Your Friend Comes to Town and You're Cleansing? Day 5

Day 5 of my Orenda Clean Burn Shape cleanse.  I am still feeling great. And even though I said I wouldn't weigh myself until the end, I cheated and did anyway.  And the good news is . . .  I lost 3 lbs!  I don't have a lot of weight to lose, but I can tell you my jeans weren't fitting and I wasn't feeling so good about that.

Today my Food2Live4 partner Jennifer is in town and of course we went out to dinner.  We were very good and ordered vegan food - brussels sprouts, lettuce wraps.  But . . .I did have a cheat.

Gluten free - but nevertheless, a beer.  But I'm not going to beat myself up!  Tomorrow is back to the cleanse.  And tomorrow's blog should be a good one because somehow I am going to manage this at Lollapalooza.  Wish me luck!

Eating Out on a Cleanse Day 4

It's day 4 of my 10 day cleanse.  I'm still feeling great - lots of energy.  In fact, I am having a hard time eating enough calories because I'm just not hungry!  But I can tell when I exert myself, I get wiped out easy.

Today was a lot of running around and even though eating clean is easy to do, I frankly didn't feel like making anything tonite and my daughter wanted Thai.  So we went out for dinner.  Most ethnic restaurants are good choices for eating healthy.  Thai restaurants typically have a lot of veggie dishes and if you ask, they will prepare pretty much how you want.  I had this lovely plate of vegetables :

Your recipe today is one of my favorite smoothies!  Smoothies are great in the morning - that's pretty much all I ever have for breakfast.

Pear and Apple Smoothie

1 pear, seeded

1 apple, cored

1 avocado, pitted

2 cups spinach

1 Tbsp coconut oil

1 to 1 ½ cups unsweetened almond or coconut milk

1 scoop hemp protein powder (optional) I like chocolate hemp protein  or Juice Plus chocolate protein powder

Combine all ingredients in a blender until smooth. Throw in a few ice cubes if you want it cold.  Enjoy!  

Pizza on a Cleanse? Yes, please! Day 3

Day 3 of my Orenda Clean Burn Shape cleanse.  Today I felt the detox.  A bit tired, a bit headachy.  I drank a TON of water and by dinner I was feeling much better.  I don't mind feeling a bit off - that's my body's way of letting me know it's doing its thing!

I have heard about cauliflower pizza crust for a while and have always wanted to make it.   Since this is a clean eating cleanse (no gluten!) I decided to try it.  I am really glad I did!  Easier to make than I thought and super yummy!  Even my daughter ate some.  Yes, my 14 year old picky eater daughter.  So you know it's good.

Vegan Cauliflower Pizza Crust

1 small head of cauliflower, chopped
3 tablespoons flax seeds, divided
6 tablespoons water
1/2 cup almond meal or chickpea flour (I like almond meal)
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp italian herbs
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Line a baking sheet with parchment and preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Process the cauliflower in a food processor fitted with an S blade and pulse until the cauliflower is a rice like texture.  Put the cauliflower in a large sauce pan, cover with water and bring to a boil.  Then reduce heat and allow to cook for 5 minutes.  Drain as much liquid as you can and then put the cauliflower in the freezer for about 10 minutes to cool.

While you are waiting for the cauliflower to cool, make your flax "egg".  Grind 2 tablespoons of the flax seeds and mix with the water.  Allow to sit and it will thicken.

When the cauliflower has cooled, put it in some cheesecloth or a dish towel and squeeze out the excess liquid.  Put the cauliflower in a large bowl, add the almond meal, flax "egg", the additional tablespoon of flax - ground, garlic, herbs, salt and pepper.  Mix very well and press into the parchment lined baking sheet.  I would recommend using an offset spatula to spread out evenly so there aren't any thin area.  Bake at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes or until the top is golden and dry to the touch.

When the crust has cooled and its dry, top with your favorite toppings and pop back in the oven for a few minutes to warm.  I made mine with marinara, spinach, yellow pepper, fresh tomato and sprinkled with nutritional yeast.

Summer Vegetables and Day 2 of Cleanse

Well, I am almost through day 2 of my 10 day cleanse.  I had a bit of a slow start to my day, but my energy DEFINITELY picked up after breakfast.  I had amazing energy all day - felt like I had several cups of coffee (but I had NONE).  I love eating clean.  Don't know why I fall off sometimes and let the naughty stuff in!  Anyway, I made a yummy summer veggie dish for dinner.  I had it as my dinner, but it would make a great side dish too.  The original recipe called for parmesan cheese on top, but I healthified it by putting nutritional yeast on top.  If you have never tried nutritional yeast - you are missing out!  It's like taking a B complex vitamin.  It also packs a punch of protein and fiber.  And the best part is . . . it tastes CHEEZY.  Yum.  Try it on popcorn.

Here is the recipe:

Braised Summer Vegetables

1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 tsp dried Italian herb mix
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 lb green beans trimmed (or untrimmed - I used French green beans)
1 yellow squash halved and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 cup halved cherry or grape tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste
nutritional yeast to taste

Heat oil in skillet over medium heat.  Add onion and herb mix and cook until onion is soft.  Add broth and green beans and cook for 5-8 minutes until beans are cooked, but still crisp.  Add squash, cook 2 - 4 minutes more.  Add tomatoes and cook until warmed.  Season with salt and pepper.  Sprinkled with nutritional yeast.

Sorry I've Gone Missing and SUMMER CLEANSE!

I just signed in to discover I haven't written anything since April!  How time flies . . . I have been busy getting my house ready to sell, buying another home, finishing my health coach program through IIN and getting a new health coach business off the ground.  It's all good and I am having an interesting journey.  I'm slowly learning to get out of my own way and let the Universe do it's good work.

Packing, moving, transitions can be so emotional and it's been very emotional for me.  And, even though I know better, I am an emotional eater.  I completed a very successful cleanse in April and lost 8 lbs.  I wish I had measured myself because I lost inches too.  I went down 2 jean sizes.  Even though afterwards I felt AMAZING I went back to my old emotional eating habits and here I am again - low energy, put a few lbs back on, so I decided to do another cleanse to get myself back on track.  I thought I would document so that I was accountable.

The cleanse I am doing is Clean Burn Shape through Orenda.  It's 10 days of detox at a cellular level along with super clean eating.  Why cellular level?  Well, toxins are fat soluble - meaning they like to store themselves in fat cells.  That's one of the reasons so many people lose weight only to put it back on.  The body is smart - it likes to have those toxins spread out.  If you lose weight, the toxins are concentrated - so they eventually work themselves back to be more evenly distributed - and the weight comes back.  We live in such a toxic environment that I recommend to most clients to detox at least quarterly.  For clients with more than 10lbs to lose I recommend a 10 + 30 day cleanse.

Ok - I am really putting myself out there.  I am posting a pic of me in a bikini (ACK) and I will post one of my recipes I am eating on the cleanse - and I will also post my "after" picture.

 I will keep you all updated daily and any and all support is appreciated.  If anyone would like to learn more about cleansing, feel free to email me at pamela@food2live4.com.  We provide recipes, meal plans and shopping lists for our clients interested in doing the Clean Burn Shape cleanse.

Happy Sunday!

UnTuna Salad

1 can garbanzo beans

3 tablespoons veganaise

1 tablespoon dijon mustard

2 stalks celery chopped

2 tablespoons chopped red onion

2 tablespoons lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

Romaine lettuce leaves

Pulse beans in food processor until just chopped – don’t over process, you want it to be chunky.  Mix in rest of ingredients.