Today's lunch and last night's dinner:

So, last night we went to a birthday party, and I was a little nervous. However, they served Mexican food, so I could eat just like a normal person and no one noticed I didn't have any meat. There were corn shells, black beans, salsa, guac and lettuce for me. I also picked out some veggies from the steak fajitas and ate those too. The beans were so good, I had a second helping! They had fruit kabobs and brownies for desert, so that was easy too.

Instead of alcohol, I just had bottled water with a lime squeezed into it. It was really hot out yesterday so that was really refreshing anyhow. A friend of mine told me about her fav drink which is club soda, cranberry juice and a lime. I think I will have that as tonight's drink!

Lunch today was smashed avocado with quartered cherry tomatoes from my very own garden. I added a little garlic, yellow onion and lemon juice. That with corn chips was lunch. MMMMMmmmmm good!

It seems that Mexican food is really good for this cleanse. Most authentic stuff is corn, and there are lots of veggies always.

I must say that I feel great, and this is not nearly as hard as I thought it would be. Breaking my caffeine addiction was not awful, and neither is no meat (I was a vegetarian (at least no red meat) for many years). I love knowing what I am putting into my body, and mostly where it has come from.

If anyone else is getting into this, you should read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. It is a wonderful book, and is more like I see myself eating for the rest of my life.

Hope it is ok to eat corn chips...

French Fries = Yes you can... but...

today jamie asked me if she could eat maple syrup, then french fries. at this point to some of you a big bowl of those together might sound great. but you CAN eat both of these. first i'll tackle the french fries..

basically while you are doing a cleanse you should try to avoid fried food

on this cleanse most of it is cut out because of gluten and sugar (which is in some french fries), also some french fries are cut out because they have beef tallow or lard or whatever in them... like at mcdonalds. but most french fries are totally vegan.. if you re going to get french fries try to avoid DOUBLE fried french fries.. like from some greek and middle eastern places.. you can make them yourself.. buy them at wild oats or whole foods... they have these giant ones that have sea salt and garlic.

If you are needing a potato fix. Try them with mustard instead of ketchup (which normally has sugar and a higher glycemic index). I love stone ground mustard with fries.

Eat with a veggie patty and lots of veggies! (Maybe skip that bun if you are eating french fries which have lots of carbs to have a more balanced meal). You can even make your own! However, remember what a serving is - probably 8-20 fries.

ps. sorry for the evil picture of fries.

day 4, 5 or maybe 3

how's everyone doing? feeling?

i have to admit- i feel pretty good. i haven't had headaches, or problems sleeping, or really noticed any bad differences. i think eating a low carb diet in the past felt more restrictive and harder to follow than the cleanse.

wait- i take that back. pooping. that's a problem. coffee used to get things moving on the regular every morning. now - not so much. i'm just sort of... waiting.

i think its odd that heather from dooce wanted to die by day 4 and quit. maybe if you are super addicted to caffeine, i could see it.

my main problem is gluten. i've noticed in the book (some of you read i think) that she's not terribly clear on what gluten is - and her recipes in the back contain some types of gluten. i've had a whole wheat english muffin, and some whole wheat pita. i imagine these have some type of gluten in them, but oh well. i'm just not crystal clear on the whole gluten thing.

i like being conscience of what i'm eating -- what the ingredients are, where its from, how its made. i think that's the best part so far.

tell me your thoughts --

are you worried about the weekend? are there things you know you're going to have to do differently than usual - or avoid? going to any parties where you'll have to make decisions about being a weirdo or not?

nutrition data !

today morgan (a cleanser via cohabitation) found this cool webpage called nutritiondata.com.
learn more than you wanted to about your favorite foods.

I confess

I cheated.


The thing is...

today The Husband invited his cousin for lunch, and he brought CAKE.

now. wait.

I had my 2 real tortillas with avocado and a little brown rice salad. And grapes.

I never touched or even looked at the cake.

For dinner I made lebanese food, since it's really vegan friendly and because I'm half Lebanese.

So I made hummus, I made tabule with rice instead of burgul, some leftover falafels... and then, I made tzatziki. Or however you spell it.

Yes ladies, I had yogurt.

Please absolve me. I didn't eat the cake.

insomnia anyone?

sprouts

eat them.

here's why:
http://www.oprah.com/presents/2005/young/life/life_sprouts.jhtml

here's how:
Add to tossed salads
Use in coleslaw (cabbage, clover, radish)
Try in wraps and roll-ups (alfalfa, sunflower, radish)
Stir-fry with other vegetables (alfalfa, clover, radish, mung bean, lentil)
Blend with vegetable juices (cabbage, mung bean, lentil)
Mix with soft cheeses, tofu, yogurt of kefir for a dip (mung bean, radish)
Stir into soups or stews when serving (mung bean, lentil)
Eat them fresh and uncooked in a sprout salad (salad mixes)
Top omelet or scrambled eggs (alfalfa, clover, radish)
Combine in oat, barley or buckwheat dishes (fenugreek, lentil, mung bean)
Add to sushi (radish, sunflower)
Sauté with onions (mung bean, clover, radish)
Puree with dried peas or beans (mung bean, lentil)
Add to baked beans (lentil)