Monday, January 9, 2012

The Cleanse: Day 7 - Making It Look Easy

While getting pedicures today (note: this, like the cleanse, was Elizabeth's idea), Elizabeth stumbled upon a magazine article discussing Jennifer Hudson's diet strategy and success.  We both had the same idea:  her diet is a piece of cake (Ben could go for a piece of cake) compared to this cleanse.  That being said, having fish on the menu has definitely made sticking with the cleanse significantly easier.

Even though we had leftover miso soup for breakfast, lunch featured a watercress salad with sardines, tarragon, and clementines. We were surprised the sardines weren't dirt cheap but they're actually not that expensive for fish, especially sustainable fish that you can keep in the pantry for whenever.


This is the cauliflower snack that we've had so often. Delish.  This is seriously a snack that is going places.  Move over, popcorn at the movies. Step aside, peanuts and Cracker Jack at the baseball game.  Some other time, Kettle Chips - actually, we'll probably go back to Kettle Chips when this cleanse is over.  But we could see adding a little roasted cauliflower into the rotation.  If there's one thing we've learned in the last seven days, it's that vegetables can be your friend, especially when you have no other choice except to eat nothing (imagine a Brussels sprout pointing a gun at our heads).

Dinner was something of an improvisation.  The recipe called for trout, but we couldn't find any at Harris Teeter when we went so we opted for mahi-mahi instead.  We think it worked well.  We also forgot to buy applesauce for the fennel slaw, so we had to make a bit of a makeshift applesauce using some random internet recipes.  This was probably less successful.  Ben enjoyed the slaw, though found the dressing a bit lacking.  Elizabeth thought the slaw was a little too raw.  Doesn't sound like a keeper.

Given our more recent feelings of success with the cleanse, we think it's actually possible to incorporate some of the objectives of the cleanse into our regular culinary lives.  The cauliflower snack is just one example.  Our meals have usually followed the traditional American approach to plating:  one big piece of meat, some sort of starch, and some vegetables.  But the meals we've prepared on the cleanse have been much more heavily focused on the veggies, and even the meals with fish are veggie-centric.

Will we give up enjoying the occasional rack of ribs?  No.  Is a double helping of macaroni and cheese still in the cards?  Sure.  Will we be going to Fogo de Chao at some point in the next 6 months?  I'd bet on it.  Is asking yourself questions and then answering them kinda douche-y?  Of course it is.  But that doesn't mean that a few tweaks to our everyday meal planning are not in order.

C & D

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