I proposed before January came, that I would follow the Honestly Healthy Detox menu week; and that I have been doing!
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| jan goals |
I came across Honestly Healthy during the summer of 2013 at an event. They provided some delicious food – which I couldn’t eat as I was in the middle of my juice cleanse!
I did however add their book to my Amazon wish list, and when I had a spare tenner I clicked ‘order’.
There it was – the book – proposing I eat alkaline, and basically turn vegetarian. Over the past couple of months, I’ve probably eaten more meat than I had all year but I didn’t even think twice.
I created a shopping list, copied and pasted it into Tesco Groceries online and set it to be delivered the first week of January.
Lesson Number One: Eating ‘healthy’ is not cheap.
Lesson Number Two: You shouldn’t reeeeeally buy so much fresh produce in one go!
My bedroom looks like Ian Beale’s market stall in Eastenders (a British soap opera).
Lesson Number Three: Regular supermarkets don’t stock certain items which are deemed speciality…
…so a browse on Holland & Barrett online filled in a couple of gaps, as did a trip to Whole Foods Market.
Lesson Number Four: Flaxseeds are also known as Linseeds
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| meals this week |
Lesson Number Five: Buckewheat groats are more commonly known as buckwheat kernels. Once we get over the hilarity of the word groat…
Lesson Number Six: This being healthy malarky takes a heck of a lot of planning and preparation! Two hours in the kitchen and all I have to show for it is some pancakes and a dip?!
Lesson Number Seven: Always read a recipe fully before attempting it. This then insures that a) you have all the ingredients b) you have completed all the necessary pre tasks such as soaking almonds for 4 hours…
…when will I learn!
Lesson Number Eight: Eating out is not so simple anymore. At the caribbean restaurant with my Mum I decided to have curry goat, rice and peas and oooo maybe a side too! …then I remembered I’m vegetarian so ended up with plantain and callaloo (a spinach like green vege). One thing I did notice was that my taste buds were excruciatingly sensitive to salt! I had barely used the substance over the past week so it was not surprising…
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| meals this week |
I do think there are some improvements that could be made to the book though:
Nutritional information should be included – anytime I wanted to find out I had to manually create the entire recipe in My Fitness Pal which seemed like a bad use of my time. I wanted to know to ensure I was consuming enough calories for me activity levels…
The recipes jump from making one serving, to 4 servings, to 4 – 6 servings, to 2 servings…it could be more consistent. I made the Butternut Squash Soup one evening for dinner and eat half of what I had made only to read that it was to serve 4 people! I calculated the calories and one of their servings would have been 200kcal! That made my dinner 400kcal which is pretty low!
Include a shopping list for the menu plans.
Use product names that are Universal / discuss where to source certain items. I had to go to 3 different suppliers…4 if I had gotten everything…I gave up on the black onion seeds!
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| more colourful food! |
More lessons.
Lesson Number Nine: Always be willing to try new foods and flavours! Who knew that fennel and pear would make a delicious soup?! …I’ve also hated mushrooms up until this week!
Lesson Number Ten: The satisfaction you get from baking your own bread, or mixing your own granola far outweighs the feeling of popping into the supermarket and buying those items!
…And how do I feel?!
I feel pretty good! With this and the BRITA Boost Challenge, the year is off to a great start! …I think my diet wasn’t so bad to start with though…I don’t drink a lot, I love coffee but can live without it and I only ever really binged on sweet stuff so I could live without that too!
I’ve still got a few recipes left to try in the detox menu…cooking for one means the food goes further so it lasts longer than a week! Then I will be experimenting with some of the other recipes in the book including the Sweet-Potato Chocolate Brownies!
And if there is one thing you can do to begin with, join me and try starting your day with hot water and fresh lemon juice – read this post to find out why!
So here’s to eating clean…
Have you started any eating plans in January? What’s been your favourite recipe so far?!
Elle
Lauren, like you I love starting my day with hot water and lemon. I also put Honey in it because it has great health benefits when it's organic and unrefined #supportmylocalfarmers! What my husband discovered that is simply amazing is putting a tea bag in the lemon honey water. If you have never tried that you need to it's incredible.
I'm gonna have to try the teabag thing too š The last few weeks I've been starting my day with apple cider vinegar in water but it isn't very appealing some mornings! lol x
Nice recap. Sounds like some lovely recipes. I always start my day with hot water and lemon- love it!
I'm going through a lot of lemons! haha! ..I am very fussy with food, so the Honestly Healthy ladies have done a great job with these recipes! š x