A little more about the food

The hardest part about shopping for the cleanse was trying to figure out what foods would replace what I currently eat.  In looking over my grocery purchases, I decided to take side by sides of what I bought for the cleanse versus what I usually eat.

From a financial standpoint this might be the hardest pill for me to swallow.  The 1/2 gallon of unsweetened soymilk was $4.29.  The gallon of skim milk was $2.19.   Our family goes through 2 gallons of milk a week with our current diet.  Assuming our whole family stayed made unsweetened soymilk a mainstain and we consumed as much as we do now this would be a cost difference of $17.16 versus $4.38 a week or $892.32 a year as opposed to $227.76.

This is a change I hope I can get on board with.  

I actually love oatmeal but this one just makes me sad because I love Honey Bunches of Oats even more : (

I don't enjoy the price difference but I don't forsee this being an issue for me.

This is another one I hope to get on board with.  Or even better I hope the cleanse inspires me to make homemade healthy marinara.

Another easy one to get on board with for me.

Dear Brown Rice Loaf~  I haven't even tasted you yet but I already dislike you.  I love my breads!  My mom always bought wheat bread when my sibling and I were kids.  I remember going to babysit and eating white bread at other people's houses thinking it was a treat.  Now as a mom, I realize this probably made the mom's I babysat for irate when they went to pack lunches on Monday morning and were mysteriously missing half a loaf of bread.  hahaha!  Don't take it personal Brown Rice Loaf.  My love for breads has been around for a long time!

My sister introduced me to Agave a couple of years ago.

In the bag is brown rice (nothing added).  It is such a healthier option and since I'm not a huge fan of the rice sides to begin with this should be easy to incorporate.

I like rice cakes : )

Coca-Cola is my kryptonite.  Undoubtedly it is the route of many of my extra pounds.

There are a few other things I should mention that I did not take pictures of.  I will be using flax to replace eggs in recipes.  This will be completely new to me.  I'll let you know how it goes.

Hummus and nutritional yeast are often used to substitute cheese in recipes.


Grocery shopping was a little overwhelming, however it provided me with great perspective.  I mentioned already that I am not a label reader, but it quickly became apparent that there were numerous ingredients that I knew nothing about.  And between my three shopping trips I texted my sister and called my mom a combined 14 times to ask whether certain ingredients were allowed.

Finally I want to leave you with a little label comparison...

Here's the two things I noted when looking at the labels of my beloved Honey Bunches of Oats compared to the Steel Cut Oats.  My Honey Bunches of Oats has 19 ingredients and Steel Cut Oats has one.  More importantly I don't know what several of those 19 ingredients are.  And secondly of the first five ingredients in my Honey Bunches of Oats, two of those are sugar : (

Preparing for the Cleanse

The cleanse doesn't begin on Day 1.  It begins days before with reading and grocery shopping.

I needed a starting place before grocery shopping and luckily I found this on Kelly Freston's website

Do you have a shopping list available for the cleanse?

Grocery List:
-Irish steel cut oats (for most people, this is tolerable insofar as gluten; unless you are particularly sensitive, ok to use), mixed grain hot cereals, gluten and sugar (maple, honey, etc.) free
-Rice cakes
-Flax crackers -Gluten free bread (vegan)
-Sweet potatoes, yams
-Grains: brown or wild rice, millet, quinoa, amaranth, corn, buckwheat
-Nuts: almonds, walnuts, cashews, soy nuts, macadamia nuts, filberts, etc.
-Seeds: sunflower, pumpkin, sesame
-Nut or seed butters: peanut butter, almond butter, tahini, cashew butter (unsweetened)
-Vegan butter (earth balance, soy garden)
-Vegan mayonnaise
-Non-dairy protein powder (Solaray strawberry is a tasty sugar free one), also others that are pea, rice, and soy based are good
-Beans and legumes: black beans, lentils, chickpeas, lima beans, adzuki beans, black-eyed peas, edamame, fava beans
-Tofu -Tempeh -Vegetarian meats: burgers, sausage patties, "meat crumbles", "chicken" patties (there are not a lot of faux meats that are gluten-free so do be sure to check)
-Artichoke/rice/quinoa pasta
-Pasta sauce (no sugar added)
-Vegetables: kale, broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, asparagus, brussel sprouts, zucchini, eggplant, collard greens, butternut, spaghetti, and acorn squash
-Mushrooms: shitake, hen of the woods, etc. (grilled, they make a great centerpiece for a meal)
-Salad "fixins": arugala, raddichio, endive, mixed greens, peppers, avocado, tomato, etc.
-Fruits: apples, cherries, peaches, blueberries, goji berries
-Lemons, limes for sparkling water cocktails. A splash of unsweetened pomegranate juice
-Coconut water
-Rooibos tea, herbal teas
-Rice, almond, hemp, soy milk (unsweetened)
- Stevia, agave nectar to sweeten smoothies, milks, cereals, etc.
-Extra virgin olive oil, expeller pressed organic canola, high-oleic versions of sunflower and safflower oils -Garlic, ginger, tamari, Himalayan crystal salt, pepper
-Flours to cook or bake with: bean, pea, soy, potato, buckwheat, tapioca, nut and seed, arrowroot
-Popcorn
-Corn chips
-Guacamole
-Hummus
-Soy cheese (no rennet or casein)
-Frozen spinach (to throw into smoothies… you won't even taste it!)
-Flax seed oil, freshly ground flax seeds
-Vegetarian stock for cooking
-Pre-prepared foods at health food stores are often tasty and nutritious. Visit the "raw" section and deli/salad bar area

Over a period of 3 days I spent $201.24 stocking my shelves and refrigerator with trips to three different markets.   I'm sure if I spent another week I could have brought down the bill with coupons and general knowledge of the most affordable places to buy certain foods.  My first trip was to our local grocery store, Smith's where I spent about half of my total.  My second trip was to Costco to stock up on bulk fruits and vegetables and spending about $50.  My final trip was to Whole Foods.  My apologies to Whole Foods but on the whole (pun intended) I am not a fan.  I was able to obtain some harder to find items like flax and nutritional yeast and for that I am thankful but otherwise it seems like a money trap.  For example, the whole raw cashews to be purchased in bulk are almost twice the price of my local grocery store.

Here it is in all it's glory.  My stock up to cleanse.  At the end of the journey I will be sure to share a grand total spent on groceries, what we wouldn't buy again, and what we have left over.

What is this?

Let me begin this blog with some honest disclaimers.  I am NOT a a health coach, nutritionist, fitness expert etc.  If anything I am quite the opposite.  I am a mom, wife, photographer, and friend who tries to eat healthy based on the knowledge I have gathered over time but regularly succumb to temptation.

What are my temptations?
Coca Cola (drinking at least one can a day)
Bread and Cheese combos- pizza, quesadillas, grilled cheese
Chocolate, particularly in combination with peanut butter- Reese's Peanut Butter Cups always make their way to my house for holidays

This blog is simply my journey on what I know of the 21 Day Quantum Wellness Cleanse.
www.kathyfreston.com/kathy_freston_intro_to_quantum_wellness_cleanse.html

DISCLAIMER:  I have not read the book specifically outlining the guidelines of this cleanse.  Most of my knowledge base for this cleanse comes from family members who have done the cleanse, or "their version of the cleanse."
Here is what I know...
The cleanse asks you to remove all meat and animal based products.
No dairy
No gluten
No added or refined sugars
No caffeine
No alcohol

The big but obvious question.
Why do you want to do the cleanse?
And the obvious answer is I want to lose weight.   I will not lie, losing weight is my main hope, wish and desire in partaking in this cleanse.  I don't like the number on the scale and within the last 8 months I have let myself go.  I can't share my number on the scale, because I'm just not comfortable with that yet.   However, I can tell you that according the CDC my BMI puts me at overweight, which is truly heartbreaking to me.

Some other reasons for doing the cleanse...

3 weeks ago I took up Crossfit.  Simply put I am working my ass off each time I go to Crossfit and I want my diet to support my hard work not be counter productive
I know that fruits and vegetables are healthy, but I am not a label reader.   90% of the time I am eating for taste and 10% of the time I am making an effort to think about what I am eating.
Let me clarify this.  It does not mean that 90% of the time I am eating junk and 10% I am eating healthy.  It means that 90% of the time I am picking foods that I like.. whole wheat bread, fruits, cereal, skippy peanut butter because I enjoy the taste of these foods. 10% of the time I opt for a salad instead of french fries or I order a salad instead of the burger I want.

For me it is time to gain a better understanding of what I am putting in my body and what effects those choices have.

Another reason for this cleanse is to hopefully find some healthy recipes and alternatives that I can incorporate into my daily diet.  I don't anticipate a desire to follow this diet for the rest of my life, but I hope it inspires healthy changes to last a lifetime.

Lastly, I want to kick my habit of drinking coca cola daily.  It's glaringly unhealthy.  And it's something I know I can do.  I did it when I was pregnant and nursing with each of my children.  I'm not trying to get pregnant so this time I want to kick the habit just for me instead of for me and baby.


My purpose in blogging about this journey is to have something to refer back to.  Should someone else stumble upon the blog who wants to start the cleanse, I hope they find healthy and delicious recipes and some real life rambling of what really happens to someone whose never done this before.