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?

Clean Program: Clean Gut Monthly Meal Plan

I'm feeling pretty smug about this...yes, I realize I'm not the first person to discover meal planning but this is a revelation for me! It took some time, but I have completely planned out our 21 day cleanse! If this picture makes it look like I created this calendar with 1993 Word, it's only because I have a child's understanding of creating jpg's. You should be able to get the gist of it though. I have pinned pretty much every recipe that I'll need here and the rest are from the Clean Program's website. For breakfast, I simply put "shake" in each slot...I just purchased Garden of Life raw protein powder (in chocolate) and I think each day will be some variation of that with berries, kale, almond milk, coconut milk, chia, almond butter, cashews, lemon or lime juice etc. According to the reviews on Amazon, this protein powder tastes awful but it's supposed to be really good for you so I can gag it down. Update: Made the mistake of reading some of the 1 star reviews...all I can do is pray that the giant container of protein powder I purchased doesn't: taste like vomit, taste like rancid coconut oil, cause vomiting or some other problem that has yet to be discovered. 

I'm sure changes will be made as the month progresses, but this at least mentally prepares me and will (hopefully) take the stress out of grocery shopping this month. I'm also hoping that it will help me avoid cheating but I have a history of cheating on this cleanse every year so we'll see how that goes!

I am feeling very powerful right now...and strangely clairvoyant...

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...

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 20...Last day for us!!

Yummy!

Last day of the Clean Program!!! Woohoo!! To celebrate I made lemon apricot pistachio bites and they turned out really good even though I didn't have enough apricots (had to add dates to make up the difference) and I couldn't find shelled pistachios so I had to shell 2 cups of pistachios! Totally worth it.

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Blueberry, kiwi, coconut, almond milk smoothie
Snacks: Lemon apricot pistachio bites
Lunch: Blackberry/raspberry "soft serve" with cocoa powder and no dairy/no sugar chocolate bits
Dinner: We have Ryan's sister in town again so we swapped our liquid dinner with lunch and had clean chicken fried rice.

Shelling for 10 years

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 15

Just look at the lil bastards

It finally happened...I broke! We had a delightful assortment of cloud like pastries and coffee at work today for an event I worked at through lunch and by 12:45 pm, I couldn't resist their siren call. It was totally worth it. I think it's now a built in part of my cleanse to cheat once each year. Year 1 it was Denny's, Year 2 it was Panera (hazelnut coffee and chocolate chip cookie...drool) and Year 3 is the year of the delicate, cloud like, powdered sugar topped, chocolate creamy filled confection and a half cup of coffee. And I don't care who knows it!!! Maybe it's my sugar addled brain speaking but I don't think it's worth having a pure, "clean" body if it means being totally miserable emotionally. Should I be eating healthy foods the majority of the time? Yes, duh. But the occasional treat will not kill me and it is a part of life I really enjoy. Balance. This means not going back to my nonstop sugar filled days but maybe not cutting it out all together either.

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Zucchini muffin (okay, maybe I set myself up for failure by having a solid for breakfast which is a rule breaker). Ryan was good and had a smoothie, he has much more self control than I do.
Snacks: The best pastry and coffee of all time...and an apple :)
Lunch: Seasoned chicken with broccoli and forbidden rice (also known as black rice but today's just one of those days)
Dinner: Chocolatey-coconut blueberry smoothie with almond milk, cashews, flax and chia...just what I needed!

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 14

Zucchini muffins!

I was so excited to try out this recipe for zucchini muffins today! They turned out pretty good but next time I'll cut back on the salt and add less almond milk (I put like 3 or 4 splashes...it called for one, whoops!) Has anyone else found any good "Clean" baked goods? 

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Ryan went fishing and I got so caught up in painting our front door that we skipped breakfast....
Snacks: Zucchini muffins (I added dried cranberries and a lil coconut sugar, so good), apple, crackers with dill cashew "cheese"
Lunch: Ryan made us a black bean/rice patty topped with "Clean" guacamole. Sounds weird but was delicious
Dinner: Peach, pineapple, coconut flakes, cashews and almond milk smoothie

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 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 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. 

Recipe for Clean Pancakes

Ryan blended a few different recipes and some improvisation to create his own pancakes for our enjoyment. The following recipe is in his own words, including the term "hefty sprinkle".  Hope you like them too! 

Ryan's Clean Pancakes

2 cups all purpose gluten free flour (Bob's Red Mill)
2 cups unsweetened almond milk
2 tbsp coconut oil (for cooking)
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 tsp baking powder
handful finely chopped almonds
hefty sprinkle of cocoa powder
light sprinkle poppy seeds
moderate sprinkle of cinnamon
2 tsp milled flax seed (may want to try one to avoid too gummy pancakes)

Mix dry ingredients together. Add almond milk and mix until smooth. Heat pan with coconut oil on medium heat and pour batter on pan. Add dairy free/sugar free chocolate pieces, if desired (we totally desired).

Smear almond butter on top of pancakes and serve with berry "syrup" to delight your tastebuds :)

Clean Berry "Syrup"

2 handfuls berries of choice (we used blackberry, blueberry and raspberry)
1 tsp coconut nectar crystals
Splash of apple cider vinegar

Cook over medium low heat until it boils then turn to low to simmer until berries soften and water reduces.

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 5

It's Friday!! Hooray! Let's break out the pizza, ice cream, popcorn and...oh, wait. BOO!! My optimism from the other day has faded! I think it's because I haven't had my morning smoothie yet and I'm hungry but I could really go for some donuts. I guess this just means I need to find some delicious "Clean" snacks for this weekend! I have been eyeing some recipes for Clean friendly nachos and almond butter cookies all week, I can get cooking tonight. I'm feeling better already :)

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Some smoothie Ryan created this morning because we forgot last night. I think it's raspberry, flax, cocoa powder coconut and coconut milk but I'm not 100% sure. 

Snacks: Apple, chocolate and walnut scones, almonds (light on the snacks today...that's what you get for not preparing!)

Lunch: Same as yesterday. Chickpea/broccoli mixture

Dinner: MYSTERY. Although, I have been digging these "creamy" vegetable soups. I adjusted the leek/asparagus recipe and substituted onion and spinach last night to create the photo pictured above. Very satisfying. **Update** I ended up making creamy broccoli soup :) Ryan keeps asking if we can have a different type of dinner but it's so easy!! Frozen broccoli, onion, garlic, coconut oil, almond milk, salt and pepper, and nutritional yeast. Easy peasy and so good! 

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 4

Gangs all here!

As I sit here, sipping my pear/blueberry smoothie, I'm feeling pretty smug. Look at me, totally rocking this cleanse. It seems to be easier this year. I think it's because we have so many more recipes to choose from and a lot more snacks to keep us occupied! I don't even really want to eat all the junk that somehow worms its way into my life ALL THE TIME. 

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Pear/blueberry/coconut milk/cashew smoothie

Snacks: Pear and avocado (from yesterday), apple, chocolate walnut scone, green tea, lemon water

Lunch: Broccoli/chickpea/brown rice/tahini sauce  Love it

Dinner: MYSTERY. Will update later. Btw, the creamy asparagus/leek soup was much better last night. It helps to follow directions :) 

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 3

"Like" us on Facebook for updates on our progress on the cleanse

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 :)