WIAW--Clean Eating

     It's time for another What I Ate Wednesday, hosted by Peas & Crayons. 
As promised, today I'll be showing you a bit of what I ate on the first day of my loosely named "cleanse" or more aptly put, my clean eating plan. The main points of the plan are to abstain from sugars, salt, and dairy for the next 6 weeks. For more background on my plan, read the post found here.

Clean Eating

Day #1

Breakfast

Ezekiel sprouted grain cereal, raw almonds, and a diced pear for natural sweetness,

all covered in unsweetened vanilla Almond Breeze. 

 

Unfortunately, on day #1 of my plan without any sweetener, my palate--which is

unfortunately accustomed to an over abundance of added flavor enhancers like sugars and salt--

was not satisfiedby just the pear for sweetness and flavor. So I added some cinnamon

and also coconut oil for it's light flavor and some healthy fat for satiation.

It was better this way, but I think it would have been even more delicious--plenty 

delicious even--if the pear were more ripe and full of flavor. Also, my taste buds just

have to readjust to tasting REAL food.

Lunch

Lunch was so sad, that I am sorry to say this usually camera-happy meal-photo-snapping gal didn't even have the heart to take one tiny picture. Lunch was a baked potato covered in olive oil and fresh garlic. Here's the problem. First of all, WHAT WAS I THINKING?? That is not nearly enough food to make a lunch out of. Second of all., WHAT WAS I THINKING AGAIN??? I don't actually like potatoes much...like...at all. The only reason I've ever eaten potatoes in any form was as a vehicle for things like: butter (mmmm) salt (yum) sour cream (smooth) or ketchup (tangy!!)

Needless to say...I was extremely dissatisfied. This is when the cranky, bummed out doldrums of cleansing hit me. Having done full-on cleanses in the past, I was surprised that this time it hit me on meal #2 rather than day #2 (or 3 or 4). It happened faster than I thought, but this just showed me out accustomed I have become to dousing my food with flavor enhancers that were piled on so heavily that I have actually forgotten how to enjoy the natural flavor of my food on it's own. 

My Fella saved the day though at lunch by grilling up a plain chicken thigh for me, which tasted amazing in comparison with the potato and I added a little bit of thyme infused vinegar to the potato to help me choke it down. 

Dinner

I am happy to report that dinner was a great success!! This was by far the best meal of the day and I would eat it again any time, clean eating plan or not. 

What you see above is organic greens from my garden, topped with brown rice, black beans and nutritional yeast. I then sprinkled the beans with lime juice (YUMMMM) Also, an ear of corn on the cob, which was seasoned with a little lime juice and cumin. This corn was soooo SWEET and delicious it BLEW MY MIND. 

I may have had a bland morning and a bummer of a lunch, but I ended the day with a very happy belly indeed. I was even feeling much better physically by the end of day one, I had less body aches and felt less fatigued than normal--that was a benefit I did not expect to feel so quickly and it has really strengthened my resolve to continue along the road to improving my diet...even if there are a few bumps along the way. 

Stay tuned, I'll be sharing more in the weeks ahead!

Have you even tried a cleanse or simply tried to clean up your eating? What has worked for you, what hasn't? I'd love to hear your stories. 

Salut!

Tamar