The Cleanse - Day 1

In my pursuit to be a healthier me, I'm going on a cleanse. In a nutshell, it's a program to clean all the toxins out of your body and reprogram your eating habits so that you eat better. There is fruit/protein/flax oil/nutrient shake that you eat twice per day, a bunch of herbal supplements that you take three times per day to purge the junk out of your body, and then for food you eat vegetables and fruits. And, each day that you are good and go to the gym and sweat for an hour, you get 6 oz. of chicken/turkey/fish to eat. You do this for three weeks, and then in the fourth week you add healthy grains and lean meats back into your diet.

A friend of mine has done this a few times and swears by it. The doctor that administers the program has done it yearly for something like 17 years. He is nearly 50 years old, but looks like he's 30. He's a walking billboard for this body cleanse.

Anyway, I just wanted to try something different to try and become healthier this year. I saw that my friend had great success doing the program, so I thought I would give the whole "natural foods" thing a shot.

I figured that I would write about the cleanse periodically, just so I could have a record of the thing and to hopefully provide some entertainment for everyone else. I also wanted to keep track of any dishes that I invent. I probably won't post about it every day, but just enough to keep me going on it. So here we go:


I'M GOING TO DIE!!!!! Just kidding. Today has been great. Actually, it starts yesterday when I went shopping for food so that I could actually survive this thing. I filled my fridge with food. I did prep work on snacks (pineapple & jicama), so that when I need to satisfy a craving I can do it right away. I cleared all of the non-edible crap out of the fridge so I wouldn't be tempted.

I did my shakes today, and started tinkering with some cooking. My main veggies to eat at dinnertime are asparagus, brussel sprouts, and kale. I started out with inventing something tastey to do with the brussle sprouts (which usually taste like crap whenever you've eaten them in your life). I came up with a delicious dish that serves 1. Although, it's important to note that I had my second protein shake just about 1.5 hours before I cooked this. So, if this is eaten long after a shake, the amount of veggies may need to be increased. I call it BS Surprise:

5 brussel sprouts, washed and cut in quarters
1/4 cup sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup sliced bell pepper (any color)
Sea Salt
Lemon Pepper
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar (to taste)
Red Pepper Flakes (to taste)

Sautee the brussel sprouts in olive oil until they start to soften, then toss in the other veggies, vinegar and spices. Vary the amount of vinegar according to the strength you like. Vary the amount of red pepper flakes according to how spicey you like your food.

That's it. Super simple. Takes only a few minutes to make. And it's delicious and perfectly healthy to eat. Ask me two weeks from now if I still think this tastes good. :P