Day 3 of my Not Perfect Detox

Today I will do something my future self will thank me for.

I'm not going to post every day.  The inspiration will fade soon, especially as the group meetings at the office start up next week.  Good news for me today, I fell asleep naturally last night.  I've had a few blips of this happening, so the journey is not over.  But I'll take it.

SUGAR
So some of us got talking about giving up sugar.  It's amazing the emotions that come up when faced with giving up certain foods.  I totally flipped out when I gave up sugar for 3 weeks last year.  One day I just broke down and cried, got mad and had a real wobbly.  Dark chocolate withdrawals.  Intense.  Some people aren't ruled by sugar.  If you find the thought of giving up sugar for 2-3 weeks terrifying, think about it.  It might really be a great gift for yourself.  I love this cartoon from Hyperbole and a Half about a person who could use a break from sugar.  It always makes me laugh.

I still want chocolate after most meals.  But I don't want to have a headache.  I still want to share my husbands regular ice cream snack in the evenings, and I do now and then.  But it always means I have to get up to pee at night.  I always end up eating some of the cookies and things I make with the kids, but I don't do lots of it or I feel crap.  It's reached the point where the consequences to eating a lot of sugar seriously outweigh the short-term benefits.  Besides, I've got less of a taste for them.  It takes time and goes up and down.

Giving up all kinds of sugar for 3 weeks including natural and artificial sweeteners is a real commitment.  I make exceptions for a little bit honey or maple syrup if they are an integral part of a dressing/sauce that is going to make an otherwise wonderful meal for everyone.  Dropping sugar and sweeteners for 2-3 weeks could be the single most important dietary step for many people.  Heck, just give it one good week!

Cooking ahead
Today I did a bunch more cooking and I think I have a nice variety of foods in the fridge and freezer for nice meals.  It really does take a few days to gear up for this.  That's why I don't like to be too hard on myself for the first few days.

My lunch of rice, eggs and greens:
For lunch the past few days, I've had my BEST lunch of rice, greens, eggs and tahini sauce.  I say best because I love it and it ticks all the boxes.  I've written about it before here.  I talk about soaking and cooking brown rice for better texture and nutrition, and give my tahini sauce recipe.  For this, I make sure to make a batch of rice every 2-3 days that I can fry up.  I also try to wash, chop and bag some chard or spinach so I can just throw it in the pan with the rice.

I made a batch of my Creamy Vegetable Soup today.  When I need food to be easy and nutritious, this soup is my favorite.  It's quick, helps me clean out my vegetable drawers with the last bit of this and that before I go shopping.  And it has ALL the things I need to eat more on a detox... or just to be healthy.  Chicken stock, onions, celery, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, kale, potatoes, mushrooms ... you can leave a few of those out and still make a great soup.  But it's a pureed soup.  I have a cheap immersion blender, which I use A LOT to make pureed vegetable soups and smoothies.  You can use a blender or food processor, it's just messier.  If you need to omit the cream, the potatoes are enough.  Could add some cashew butter for extra creaminess.  If you need lower carbs, cut the potatoes.  As long as you add the basil or pesto at the end, it will be really good.  Also, if you need it to be higher in protein, you can add some leftover chicken or some cannelinni beans.

Made a batch of hummus too (yes, I was in the kitchen a lot today, but I can start to slow down now).  Hummus is cheap and easy to make.  You can make it from canned garbanzo beans, but I think the BEST hummus is from freshly cooked chickpeas cooked with kombu.   The kombu helps them soften, but it also adds so much good flavor.  Here is a rough recipe:

Simple Hummus

• 1 cup dried chickpeas
• 2 square inches of kombu
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 Tbls sesame tahini (unsalted)
• 1/2 tsp sea salt (you'll need more, but start here)
• 1/4 cup (one large lemon) of lemon juice.

1. Soak your chickpeas overnight (or at least 8 hours).  Change out the water, add kombu, bring to boil and simmer for about an hour.  Pressure cooking makes it a little faster.  Drain out the liquid but save it.
2. In your food processor, first put your garlic in to mince.  
3. Then add chickpeas, tahini and salt.  Blend up best you can.
4. Add lemon juice and a little bit of the bean liquid.  Blend and taste.
5. Add more liquid, salt and lemon juice to adjust to your taste.
6. I serve it by spooning out a portion, then sprinkling some sweet paprika on top and drizzling it generously with olive oil.

So fried rice dishes, vegetable soup, hummus and I've got a bean soup frozen too.