Sunday, January 23, 2011

WE MADE IT!

These last few weeks have been very interesting for Adam and I.  We've learned a lot about finding ways to eat healthy and to challenge our bodies a bit.  There are some things that I've taken away from this whole experience- mainly things that I've learned to really love and appreciate.

Almond Butter-  I've tried some before and it wasn't super tasty.  I really love natural peanut butter- because I prefer less sweet peanut butter.  But we found this great almond butter during our cleanse and I will continue to buy it.  It has maple sugar in it, so it's still sweet for those of you that crave sweet peanut or almond butter.  I definitely ate a few spoonfuls of this as a snack over the past three weeks.  But it's great on carrots, apples and celery too!

Pineapple corer- I had never tried one of these before, and while we were shopping post-cleanse at Bed Bath and Beyond, I thought it would be a great gadget to help us easily cut up pineapples.  And was I right.  We love this thing.  All you do is cut off the top of the pineapple and this thing does the rest.  You end up with nice rings of pineapple.  Can't live without it now!


Smoothies- Ok, so I've always loved smoothies, but I've learned much healthier and tastier ways to make them.  Use Almond Milk, Coconut Water or Coconut Milk (all can be bought in the health food section) rather than regular milk or water. Coconut water and milk increase the taste of your drink without covering up the sweetness of the fruits you include.  And almond butter is great for those of you that like to add peanut butter to your smoothie.  There are so many wonderful fruits to use out there too- look in your frozen fruit section if you don't feel like cutting up fresh.  Also, if you want a little extra sweetness, add agave nectar or some honey.  Real Simple had a lot of smoothies in their recent February issue.  Some great combinations you might not think about.  There is no doubt that we will continue to make these for breakfast many days of the week.


Snacks after dinner- There is always this.  People are always saying it's not good to eat snacks after dinner.  But, as we all know- it's hard sometimes!  My general rule going forward will be to try and not eat snacks over 2 hours before going to bed.  It takes that long for your body to actually begin to digest all food your eat, so if I eat at 9 and go to bed at 10:30, my body is just turning all of my snack into fat cells.  I'm going to give it a whirl, but it will be hard.

Very little bread- As much as I love this carb packed food, it's really not good for my body.  There are so many other ways to get good carbohydrates and avoid adding the extra weight around the mid-section.  I honestly believe the reason I dropped inches around my waist in just the first week of the cleanse was because we cut this out of our diet.

My husband- I hate to sound corny, but he really was a trooper through this whole process.  There is absolutely no way we could have done this without each other's support.  I'm used to coming home and cooking dinner, and I enjoy it.  But over these last few weeks we've not only had to make juice for dinner, we also had to make the next days lunch and breakfast.  Adam always had the duty of making the juice and smoothies, and he helped clean up the messes we would make every night.  Plus, he learned his way around the kitchen a bit more.  I'm so lucky to have a guy that is so supportive and patient, and this whole process only made it more clear.


We celebrated our accomplishment last night by going out for dinner and dessert.  We ate at a local restaurant we'd both never been to- India's Pearl.  I had a filet and Adam had one of his favorite indian dishes.  Of course we got Cheese Naan (bread) and a glass of Cabernet.  Dessert was pretty over the top.  We each had a brownie AND a good portion of ice cream- which is still making me feel full this morning.  

Now that we are finished, I'm so excited to share more about the great wines we have at our weekly wine classes and some great recipes.  I can finally browse through my monthly issues of Martha Stewart's Everyday Food and plan to buy a new cookbook today.  I already have the grocery list ready and I will be doing lots of Sunday baking!

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