Clean Program-Week 2

We are on Week 2 of our Clean Program Experiment. The Clean Program is a 3 week cleanse designed to rid the body of toxins accumulated through the widespread use of preservatives and other "unnatural" elements added to our food and other items we come into contact with. For more information about the Clean Program, www.cleanprogram.com

To read how we did on Week 1 click here


Okay, so we've made it a full week! Hooray!! There has been minor cheating (on my part) but overall, we have stuck to it! Today I added something that Ryan considers cheating, but it's a recipe on the Clean Program website, so I think that means it's okay! I just have to make sure only to eat them in the day and not in the morning or evening. They are: Chocolate and Walnut Scones...mmmm and the best part: They're vegan and gluten free! The only added sugar is the organic raw cane sugar in the bits of chocolate in the scones. Other than that they're composed of: Gluten-free baking flour, coconut oil, baking soda and powder, dates, vanilla, water, raw walnuts and dairy free organic dark chocolate. Just split one with Ryan and we both agree that they're delicious :) You can find the recipe for these and other items here....I added Chia seeds to the tops of mine.

Day 8
Breakfast: Juice with beets, kale, celery, green apple, carrot, flax, chia and hemp protein powder
Lunch: Delicious chicken stir fry and vegetables, same as yesterday
Mid-afternoon snack: Chocolate and Walnut Scone
Dinner: Smoothie with homemade nut milk (brazil, almond and cashew), blueberry, raspberry and cocoa powder.

Now that I have found some recipes for things like gluten free crackers and biscuits, I think that will make it a little easier to eat like the Clean Program dictates. Anything that keeps me from buying Twinkies and Ding-Dongs by the armful is a good thing too!

Day 9
Breakfast: Juice with carrot, kale, spinach, parsley, broccoli stalks and green apple
Lunch: Chicken sauteed with a dash of sea salt, garlic and onion. Served with quinoa and broccoli.
Mid-afternoon snack: Vegan and gluten free chocolate and walnut scone
Dinner: Smoothie made with nut milk, kale, pineapple, mango, green apple and flax

Today I haven't even eaten a mid-morning snack! WHAT?! Normally I'd be starving, but I guess I'm getting used to it. Last night, I was craving chocolate so I made some "Clean" hot chocolate: 1 teaspoon cocoa powder, 1 teaspoon agave syrup, 1 cup nut milk. It was pretty good and destroyed my chocolate cookie craving :)

I think the biggest change that I have noticed is in Ryan. He used to fall asleep every time we started watching a movie if we started the movie after 8 pm (sometimes even before that!). Now he is able to stay awake and isn't even tired. It's amazing because he can fall asleep anywhere: dinner table, sitting up, driving...that's the scariest one. It was usually exacerbated by alcohol, but even without it he still couldn't keep his eyes open at night sometimes as early as 7:30 pm! He is still getting up early (5-6 am) and jogging or working out before work but he has more energy than I have ever seen since I've known him. Interesting...

Day 10

Breakfast: Beet, kale, and carrot juice (May have had more stuff, Ryan made it last night while I was in class)
Mid-morning snack: Smoothie made with pineapple, kale, avocado, chia and coconut milk.
Lunch: Same as yesterday
Mid-afternoon snack: Chocolate and walnut scone
Dinner: Smoothie (same as mid-morning snack)

Last night, as I walked past the on campus Starbucks to my class in non-profit management (I'm getting my gradute certificate in the subject) I had to use every muscle in my body not to walk right in and get a Cafe Mocha!! And maybe a cookie or 5to go with it? Somehow, I made it and even through the 15 minute break (It's an almost 3 hour class) without breaking. I am so proud of myself :)

Tonight I made gluten-free crackers and they turned out pretty well! You can find the recipe here but it's basically just gluten-free flour, sea salt, olive oil and water. I added Chia seeds to mine and they are delicious :) I think I'll roll them out a bit thinner next time because they were kind of thick...like if I had baked pita bread. It probably took me 10-15 minutes to make these crackers and it was super easy, I think I'll make these again...next I have to try the gluten-free biscuits!

Day 11
Breakfast: Juice made with bok choy, carrot, kale and parsley
Mid-morning snack: My gluten-free crackers, a few slices of green apple and raw almond butter
Lunch: Chicken with rosemary and balsamic glaze (this smelled so good when we were cooking it last night, it was hard not to eat it then!), wild rice with cilantro and sunflower seeds.
Mid-afternoon snack: Smoothie with blueberry, coconut milk, flax seed, agave syrup and cocoa powder.
Dinner: Some sort of gazpacho...Ryan made it and it was delicious, tasted like BBQ potato chips. I know it had celery but I can't remember what else, I'll have to find out and update later

These crackers and scones that I have recently discovered are making this program a WHOLE lot easier! I was missing that and they make good snacks. It's still hard not to eat solids at night though. As I was making the crackers, I found myself rationalizing that I "had" to eat the edge pieces because they broke off funny...Ryan just calls me a cheater and shakes his head. I have to go to Orlando on Friday to bring Ramona Sarai Flowers to my sister's house (to be trained and fostered until we can find her a home) and the first thing out of Ryan's mouth was, "You're going to cheat on the Clean Program while you're there"...he says it like I'm planning a secret romantic getaway with McDonald's or worse. Sigh.

Day 12
Breakfast: Juice made from mustard greens, beets and carrots
Mid-morning snack: Green apple slices with raw almond butter
Lunch: Same as yesterday
Mid-afternoon snack: My homemade crackers and some raw almonds
Dinner: Pineapple, cilantro, avocado and jalapeno sorbet...sounds disgusting, was AMAZING

The juice today was really good and all of the juices we've had have taught me not to judge a juice by it's smell :) They mostly all smell horrible but taste pretty good. Even plain vegetable juice can be sweet and slightly creamy. Not like milk creamy, but the same sort of sensation. I'm a little over halfway done and I can see the finish line!

Day 13
Breakfast: Juice made from beets, mustard greens, carrots and cilantro
Mid-morning snack: Green apple slices and raw almond butter
Lunch: Chicken baked with zucchini, lemon, dill and kalamata olives
Mid-afternoon snack: Gluten free crackers, a few raw almonds and a few dairy free dark chocolate chips
Dinner: MAJOR FALL OFF THE WAGON: 1 triangle of gingerbread french toast, hash browns, half a biscuit with strawberry jam and a bite of cranberry orange pancakes.

Went to Denny's after bringing Ramona to Dani's and because we were busy introducing her to Dani's dogs, we didn't get to dinner until about 8. I was starving at this point and all of the restaurants were full/had 45 minute+ waits so we decided to just go to Denny's b/c it was right by us. I was in the midst of ordering a salad when I said, "You know what, this salad isn't EXACTLY "clean" so if I'm going to cheat, might as go all out".....this was not a good idea, but so delicious, in a gorge yourself sick sort of way. Sigh.

Day 14
Breakfast: Smoothie with avocado, mango, kale, homemade nut milk (almond, brazil, cashew), coconut water and ice
Lunch: Chicken stir fry with vegetables...love this recipe
Dinner: Black cherry and chocolate soft serve: basically frozen black cherries and dairy free chocolate chips put through the juicer but instead of the screen that the juice normally goes through, there is a panel that just homogenizes the food...so good! Better than ice cream!

Ryan is giving me a hard time right now about my misstep last night and to that I have to say: RYAN SAMPLED HONEY AT THE FARMER'S MARKET TODAY. I don't actually think that is THAT bad, but he gives me a hard time for every cheat, so I have to make sure to return the favor :)

Made some more gluten free crackers today, this time I added sesame seeds and dill and they turned out really good. We tried some today with this raw "cashew cream cheese" we got at the farmer's market made with: cashews, probiotics and sea salt. Delicious!