Clean Program: Clean Gut

At least I'll be able to eat these things

Anyone who has been around me during January (and April last year) knows that Ryan and I do the Clean Program Cleanse every year as a way to detox and remind ourselves to eat more real, healthy foods. The reason they know is because I won't shut up about it...mostly because I am in awe that I'm capable of avoiding pizza and cookies for any amount of time. Also, because it's really tough and it's all I can think about while I'm on it. So what would be better than that? Making it EVEN harder on myself for 2014 by trying the Clean Gut Cleanse! No, I do not want to be miserable but I need to seriously address the amount of sugar I consume on a daily basis. Like diabeetus-causing levels of sugar.

So what's different? I'm still in the research and planning stages but here's what I can tell so far: we can have eggs and tomatoes! I really like both of these items. But, we can't have ANY grains (sorry Basmati) and NO fruit, except for berries. Fruit was my major crutch during the Clean Program, it got me through some hard times...specifically times when I wanted to cram a gallon of ice cream down my throat. We can't have chickpeas, which I'm pretty okay with because "it gives me the wind something terrible" (10 points to anyone who knows what movie that is from) and no to beans and soy too. Other than that, it's fairly similar to the Clean Program in that we cannot have dairy, peanuts, processed foods, alcohol, coffee, sugar, etc. We get to have a solid lunch and dinner (instead of liquid dinner like on Clean) and the liquid breakfast is the same. The supplements are different but we never do the supplements (cheaters!) so I am not sure if we will do them with this or not. A probiotic, B Complex and magnesium will probably be on our shopping list, but I'm going to look into the others a bit more before I decide.

I'm not going to lie, I'm a little scared. One the one hand, I get to eat solids for dinner which is awesome because drinking your dinner is not nearly as much fun as it sounds. On the other hand, no cookies....not even the Clean ones. Also, no apples, kiwi's or other snack fruits to get me through the day. How many cut veggies can I eat before I dive headfirst into a vat of chocolate pudding?! Only time will tell...

30 Day Health Challenge

Oliver the Olive Tree in the background

In an effort to be healthier, Ryan and I have started a 30 day challenge for ourselves: Walking with Romeo or some form of exercise every night (biking, jog/walking since I cannot jog further than a block...one day I will!), and no meat, dairy or alcohol. 

Appreciating the little things 

It has been really nice making the effort to get outside more often and it helps us remember to appreciate flowers, good smells like fresh ocean air and cut grass (our dog taught us that), interesting features in the landscape, etc. The exercise certainly doesn't hurt either! It's so easy to sit on the couch and put something on Netflix or rent a movie at Redbox (we don't have cable but somehow find ways to watch more tv than we'd like). After a long day at work or constant work on the house, you feel like you deserve the break but your body deserves the exercise! You owe it to your self to be as healthy as you can and push yourself off the comfy couch.

As for the diet part of our challenge: cutting out meat isn't as hard as you'd think but the dairy and alcohol thing is difficult! We have been allowing slight amounts of dairy into our diets (I think there is dairy in tikka masala sauce and I had cream in my coffee at the coffee shop) but we haven't been buying cheese, half and half (for coffee), yogurt or ice cream...all of which we enjoy but eat too much of. We switched out milk for almond milk a few years ago, so at least that is an easy transition but to make the other transitions easier, there are a few tricks I have up my sleeve like: blood orange flavored San Pellegrino...not quite a glass of red but it feels like a treat.

So far our menu items have consisted of veggie fried rice, lentil soup, Boca burgers, oatmeal, and a not so healthy but meat-free meal: Ramen noodles with an egg, onion, peas, sesame seed oil and sesame seeds. So good but not especially good for you so we won't buy any more Ramen! 

Tonight was our new favorite: Veggie and Chickpea Tikka Masala. We LOVE this recipe so I thought I'd share it with you. First, chop half an onion, 1 million garlic cloves (or however many you enjoy, ours is more like 6), 2 carrots, 2 stalks of celery, 6 sweet basil leaves (chopped), a pinch of oregano, a pinch of black pepper and sea salt, and a few sprinkles of red pepper flakes (very scientific measurements). 

This is the Tikka Masala sauce we used...cheat cooking :)

Cook these ingredients in a mixture of 2 tablespoons of coconut oil and 2 of olive oil (rough measurements, you want to coat the bottom of the pan) over medium heat for about 5 minutes and then add two cans of drained chickpeas. Cook another 3 minutes and add a 10 oz bag of frozen broccoli. Add jar of tikka masala sauce, then add a bit of water to the jar to get all the stuff coating the inside (it's a thick sauce) and add this to the pan. 

Cover and simmer over medium low until broccoli unthaws and is hot. Serve over basmati rice, top with fresh tomato and VOILA! You're a chef. We cooked 2 cups of dry basmati rice and we have enough leftovers for lunch for at least 2 days for both of us, maybe the whole week...I'll update when we finish it off!

Serve with Aranciata Rossa San Pellegrino if you're feeling fancy and enjoy outside in the mosquito cloud of your front yard. Citronella incense, candles and bug spray will provide slight protection but the bug bites are worth the tranquil dinner al fresco :)