Clean up, clean up, everybody clean up!

As some of you close to me already know I have started a detox.  I am on day 2 of the "cleanse".  There was a 3 day elimination diet that started 5 days ago.  The only big difference between the two is that on the cleanse breakfast and dinner are supposed to be "liquid", such as a smoothie, juice, or soup, and you get a solid meal for lunch.  Yesterday, Day One, was fine, other than waking up with the shakes.  I think it is the big exclusion of sugar and wheat that my body is fighting.  I kinda felt like a drug addict when that happened. (Disclaimer: I have NO idea what it feels like to be a drug addict.)   

I started this detox to feel better.  I am following Clean by Dr. Alejandro Junger.  According to research and this book, what you eat can not only affect your digestive system.  It can affect your moods, skin, allergies, headaches, puffiness, sleep, joints, muscles, infertility, and overall "well-being".  I, and I'm sure many others, struggle with quite a few of these issues.  I decided that I don't want to have to struggle with them, if I don't have to.  (And if it can make me a more efficient runner in the process, don't mind if I do!) 

So, at the start of the elimination diet, you cut out any foods that can be allergens.  There are A LOT of them.  Wheat, dairy, red meat, pork, sugar, and peanuts to name a few.  Ugh!  Other than red meat, all of these are staples in my diet.  So I am eating a lot of chicken, fruits, and vegetables.  You can have cold water fish but I don't like seafood, so chicken it is.  I can also have duck or lamb which I may try one day.  I like them both.  I 've just never prepared them myself.  The first few days killed me.  I had no earthly idea what I was going to eat.  What do you mean I can't have peanut butter in my smoothie?  Or bananas, for that matter?  How I love my peanut butter and bananas!  I do support the theory that either could make me sick though.  I can't eat these before running or they want to come back up. 

Needless to say, those first few days were hard.  I was bored and "hungry" and did not want to look at another piece of chicken because I keep preparing it the same way.  I'm not sure if those first few days I was getting enough calories because I didn't keep track but today I have calculated everything I ate yesterday and it was over 1300 calories.  That is with the 2 liquid meals.  I should only eat 1200 if I want to lose weight, but I don't.  That's not why I'm doing this.       

  

As I said, I was bored.  Then, I discovered the Clean Program site where people post all of the amazing recipes they made while on the detox!  Yipee!  Yesterday was exciting.  I made fresh apple juice.  I happen to have a wonderful friend who let me borrow her juicer for my 10 day experiment.  (Thanks Angie!)  There are some other fun juices I want to try but I am going to have to go to the grocery store, again.  This is a girl who never ate at home before.  I am finding that I can make yummy stuff myself.  As a bonus, it's good for me!  

Then I found a recipe for Hummus Crusted Chicken.  Hmm, interesting.  I like hummus and I like chicken so I gave it a go.  So glad I did!  Yum-o!  Here is the recipe...

Hummus Crusted Chicken

1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained

2 cloves garlic
Juice of 1 lemon

3 tbs. tahini

1 ts. Sea salt

1 ts. Cumin

1 ts. Paprka

1 tbs. olive oil

Blend all ingredients for hummus.  Preheat oven to 450.

2 chicken breasts

2 lemons, 1 sliced into rounds and 1 juiced

½ c hummus

4 fresh rosemary sprigs and 2 tbs. dried

Drizzle of balsamic vinegar

Place chicken in roasting pan, cover meat with hummus.  Drizzle with lemon, then place lemon and rosemary over chicken.  Drizzle with balsamic.  Bake about 30 minutes.  Finish with sea salt and pepper.

Next, I made the roasted veggies that I had made for Thanksgiving that were so good.  I was so excited to find that they were Cleanse approved.  I cut the recipe in 1/4 because it was just for me.  I have still gotten about 4 servings out of it.  I also didn't do the mushroom gravy but it sounds great, even though I don't eat mushrooms. 

For dinner, I had the butternut squash bisque.  It wasn't my favorite thing in the world.  First of all, there was no cream to my bisque.  I pretty much had a bowl of pureed vegetables in water.  But, I will find more, better recipes for later! 

I am feeling really great today.  I am going to attempt a short run.  I will keep you updated on the detox and the running.  If you have any questions feel free to ask, I would love to encourage all of you to try something like this at some point.  I was going to say when it's convenient but it's never really convenient to do this.  If it were easy, everyone would do it, right?


Oh, I almost forgot!  My craving for bread has been the worst of all of this so I made biscuits today!  Gluten-free poppyseed biscuits.  They were wonderful.