Day one was fine (as you know), day two was fine also... On day two I had:
- Breakfast: Half cup of Greek yogurt with pineapple, strawberries, and walnuts (all alkalizing foods)
- Lunch: Large green salad with avocado, olive oil, and lemon juice (lemon juice and greens are especially alkalizing, and the fat from the avocado helps with nutrient absorption).
- Second Lunch: More summer rolls! Delish.
- Dinner: This AMAZING vegan cauliflower soup. I'll put the recipe down at the bottom. So good!
- Dessert: More vegan/raw chocolate (can't. get. enough).
So that was all the good news about day two. It was great! Day three started out just swell:
- Breakfast: Half cup of Greek yogurt with walnuts, ground flax seeds, and honey
- Lunch: Leftover cauliflower soup and a large green apple
- Dinner: Green smoothie (super simple - just spinach, banana, orange juice, and spirulina powder)
It started to get dicey after work. Making cookies with the girls I nanny proved problematic... I scarfed down FIVE (!) tiny balls of cookie dough within like twenty seconds. Not great. Then, I went home and promptly ate two slices of my Mom's homemade bread. How could I not?! To err is human. I'll do better today, I swear! On the upside, my stats:
- Weight: 137 pounds (lost three pounds, but could easily be water weight - like I said before, weight loss is not my goal. I have been drinking a ton of water with chlorophyll though)
- Mood: It's been pretty meh. This has been a rough week (car accident on Monday), dealing with my insurance has been awful. My poor mood could easily be attributed to that, with nothing to do with my diet. I've still been pretty tired so we'll see how the whole energy-business goes.
- Skin: It's looking great! Almost completely smooth and much more even-toned. I don't know if it is because of all the chlorophyll water, lack of sugar and processed foods, or the coconut oil... probably a combination of the three.
Now, more about this whole "alkalizing diet" business. No, it isn't just an excuse to eat cooked foods and yogurt (although I'm definitely glad that I can). There are lot's of books on the matter, but they pretty much all just say that the body works best at a slightly alkaline level. When we digest foods, they will either make our body more acidic or more alkaline - so obviously, foods that make our body more acidic are bad (and they allow opportunistic fungi and bacteria to flourish, while also breaking down important body systems so that your body has to spend more time fixing itself). Foods that make our body more alkaline are great - they keep you in working order while allowing GOOD bacteria to flourish and bad bacteria to die off. Some say that it is impossible for diseases to survive in an alkaline body, but I don't know how true that is... We'll have to see. Here is a quick and dirty list of acid-forming vs. alkaline-forming foods:
Acid-Forming (Bad!):
- All meats
- All dairy (except for fermented dairy like kefir or yogurt)
- Processed foods and simple carbs like sugar
- Most grains
- Most oils (especially processed oils)
- Alcohol :( No wine!
Alkalizing (Good!):
- Most vegetables (fresh is best!)
- Most fruits (Fresh - not dried. The sugar content is too high in dried fruits)
- Fermented dairy
- Tofu, Tempeh, etc. (Fermented foods are generally great)
- Things like seaweed and chlorophyll water (derived from green foods - green foods are super alkalizing normally)
- Apple cider vinegar
And here is a detailed list of alkaline vs. acid-forming foods. It is a bit extreme, but super helpful.
More about the science behind this way of eating in my next post. For now, cauliflower soup. I'm sure I'll be eating this a lot in the coming weeks!
Vegan Cauliflower Soup
Serves 2
- 1 head of garlic, unpeeled
- 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped fine
- 1 head of cauliflower
- 1 small onion, peeled and diced
- Chili powder (Depends on how spicy you like it - I like 1 tsp)
- Garlic powder
- Mustard powder (1 tsp)
- salt
- olive oil
- First, remove the outer leaves and stalk of the cauliflower. Slice two thick steaks from the center of the head, taking care to make sure the florets don't all fall apart (should look something like the steak in the photo above)
- Reserve the two steaks. Roughly chop the rest of the florets and save them in a bowl or something.
- In a soup-sized pan, add the olive oil and onion. Cook over medium heat until mostly caramelized, and then add the chopped garlic and cook till it is soft. Keep a close eye on it - garlic likes to burn.
- While the onions and garlic are caramelizing, coat both sides of the steaks with olive oil and a little salt and garlic powder. Place on a metal baking sheet.
- Cut the top off of the head of garlic. Place the head (lots of heads in this recipe) upside down on a cookie sheet that is covered in olive oil, so that the garlic is directly touching the oil.
- Put the steaks and garlic into a 400 degree oven and cook the steaks for about 15 minutes on each side - it will be ready to take out when you can cut through the steak with a fork, and when both sides have developed a beautiful caramelization.
- The garlic will be finished roasting when the bulb feels slightly squishy to the tough - it will be done before the cauliflower steaks are. Take it out and let it cool.
- While the steaks are roasting, and after your onions and garlic are caramelized, add the rest of the cauliflower to the soup pan and cover with water (eyeball it - it should look like a soup amount). Add the mustard and chili powders. Also add about a teaspoon of salt, but it depends on your tastes.
- Simmer the soup for about a half an hour, or until the florets are soft. Add the roasted garlic (you can squeeze it directly out of the bulb) and boil for another 10 minutes or so.
- Pour the soup into a blender and blend until it looks totally smooth and creamy. Pour it back in the soup pan afterwords. Now is the time to adjust seasonings, until it tastes right.
- When you're ready to eat, serve this soup with a cauliflower steak placed on top - so good! Doesn't even taste vegan. Thanks, garlic!
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