When we were on the detox diet, I spent several hours every Sunday preparing food for the next week. I made sure I had fresh fruit washed and readily available. I made salad ingredients like my kidney beans with umeboshi plum, marinated artichokes, pickled asparagus, spicy orange beets. I cooked up some kind of grain like barley or quinoa, then started some sprouts to go with the salads. I also made my flax "crackers" that we never seemed to get tired of. I prepared our vitamin ritual for a few days at a time - then we were ready for the work week.
For breakfast, we had a blender concoction of 1 banana, 1 cup of almond milk, 1/2 tbsp of cinnamon, 3 spoonfuls of Brewer's Yeast, one spoon of lecithin granules, two scoops of rice protein powder, 2 tbsp stevia and 12 ounces of ice. I would blend until very smooth and add dark chocolate once in awhile to mix it up.
Lunch was some sort of a salad with at least 6 vegetables. I made sure to include some sort of whole grain and some type of bean, nuts or seed combinations. Did you know Quinoa is a complete protein by itself? I always finished the salad with olives or avocado. Dressing was always a vinegarette with lemon juice as a base. I changed up the spice depending on the type of salad.
I would include a snack of fruit or vegetable as well as my flax crackers. Dinner was interesting to do meatless but I found that bulgar wheat and/or mushrooms makes a great substitute taste wise. Harry enjoyed my bulgar wheat and portobello tacos the best but he was a big fan of the cream soups too.
We also enjoyed the fermented drinks like Kombacha. They were fizzy and refreshing but with a slight vinegar taste.
With this "diet", we did not have any problem following it and were even more exciting when our body's responded so well. My intent was to add a little dairy back in (because there are too many wonderful cheeses out there to never eat them again). I like my greek yogurt with fresh fruit as well. I wanted to be able to eat out on occasion and enjoy meat, chicken or fish without guilt.
This last few weeks we have had so much going on that we could not prep any food at all. In the middle of a kitchen re-do, I had to can 10 pounds of tomatos before they went bad and it was all I could do to fit it in.
So what is my point? Of COURSE you know having a special diet is difficult. It is much more than the will-power to do it, it is the preparation involved. If food is not readily available and you reach that point that you would eat nearly anything, then it has gone too far. There is no way you are going to go home and steam some vegetables for dinner when you are starving. Especially if you have to prep the veggies first.
Even on my diet, with prep, there were many times we did not eat until 9PM. Those diets that say don't eat after 5 or 6 PM are impossible for us. We do not get off work until 5 and we are often not home until 6:30 or 7. My Tagine works wonders but it is at least 30 minutes before I have it on the stove. The vegetables can take awhile to steam. Guess I could try stir-fry.
Without prep, it is nearly impossible to eat at a decent time.
Dr Oz did a show where he ate take out for every meal. He went to McDonalds, Subway and another place that I am not familiar with and basically had them make him a healthy meal. He showed that with the right choices, a person could literally eat fast food at every meal and keep the calories and fat low.
It CAN be done.
Well for two weeks now, we have had take out for just about every meal. We have skipped breakfast altogether. I did manage to make some flax crackers for one of those weeks. I discovered that Mexican restaurants do have grilled items including salmon. Chinese restaurants can make steamed vegetables with just a smidge of white wine sauce. Most Thai, Indian and Mediterranean food can be eaten without guilt. Wendy's, McDonald's and Subway has salads. Most deli's have a salad bar but it is a trick to find one with a lot of vegetables and not so much pasta or mayonaise based salads. Margarita pizza is a lower calorie choice for Italian.
It amazes me that when we were on the Perricone diet, our Cholesterol went back up past where it was before and we both gained back half of our weight loss. The Perricone prescribed animal protein at every meal. The portions were about twice or three times what we were used to. So now I cringe after eating all of this take-out but surprisingly - I actually lost back down a few pounds. Stunned.
This weekend, we should be able to get back on track but I will keep in mind looking for healthy alternatives for when I am not prepared.
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