What you say? Clean living on a baking blog. Well, it can happen. It is all about moderation.
After an ankle sprain and a over-indulgent holiday season, I pulled in the reigns and cleaned shop. My husband (been so long since I posted, I have since gotten hitched) and I watched the documentary "Fat,Sick, and Nearly Dead". So moved were we by this flick, that we decided that we would do a 6 day juice cleanse. I read the book Three Day Cleanse (Blue Print Cleanse) for strategies and recipes. The plan gives you six juices a day (depending on level, determines the number of green juices). We chose a level 2, which is 3 green juices, 2 fruit juices, and 1 nut milk. It was not too bad, as I was not hungry at all. I only missed the chewing associated with eating. Jimmy (my husband), on the other hand, was starving. I should mention that the calorie count was probably somewhere between 1000-1200, much too low for a man. One side effect we both felt was fatigue. Exhausted. I barely got through the three workouts I completed over the course of the fast. The biggest perk to the cleanse....weight loss. Jim lost 10 pounds over the 6 days, while I lost 11 pounds over 11 days (6 juice days, plus 5 pre-cleanse days).
Post-cleanse life.....
I am now trying out some different ways to eat. I am focusing on a plant based diet (check out doc "Fork over Knives" and it puts American diets under the lense of global effect). So mostly I am a lacto-ovo-vegetarian at the moment. Is this permanent? Well, I love a good steak. BUT .....I feel better eating this way. This is tough, especially considering Jim has not changed his diet as drastically as I. We are testing the waters and will see how we do. I wanted to share two recipes that I have really enjoyed. The first is a juice recipe that was my favorite during the fast. The other recipe is a tasty way to get some protein in your diet, without it coming from an animal. Enjoy.
Spinach-Blueberry-Apple-Lemon juice( from Three Day Cleanse)
2 oz. Spinach
1 pint blueberries
1 granny smith apple
1 lemon
Wash fruit. Core apple and cut into segments to fit into juicer. Cut peel from lemon. Run all ingredients through juicer. Run any wet pulp back through juicer. Scrape foam off and serve.
Homemade Veggie Burgers (based on recipe by Gwyneth Paltrow in My Father's Daughter)
2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, diced and peeled
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 portabello mushroom, diced
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 14oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup cooked brown rice
2 TBSP flour
3 TBSP grapeseed or olive oil
Heat olive oil in medium saute pan over medium heat. Saute onion, garlic, and cumin until softened and fragrant, about 7 minutes. Add bell pepper and mushrooms and saute for another 3 minutes. Add salt, pepper, beans(mashed with a potato masher, then added to pan) and rice and cook, stirring for 2 minutes.
Let mixture cool until its easy to handle. Form mixture into 4 patties. At this point, you can set the burgers in the fridge for a few hours. Dust on both sides with flour. Heat grapeseed or olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat and brown burgers on both sides , about a minute each side. Serve with spouted wheat buns and your favorite toppings (avocado and ketchup are mine).
Check out jointhereboot , forksoverknives , and blueprintcleanse for more information.
Happy and healthy new year.
