The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 1

Terrible handwriting, but yummy menu

Note: Decided to switch up the Clean Program posts a bit. I'm going (to try) to post daily to break up the posts so they're easier to read. 

I'm hurting friends. Good lord. We did a beach cleanup on Saturday with the Volusia Surfrider chapter in Ormond Beach and who knew that one hour of picking up trash could be such a full body work out. My back, legs, arms, shoulders and entire being aches!! Maybe I should include exercise in my "getting healthy" plan. To make this all worse, I cannot turn to coffee or ibuprofen for a boost to get me through the pain. Instead, I have a walnut/almond milk/raspberry/cocoa powder smoothie! I thought it might be hard to drink with no sweetener and it was really good. This gives me hope!! I can't get too cocky just yet though: I had a delicious Easter brunch and tons of goodies (read: chips, candy, soda) yesterday, so it could just be that the withdrawals haven't kicked in yet.

Today's Menu:

Breakfast: Raspberry/walnut/unsweetened almond milk/cocoa powder smoothie

Snacks: Apple, carrots, lemon water **Update 3:30 pm: Ate all my snacks and I'm starving!! Need more snacks tomorrow**

Lunch: Broccoli/Chickpea/Brown rice with Tahini/Garlic/Lemon sauce (love this stuff.....good thing too because it's lunch allllll week)

Dinner: Asparagus and Leek Soup...I messed it up but it still tasted pretty good :) We also split an avocado straight out of the skin with a lil sea salt on there. We were both really hungry and figured it was better than scarfing a pan of brownies from Publix (well I figured that, Ryan would have probably just suffered through).

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Roasted Chickpeas

Where was this snack last year when we did the Clean Program?! The team over at the Clean Program website released a bunch of holiday recipes and one of them was Roasted Chickpeas. Kinda makes me wish we had started this before the holidays....okay, maybe not. Who can resist cheesy potatoes, spinach dip and chocolate, lots of chocolate.

Roasted Chickpeas

1 lb chickpeas
2 tbs olive oil
your choice of seasoning, I used sea salt, onion powder, garlic powder and red pepper powder

I used a 1 lb bag of dried chickpeas and soaked them overnight in enough water to cover them, with a few inches of water above them. I then drained and rinsed the chickpeas before adding them to a pot with, again, enough water to cover them with a few inches above. After it starts boiling, you lower the temp and let it simmer for 40-60 minutes or until they're tender. Then you drain them, pat them dry and put them on an ungreased cookie sheet, as evenly as possible. Put in a pre-heated oven at 400 degrees for 20-40 minutes or until golden and crunchy (this took almost an hour for me). Immediately add the roasted chickpeas to a bowl with your olive oil and seasonings and mix throughly.

Delicious, nutritious and clean friendly!


**UPDATE** After eating these the next day, I noticed that they did not stay crunchy!! I think next time I'll try making a half batch or quarter batch that can be eaten immediately. If you have a dehydrator, that might help too, but we don't have one so I'll just have to eat fast :)

Gluten-Free Pasta with Butternut Squash

In my last post, I talked about making this pasta later in the week. Well, later in the week turned out to be a day later...

A few things I learned from this dish:

1. The brown rice pasta I used smells funny when you cook it but tastes just like pasta when mixed with sauce. I used Tinkyada brown rice fettuccine.

2. If you accidentally buy frozen cooked squash instead of the cubes, you get to skip a few steps like cooking and running through food processor. Also, I probably used too much squash after looking at the photo on the Chefuality blog.

3. You can add extra garlic and scallions to ANYTHING and it will be awesome. Ditto for red pepper powder and garlic and onion powder.

4. If you add chicken, it's a bit heartier. We added 1 humanely raised breast and it added a nice flavor but it would have been fine without it too if you're trying to have a meatless day.

5. This dish is okay but it's not as good as the broccoli tahini :) I think I didn't like this dish as much because I don't really like butternut squash. I keep trying to eat it in different recipes and convince myself otherwise, but it's a little sweet and doesn't work for me as a savory dish. If it was a pie, that might be a different story! ***UPDATE*** The reheated leftovers tasted a lot better than it did right after it was cooked. The flavors settled and it was pretty darn good!

6. Again, really impressed that this rice pasta tasted like regular pasta! For those of you who are intolerant of gluten, you do not have to miss out on pasta because this stuff is just the best. Make sure to rinse it off after it has cooked, like it suggests on the package.

To accompany my pasta dinner, I also made some fresh squeezed lemonade with half a lemon, a bit of Stevia in the Raw and some filtered tap water. This really helped my craving for a sugary drink like soda.

Getting ready for the Clean Program, Year 2

Okay everyone! It's that time of year again: the time to make resolutions for the new year and then promptly forget about them on January 2 :) Last January, Ryan and I did pretty well during our 21 day cleanse and I'm confident that we'll do even better this year and get the same great feeling we did from eating so healthy during that time (we're also hoping to continue many of the habits throughout the year).

Last year, we did not do the suggested 3-5 days of the Elimination Diet before the cleanse. This year we are trying to do better so when we got back in to town today, I went grocery shopping and only purchased "clean" ingredients using the shopping list found here.

About a week ago, I joined every woman's new favorite addiction: Pinterest and started collecting "Clean" recipes in addition to ideas for crafts I'll never make, but have every intention of doing so :) One recipe in particular, Broccoli and Tahini, caught my eye and so tonight I set about making it (pictured above). It so so good!! At first it tasted a bit bland, but with each bite, I discovered new flavors like the tang of the lemon and the creaminess of the tahini. My taste buds just needed to adjust to the lack of sodium, fat and sugar that usually accompanies all of the junk food I have been eating lately! The blogger who posted this recipe also told me of another Clean recipe she has on her blog, Gluten-free Butternut Squash Pasta, which I am hoping to try later this week (later than I originally thought, the broccoli and tahini makes a TON of food, not complaining!).


Another thing I made today came directly from the Clean Program page on snacking, which is going to be crucial for me to get through the cleanse this year. I think my biggest problem in the past was that I was not eating enough and felt deprived. The website clearly states that you can snack on approved foods but that you need to have 12 hours of fasting each night. I misunderstood that last time and I was miserable more than a few days! Anyway, these balls are made up of dates, almonds, sunflower kernels, sesame seeds, a bit of stevia, coconut oil and unsweetened coconut flakes. If you have ever had a Lara bar, they are pretty similar to that. If you have a food processor, you can make these lil snack balls and they are delicious!

Things I learned from the Clean Program last year that I'll use this year:

- Don't get carried away and buy a bajillion different ingredients for a million different recipes. We got carried away last year and bought way too much stuff and spent more money than we needed to. This year, we know to keep it simple!
-Prepare, prepare prepare! The more food you have ready to eat, the less temptation you'll have! We learned last year to make lunch in advance so we could just grab and go.
-Eat snacks! If you're eating healthy snacks and feeling full, you will not be tempted by the office donuts, the popcorn and soda deal at Target or the gingerbread pancakes that IHOP is advertising right now.
-Avoid the weird recipes that include items that you KNOW FOR A FACT you do not like. If you don't eat it, it doesn't do you any good OR if you eat it and hate every bite, you just may be tempted to hit up Pizza Hut the next day to compensate for the torture food.
-ANYONE can do this cleanse. I don't exactly have discipline, it's one of the reasons I can never be a runner (unless half a block counts) but I still managed to complete this cleanse last year with only a few lapses (did not resist the gingerbread pancakes).
-Cleanses don't have to be the scary, dangerous diets that you hear about. If you're only eating lemon and cayenne pepper, THAT'S A BAD IDEA. If you're eating a wide variety of food and receiving more nutrients than you probably ate the entire year before, that's probably okay! When people ask, "don't you miss real food", remind yourself that a McValue meal or Easy Mac is not real food and that during this cleanse, you're finally eating "real" food.

Things I learned from The Clean Program

WE DID IT!

1. I love our new juicer...never knew how good fresh veggie juice can taste!
2. Making juice out of veggies is a great way to make sure they don't go bad in your fridge
3. Juice or a smoothie for breakfast saves time and is light so it keeps me awake instead of weighing me down.
4. Making everything from scratch is hard work. It takes a bit of time but it's worth it.
5. When you are eating consciously and planning out your meals for the next week, it's easier to ignore the junk at the grocery store and only buy things on your list
6. If you're planning your meals a week in advance, you don't go out to eat as often or in our case, at all. (except my Denny's affair)
7. If there is something you love to eat, there is a healthy way to make it
8. Everyone asked me if I missed "real food" but in these three weeks, I have eaten more "real food" than I ever have in my life. If I had been eating a Big Mac and fries, people wouldn't think twice, but that is about as far removed from "real food" as you can get!
9. People who choose to eat differently than me are not weird. Everyone has a different path and that's okay. (I used to regard vegans with an eye roll, but now I respect the dedication it takes to eat differently than the majority of people in the US and admire their effort)
10. There is pride that comes from eating a fridge stocked with veggies in a week.
11. There are other grains. Amaranth, quinoa and millet have been huge during all this!
12. I used to think that we had so many options at the grocery store until I found out most is a variation of the same thing.
13. Just because I'm not gluten intolerant, doesn't mean I can't try gluten-free foods. Just because I'm not completely vegan, doesn't mean I won't enjoy vegan food.
14. We have barely filled a garbage bag in three weeks and our recycling bin is empty except for a few cans...when you're buying mostly produce, there isn't a whole lot of packaging to throw away!
14. I don't need as much dairy as I thought I did!
15. Investing in what you eat can pay off with less money spent on healthcare.
16. You DO NOT have to eat meat with every single meal. And you'll save money if you don't.
17. You can make milk yourself from coconut or nuts. We have been using milk we made from raw almond, brazil and cashews and a separate milk made from unsweetened coconut. It's super easy to make, tastes delicious and we know exactly what went into it.
18. With the nuts we strain from our homemade milk, we can add a few ingredients, throw it into our juicer and make raw nut butter....which is usually really expensive!
19. That Ryan's problem staying awake could possibly be attributed to food. He has been much more alert and awake these three weeks.
20. That your poop doesn't really smell when you're eating this way. Gross but true!
21. That you can make AWESOME chocolate chip cookies vegan and gluten free :)


Our "after" photos...we tried to pose ourselves like they do in those weight loss ads where the person looks like crap in the "before" and super happy and weird in the "after"...I kinda look like a crazed serial killer, but you get the idea!

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!