30 day detox: wrap-up

Okay so I’ve been pretty bad with posting the end of my detox. However, I have bad news. Whilst cleaning up files on my poor overloaded computer I accidentally deleted all of the pictures from the last 7 days. Yeah, I know. Oops. But rest assured, the last week was very similar to the previous 23 days…smoothies in the morning, salads for lunch, a sensible dinner, that sort of thing.

It’s been awhile since the 30 days ended and I’ve been eating pretty much the same…lots of produce, fruit, legumes, very little sugar, occasionally I will have gluten but not that often. I feel great and I have no desire to go back to eating the junk I was while I was stress eating. We always have stress in our lives, eating junky food is not the way to go about dealing with it.

That being said, my struggle continues to be finding a healthy balance that allows for the occasional treat in an otherwise healthy diet. I don’t want to get too fixated on counting calories and macronutrients…I’ve been there and it’s no fun. My goal right now is a 95% healthy diet with a good amount of exercise (not too much, but not too little).

I’m glad I did this little detox, as it gave me the push I needed to get back to healthy eating.

Just so this post isn’t all text, here’s a picture of my kitty Phantom. His leg is shaved in that one spot because he just got a couple of teeth removed and that’s where they had his IV.

30 Day Detox: days 18-23

Wow, I’ve been bad at keeping this thing up to date. Such is life once school begins again.

Day 18

Before I went to the gym I had a handful of raisins. When I got back I had a smoothie with protein powder, flax, psyllium husk, frozen berries, and soy milk. Later for a snack I had a peach.

For lunch I had a salad with mixed greens, lemon tofu, and balsamic vinaigrette. I also had 2 nectarines.

That night for dinner, I had the Moroccan Tagine with Spring Vegetables from Vegan with a Vengeance (in keeping up with the PPK Cookbook Challenge). This was sooooo good…even my veggie hating husband liked it. I served it on top of quinoa.

Day 19

For breakfast I had another smoothie with frozen berries, protein powder, flax, psyllium husk, and soy milk. I also had a peach.

That day for lunch I had a very similar salad as Day 18 greens, lemon tofu, and balsamic vinaigrette. I also had 2 nectarines. Later on for a snack I had some kale chips.

For supper that night I made the mango summer rolls from Vegan with a Vengeance. I gotta say, this recipe didn’t really do it for me. I have issues with fruit in savoury dishes. I thought I would try these to branch out, especially since we’re in the middle of a heat wave and these didn’t require me to do much cooking. Anyway, a lot of other folk on the internet seem to love these so I think it’s just me and my weird fruit issues.

Day 20

I was out of things to make smoothies with, so after the gym I had protein powder mixed with water, as well as a bowl of oat bran with agave and cinnamon. This was okay, but I missed my morning fruit.

For lunch I had a salad with spinach, romaine, radish, quinoa, tofu, and balsamic vinaigrette, as well as an orange. Later on for a snack I had two peaches and some cucumber.

It was still so hot that night that I didn’t have it in me to cook…I had some refried beans cold out of the can mixed with salsa. That’s right, I ate cold beans out of a can. And I liked it.

Day 21

I was still out of smoothie making materials, so for breakfast I had a tofu scramble loaded with veggies (onion, carrot, broccoli, mushrooms, and spinach) as well as an orange.

For lunch I had a salad with romaine, radish, broccoli, carrot, snap peas, chickpeas, and balsamic vinaigrette, and another orange.

For supper that night I made the braised cauliflower with three seed sauce from Vegan with a Vengeance. This was surprisingly really good. I always passed by it when flipping through the cookbook without giving it a second thought. The only reason I made it is that I had a head of cauliflower to use up ASAP. I also made a chickpea soup, based on the punk rock chickpea gravy recipe.
Day 22

Before I went to the gym I had a banana. When I got back I had a smoothie with protein powder, flax, psyllium husk, soy milk, and frozen fruit. Later on I had a nectarine.

For lunch I had leftover chickpea soup and braised cauliflower. I usually don’t have a problem with leftovers, but I did not care for the cauliflower the next day at all…I couldn’t finish it.

That night for supper I made the corn chowder from Vegan with a Vengeance. This certainly wasn’t photogenic so I won’t make you look at a picture of ugly soup. This was alright, but I think it could use some tweaking. It was a tad too sweet for me, I think next time I would omit the maple syrup.

Day 23

I went for a really long bike ride in the morning. When I got back I had a banana and some protein powder mixed with soy milk.

Later for lunch I made myself a salad with greens, sauteed asparagus, roasted tomatoes, tofu basil ricotta, and olives. I also had a peach.

That afternoon I had some cherries and a nectarine for a snack. For supper I made the Ethiopian Seitan and Peppers from Vegan with a Vengeance…but subbing tofu for the seitan. This was alright…I honestly don’t think I would make it again. It wasn’t horrible, but it wasn’t the most flavourful thing ever either. Perhaps it’s better with the seitan. I also had a pear and some more cherries.

Well only one more week to go for the detox!

Next week’s cookbook challenge is Vegan Brunch.

30 Day Detox: days 14-17

Day 14
For breakfast I had a smoothie with protein powder, blueberries, banana, flax, and soy milk

I didn’t have any salad veggies on hand, so for lunch I had leftover chickpea-quinoa pilaf as well as broccoli florets dipped in some “honey” mustard vinaigrette I also had 2 nectarines.

For a snack I had blueberries and a peach. That night for dinner I kept on with the Veganomicon Cookbook Challenge and made cheater baked beans, tomatoes and spinach, as well as some bbq tofu. The beans were delicious, I love how they’re not sickeningly sweet like the canned variety. The spinach dish would have been way better if my spinach wasn’t so old and gross.

I also had 2 oranges for dessert.

Day 15
Before I headed to the gym I grabbed a banana. Once I got home I had a smoothie with protein powder, frozen peach/strawberry/blueberry/mango, soy milk, flax, and psyllium husk. I made this thing way too thick and had to eat it with a spoon.

Later on for a snack I had 2 dates.

For lunch I had the edamame and corn salad from Veganomicon. I cut the sesame oil in half but otherwise kept things the same. Not pictured, I served this over greens for my lunch. This salad is really good, and sooo filling due to the edamame. For dessert I made a banana “pudding” with banana and agave whirred up in the food processor.

For a snack that afternoon I had 2 oranges and some cherry tomatoes. For supper I had more of the edamame and corn salad, plus sushi made with quinoa instead of rice. This sushi had tofu, spinach, and carrot. It was alright. It’s no rice sushi, but it’s surprisingly good.

Later on for a snack I had some frozen mango whirred up in the food processor.

Day 16 – this day SUCKED diet-wise. I ended up getting caught off guard and didn’t have suitable meals lined up. I ended up eating gluten AND sugar. Ugh. I wasn’t too happy with myself. However, that evening I spent some time introspecting and realized what went wrong to get me off track and how I can deal with it in the future. So I’m concentrating on the positives.

Day 17

First thing in the morning I went for a 10 mile bike ride. When I got back I had a shake with protein powder, flax, frozen berries, soy milk, and psyllium husk. I made this extra thick so I could eat it out of a bowl like frozen yogurt.

Lunch was delicious. I had lemon pepper tofu from Vegan Brunch (no oil) on top of salad greens with back to basics balsamic vinaigrette from Eat, Drink & Be Vegan. The vinaigrette is a bit sweet for me, but I usually find Dreena’s salad dressings too sweet. Next time I’ll lessen the amount of agave I use.

For a snack I had this really weird pickle that my husband (still not used to calling him that…) found in the grocery store:

Who am I to refuse a portly pickle? It was actually really good.

For supper I had some grilled tofu, zucchini, and corn on the cob. I usually don’t have tofu both for lunch and supper but I didn’t have anything else in the house to grill and I didn’t have time to run to the store. For dessert I had 2 oranges.

To recap the cookbook challenge, I ended up making 6 new recipes from Veganomicon and 2 repeats. This week is Vegan with a Vengeance. So far I’m loving the push to actually use my cookbooks instead of just staring at them.

30 Day Detox: days 12 and 13

Day 12

For breakfast I had a smoothie with protein powder, flax, mixed berries, banana, and soy milk. This one was such a pretty color. Later for a snack I had an orange.

For lunch I had a salad with greens, radish, beet, cauliflower, broccoli, onion, and “honey” mustard vinaigrette. I also had some leftover bbq black-eyed peas and some strawberries. Excuse the bad picture, horrible lighting.

Later on in the afternoon I had another orange and a peach. Keeping with the Cookbook Challenge, I made another recipe from Veganomicon: chickpea quinoa pilaf. This was alright. I found it a bit bland actually. I’d throw in a lot more herbs next time. Anyway, I had this with Italian tofu (also from Veganomicon, but one I’ve made several times before) as well as some sauteed kale. Later on I had some watermelon and strawberries.

Day 13

Before I went to the gym I had a banana. When I got home I had a smoothie with protein powder, flax, soy milk, frozen peach, strawberry, and blueberry, psyllium husk, and oats. I was still hungry so I had a bit of leftover pilaf.

For lunch I made the portobello salad with spicy mustard dressing from Veganomicon. Except my salad had a lot more veggies in it than recommended and I omitted the avocado as it has a tendency to make me ill. The dressing burned my sinuses. But I think that’s because of the weird spicy mustard we have in our fridge. It kind of tastes like it has horseradish in it, but it doesn’t. Weird. Anyway, the mushrooms were succulent and I could have eaten 10 of them. I also had a nectarine, watermelon, and some strawberries.

After lunch I ended up not feeling well and getting a bad headache (which I’m pretty sure was unrelated to food). So for supper I grabbed some raisins and a bowl of oatmeal as there was no way I was cooking. Later on I started to feel a bit better and was hungry again, so I had some more oatmeal and an orange.

30 Day Detox: days 10 and 11

Day 10

I forgot to take a picture of my morning smoothie, but it consisted of cantaloupe, pineapple, mango, and flax. Later for a snack I had a banana. For lunch I had leftover curried lentils, plus a salad with greens, beets, radish, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber, and “honey” mustard dressing. I also had a peach for dessert.

Later in the afternoon I had an orange and some blueberries for a snack. For supper that night we decided to BBQ, which we haven’t done in such a long time. I had bbq tofu, corn on the cob, and some asparagus.

I also had watermelon for dessert. Later in the evening I had some air-popped popcorn..which probably wasn’t the best idea since I had corn for supper but oh well.

Day 11

Before I went to the gym I grabbed a banana. Once I got home I made a smoothie with frozen peach, strawberries and blueberries, as well as protein powder, flax, and soy milk.

For lunch I had a salad with greens, radish, onion, beet, chickpeas, broccoli, cauliflower, and more of that “honey” mustard vinaigrette. I also had 2 medjool dates for dessert.

Later on I was quite hungry, so for a snack I had an orange, a peach, and some blueberries.

Starting yesterday, the PPK is starting a Cookbook Challenge. The idea is each week we pick a cookbook and you try as many new recipes from that book as you want, with a minimum of 3 recipes each week. Basically it’s a way to get us to use our cookbooks. This week is Veganomicon. So for supper last night I made the BBQ Black-Eyed Pea Collard Rolls, only I didn’t have collards so I used chard. I also didn’t make the VCON bbq sauce but just used some of my own that I had in the fridge. Overall these were alright. Basically all I can taste is bbq sauce, which I love. But I don’t know if I’d go out of my way to make these again. To go with the rolls I also had brussel sprouts and some pattypan squash.

For dessert I had 2 nectarines. Later for a snack I had watermelon and strawberries.

Well the detox is more than a third over. I’ve noticed some improvements in my health. I think these are mostly from avoiding gluten. As much as I love wheaty carbs they’re probably not the best thing for me. I haven’t been missing sugar so far because I’ve been eating so much delicious fresh fruit. I’m still not sick of having salads every day so there’s another bonus. All in all so far this has been a pretty positive experience.

30 Day Detox: days 7-9

Day 7

Before I went to the gym I had a banana. When I got back I had a smoothie with protein powder, frozen peach, strawberries and blueberries, flax, oats, and soy milk. This was delicious.

For lunch I had some leftover sauteed green beans and mushrooms, as well as a salad with greens, radish, cucumber, zucchini, and tofu with green tahini dressing. For dessert I had cantaloupe. Later on I had an apple for a snack.

For dinner that night I made a lasagna using zucchini instead of noodles. This also had eggplant and tofu ricotta and mushroom marinara (with added spinach) from Veganomicon. I topped it off with the white cheese sauce recipe from the Ultimate Uncheese Cookbook (using soy milk instead of water). It turned out pretty good, although the zucchini made everything a little watery. Later on for a snack I had a peach.

Day 8

First thing in the morning I went for a bike ride. When I got back I had protein powder mixed with soy milk, as well as a smoothie made with cantaloupe, pineapple, and flax. I accidentally made this one too watery. Later on for a snack I had a peach.

For lunch I had some leftover lasagna, as well as a salad with greens, cucumber, onion, and oil and vinegar. I also had an apple for dessert.

I was really hungry in the afternoon and ended up eating two peaches and a bowl of plain air-popped popcorn.

For supper I had some leftover chili.

For dessert I whirred up some frozen pineapple in my food processor. Voila, pineapple sorbet.

That evening I was really hungry again and ended up eating two peaches, more popcorn, and some raisins.

Day 9

For breakfast I made a smoothie with cantaloupe, pineapple, orange juice and flax.

For lunch I had a salad with spinach, mixed greens, beets, cauliflower, broccoli, onion, chickpeas, and the “honey” mustard vinaigrette from Eat, Drink, & Be Vegan. For dessert I had a peach and some cherries. Later on in the afternoon I had an apple for a snack.

Around dinner time I didn’t have time to cook so I grabbed a banana and a few more cherries. I didn’t actually get to cook my dinner until waaaay later. By then I was so tired that I threw some random things in a pot to quickly make some curried lentils. Not a pretty picture I know, but I was exhausted and famished. I also had a peach for dessert.

30 Day Detox: days 5 and 6

These days were STILL plagued by rain that would not end so prepare yourself for some more poorly lit photos.

Day 5

I was out of fresh fruit and so I made myself a tofu scramble. It had bell pepper, an anaheim chile, some spices, and then after this photo I topped it with salsa. I was in a hurry so it’s not the prettiest looking thing ever. Later on I had an apple.

For lunch my salad consisted of romaine, baby greens, peas, sprouts, carrot, radish, broccoli, cauliflower, cucumber, onion, roasted chickpeas, and green tahini dressing from Get it Ripe. The dressing was alright. I love hummus but I don’t really care for the taste of tahini on its own. But I had a bunch of parsley to use up so I figured this dressing was perfect for that. For dessert I had an apple.

For supper I made bean chili…which I never use a recipe for…I just throw random things into the pot and let it simmer and keep taste testing. I actually had two bowls of this. I wasn’t really hungry but I went for seconds anyway. A bad habit of mine that I would like to stop.

For an evening snack I had mango “sorbet” which is just frozen mango chunks and agave whirred up in a food processor.

Day 6

I was still out of fresh fruit but by doing some digging I found enough frozen fruit to make myself a smoothie. This had banana, blueberries, protein powder, soy milk, and flax.

For lunch I used up the rest of my salad stuff. It had baby greens, sprouts, radish, carrot, onion, roasted chickpeas, and green tahini dressing. The salad wasn’t that big because I didn’t have that many veggies, so I also had some roasted cauliflower on the side. For dessert I made myself some more of that mango sorbet.

For an afternoon snack I had some kale chips loaded with nutritional yeast.

Dinner was quite late so I had an apple while it was cooking. My dinner consisted of lemon pepper tofu from Vegan Brunch (without the oil), roasted zucchini, and sauteed green beans and mushrooms from Vegan with a Vengeance (once again, no oil). I also had a small glass of soy milk and later on I had another apple.

30 Day Detox: days 3 and 4

Day 3

For breakfast I had a sliced banana with blueberries and soy milk, along with a clementine. Yum, I love fresh fruit for breakfast!

We’re still in the depths of a cold/rainy spell and so I really wanted something warm for lunch. I roasted some eggplant, zucchini, beets, carrot, and half of a tomato that was floating around in my fridge. I put this on top of baby greens and romaine and topped with a maple mustard dressing I threw together. I also had the last of the leftover chickpea broccoli casserole but I will spare you more pictures of that.

For supper I made Susan Voisin’s smoky refried bean soup. I adore this soup so much…I posted about it awhile ago. For dessert I had the last of my blueberries.

Day 4

Before I went to the gym I scarfed down a banana. When I got home I made a smoothie with protein powder, mixed frozen berries, soy milk, psyllium husk, and flax. I put it in a bowl to eat with a spoon because I saw someone else on a blog (can’t remember who! sorry!) do it and I was curious about it.

I was really hungry that morning and as a snack I had another bowl of the refried bean soup.

For lunch I had a salad with romaine, baby greens, sprouts, broccoli, snap peas, radish, carrot, and tofu with a vinaigrette that had rice vinegar, mustard, and some nutritional yeast.

That morning I received a package from Robert Cheeke. Robert was kind enough to include many free samples, including a VEGA Vibrancy Bar, which I had for my afternoon snack. These bars sort of remind me of a Lara bar, but are less sweet. It was pretty good.

For supper that night I had even more of the refried bean soup (can you tell I really love that soup?) which I didn’t take another picture of. I also had some swiss chard sauteed with garlic. The two dishes didn’t go together at all but I wanted to use up the chard.

That night for a snack I had some snap peas.

EDIT: Aha, thanks for jogging my memory Nora! It’s Nora over at Pride & Vegudice that eats her smoothies in a bowl!

wedding stuff and the start of a 30 day detox

Well I’m back from the honeymoon. We were up at a cabin at a nearby lake and it was sooo peaceful and relaxing. The weather was sunny and hot so most days we just hung out on the beach. We did do a bit of hiking on the last day.

The official wedding photos won’t be ours for some time, but our photographer released a few “teasers” if you will. Here are some of them:

As much fun as the day was, I’m glad the wedding planning madness is over! I think that’s one of the most stressful things I’ve ever gone through. One way I deal with stress is to eat. And I’m talking sugar and chocolate and delicious carbs. My veggie intake was abysmally low. I also tend to get lethargic and as such I stopped going to the gym. So here I am, feeling unhealthy and like I need to get my food back on track and get healthy again. Also, my pants are a little tight from all of that indulging and if they could fit again that would be great as well.

And so I am embarking on one of these “30 Day Detox” things as other vegan foodies have blogged about. Erin over at Vegan Homemade has one going on right now. Anyway, here are my rules for the next 30 days, which are loosely based on Eat to Live:

-no alcohol
-no refined sugar
-no artificial sweeteners
-no wheat (I’m going to try to avoid gluten as much as possible, but I’m not going to be militant about being gluten-free)
-drink at least 1 gallon (4 L) of water every day
-eat a giant salad for lunch every day
-eat tons of veggies (cooked as well as raw)
-work out at least 5x/week

Day 1
Breakfast on the first day was blueberries and a sliced banana in soy milk, I also ate a peach. For lunch I had a giant salad with mixed baby greens, romaine, sprouts, carrot, radish, cucumber, onion, and chickpeas with a mustard vinaigrette dressing.

For dessert I had 4 of these really tiny plums. The grocery store had them labelled as “yummy plums”

For a snack I had more blueberries and a clementine. That night for dinner I made the chickpea broccoli casserole from Vegan with a Vengeance. I added a ton of fresh herbs to this. Along with the casserole I had steamed broccoli and roasted asparagus. Excuse the crummy photo. It has been pouring rain for the past few days which means I have to use my oven overhead light for photos…not the best light source.

For dessert I had pineapple.

Day 2

For breakfast I had a sliced banana and blueberries in soy milk, as well as a peach.

My lunch was another salad with romaine, baby greens, sprouts, radish, and cucumber. I crumbled leftover casserole on top. I also experimented with a bbq sauce-type dressing. It didn’t work out that well. It was edible, but it certainly needs some work. For dessert I had an apple.
For a snack I had a banana and more blueberries. For supper, I had (more) leftover casserole, along with steamed broccoli and sauteed kale. Once again I’d like to apologize for the horrid oven light photograph.

For dessert I had a peach and more blueberries. Later that evening for a snack I had plain air-popped popcorn.