Soylent Green: Day 8 of 21

So.  Its been a week now since I’ve been cleansing.  Again, the idea behind the cleanse is to eliminate processed and refined foods along with flesh (animal protein) and focus on a high raw regime so that my digestive organs – liver, kidneys, stomach, lg. intestine, sm. intestine, pancreas, gallbladder – can have a chance to heal from any damage that might be present.

Why stay away from these foods?  Because they are the foods that will stress these crucial organs the most.  Eventually all that stress can lead to dysfunction in some or all aspects of digestive health.

The first few days of cleansing wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.  It was the end of the week that proved to be the most challenging.  I WANT BREAD!!!!  AND MEAAAAT!!!  The meat thing kind of surprised me.  I can’t decide if I’m craving it because I need the protein or because my pallet is just used to eating it every day (sometimes twice a day).

So far I feel pretty good.  Some people who cleanse report days of feeling flu-ish and weak.  I haven’t really experienced that.  I think that the biggest help to sticking with it has been grace.  I haven’t been hard on myself when I sneak bite sized “no no” foods from Ben’s plate.  A little piece of something isn’t going to ruin my cleansing.

My smoothie this morning was bright green – it reminded me of a 1970′s movie called Soylent Green.  This movie depicts our society in the distant future (watch out 2022!)  where there is an overpopulation problem, food is limited and people must rely on bright green wafers called Soylent Green.  Little do they know that Soylent green is really made out of -GASP- dead people!!!

Instead of dead people I used

• 2 Tbs. Standard Process Complete powder
• 2 giant handfuls of baby organic spinach
• frozen mango chunks
• 1 ripe banana
• a drizzle of agave nectar

Mmmmm, this was WAY better than my last concoction – simplicity wins every time.

Between breakfast and lunch I snaked on the rest of my banana chips and an exceptionally sweet orange.

I took my afternoon supplements and waited till lunch.

Lunch was left over black bean salsa with brown rice with a side of carrot sticks and edamame.

Black Bean Salsa is one of my favorites.  Its easy to make and excellent party food.

• 2 cans organic black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
• 1 avocado, cubed
• 1 lime, juiced
• salt to taste

Combine ingredients in a large bowl and refrigerate until chilled.  Serve with CM blue corn tortilla chips and enjoy!

During my lunch break I walked to Sun Harvest, a local grocery store, and bought some zucchini, asparagus, and Zinco coconut water (it was on sale for $1 each!).  I wanted to re-create that sweet potato hash that I came up with last weekend.

The biggest perk to eating this way is the convenience.  This whole meal literally only took 30 minutes to make, prep time included! Lets me honest, when you are cooking meat and complicated dishes this kind of speed NEVER happens.

Don’t let someone tell you that they can’t eat healthy because it isn’t easy or fast.  The reality is, it can be both!

Kashi makes a line of quick cooking pilafs that I enjoy from time to time.  This time I tried a moraccan pilaf that was more flavorful than I expected with strong curry smell and flavor.  Almost too strong.  But when combined with the more neutral taste of the veggies the strong flavor was overcome.

I can’t believe that I still have 2 weeks left!  Will I make it?

Stay tuned…