Sunday, June 2, 2013

The Real Food Cleanse, Day One

Now that I'm back from Portland and caught up on sleep, I'm realizing that I might have put on a few pounds in Stumptown. My skinny jeans are, um, a little too skinny. So I'm ready to reset my eating habits and get back into doing more long runs. You know how I love a good whole foods-based cleanse to get my ass in line, right?

Well, a few months ago, I downloaded Amber Shea Crawley's e-book The Real Food Cleanse. It's a three-day, high-raw cleanse with no sugar, booze, grains, or processed stuff. I started the plan today, so I'll be posting pictures from all three days of the cleanse this week. Then I plan to spend Wednesday juice fasting until dinner. Juice fasting is not part of Amber's plan, but I have a juicing book that needs reviewing, so I figured I'd tack that on at the end.

Day one of the Real Food Cleanse was filled with delicious, wholesome meals that totally satisfied. I didn't even miss fake meat! Breakfast was this GIGANTIC Strawberry Blonde Bowl — one apple, one banana, 1 1/2 cups sliced strawberries, mixed with a tahini sauce. It made so much that I had to eat it out of a mixing bowl.


I ate this while watching Downton Abbey in my pj's. Then I got dressed and went for a 6.2-mile run. Protein powders aren't on Amber's cleanse plan, but I like to drink Vega after long runs because the high level of protein helps rebuild muscle. I typically drink my Vega in smoothie-form as a meal replacement, but today, I mixed the Vega One Vanilla Chai powder with water and drank it that way. Not as delicious. But not half bad.


Lunch was this Zingy Spring Mix Salad with Black Beans. It had a nutritional yeast-tahini dressing and avocado as well. I loved having the cooked beans in with the otherwise raw salad. It was more filling that way. Sometime totally raw food meals leave me hungry.


Each day on the Real Food Cleanse includes a dessert. But I don't eat dessert after dinner because I'm always too full. I'm a dessert in the mid-afternoon kind of gal. I had these Buttery Stuffed Dates and Blueberries while reading Damien Echols' Life After Death memoir this afternoon. The dates were stuffed with coconut butter, which has long been one of my fave desserts. Few things go better with dates than creamy coconut butter.


Dinner was massive and very filling — Cheese-Smothered Broccoli and Chickpeas. An ENTIRE HEAD of broccoli florets are steamed with a half-cup of chickpeas, and that's topped with a noochy cheese sauce.


One thing I'm loving about this cleanse is all the nutritional yeast and tahini. Raw and steamed veggies are all fine and good, but they're five million times better topped with nooch and tahini!

Now I'm about to start prepping my meals for tomorrow. Amber includes detailed lists of things you should do the night before to make meal prepping a breeze. See y'all then!

18 comments:

Rachel from The Vegan Mishmash said...

I love following your cleanses. And I agree that nooch and tahini make everything yummier.

ieatmodestmouse said...

please keep updating about this cleanse and how you feel after! i need something like this and it'd be nice to know if this is worth purchasing!

lysette said...

I really want to read Life After Death. I forgot it was out, Thanks!

Claire said...

I love a cleanse that includes MASSIVE amounts of food, so it doesn't feel like deprivation. Gonna have to throw some of these recipes into regular rotation :)

Anonymous said...

Sorry, I'm new here. What is "nooch"?

Dana Vickerson said...

cleanse sounds like a good idea! i put on 3 pounds on vacation (and possibly the two weeks before) so i am working on what to do to detox as well.

foodfeud said...

I love a good anytime cleanse, too. Especially when it warms up, like now.
Dates w. coconut butter sound really intense.

xvavaveganx said...

I've been eying Amber's cleanse for a little while now so I love that you are reviewing it! Day one looks delicious, especially that breakfast and coconut butter stuffed dates! I agree, you can't go wrong with nooch and tahini. Can't wait to hear how you feel after the cleanse.

Cat ~ The Verdant Life said...

Amber is such a smartypants. I love her recipes! Sorry I couldn't join you guys for the debauchery and indulgence at VVC! Looking forward to seeing the rest of the cleanse. :)

Unknown said...

This cleanse looks great, I am not surprised since Amber's recipes are delicious! Btw Anonymous, nooch is short for nutritional yeast :)

Anonymous said...

I love the simplicity of those stuffed dates. I used to not eat dates because they reminded me of these big ol' cockroaches that love the south, palmetto bugs I think they're called. But now I love dates. Nature's sugar.

These look like great whole foods type of meals.

Anonymous said...

I have Vegas coming in a few short weeks and was just discussing with the bff that we need to kick it into high gear. Once I see the rest of your review(and Im sure, based on day one, that itll be awesome) Im jumping on the bandwagon. I think it will get me to try new things too.. like dates that Im a little scared of.
Cheers to a body reboot :)

SarahByng said...

This looks like a perfect tasty day of food! x

Erika said...

Those dates and the avocado salad look scrumptious! And while I would hate to call injustice 'tasty,' I look forward to devouring Damien Echols' book soon, myself.

Bianca said...

Nooch is vegan-speak for nutritional yeast, Anonymous. :-)

jodye @ chocolate and chou fleur said...

Coconut butter stuffed dates sounds so amazing! i've been stuffing my dates with chocolate for the past couple months, but coconut butter would be a nice way to switch it up. I'll have to try it!

GlutenFreeHappyTummy said...

i LOVE downton abbey! i literally watch every season in about a 2 week binge! haha it was so great. on a food note, i love the coconut butter stuffed dates!

carolynlloyd said...

The date dessert and salad were two of my faves from the Cleanse! I need to do it again and get back in the raw-ish state of mind.