Day 1

DAY ONE!

Starting weight...208.8 (that said, I actually weighed first at 209.8 but then nursed my daughter and went potty and weighed again at 208.8 so I will be conservative and begin there. And it was 210.2 just two days ago, but I already started implementing the principles in the Plan as I was reading the book.)

Breakfast -

The Plan's Flax Granola with nothing but flax, sunflower seeds and some Craisins.  Fresh blueberries.  Coconut milk.

So, it's not great at this point.  It really needs some chunky crunch from nuts but I have yet to test those, so I am rocking the flax and Craisins alone.  Eh.  Not bad.  Not great, but not bad.  As a first batch, I can eat it.  I can also see the potential in it.  Add some nuts, some seeds and maybe some vanilla extract and this stuff could be totally edible...dry.  Wet is...gooey.

Lunch -

Well, let me just say that putting too much ginger in the Carrot-Ginger Soup is a HUGE MISTAKE.  Oh. dear. Lord.  Otherwise, well, it is a soup of cooked carrots, which have always tasted like dirt to me.  But I can totally see where this soup has value.  On a cold day when I am feeling unwell, I can see where this soup would be very soothing.  Just maybe not so much ginger next time.  The fact is: this is a Cleanse.  I don't expect sunshine and roses.  I am just happy this soup is not triggering my gag reflex (anyone else remember the Cabbage Soup Diet?  I'll take dirty sweet carrots over soup that smells like sewage any day of the week!)

The mixed greens with pear and pumpkin seed salad would have been so much nicer if I hadn't bought the most bitter pears of all time.  I bite in to it with utter shock and feel instantly terrible for admonishing my daughter as a naughty food waster the day before when she swore to me that the pear just did not taste good.  I swallow the pear (along with my mommy-guilt) and get on with the eating whole bitter mess.

Note - Lyn-Genet tells us in the book to allow the pears to sun ripen.  She says that for a reason.

Broccoli...yeah, this zesting thing is NOT EASY.  My knuckles are bloody and I killed two, expensive, organic oranges without acheiving much before giving up.  But I make and cook the broccoli (which I have only eaten raw for the past umpteen years) and eat it.  Eh. What can I say, it is cooked broccoli.

Snack -

I chowed down on a crispy green apple as if it would run away from me if I did not eat it fast enough,  My four year old watched me with a look of both amusement and confused fascination.  "Is that apple good mommy?" she teased me.  I managed to utter a "yes" between sloppy, slobbering bites.

Dinner -

Sauteed Kale and Vegetables with Spicy Coco Sauce - it caught me by surprise that I would have to cook the sauce in advance of sauteing.  I was so unprepared for this.  Looking back, it was due to a failure to be realistic about what this way of eating entails altogether - preparation and cooking.  In any case, I curse away as I bang around preparing what turns out to be the most amazingly delicious, luscious, delectable sauce I have ever made on my own stove.  Yep - it is that good.  When Lyn-Genet jokes that clients have told her they will eat anything if it is covered in Spicy Coco Sauce, I don't doubt it.  If you like Thai food (think creamy coconut sauce with Thai spices), you will dig this sauce. And it soooooo easy to make!

Next came the inevitable sauteing of the kale.  {Sigh}.  I want to like kale so badly.  I want to reap all the benefits of this abundant, trendy, dark green, chlorophyll-filled super food.  I have used it in smoothies with very limited success.  My mom has steamed it for me in her version of a stampot - blergh.  Not good.  The rough texture of the edge of the leaves creeps me out.  But I am determined to make this "Plan" work! 

And this determination brings me to include the shitake mushrooms per the recipe.  Now, I am NOT a mushroom eater.  The umami flavor triggers my gag reflex instantly.  And I have a tyramine sensitivity, so I avoid most things that are aged, fermented, and/or moldy - like fungus.  But here I am - slicing mushroom and cooking it up. 

As I began working the washed and chopped leaves around in the pan, I realize that they are cooking down and softening much more quickly that I would have thought.  Not wanting to lose that bright green color, I remove them quickly and plate it up immediately. 

And I ate it.  Yup.  I ate it.  Somewhat because I was crazy hungry at this point and somewhat as a personal challenge to myself not to let being a picky eater get in the way of good health.  But mostly, I ate it because I would eat just about anything if it has Spicy Coco Sauce on it.

And the Carrot & Beet salad ain't bad either!  Refreshing and sweet, it tastes NOTHING like cooked beets!!!!

Water Consumption - about 77% of what I was supposed to have.  Oops.

May I just say that between my weight (over 200 lbs) and breastfeeding (which Lyn-Genet tells me I need to add 40 ounces per day to my water consumption) means I am drinking CONSTANTLY.  It is pretty hard to drink 144 ounces of water between 7:30 am - 7:30 pm minus 45 minutes before and after each meal and snack.  But alas, I TOTALLY BELIEVE in the water consumption as a critical role in this process.  I have long known that I am chronically dehydrated.  Many women joke that when they are cranky, their husbands might ask if it is "that time of the month"...mine asks how much water I have had today.  My 4 year old grabs water bottles and delivers them to my nightstand.  So, I guess hydration is just one of those things I will have to work on.

And on to Day 2...