Detoxing is…. Eating Chocolate Ice-Cream for Breakfast!

Hi bugaboos!

Excuse my cheesiness. Today I am swamped (Viva Las Vega’s!) so I’ll give a quick(ish) rundown of how detox has been treating me- mentally & physically- since I have been blabbing about the food part so much already! I know y’all love food as much as I do though, so I’ll include some photos to satisfy your cravings.

Five days down. Yesterday was actually the first day I’ve started noticing some minor differences, but they’re exciting nevertheless. I noticed my energy was normal to high but most importantl- very constant. My focus and concentration were also better, although this might also be due to the fact I was working on something really interesting (my workshop) and because I’ve consciously decided to cut out ‘inactive Internet time’. In other words: the time I’m not doing something productive. I think having constant energy levels are very important, and I love when I’m not up and down in energy so much. A lot of days I used to experience fatigue somewhere during the day.

Second wonderful thing that happened: I went for a run and did not feel drained afterwards! In case you missed it: lately (two months maybe? I really don’t know for sure) I feel drained for hours after every workout, even (although to a lesser extend) after Yoga. It doesn’t onset right away, but after an hour or two I am completely exhausted physically, and mental fog is strong. It’s awful. I think I owe this success to the book Thrive and not the detox, though. From what I have read in the book, I can conclude I have been going all wrong about post-workout fuel. You see, during and some time after my eating disorder I would always eat something small straight after a workout, because otherwise I’d collapse. I didn’t eat as freely as I do now though so it was mostly fruit, a banana or something like that. As I recovered more and more, also physically, I noticed I didn’t need food straight away after a workout, as in the second I came in the door, and welcomed this with taking the time to shower and blow-dry my hair first. After a while though, the fatigue came and I thought it would be better to eat straight after a workout, regardless of hunger. I usually ate my breakfast, the infamous oat bran bowl, straight after. I thought a big, filling hot meal would do my body good. No improvement came.

Brendan Brazier points out in Thrive that the 45 minutes after a workout are vital for getting high quality and easily digestible nutrients in. The sooner the better. But what struck me most is that he explains that the body can’t digest an actual full meal directly after a workout! Either your bodies enzymes are at work digesting food, or working on recovering. So by eating, recovery slows or even halts. Hello fatigue! He advices to eat a nutrition packed snack high in simple carbs (fruit!) directly after a workout, and preferably with a tiny amount of protein and fat, but not too much! Blended is even better since a lot of fiber etc is then already broken down which increases the ease of digestion and absorption. So today, after my juice, I made one of his ‘recovery puddings’ (adapted a little) and ate it as soon as I came in the door (since it was super filling and sort of liquid I counted it as my breakfast). Can’t argue with the results!

Post Workout Recovery Pudding
Makes 2-4 servings*
Adapted from Thrive
* 2 bananas
* 1 cup blueberries
* 1/2 cup almonds, soaked
* 1/4 cup flaxseeds
* 1/4 cup vanilla or chocolate protein powder
* 2 T hemp seeds
* 2 T cacao powder
* 1 T agave
* 1 t Maca (optional)
* spinkle salt, drizzle lemon juice (optional)

Process until smooth and place in fridge until ready to eat. *Makes 2 servings for a decent breakfast (imo, it’s really filling!) and 3 or even 4 servings for a small post workout snack or afternoon pick-me-up.

The other thing I noticed yesterday was my lack of cravings, especially for sweets/chocolate. Confession: I had been eating about 2 squares of dark chocolate a day (organic but with refined sugar I think) and I noticed I use chocolate like other people use coffee. Read: for quick energy. I don’t want to need stimulation to keep my energy up. Saturday evening I threw it out (ok- what was left of it..) and I was fine all Sunday. Even hunger doesn’t bother me that much. Most of the time I’m really full (sometimes a bit too much) from my big salads and fillings raw(ish) snacks, but even when there’s hunger I don’t really feel like eating, I just wait until meal time or snack time, instead of mindlessly munching through the day. That was yesterday though, let’s see how the rest of the week will go .

I have been really good about eating high raw, even though I didn’t intend on eating this much raw, it just happens, and it’s much less uncomfortable or hard as I thought. I eat about 90% raw and I don’t feel an urge to change this. I did force myself to make some rice yesterday so I’d have some veriety in my eats. I made this awesome rice salad:

Mixed Grain Power Salad
Side Dish
* 1/4 cup brown basmati rice
* 1/4 cup quinoa
* 3 T buckwheat groats
* 3 T pumpkin seeds
* 3 T raisins
* 4 dried apricots
* 3 T hemp seeds
* 3 T almonds
* 2 T dried coconut flakes
* 2 T coconut oil

Cook grains with a little salt- 20 minutes. Drain (if needed) and let stand for a while. In the meantime, chop dried fruit & almonds. Add to the grain mix. Heat coconut oil and mix well through the salad.

The grains are gluten free, easily digestible and each packed with nutrition (protein, iron, magnesium, fiber). The pumpkin seeds and apricots are very high in iron, the almonds pack some calcium and the hemp seeds add protein and omega-3. The coconut oil tastes wonderful and is a good direct energy source.

Friday I had a little slip up! I was at a bday party (hi Mascha!) and mindlessly asked for a coffee. I thought to myself; it’s been weeks, I feel like having a cup instead of tea when everyone is drinking alcohol. Later that night I realized my mistake haha. I felt a little stupid for never drinking coffee and then on a detox no less I decide it’s a good time, lol. Oh well! I’ve been having a blast with the food though, my salads are always ginormous and I have even bean eating chocolate ice-cream for breakfast. Yeah, you heard that right!

If there was still any confusion about detoxing being dull, restrictive, tasteless, I would like to bring some new evidence to the case:

Chocolate Cherry Guiltless Ice-Cream
Serves 1 as a meal, 2 as a snack
Based on ChocoCado Mousse
* 1 medium-sized avocado, frozen
* 3/4 cup frozen cherries
* 3/4 cup milk of choice
* 2 T cacao powder
* 1 T vanilla or chocolate protein powder (optional!)
* 1 t Maca powder (optional!)
* 1 t vanilla extract
* 2 fresh dates, pitted (or soak dried dates 10 minutes)
* frozen cherries for garnish
* 5 ice cubes

Scoop out the flesh of one ripe avocado and freeze in small portions on a tray. Freeze for a minimum of one hour. Throw in powder(s) first, then frozen stuff, then liquids, for best blending. Add icecubes after everything is well blended. You may have to add some additional liquid (milk, water) to get everything going of you don’t have a high speed blender. You can also make a big batch and freeze it down (best to give it a quick whirl in your blender to get it nice & creamy again if you freeze it down). If you thin it out even more, you’ll have a smoothie .

I rest my case.

Even though the ingredients are pretty much the same as the ChocoCado Mousse, adding more liquid, ice-cubes and freezing down your avocado makes for a whole new experience. Added bonus: much more volume, it makes for a real meal. Try it for yourself, it’s amazing. This ice-cream can also be made with banana but I prefer avocado because a) it gets creamier b) the avocado doesn’t overpower the taste of the other ingredients and c) variety (a healthy fat instead of more fruit).

So all in all the cleanse is going really well. I also meditated for 10 minutes on Saturday haha, go me. I really will increase the meditation- and affirmations!- this coming week. The Crazy Sexy DieT is also meant to be low fat but no way I’d give up ma healthy fats. If you don’t intend to lose weight with the cleanse it’s adviced to ass some extra fat so I;ve been getting plenty (whole avocado in one sitting? sure. Top salad with oil, tahini and nuts? Don’t mind if I do!). I also don’t adhere to the low GI fruit thing that closely but I’ve been eating a little less fruit anyway. I am amazed at how strict I’ve been with the no gluten & no black tea!

Enjoying Mint Tea in the sun!

Didn’t oil pull yesterday but have been all other days and will keep doing this for at least two weeks and then evaluate if it’s effective or not. I am dry brushing religiously and my skin, especially the butt and thighs, feel much firmer. Not something that’s visible on the outside, but it feels really nice, like everything is more in place. (come and feel! lol). My mom also noticed last night that I looked really good (don’t I always?!) but this was despite dealing with a personal & stressful situation which I won’t go into detail now.

Well I am off to give a workshop & partake in a debate on veganism. See you there?

Love,

Sabine

PS: I am very behind on replying to comments, so sorry for this! Things are crazy but will be back to normal within a few days