuesday I had a blueberry, coconut milk, avocado, cinnamon smoothie.  Wednesday and Thursday was blueberry, almond milk, cocoa, and a little bit of agave.  The recipes for these smoothies are in the Clean book.  I added a full serving of hemp protein powder and about a teaspoon of ground flax seed and chia seeds to each smoothie and took my daily vegan multivitamin, omega 3, calcium, enzyme and probiotic supplements. I really enjoyed these smoothies!  Friday and Saturday were more of a coconut milk, pineapple vibe that was ultimately just OK.  Breakfast used to be sugary black coffee, so this is a vast improvement to say the least.  I feel full and ready to face the day with these babies.  No more sugar/caffeine crashes.  That said, I sure do miss my coffee.  When the cleanse is all said and done, I'll probably continue with the smoothies for breakfast, but I'm definitely bringing the occasional cup of java back into my life.

Lunch on the Clean Program should be whole foods and can be cooked.  Early in the week, I started with a quinoa, lentil, spinach dish.  I sauteed onion and garlic, added about a teaspoon of oregano, and I cooked the quinoa in veggie broth.  I sauteed the spinach with garlic and olive oil, and I seasoned the lentils that I placed on top with salt and pepper. 

On Wednesday, I had a salad with mixed greens, avocado, and nori with a generous sprinkling of nutritional yeast and a healthy dash of cayenne pepper.  This recipe is from Thrive.  I used the Vegan With a Vengeance recipe for a balsamic/tahini dressing.  Yum!  After my salad I sliced up some cucumber and ate it with more of the dressing.  It's so good! On Thursday and Friday, I had the same salad but added a bunch of chickpeas. 

This weekend's lunch was brown rice veggie sushi with no soy sauce.  I didn't make this (I wish!), I bought it at a store.

For dinner this week, I mostly had butternut squash soup.  

This weekend, I made the white bean and roasted garlic soup from VWAV, but I made a slight change.  I added a bunch of spinach to make it green.  So good!

Since I have such a sweet tooth and I'm a dessert fanatic, I usually have an apple, lemon, ginger juice after dinner.  I've been adding greens and cucumber to my apple, lemon, ginger base to make them healthier.

Some other healthy habits I picked up this week include drinking water with lemon (and a lot of it!), and leaving at least a 12 hour gap between my last meal in the evening and my first meal in the morning.

Have I seen any improvements during week 1?  Well, I'm super allergic to dust.  For whatever reason, I decided to do a massive clean out of my house (clean body, clean house, I guess?), exposing myself to some dust.  Usually, I get a runny nose, itchy eyes, and I break out in hives immediately.  This week, the reaction was slower and less intense.  That said, I did get hives this week.  Not sure if it's reasonable to expect anything major after only one week. 

The other thing is I've been going to an hour and a half hot yoga class, and I'm usually really sore and tired the next day.  This week, my recovery was really fast.  This could be because I've been sleeping more, maybe my muscles are getting used to the routine, but the faster recovery was great.  Unfortunately, the roads around here and the boardwalk are still covered in snow and ice, so no running for me.

Though the transition from my usual diet to the Clean diet wasn't super dramatic, I did have a tough time on Day 5.  I was stressed from work, and I was hungry.  I was sick of the same soup and salad I kept making out of convenience, and I started thinking this whole detox idea was stupid.  I then reminded myself that there really was no reason to let myself get hungry while doing this.  I specifically liked this detox because you can eat real food on it.  So, I went shopping the next day, had sushi and snacked on Clean-approved food before and after lunch.  Now I'm totally fine.

Goal for next week: I want to make kale chips to snack on, and I'm looking for a good recipe.  Have you ever tried kale chips?

Getting Clean, the Vegan Way

I ate too many white, processed, sugary foods over the holidays, and I want to give my body a rest.  I'd like to press reset and maybe learn a few more healthy recipes and adopt some healthier habits.  So, I'm going to follow a veganized version of the Clean Program.  It's a 21 day detox plan that utilizes whole foods, avoids common allergens, and is written by an MD. 

Dr. Alejandro Junger details the why's and how's of his program in his book, Clean.  I thought a lot of what he wrote made sense, the only issue I have with it is that he says it's OK to eat some animals.  Dr. Junger writes that organic lamb, chicken, and fish are OK to eat while detoxing, but I obviously am not going to do that.  

He does have plenty of vegan recipes in the program and it's generally vegan friendly.  As a vegan I'm already pretty "clean", but to faithfully do the cleanse I also need to take a break from caffeine, sugar, gluten, soy, corn, nightshade vegetables like potatoes, some fruits that are common allergens, and processed food.  The diet consists of a smoothie for breakfast, a whole food lunch that can be cooked, and a smoothie, juice, or soup for dinner.  You can have snacks too, if you really need them.  The idea is to reduce acidity in the body, reduce the toxic load, and eliminate any possible allergens and foods that could promote inflammation in the body.  

Apparently, strawberries and chocolate are common allergens.  Bananas and wheat are acid-making foods, grapefruit tends to suppress some key liver functions when detoxing, and peanuts tend to have fungus on them.  Corn is often genetically modified, and caffeine taxes the adrenal glands.  The goal is to create a nice, gentle, chilled out state in your body so that it can heal itself.  

So what can I eat on Clean?  A lot of my favorite foods!  Kale, quinoa, brown rice, ginger, apples, cashews, green juices, smoothies, lentils, most vegetables, soup.  I think this will be a healthier, slightly amped up version of what I usually try to do.  

To prepare for the detox, you're supposed to gradually eliminate some of the detox-unfriendly foods from your diet.  I knew my biggest challenge was going to be my morning coffee.  So, this week I slowly weaned myself off.  On Monday, it was my usual travel mug full of black coffee with a scoop of organic sugar.  Tuesday, half a mug without sugar.  I had a giant headache.  On Wednesday, I replaced my coffee with a green juice (my favorite: green apple, lemon, ginger).  I was tired all day!  Thursday came along, juice again.  Weirdly, I wasn't tired!  It was the opposite, I had all this extra energy in the morning-almost too much.  On Friday, I juiced again and I was fine.  I actually expected a more dramatic state of affairs. Maybe all the natural sugars in the juice helped me out there.

I'm planning out my meals now so that I can go food shopping and start full-force on Monday morning.  I'm not a morning person, apparently this program will help me with that.  I'm also hoping for a miraculous cure for my allergies.  I tend to get hives when I come into contact with environmental allergens like pet dander, dust, and pollen.

Next week, I'll update you on Week 1 of the vegan Clean Program.  In the meantime, look out for a post on vegan St. Kilda and a fabulous vegan lip balm.  

Have you ever detoxed?  I'm looking for yummy juice and smoothie recipes, so if you have one, let me know!