Twelve Days of Dietary Detox: Day 4 and Beyond, Finally Some Substance to our Meals!

Everybody was excited for the first three days to be done because Day 4 meant reintroducing grains into our meals!! I would never have thought I would see Trevor or my dad so excited to have some Quinoa :) After the first three days of rabbit food our meals became a lot more filling once we added the grains. We also made a little change to our breakfast habits and began our day with fruit smoothies!

Each morning after the routine lemon-flax water and salt water, we enjoyed a refreshing fruit smoothie. I created a basic smoothie base and mixed up the fruits and fruit juices I used to keep things exciting. Day by day I will include the smoothies I tried. Keep in mind when using fresh fruit the end result you get varies greatly depending on the sweetness and degree of ripeness of your starting product. It being summer, we were lucky to have many varieties of sweet, delicious fruits to choose from! Also, being open to trying new combinations is a great way to use all your fruit before it spoils. Each day I would keep in mind what fruits I needed to use and base my creation around that item.

For lunch and dinner, the once mundane vegetable platter can be spruced up with more seasonings, fresh herbs, grains, beans and nuts. There aren’t many new rules at this new stage, just a few things to keep in mind:

- When choosing your grains, think easily digestible with high nutrient content (sound familiar? :)
- Try to use more quinoa and brown rice and fewer beans.
- When using beans, black beans are preferable and ALWAYS USE DRIED BEANS!!
- If you need a little afternoon snack, you can have a serving of nuts to satisfy your hunger. Remember, a serving is only 1 oz (approximately ¼ c) and always choose raw and unsalted nuts!
- Even though you are cooking more now, don’t forget to minimize excessive cooking when possible to maintain as much nutrient content in the vegetables as you can.

As I mentioned before, I based my recipes off of grains I already had in the pantry. Despite how it may seem with all the limitations, there are thousands of creations that can be made to fit the cleansing diet. I will go day by day thru our menu and share with you what I have created!

*Keep in mind I was serving two males and two females, one male and female in their late 20’s and one male and female in their late 50’s. All recipes are either for one (smoothies only) or 4 to 6. We rarely had leftover food but I gave the range because eating habits can vary greatly depending on many factors especially age and gender.

Happy Eating!! :)

Up Next…

- Cleansing Diet, Day 4: Vegetable and Quinoa Pasta Soup
- Cleansing Diet, Day 4: S.E. Asian Crispy Quinoa Cakes with Chile Lime Dipping Sauce served with Charred Ginger Corn and Chilled Sesame Baby Bok Choy