Bergy Bits

We are now nearing the end of Day 7. Yesterday we went to Daren’s parents for dinner. His family (and especially his sister) kindly supported us in our D-tox and we had a full spread of yummy detox friendly food that we helped cook. Salmon, quinoa salad with sweet potatoes, green onions & pecans, carrot/kohlrabi slaw, green salad with avocado dressing and beans with smoked paprika & brown rice.

This morning we had a smoothie (green tea, wheatgrass, blueberries, raspberries, lemon juice, camelina oil, protein powder). Tonight’s dinner was spaghetti with kelp noodles! Kelp noodles are great (http://www.kelpnoodles.com/). They are made with seaweed (as the name suggests). They are quite firm but soften up when in contact with acidic food (like tomato sauce).

I don’t feel too horrible. I didn’t think about cookies and chocolate that much today. Daren is feeling a bit weak and a little photosensitive (???). Apparently headlights seemed brighter than usual tonight. Maybe his eyes are functioning better now than before!

Salmon with dill, lemon and garlic

Quinoa salad

Green salad and smoked paprika beans with brown rice

all ingredients were from we the north market

Day 4 is done and we are now on Day 5. Our smoothie yesterday was sweeter (green tea, wheatgrass, strawberries, cherries, camelina oil, protein powder) – we left out the spinach. For lunch I had scrambled egg with chives and kale which I ate wrapped up in iceberg lettuce. Later on I made a slaw like thing with the new shredder attachment I got on boxing day for my Kitchen Aid stand mixer. It worked great! Ingredients included shredded carrots and kolhrabi, chopped red pepper, grape tomatoes and chives, sesame seeds and sesame oil. Daren brought home falafel chips and hummus, which was an awesome surprise. Today we made zucchini/potato pancakes (shredded zucchini & potatoes, chopped red pepper, garlic, onions, quinoa flakes, eggs). They were pretty tasty.

I won’t lie. I want sugar. I dream of ketchup. And chocolate. I definitely miss sugar more than I miss dairy or wheat. Apparently, after a while, the sadness and craving is supposed to pass. I’m waiting for that to happen.

Carrot & Kohlrabi slaw.

Zucchini & potato pancakes frying

Zucchini & potato pancakes ready for eating.

To celebrate the first 12 days of 2013 we have decided to do the Wild Rose Herbal D-Tox. Basically it involves cutting out sugar, dairy and wheat for 12 days and taking some herbal supplements. Other than that you can pretty much eat whatever, with a few exceptions. Today is Day 1. So far we’ve had a smoothie (green tea, wheatgrass, soy protein powder, camelina oil, carrots, spinach, raspberries), rice cakes with almond butter and a whole bunch of popcorn with spicy camelina oil. If you haven’t heard of camelina oil, you should try it (http://threefarmers.ca/). It’s awesome. It’s high in omega-3, omega-6 and vitamin E, has a long shelf life and is heat tolerant to high temperatures, which makes it perfect for cooking (unlike flax oil). And it’s from Saskatchewan, which makes it even more awesome!

So, it’s been about 16 hours since midnight and we seem to have discovered something. We may be addicted to sugar. We both feel tired and one of us has a headache. Apparently “sugar-withdrawal” may happen, but I didn’t think it would happen this fast! We don’t eat a ton of sugar normally, but December was filled with more cookies and sweets than normal. Sugar also hides in all kinds of things – we were grocery shopping yesterday and I was surprised to find sugar in fish balls at T&T!

A few hours later…

Tonight we made a Moroccan chickpea and millet soup/stew thing and some indian quinoa. It was really tasty and filling. The stew had onions, garlic, chives, celery, kale, potatoes, millet, chickpeas, cumin, tumeric, star anise, nutmeg, salt, pepper, lemon slices and cilantro. The quinoa had cardamon pods, a bay leaf, carrots, cinnamon and salt. Normally we would put thai sweet chili sauce on a meal like this, but that’s out because of the sugar. Instead we put some chili carmelina oil on the quinoa, which was surprisingly good.

One day down, 11 to go! We’ll see how Daren does at work tomorrow surrounded by leftover christmas cookies and chocolates.