I started out on Saturday quite well. This bowl of oatmeal with rice milk and berries was my hearty breakfast. Unfortunately, that was the end of my run on this detox diet. I was still pretty good the rest of the weekend, making wiser, more healthful choices than I usually would. The bottom line is that my hormones kicked in, and I really needed some protein.
Over the past few years, I've read a lot about vegan diets, and how they can be beneficial for weight loss and disease prevention. There are a couple of people really writing about it a lot - Joel Fuhrman's Eat to Live is pretty influential in this movement. Also, Dr. Neal Barnard is on PBS all the time. He's also created a more formal place to learn about this stuff - the Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) that has an organized 21-day vegan kickstart several times a year. There's an iPhone app you can download for free and very easily follow at any time. It tells you exactly what to eat, has recipes, and is very user-friendly.
I grew up practically vegetarian, in an Indian household where fish and chicken were not daily food items. So I wrongly assumed that switching to strict vegan wouldn't be that difficult. I am not a big cheese eater, but yogurt and milk & cereal are my go-to snacks quite often. So it was challenging to think about snacking on other types of foods. Hummus & carrots worked really well, and so did nuts (pistachios, almonds, walnuts, pecans) but I wasn't mindful about portions, and I suspect that eating too many nuts is likely problematic in the long run.
Things that I learned from this experience (these are pretty obvious, I suppose) - 1) Eating lots of fruits and vegetables is a really good thing. I actually didn't feel very hungry most of the time because I was snacking on high-fiber, low glycemic index foods. 2) It felt good to be more mindful of what I was eating every day. I didn't just order pizza or Thai food because I was tired and that was easiest. I made an effort to take my lunch & snacks to work and prepare a meal when I got home from work. Yes, it was only for a few days, but those habits have carried into this week. 3) I can drink coffee & tea without sugar now. That's a triumph I hadn't been able to accomplish in many years, and now I'm careful and conscious about my daily sugar intake. That's got to be good in the long run. 4) Moderation is a really good thing. Instead of letting myself have free reign to eat & drink whatever whenever, I am being mindful of what I've already consumed in the day before deciding if I want dessert, another glass of wine, or those small fries with my salad.
That's all for now. I'm going to keep posting healthful recipes and tricks that work for me. I'm thinking about joining a CSA this summer, which will be an interesting experiment in learning to prepare and eat unfamiliar veggies and fruit. Please feel free to comment and share your thoughts and ideas as well.
Breakfast of champions oatmeal recipe
-1/4 cup oats
-1/2 cup water
-pinch of salt
-1 cup washed and chopped fresh berries (I used strawberries & blueberries)
-1/4 cup rice milk
Prepare oats per package directions. I throw it all (oats, water, salt) in there together, bring it to a boil. Then I let it boil on medium low heat for about 4-6 minutes till it's creamy and cooked through. I used to put some maple syrup or brown sugar in there at the end, but I'm finding I can actually eat this without the added sweetener now. The fruit adds enough flavor. I add a tiny bit of rice milk to cool down the mixture, top it with the fruit, and am full for hours afterward.
Tip: Sliced bananas, mangoes, peaches, apples, pears all work really well with this concoction. Berries are just the easiest fruit to prepare.
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