21 Day Detox......Day 7 - 8

Day 7 came and went. Things are stable. I actually couldn't grab lunch (a shake) until about 4pm and did just fine. Watching the family enjoy patties with melted cheese for dinner was.... forgive me, I had lustful thoughts. But I filled up on baked carrots and yams drizzled with olive oil, 3-Cs (cumin, cinnamon, cayenne), and salt; and artichoke dipped in olive oil and apple cider vinegar. Dessert was banana, ground flax, psyllium, stevia, unsweetened cocoa powder and chopped apple. Oh, and I also found a few stale brown rice crackers in the cupboard and dipped them in some salsa.

This morning, however, I am enjoying waffles right now! Last night I put some batter on to soak. How am I enjoying waffles on the 21 Day Detox you ask? In the past I've explored waffle making to the point of trying just about every variation of wheat-free, gluten-free, grain-free, etc. etc. This morning's version was made with lentil flour, black quinoa flour and a little brown rice flour. Soaking grains is an institution in our house. There are no eggs in this recipe, just a bit of guar gum and arrow root, salt, dash of vinegar, baking soda, melted ghee and high heat safflower oil. I also often add a little vanilla and stevia. I'll caution anyone attempting this recipe that because of the flours and overnight fermentation, it is prone to stick and brown. You have to watch the iron and open carefully. Still it came out. The whole family ate them. That along with today's smoothie surprise, the usual fruit with carrots, celery, and purple cabbage.

I have to run... stayed tuned.

I'm back. We had to run off to the last day of the farmers market. It's colder now than winter in San Jose. I have to say that Spokane has felt a lot like Seattle since moving here last April. We've really missed our year-round farmers market at Princeton Plaza, the citrus, yams, persimmons, and all the other fresh produce. But the changing leaves are beautiful. A little sunshine would be nice to. Halloween here will look like a bunch of kids in the same costume: "vinter-vare."

Something I've noticed while on this detox is how pervasive added sugar is in our lives and how much we desire it. If you've followed my blog you know I've addressed this before, but I'm reminded of how we are wired to fall for sugar. Sugar lead us to life supporting calories in times past. Now it's used like a drug to spike every packaged food under the sun, almost.

Now at day 8 I have found that my sense of smell and taste are amplified. Fresh produce is so full of flavor. I can smell cheese from three houses down (or at least from across the room). Dinner tonight was what I call open burritos, something we have regularly, but I ate mine with some modifications- a brown rice tortilla, black beans, lettuce, bell pepper, saute'ed veggies, avocado (essential food for this diet), cayenne, salsa, and my cheese substitute (all-purpose sesame seed savory spread). The way we eat this is to basically build a salad on your plate, top with black beans and everything else. I warm the tortilla and then fold and tear it into fourths. Using the fourth with a fork I scoop and eat. It's easier to get plenty of the veggies and stuff without the back of your burrito exploding. For dessert I watched the girls enjoy homemade Halloween cookies with Sunspires. After a week it's easier to not even think about eating the cookies. I did have to ask Jill to move the grated cheese away from me during dinner because every time I looked at it I wanted to grab some and put it on my plate.

Happy Halloween