Clean Eating Detox: Day 9

We are starting the work week with Day 9 of our two-week clean eating challenge! For info on days 0-8, click here or use the "Clean Eats" label to the far right.

Each day of the challenge we receive breakfast, lunch, a daytime snack, dinner and a nighttime snack. Today we enjoyed the following foods:

"Sweet and savory" apple omelet at breakfast. This was good, but weird. I've never in my life had a "sweet omelet." It even had vanilla in it! It tasted alright and the texture was good but it was one of those mindwarp things that's just really hard to accept. I just couldn't bring my mind to come around to the idea of fruit not just with, but IN my eggs. It may have toed the line between sweet and savory too much - if it had been more bold in one direction or the other, say have had a drizzle of maple syrup (I know, clean eating yadda yadda) or cinnamon it would have been deliciously sweet or if it had featured sage (and in a "unclean world," sausage) it would've been perfectly savory like Thanksgiving dressing. This is just too middle-of-the-road, I guess.

Raw collard wraps with turkey meatballs, tomato, dijon mustard and avocado at lunch. Again, another weird idea; albeit this one worked better. I will warn you, smooshed up turkey meatballs look like cat food. But the "sandwich" as a whole worked. The collards could be a little bitter at times, but the flavors paired together really well including the almost shockingly vibrant mustard and was surprisingly filling and enjoyable. Be sure you cut your collards to size, otherwise you'll have bites with layers upon layers of collards and it will be chewy (and squeaky) and too bitter. I'll admit I had my doubts, but, yet again, Buzzfeed surprised me.

An afternoon snack of blackberries and Greek yogurt at snack time. GAH! Greek yogurt! AGAIN! ARRGHHHHH!! Those are my feelings on this snack from Hell. I was so lost in disgust and dread that I didn't even take a proper photo.

Original Buzzfeed photo

Fried quinoa with peas, mushrooms and scrambled eggs at dinnertime. If you enjoy vegetable stir fry and/or fried rice, you'll enjoy this dish. It is chock full of vegetables and every bite is crunching and popping with great fresh flavor. The apple cider vinegar adds a kick that sneaks up on you occasionally (or maybe I didn't stir well enough - be sure to do that) and the tamari brings that delicious soy sauce flavor and richness without excessive salt. The quinoa does give you a completely different texture from rice - more like a thick oatmeal - but it really breaks up the uber-fiber of the stir fry. And, this is a lesson I learned many years ago when I started making my own "Chinese food" (microwaved egg rolls with boil-in-bag rice), rice/stir fry just aren't the same without a few scrambled eggs!

A pear with raw almond butter at our evening snack. When we're done, we are going to post our top 10 (+-) recipes (and the worst, too) and this snack is one of my favorites. We ate it first on Day 1 - it's understated complexity blew me away then, and I'm still impressed.

Day 9 synopsis: I know that on many other diets, I'd complain about being starving or some whining over a stupid rule to only eating foods that end in -abbage, so I am pleasantly surprised (and a little uncomfortable with) how full and satisfied I am. I wasn't doing this diet to lose weight, but to achieve the awesomeness (and dance moves) claimed in the article. And I do feel good and I think I just might be losing weight. But even on diets we have to be mindful of our eating habits. I am sitting here almost nauseated at how full I am from dinner and/or from how much water I've drank today. Even if it's "diet food" you don't have to eat it all - we need to listen to our bodies and be willing to say "I'm full." 

Buzzfeed says "You're lookin' good!" And yes, we take selfies like this er'day.