Vegan 21-Day Sugar Detox: Day 18

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I accidentally fell asleep super early last night before posting about my Day 18 on the sugar detox. I'm really amazed how much my body has adapted to not eating as much. You may have noticed that I've been posting fewer snacks because I don't feel the need to graze all day, unlike the first week on the detox. Now I can go a full night not eating anything until breakfast, which was just an apple yesterday. 

Breakfast: Green Apple and Almond Butter with Cinnamon

I feel like it's been a while since I've had this, but really, it's only been just a few days. Oh how I've missed it!

Green apple and almond butter sprinkled with cinnamon

Green apple and almond butter sprinkled with cinnamon

Lunch: "Not Your Momma's Black Eyed Peas" Part 2

It took me 3 hours to eat this because I ate lunch at my desk at work. It always takes me forever to eat whenever I do that--at least it helps with the digestion!

Dinner: Spiralized Zucchini Pad Thai

Pad Thai using spiralized zucchini as noodles

Pad Thai using spiralized zucchini as noodles

I haven't made this dish since the previous detox, which was back in March. If you love peanut-butterlike sauces and Thai food, then you'll enjoy this one. 

Ingredients:

Using a wok, sauté minced garlic in about 2 tbsp coconut oil until the garlic is a very light golden brown. Add the tofu and sauté for about 1-2 minutes. While sautéing the tofu, generously drizzle it with coconut aminos. Place the cooked tofu in a bowl and set aside for later. Heat the remaining coconut oil in the wok on light-medium heat. Once it gets to a smoking point, add the spiralized zucchini and keep stirring to ensure that it's cooked evenly. After about a minute of cooking the zucchini, add the almond butter and seasonings. Keep tossing the zucchini until it's evenly coated with almond butter and the almond butter has melted. Taste and add more seasonings and coconut aminos to your liking. Just before turning off the stove, add the tofu to absorb some of the almond butter sauce. Remove from heat and sprinkle the dish with shredded carrots. You can cook the carrots, but I like it raw--just like how it's served with Pad Thai at Thai restaurants. 

About coconut aminos: 

Coconut aminos is a great and healthy alternative to soy sauce. Made from coconut tree sap, it's gluten-free, soy-free, mineral-rich and contains 17 naturally occurring amino acids. For those watching their sodium intake, coconut aminos has 73% less sodium (about 270 mg per tablespoon) than soy sauce. You can find it at health food stores like Rainbow Acres and Whole Foods.

Vegan 21-Day Sugar Detox: Day 17

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With just 4 days away from the end of my vegan sugar detox, I'm starting to feel the drudgery of cooking. I would say that that has probably been the biggest challenge on this detox--not being able to order takeout after a long and exhausting day. The temptation to just grab food at Veggie Grill is greater than the temptation of desserts, savory snacks and Starbucks hand-crafted lattes.

This usually results in late dinners because I don't like to jump right into the kitchen when I get home from work. But since I'm never completely stuffed, I don't feel so bad about eating late at night.

Breakfast: Diane Sanfilippo's Grain-Free Banola (Vegan Version)

Next time I go grocery shopping, I'm going to load up on bananas so I can double up on the ingredients for this recipe. I was so sad when I got down to the last bite. The 7-8 small servings the recipe yields just isn't enough.

Lunch: Diane Sanfilippo's Roasted Cauliflower Soup (Vegan Version)

As always, I ate this with quinoa to make the soup more filling. Either I'm just used to being hungry or this soup really kept me full up until dinner at around 10:30 PM. 

Dinner: "Not Your Momma's Black Eyed Peas" Part 2

Tonight's meal was more of a mix of whatever I had left in my refrigerator and pantry. 

Ingredients:

  • 3 celery stocks, chopped
  • 1 red bell pepper, diced
  • 2 1/4 cups of black eyed peas
  • Himalayan salt and pepper to taste
  • Paprika to taste
  • Onion powder to taste
  • 5 cloves of garlic, minced

Fill a pot with black eyed peas and cover with water. Boil for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and let it sit for 60-90 minutes. Drain and refill using 3 cups of water per 1 cup of black eyed peas (about 6 3/4 cups for this recipe). Bring to another boil, then partially cover, lower heat, and let it simmer for 60 minutes.

Add the garlic, vegetables and seasonings. Stir in pot until warm. Serve over quinoa and top off with a dollop of guacamole. 

Vegan 21-Day Sugar Detox: Day 10

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I woke up starving since I didn't eat much the day before. I didn't get a chance to have breakfast until I got to work, but at that point, I was already past the point of hunger. It was the first time I woke up super hungry, fought through it, and the hunger pangs just leveled out. I guess this was my body finally adapting to the sugar detox.

Breakfast: Green Apple with Almond Butter & Cinnamon

Like the Sunflower-Flax Seed and Almond Mix, this is a treat I look forward to eating every day. 

Lunch: "Not Your Momma's Black Eyed Peas"

Maybe it's because I hadn't eaten this in two days, but I thought this was delicious! I didn't even feel the need to add guacamole and salsa to it. 

Black eyed peas with vegetable and quinoa medley

Black eyed peas with vegetable and quinoa medley

Snack: Hemp, Sunflower, Flax Seed and Almond Mix

I switched things up a little and threw in some roasted flax seeds. For such tiny seeds, they surprisingly made a pretty big difference in terms of flavor and texture. I seasoned it with the usual Himalayan salt, onion powder and garlic powder. 

Dinner: Spiralized Zucchini with Mama Jess Bean Good Organic Bean Pasta Sauce

My boyfriend discovered this amazingly rich and healthy pasta sauce at Rainbow Acres, our favorite local health food store. It's called Mama Jess Bean Good and it combines organic tomato puree with organic white bean puree. Genius!! The beans give it a thick and creamy texture, but more importantly, they deliver a nutritional punch: protein, fiber and complex carbs. Best of all, the sauce contains ingredients allowed on the detox. 

Vegan 21-Day Sugar Detox: Day 7

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Day 7 was a little sweeter, not just because it was Saturday, but because Week 1 on the Vegan 21-Day Sugar Detox was almost over! 

Breakfast: Vegetable Coconut Milk Curry with Quinoa

This is something my boyfriend cooked the other night. It is deeeelicious! In my rush to eat it though, I completely forgot to snap a pic.

Ingredients: 

  • 2 cans of organic unsweetened coconut milk
  • 1 baked Japanese sweet potato
  • 4-5 cloves of garlic
  • 1 bell pepper
  • 1/2 bushel of organic asparagus
  • 1/2 bag of Trader Joe's Power to the Greens (organic baby kale, chard and spinach)
  • 1/2 container of Trader Joe's organic sprouted tofu
  • 1/2 cup of diced onions
  • 1 tbsp of curry powder (season to taste)
  • 1/2 tbsp of turmeric powder (season to taste)
  • Himalayan salt & pepper to taste

Chop up the bell pepper, onions, sweet potato and asparagus. Pour the 2 cans of coconut milk into a pot over light heat and simmer. Add seasonings along with garlic, onions, asparagus, bell pepper and mixed greens. Add the tofu and already-baked sweet potato at the very end--just enough to heat them up. 

Lunch: "Not Your Momma's Black Eyed Peas Soup"

This dish is once again courtesy of my boyfriend, who's also doing the detox with me. He also named the dish.

Ingredients:

  • 1 bag of black eyed peas
  • 1/2 bushel of asparagus
  • 1 red bell pepper
  • 1/2 bag of Trader Joe's Power to the Greens (organic baby kale, chard and spinach)
  • 1/2 cup of diced onions
  • Himalayan salt & pepper
  • Garlic powder

Boil the black eyed peas for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and let it sit for 60-90 minutes. Drain the water. Add 3 cups of water per 1 cup of beans. Bring to a boil. Then let simmer for 1 hour. Add the vegetables long enough to heat them up. Season with salt, pepper and garlic powder to taste.

Dinner: Shaved Fennel & "Freekehlicious Salad"

Normally my social life is nonexistent on sugar detoxes since I'm limited on what I can eat and drink. So I usually end up staying home. This time, I made an exception for my friend's birthday dinner with our other college friends. It's hard to get our schedules lined up since two of them have young kids. We celebrated at Love & Salt in Manhattan Beach, California. 

As a first-time vegan dining in a meat-centric restaurant, I was pretty horrified by their adventurous menu--an animal lover's nightmare. It featured things like duck egg wood-oven pizza, corned lamb tongue panini and rabbit porcheta. I thanked my friends for not getting the roasted glazed pig's head ... a meal breaker. I half-jokingly said that if they had ordered it, I probably would've eaten my food outside. 

I went with two side dishes--the only ones closest to the YES foods on the detox (I didn't want to be that person who just orders water with lemon). I got the shaved fennel, minus the parmesan, which resulted in an overpowering taste of lemon and a hint of black pepper. It looked pretty bland and boring without the texture of the parmesan. The "Freekehlicious Salad" was surprisingly really good. It featured 5 grains, 5 herbs, shaved radish, black currants and toasted hazelnuts. I thought the black currants and toasted hazelnuts really made the dish. I know black currants aren't allowed on the detox but I figured I've been really good so far, and it wouldn't hurt to 'live a little' and enjoy one dish as it was meant to be eaten. I'm glad I chose to do so because even though I couldn't partake in the chocolate- and lemon-cream-filled sugar donuts, the Freekehlicious Salad left me fully satisfied.

Love & Salt's Freekehlicious Salad

Love & Salt's Freekehlicious Salad