So I present to you Nutritious Foodie.  This will be my last official post on Orange Truffle and I will be residing in my new web space…. check out my post for tonight as I have 3 new recipes…

See you over there,

• Coffee
• Alcohol
• Citrus Fruits
• Processed Foods
• Sodas
• Sugar
• Wheat products
• Animal protein
• Dairy

The packet included daily menus and recipes with multiple options for every meal.    For breakfast I had green juice since that’s my staple breakfast.   I enjoyed variety of salads, lightly steamed veggies and my favorite grain quinoa for lunch and dinner.    The packet also included some 100% raw days but it was up to us to adjust the days as how we saw fit as long as we had something that was included in the packet.   We were encouraged that during the cleanse to stay with 3 meals a day, which I initially thought would be a challenge and during the cleanse I found it to be very easy to eliminate the afternoon snack.    I ate enough food to keep me full even though I am training for MS-150.   On Saturday, Day 6 of the cleanse after a 37 mile bike ride, I felt amazing, which initially it was a concern as whether or not I would be able to keep up with the training program during the cleanse.

Overall I feel great,  have more energy (even though I am still getting 6-6.5 hrs of sleep), I have noticed my skin looks better and the best part I have a FLAT BELLY.    I weight myself the Thursday before the cleanse started and weight myself this morning (last day of cleanse ) and noticed no change in my weight.   Which was a concern for some of my readers.   Would I recommend this cleanse?  Absolutely.   If you have a specific question about the cleanse or want to know something that I didn’t talk about here let me know and I will answer it to my best .

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So as I mentioned above.. I missed my oats, so I decided to break my cleanse with a bowl of yumelicious oats for dinner….. and yumelicious it was

Peanut Butter-Strawberry Oats

• 1/3 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup hemp milk
• 1 tbsp Almond Butter
• 1 tbsp Flax  seed
• Strawberries
• Peanut Butter Morsels
• 0.5 tbsp Agave
• dash of Vanilla extract

I am off to read and catch up with some personal stuff.

Today marks day 9 of the cleanse and tomorrow will be my last day.   I know I haven’t been posting my daily log, but honestly I have just been repeating the same meals to keep things simple, which means next week I will spice things up and give my menu a complete change .   Later this week I will do a cleanse recap and review.

I am still reading The Kind Diet, I have been slow in reading it as we have had a lot going on in the last few days.   The review for the book is coming soon.   Just to keep myself on my toes.. I have started a new side project, blog face lift.   Over the past weekend and after reading your comments to my last post I sort of found my blog personality and was inspired to give things a face lift.   I am hoping to be roll out the new blog by mid February but it all depends if there are no hiccups.

* * * *

It has been beautiful the last couple days, perfect for an afternoon ride so I skipped the gym this AM and got to/left work earlier to allow time for a nice ride with Raymond.   We had a great 15 mile bike ride, which felt really good.   For dinner I had lightly steamed green beans, oven baked zucchini, quinoa and homemade mushroom tomato sauce with fresh basil and oregano..:)  It was very tasty.

* * * *

I spent a little bit of time today ready about Flours as I have a couple recipies in mind that I would like to bake using gluten free flour.   All of my reading resulted in dedicating this post to FLOUR.

Flour is made of grains, seeds or roots.  Flour contains high proportion of starches, which are complex carbohydrates also known as polysaccharides.  Leavening agents are used with some flours, especially those with significant glutencontent, to produce lighter and softer baked products by embedding small gas bubbles.

Wheat Flour – More wheat flour is produced than any other flour. Wheat varieties are called “clean,” “white,” or “brown” if they have high gluten content, and they are called “soft” or “weak” flour if gluten content is low. Hard flour, or bread flour, is high in gluten, with 12% to 14% gluten content, and has elastic toughness that holds its shape well once baked. Soft flour is comparatively low in gluten and so results in a finer texture. Soft flour is usually divided into cake flour, which is the lowest in gluten, and pastry flour, which has slightly more gluten than cake flour.

Pastry Flour – Contains 8-10% Gluten – Pastry flour, or cookie flour, is a type of soft wheat flour. They’re usually superior in the end result to all purpose flour for pastries, helping to produce a crunchy and delicate, rather than an overworked or tough crust.

Self-Rising Flour –Self-rising flour is flour which has been blended with salt and baking powder, so that the flour comes with its own leavening. This type of flour is commonly used in biscuits and cakes. Basically, the feature which distinguishes self-rising flour is the addition of leavening, which cuts a step out of food preparation.  If you have a recipe which requires self-rising flour and you don’t have any around, you will need to add salt and baking powder to the recipe for it to turn out right. You may also see recipes which require self-rising cake flour, a low-protein, lightweight flour which has been mixed with leavening. You can use regular cake flour with added leavening as a substitute in these cases.

Barley flour – Contains Some Gluten – The low gluten content may result in baked goods turning out different then wheat flour.  In yeast breads, barley flour can replace up to ¼ of the regular flour, and in quick breads, cookies, pancakes and other baked goods, it can be used to replace up to ½ of the flour called for by the recipe. Barley flour has a nutty flavor and it works best in pancakes,.

Buckwheat flour – Contains Some Gluten – Mixed flours with buckwheat included can be used in baking bread, muffins, and biscuits. For breads, no more than half of the total flour should be buckwheat, as it can have an impact on rising and dough performance. The rich flavor of buckwheat complements many foods, and can elevate a dish from the mundane to the interesting.  Inclusion of buckwheat flour will also make a dish more nutritious, since buckwheat is high in fiber, amino acids, protein, niacin, and vitamin B, among other things.  It is especially good in pancakes.

Oat flour – Contains Some Gluten – Used alone, baked goods will not rise or hold together; oat flour must be mixed with other flours in baking, whether you are attempting gluten free baking or just wanting to spice up conventional recipes.  Oat flour is specially good in quick breads and cookies, because it makes them moister, chewier and more crumbly.

Brown rice flour – Gluten Free – It can be used as a straight flour replacement in things like roux and other sauce thickeners. It can also be combined with other flours for baking bread, cookies, or pastries. Brown rice flour does not behave exactly like wheat, so replace up to ¼ of wheat flour in recipe and be prepared to experiment with proportions and grain mixtures. It also lends a strong, nutty flavor to food which may not always be desired. If you are concerned about this use regular rice flour, made from grains which have been hulled.  Since rice flour absorbs more moisture you may need to add more liquid to the recipe.

Millet flour – Gluten Free - This flour may be added to breads to reduce gluten content, or to produce lower carbohydrate bread.  Replace no more than 1/3 of wheat flour in recipes with Millet flour.    Millet flour is best used in alone pancake and tortilla recipe but for baking it needs to be mixed with binding agents such as xanthan gum to make up for the missing flour gluten. NOTE:  I have read that you should avoid millet flour if you have hypothyroidism as it has shown to slightly impair thyroid production, especially if you have more than couple servings of it a day.

Potato flour – Gluten Free – Potato flour can also be used in baked goods combined with another flour. For example, potato flour and rice flour can be used together for things like breads and cookies. Potato flour can also be combined with regular flour in breads. It tends to create a dense, moist crumb, which may be desirable in some baked products.  Replace up to 1/4 of any wheat flour in a recipe with this.  Substitute 5/8 cup potato flour for 1 cup all-purpose flour

Soy flour – Gluten Free – Soy flour is high protein flour with a nutty taste. It is not generally used on it’s own in recipes, but when combined with other flours is very successful as an alternative flour. It an be used to thicken recipes or added as a flavor enhancer. In baking increase the liquid in the recipe and reduce the oven temperature by 25 degrees

Quinoa flour – Gluten Free – The flavor of quinoa flour is very mild, with a hint of nuttiness. It is often combined with tapioca, potato starch, and sorghum to create a gluten-free baking mix.  This flour contains higher fat than all-purpose flour, so it tends to make baked goods moister.  Replace up to 1/2 of the wheat flour in the recipe with this flour.

Amaranth flour – Gluten Free – Higher in protein which makes a nutritious flour for baking.  Limit the amount of amaranth flour you use to no more than 1/3 of the total flour. Combine amaranth flour with other flours such as oat flour, barley flour, white rice flour, and soy flour.

Spelt flour – Contains Some Gluten – Tends to make baked goods heavier, so consider increasing the baking powder so that the product rises more.   Spelt is great for making pasta and bread.

Kamut flour – Contains Gluten – Works well in pasta and bread recipes and combined with other flours. This is best used for pancakes.

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Sweet Dreams!

I also spent most of the last couple days deep cleaning our house, which means moving around and rearranging furniture.  I also went through our filling cabinet and had to go through last couple years of collected paper statements and shredding and reorganizing.    I still need to go through our closet and our cloths, since I have a lot of stuff that no longer fit me (way too big to wear).

How do you balance your daily life and blogging everyday?  Do you ever feel the need that you need to take a couple days off to catch up with everything else?

* * * *

Cleanse Update:

I feel like a million bucks… have tons of energy and am loving everything I am eating.   One thing that I have noticed my belly is completely FLAT.   I am assuming that it is due to lack of gluten and dairy in my meals.   It would be interesting to see if it is as flat once I start adding them back to my diet.    These past couple days I ate tons of salad, quinoa and lightly steamed veggies.

* * * *

Saturday was our first official training for MS150.   There were 1000 riders who showed up for the first training and there were two route options… 24 or 37 miles.   Raymond and I both chose 37 miles and had a very good ride.   The weather was just perfect, 65° and overcast.   The last 9-10 miles we had a 10 mph headwind which slowed us quit a bit.    To prep for the ride the night before I had steamed veggies topped with quinoa and homemade tomato sauce.

After the ride we spent the afternoon catching up with our long list of “things to do” and was able to knock that down, which means a nice relaxing Saturday before a crazy work week.

Today is PANCAKE Sunday, and since I can’t have any while on the cleanse I made Raymond a batch, this photo bar far is my favorite pancake photo that I have taken so far.

This morning I had my very first Green Monster.   In my mix;

• 2 handfuls of spinach
• 1 frozen banana
• 7 strawberries
• 1 cup hemp milk
• 1 tbsp hemp seed

Personally I really enjoy my Green Juice in the AM, but I wanted to shake things up a bit this morning and give Green Monster a try.   I am thinking this is definitel a great alternative to my green juice while traveling.

I am off to take care of a few things and hopefully spend the rest of my day catching up with some reading.

* * * *

Set yourself ONE GOAL this week and try to achieve it… What would it be?

My goal this week is to find a better balance between my day to day happening and blogging.

Have a wonderful Sunday.

* * * *

I have now finished day 3 of the cleanse and I feel amazing.. mentally I am clear and sharp and physically I feel great. I definitely have more energy and have so far enjoyed the experience.     I am really enjoying the food and am amazed by how yummy some of these raw recipes taste.

Today’s Log 1/20/10:
Breakfast:
-  20 oz of Green Juice
- 1 Pear

Lunch:
- Cauliflower Salad w/ Orange-Walnut Dressing
- Moroccan Spiced Carrot Soup
- Chocolate Coconut Chew

Dinner:
- Quinoa w/ lightly steamed spinach & zucchini
- SM Salad topped with Raw Tahini Dressing
- Gelareh’s raw soft serve ;)

Supplements:
Probiotics, Multi Vitamin, Digestive Enzymes
Helped my body detox with dry brushing

Water:
72 ounces

Excercise:
50 Min Spinning

Mood:  8 (on scale of 1 – 10, 1=not so happy, 10=sing and dance out in the rain)

Energy: 8  (1 – 10, 1=back to bed, 10=Climbing Mt Everest)

Total Sleep Hrs: 6  hrs

Notes about my daily totals:

Light Green indicates that I am just below or just above daily recommended value depending on one or two of the 14 elements reported.

For example Sugar and Carbs are directly connected.  The RDA for Carbs is 45 – 65 % of daily caloric intake, and since I had a bit too much sugar my carbs will not turn dark green, but that’s ok because all of my sugar intake came from natural sources.. so I am not worried.

My total calories are light green because of my setting and really is an indication for me and my personal goals, otherwise 1,864 cal is perfect amount and this includes eating back my burnt calories from my workout this morning.

AND you guessed it… Dark Green means… I scored PERFECT in that category

* * * *

I will be reporting back for Jury Duty tomorrow morning, so I have packed similar to Tuesday, The Kind Diet, Real Simple, Lunch, Snacks and Water.

Sweet Dreams!

I started reading The Kind Diet this morning and I will defiantly write a review about it once I am done with the first section of the book.  The second part has all kinds of recipes which I can’t wait to give them a try.

* * * *

Before I give the my cleanse report for today I wanted to give you some information about dry brushing.

Skin is the largest organ in the human body, and guards the underlying muscles, bones, ligaments and internal organs.   Our skin is in contact with external environment therefore it plays a key role in protecting  our internal organs from pathogens and excessive water loss. Its other functions are insulation, temperature regulation, sensation, synthesis of vitamin D, and the protection of vitamin B folates.   Skin is one of the most important elimination organs, and is responsible for 1/4 of the body’s detoxification.     Simple techniques, such as dry brushing can help the skin with its elimination of toxins, improving the surface circulation, opening the pores, encouraging discharge of metabolic waste, and improving the ability to combat bacteria.

Benefits of Dry Skin Brushing;

• Tightens skin because of increased flow of blood due dry brushing.  Increasing the circulation to the skin can help lessen the appearance of cellulite.
• Helps digestion
• Stimulates circulation, encouraging body’s discharge of metabolic waste, which aids the lymphatic drainage of the entire body.   Removing these toxins allows our body to run more efficiently in all areas
• Removes dead skin layers, which can help improve skin texture and cell renewal
• Strengths immune system
• Improves exchange between cells
• Rejuvenates the nervous system by stimulating nerve endings in the skin.
• Eliminates clogged pores which helps skin to absorb nutrients.

You can read more about dry brushing and how to dry brush in the following sites;

Healing Tools

Josh Botanicals

* * * *

Day 2 of cleanse has gone great.   I went to the gym this morning and had a short but good workout.  Even though we went to bed sort of late and I woke up in the middle of the night I still felt really refreshed this morning when my alarm clock went off… Normally I look at the clock and think “you must be kidding I am still tired”.

Today’s Log 1/19/2010:
Breakfast:
-  20 oz of Green Juice
- 1 Pear

Lunch:
- Quinoa w/ lightly steamed veggies & raw veggies topped w/ raw tahini dressing
- Cashew Cookie Larabar  (so far my favorite)

Dinner:
- Cauliflower Salad w/ Orange-Walnut Dressing
- Moroccan Spiced Carrot Soup
- Hemp Milk

Supplements:
Probiotics, Multi Vitamin, Digestive Enzymes
Helped my body detox with dry brushing

Water:
68 ounces

Excercise:
20 min stairmaster + 10 min abs

Mood:  8 (on scale of 1 – 10, 1=not so happy, 10=sing and dance out in the rain)

Energy: 8  (1 – 10, 1=back to bed, 10=Climbing Mt Everest)

Total Sleep Hrs: 6  hrs

Notes about my daily total:

Fat is light red because the recommended daily allowance is 20-35%.  In my case 38% of my daily intake came from fats but they were all healthy fats, such as walnut & sesame oil

Vitamin A is white because I consumed way more than recommended daily allowance.    My green juice, salad, and the carrot soup all contain a very large amount of vitamin A.   Vitamin A is best absorbed through fat and oil in our diet.   It is believed that high dosage of synthetic Vitamin A is toxic as our body does not naturally eliminate it, but since most of my consumption was from natural sources the high value should be ok.

Vitamin A & Beta Carotene

• Helps build healthy eyes, required for growth and bone development
• Beta carotene, a provitamin the body converts into vitamin A, is a powerful antioxidant that has been celebrated for its possible ability to fight cancer
• Beta carotene is thought to play a role protecting cells, boosting the immune system and helping to keep the reproductive system healthy
• The recommended daily allowance (RDA) for adult men is 5000 IU, adult women is 4000 IU and kids 4-6 years 2500 IU, 7-10 years 3300 IU

Natural Sources:

• Carrots, Yams, Pumpkins, Spinach, Collards, Kale, Turnip Greens, Winter Squash, Beet Greens, Cabbage

To learn more about benefits of other vitamins and minerals and how to get them from natural sources read Do you know your Vitamin’s.

Sweet Dreams!

I have to say that one thing I love about this cleanse is that the menu is very flexible, meaning as long as I am eating clean and unprocessed food and staying within guidelines I can eat whatever mix or match that I desire….. so for dinner I made something that wasn’t on the recipe list… and whipped up a dressing that was similar to one in the packet but added my own touch to it

I felt great all day, after every meal I felt content and was completely ok with no snacking.

Today’s Log 1/18/2010:
Breakfast:
-  20 oz of Green Juice
- 1 cup of strawberries

Lunch:
- L Salad w/ Olive oil & fresh lemon juice
- Banana Bread Larabar

Dinner:
- Quinoa w/ lightly steamed veggies & raw veggies topped w/ raw tahini dressing
- Smoothie in a bowl

Supplements:
Probiotics, Multi Vitamin, Digestive Enzymes
Helped my body detox with dry brushing

Water:
88 ounces

Excercise:
30 min ET + 10 min abs

Mood:  7 (on scale of 1 – 10, 1=not so happy, 10=sing and dance out in the rain)

Energy: 7  (1 – 10, 1=back to bed, 10=Climbing Mt Everest)

Total Sleep Hrs: 6.5 hrs

Sweet Dreams!

I had packed us a couple banana and a Jocalat bar since we had a good hour drive to home.   For lunch I had Oats.

Oats & Pumpkin:

• 1/3 cup Rolled Oats
• 1 cup Hemp milk
• 1 banana
• 1 tbsp Almond Butter
• 1 tbsp Pumpkin butter
• 1 tbsp flax seed
• Pumpkin seed, raisins and dried cranberries
• Sprinkle of hemp seed

For dinner I made stuffed bell pepper with a side of red cabbage and carrot salad with 1/4 of an avocado.

* * * *

I slept for a good 10 hrs last night and felt amazing ALL day long, for breakfast I made us pancakes.  This is the 3rd Sunday in a row we have had pancakes for breakfast so I told Raymond that I am declaring Sundays as an official pancake day

My pancake was topped with banana, walnuts, Cinnamon and Syrup.

* * * *

We went and saw Sherlock Holm today, I thought it was ok, it was a bit too long and towards the end I was ready for it to be done.

Tomorrow is the FIRST day of CLEANSE. I am ready and am looking forward to 10 days of digestive rest.    I wanted to make a note about Friday’s log, and that is I picked a completly freak day to report here on my blog and that is on Friday I was running late and didn’t pack snacks for morning or afternoon and ended up eating not enough calories.  On daily basis I try to average 1500 – 1800 cals and definatly make suer that I get enough of Iron and Calcium.. my goal every day is to get all of the 14 boxes GREEN, but just like anyone else I have days that I may not meet my calcium or iron requirements or eat more or less than 1500-1800 cals.

This is a new week, Make yourself ONE goal that you want to achieve this week.  What would it be?

My goal for the week is to listen to my body and nourish it with the foods that I will be eating this week.

Sweet Dreams!

Have you ever wondered why we need sleep?  What is SLEEP?

Sleep is a down time for our body that allows the brain to cycle through various stages.  For example, some stages of sleep are to make us feel well rested and energetic in the morning, and there are stages that support brain functions such as learning and creating memories.

How much sleep do we need per 24 hrs?

• Newborns sleep between 16 – 18
• Children pre-k need about 10 – 12 hrs
• School aged kids and teens require 9 hrs
• Adults need 8-9 hrs (some say 7-8 hrs)

Facts:

• Cutting back by even 1 hour can make it tough to focus the next day and can slow your response time.
• People who chronically lack sleep are also more likely to become depressed.
• Studies find that the less people sleep, the more likely they are to be overweight, develop diabetes, and to prefer eating foods that are high in calories and carbohydrates.

Myths:

• You need less sleep as you get older
• You can train your body to function on less sleep

What are the effects of you cheating yourself from a quality sleep?

• Performance – Sleep is needed to think clearly, react quickly, and create memories.
• Mood – Insufficient sleep can make you irritable and is linked to poor behavior and trouble with relationships, especially among children and teens.
• Health – Deep sleep triggers more release of growth hormone, which fuels growth in children, and helps build muscle mass and repair cells and tissues in children and adults. Another type of hormone that also increases during sleep, works to fight various infections.

Stages of Sleep:

Stage 1 - Light sleep drifting in and out of sleep and can be awakened easily.  In this stage, the eyes move slowly and muscle activity slows. During this stage, many people experience sudden muscle contractions preceded by a sensation of falling.
Stage 2 - Eye movement stops and brain waves become slower with only an occasional burst of rapid brain waves.
Stage 3 -  Delta waves, extremely slow brain waives, are interspersed with smaller and faster waves.
Stage 4 - The brain produces delta waves almost exclusively.

Stage 3 & 4 are known as the deep sleep stages.  It is very difficult to wake someone up from a deep sleep, this is when children may have bed wetting, sleep walking or night terrors.

Needless to say, I will be going back to my old sleep schedule, which means we won’t be answering any phone calls past 8:30 PM in order to get ready for a good night of sleep.

Our Sadie is cut sleeping ALL the time… She doesn’t like my alarm clock going off at 4:30 AM and at about 8:30 PM she is in bed sleeping.   It looks like she knows quality sleep in important

* * * *

I went to spin class this morning and had an awesome workout.   I was a little annoyed though because there are people that come to class and save up couple of bikes for their friends who would be coming later, in my opinion saving bikes shouldn’t be allowed.   If that person wants to spin than they need to be in class on time to get a bike.  What do you think??

Dinner tonight was a yumelicious bowl of oats.   A good bowl of oats is like a good workout… I feel amazing after I am done…

Pumpkin Oats topped with Walnuts and Raisins

• 1/3 cup Rolled oats
• 1 cup Hemp milk
• dash of Cinnamon
• dash of Nutmeg
• 1 tbsp Almond Butter
• 1 tbsp Pumpkin Butter
• 1 Banana
• Sprinkle of Hemp Seeds
• Sprinkle of Raisins
• 1 tbsp Chopped Walnuts

Question:  Do you add the banana to the oats before you cook it? or do you add it after its been cooked?

I have tried cooking the banana in the oats and I have be honest.. I didn’t much care for it… and I had a pretty bad heartburn afterwards.

Sweet Dreams!