Healthy Twists

How is everyone’s week going? I am going to an open house tomorrow morning for the grad school program I’m interested in, so I’m a little nervous about that BUT I found out of my oldest friends (as in, I’ve known her the longest, she’s my age!) will be there too, so that’s pretty rad.

As I mentioned in my last post, I found a new soymilk at Trader Joe’s the other day, and I was pretty excited about it. I’ve been wanting to limit my use of  nonorganic dairy for environmental reasons, so I was on the hunt for a nondairy milk that still had a similar nutrition stats (as far as calcium, protein, and calories, at least) as nonfat milk. This “Soy Essential” is made from organic soybeans with added goodies like flaxseed oil, has 70 calories, 4g fat and 7g of protein per cup, plus some fiber and other nutrients. At least, that’s what I remember it having because now, we’re all out.

And the reason this box is gone (it’d last me two weeks, usually) is that Mitch and I have decided to do a detox this week, and since it was kind of a last-minute thing, we had to make due with what we had in the house for the first day. It was actually his idea, and I figured if he was going to do it, I might as well do it too. I’m going to get more of this soymilk tomorrow, because I really liked it, and with Trader Joe’s, it could be off the shelves next week (don’t you hate that?).

This detox is pretty simple and actually allows a lot of foods. Basically, no meat/poultry, coffee, dairy (except yogurt), bread, refined sugar/flour, processed foods, artificial sweetener, eggs,  etc. But we CAN eat fruit, veggies, brown rice and other grains like oats, bran, quinoa, beans, nuts, seeds, tofu, fish, etc. So it’s really just a super-clean way of eating and I have to say, although a piece of chocolate sounds good, I really like eating like this so far. It’s not that far off from my normal diet, just minus the little treats and the meat (TWSS?). And of course, some of the “forbidden” foods are quite healthy, but this program is only meant for the short-term.

I’m basing our detox off this program that some other bloggers did awhile back, with advice taken from Leah who is also doing a detox right now, but hers is longer (I think we’re only going until Saturday night…the Chargers are playing their first playoff game of the season on Sunday, ‘nuff said). I’m also drinking detox tea, green tea, lots of water, and Amazing Grass, although I’m not sure what effect that really has on the body, to be honest.

I am in LOVE with how healthy our fridge is! Between two big grocery shops and a CSA pickup, I think we have enough fruits, vegetables, tofu, Greek yogurt, and nut butter to last a lifetime…or at least, until Saturday. (Note that some of the things like the eggs and low-cal OJ we already had, but are off-limits this week. And that’s quinoa in that container on the first shelf, FYI. And I know, it needs to be cleaned/organized. Shocking.)

That doesn’t even count our freezer packed with smoothie-ready fruit. Or the pantry. Or the counter with the 15 bananas. Seriously, we don’t mess around.

I’m only two days into this, but here are the pros and cons so far:

Pros:

• I feel clean, if that makes sense. I think I need to do this every once in awhile as a tangible reminder that the better I eat, the better I feel, bottom line.
• The program isn’t so restrictive that I’m sluggish all the time like I was when I was on my bootcamp diet. I have energy to work out, which is important to me. I was dragging a little today, but I think that was from the lack of coffee.
• I’m paying more attention to my hunger cues, as opposed to my “hey everyone, there’s cookies in the break room” cues.

Cons:

• It takes a decent amount of planning to eat like this. Sometimes I like to be lazy and grad a frozen Trader Joe’s meal for lunch or something And social outings are pretty much impossible, but for a week that’s ok.
• Mexican food sounds really good right about now. But ok, it always sounds really good.
• The BIGGEST one: our sink is messed up. Basically it was leaking for who knows how long, to the point now where the baseboard under the sink collapsed, if that makes sense. We have no hot water in the kitchen anymore and we really shouldn’t use the kitchen faucet if it can be avoided until Friday when the plumber comes. Now, if this were another week, we could pick up food for dinner, have cereal for breakfast, and stick with freezer goodies for lunch. But no, we have to cook, which means we have to clean (we don’t have a dishwasher). That is going to make the next two days crap-tastic. But, we’ll survive. And please tell me it’s not unsanitary to wash dishes in your shower. Please.

So you see, the “pros” are pretty important and the “cons” are just annoyances. I don’t recommend deciding on Sunday night to do a “detox” starting Monday morning, but now that we are (abundantly) prepared, I’m looking forward to the rest of the week of super-clean eats. Only to destroy it all on Sunday, most likely. But we won’t think about that right now.

I’m off to get my lunch/snacks ready for tomorrow while using as few dishes as possible. This is going to be fun. oh and I might go watch American Idol too. Yes, I’ll admit it.

Adios (mmm…Mexican food…)!!

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