Grab a blanket + a glass of warm lemon water + prepare yourself, this could get lengthy.
Other Detox Motivators
After reading books like, The Omnivores Dilemma, In Defense of Food, and Slow Food Nation, you can’t help but take a closer look at the foods you buy + consume. They were life changers for me, along with the documentary, Food Inc. After completing The Omnivores Dilemma, my diet and how I looked at food started to change. For me, it was exciting, and I felt the urge to learn more + more everyday. I read books, online articles, cut out a lot of processed junk food, read ingredient lists, stopped buying fat free products, and started buying higher quality meat. I made it a point to look carefully for processed soy + corn ingredients, and stay away from them, because of what I learned. I tried to stay away from soy in general, as much as possible. We were able to pull away from processed foods more and more and could definitely feel the positive effects.
*Just as a quick note, in case you’re new or have been wondering. I stopped eating meat last year at Easter and hadn’t eaten it for about 2 months before that. I also do not eat fish anymore, except for trying 1 scallop at the Foodbuzz festival, because there is a first time for everything.*
I started shopping at farmer’s markets, and even started my own granola bar business where I sold at a local farmer’s market [in Charlotte, NC]. Chris + I lowered our meat consumption by over half. We moved to Colorado, and were astounded at what a healthy place this was. The veg-friendly restaurant options and outdoorsy lifestyle were fabulous.
However, somewhere along the way, my “rules” loosened a bit. I started letting processed soy slip back into our diet [mostly soy lecithin, because it is so hard to avoid]. My cereal/cracker/chip purchases increased. Even though they were organic and sometimes quite healthy, they were still very processed. We started eating tofu, which I really enjoy, but used to make a point to stay away from. When out at restaurants, I would order eggs + cheese, having no idea what the source was. These were all things that happened because it was just easier. I wasn’t constantly reading books + articles, informing me of the negative affects these things have on my body + the environment, which made it easy look the other way.
However, I don’t stand for easy. In the past month or so, I’ve been trying to read more and stay up to date on current food issues and revisit the books above that changed my life so much. Chris and I recently watched the documentary, The Future of Food [you can watch it on hulu], which was a film about GMO foods that line our shelves today. It of course discussed the agriculture company, Monsanto, throughout the entire documentary. I had already heard + read everything that was in that film before, but being refreshed with the information, was nauseating. It was time to throw “the easy way” out the window, and get a little more hardcore about what I believe in.
I figured, the best way to do this, was through a clean food detox.
Can I just say how hard it was to consolidate that information into the above paragraphs? I could have gone on for days and will maybe elaborate on a few topics soon, especially about soy.
Okay, back to the the food.
Monday Lunch
Filled with all kinds of delicious texture, this meal was free of salt, sugar, wheat, dairy + soy.
Detox Day 1 – Millet Wrapped Lunch
- 1 huge chard leaf, stem cut off
- 1/4c uncooked millet
- 1T safflower/olive/coconut oil
- 1/2c water
- ~1/2c sweet mini peppers or bell peppers, diced
- 2T pepitas
- 1 egg
- 1 portabella mushroom, chopped
- 1/2t garlic powder
- 1t smoked paprika
- black pepper
- sea salt [optional – I lef this out]
- 1 small sweet tater
- 1/2T coconut butter
- In a small pot, heat 1/2T oil over med. heat.
- Rinse millet and add to pot.
- Stir to brown for 1-3min. This brings out an awesome nutty flavor.
- Add in water, bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer + cover.
- After the water has absorbed, 15-20min, fluff with a fork.
- In a saute pan, heat 1/2T oil over med. heat.
- Add in portabella, peppers, garlic, paprika, and pepper.
- Stir and cook for about 5min until the bella has softened up a bit.
- Add in pepitas. Cook another 2min, stirring frequently.
- Scrape ingredients to one side of the pan, drizzle a very small amount of oil on the other side + pour 1 whisked egg into the pan.
- Cook egg, moving around with spatula, for about 2min, until done.
- Add in millet. Stir to combine for 1 more minute.
- Wrap in chard leaf + cut small segments. It’s very messy!
For the sweet taters, follow these directions. Top with melted coconut butter.
On to the new flour I tried out. I’ve been wanting to try this garbanzo flour for some time now, but finally decided to take the plunge. I think this was because my mom bought me a chickpea cookbook called, Hummus. Every recipe is based on using garbanzo beans!
It has an extremely soft texture. I’m sure this can be made at home if you have a grain grinder. Has anyone ever made their own garbanzo flour?
A recipe that spurred my interest in the book was for a Chickpea Bake. It basically looked like a savory chickpea cake, from the looks of the photo. It also had me interested because the ingredient list was short and didn’t call for sugar.
This recipe did however call for 1 whole teaspoon of salt, which I left out. A lovely reader + friend, Kristin [Cook, Bake, Nibble – I designed her header!], recently completed a similar detox. I read all about it on her blog and learned so much. She just [thankfully!] brought to my attention, that it’s actually not good to eliminate salt completely. Our bodies need it to function properly and I would feel much worse without at least a little bit of salt each day. Good to know!! I’m definitely going to look into this more as well.
Next time I make this, I’ll probably include 1/2t salt, instead of the full 1t, that is recommended.
Since I left the salt out this time, I got creative with other things to add in.
The original recipe called for:
- chickpea flour
- cold water
- salt
- olive oil
Here is how I ended up changing it:
Chickpea Bake [adapted from the cookbook, Hummus, by Avner Laskin] vegan + gluten free
- 1 1/4c chickpea flour
- 1c unsweetened almond milk
- 1T unsweetened applesauce
- 1T safflower oil
- 1t cinnamon
- 1t curry
- 1/2t garlic
- 1/4t ginger
- few shakes of garam masala
- Preheat oven to 375*
- Grease a 8-9” round cake pan, or pie dish.
- Mix all ingredients together, until just combined.
- Pour the batter into the pan and bake for about 40min. It will be very cracked with browned edges.
I loved this savory cake/bread, especially since I’m not eating any wheat products right now. It had a great flavor from the spices and the texture was soft + dough-like. It definitely would have been tastier with 1/2t of salt, but topped with a little Earth Balance or raw almond butter would be great too.
These were drizzled with a little [soy free] Earth Balance for Chris. It still has a bit of salt in it, so I’m going to try and stay away from it for the most part. Since learning I still need some salt in my diet during this detox, I’ll be liiiightly sprinkling it on here and there, but trying to stay under 1/4t per day [575mg or less].
I also have an idea to make another version of this using coconut oil, coconut milk, cinnamon + cocoa or carob powder. Yum!!
Are you still with me??? Time to talk about how I’m feeling after Day 1.
Overview – Day 1
- Through late afternoon my stomach was feeling better than normal.
- Awhile after dinner, I felt bloated. I don’t think this was due to what I ate for dinner, although I can’t be certain, but obviously foods are still working their way out of my system.
- I craved sweet + salty all day long. You could tell from my almost all-fruit snack choices, I wanted sweet!
- I realized how many times throughout the day I will take a bite of something sweet or bready throughout the day. Little break of this, little handful of that. Even though I feel like I already eat extremely healthy, it was an eye opener to realize that I have quite the nibble habit.
- I never felt tempted to cheat, but it wasn’t easy to curb the cravings. I ate whenever hungry.
- Dinner held me over the whole night! This is highly unusual. I typically need some sort of nighttime snack, but did not feel hungry at all last night. I’m sure it had to do with the loads of healthy fats and huge helping of brown rice.
- I was really thirsty + drank a lot of water!
- I pee’d a lot.
- I’m loving dry brushing and already feel some of the effects, which I will talk more about soon, or you can read more on it here. I’ve been doing this for almond 1 full week now.
- I really wanted a bite of the tempeh I made for Chris last night!!
- Although gross, the detox tea made me feel good.
- Getting out for a brisk walk with the dogs, in the sun boosted my mood + energy.
- Yoga felt great!
I think that’s about all for now. I’ve been absolutely loving the response from this and am trying to answer your questions/comments the best I can. If you can’t tell, I’m definitely having fun with this!! So far today, I’ve had another good day of eats and can’t wait to share them with you soon!
Ashley
