Dr. Joshi's Holistic Detox

4 more days and I'm having popcorn tonight!

2008-01-31T10:13:00.000-08:00

That's right. Popcorn. LOST starts tonight. This is HUGE. I've been waiting for this day for like 8 months and I just need popcorn there with me.

I had the best salad of my life last night! I also wore a sombrero and sang OLAY, OLAY OLAY OLAY... no, I really didn't, but we had Mexican and I got right into it.

Tofu and Spinach Salad with a Lime Avocado dressing

Dressing

1 clove garlic, peeled
1 ripe avocado
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (I used much more)
1/4 cup oil
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
Inch of salt

Combine all in a food processor or blender, play with the water and oil to get disired consistency. Set aside some of the thick avocado dressing to use for burrito.

Tofu

In a small skillet, heat oil, some garlic, and a bit of grated ginger. Add Tofu and cook until lightly browned. Sprinkle sesame seeds.

Salad

Spinach, Scallions, Corn Chips

Bean Burritos

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup diced onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons chili powder, or to taste
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 cup water
1 (15 ounce) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
Salt to taste
A handful of spinach
A handful of romaine lettuce
2 wheat free/gluten free rbown rice wraps
2 slices soy cheese

Heat kidney beans and mash. Heat oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Saute onion and garlic for 5 minutes. Stir in chili powder and cumin, and cook 1 minute. Stir in water and mashed kidney beans. Add salt. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in spinach and cook 5 minutes more. Spoon 1/4 of the bean mixture into the middle of a wrap, top with cheese and melt. Add lettuce, wrap it, and garnish with some avacado dressing.

5 more days until I get back together with popcorn!

2008-01-29T17:34:00.000-08:00

Sauteed Bok Choy and Broccoli

- Bok Choy
- Broccoli
- 1 Minced Garlic
- Grated Ginger
- Dash of Bragg's
- 1/4 cup water
- Sesame Seeds

Cut white stalks from bok choy and slice. Chop green leaves. Cut broccoli into bite size pieces. In a large skillet, boil 1/2 cup water. Add bok choy stalks and broccoli; cover. Simmer over medium-low until broccoli is bright green, 5 to 7 minutes. Uncover; cook on high until water evaporates, 2 to 4 minutes. Add bok choy leaves, oil, and garlic. Cook, tossing often, until garlic is fragrant, 2 minutes. Press ginger in a sieve over skillet to release juices. Stir in Bragg's. Finally, add sesame seeds.

Sweet Rice

Brown rice cooked in veggie broth. Caramelized one large sweet onion and added to finished rice with some shredded spinach, and green onions.

SNACK TIME!!!

2 slices of gluten free/wheat free brown rice bread with pumpkin seed butter and honey. YUMMMERSSSS!!

Oh, and so you know, I'm already planning to 'cheat' Saturday. Beer and chicken wings. It's kind of a big deal. It's a matter of hockey. And Sunday I will most definitely drink coffee like it's my last cup, probably Tim Hortons, which means I will have a snack too. I'm okay with that. I'm planning it so I don't feel like I've failed Joshi when the times comes. Monday I'm back on, Monday - Friday detox lifestyle, that's me. Until playoffs. Obvs.

Jour quatorze!

2008-01-28T20:24:00.000-08:00

I went away for the weekend and, like, OBVIOUSLY, I cheated. I had a Tim Hortons coffee and a raisin bran muffin, 1 french fry, 4 jelly bellies, 1 dunk of a vegan spring roll in a yummy sweet dip I couldn't resist, and a wrap but only the actual wrap part wasn't detox friendly, the filling was. WHATEVER, I am still amazing. I stopped counting the days and stopped feeling like I'm on some stupid diet, this is the new me, well, the new Monday to Friday me. Well, until playoffs. Oh and get this, I stayed out till 6 in the morning while away, TOTALLY SOBER. My amazing little alcoholic man friend did too!! Aaaaaand, it'll never happen again....

Here are Monday nights recipes:

Vegan French Onion Soup

1 large sweet onion
1 green onion
2 cups organic vegetable broth
1 cup water
1 tsp gluten free flour (so many alternatives out there)
2 cloves of garlic
pinch of thyme
1 piece gluten free/wheat free brown rice bread
1 piece soy cheese

Caramelize the entire onion. Bring broth, water, garlic, thyme, and green onions to a boil. Reduce heat and add caramelized onions and flour and simmer for 30 minutes. Bake soup with crumbled brown rice bread and soy cheese for 5 minutes in an oven safe bowl.

Sweet Potato Chips with Lemon Tahini Dip/Dressing

Thinly slice 2 sweet potatoes. Line 2 baking sheets with foil and lightly grease. In a small skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of oil with 1/2 teaspoon curry powder, about 3 minutes until it has an aroma. Remove from heat and add 1/2 teaspoon paprika. In a large bowl, drizzle mixture over sweet potatoes, add salt, and toss to coat. Arrange on baking sheet and bake until crispy at 375F, about 25 minutes, rotate midway.

Lemon Tahini Dip & Dressing

1/4 cup of Tahini
1/4 cup of lemon juice
1/4 cup of oil
1/4 cup of water
A dash of Bragg's
1 clove of garlic
Very small handful chopped onions

Blend all ingredients in a food processor. Vary the measurements to taste and texture whether using for dip or salad dressing. I make it thick first, and set half the mixture aside for dip, then add water and oil to the remaining half to get a dressing like consistency.

9 days and I am SO amaaazing!

2008-01-24T08:27:00.000-08:00

Skipped a few. It's cause I've been too busy cooking. It's all I freggin do, for real (but it's the perfect distraction from....life). After work I go to the grocery store for fresh food (stopped and stared at the cheeses for a while, boooo), and I go home and cook all night. I create atmosphere though, a candle lit kitchen to Nina Simone, good times.

I'm not going through the last couple days, you know what I had breakfast, a smoothie, and just guess what I had for lunch? It was GREEN AND ORANGE SURPRISE SURPRISE. Here are some tasty recipes I've used for dinners....

Thai Tofu Noodle Bowl with Peanut-ish Sauce

Lemon Tahini Sauce

1/3 cup plain soy milk
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon Bragg's (soy sauce replacement)
1 clove of garlic
pinch pepper
1/4 cup Tahini

Blend soy milk, lemon juice, Bragg's, garlic and pepper in blender or food processor. Add Tahini and blend for 15 seconds or until smooth.

Use half this mixture on half a block of cubed tofu and bake.

While Tofu is baking, prep some rice noodles, steam some broccoli, and grate carrots. Saute up some onions, when the onions are soft and only stating to brown, add some pine nuts and spinach and saute for a few more minutes.

Mix this all together and add the remaining Lemon Tahini sauce. Serve warm or cold.

Pesto and Pesto Pizza Wraps

This is the Naked Chef's Pesto recipe, less the Parmesan.

½ a clove of garlic, chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 good handfuls of fresh basil, leaves picked and chopped
a handful of pine nuts, very lightly toasted (trust me, toast these)
a good handful of freshly grated Parmesan cheese (CHEATER...skip this part!)
extra virgin olive oil
optional: a small squeeze of lemon juice (add the lemon, extra tasty)

Blend in a food processor until you get a oozy consistency.

Make a pizza wrap with the pesto, good for a quick snack or a lunch. Take a gluten/wheat/yeast/sugar free brown rice wrap and cut it in two. Spread pesto on half of both sides. Add some broccoli, onions, and spinach. Add some chicken if you have some prepared. Fold the haves and heat them in a grilled cheese maker thingy. Delish.

MEHICANO NIGHT!

Not really, but...

Spanish rice - brown rice with oil, Spanish onions, parsley, oganic veggie broth
Chicken with lime and cilantro - recipe on day 1
Asparagus and broccoli, baked with fresh minced rosemary, garlic, lemon, and oil

SO I should tell you I feel WONDERFUL. I haven't felt sick from food since this begun, this is the perfect elimination diet to discover what your food intolerance's are. Also, I can wake up on only pressing snooze once instead of 15 times, I'm neverrrrr tired in the day, I have enough energy to talk anyones ear off that gets near me, my skin is amazing, muffin tops retreating, like WOAH!

The cravings are almost gone.

I'm half way there.

AS IF!

Day 6 slash the day that caffeine saved my life!

2008-01-21T18:43:00.000-08:00

So, not gonna lie, I totally had a coffee. I had the most insaaaaane headache, a small organic coffee with soy milk saved my life. Whatever. I've already decided I'm going to have another one next weekend too. It was, the best, ever!

Breakfast
-Eggs scrambled on oil with spinach, onions, and rice milk
Lunch
-raw veggies and some marinated tofu cubes
Dinner
-Baked sweet potatoes with onions, carrots, garlic, and drizzled with honey
-Baked asparagus with fresh romsemary, garlic, olive oil, and lemon juice

Snack
-Rice cake with coconut oil and honey

I used to looooove the grocery store. Now, not so much. Walking past displays of yummy melt in your mouth brie cheeses, the CHEESECAKE DEPARTMENT, pure torture. Ugh. But I got these delish seed bars that only use honey, kinda like a chocolate bar less the chocolate..

So, feeling wonderful, I can't remember the last time I ate this healthy for so many days in a row. But I'm totally irritated. And cravings. Oh my god.

Day 5 and I said no to chocolate cake!

2008-01-20T06:47:00.000-08:00

My friends are assholes...

...they held me down and forced a bite in.

Breakfast
-Smoothie with rice milk, half a banana, honey, WFGF muesli
Snack
-Raw carrots and broccoli with homemade hummus (recipe below)
Lunch
-Leftover chickpea and rosemary soup
Dinner
-Green stir fry as on day 3, quick and easy
Snack
-Gluten free rice cake with melted coconut oil and honey

Hummus

2 cups canned garbanzo beans, drained
1/3 cup tahini
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 teaspoon salt
2 cloves garlic, halved

Blend together in a food processor until smooth, add water if needed.

Garnish

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pinch paprika
1 teaspoon minced fresh parsley

DAY 4 NO COFFEE

2008-01-19T08:14:00.000-08:00

I am SO sick of carrots, I better be able to see in the dark once this all done and over with.

Breakfast
-A small cup of natural soy milk, there are natural unsweetened kinds. Hot water with lemon. I'm not going to write I had this anymore, just assume I have, you're to have a cup every morning.
Snack
-More Soy milk, a seed bar, and carrots using my salad dressing as a dip.
Lunch
-Green salad, I topped it with those marinated tofu cubes. I also had a little bit more curry on the side.
Dinner
-I made the most delicious Chickpea & Fresh Rosemary Soup. I found the recipe online.

-olive oil
-a couple cloves of pressed garlic
-minced fresh rosemary
-2 cans of chickpeas
-4 cups vegetable broth
-lemon juice

Heat the oil and add garlic and rosemary. Brown the garlic. Add chickpeas and cook 2 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil. Simmer for 30 minutes. Puree in a blender until smooth. Add lemon juice to taste.

YUMMMM!!!

I'm beginning to get some out of this world cravings. All I can think about is snacking. I'm weakening. I need sugar. I need caffeine. I NEED A COFFEE. Hold me... I watched a movie, how exactly does one watch a movie without popcorn??? It's just...not right. I ate a pumpkin seed and honey mix from Bulk Barn instead. Lame.

I didn't think my skin could get any softer, but it has.

Popcorn. Pho. Coffee.

Repeat.

18 more days but I think I could do this FOREVERRR!

2008-01-18T02:00:00.000-08:00

My roommate ate a CHOCOLATE BAR NEXT TO ME TODAY!!! And THEN, she asks if I would mind if she made a bag POPCORN. I minded. She had almonds.

Breakfast
-This is THE YUMMIEST. I took one brown rice wrap and cut it in two, spread pumpkin seed butter (tastes just like peanut butter, only strangely green, don't be scared...it's tasty), cut up half a banana, drizzled with honey and grilled it in a grilled cheese maker. HOLY DELICIOUS!!!
Lunch
-A little bit of a curry I made last night (recipe is posted), and a giant green salad with the dressing I made using the leftover tofu marinade (recipe posted).
Dinner
-Green stir fry. Heated olive oil with fresh garlic and grated ginger, added water, then onions, broccoli, carrots, bok choy, green chard, and spinach. While stir frying, I added some Bragg's for taste (by the way, Bragg's is a soy sauce replacement, you can use it because it's not fermented and you can get it at any health food store).

Ginger Root is my best friend.

I am drinking SO MUCH GREEN TEA!! I think I pee'd about 83 times today. I joked to my little man friend I was pregnant. I don't think he found that very funny. Dying for just one gulp of coffee, just for the taste, god that first sip in the morning is like better then any drug in this lifetime...but no caffeine withdrawal yet, weird. Craving chocolate like woah. Fondue night at my house in 18 days!!

Check out what these Asians are up to now at the Modern Toilet, talk about eating shit.. http://theuncoolhunter.com/home.php?idioma=ENG&id_uncool=881&PHPSESSID=5190a64162b33e36894381fc3e7d22ae

Marinated Tofu

2008-01-17T22:46:00.000-08:00

My friend Nina gave me this recipe.

- extra firm tofu, cut into cubes
-1/4 cup sesame oil
-1/4 cup ish of Braggs (soy sauce replacement)
-4 inches of fresh ground ginger
- 2 cloves of garlic

Tupperware it all, shake and marinate in the fridge over night. Put the leftover marinade aside, grill them until golden brown. Great as a snack or on salads.

Green Ginger Salad Dressing - this is ssssoooooooooo good!

With the leftover marinade, put it in a blender and add a little olive oil and the juice of one lemon or lime and add a handfull of fresh coriander and parsley. I made a whole bottle of this stuff, you can use it as a veggie dip too.

I LOVE curry!

2008-01-17T15:41:00.000-08:00

Tofu Curry

-1 package of tofu, cubed
-1 medium onion
-red cabbage
-grated carrots
-broccoli
-coconut milk (make sure you read the label so you buy a detox friendly one)
-curry powder, cumin, turmeric to taste

Mix it all together in a wok (tofu and onions first, carrots, then spices), makes lots of leftovers for lunch another day!

Day 2..just 480 sober hours to go..

2008-01-17T01:00:00.000-08:00

As if I'm blogging!! It's kinda fun. And David Duchovny does it, so it's cool.

Still happy today. I brought cookies that I made last week into work, out of my face!!! Natural Food Pantry is my new favorite hang.

Breakfast
-Smoothie with brown rice milk (I switched to rice milk because someone pointed out that there is cane in soy milk and that's sugar, I'm going to read up on that a little more, even though the book says it's allowed...), DF yogurt, half a banana, honey, and GF muesli. Aaaand the hot water with lemon. Ugh.
Snack
- Raw carrots and broccoli
Lunch
-Chicken curry salad! I got this off another blog. a cup of shredded chicken, fresh cilantro, a bit of the dairy free yogurt, and curry powder - chilled.
- Greeeeen salad!!
Dinner
-I'm a lucky girl!!! First of all, I don't eat seafood. Hate it. But a friend treated me to dinner at Eighteen and we had honey ginger cod served over pureed carrots. It was pretty much the best thing I've ever had. This cod was like cotton candy melt in your mouth delicious. Wow.

And SO MUCH GREEN TEA. I had 5 cups. Water water water.

I'm still running on NO coffee, I am SO PROUD of myself. No headaches or anything. It's gotta be the copious amounts of tea I'm throwing back, I feel like I've drank Africa dry of tea leaves already..

Coffee crisp!!

Day 1 (20 days to go)

2008-01-16T12:26:00.000-08:00

I walked by Starbucks this morning, she smiled warmly and waved me in. But I kept walking and quietly whimpered at my desk for a half an hour. So I sucked on a carrot for a while.

Breakfast
- smoothie made with 1 cup natural soy milk, a bit of organic dairy free live bio yogurt, half a banana, a dash of honey, and a bit of gluten free muesli for texture. This I can get used to. Oh and hot water with lemon, the staple of this detox. Fun!
Snack
- Carrots, gluten free rice crackers
Lunch
- Salad (greens, spinach, you know...) with pine nuts, veggies, and dressing (dressing part extra virgin olive oil, part lemon, minced garlic)
Dinner
- Chicken marinated for 30 minutes with fresh cilantro, juice of half a lime, cumin and chili
- Lentils simmered with fresh garlic, spinach, cilantro, onions, and spices to make it Dahl like (cumin, turmeric, garam masala). So, this totally looked like my cat ate spinach off the floor, vomited it up, and I served it for dinner. But it was actually quite tasty on the palate I might say.
- Steamed broccoli

3 large cups of organic green tea, lots of water, lots and lots of water.

Pee'd like crazy all day, my co-worker asked if I was pregnant. Then my roommate asked if I wanted to order Pavarazzi's. Jerk. No real cravings today. Just a chocolate bar. A Coffee Crisp, actually.

No caffeine withdrawal, still happy.

This is nothing.

I am giving up my happiness..

2008-01-15T23:58:00.000-08:00

..and detoxing for 21 days, it's true.

I am following Dr. Joshi's Holistic 21 day Detox, which is intended to flush out all those nasty toxins and fats that your body has stored, and restore the bodies Ph from acidic to slightly alkaline. So, essentially...I'm cleansing my body and liver of years of partying, booze, etc, ahem. It's a healthy little regimen that limits you from any wheat and gluten, dairy, fruit (except bananas), some veggies (mostly nightshades), red meat, coffee (even decaf), sugars, anything artificial and processed. Sounds like I'm gonna live off spinach and water, huh? Yeeeeah that's what I'm sayin.

This will be the ultimate test of my self control. Until today, I didn't know I had any, indulging is my favorite pastime. One time Jen and I tried the South Beach diet, we made it to the second or third night before we caved and ate an entire package of bacon, we didn’t even need to talk about how over it was, we both just knew. We were amazing.

The problem here is, I have a very passionate and deep love affair with coffee that Joshi expects me to simply give up, bastard, this is probably what will kill me if the hunger doesn't. I've heard about the withdrawal headaches. Yikes. I actually started to panic about an hour before I had decided detox would begin over the whole coffee bit and ran out for one last emergency coffee coupled by many, many cigarettes. I cried to Dana about missing coffee and she said to me 'Don’t think about what you're not eating or consuming, think about what you are'. That's my new motto. That and 'I need a carrot.'

Everyone is asking how my silly diet is going and since I had a hard time finding recipes and ideas online (the book is pretty useless for suggestions as to what you CAN eat), I'm blogging the detox along with recipes and meal plans, some I found in other people blogs. Don't detox without reading the book!