Whole 30 - Done!!!

30 days.

30 days of:
No gluten
No sugar
No dairy
No grains
No legumes (beans, lentils, quinoa (it is a pseudo-grain)..

=No fun!

haha!Just kidding (kinda!)

Well, I survived the Whole 30 program (www.whole30.com). I have to say it was about 90% willpower. It actually was REALLY good that I did the raw and that other stuff beforehand, because it was actually a good transition because I got excited about having cooked foods again!!!! Luckily, I had good timing (and I had foresight to this) in that my social calender wasn't too too crazy AND it would end just in time for Easter and my birthday, he he.

Overall, it was good to do it. I felt I definitely got more of an awareness of what NOT to eat and felt I had a steady mood, felt relatively peaceful, felt my skin was good, and I guess I can say 'lighter.' I would say by week 1 through the rest of it, I felt the same. I didn't have some kind of amazing revelation that you sometimes read about. I honestly didn't even think I lost weight (not really my intention, my intention was just to be Clean and feel good) and at one point thought i was gaining weight because I was snacking a lot on dried fruit and nuts.

                                     

Homemade almont, cashew, hazelnut and walnut butter!

Alas, I ended up losing 5 lbs, of which now almost a week later I've felt I've gained it back. he he. Darn Easter and a continued bday week! hahah!

What did I eat? A LOT of greens!

I combined the above 3 with tuna (okay fine, that I admit was from a can.... soaked in only water!) and made a nice tuna salad with that!

                                                 

Although I have countless memories of my mom sitting talking on the phone and picking out the little kernels of the pomegranate, I was buying mine already all done and ready. I finally decided to bite the bullet after a friend told me the technique of cutting them in half, putting them upside down in water for 30 or so min, and then it was easy breezy to pick out the kernels! Look how much I got out of just 2 pomegranates! Ahh.. the simple pleasures of life :-) 

Totally random, but this W30 (as I like to abbreviate it) is ALL about meat and protein, including pork. Although I had to go to the "Non-Muslims" section of the grocery store to get pork (yes, they do still sell it here), meaning prosciutto, I then could make a recipe I found for asparagus porkitos, basically you wrap the prosciutto around the asparagus, bake it for 10-15 minutes after glazing it with some oil, and although a wee bit salty for my taste, it actually came out pretty nice! A nice little snack! Healthy/ Well, I'm ?? about that!

Not so exciting to others, but I as I am a non-cook, just slicing or cutting pumpkin and putting spices on it was good enough for me!!! I added that to my salads.

So the above 3 pics are.... yes, rotisserie chicken. I somehow got this MEGA craving for it one week and it ended up being awesome because it could become a quick and healthy lunch/dinner. I do NOT like the skin of chicken anyway, so I removed that and shredded the chicken with my hands. Then...

Quickly (literally 5-10 seconds), food processed mushrooms (I am still obsessed with my new gadget)...

Food processed some peppers....

Then sauteed all of them together!

Wa la! A delicious meal! 

This was a bit more time consuming: I tried to use this fry making piece of my famous food processor, but instead of potato, was making sweet potato fries. It came out okay but to add some flavor, spiced it up with Paprika seasoning... and basically overdid it a bit. It was HOT HOT HOT! :-) 

I got into roasting again and was quite proud of my roasting of veggies! hehe!

A salad example

More roasted veggies

 Another salad example pre mixing it up!

My famous chia pudding, quick and easy!!!

Sooo... as you see, mostly salads and roasted veggies and some protein in the mix. 

When I finished it was a bit anti-climactic because the friend I was doing it with CHEATED like day 25 (don't get me started) and finishing on my own wasn't as exciting.

The post-detox has been quite a ride. At first I slowly brought "new" foods into my diet.... lentil soup (delish!), um... some sweets, hehe. I still felt okay. THEN over the weekend had some gatherings and it ALL went downhill. One day I overdid it and pretty much re-introduced EVERYTHING all in one sitting. Boy, was my "iron stomach" NOT happy! The whole next day I not only was quesy and had diarrhea (sorry, TMI), but felt nautious the whole day. Blah. So def lesson learned. Although they say it's the WORST thing to yo-yo with eating, I'm doing just that. Now I've kinda been sloppy with eating (again, Easter goodies, bday week) and come May 1st will start Clean eating. I'm not necessarily going to go on a program, but just be conscious and eat healthy. I DO feel (unfortunately) diary and gluten are NOT good for me (helloooo bloating!), and as much as possible, will try and avoid it.

This W30 was a true test of willpower and I'm happy and proud I did it. I think once I year I will try and do that, just to cleanse my system.

Well, I think that may be enough for food blog entries. I 'in-shallah' (as they say here, 'god willing' literally, but more like 'hopefully' will have a new topic for my next entry!!

Happy Easter and April!!! 

Detox Extravaganza - Smoothie and Juice Detox (Week 2)

As I look at the title, I have to say that the week somehow became just a smoothie week, but I'll get more to that later of my neglect of juices. Before you ask, yes, it's true - I ONLY drank smoothies the whole week, actually ate NO real food. As bizarre as that sound, it actually wasn't really that bad and quite yummy!

With the guidance of my friend (we are doing this detox extravaganza together), I was to put coconut water in the veggie smoothies and then almond milk in the fruity smoothies.

1st comes the coconut milk. After much excitement when I spotted this at the grocery store (I was just going to buy it off the shelves, he he), I spotted baby coconut! Despite the labor of getting it open, alas came out this delicious fresh coconut water...

And that's it!! Ha! I guess I'd I bought 3 of them!

Even better was scooping out the flesh from the coconut, because I was able to use this in my smoothies. 

Pretty much the exact opposite of what my friend suggested to keep things "simple," I stuffed as much as I could in the blender and.... having said that, had to do it in bouts and was quite a process to keep things even. Needless to say, the blender was working quite hard and by Day 2 started smoking a little...

My "fruit" smoothie

My fruit and veggie smoothie

My veggie smoothie

Ta da!

Above and below: My leftovers! I actually ended up having enough for several "meals," so that was good to save time!

I had the "green smoothie" the one on the left, as a 'snack' smoothie and the one one the right, the fruit smoothie, it was more filling (and I think that mug is bigger), so it was my lunch smoothie. 

So here I am sitting in our pantry, enjoying my smoothie, then in walks in a bday lunch that someone brought in: 

Can I just say this is even worse than UN-Detox!!! It was soooooooooooooooooooooooo gross! Even if I wasn't detoxing, I would NEVER eat that crap!!! Ew!!! No wonder our staff is mostly overweight. BLAH!! So pretty much after that (which of course was the 2nd day, and the day before had almost equally as bad for you Phillipino food, I ate quietly and peacefully in our office. Hahahah! 

Soo.... as before, this is a reference for ME about how I felt just in case I do it again. Again, it was supposed to be 3 days of smoothies and 3 days of juicing, but then we decided to just what we felt like, as long as it was in liquid form, ha ha: 

Day 1: Definitely different NOT having food... But easy to satisfy hunger pangs with a sip of smoothie. Just felt I missed the concept of eating. F x 3
Exercise: run (jog) x 30 min, elliptical x 15, light weights. Tennis!!
Day 2: Although felt my cheeks went down (they got soo puffy during my un-detox, this was my main focus, ha ha), felt I majorly lacked energy :-( Very fatigued... and just tired. Also didn't feel too hungry. Energy picked up in pm, but overall today was just a sluggish day. F x 2.
Exercise: FlyWheel (spin) am, swim pm.
Day 3 - Better mood, not fatigued or tired at all (??)! Feel relaxed and def less appetite. F x 0.
Exercise: None!!
Day 4: Slept really well! Less appetite, feel energetic and good! Although was supposed to start juicing, still had a lot of smoothie left over and you know... didn't want to waste food (I think I've juiced for so long and haven't smoothied in awhile, it was a nice change!). F x 1.
Exercise: none!
Day 5: Blender broke last night so had to buy a new one! Supposed to juice, but because still had smoothies left over, did another smoothie day and bought a new blender and hehe, just had to play with it! Feel energetic and happy! F x 1.
Exercise: swimming
Day 6:Today again feel 'normal.' It's funny how the body adapts... I almost think it's weird to eat food! Just kidding. F x 1.

Exercise: 11km slow'ish run, bikram yoga

*Generally had veggie smoothie breakfast and snack, fruit for lunch, and combo for dinner!
*KEY!!! This REALLY  helped, I think I was sooo fatigued and tired that day 2, I just needed something extra. So after that starting adding chia seeds, nut butters, coconut flesh to make it more filling, which really worked!! 

Here are some examples of smoothies:

-Smoothie green: spinach, kale, broccoli, cucumber, parsley, pineapple, celery, dates
-Fruit smoothie: mango, blueberry, pineapple, parsley, spinach, celery, cucumber, banana.

-Snack smoothie: kale, spinach, cucumber, orange, celery, lemon, dates, pineapple.

So day 3, da da dum, I think all this "hard" blending was just a little bit too much for my little 'ol blender/food processor. Although it was a Kenwood, which I found out isn't what it used to be, I did buy it 2 years ago and it has had a LOT of use :-) At the time I was pretty much buying my whole apartment ($$$) and looked for something middle'ish range. Soo... when it broke, although I was sad, it was due time. And as these things go, I bought my new one and it is like a whole new world! Soooooooooooooooooo nice and powerful!!!! I zipped up these "hard" smoothies in no time flat! The cool thing though was that I was certain I wasn't going to buy another combo unit of blender and food processor, I ended up buying one that was one machine unit and then you attach the different components. It's space efficient and compact, so I am super happy with hit!!

So here it is, out with the old....

And in with the new!!!

My first fancy new blender smoothie - I don't think I could have stuffed anything more in it! hahah!

Ta da!!

Not to be neglected, tested the food processor, and although it didn't really save on any time, it worked well and I was able to make my favorite nut butters (almond and walnut):

So there you  have, I survived! I thought this was going to be hardest week, but it really wasn't too bad. Again, initially just weird not having solid foods, but it actually was a bit better to sip on these thick liquids when I felt hungry, it really quenched my hunger!!

Next week (tomorrow) starts Whole30 (www.whole30.com). Now this is the REAL test! This other stuff was a week, but this is a whole month! What can I say about it except for it is similar to the Paleo diet - okay with most all types of meat or fish, but after that NO dairy, sugars, grains, even things like beans and lentils. Gasp! Most disturbing for me is NO oatmeal (my breakfast!) or quinoa - which I have regularly. I did some shopping in prep, came across this simple recipe for a snack, prosciutto wrapped around asparagus! It  is a costly snack.

I of course will write when I finish it, as far as in between, we'll see how things go!! Happy days! 

Detox Extravaganza - Raw food ONLY week

Here you have it!!! Again, this is more for FYI to myself I EVER decide to do this again, so it's overly detailed. I have to say, growing up with cooked foods, it was kind of odd to NOT have ANYTHING cooked. Manageable for a week because I knew I REALLY needed this, but I definitely miss something warm and comforting!!!

Soo.... what did I eat??

Not ready yet, but this is a chia seed pudding! 1/3 cup chia seeds and then 2 cups a nut milk (almond, quinoa). It's actually really good! With a touch of cinnamon, even better! This was one of my snack foods. The picture above is when I added the ingredients, after it soaks (1-2 days) then it really looks and tastes like pudding! 

Fresh from the farm, dates! Pretty much the only thing that grows in these HOT desert climates. Another snack for me!

My lunch for the week! Yup, ate this every day! Actually fairly yummy (with apple cider (organic) vinegar and a wee bit of olive oil) - cucumber, zucchini, beets, broccoli, carrot, green pepper, blueberries and added some pumpkin and sunflower seeds to it.  

Another snack food - green apples! And then cucumbers chopped with homemade almond, hazelnut, and walnut butter. Yum!

Doesn't look that delicious and it's an "acquired' taste, but room temperature purified water, a teaspoon of tumeric, and a 1/2 a teaspoon of 100% raw organic honey. 

Above and below.... RAW quinoa. Yes, raw. Because it's raw, it takes longer to soak, so I soaked it for almost 2 days and then it actually sprouted! I was reading about that and didn't believe it, but it did! It smelled more potent than the cooked one and ... didn't really taste like anything, but just needed some extra protein to keep me going through the looooooooooooooooooong working days!!

Here's my little diary/synopsis:

Day 1 - Okay, I need this!! Didn't feel too hungry but pverall felt a little down. F x 0
Exercise: Run on treadmill, super light and minimal strength, played tennis (easy).
Day 2 - REALLY tired, headache. Felt a bit down again. Had hunger bouts, but went away. Snacked a lot (green apple, banana, chia seeds, nuts, celery sticks with nut butter). F x 3.
Ex: FlyWheel (cycling) am, swimming pm.
Day 3 - Still felt fatigued and low on energy. Got slightly less headache, but still one that is persisting. Felt I drank a lot of water, but still dehydrated? Have felt hungry throughout the day. F x 1.
Exercise: Nothing!
Day 4: Slept well last night, feel good! Got comments from staff I look like I am glowing and my eyes look more "fresh." No headache, feel I can see my cheekbones (not as puffy), and feel super calm and relaxed. F x 1.
Exercise: Nothing! Opted for sleep and also was going to play tennis, but neighbor bailed.
Day 5  - Still feel good! Off today so relaxed. Overall feel "lighter." F x 2
Exercise: Swim. Was going to do bikram yoga, but missed the class :-(
Day 6 - Felt less bloated, good mood, relaxed. Went to social events and was able to handle it although other cooked food looked delish! Again ate salads and snacked on things like nuts. F x 2
Exercise: Sloow 10km - felt more difficult then it should be. Same for HBY. Walked 93873634 miles around the Marina. Was totally exhausted! 
Day 7 - "Glowing" skin by colleague. Feel less appetite and ... Good! Happy! Still energy! F x2
Exercise: None!


Sooooo.... basically 1st few days was down and could tell my body was going through some detoxing (had persistent headaches, sugar withdrawal? haha). Then as the week went by, felt better and better. Really, my cheeks are less puffy and feel MUCH less bloated.

Next week's challenge of the Detox Extravaganza:

3 days of smoothies ONLY

Then...

3 days of juices (veggie) ONLY

Eeek!!!