How are the kids? – Week 2
Posted: January 31, 2014 Filed under: Health | Tags: detoxing with kids, Edward and Sons Brown Rice Snaps, Enjoy LIfe Chocolate Chips, Justin's Nut Spread, weelicious, Winter detox week 2 Leave a commentA common question while we’ve been doing our cleanse is, “What are you feeding the kids?!?!?” My answer is – whatever is easy! While my kids are pretty good eaters, I wouldn’t feel comfortable restricting their food to the guidelines of our cleanse. So what does that mean? 2 breakfasts, 2 lunches, 2 dinners – all the while fighting cravings, particularly during week 1. So before we began we tried to make things as easy as possible.
A big batch of marinara and meat sauce – this can go over baked potato, broccoli, pasta, brown rice, or on an english muffin sprinkled with cheese (mini pizza).
Soup to the rescue. The whole family loves this recipe from Weelicious and thankfully it is also cleanse approved. The kids pair this soup with a generous doll-up of sour cream and fresh baguette with a creamy cheese.
Get them cooking! At ages 6 and 8 my kids can do a bit in the kitchen, this week, they made pesto (with supervision), flipped egg omelets (with supervision) and made loads of toast (to then spread with whatever they love – like Justin’s chocolate almond butter spread) (that last one is all on their own – no way I could be in the kitchen while that deliciousness is going on!) Whatever they make, or assist in making, they are 70% more likely to eat in my experience.
Chop it up – lots of fresh fruits and veggies on hand all cut and chopped for them to dip in guacamole, hummus, peanut butter, and the aforementioned Justin’s chocolate spread.
Breakfast for dinner – oatmeal with applesauce and cinnamon, eggs and toast, etc.
So while I couldn’t order pizza from our favorite neighborhood place during our cleanse, I seem to be okay making them a SMALL pizza at home (no left-overs). And it is better to rid your home of all your favorite “pit-falls”, so think through alternatives. If you are a cookie-monster, no cookies in the house, maybe they can get one from the bakery while you are cruising through the grocery store. If it’s a bowl of ice cream every night, get the kids greek yogurt and sprinkle chocolate chips (my kids like this just as much as ice cream). If it’s chips, try these rice crackers my kids love the cheddar ones.
Above all try not to cringe when your sweet little one offers you a bite of whatever contraband they are in the midst of enjoying!
Happy Friday,
D
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes – Week 2
Posted: January 29, 2014 Filed under: Health | Tags: 101 Cookbooks, Clean, Clean recipes, dishing up the dirt, Dr. Junger, Dr. Lipman, Dr. Oz, Heidi Swanson, my new roots, Nori roll, Pamela Salzman, Rip+Tan, Super Natural Every Day, Valleybrink Road, week 2, Winter Detox Leave a commentWith the burden of detox week 1 behind us, we’re beginning to reap some benefits of the “Clean” lifestyle. Skin irritations are clearing up, sleep has turned into an amazingly perfect experience for one of us, energy has bumped up and evened out for one of us, eliminations (we are talking poop people) have become as described in the book for one of us, a pound or two have fallen off. These things are nice to experience but what’s better is there’s a sense of freedom that comes with this program – like you can drop the chains of cravings and junk food. You don’t have to be a slave to mood swings (which I now see have loads to do with what I’m eating).
So does that mean I’m “healed”? Will it be a life without pasta and cheese or bananas, strawberries and yogurt or bread – warm, flaky, lovely bread? Probably not, possibly not? Let’s just see where the three weeks takes us, baby steps, right? Right now I’m very happy writing with my warm cup of ginger tea instead of my old friend jo, so that’s some major change!
But at this point a lot of folks, my husband and I included, start talking about making these “Clean” changes for good (or at least 80% of the time). That calls for research – gotta build up the recipe folder and get inspired, here are some links that if not completely “Clean” things could be easily modified.
Dr. Oz tried “Clean” and put together a whole manual of recipes and menu plans, some of these are repeated in the book but some are new, especially at the end!
My New Roots continues to be a resource I go back to again and again, her “winter abundance bowl” is on my list for this week.
Dr. Frank Lipman just blogged a week’s worth of Detox friendly meals. I plan to finally attack the Nori Roll, except I’m giving up on the roll, it’s too intimidating for some reason, my roll will look oddly similar to a rice bowl.
Heidi Swanson, is new on my radar but I’ve read about her on Rip+Tan, Dishing Up the Dirt, Valleybrink Road and Pamela Salzman – her online journal 101 cookbooks has me very interested and her book “Super Natural Every Day” looks like a work of art and I love the title.
That should tide us all over for awhile, happy gathering.
Introducing The Partridge – Week 2
Posted: January 28, 2014 Filed under: Health | Tags: dishing up the dirt, gingerbread spice shake, pear smoothie, stainless steel straw, Vega, Winter detox week 2 1 CommentI haven’t posted a smoothie recipe in ages and that’s for a couple reasons, 1. No new inspiration was coming my way and 2. I had picked up a love affair with coffee and toast in the mornings. But today, I bring you something new (to me at least) and it’s so yummy that I told my husband, “This will be our morning smoothie, no more experiments, this is the mother of all smoothies”.
1 1/2 cup unsweetened Almond Milk
1 pitted date (I used Medjool)
1 organic pear cored (I left skin on but feel free to peel)
1 scoop Vega (Vanilla flavor – or any plant based non soy protein powder of your choice – brown rice, hemp, chia are good options)
2 ice cubes
Blend and enjoy!
P.S. Perhaps you noticed my nifty stainless steel straw? I love them, so great to rinse and reuse again and again and again plus it saves me from the inevitable smoothie mustache. I received these in my stocking but you can find them here on sale.
P.P.S If anyone is reading this and not eschewing bananas at the moment AND in freezing temps, this smoothie looked really fun.
Slip-i-dee-do-dah – Day 7
Posted: January 27, 2014 Filed under: Health | Tags: artisans coconut oil, Avoca coffee, Clean program, Ezekiel bread, falling off the wagon, Nuttzo, pour over coffee, Winter Detox Leave a commentSunday morning we woke bleary eyed after tag teaming the past two nights with our bronchitis ridden daughter. Monitoring fever, listening to breathing, consoling and hugging our sick kid, it immediately made me grateful I lived through their newborn years with relatively no health scares, cause it’s scary.
So, my husband and I agreed, Sunday was a coffee morning. We used the last bit of our locally roasted Avoca beans that had been taunting me for the past week for the perfect pour over. I toasted up my beloved Cinnamon Raisin Ezekiel bread, spread one side with coconut oil and the other with Nuttzo (NP). We sat down at our dining table, our kids happily watching something terrible on Netflix, and we thoroughly enjoyed our tumble off the Clean wagon.
Now, where does that leave us after enjoying all the contraband? Did we fail? Are we losers?
We don’t think so, actually it was a great experience. The coffee made me feel all hyped up and I had trouble taking a deep breath – never felt that before, or maybe had never been aware of it? While the preparation and that lovely smell were divine the after effects had me sincerely questioning if coffee would make it back into my daily rotation post-Clean. We were happy to jump back into Clean after the morning’s indulgence. I even made the best smoothie I may have ever created (recipe tomorrow). In conclusion, I think this was a good slip for us, of course, time will tell, stay tuned to see if we can make it to our finish line.
Pick your poison – Day 6
Posted: January 25, 2014 Filed under: Health | Tags: chocolate craving, Clean program, Fallen series, lauren kate, sugar cravings, Winter Detox 1 CommentHelloooooo cravings! I would consider sawing my arm off for some pie about now or really chocolate, my mind has been on chocolate like a faucet left slowly dripping – maybe you can tune it out for awhile but then it comes back to your consciousness like the most annoying thing ever!
Now since I’ve committed to these three tiny weeks to change my eating habits, I really don’t want to cave, so I’ve picked another non-nutritious vice. The Fallen series by Lauren Kate. A BAD young adult mystical romance with four books, even with my binge reading that should get me through week 1, which is supposed to be the hardest and man is it hard this time around. Now when I say BAD, I don’t mean bad = naughty and somehow sexy, nor do I mean bad = good like Michael Jackson, I mean bad = the opposite of good. That’s what this series is proving to be, BAD, but I’ve been blessed with a superbly high tolerance for bad books and this one is helping me eat away hours that I’m…..not eating chocolate and stressing over a sick kid 😦
Hope everyone is having a nice weekend!
Finding a groove – Day 4 (and 5)
Posted: January 24, 2014 Filed under: Health | Tags: accountability, Clean, coconut oil, Dr. Junger, kale, sweet potato, Winter Detox Leave a commentYesterday felt….normal. There were some distraction sit-ups and some staring at my kitchen pantry for the magical thing I just WANTED (but wasn’t there). No major headaches, no terrible digestion issues, I think we are finding a groove. So, I don’t have much to stay but staying accountable on 800arrows, helps too. So to make it sort of worth your while if you’ve been reading, here’s my favorite lunch, so far – hardly ground breaking but perfect if you are in chilly weather:
Sweet potato and Kate salad (serves 2)
Ingredients:
2 sweet potatoes
coconut oil (optional)
Cinnamon (optional)
1 bunch kale (leaves separated from stems)
lemon
olive oil
salt
red peper flakes (optional)
Preheat oven to 400
Scrub your potatoes and pork with a fork, place in oven and put a pan underneath to catch the drippings.
Cook for 40 minutes.
Once cooked, slice open spread a bit of coconut oil and sprinkle with a little cinnamon.
After washing and thinly slicing kale, place in a medium bowl
Juice 1/2 lemon, 1-2 TBS olive oil, sprinkle with salt and massage. You’ll feel the kale start to soften a bit, I feel it after about 1 minute. Sprinkle with red pepper flakes.
Enjoy!
You could get with this or you could get with that – Day 3
Posted: January 22, 2014 Filed under: Health | Tags: cravings, detox cravings, overcoming cravings, sugar addiction, Winter Detox Leave a commentMy headache is gone! Wooooo Hooooo. I woke up, took my run, all ready ready to say, “uncle” and brew some organic green tea if my pounding head returned, but I’m happy to say no headache has raised it’s ugly head, hee hee.
However, with the lack of pounding distraction, up popped a new treasure in the form of some lovely cravings. Sigh. This might be a harder obstacle for me since no amount of resting or hydrating seem to make a dent in these urges. Since it’s the beginning, the cravings aren’t really specific, I just want SOMETHING, in a few days, or possibly hours, it will probably get specific like pizza or pie, ummmm pie. What’s a committed detox-er to do?
Here’s some of the common advice:
1. take a walk
2. hydrate
3. look at a fire (it’s soothing)
4. write down what you crave
5. wait five minutes, it could pass.
Here’s what I’m trying: sit-ups.
I’m not going crazy and doing hundreds but it gives my body a chance to move a little, it makes me slightly uncomfortable in a different way than the craving, and gives me a chance to think about all the sit-ups I’ve done through out my life in an attempt catch-up after previous over-indulgences.
That’s all nice and good but is it working? So far, yes!
Also, the oil-swishing is serving as a nice new habit instead of my old 3:00 tea and treat. The lesson here? Consider embracing a few new distractions while my body and mind are making these transitions…….and be nice and patient to myself, especially this first week.
Hugs and sit-ups,
D
Keep going – Day 2
Posted: January 21, 2014 Filed under: Health | Tags: brussels sprouts, caffeine addiction, caffeine headache, detox symptoms, HG Sply Co, Paleo, week 1, Winter Detox Leave a commentYesterday was day 1 of our detox which makes today day 2 – see I can still do math! The raging headache has not subsided and my mood is hovering around something that rhymes with itchy. My energy is way down and I’m thinking of going pant-less since I have to pee about every 5 minutes. In short, this is the opposite of fun.
I found this very apropos article, titled “The Cruel Calling of Coffee“, to help me over this surprisingly difficult hump. The author is from the Paleo camp, possibly an expert of sorts, and I’d just like to say, I really like you Paleo people out there. Talk about a fired up group, Paleo people seem to be such a “can do” community. Committed, motivated, opening restaurants and gyms, truly advocating for their beliefs about healthy lifestyle. The Paleo existence has benefitted mine tremendously, like now I can go out and order things like brussels sprout chips and a cider (when I’m not detoxing) and everyone smiles with no hidden mockery. That’s just beautiful to me.
On your mark, get set, wait, wait, wait, ok, GO! – Day 1
Posted: January 20, 2014 Filed under: Health | Tags: caffeine addicition, Clean, Dr. Junger, sugar addiction, Winter Detox 1 CommentSo, I mentioned our family was planning a winter detox, well then I got the flu, then my husband got the flu and here we are a couple weeks later with our kitchen under construction and we are beginning. Not the best time you say, I suppose not, but we are going with it. So here I am at the (near) end of day 1 and I’m feeling it folks. I truly thought I had kicked most of my caffeine dependency during my visit from the flu but my raging headache suggests otherwise or perhaps it’s my body freaking due to lack of copious amounts of sugar. Whatever the reason, I’m considering getting into my PJs at 5:00.
I share and air all of this because it’s a great opportunity for me to get excited about not feeling so good. It’s a terrific reminder my body needs this break. I’ve been partying like a queen, with heavy foods, too much food, too much heavy food, not enough of the good and over my fair share of the not so good. If you are following my line of thinking I’m impressed, can I blame run on sentences and incoherent thoughts on day 1 detox blahs? Sure!
Where was I? Oh yes, embracing the fog, I’ve been caffeinate-ing and sugar-ing my way out of this fog for months but now I have the opportunity to feel it and clear it.
We’re using the Clean program once again to give our bodies a bit of a break. No fancy tricks or supplements, just a smoothie or juice for breakfast, a lunch from the approved list of foods and a soup or smoothie for dinner. That felt like I was quoting a commercial but what I continue to appreciate about this program is it’s not about counting calories or being hungry. You can take this concept to many different levels depending on your goals and needs for detoxing. Ok, now I really do sound like a commercial, I give up, I’m off to grab my PJ’s.
It’s not about the money, money, money
Posted: January 9, 2014 Filed under: Health | Tags: ayurveda, detoxing yoga moves, infrared sauna, lemon and water, oil pulling, Pitch Perfect, Winter Detox Leave a commentWith detox being all the rage you can easily find yourself shelling out big bucks and hustling all over town for this yoga, that infrared sauna, those special supplements. Here are a couple tricks that are relatively cheap (although the price of organic lemons can hurt) and have yielded some satisfying results.
Oil-pulling, this is one of those remedies that’s been around forever but has recently resurfaced with some traction. There are tons of things written about oil-pulling on the internet – about it’s root in Ayurveda, about it’s benefits ranging from better oral health to aiding in insomnia, but like this article said, this one girl’s personal journey gets people most excited to try it, me included!
Photo via Chalkboard Mag
I’ve decided to gargle each morning with coconut oil, but if coconut oil is not for you (I can hear my friend A. gagging at the thought) other options include sesame or sunflower virgin, unrefined, organic oils. It’s a simple drill – pop in the oil, swish and gargle for 20 minutes, spit (in the trash – it’s oil people you don’t want it down your pipes), and tongue scrape. The strangest part for me is getting used to gargling that long, it helps to multi-task which leads me to my next morning cleansing ritual.
Photo via Pamela Salzman
A warm glass of water and lemon. This one I’ve been doing for years and if you are taking a break from coffee or tea it’s nice to still make yourself a warm cup of something in the morning. So while I’m swishing away with my oil, I fill the kettle, bring water to a boil, grab a lemon, slice in half (save the other half for the next day), pour the water into a cup and wait for it to cool down to warm. (This allows you to save the delicate lemon nutrients from burning up in boiling water). While the cup cools a bit I wrap my (always) chilly fingers around the mug and think nice thoughts (and swish my oil). When the cup feels warm instead of hot, squeeze in your lemon half and enjoy.
P.S. In case you are still singing from the title (like my sister and any fan of “Pitch Perfect”), here’s a link to the video…..We don’t need the money, money, money. We just wanna make the world dance, forget about the price tag!
800arrows 