My friends and I went crazy.
Monday we kicked off a cleanse.
21 days of veggies, fruits, and protein shakes. Â We also get a serving of lentils or wild rice per day, and on day 11 we can add 1 (4 oz) serving of deep sea fish or chicken (I’ll be adding tempeh). Yep – I’m bringing back the Standard Process Cleanse and taking my friends down with me.
We have been exchanging smoothie pics (mine are the greenest – bwhahaha!), sending desperate emails inspired by caffeine-withdraw… MMSing refrigerator pics…
Mallory’s fridge, post-WF trip
We are also planning cleansing group dinners.  Friday is group dinner #1 and game night.  In lieu of wine, I suggested we make grape smoothies.  If we ferment the grapes ourselves, is it cleanse-approved?
Needless to say, this is going to be the cleanest What I Ate Wednesday I’ve posted in a loooong while. 🙂
AND Jenn read my mind because she’s encouraging everyone to post a veggie-centric WIAW. Â Check out Jenn’s blog to see what everyone else at this Wednesday!
Breakfast:
Breakfast is the hardest meal. Â There’s not a lot of traditional breakfast food that are “approved” other than smoothies and fruit bowls. Â Smoothie it is.
This morning was my all-time favorite smoothie:Â Liquid Sweet Potato Pie.
I do really like protein smoothies, and often eat them for breakfast post-workout… but some days you just want a warm bowl of oatmeal!
Lunch:
I revived an old cleanse favorite from when mom and I did this in 2010. Â This is probably my favorite soup ever: Butternut Squash-Apple Soup.
My only tweak was to use fresh basil instead the rosemary… then I added some dried rosemary too ’cause I love it.
Lunch part 2 was a GIANT salad.  I tend to bring these to work to be eaten directly from the plastic container when I have about half of the greens left.
In my salad:
- Arugula
- Raw asparagus (julienned)
- Leftover roasted zucchini
- Celery
- Broccoli sprouts
- Nutritional yeast
- Lemon juice + EVOO
Snacks:
Midday veggie break with dip – as much as it may look like a turd, that’s eggplant dip. Â Veggies dipped in veggies, FTW.
Post-dinner snack dessert was a protein banana softserv.
In my serv:
- Frozen banana
- 1 scoop protein powder
- 1/4 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 5-6 drops vanilla stevia
- ~1/3 C unsweetened vanilla coconut milk
- With berries on top
Dinner:
Last night Heather came over for dinner. Â She was nice enough to loan me her bike for a bit while my knee heals, and I offered dinner (and wine… which I now can’t have) in return. Â Luckily Heather is vegan, so my menu options weren’t terribly weird to her.
Cabbage with lentils, beets, spinach, and eggplant “bacon.”  To be honest, I could eat like this all the time. Â
Recipe to come!
In lieu of wine, I sipped on fresh kombucha from a growler of Buchi Fire from Whole Foods’ tap.
Stellar customer service story – they were having trouble with the tap at my local Whole Foods. Â I waited a solid 10 minutes and the bottle would only fill a little over half way. Â The awesome guy working the tap got a manager, who COMPED the contents of the growler. Â That right – I got it for FREE… plus 2 regular-sized bottles of Buchi Fire to equal a full growler.
I joke and refer to Whole Foods as Whole Paycheck a lot, but they really do offer quality products and a fantastic customer experience.
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Don’t forget to enter to “Be My Veggie Valentine” and win 1 of 3 boxes of heart-shaped veggie cookies from Cookie Underground! Â Click here to enter.
I’m seeing a lot of juice cleanses lately – have you done one?
What is your favorite “clean” food?
Great eats!! I don’t think I could ever do a juice cleanse….Happy WIAW 🙂
I’d take Buchi over wine any day. Well, maybe not any day, but I do like it a lot!
I was about to have to question your sanity… but yes, it’s pretty good stuff. 🙂
Free kombucha? Awesome! 21 days would seem like an eternity for a cleanse. Never tried one myself, but I can just see myself already whining on day 2.
This one isn’t terrible since you still get food. I couldn’t do the juice thing!
I’ve never done a juice cleanse before, but Jesse did one back in September for about 14 days. Glad you got your kombucha for free! It is a pretty color! Also, can’t wait for that eggplant “bacon” salad recipe! And veggies dipped in veggies sounds delectable to me 🙂
I don’t usually like cleanses but this one sounds different. I like that you’re focusing on veggies!! Can’t wait to see more of the foods/recipes that you’ll post.
That’s the reason I love this one – I need to chew something!
I’m going to try your butternut apple soup today!! Looks delish =)
Fav clean foods are sweet potatoes, avocados, bananas, and squash!!
Let me know how you like it! It’s my #1.
Your clean food favs sound just like mine. 🙂
Everything sounds delicious!
I would have such a hard time doing a cleanse, I’m such an inconsistent eater. If I bring a salad to work for lunch, I want soup. Bring soup I want a sandwich, etc, etc. So I don’t do well with structured eating.
I did a “juicing ’til dinner” cleanse in January (with a clean dinner at the end of the day of course) and loved every bit of it. I loved it so much that I didn’t want to stop! My diet was really clean before that though so it wasn’t a huge leap. Your Liquid Sweet Potato Pie sounds really wonderful!
I’m the same way – I eat a plant-based diet through the week so the meals aren’t too bad. It’s the weekends that kill me!
Man, I feel healthier just reading about your food! Nice work! I make a soup similar to your bnut/apple and it is my all-time favorite soup. And I eat a lot of soups. I’ve never done a strictly-juice cleanse, but I have done a cleanse similar to what you are doing–outlined in Kris Carr’s Crazy Sexy diet. I loved it and it made me feel really good.
Crazy Sexy Diet is one I’ve seen but never looked in to. Will have to read up on it!
It was a great salad, if that’s weird food I’m GLAD I’m weird. 🙂
Yum, the smoothie sounds great! I love the addition of the sweet potato…brilliant idea! Way to “love your veggies” 🙂
Thank you! Butternut squash is also awesome in smoothies.
All of that looks so super yummy! it’s inspired me to make a salad for dinner tonight.
I would definitely need a group of friends to follow through on this…definitely let me know how you like it!
the cleanse sounds good! i agree with the breakfast thing – i never got into having smoothies for breakfast, it was hard only have juice for breakfast all last week…
So inspiring! I’m a total chicken- cleanses scare me to death! But I love living through your experience vicariously…
You could do it! This is like a “baby” cleanse – there are still a TON of foods you can eat.
I’ve never done any sort of cleanse, but am very interested in the concept – unfortunately it’s hard to tell what is truly benefiting and what is crazy. :/
But since I do love my fruit and veggies, I think I wouldn’t be completely lost…
gonna need that eggplant bacon recipe. thanks and good luck being clean!
It’s up today!
Everyone’s always getting a WF hookup…. *whining* I need some free stuff! haha =)
and you can take me down with you with a cleanse any time! I wish we were closer!!! happy wiaw laura!!
You should join! Mostly we’ve just been emailing and texting encouragement so far.
Yum! You had a deliciously healthy eating day… so impressed with your 21 day cleanse… I can go for a week or so eating that clean, but don’t think I’ve done more than that. A challenge with friends is definitely the way to do it!
I’ve done it successfully once before. It actually gets easier if you can make it through the first half.
We just did a paleo cleanse (well it wasn’t really a cleanse) and I really really struggled! No dairy for 30 days and I was miserable. I cannot believe you are going without caffeine!!! I think I simply wouldn’t get out of bed. Good luck!
Oddly, the caffeine isn’t as bad and the no bread. I just want a cracker!!!
Rock on with your bad cleansing self! 😉 And hells to the yes over your free kombucha!
Thanks, friend!
I never knew Whole Foods had a buchi tap. I’ll have to check it out next time I’m there!
I don’t think they all have it, but do check – it is so delicious and fresh!
Oh.. veggie cleanse. 🙂 I’ve never done a juice cleanse before. I don’t think I could hang. I COULD hang with that delicious looking breakfast smoothie. YUM!!!! (And that eggplant dip- I did have to do a double take of that one). 🙂
I’m with you on the juice cleanse. The eggplant dip was good, despite appearances. 🙂
Ooh I am due a proper cleanse soon, I’m thinking beginning of March to make it exactly a year since my last master cleanse. Not sure what type I will go with this time but the master cleanse worked great for me so may stick with that, if I can face it!! Lol! Good luck with yours!! Thats great you have friends nearby to go through it with you, makes the restrictions a little easier to bear I think!
You are hardcore if you can do the Master! I have to have something to chew on or I go nuts. How long did you do it?
I have been contemplating a cleanse just to get things kicked off in the right direction for 2012 (pay no mind to the fact we are 2 months into the year).
Maybe I’ll wait to see how your 21 days go before getting into it.
Do you follow a particular book or site?
I highly recommend it! I’ve done this one once before and it did wonders. The standard Process Cleanse is what I follow, but I don’t bother with their supplements (you can get your own cheaper): http://www.standardprocess.com/display/psppurification.spi
I have always wanted to try some form of a cleanse but have never had the courage to actually take the first leap. Perhaps it’s time….?
You should! The one I did wasn’t that bad as long as you prep.