Spring Cleanse!

My friends from lululemon and I have been battling the effects of a cleanse (massive sugar cravings and lack of energy) but I am still alive, and feeling great!

I chose to go with the elimination diet, which I briefly went over in my last post. Two days of just green smoothies left me feeling like a zomby so I decided to end the second day with the food suggested to start off day 3 or phase 1.

Phase 1:

Phase 1 is about consuming hypo-allergenic foods such as fruits (excluding strawberries, citrus, kiwis, bananas, and pinapple) steamed veggies, raw salads with avocados, roasted yams (with olive oil) steamed sweet potatoes, squash, lentils, adzuki bean, mung beans, quinoa, teff, and brown rice. All of the foods are very light in calories, stating to eat frequently to keep hunger at bay. It also recommends snacking on organic sun flower seeds, raw pumpkin seeds, and dried figs. Green smoothies are still a large part of the diet as well!

Elimination diet or not these meals are a great way to enjoy the benefits of cleansing foods while not embracing the entire diet. I must admit as tough as it was to eat nothing but green smoothies for 2 days I had such an appreciation for the food I got to eat. I have never been so pleased or thankful which made me think how often I took my food for granted. Give thanks for what you have been given!

Here are some of the dishes I came up with!

1.) Quinoa with steamed yams, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, brussel sprouts and sprouts. I must admit, the sprouts were....HORRIBLE! But, I will work on acquiring the taste, someday!

2.) More quinoa and veggies! I topped it off with spinach this time.

Snack and lunch. Smaller portions are required after drinking smoothies for 2 days your stomach cannot handle much more.

3.) Keeping up with the green smoothies! Although I turned this one more pink with the blackberries and carrots! This is one of my new favorite smoothies, who would of thougt carrots would be good with fruit?!

Ingredients:

1 apple

1 pear

8-10 Blackberries

handful of shredded carrots

1-2 collard green leaves

1 cup of water

4-6 ice cubes

4.) Brown rice, shelled hemp seeds, broccoli, cauliflower, shredded carrots, spinach, avocado and sprouts. SOO delicious (other than the sprouts!) I handed one to Graham and said "Try these, they are SO good!!" I must say it was a great joke, they taste somewhere along the lines of rotten toasted cheese, I think?

Try out some if these dishes, a great start to spring!