The beginning of the end!

Time flies when you are having fun, and as I got into the groove with my detox, I started to feel very comfortable with my food choices and started to really enjoy how good the food tasted. Once you get past the first week the caffeine withdrawal headache goes along with the sugar and salt cravings (thank goodness).

I certainly became more creative in the last days –

-       Breakfast – adding super green smoothie onto ground seed mix

-       Almond milk Smoothies – adding bananas, frozen berries, cocoa powder, chia or flaxseeds (see my almond milk recipe below).

-       Creative salad dressings – to keep the vegies interesting (see below for one of my favourites).

-       Chia seed pots – great little afternoon snack - recipe for this coming soon!

-       Fish parcels – the easiest way to cook fish - place fish with choice of vegies (bok choy, spinach, asparagus etc) in oven proof paper with drizzle if olive oil or squeeze of lemon and cook for 15-20 minutes at 200c.

-       Bliss balls – I have become a master in randomly throwing in nuts, seeds, dried fruit, or (whatever i could find) in a food processor and then adding some carob, tahini and honey.

     Just play around with the ingredients until it suits your taste buds! 

-       Drinks – I'm loving hot ginger tea, but have also been giving a whole range of herbal teas a work out.

With a couple more days left, I'm on easy street, just kicking back and enjoying myself, but am definately looking forward to slowly edging my way out with some cheese, some squares  dark chocolate and maybe even a glass of chilled white wine.

'But remember, if you decide to give detoxing a go, the best advice I can give, is ‘ease yourself in and out of the detox’ no shocking your body, i.e. don’t stop, then binge, you’ll feel terrible and undo all your good work (physically and mentally).' 

Almond Milk Recipe

Ingredients

Soaked almonds (1/2 cup before soaking)

3 cups of water

2 dates (optional)

1-2 drops of vanilla essence

Method

-       Soak nuts overnight and rinse well

-       Blend all ingredients on high until well blended

-       Put through a nut milk bag

    (you can buy these at www.consciouschoice.com.au)

      *Note I have then been using the nut pulp in the bliss balls which gives them a really lovely consistency, you can freeze this, and then use as almond meal when need

Salad dressing

 Ingredients

1 rounded tsp of unpasteurised miso

Juice of ½ an orange (I used a blood orange)

1tbsp mirin

1tbsp olive oil

This goes really well on chopped beetroot, carrot and fennel, with some toasted sesame seeds!

3 days done, only another 27 to go…oh god!

So on day 1 I was feeling pretty good, day 2 I still felt rather virtuous and proud of myself, but day 3 has been tough. Perhaps it was the fact that I started the day with a Boxing class, and I felt as if I was running on empty with no chance of reaching top speed. I did have a Super Green Smoothie before the class, but two days of low carbohydrates hadn’t left me much in the way of energy stores and I felt far from super.

Then by mid-day a headache began which I haven’t managed to shift. I wasn’t expecting it, but even though I am not a coffee drinker, stopping the 2-3 teas (black and green) must have been enough to give me a caffeine withdrawal.

On the up side, I have done pretty well at sticking to the detox; I do feel that I need a little more variation though. 

Planning is certainly the key to sticking to it. Plus, it’s definitely good to clear the house of temptation before starting…a few squares of Green & Black Chocolate have been plaguing me and I can’t quite bring myself to throw them away, instead they wave at me each time I open the fridge, saying “eat me Karen”.

Okay, here is a peek at my three day eating plan…warts and all.

Breakfast	Snack	Lunch	Snack	Dinner	Beverages
Day 1: Hot water and ¼ squeezed lemon Glass of green smoothie 2 boiled eggs, EVO oil and sumac	Apple, cashews and macadamias Bliss ball	2 x organic roasted chicken legs and winter cabbage and carrot slaw	Bliss ball Orange, cashew and macadamias	Fillet steak and mixed leafy salad Fried (in coconut oil) banana and goats yogurt	5 glasses of water 4 herbal teas
Day 2: Hot water and ¼ squeezed lemon 2 boiled eggs, tomatoe and spinach Orange juice	Apple 2 dates and handful of almonds	2 x organic roasted chicken legs and mixed salad Soaked chia seeds, blueberries and passionfruit  pot	Orange and handful of almonds 2 bliss balls 1 glass of Green Smoothie	Flathead fillet and mixed salad with tahini dressing	5 glasses of water 4 herbal teas
Day 3: Glass of Green Smoothie and 2 chlorella tablets 2 boiled eggs, mushrooms and silverbeet	Apple Almonds, Brazils and Walnuts (handful) 1 date and 1 fig	2 chicken legs and mixed salad 2 chlorella tablets Soaked chia and blueberry pot	2 bliss balls Passionfruit and mandarin Flats (vegie and flax dehydrated crackery things) with left over pate	Fish soup (including ocean trout and flathead, lots of fresh coriander, basil and some celery, sprinkle of fennel seeds) 2 chlorella tablets Orange, goats yogurt and kiwi fruit	6 glasses of water 4 herbal teas

I have to confess I have had a few slip ups: 

*goats yogurt (I know its dairy, but I had some left in the fridge and it’s too good to throw away)

*used butter to fry the flathead (more dairy, but in my defence butter is a stable fat, should have steamed it or baked it to avoid the butter ) 

*I ate pate (it was duck liver pate, French, but not exactly organic, very tasty though).

Still finding my detox feet…

The Beginning of a Detox

Since Spring has rapidly graced us with its presence, I feel the need to Detox some of the winter sludge and lighten my diet somewhat, keeping my motivation alive by sharing my progress and experiences with you! 

I have decided on the following detox plan:

EAT	AVOID
Meat (lean red & organic poultry)	Sugar
Fish	Processed food
Eggs	Grains
Nuts and seeds	Beans and Legumes
Fruits	Dairy
Vegetables (especially green ones)	Starchy foods
Oil –  EV Olive Oil & Flaxseed oil
DRINK	AVOID
Water (At least 2 litres)	Alcohol
Herbal tea	Caffeine
	Sugary drinks

I suppose this detox is nudging at a Palaeolithic style diet, and this feels right for me because it’s been a Winter of maxing out on carbohydrates – roasted potatoes, risottos, pastas, porridges and breads – and my body has wanted all of it. 

Now with Spring well and truly in the air I am ready to move away from the grains and starch – and ramp up the vegetables and lean protein.

Preparation is the key in any Detox, so my day before went a little bit like this: 

-        Shopping – first to Frenchs Forest market to get some organic vegetables plus I picked up some organic fuji apples, lemons and bananas. Then I nipped to Coles to get some organic chicken and some lean fillet (not organic but hormone free)

-        Cooking – roasted some chicken legs to have cold for lunches

-        Snacks – I’ve made a batch of ‘Bliss Balls’ (check out recipe ) feeling a bit flash with new food processor so made two batches – a low dried fruit version for me and a bit more dried fruit for ‘sweet tooth’ Hans.

-        Last supper – I’ve invited 4 friends round to join us in our ‘last supper’ before we start – on the menu is Vegetable Lasagna (with extra cheeseJ) and a couple of salads, washed down with some red wine, then chocolate for dessert – Ha! Well I might as well have something to detox.

      Wish me luck...!