Happy New Year, everyone!
I must say, this was by far the best holiday season of my life: Hubby and the kiddos were all off for over two solid weeks. We enjoyed everything from baking cookies, to festive holiday parties, long hikes on the local trail (or, at least it felt long slogging through the cement-like mud trying to prod a 5-year-old along), singing Christmas carols in the car while driving around to see Christmas lights, an impromptu 11pm trip to Krispy Kreme for donuts, sleepovers for the kids, visits to botanical gardens (see above picture!), treks to museums and theme parks, and family game nights in front of the fireplace. And, we got to sleep in. I don’t think I’ve slept in til 9 since the last time I had the stomach flu! Honestly, this has been some of the best two weeks of my life.
Nonetheless, I was literally skipping up the driveway yesterday morning after the bus picked up the girls for school. I thrive on routines and after the much needed respite from school and work, it was nice to get back to our normal routine, hopefully more well-rested and bonded tighter as a family.
New Year Traditions
For the last several years, part of our routine has included starting off each New Year with a detox for about 6-8 weeks. It’s particularly helpful since I think I ate my weight in Christmas cookies over the break. (I’d like to claim that the extra 5 pounds I’m carrying around have a practical purpose—they keep me warm in the winter, right? But alas, that is not the case, and I’d like my skinny jeans to get back to fitting less like a particularly sadistic girdle and more like pants I can actually sit in whilst being able to breathe.)
The Detox Plan
When we detox, we follow a slightly stricter plant-based lifestyle than usual. That’s it. Nothing complicated. It still needs to be easy and practical, or else it will never work for us, and that’s where my Instant Pot comes into play. It makes it super simple to make healthy meals FAST.
So far, the best plan we’ve found for our family is loosely based on Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s plan as outlined in his book, Eat to Live. Page 216 in the book does a phenomenal job of laying out his plan in a simple and easy way. I’ve given his book as a gift to about a half dozen people! His plan is a bit stricter than ours, and it likely gets results faster. But, we’ve modified his to work for our family.
What We Eat:
- Raw Veggies, 1LB—We eat as many raw vegetables as we want, with the goal for adults being to eat 1lb of raw veggies each day. Believe it or not, this is easier than it sounds—raw carrots weigh a ton! I send Hubby a couple recycled plastic Preserve containers to work each day, each filled with different veggies—carrots, celery, red pepper slices, or cucumber slices along with a small container of hummus. These are his snacks throughout the day. The kids get a few in their lunch boxes, too. The girls are particularly partial to baby cucumber slices or celery with peanut butter. A loaded salad like my Fig and Avocado Greek Salad (but sans the cheese) is another great way to reach this goal.
- Cooked Veggies, 1LB—We eat as many as we want of these as well, once again, with the goal being to eat 1lb of cooked veggies. Like with the raw veggies, this is way easier than it sounds. Our lunch each day is a vegetable-based soup, containing beans or legumes and lots of veggies, like my Pumpkin Lentil Soup or my Vegan Taco Soup.
- Beans and Legumes, 1 cup—Beans and lentils are awesome because they are powerhouses of protein and fiber. And it’s super easy to get one cup of these gems: the Pumpkin Lentil Soup and Vegan Taco Soup for lunch and the Easy Peasy Pasta, and the Vegan Lentil Mac & Cheese will provide more than one cup of these superfoods while also providing lots of cooked veggies.
- Fresh Fruits, 4 servings—We eat as many fresh fruits as we want, with the goal being to eat at least 4 servings per day. This part is easy, and to me it’s what makes Dr. Fuhrman’s plan so palatable. I LOVE fruit. I don’t think I would survive well without it, and so many other weight-loss or detox plans don’t include fruit. We slice bananas onto our oatmeal each morning, snack on clementines, grapes and fuji apples throughout the day, and enjoy strawberries or blueberries with a bit of Coconut Maple Whipped Cream for dessert at night.
- Whole Grains and Starchy Vegetables, 1-2 servings—This is where it starts to get a little harder. We really try to limit our grains to 1-1.5 cups per day. We usually have a 1/2 cup of raw oatmeal in the morning loaded with lots of fruit and some almond milk. And sometimes we’ll have a handful of whole grain organic corn chips with our soup or salad or some sprouted grain bread.
- Nuts, Seeds and Nut Butters, 1-2 oz—Our whole household loves peanut butter, so it can be a bit difficult to limit this. Throughout the year, we tend to eat more peanut butter than we realize, but when we are detoxing, it forces us to step back and eat it more consciously. We still get a serving or two spread on bananas or celery sticks, and that’s enough.
What We DON’T Eat:
- Dairy
- Meat
- White Flour
- Refined Sugar
- Or anything artificial (colors, flavors, preservatives, etc.)
I won’t lie, those first couple of days while we are coming down off the dairy, meat and refined flour and sugar can be rough. The first year I tried this was the hardest. I was cranky and would have sold my soul for a cinnamon roll during that first week. But, amazingly, after a few days, the cravings stopped, and I found that my taste-buds actually changed. Everything tasted better and I didn’t need as much salt or sugar. My wallet also appreciated the decreased dairy, meat and junk-food consumption. That stuff is expensive! And skipping it is a great way to save some cash after the holidays.
Long Term Benefits
So, this post has gone on significantly longer than I intended. It grew legs and ran. I won’t bore anyone any longer with the details of our detox, but I will say that we have found it to be well worth the effort each year. It has helped Hubby to lose (and maintain) over 40lbs, has helped with my endometriosis pain, has made us happier, and has given us both significantly more energy and less brain fog. We sleep better, too. And, it helps me fit into those darn skinny jeans again!