Operation Spring Clean my Bod

After a wild and crazy week at SXSW in Austin, my body felt in need of good clean eats.  Maybe it's psychological (probably not), but my pants are feeling a bit snug.  A while ago I read Crazy Sexy Diet and for the most part agreed with the info presented.  (More about that this weekend.)  The book ends with a "21 Day Cleanse" that is not too different from my normal way of eating- except for ixnay on the occasional glass of wine and/or nightly dessert.  I decided to give it a whirl.  Here are my eats from Day 1 of Operation Spring Clean my Bod:

Breakfast

Spinach/Kale/Strawberry/Banana Smoothie

Lunch

Palak Paneer (from Crazy Sexy Diet-almost followed the recipe)

a few olives

an apple 

Pre-Workout Snack

Raw Food Real World corn chips

avocado

Making Dinner Snack (I was starving, darn it!)

Spicy Almond Butter Kale Chips (I will share the recipe when I decide if I love them or not)

Kombucha (picture taken with sunset at 8pm!!)

Dinner

Giant salad with sauerkraut and hemp seeds

Sweet Dijon Dressing from Crazy Sexy Diet 

Dessert (because I don't really like following rules)

Frozen banana (whipped up in FP)

 a little caramel sauce 

So, my food intake today was not that different than pre-Austin eats.  Normally I might snack a bit more after my workout because I get crazy hungry but today I just had a few kale chips and ate an early dinner.  I also usually have a more aggressive dessert.  The other change I made is to try to finish eating by 7pm (as opposed to eating at 9pm). 

Question:  What do you do when your body feels in need of a spring cleaning?  

Kamoebas and Kale Chips

I was starving after work today, and was so excited because I knew I had crispy BBQ kale chips waiting for me in the D.

For some reason I didn't think they were as good as the last time I made them, but that didn't stop me from scarfing down three bowls. Whenever I eat kale chips I have an inner conversation with myself that goes something like this:

"Okay, this is the last one."

"I mean it, no more after this guy."

"Hey- how did that get in my mouth?!" 

"Oooh, look at all the seasoning on this chip!  I wonder how it tastes."

"Mmmm. Crispy."

"Better see if this one's as good."

"Nope- kind of gross.  I need one more to leave a good taste in my mouth."

"Seriously!  This is the last one."

I washed down my head of crisped kale with a Kombucha.  The kamoeba (I think the real name is scoby?) was impressively large in this bottle.  I hate it when you bravely attempt to drink a kamoeaba in one gulp and it tries to escape your mouth, suctioning itself all over your chin in the process.  

My other eats today looked something like this:

 

 (smoothie, curry pate on cukes, Raw Food Real World's buckwheat cereal w/ raisins and hemp milk)

Next up:  a huge dinner salad and, or course, a piece of banana cream pie. 

Question:  Do you eat or drink anything that others find revolting?  

Whining about Winelessness

This week I decided to go back to my pre-Christmas break policy of wine only on the weekends.  I don't think it's all that great for my body to have wine each evening, especially not the ten second pour that TH serves.

Well, it has been harder than I imagined.  The teenage natives who migrate through my classroom on a daily basis have been significantly restless this week, practicing pre-mating rituals like Pencil-Grab-and-Hide and Everyone Look At Me Because I'm Doing Something Funny.

I've found myself wanting to break my self-imposed rules several times, but I've managed to hold strong,  in part due to replacing my wine glass with a bottle of kombucha.

I find it interesting that the entire bottle of Synergy only has 4 grams of sugar.  It tastes so sweet to me.  Does anyone know how to explain this?

Now that I'm not drinking workweek wine, I can actually remember what I ate all day (just kidding!!).  For breakfast I had my usual green smoothie, which looks a little purple due to frozen cherries and chard. 

Lunch involved Russell James's Nut-Free Bread, veggies, hummus, and olive tapenade (recipes from Raw Food Real World).  

My pre-P90X snack was buckwheat cereal (Raw Food Real World again) and Pacific Natural Foods hemp milk (didn't have time to make my own).  

(old picture)

While making dinner, I ate my weight in greens (in the form of kale chips). 

Do a post-munch teeth check if you are eating these in public. 

For dinner I ate my normal giant salad, this time covered in hemp dressing from Delightfully Raw.

I'm thinking dessert will be mango sorbet.  

Question:  What kinds of rules do you hold yourself to?  Are they hard to follow?