Detox - Day 7

Yesterday was the last day of detox. I feel great! Here is what I ate on my last day:
Breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs, hot water the juice of half a lemon.
Snack: 1 cup of red grapes
Lunch: Rotisserie chicken on a spinach salad with carrots, zucchini, grape tomatoes and avacado. Balsamic vinegar and olive oil for dressing.
Snack: 1 Honeycrisp Apple
Dinner: Leftover shrimp and veggie stirfry.
Snack: Cut up kiwis, stawberries and banana. Hot green tea.

Detox - Day 6

One more day to go!
Breakfast: Banana, kiwi and raspberries. Hot water with the juice from half a lemon.
Snack: Cut up zuchinni and grape tomatoes.
Lunch: Spinach salad with rotisserie chicken, avocado, zuchinni, and tomatoes.
Snack: Apple
Dinner: Stir fry with shrimp, asparagus, sugar snap peas, mushrooms, onions, garlic, zuchinni, and broccoli.
Snack: Cut up kiwi and raspberries. Hot peppermint tea.

Detox - Day 5

Breakfast: 2 hard boiled eggs and a banana. Hot water with the juice of half a lemon.
Snack: Apple
Lunch: Spinach salad with sundried tomatoes, fresh basil, 2oz of smoked salmon, avocado.
Snack: Cut up peppers and carrots.
Dinner: Leftover spaghetti squash with veggie spaghetti sauce.
Snack: Cut up apple in a bowl with cinnamon sprinkled over it. Drizzle a little water over it and microwave it for 5 minutes.

Detox - Day 4

More than half way through - yay!
Breakfast: 1/2 grapefruit, hot water with the juice of half a lemon
Snack: Apple
Lunch: Spinach Salad with red and yellow peppers, grape tomatoes, carrots, avocado and zuchinni with olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dressing
Snack: Hot green tea and cut up kiwi and banana
Dinner: Soybean and turkey chili
Snack: 1 cup of red grapes

Detox - Day 3

Day three and still feeling good. I do miss my wine and cheese though.
Breakfast: Egg white omlette with sundried tomatoes, onion and fresh basil. 1/2 a banana and hot water with the juice of half a lemon.
Snack: Cut up carrots.
Lunch: Spinach salad with tomatoes and zuchinni. Also we had leftover spaghetti squash with veggie spaghetti sauce from last night.
Snack: Cut up kiwi stawberries and hot green tea.
Dinner: Soybean and turkey chili (chopped up onion, lean ground turkey, 2 cloves of pressed garlic, 3 chopped up tomatoes, 2 tablespoons ginger, a little cayenne pepper and 2 boxes of chicken broth. Salt and pepper to taste).
Snack: I cut up a Honeycrisp Apple into small pieces, put it in a bowl and sprinled some cinnamon over it. I drizzled a little water over the apple and then microwaved it for 5 minutes. It tasted like hot apple pie...yum!

Detox - Day 2

Day two of detox and I feel great! Here is what I ate today:
Breakfast: 1/2 a grapefruit, hot water with the juice of half a lemon
Snack: Cut up red and yellow peppers, carrots and zuchinni. Hot green tea.
Lunch: Big spinach salad with 2 oz of smoked salmon, grape tomatoes, carrots, red and yellow peppers and half of an avocado. I mixed balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil for dressing.
Snack: 1 kiwi and half a banana cut up in a bowl.
Dinner: Spaghetti sqaush with vegetarian spaghetti sauce.
Snack: 1 cup of heated up no sugar added applesauce with cinnamon sprinkled on top.

Detox - Day 1

Today I started a 7 day detox. I know the word "detox" sounds like a horrible experience, but it is not bad and after the 7 days you feel refreshed and great! The rules for detox are:
1) It is recommended to stick to 3 servings of fruits a day and as many veggies a day that you want. You may add a little protein throughout the day if you can't handle just fruits and veggies. I have a hard time going without protein, but if you can do it, it is a nice break on your liver.
2) You should not drink anything except water or hot tea (no lipton tea with sweetner, or "sugar-free" tea). That's right - no alcohol! It is recommended that you drink hot water with the juice of half a lemon in the morning to cleanse your gallbladder.
3) No dairy during the 7 days (I use egg white omlettes for breakfast every other day).
4) No complex carbs like beans, sweet potatoes, corn, potatoes, grains (be careful when you are making soup to get the gluten-free, msg free chicken, veggie or beef broth)
5) Make sure you eat often and eat as many veggies as you want.
 Here is what I ate on my first day of detox:
Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs with sauteed onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, and zuchinni. I used a little grape seed oil to sautee the veggies. Warm water with lemon.
Snack: 1 Honey Crisp Apple and hot green tea.
Lunch: Huge spinach salad with carrots, red peppers, grape tomatoes, zucchinni and I mixed extra virgin olive oil with balsamic vinegar for dressing.
Snack: Cut up red and yellow peppers.
Dinner: Eggplant pasta (using eggplant as the noodles), with sundried tomatoes, broccoli, onions, garlic, mushrooms and fresh chopped basil. I cooked the veggies in grape seed oil and added a little cayenne pepper and Italian seasoning to taste.
Snack: 1 cup of all natural, no sugar added applesauce heated up in the microwave with cinnamon on top.

I also use a very gentle colon cleanse that has fiber powder and herbal pills with millions of good bacteria in them to help clean out your colon. Don't worry, this shouldn't have you running to the bathroom every 2 minutes. If you have never done a colon cleanse before, you may want to consider it...just think about what residue may be inside of you from all the years of eating junky food? Below is the link to the one I use.

http://www.marketamerica.com/tamcorp/product-2228/nutriclean-7day-cleaning-system.htm

Eggplant Noodles!

The other day on The View I saw this great idea - using egglant in subtitution for noodles. I am making a dish tonight, that will have sauteed shrimp, mushrooms, onions, zuchinni, sun dried tomatoes and eggplant noodles with a garlic truffle sauce.

Eggplants are jam packed with antioxidants and are high in fiber, but low in fat and calories. They are definitley low gi. Below is a link that has a tasty recipe, but also shows you how to prepare eggplant as noodles. Enjoy!


http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/eggplant-pasta-recipe/index.html

Spaghetti Squash

Spaghetti Squash

I've discovered a great alternative to noodles! Spaghetti squash is, of course, gluten-free, but also extremely low GI. You can substitute spaghetti squash in any recipe that calls for noodles. I made spaghetti the other day and I liked it better with the squash vs. the high fiber noodles we usually have! Not only is spaghetti squash very low calorie, it is high in folic acid, potassium, vitamin A and beta carotene.

This link is a great resource for how to cook spaghetti squash: http://startcooking.com/blog/523/Spaghetti-Squash

Not just your Average Nut

For boosting heart health, this nut's got one up on olive oil.
That's right. Walnuts are better than olive oil at combating the harmful effects that saturated fats have on arteries, which may make walnuts the mightiest nuts of all. Here's what makes them special.

When you eat a meal high in saturated fats, it causes your arteries to narrow and stiffen. And although you may have the best intentions of shunning nacho cheese and bacon-wrapped hamburgers, everyone slips a little now and then.

So here are a few things you can do to minimize the impact of the nasty fats on your arteries.
Eat a handful of walnuts. In a study, arteries stayed more relaxed when walnuts were added to a high-fat meal. They did an even better job than olive oil of helping blood to flow unrestricted. Researchers credit the alpha-linolenic acid in the nuts with helping keep arteries flexible.
Take a 45-minute walk a couple of hours after you indulge. Physical activity partly offsets the blood vessel dysfunction caused by eating a high-fat meal.
Top off your meal with a tiny piece of dark chocolate, some hot tea, or a bit of pomegranate juice. These items are rich in compounds that help your arteries relax.

Courtesy of RealAge.com