Detox Day 1

Today starts the first day of my little detox into the New Year.  So here goes.  There was a lot of liquid to be consumed first thing this morning.  First up a spicy lemonade.

This gained attention a couple of years ago when you had starlets doing a lemonade detox where this is all they would drink to slim down for a big red carpet event.  But in all actuality it does have some good reasoning behind it and any of the juice detox/diets out there (Blueprint Diet and Fresh Juice Delivery) all have a lemonade in them as a piece of their detox.

The reasoning behind it according to The Washington Post is that lemons are rich in bioflavonoids (pigments that act as excellent detoxifying catalysts); cayenne pepper is an anti-inflammatory which work to help detox and purify your body.  Which is why each day I am starting off with a cup of this lemonade before anything else.

Spicy Lemonade
1 cup hot water
juice of one lemon
1/16 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons maple syrup (high grade orangic is best)

*I may have added a bit too much of the cayenne (didn't measure just threw some in) but it wasn't completely awful.

Next up my "breakfast" consisted of what I am calling Red Juice #1 (green apple, 2 carrots, beet, small piece of ginger)

Keep in mind the ginger is something you can add as much or as little as you like, a little goes a very long way!

Beets are one of the best things to put in your juicer!  And they add a bit of a sweet kick to the juice.  Here are just a few of the benefits of beet juice:

• Lower cholesterol
• Improved brain health
• Lowers blood pressure
• Helps eliminate toxins from the body (small side effect is that you may feed dizzy because of this)
• Increased endurance for exercise (always a plus!)
• Anticancer vegetable-as with any dark red vegetable/fruit it is packed with antioxidents!

Carrots also add some sweetness and their own benefits:

• High levels of beta-carotene and vitamin A in carrots promote eye health by lubricating the eyes and preserving visual acuity.
• Healthy urinary and digestive tracts are linked to carrot consumption.
• The high mineral content in carrots aids in nourishing the hair, nails and skin. 
• Carrot juice cleanses the liver by ridding it of bile and fat. 
• Potassium content in carrots regulates blood pressure levels.

Green Apple benefits:

• Protect against diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer
• Only 47 calories per serving
• Drinking 100% green apple juice from a juicer allows you to still get all of the benefits of eating the apple.

Ginger benefits:

• Reduces inflamation
• Boosts immune system

2012 Detox

As I mentioned previously starting in 2012 I am going to be doing a bit of a detox...don't get me wrong this is not the starve yourself and hope that it cleans our your system detox but I've taken bits and pieces of different things that I have read and "developed" (I'm not a nutritionist by ANY means) a detox/jump start of clean, healthy food into 2012....I plan on doing this for at least 2 weeks maybe longer and it could just become a daily lifestyle!

Here are the basics.

  

What to avoid:

Processed foods (we pretty much do this already-minus some "cheat days")

Sugar

Carbs

Red meat

Caffeine (I usually drink 2-3 cups I'm cutting down to just 1 or none each day)

 

What to enjoy:

Detox "tea" in morning-recipe to follow

Lots of fresh organic veggies

Fruits with low sugar (no oranges)

Green Leafy Veggies

Lots and lots of water!

Fish and Chicken*

*most detox plans have you completely stay away from fish/chicken/soy products the first week....With Rene not having any protein is a big problem so for the first week I'll be cooking protein but not eating it, but if you are like him and need some meat stick to chicken (skinless) and fish or tofu those are the best bets!

I'll be kicking this off on January 1st (after my delish pizza pull apart bread and freshmade pasta-what can I say I enjoy food!) I'll be posting the recipes and foods that I am eating along with how I'm feeling and if I notice any changes...beware I typically don't do well without my 2-3 cups of coffee so taking it to just one might be ugly!

Tasty Salad Options

While Rene is out of town typically my meals consist of salads for lunch and mainly salads or veggies for dinner with some occasional chicken thrown into the mix.

Well we are back into week #1 of his travel and I am over salads already! Mainly because that's what I have been eating for lunch for the past few months because it's easier that most other options.

Today I came across a post of 101 summer salad options.

*photo credit New York Times*

This got me excited to reinvent my salad routine! I will be trying out some of these for sure, if nothing else because the pictures just look delish!

1 Week All Raw?

This week I have switched up my daily routine in terms of eating to try something "different". I started a different workout program about 3 weeks ago which incorporated circuit and weights...well I must say that while I know the muscle is supposed to slim you down and burn more calories than fat, its not very exciting to see the scale go UP and feel like you aren't losing any weight or inches....even though my wonderful husband says that I look great...

So this week I have decided to eat raw....nothing but veggies (raw of course) and some raw almonds will make up my diet (mainly)....I couldn't figure out what to eat for breakfast so 1 egg with spinach is my only protein and cooked item all day.

Lets just say that after day 1 and only eating this.....



I could really go for "something" else (like tuna or cheese) and I'm a bit hungry but hopefully this bit of a raw-cleanse will do some good. If nothing else at least I know that I got a weeks worth of veggies!
I guess we'll just see how things turn out at the end of the week...if I make it that long :)

You're a Fiddlehead!

I almost forgot to mention the new item I found at the grocery store last night! Now yes, our grocery store (for those back in Grove City) is not the typical Bi-lo.. :)

When Rene and I decided that we were going to switch and start eating mainly organic we moved our weekly shopping trips to Central Market (more or less a TX based Whole Foods)...so of course some of the things are a bit "different" from your basic veggies but I'm always interested to see what's there. Last night I found Fiddleheads.
I had seen these on a couple of shows on the FoodNetwork but never actually in the store so I felt the need to give them a try since fiddleheads are only in season for about 2-3 weeks at most.

More or less they are baby ostrich ferns before they actually uncoil and bloom. When they do start to uncoil they are actually poisonous so that's why the in season time is so short!

Rene of course wasn't too excited about the purchase and I don't know exactly how he feels about our these for dinner...
Apparently the taste is something of a nuttier version of asparagus and I figured that at $15 per pound they should be tasty!
Everything I have read says that you can serve them more or less as a side with a simple marinade to cook them. So this morning after my little job I took some balsamic vinegar, horseradish (extra hot), mustard, garlic, and extra virgin olive oil and mixed up a quick vinaigrette So now we sit and give them the rest of the day to "cook" and see how they taste!

Week 1 Going Organic

Week 1 of our little test run of the organic way has not been that much different really from the general foods that we buy. Proteins and veggies!

But I will say that we did spend about $20 more at the grocery store than normal and then added a little more at the farmer’s market. Nonetheless I know that it is healthier for us so in the long run healthier lifestyle > more money out of my pocket!

A few things though that I must say I was surprised by.

1. Chicken of course is the most expensive organic meat that we bought. But this was expected however rather than getting the boneless and skinless breast we took a risk and go the bone in skin on chicken for just $2.99 per pound. Throw them on the grill and they didn’t dry out or anything and they were great! A little more meat than I generally eat but all and all I was happy!
2. The fish was actually reasonably priced compared to our normal grocery store which was a little shocking to me….
3. Our farmers market is great! It will be my new grocery store for sure! And the best part is that is it open almost every day a year. They farmers from all over Texas with loads of fruits and veggies.

So all in all a breakdown of week 1….
WholeFoods:

4 chicken breasts
Yellow Squash
Baby Portobello mushrooms
Asparagus
Broccoli
4 steaks
2 pork chops
Pita Chips
Cucumbers
Celery
OJ
Milk
Yogurt (10 single serve)
Large Yogurt
Sugar free Soda
Popcorn
2 pieces of Tilapia
Bottle of Red Wine
16oz Blackberries
Spinach Spaghetti
Pasta Sauce (jarred)
Organic Salad Mix – the one downfall of this was that it did go bad quicker than smaller “FreshExpress” that Rene normally buys
2 great make your own salads from the salad bar for dinner that night
= $118

Farmers Market:
3 Mangos
1lb Strawberries
5 large Vidalia Onions
1lb of Jalapenos
2 Avocados

= $ 12

So we will be making a habit of our new shopping trips for sure WholeFoods on Friday and Farmers Market Saturday Mornings. With only the one downfall of the salad for Rene’s lunches I think it is a great move.

Going Organic

This year I have slowly started to integrate more “green” items into our apartment (changing light bulbs, changing cleaning products ect) as well as trying to add in slowly organic foods. Yesterday I started thinking about going as Organic as possible for the next 3 weeks at the Blanco house.

I don’t think that this will really be a huge change from our typical “menu” but it will of course more than likely increase the amount spent each week. But with all of the benefits that you can find now about eating organic it is hard to really deny the benefits outweigh the costs of changing our lifestyle.

Everything that I have heard about the ways to look for cheaper options for organic foods is to get away from the typical grocery store that you usually use. The main reason is that the costs of the organics are generally almost as high as 2 times more at the general grocery store compared to a store that stocks a large number of organic or non-processed foods (ex. Whole Foods, Farmers Markets, and Central Market).

So that being said Rene and I are going to be starting our organic menu this coming Monday for about 3 weeks to see how things change.

For those of you that may be thinking about eating more organic and are worried about a huge increase in your budget for food start slowly. We started with little things. Coffee is apparently one of the most laden with pesticides and chemicals so switch to an organic type, while you are at it why no swap out the creamer to an organic half and half or milk as well? Dairy products are another grouping of foods that should be switched out to organic. We added organic/non-processed yogurt to our list because it is a staple for me.

Next on the line would be to switch to organic meats. This is generally the most costly but to put it simple chicken with a bunch of hormones and additives make the chicken fatter, what makes you think that it won’t do the same to you?

Then fruits and vegetables swap these that you eat a lot out to organic as well. Most important are those that do not have a thick skin or a rind that you do not eat. Those fruits that have thick skin (if the skin is discarded) are a bit more protected by their skin from some of the pesticides.

So there’s the basics of what we are hoping for and our new little mission is to eat organic from here on out…I’ll keep you posted on how things go and post some ideas along the way as well!

Have a great weekend!