Days 7-9: Remove Sugar

“There is a saying in Tibetan, 'Tragedy should be utilized as a source of strength.' No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that's our real disaster.”

- Dalai Lama XIV

It's hard to feel hope, when the world seems to change drastically, and tragically, right in front of your eyes. But that is what I am doing today, and everyday since Monday with a renewed sense of gratitude for just how fragile life can be. It's time to dig down, deep down, and gather all of the 'hope' in my soul, and keep moving forward.

For those of you who follow closely, you may remember I was heading to the Red Sox game on Monday, Marathon Monday. I was planning to test out the Baked Oatmeal Cup recipe from Two Blue Lemons, but a key ingredient was missing from our fridge (unsweetened applesauce) so those came later in the week.

Instead, I relied on a trusty fallback for breakfast-on-the-go: a fruit smoothie! Monday's concoction included:

-2 bananas

-1 cup frozen organic mango (purchased in the freezer section of Hanafords)

-1 cup ice

-2 cups unsweetened Almond Milk

With our smoothies in hand, the fiance and I hopped the Downeaster for a quick trip down to Boston!

I really felt prepared to commit to my healthy living despite all the temptations that would await us. After all, I had successfully made it through a round of goodbye parties at work, and 2 weeks of no caffeine. How hard could a trip to Fenway be?

As it turns out it was HARD.

My day included:

-1/2 Fenway Frank

-2 light beers, and a mimosa

AND, for the disgusting grand finale:

- McDonalds medium french fries, and a McWrap (GROSS!)

I did manage to drink a lot of water, and even nibbled on my apple (stashed in my purse) during the 7th inning stretch. Our friend even commented that he had never seen anyone eat an apple at a baseball game.

So, there was that. I felt quite guilty at first, because I have been oh-so-committed to this cleanse. And of course, the first thing my honey asked was "are you going to include this on your blog?". My instinct was to say "NO!". But as the end of the day arrived, and I was soon desperate to run away from everything (the world, this cleanse, the tragedy unfolding around us), I realized that I need to be honest with myself, and honest with all of you. And so, I am taking it one step at a time.

Since Monday, I did end up making the Baked Oatmeal Cups:

I subbed Almond Milk for Whole Milk, and I think in doing so I made the batter way too wet. I might decrease the Almond Milk to 1 1/2 or 1 cup next time and see if I have better luck!

Too moist, or not, we have still be throwing them back over here, so the taste was not lost!

I also made Tassajara's Vegetables in Thai Red Curry, which was amazing, and has been serving as an incredible lunch leftover for two days now. As my Cleanse Coach Sarah says: cook once, eat twice.

So, for the real challenge, I have now been tasked with:

REMOVE THIS:

FOCUS ON THIS:

I have been a bit delinquent in actually ADDING root vegetables, but hope to try out a few great recipes this week:

Caramelized Winter Veggies with Polenta

Cissy's Roasted Dill Carrots

As for removing sugar, you would be amazed at how much easier that is to do once you eliminate processed and packaged foods. It does mean substituting for baking (unsweetened applesauce seems to do the sweet trick!), and reading the back of labels (even healthy organic labels) more closely.

Stay tuned as I tackle removing Meat and Soy, focusing on beans, beans BEANS!

I will consider it my own personal ode to Beantown.

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping."

-Mister Rogers

#BostonStrong

Namaste