Finding Balance: I'm a failure, and you can be too!

Tomatoes for everyone!

Remember when I said that Ryan and I would do a 7 day cleanse every 3 months so that we could end our last cleanse early? Yeah.....that didn't happen. We kept meaning to do it but I think subconsciously (ok and now consciously) we really hate the Clean Program. Here's our compromise: 7 days of whole, healthy foods....and, like the Clean Program, we're going to do liquid lunch and dinner (well...I might have some homemade flatbread with my liquid dinner...we'll see how much I can sneak by Ryan, the enforcer) with the 12 hour digestion period overnight. We're going to do no dairy, alcohol and limited gluten but as for yummy tomatoes, strawberries and oranges? Bring em on!

For someone doing the Clean Program for the first time, I agree that eliminating certain foods can be helpful in determining which foods your body doesn't agree with...but for us old pros, there is simply no point! My opinion is that the health benefits of these fruits and vegetables far outweigh any minor problems. We aren't going to have coffee this week but only because I can't drink coffee without nondairy delicious flavored creamer or half and half and Ryan wants to take a break and drink tea for the week. We are going to have maple syrup and honey instead of sugar but won't go crazy with either. 

Our hope is that the positive parts of the Clean Program (such as hitting "reset" and eating real food instead of frozen pizza and takeout every other day!) will still come through for us. Also, we're super simple creatures and doing 7 days of healthy eating seems a lot less daunting than forever and ever (what, no ice cream?!). Maybe, just maybe, the 7 days will turn into a lifetime of healthy eating choices but I'm not above the occasional greasy french fry or chocolate malt...that is just not realistic for me forever. In the end, we all have to make the choices that are best for us.

To start, I am currently cooking a whole (humane certified) chicken in a stock pot full of filtered water with some freshly ground pepper, sea salt and a few veggies I had lying around (thanks to our good friends TJ and Jen in Asheville, NC who graciously shared their garden's bounty with us when we visited last week) and a few I picked up today: parsley, zucchini, tomato, banana pepper, green pepper, onion, green onion, garlic, celery, and carrots. I'm going to use the meat and the broth for several of our meals this week and none of them are going to be made with processed food! 

So, here we go again! This time around for our "cleanse" we won't be hungry or cranky! I think this will be a whole lot more helpful to us than 21 days of deprivation and being hangry. I am hopeful that the lasting effects will be better too :)

What are your thoughts on the Clean Program and cleanses? How do you find balance for your health?

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 19

I am pleased to announce that tomorrow is our last day on the Clean Program!! WOOHOO! We ended a day early last year too and here's why: who wants to celebrate on a Monday? Sunday is a much better day to break the cleanse. So, even though I want pizza right this second, I'm about to head into the kitchen to make a liquid dinner....but knowing it's the second to last makes it not so bad :) 

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Blueberry, pineapple, coconut, walnut and almond milk smoothie
Snacks: Pear, kiwi, almonds
Lunch: Mixed greens, mango, pineapple, chicken, carrot and zucchini salad
Dinner: Black cherry chocolate "soft serve". Frozen black cherries, no sugar/no dairy chocolate pieces and chocolate powder ran through the juicer with the homogenizing attachment. Life is sweet!

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 18

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!! Only a few more days and I'm freeee....it is the best feeling for those first few days after the cleanse. FREEDOM! Usually after a few junky items, I decide that eating healthy tastes and feels better but it's still nice to have the option to pollute my stomach :) 

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Raspberry, walnut, almond milk, coconut and cocoa powder smoothie
Snacks: Zucchini muffin, apple
Lunch: I had a workshop out of town for work today so I had a salad with cucumber, mixed greens, sunflower seeds and zucchini. Ryan had a salad with chicken, mixed greens, zucchini and carrot.
Dinner: Blueberry, mango, pineapple, walnut, coconut and almond milk smoothie

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 17

Chocolate cherry "ice cream"

I sure hope nobody reads my Clean Program posts hoping for a good cleanse role model. I suck. I just can't be a Gwyneth or a Ryan even. All I can think about is french fries and pizza and COFFEE!!! "Well, Brandy, why do you torture yourself on this journey each year?" is what my imaginary audience says and to that I say "To remind me that eating french fries and pizza should not be my norm."

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Cinnamon, peach, raspberry, almond milk, cashew smoothie
Snacks: Zucchini muffins, apple, almonds
Lunch: Chicken over mixed greens, zucchini, carrot and with Bolthouse farms raspberry vinaigrette. It is pretty close to being Clean friendly but might be a little off. This was a last minute decision when I realized I forgot to make our dressing...better than Ranch?
Dinner: We had a Surfrider meeting tonight at a seafood restaurant and as the platters of fried fish wafted by, I ordered a salad...hold the tomatoes, feta and croutons. I'm over the cleanse. Ryan made some chocolate cherry "ice cream" (frozen cherries mixed with chocolate powder and chocolate in the juicer using the homogenizing thingy) when we got home because he refuses to cheat at all and didn't order anything. He shared because my salad did not cut it and he's a nice man :)

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 16

I'm feeling very whiny today! Probably because I haven't had my smoothie yet and so I'm hungry and cranky. I'm not very nice when I'm hungry...or tired. I need to be well fed and rested to be a good person, it is what it is.

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Blueberry, coconut, almond milk, chia and who knows what else smoothie (Ryan makes them before I wake up so your guess is as good as mine!)
Snacks: Apple, zucchini muffin, almonds
Lunch: Chicken, brown rice, peas and carrots with tamari and tahini (boring! I'm going to make a nice salad for tomorrows lunch...maybe with mango, mmmm)
Dinner: The worst soup of all time. If you want to gag down dinner, make the soup I made. Better yet, don't. Not sure how spinach, chicken broth, leeks and spices could go so very wrong but they did!

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 13

Love it when this thing's full of produce

Today has been a whirlwind, just like every other weekend since we bought a house! Grocery shopping, cleaning, painting, The Home Depot, etc etc. I almost didn't want to stop to make food because I know I have limited time during the weekends to accomplish everything I want to. One day I'll realize that you can only do one thing at a time and shouldn't worry about everything else but I'm not there yet :) 

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Another yummy "Cinnabun" smoothie, we're very excited about this discovery!

Snacks: Gluten free crackers (made by Ryan) with dill cashew "cheese"

Lunch: Chicken wrap using the leftover crockpot chicken sauteed with onion and topped with clean guacamole, clean slaw and mixed greens.

Dinner: Lemon blueberry smoothie (juice from one lemon, a few handfuls of blueberries, cashews, almond milk and an apple)

Making guac

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 12

We are running out of food!! This is a good thing b/c nothing is being wasted but it means that the snack supply is running low. I need to get my butt to the grocery store this weekend but I also need to help Ryan do some touch up painting on the outside of our house, organize everything, repair the screen that leads to the roof of our garage (except where we found a nest with an egg in it, that will wait until the baby is hatched and flies away) andddd a million other tasks. Lunch was another mish mash of what was left in the fridge/freezer and cupboards, pretty good but a snooze fest!

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Raspberry, blueberry, walnut, almond milk, date smoothie

Snacks: Apple, coconut chocolate bite, almonds, raisins

Lunch: Brown rice, broccoli, carrot and chicken with tamari and tahini

Dinner: "Cinnabun" smoothie: peaches, cinnamon, almond milk, cashews, flax

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 11

Gorgeous day!

I just cooked my rice noodles using the office Keurig....I felt like MacGyver! Then I took my made up recipe lunch out to the beautiful garden area outside of my office and enjoyed the sunshine. What a great day! I'm pretty much used to eating this way now but I have to say, I've been avoiding temptation as much as possible. No way I'd go in a movie theater right now. I cannot say no to movie theater popcorn. I'm pretty sure it's absolutely awful for you but luckily I rarely go to the movies or I'd have a serious habit. 10 more days! We can do it!

Today's Menu:

Breakfast: Blueberry, sunflower seed, almond milk, and chia smoothie

Snacks: Apple, pear, coconut/chocolate energy bites

Lunch: Maifun or "rice sticks" (noodles made from rice), leftover chicken from the crockpot chicken, slices of carrot, peas, celery, and a broth made from water, garlic, fresh grated ginger, tamari and dark sesame oil. This was a made up recipe that sort of resembles fancied up ramen noodles :) It's healthier though and quite tasty.

Dinner: TBD

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 10

Chickpeas still crispy from Sunday

Last night's dinner was a success! The kiwi lime slushy? Would have been awesome if I hadn't put almost a liter of club soda in the blender...it called for 12 oz....whoops! It ended up being more like a lemon/lime (I had to use lemon juice too b/c my lime sucked and had no juice) soda. So, still pretty good but not slushy quality. After all of this activity, Ryan and his sister spent the rest of the evening brewing beer. It was a very active kitchen night. Today is pretty boring food-wise because it's simply leftovers and the same ol', same ol' but on a completely unrelated note; I did want you guys to see my friend's new website for the cigar box guitars he makes. Super cool. I love things that are repurposed, it makes me want to be more creative and find ways to reuse the things I find. 

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Peach, cashew, chia and almond milk smoothie
Snacks: Apple, coconut chocolate bites, roasted chickpeas (found the best recipe to make them crispy, visit this site for instructions)
Lunch:  Leftovers from last night: crockpot chicken (turned out amazing but I made the mistake of cooking it on low for 8 hours instead of cooking on high for 4-5 hours as the recipe called for. It was a lil too soft but still delicious so there were no complaints!), autumn slaw (can't say enough good things about this) and brown rice.
Dinner:TBD

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 9

Crockpot time!

I love technology!! As I type this, my crockpot is getting itself ready to cook me a delicious chicken while I'm at work and my little vacuum robot (both Christmas presents) is taking care of the plethora of sand and hair that has made itself at home on my tile floor since we last ran the lil robot on Sunday. With a dog, a cat and my constant shedding, the robot keeps me sane and frees up time to speak to an imaginary audience on the internet: the FUTURE! I named her Consuela (like the cleaning lady on Family Guy, she's hilarious) but now I'm thinking that is racist, so I should probably come up with a non-offensive name like, Steve. Dinner table discussion for tonight! Any name ideas?

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Peach, walnut, chia and almond milk smoothie
Snacks: Roasted chickpeas, apple, pear, coconut/chocolate bites
Lunch: Leftover broccoli/snap pea soup for me, smoothie for Ryan
Dinner: Whole chicken (adapted from recipe on link) roasted in the crockpot with 4 chopped carrots, an onion, 2 stalks of celery, 4 cloves of garlic, salt, pepper, cayenne, paprika, chili powder, mustard powder and onion powder (I also soaked the chicken in salt water overnight). Served with brown rice and autumn slaw.

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 8

Coconut/Chocolate bites

Not much to report today, my friends. Since I made all of our food yesterday, I am just coasting today :) Tonight I'll get the ingredients ready for tomorrow's crockpot whole chicken! Ryan's sister is coming to see us, so we are switching our liquid evening meal with our solid lunch meal so we can enjoy dinner with her. I figured whole chicken with vegetables is pretty well liked, even by those not on a cleanse. I'll post the recipe later! 

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Blueberry, pear, lemon juice, almond milk and cashew smoothie

Snacks: Coconut chocolate bites (pictured above) I dusted them with chocolate powder to look pretty, apple, roasted chickpeas

Lunch: Chicken fried rice

Dinner: Broccoli, snap pea, garlic, and almond milk soup. Made the same way as the asparagus/leek soup from last week but I put a few too many veggies in there and it was more like baby food...whoops!

Here's a pic of the guac from yesterday....it was so good! We used the Food for Life brown rice tortillas...cut into 8th's and baked directly on the oven rack at 400 degrees. The guacamole is one avocado, juice from half a lime, chopped onion, olive oil, sea salt and black pepper...served with rinsed black olives. 

Guacamole with brown rice tortilla chips

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 7

Dill and Scallion Cashew Hummus

We have completed a full week of the Clean Program!! Woohoo!!! To celebrate, I have been cooking up a storm today! I made a dill/scallion/nutritional yeast cashew nut "cheese" (I prefer to think of it as cashew hummus, nut cheese sounds gross), chicken fried rice, roasted chickpeas, clean guacamole and brown rice tortilla chips and coconut/chocolate bites. And, of course, since this is all from scratch..it takes forever!! It does feel good to be eating whole foods though and it's only for 21 days. Then I can go back to eating ice cream :) haha, not what I should be thinking!! I will continue my quest in finding a balance between healthy foods and convenient foods that taste delicious.

While I'm slaving away inside, Ryan is slaving away outside

Today's Menu:

Breakfast: Raspberry/chocolate powder/chia/walnut/almond milk smoothie
Snacks: Apple, brown rice tortilla nachos
Lunch: Clean chicken fried rice (see below for recipe)
Dinner: Peach "milkshake! Frozen peaches, almond milk, milled flax seed, cashews and a wee bit o' coconut nectar sugar :) Great way to end the weekend!

"Clean" Chicken Fried Rice 

(adapted from this recipe)

3 cups cooked brown rice (this is 1 cup uncooked. Make the day before and refrigerate)

1 cooked chicken breast (cubed)

1/3 cup chopped onion

1/3 cup cubed carrot

1/3 cup peas (I used frozen)

1 stalk celery, thinly sliced

1 container baby bella mushrooms

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

1/3 cup gluten free tamari

4 cloves minced garlic

2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger

2 tablespoons ground black pepper

2-4 tablespoons olive oil (I used a lot because I was using a stainless steel pan and it's not nonstick)

Heat oil over medium high heat and add chopped carrots, celery and onion when oil begins to shimmer. Add pepper and a pinch of salt. Add all other vegetables, then rice and chicken. Add garlic, ginger, tamari and sesame seeds. Stir well until heated throughout. 

I usually don't cook the vegetables for very long because I like them crunchy but you may want to cook it a bit longer before adding tamari if you like your vegetables softer. 

This will come out a bit moister than traditional fried rice but it is super yummy. Enjoy!! 

Making "Clean" chicken fried rice

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 6

Creamy broccoli soup

Saturday! A day of rest...ha! Yeah right! I think we gave up our days of rest when we bought our house :) At least we had time to bike to the two farmer's markets in our town before slaving away the rest of the day on pressure washing and cleaning up rust spots on our house (perk of living at the beach!). On our bike ride, I learned the hard way (Okay, yesterday I said that I nearly died...looking back, that may have been a slight exaggeration) that exercise without snacks is a big no no on the cleanse. Lesson learned! I was felt super weak and light headed and had to lay down for a while when we got home. After a few of Ryan's delicious clean pancakes, I felt much better but hopefully you will learn from my mistakes! 

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Beet, celery and carrot juice

Snacks: Raw, vegan coconut bar from the farmer's market, a kiwi and chocolate walnut scones

Lunch: Kohlrabi fries, pancakes with almond butter and berry syrup

Dinner: Creamy broccoli and onion soup (I have to come up with something different for tomorrow night, Ryan will probably roll his eyes if I make one more creamy (insert vegetable here) soup)

Kohlrabi fries...delicious

 Ps. Kohlrabi fries are SUPER easy to make. Cut into fry-like shapes, toss with a lil olive oil and sea salt and throw in the oven (or gently place in the oven) at 350 until slightly crispy. 

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 3

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Okay, so it's day 3 and I'm feeling a LOT better. It started last night and I don't know if it was the lack of headache and body aches but I had a bunch of energy last night. So much, in fact, that I made chocolate walnut scones! These scones are labor intensive (see photo below of muddling dates into a paste) but I had energy to make them, roasted chickpeas and the dressing for our salad today (I also danced around while I did it)! You may notice that the scones more closely resemble chocolate lava cakes than scones but that is because I didn't chop the dark chocolate into small enough pieces. Lesson learned. I think they'll be delicious anyhow but they do look pretty funny! Ryan wants to hit a few tennis balls tonight and exercise and I told him that he can't unless he ups his calories (I am very bossy). He takes the cleanse WAY too seriously. Like, more seriously than the people at the Clean Program. I told him he can't be so strict and needs to eat! He made himself a vegetable juice and thinks that will cut it. He's going to be miserable tonight but not me! I refuse to go hungry for any reason. Fasting is just not in my repertoire.

Today's Menu: 

Breakfast: Walnut/Chia/Blueberry/Chocolate Powder/Flax/Almond Milk Smoothie

Snacks: Chocolate Walnut Scones, Roasted Chickpeas, Pear, Kiwi, Carrots, Avocado (I don't think I'll actually eat all of this but I wanted to be prepared after the hunger jungle I found myself in yesterday!)

Lunch: Same as yesterday. Humanely raised chicken sauteed with onion, garlic, sea salt and whatever other spices Ryan decided to add. Mixed greens, carrot, cucumber, and the dressing (pictured) made of 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/8 cup apple cider vinegar, a few shakes of mustard powder, sea salt and black pepper.

Dinner: Asparagus and Leek Soup, made with almond milk instead of coconut milk (much better this time around) we were supposed to have that last night but had a smoothie instead..for no reason at all...except WE WERE STARVING!! Soup was not going to cut it. Well, we could have added nuts or something I suppose to beef it up but a filling smoothie was just what we needed.

I am pleased to report that I am not really missing sugar. The smoothies are made without sweetener and I like them just fine. I tried a little of the coconut nectar crystals last night and it's very similar to brown sugar. The smell is INCREDIBLE though. Like a warm, delicious hug from the Caribbean. I'm feeling a lot more confident about the cleanse and the note I wrote to us on Sunday is turning out to be a self fulfilling prophecy :)

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 2

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Need to make some crackers and other snacks tonight!

Acquired a terrible headache yesterday that lasted until this morning. Side effects of detoxing from sugar and caffeine? Can't know for sure but it was miserable. I could not think and had to lay down while Ryan made our smoothie and lunch for today. I think that's also why I messed up our soup (put too much water, so there wasn't really room to add the coconut milk) or....maybe I'm just a terrible chef...hmm...

I'm thinking I need to make a bajillion snacks tonight so we are eating enough calories during the day to not be grumpy zombies in the evening when we can't eat solids. I'm not trying to lose weight, so I don't feel the need to restrict myself. As long as I'm generally following the guidelines of the cleanse and eating "Clean" foods, I should be okay.

Today's Menu:

Breakfast: Raspberry/Chia/Coconut Milk/Almond Milk/Almond Butter Smoothie

Snacks: Apple, pear, kiwi, almonds, all of the green tea

Lunch: Humanely raised chicken sauteed with garlic and onions served over a salad of mixed greens, carrots, cucumbers, and chopped celery. I made a dressing with 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/8 cup apple cider vinegar, a few sprinklings of mustard powder, salt and pepper (Roughly the recipe from the Clean Program Meal Plan). It was really good. I will keep that recipe :)

Dinner: Raspberry, walnut, chocolate powder, chia, flax and almond milk smoothie

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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Enjoying my last cup of coffee

Almost....gone...noooo

I feel a little sad, savoring my last cup of coffee at work before we start the cleanse on Monday. I also had to turn down lunch out with my co-workers...this was practice for when I really can't eat out April 1-21. Well, I could eat out but I'd have to order such a boring lunch that it would ruin the fun. I'm being very melodramatic about all of this, it's really not that bad....see?? You should totally do it with us!!

Army Duck wants you to eat the jelly beans

Things that will be super hard for me this year: ice cream, candy, soda, SUGAR SUGAR SUGAR........it's a sickness. A friend of mine (click the link to her FB page, she is super positive and her posts inspire me) recently gave up all non-naturally occurring sugars and artificial sweeteners and while I couldn't commit to it when she did, I'm pretty much forced into it during the Clean Program. The first year we did the cleanse, we could use agave syrup and I did...a LOT. This year, we can have Stevia (BARF, will not eat, I hate it), Coconut Nectar (never tried, going to look for it this weekend), Yacon (WTH is YACON?!), Whole Fresh Fruit (my biggest craving fixer...it takes forever to eat an apple or spoon out a kiwi and usually does the trick), dried fruit (sparingly) and monkfruit (again WTH). I already know of a few recipes (chocolate chip cookies) that will help me avoid Little Debbies and Starburst jelly beans (conveniently located next to Reginald the cactus on my desk), I need to look into a few others and make sure I have an arsenal of Clean snacks to keep me on the straight and narrow. Have you found any amazing Clean-friendly recipes? Share them in the comments!

3rd Annual Clean Program Cleanse Starts in April

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Here we go again! Our annual 21 day journey into the world of "The Clean Program". Usually we do the cleanse during January but with the move and everything, we decided to postpone this year's cleanse until April (after St. Patty's Day and Easter...duh!). I'm actually looking forward to it this year. I have officially been brainwashed...must be the toxins ;) For a totally inappropriate view of cleanses, read this hilarious yet offensive article at Cracked.

If you'd like to take the 21 Day Challenge with us, you can view our experiences for the past 2 years of the cleanse here.  After you see that, you might change your mind...but maybe not and we'd love to have the company :) It's hard being the only ones not at McDonald's or drinking a glass of wine or, God help me, COFFEE. Usually we would attempt the elimination diet before we start the cleanse but we are having house guests for Easter and I am waaay too excited to make delicious (not Clean friendly) recipes for it. So, sorry body...you're in for a shock. After this next week of cleaning out all non-Clean items (Chocolate Cherish Passion ice cream, your time is up) by putting them directly into my face, it's going to be a rude awakening April 1 when I go cold turkey from caffeine, fried foods and all the other junk I somehow forget makes me feel terrible. I need the yearly reminder that real, whole food = no tummy aches and general sense of well being and crap food that Brandy likes = mega aches in the tum tum and that "I can't get off the couch" feeling.

Let's do this!!

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!