Misson Complete Detox Protocol Days 15 -21

Looks like we made it ........

Hello friends! Well we have officially made it to day 21 and we have completed the whole detox protocol. Im amazed by how fast it went - that is until the last 48 hours. I think it must have been all the holiday food and Thanksgiving commercials that got to me. But alas we powered thru and stayed true to the end.

This final week we allowed meat again which was pretty exciting!

We naturally roasted a turkey first thing

Turkeys are a great option because they are easy to cook and have lots of leftovers.Its hard to beat any veggie thats been roasting next to a big turkey too!

Breakfast is Turkey breast with ground turkey, onions and green peppers with Pineapple 

Mid morning snack of strawberry and almond milk smoothie and sunflower seeds 

Lunch was more turkey, carrots and spinach salad 

 

Afternoon snack - Strawberry and almond milk smoothie and Cajun Pecans 

Dinner was Chicken and steamed broccoli

We had some success with eating out!

Tinos Greek Cafe - salad, chicken, hummus and veggies. I cheated with a tomato and some yogurt sauce - Mike did not.

 Bob and Mikes grilled chicken tenders and side salad - we had to bring it home tho so we could use our own salad dressing

We also had great success with a modified chicken chili that our friend Melissa Homer found for us!

It was really tasty and something that will work its way into our regular rotation. I didn't miss the dairy at all. Here is a link to the recipe. We left off the cheese and I added garlic salt. It tasted extra good the 2nd day! 

http://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/white-chicken-chili

Chicken Chili with Green Chili's 

We had snacks of all kinds

Lovely fruit

Kiwis were super sugary to us

Nut Butters were our best friends 

We dove into the world of dairy free, soy free, casein free, lactose free, gluten free, cholesterol free cheese. The "cheddar slices" eaten cold were kind of gritty. No so great. We've been told that's its pretty good once melted so once we eat bread again, we will give it a second try. The Mac and Cheese was much better. The pasta is a rice pasta that tastes a lot like wheat pasta or low carb pasta Ive had before. The cheese is much more believable but I think you have to eat it hot. Once it cooled off I found it unappealing. Mike at it at as leftovers the next day and liked it both times. At $5 a box, it will be a sometimes food. Cheese is pretty much out for Mike due to his casein allergy. I would like to try to make a cashew cheese. Ive had that before and was blown away of how much it tasted like cheese. 

The better of the two for sure

We will try this one again before a finak verdict 

So now that the 21 days are over here are my overall observations:

I noticed having more energy in general and also slept well thru the night. My problem acne areas on my chin have all but cleared up which I was beginning to think wasn't even possible. Ive had no headaches and almost no PMS. On the down side - I was hoping to see an improvement in my hip and foot pain since my inflammation was down but it still bothered me. I'm going back to my physical therapist on Tuesday and possibly going to get my foot x-rayed to try to get back to healing. 

As for the diet, I was surprised how we adapted quickly. The first day of each week took a bit of getting used to but by Friday we were in the groove. I have a new love for some foods I didn't like in the past like brown rice and nut butter. I never really took to Almond Butter but did fall in love with cashew and macadamia butter. I didn't even mind the vegan week with mostly eating beans and rice or sweet potatoes for dinner. With Mike's hypoglycemia Ive always been worried about cutting out meat but now I know he can do well on proteins like beans. I probably wouldn't have gotten thru all 3 weeks without my holy trinity of turkey, apples and nut butter. And sparkling coconut water. Working in a grocery store was its own battle. The smells and the temptations were everywhere. I found myself salivating when walking by the sample tables - especially when they cooked smoked sausage. That smell is dreamy!! The down sides of the diet is that its expensive. And that's mostly because you are going thru so much fruit and veggies that you end up buying more almost every 2 days. The amount of almond milk consumed has to be around $40 alone. Of course you are saving money by not buying meat and not eating out but a lot of grocery replacement was a real struggle. The other down side is that eating this way makes you feel a different kind of "full". I'm not saying its good or bad but you don't stay full for long so you must make the time to stop and eat every few hours. Thats a lot of prep work and effort. I think its worth it but you must have a plan. 

The best side effect from this plan is the weight loss and puffiness loss. Let me just say that the scale is a fickle beast. And now I get why you should only do it a few times a month. We would drop 3 lbs and gain it back the next and down again. The final numbers for the 21 days was Mike lost a total of 9 lbs and I lost a total of 8lbs. But more importantly, I lost the puffiness and swollen areas in my face, boobs and my arms. Shirts that were too tight on my arms are down right roomy! I will admit to having two times of pulling out old shirts that I haven't worn in 3 years and trying them all on. Most all of them fit great and no sausages arms! Yea! My husband is already skinny so losing almost 10 lbs took off any lit bit of fat he had on him. He looks great and Im happy to rock some old retro shirts.

Room to spare - I love sausage dogs but not sausage arm shirts 

 

 

 

 

Modeling my KC Royals World Series shirt - thanks Mom and Dad!

So now that the protocol has ended and we know we can do it, we are going to be making it more of how we eat day to day. Less meats, less dairy for me - no casein for Mike, gluten free, lower sugar intake, less carbs, more fruit and veggies, fat from nuts and avocados, no sodas, etc.  

Its funny to say but Thanksgiving almost feels overwhelming because its so much food for 1 day and we have a very enthusiastic buddy who is cooking enough for 20 people. We've been so limited with smaller portions for so long, our stomachs might explode if we overindulge. :) 

The plan moving forward is to have a splurge week and then eat limited but not as strict and then every 3 months, go hardcore and do the 21 days over again. We also will start doing more exercising which will also help to stabilize Mikes blood sugar and drop some more lbs. 

I wanted to thank our friends and family for being really encouraging and helping us thru. We are happy to make another lifestyle choice that will improve our health and hopefully lead us to some things we really want to see happen in our world. If anyone would like a copy of the exact food plan, Id be happy to share and I will ask if anyone wants to join along on the next 21 day plan. 

Detox Protocol Days 8-14

Hello All! Well, we have completed week 2 of our plan and are headed into the last week - the home stretch if you will! This was by far the strictest phase of the plan. The only meat allowed was in the A.M. Lunch was mostly veggies and Dinner was either a sweet potato or rice and beans.

Here is what the food looked like for week 2.

Breakfast: chicken breast

 

Chicken - again. 

Mid morning snack : Berry Smoothie with Almond Milk and Fruit with Almond Butter

Once again, apples and nut butter saves the day 

Lunch : Salad with nuts, seeds, and avocado with a side of veggies

Lots of veggies 

Afternoon snack: Berry Smoothie with Almond Milk and Nuts

Berries and Pistachios 

Dinner: Brown Rice with lime and cilantro, black beans, avocados, salsa made from jalapenos & onions, sriracha and cilantro

Vegan dinner goodness 

We had a few different types of vegan dinners but most were beans and rice or a sweet potato

Sweet potato with butter bean and salad 

Vegan Black beans, brown rice, bell peppers and cilantro 

We also had some alternatives for breakfast using ground turkey

Taco ground turkey with peppers, avocado & pineapples 

We had different kinds of snack that fit the meal plan

Kale chips - half curry and half Himalayan salt

Smoothies with Almond Milk, pineapple, strawberry & cantaloupe

Crunchy Chickpeas

Amazing how sugary carrots taste - Sushi being supportive - still wishing for bacon 

We had one night of eating out and had great success with going to the Mongolian Grill. They had a huge choice of veggies as well as chicken breast. You also create your own sauce so we could skip the soy sauce, since we cannot have soy, and used things like ginger, lemon grass, garlic and basil.
I added a small amount of chicken to mine but Mikes was 100% veggie. Once again, he has stuck to the plan with zero cheats.

Mike mixing up the sauce options

The grill of goodness!

Mikes plate of fresh veggies and tons of basil 

In this second week some things were noticeably different. Without having basically any sugar for two weeks, I'm blown away by some foods as being very sweet. We grabbed a juice at Juiceland this weekend and the strawberries tasted sugared even tho they weren't. Moods have been different this week as well. I think a combination of giving up the vices of everything from caffeine to cigarettes to sugar to alcohol leaves blank space for release.  After a few days of being a bit hot tempered, we both ended the week in good moods so at least crankiness was temporary.

I feel like my skin has been still clearing up. I have a problem area on my chin that always seems to be broken out in some ways and it basically clear tonight. The scale has been weird this week. I lost another pound and a half early in the week and then the scale didn't budge. I did however have a fun afternoon in my closet trying on clothes that were too tight before and fit nicely now. That was super great!

Mike has been up 2 lbs and down 4 and back again depending on the day. Earlier today, he was down a full 3 more pounds this week for a total of 10-11 so far. I haven't been on the scale for a few days so I need to check to see if it possibility went down more. I feel like it should since this was such a veggie heavy week. I did eat chicken breasts a few times at lunch where Mike did not. I just wasn't getting full and with my work being either in a store or a car, it was nearly impossible for me to eat every 2 hours. I didn't have any cheats this week tho as far as food off the list. I'm pretty excited that we get meat again 3 times a day for the last phase. Its gone extremely fast and hard to believe our next update will be when we are finishing up the program.

Thanks to everyone's support and following along on this clean up quest. A special thanks to our guests Jessica and Bruce for eating along with us while they were here these crazy meals. This meal plan is not akin to being social.

** update - weighed myself this morning and down another 2.5 lbs for a total of about 3.5 loss this week. Hurrah!! 

Adventures in Cauliflower Rice

During this detox plan - most grains are totally out. White rice is pretty much out from now on for us anyways so I was happy to stumble upon some recipes on how to make rice alternatives.

The best looking thing I could find was a take on fried rice using cauliflower and onion. It was really easy to make and surprisingly tasty! There are a million different ways of making this but here is how I did it.

Step 1: Wash and trim down the whole cauliflower head. Cut your cauliflower down into pieces that can easily fit into your food processor. I found I had to do this in 2 batches just so you dont over process the caulflower. You dont want it mushy but like a rice grain consistancy.

Process until a rice grain consistency 

Step 2: Chop up a small white onion and add to pan with 2 tbsp Olive Oil

Brown onions for 5 minutes 

Step 3: Add blended cauliflower "rice" to pan with onions and cook over medium heat until all the veggies start to brown. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve! You can also add spices like curry!

 

 

 

 

Cook until browned - about 7 mintutes 

And this is what you get! Really tasty! I bet your kids wouldn't know the difference! Give it a try!

Yum! Cauliflower Rice!

Surviving Fun Fun Fun Fest on Detox Protocol

One of the benefits of living in Austin is live music! Not only are there 5 decent bands playing in any given bar and any given night, there are really great music fests here. My personal favorite is every fall - 3 days of music, skateboards, art and food - called FUN FUN FUN FEST! The year was extra special because my favorite band of all time, Jane's Addiction, (whose lyrics inspired the name of this blog infact), played Saturday night.

 

For the past 2-3 years, the weather for FFF Fest has always been sunny and warm. Most photos are us in tank tops and flip flops. In this year of El Nino - we've had tons of rain and more cloudy gray days in a row than I can remember in my 15 years in Austin. The weekend before the fest, Austin got nailed with rain and there was mass flooding. 6 days later started the fest but it was raining off and on all day. One of my favorite people and best friends of 20+ years,  Jessica flew here from Tampa and even her flight was canceled due to weather. So basically, the world was working against us and we didn't make it to the fest on Friday. Was super sad to miss Peaches but we would have been miserable since we were just getting over a very bad cough and cold.

We soothed ourselves with tacos - no tortilla for me

We then braved the rain to get fresh farmers market veggies 

 

Saturday, Mike was still feeling a little under the weather so he dropped Jess and I off for a day of festing! We watched skate demos, Mexican wrestling and lots of awesome bands. I had my most major cheat on food this afternoon. One of my favorite places had a pork belly bite that I could not resist. It was a small amount but yes, pork and wheat and most likely egg was eaten.

Rules were broken today 

Jane's Addiction show - best band ever!!

 

 

 

 

On Sunday we whisked Jessica off to the airport and then spent the whole day soaking up some sun. I knew there would be no cheating today as sticking to the diet is extremely important for Mike's health. Luckily we live in a town that caters to healthy customers so we were able to pull it off!

 

 

 

Soaking up the sun and the music 

Instead of beers, we had extremely tasty juice from Juiceland

Our best meal was at Kebabalicious where we were able to wrap that had hummus, chicken, onion, cucumber and spicy sauce. All things we could have on the diet plan! JOY!

Chicken Kebab for us? Yes please!

We didn't eat the wrap since it had flour but ate the inside with a fork 

A wonderful weekend and was pretty happy with the food choices made. Mike did awesome - he has not veered off the plan even the slightest amount.

Detox Protocol Days 1-7

We had our first full week of detox diet and I think we did really well. Mike had fasted for 48 hours before we began so everything he eats tastes amazing to him. I on the other hand did not fast and some things are better than others. But I don't think there was too much crying overall. Our choices for most meals were chicken, turkey, fruit, veggies, almond milk and almond butter. I didn't feel hungry necessarily but when there is no grain or bread, full just feels different. Maybe not as satisfying. I admit to dreaming of mac and cheese. Mike missed sugar. Not that surprising considering this whole diet is about regulating his sugars.

Some snaps of our basic meals for days 1-7.

Cooking restrictions: No Butter, No Grains, No Sugar, No Alcohol, No Soy, No Beef, No Pork, No Shellfish, No Dairy, No Tomatoes, Corn or Potatoes, No Bananas or Mangoes, No Eggs, No Pasta, No Peanuts, No Fried Food, No Dried Fruit

Breakfast

Breakfast: Baked chicken, turkey sausage, green peppers and onions 

and fruit - grapes, raspberry, strawberry & pineapple 

Mid morning snack

Mid morning snack: Fruit Smoothie - Berry blended with Almond Milk

with Pecans - I believe these are the Cajun Pecan from the farmers market 

Lunch 

Lunch : Baked Chicken Breast

Roasted with Olive Oil Butternut Squash 

Spinach Salad with Radish 

Afternoon snack 

Snack : Berry Smoothie - Berry mixed with Almond Milk

and Cashews 

And Dinner did not seem like a compromise at all - it was like a mini Thanksgiving Day meal plus we ate off of it for many days and many meals.

Dinner: Roasted Turkey with Olive Oil and Rosemary

with Roasted Carrots, Celery and Sweet Potato 

My husbands food bag was heavy those days! 

Both Mike and I got unexpectedly sick about mid week. It really kicked both our asses for a few days and we needed nourishment. I made a very simple chicken soup - onions, garlic, celery, carrots, chicken and broth and it was really really good. I also believe it gave us the boost we needed to take on a very busy weekend ahead of us. 

 

 

 

Chicken soup 

One night I made turkey tacos! We used ground turkey meat with seasoning. Grilled up some onions and bell peppers. Served in a lettuce cup with avocados! Very tasty! 

Turkey Tacos 

We can eat as many veggies and fruit as we want which is really whats getting us by. The sweetest thing I eat all week is Honey-crisp Apples. They are amazing! I wish they weren't so expensive but we are splurging for those! Which brings me to another revelation about this plan which is that living off fruit and veggies is really expensive. I swear Ive got to the grocery store to replace fresh produce every other day. You go thru it fast! 

Sushi is very supportive but wishes this was bacon 

Turkey breakfast at home - day 3

Mikes breakfast day 3 - turkey and pear 

Turkey and Apples breakfast 

Almond Butter and Celery - I like neither things

We have noticed some differences in the first 7 days. Mike has reported that his blood sugar had felt very stable and he has been testing it regularly. He did have a blood sugar episode one night when his fever broke from being sick. We still don't know why that happened but he will discuss with his doctor this week. His digestion has been really good & he has noticed a lack of puffiness.

I have felt pretty good all week - except when I was sick and then my energy levels were really low. 

I feel like my skin is looking clearer and I'm not really craving any sugar which really surprises me. 

We aren't doing this for weight loss specifically but Mike is down 6 lbs and I am down 4.5lbs in the past 7 days. We both can tell in our clothes already so I'm excited to see what happens in the next two weeks with that.

I must admit that the next phase - days 8-14 are going to be the hardest. We only get meat in the morning and after that lunch and dinner are things like beans, sweet potatoes and brown rice. I have already conceded that I will be stealing an extra piece of chicken here or there next week. And I don't feel bad about it. :)

Going to bed now - I will blog soon about how we did with food at the Fun Fun Fun Fest Music Festival - a 3 day music festival we went to in downtown Austin. 

Thanks for keeping up with us. More updates soon!