Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Bagels

Scratch that. We didn't eat pizza, we went to the BAGEL HOUSE on Bayview.
They make traditional montreal style bagels baked in a wood oven (fueled by maple). Just delicious.


www.thebagelhouse.ca

DONE like dinner

FOOOOOOD. We get to eat again. I seriously could not be happier.
Today we are going to get Pizza for lunch. Yes, it completely ruins everything I've done for the past week, but I just need something deliciously greasy. It's our reward.



The outcome of the DETOX:

-Not eating makes you moody.
-I felt good around day 5 and 6. My stomach felt great, never ached.
-It was an experience...

The bottom line is: we realized over this past week that healthy food makes you feel good, and it IS possible to cut out all the crap (toxic) food. You just need to make sure you eat enough of the good food to stay healthy and most importantly, HAPPY.

THE END.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

DAY 5

More than half way done.
I haven't cheated yet (at least I haven't eaten outside of the diet). It's harder now that I'm at the cottage.

Let me tell you what we eat here:
-Eggs with cheddar cheese on an english muffin (and bacon for those who eat it)
-French toast (with coconut milk) or pancakes
-mom's homemade cookies (oatmeal chocolate chip with white chocolate chunks)
-montreal style bagels with smoked wild salmon and cream cheese
-(sometimes) hot dogs (or veggie dogs)
-crackers and cheese and grapes
(and yes we also eat healthy things)
-DINNER: roasted potatoes, grilled chicken, salmon, steak, burgers, salad!, veggies, mashed potatoes...

OK I think you get the idea. Basically we eat really delicious food up here and I can't eat any of it. Well, some of it.. like fruit and salmon...but STILL.
FEeeeeeeeel my paaaaaain...

That's all for now,
Als

Friday, June 25, 2010

Moody blues

Ever since we started day 1, we have both been very moody and grumpy. Perhaps it's just a case of the pms, but... I think it's the lack of FOOD!!! Good lord I'm hungry. So this post goes out as an apology to those I have been pissy at. Sorry. It's almost over... Only 3 more days!

JUICES

These juices are perfect for the summer. ALSO you should add ALCOHOL for a healthy, yet better sippy sip!


Beet, Carrot, Apple and Ginger Juice
ingredients

1 large or 2 medium beets, cut into wedges
1/2 lemon, zest and pith removed
2 large carrots
1 large apple, cut into wedges
1" piece of ginger

preparation
Juice everything into a glass, give it a stir, maybe add some ice cubes and enjoy. (If you dont have a juicer you can just blend it all up and then get a seive.)



ANd the second juice:

SUPER GREENS JUICE
Health in a glass!

SERVES: 1
TIME: 5 minutes

1 cup tightly packed kale
4 stalks celery
1 1/2 pears, cut into large pieces
1" piece of fresh ginger
1/2 lemon, zest and pith removed

Juice everything into a glass, stir it up and add some ice cubes and tada!!! AMAZING JUICE!

Thursday, June 24, 2010

SUM of DAY 3

Today was a bit of good and bad...
-Basically we were exhauuuuuusted all day. We managed to sneak in a nap on the picnic bench at lunch time.
- WE WERE SOOOO HUNGRY... we were hungry because .. well we could only have liquids today and Ash forgot her Whey powder for the smoothie, and neither of us really like Miso Soup (which we should have eaten)... so we were dyyying.

CHEATING:
There was only a LITTLE bit of cheating today....
Ally: I had ONE slice of my coworker Derek's orange... and I had a handful of blueberries (but that is allowed another day, so it's ok).
Ash: She ate an apple and squeezed lime on top, instead of making the juice. She said it was very good and will do that again some time.

-After work it was around dinner time, in this case "Super Greens Juice" and Miso soup. I didn't make the miso soup, and instead I just ate the shitake mushrooms. I made the juice, but let me warn you, if you don't have a juicer it will take a LOOOONG time. It was really good though.
-Went to YOGA, which is important for a detox. It is crucial to sweat (out the toxins), and also yoga is just awesome (MIND BODY AND SOUL).

ONE PROBLEM with this detox is that it takes up A LOT of time to prepare all of the food. Pretty sure Gwyneth Paltrow never ever even went into the kitchen when she did this... if only we were rich and could have a personal chef.

That's all for DAY 3! Stay tuuuuned for Day 4! It's gonna be a hard one. ALL LIQUIDS as well...

PLEASE NOTE: Over the weekend I will be posting less frequently because I'm going to my cottage.

Hunger..

SOooooo hunnnnnnnnnngryyyyyyyyy
about to crack. about to craaaaaaaaaack
FML

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Dinner + Sum up of DAY 2

The dinner on the menu tonight was pea and basil soup...
I hate peas, Ashley hates peas. This was destined to fail from the beginning.
I got home and was still full from the chicken at lunch (and I was lazy) so I decided not to make it at all. I had some leftover broccoli and arugula soup I could heat up if I wanted to.
Ashley got home and made the pea soup and she noooo likeyyy, so...heck no to that.
Basically dinner was a bust. BUT we drank plenty of lemon water...yummm lemon water......
Dinner was even WORSE because my mom made this delicious looking (AND SMELLING) pasta with pesto sauce... it was torture.

DAY 2 was interesting. From the bad start, to the amazing lunch, to the non-existant dinner... WHAT AN ADVENTURE!

Until tomorrow,
Als

Chicken Recipe

I realized that I forgot to post the recipe just incase anyone actually wants to make it.
Serves: 1
Time: About 20mins + MARINATING time (one hour - overnight)

CHICKEN TERIYAKI

Ingredients
For Sauce
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup agave syrup
1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon barley miso
1 teaspoon mirin
1 tablespoon water

For Chicken
1 chicken breast
1 finely chopped scallion
4 sprigs cilantro, roughly chopped

Preparation
For sauce
Combine the balsamic, agave, ginger and pepper in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil, lower to a simmer and cook for ten minutes. Cool and then add the miso, mirin and water.

For Chicken
Marinate the chicken in the sauce (reserve a spoonful or two) for at least one hour or up to overnight.
Heat your grill to medium heat. Wipe off any excess marinade and grill the chicken for about three to four minutes per side or until cooked through. Serve with the reserved, hasn’t-touched-raw-chicken sauce, cilantro and scallions.

AND VOILA!

CHICKEN



Lunch was so gooooooood!!
I was so excited to eat real food, and it did not disappoint! It was so DELECTABLE. I definitally recomend making this sauce if you are ever BBQing chicken. It was a little bit sweet and a little tangy with a bite!

We went to my house for our lunch break and then started up the BBQ! While that was heating up we set the table outside, got our waters, and then relaxed. As we were just chillin, waiting for the chicken to cook, that's when we felt THE EARTHQUAKE! WHAAAAAAAAAAT? An earthquake in Toronto??? That was my first experience! How about you?
Then we enjoyed our delicious meal (an ACTUAL MEAL) and we are now very satisfied. The horrible feelings of weakness from this morning are long gone. :)

DAY 2

This is when it all changed...

This morning when I woke up I could not move. I felt strange. I tried to get out of bed but when I walked a couple of steps I realized I was sweating and couldn't stay standing, so I collapsed back on my bed for an hour.
I tried to drink my smoothie in bed but it wasn't really helping so I cheated and ate some oatmeal (it's on the menu tomorrow). After about half an hour I felt better.

Not sure exactly why this happened... perhaps it's because I basically didn't eat solid food (except for salad - but that doesn't count as real food..) yesterday, or perhaps because I need more sleep? Don't know..

Anyway, we'll see how the rest of the day goes!

For lunch today we get CHICKEN (obviously I'm getting it from the organic butcher Cumbrae's). I've never been more excited for real food.

-Als

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Sum up of DAY ONE

It is now the end of DAY ONE, and I can safely say that I was satisfied throughout the day. The lunch kept me full basically until dinner... All of the lemon water was fantastic, I did not feel tempted at any point throughout the day... All in all it was a great day (stomach-wise).
We shall see how tomorrow compares...! dun dun dun....

DINNER

BROCCOLI AND ARUGULA SOUP!
"I feel like I just died and went to heaven." - Ashley


It's the most amazing soup ever. SO easy to make and it's absolutely DELISH!
Even my little sister Emma, who according to my mom "doesn't eat soup", and according to her "hates soup", LOVED IT. She loved it so much she ate 3 bowls of it.

I would highly recommend making this soup.

Here is the recipe:

Broccoli and Arugula Soup
ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
1/2 yellow onion, roughly diced
1 head broccoli, cut into small florets (about 2/3 pound)
2 1/2 cups water
1/4 teaspoon each coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup arugula (watercress would be good, too)
1/2 lemon

preparation
Heat the olive oil in a medium nonstick saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and sauté for just a minute or until fragrant. Add the broccoli and cook for four minutes or until bright green. Add the water, salt and pepper, bring to a boil, lower the heat and cover. Cook for eight minutes or until the broccoli is just tender. Pour the soup into a blender and puree with the arugula until quite smooth. Be very careful when blending hot liquids; start slowly and work in batches if necessary (you don’t want the steam to blow the lid off). Serve the soup with a bit of fresh lemon.

SALAD

So delishhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
We are both extremely FULL right now.
Here is a picture of our salads. The dressing kind of tastes like the ginger dressing you get at a sushi restaurant.

DAY ONE

So far, so good!

Neither of us are even hungry and all we've had this morning is lemon water and smoothies!!! The smoothie was quite substantial.. even though it was like eating "groul" (from Oliver Twist) (thanks for that K-rad).

The SMOOTHIES

The smoothies were a disaster zone.
THe recipe says "one scoop" of whey and "one scoop" of SuperGreens... but what exactly is ONE SCOOP!?!?
So I put in WAYYYYYY too much and now it's very disgusting.
So for anyone that ever wants to make a smoothie with whey or supergreens, I would suggest only put approx one TABLESPOON.
Here is the difference between Ashley's perfect smoothie and my nasty smoothy.
Ashley's is grey, mine is purple.

Check out this sludge. This is what it looked like the morning after I made it and brought it to work...

Monday, June 21, 2010

PREP for DAY 1

The prep food for DAY 1 was a little sketchy...

This was the first part of the lunch recipe:

SALAD WITH CARROTS AND GINGER DRESSING

SERVES: 1
TIME: 5 minutes
(Can I just say that it took me about 35 mins. NOT 5.)

This is the ridiculous amount of greens i'm supposed to be eating...again, this is ONE serving.

How am I supposed to eat that much lettuce?...

I will upload another picture of the final salad tomorrow to see how it compares to GOOP's picture.

-Als

SHOPPING




This evening Ashley and I went grocery shopping for the first 4 days of the DETOX.
Time took: 1 1/2 hours
Total cost: Ashley - $59.01, Ally - $71.04 (the extra $10 is apparently for blueberries.. because we bought all the same stuff except blueberries...)
Besides some strange ingredients like dried bonito flakes and wakame, it was a SUCCESS!

Friday, June 18, 2010

The DETOX

Here is our detox. It comes from (Gweneth Paltrow's website) GOOP.
http://goop.com/newsletter/15/

The Plan

Welcome to the Detox Adventures blog! Ashley and I, Ally, have decided to go through hell and do a detox for SEVEN days. This will be a TEST to determine our self dicipline, as well as to, you know, be really healthy and get rid of all the bad toxins in our body. We must not crack.