I will keep it short and sweet today. I’ve lost 9.8 pounds and I have a before and after picture. Look what changing your diet and some exercising can do for you in just 30 days:
Tag Archives: clean eating
Cliff Day Almost Finished: The hardest part of cooking right…
is cleaning all your stuffff. If we did not have a dishwasher, this whole detox would have gone a much different direction. I’d like to apologize for going MIA for a little bit there, life got busy. We are still doing the detox (albeit with a slip up or two, ie super bowl) and it is still going great. Dena has finished up her 30 days and she will be continuing it into the foreseeable future. I will be done on February 6 and I will be continuing for the most part. Any meals out will be anything goes and all meals at home/lunch will be sticking to the diet. Alcohol will be consumed responsibly.
So, I know youre dying to know how much weight we’ve lost, how great we now look, and all about the great things we’ve been cooking. Ill let Dena dive further into her stats when she posts, but for me now I am around 138, down over 8 pounds! I’m considering this as low as I want to go and will be increasing calories to above 2000 each day (at least trying to). Before/after pictures will be posted. I can definitely see my face looking less inflamed and the abs are back. Dena most certainly did not catch me checking myself out in the mirror.. As expected, I have been struggling most with the going to bed on time, as many nights I have to stay up past midnight to do work. I feel so old wanting to go to bed before 11.
As for the gym, my elbow has healed, just got the all clear from the doctor, and I am ramping up my weightlifting. Unfortunately, I have started getting awful shin splints, and I will be starting physical therapy on those. As for the morning shake, it is time to start adding amino acids, and maybe a touch of creatine. I have decided that it is a must to go in the morning to the gym. In fact I decided this last week when I started a blog post but never posted.
“I also need to get my ass in gear in the AM and hit the gym then. This after work at 7 is not cutting it. Just like I couldn’t do the shake in the morning without protein, I just can’t seem to get a groove going to the gym at night. Cannot emphasize this enough, remember it all about adjustment and what works for you.”Going at 7 or 8 at night is just not sustainable. Your energy is completely gone from working all day, you are either hungry or full depending on if you ate dinner, and the euphoric feelings you get from working out in the morning are glorious. My most productive days at work are after I work out.
All pictures of the food we have been eating can be found on our instagram, and we will be posting recipes later this week, Get ready to be hungry my friends.
Cliff Day 16: Green Curry Shrimp
I have been craving Green Curry since we started this detox. I also see everyone else making it so I thought why can’t I? I had the day off, and I had the apartment all to myself. Normally, this means a day of couch lounging and video games, but in the spirit of being less lazy, I went on a journey to create an amazing green curry sauce and overload it with shrimp.
I used the following recipe with a few minor tweaks:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/thai-green-curry-shrimp-recipe.html
I cut out the Eggplant, Shrimp Stock (replaced with extra coconut milk), and added some jalepeno.
After journeying to 4 different stores to find everything I needed, I began cooking. A short 20 minutes, a can I had to stab with a knife to open, and a huge mess later, my masterpiece was finished. I may not be as eloquent a cooker as Dena, I managed to keep her from seeing the mess I made, but we end up in the same place. You can pretty much use whatever vegetables you want and make sure to get gluten free/wheat free fish sauce (I used Thai Kitchen). Dena came to the rescue with what we should eat this over, as she made her wonderfully delicious cauliflower rice.
I want to add I recently purchased an amazing knife that made cutting the vegetables a hell of a lot easier (my hand disagrees) :
Try it out. Best knife I have ever used.
We have some more Pork Loin in the fridge, along with some lamb loin, so I am excited to see what we do with it next.
As for my weight progress, I have steadied off and I am now 140 even. I feel and look skinnier, and my former gut is calling me every day upset that every day we drift apart more and more.
Cliff day 14: Another Pound Bites the Dust
And Another pound gone and another pound gone, another pound bites the dust. Weighing in around 140 and down 7 pounds, woot woot!
Our approach to this detox has been much different on the second go around. The first time we did it, I was pretty miserable. We were incredibly strict, had 0 slip ups and it just wasn’t fun. The point of all of this, is not just to eat healthier, it is to lead a healthier happier life. I used to hate the shakes I made, they were bland and not the sugar filled ones I was used to. The thing is, I like peanut butter as much as I like sugar (mmmm Reese’s, my old go to treat). So even though peanut butter was not part of the original plan, it has allowed me to look forward to my morning shake instead of dreading it. My shake is now banana, unsweetened almond milk, strawberries, hemp protein, flax seed, and just a touch of vanilla extract. If there is one lesson you take from this blog, it is you have to do what makes you happy. That hypothalamus needs to be kept satisfied in some way. Did you know broccoli doesn’t stimulate it one bit? Shocker. So, if you’re having issues adjusting to all this, throw in something you love, whether it is a fruit or something you can’t live without (NOT CANDY!)
As for how my detox is going, I slipped up a little bit, although I’ve said from the beginning it would happen. I went out with coworkers on Friday and I had a scotch, it was glorious. I was proud I was able to stick to just one. While I was worried it may affect the detox, I didn’t regret the decision. I woke up yesterday below the 140 mark and Today I am 140.4. The weight is melting off as I guess my old metabolism has decided to emerge from its hibernation, realizing I’ve taken a break from abusing it. As of now, I consume 1600-2000 calories a day but I would like to up that after this month to stimulate the muscle growth (Did someone say second lunch?!). I’ve also decided to introduce a healthy electrolyte drink in the morning, as I have been a tiny bit shaky and this should help.
Enjoy the long weekend everyone!
Almond-Flax Crusted Chicken Wings
Looking for a great recipe for Healthier wings during the NFL Championship games this weekend? Check out this amazing meal!
Almond-Flax Crusted Chicken Wings
We adapted Dr. Hyman’s delicious recipe for chicken breasts and applied it to chicken wings when entertaining guests at the apartment to watch football. These were definitely a hit! For me, my goal is always to make things that taste delicious even to people that are not detoxing. For this recipe, I omitted the onions that are listed in the recipe and create 2.5x the liquid mixture that was covering the chicken wings in order to cover all the surface area. We had a lot of wings (approx 24)! Also, we did not let the chicken marinate 1-24 hours prior to making the dish to enhance the flavor. There were some hungry mouths to feed! We ended up cooking these for 10 minutes and flipping them and cooking for an additional 10 minutes on the other side. I suggest purchasing a meat thermometer to double check the internal temperature of these. In general, for chicken you are looking for a final internal temperature of 165º F for white meat and about 180º F for dark meat. (USDA recommendations).
Enjoy!
-Dena
http://drhyman.com/blog/2010/05/18/recipe-almond-flax-crusted-chicken/
Cliff Day 10: I pick things up and…
I put them down. My first trip back to the gym was a good reality check. I had dreams that I had not lost that much in the months while I was healing, but I was so so wrong. I did a basic chest workout to get my muscles into the groove of things and nothing seemed to go right. I was constantly worried about my elbow and I’m not even going to discuss how little weight I could do. I have always been a skinny guy, and while this has its perks, it also has its downfalls. Building muscle has been a huge challenge throughout my whole life. I have tried many different supplements, and nothing has ever gotten me to the point I’ve dreamed of. I am avoiding any until this detox is over, but I will list out my favorites at some point. When I have ever come close to a muscle-building goal, I have sustained some sort of injury. I mean once I had to take a 4 month break from working out because I hurt my wrist while playing soccer. That’s right folks, I hurt the thing you are not even allowed to use in that sport. Now that I am fueling my body with the good food it can actually use, my hope is my gains will go up up and even more up.
NOW, onto the good stuff. If I told you, you could make pizza out of cauliflower, would that be something you’d be interested in? WELL, thanks to that magical girlfriend of mine, we had exactly that last night. Not only that, due to Dena’s allergies, we had to substitute eggs in it with a flax-seed mixture. It took a LONG time, a bit of “bickering”, and a huge mess in the kitchen, but after all was said and done, it came out great. I’ve also learned, to never tell anyone I was a dishwasher in High School because my mom’s favorite line, and now Dena’s is…”But we need a professional to do the dishes!” But I digress. We used Tomatoes, Basil, and Ground Turkey as toppings. While i would not call it your every day pizza, it certainly was pretty darn close. And the best part was we had leftovers. I haven’t been this excited for lunch since yesterday’s lunch of leftovers! My weight has grown stagnant, which I am okay with because I am still looking and feeling better every day. The world needs to understand weight is just a number, and that it is about how you feel, how you look in your eyes, and how you’re treating your body (although I wouldn’t object to weighing 170 built of pure muscle). Napoleonic Complex much?
Dena-Day 7
Starting a new plan and way of eating can be very daunting and appear to require too much work and effort on your part. Last March, when Cliff and I did Dr. Hyman’s 10 Day Detox Diet, I stressed way too much over having to be perfect and I did not want to stray too far from the dinner recipes given in the book. The best part of following the book’s recipes was that I learned many new recipes and found some new favorites which I have continued to make regularly. If this is your first time trying to detox, I HIGHLY recommend following Dr. Hyman’s plan and trying as many recipes in the book as you can! They are super yummy! However, instead of following one of these recipes, Dr. Hyman does say that you can opt for choosing a green to steam or lightly saute such as broccoli, asparagus, arugula, spinach, kale or chard, and combine it with 4-6oz of protein such as chicken, turkey, salmon, shrimp, grass-fed meat,canned salmon, sardines or herring, hard boiled omega 3 eggs,tofu or temph.
So this time around, in order to save some time and relieve stress, Cliff and I are trying to make dinners so we have leftovers that will last us. My favorite thing to make is a roasted chicken. And by my favorite thing to make…I really mean my favorite thing I eat that I make Cliff make. It requires very little effort to cook one of these and in my opinion, you get the most bang for your cluck…I mean buck. Now we have left overs that are versatile and can go in many dishes. I was able to add some chicken to my salad I had for lunch today and Cliff and I had some for dinner tonight and there is still a bunch left! Another cooking time saver I have discovered is roasting vegetables. Drizzle a little olive oil, salt, and pepper over your veggies and pop them in the oven. I make sure I make extra so I have those leftovers. Tonight’s dinner included chicken, left over broccoli and mashed garlic cauliflower (another one of my favorite sides!)
Day 5 for me/Day 3 for Cliff
You may be wondering why Cliff and I started the detox on different days… We originally agreed we would both start this past Monday and that would be our “Day 1”. Well…You see…I got on the scale last Friday night and got a reality check! I know everyone weighs more at night but the scale was reading higher than I hoped. At first I was totally convinced that the scale was off and that it was not zeroed before I got on it to weigh myself. I demanded that Cliff “fix it” right away! After removing the batteries over and over again and restarting this scale, I came to the realization that it wasn’t the scale that needed fixing. After some sulking, I am now no longer in denial about my weight gain. I can no longer blame my tight fitting pants on water retention. I knew I had to start detoxing pronto and decided to start the next morning. The good news is I have lost 3 pounds so far and I am really excited for the process and seeing where I am at the end of January. Unfortunately I haven’t been sleeping that well the past few nights. I have been waking up several times during the night and therefore do not wake up feeling refreshed. I took melatonin last night and listened to a meditation tape before bed.. but I still woke up in the middle of the night. I am rather foggy throughout the day and feel like I am on the verge of getting sick. Is this my body detoxing? Since I have been feeling under the weather, I decided to not increase my exercise at the moment and just concentrate on eating clean and not snacking at night. Well.. that’s all for now. My brain is a bit foggy and it’s time for me to get to bed! Night !
Clenaeating 
