metabolic cleanse menu #5: taste bud food

Discovered a neighbourhood gem today: Taste Bud Food. It's a friendly storefront with a chef cooking healthy "ready-to-heat" meals. Doesn't get much better than that! How's this for a cleanse-friendly menu?

Metabolic cleanse dinner menu #5

Chickpea & Carrot Salad + Yellow Roasted Beets & Walnut Salad

~I don't think I was supposed to eat walnuts...~

Grilled Salmon with Quinoa Pilaf and Braised Fennel
~Hope there wasn't any butter in this!~

Day 6 is going to be tough. I go to school in the afternoon and evening so my dinner meal choices are incredibly limited. I may have to forfeit the cleanse for an all-natural protein granola bar, which I will eat for during my dinner break. yum.

metabolic cleanse menu #4: grilled chicken with brown rice pasta

Earlier today, I was trying to follow a Bob Lutz Twitter chat at work. Shortly after it finished, this tweet from Canadian culinary personality Lucy Waverman caught my eye:

Butter 2 slices challah on both sides. Add 1/2 cup taleggio, 6 thin slices crisp apple,1T chutney.Fry slowly on each side pressing down.#yum

I almost stopped my cleanse on the spot. Luckily Maria from Fresh Eats was nearby. She talked me out of aborting the cleanse during a moment of severe weakness. A few hours later, I was still planning my "quit" but my Pilates instructor half-told me to keep on truckin'. {wow! just realized how chi chi this all sounds}

So, here we are. I've now completed four days of detox. I feel great on the inside but I've become completely ambivalent about food. I don't really care what I eat, nor do I really enjoy it. And, that's bothering me a lot! The only thing I'm craving is to start caring again.

Metabolic cleanse dinner menu #4

Red leaf lettuce and grape tomato salad with balsamic vinaigrette

Grilled chicken on top of brown rice spaghetti and store-bought tomato sauce

Big unknown: Will I make it through detox day #5?

metabolic cleanse menu #2: salmon with green beans and pesto

It's Monday at 7:50 p.m. and I think I survived "day two" of the cleanse.

Metabolic cleanse dinner menu #2:

Salad

Roasted salmon with green beans and pesto

No wine

The salmon recipe is from Jamie's Food Revolution and it took all of five minutes to prep before popping it in the oven. Unfortunately, the store-bought pesto contained a little sugar (it was one of the last ingredients listed, I swear)!

Before

After

You can find the recipe here. And, if you're not on a cleanse, take Jamie's advice and serve with some roasted fingerling potatoes. I'm imagining it right now...and it tastes good!

metabolic cleanse menu #1: roast chicken

On Sunday, I started a metabolic cleanse. It was recommended by my naturopathic doctor who basically said that detoxing my liver and gastrointestinal tract would build a strong foundation for my immune system. Apparently, this will help me not get a million colds this winter (I'm hoping that it will also prevent swine flu). So, for the next seven days I'll be drinking icky rice and pea protein shakes and eliminating alcohol, beef, dairy and wheat from my diet.

Metabolic cleanse dinner menu #1

Homemade hummus and Mary's Seed Crackers

Roast chicken

Grilled vegetables with balsamic basil dressing

Tossed salad

No wine

Betcha can't wait to hear about menu #2...