Wild Rose D-tox, Day 11 & 12: Losing steam...

Some say that Day 3 or 4 are the hardest when you are dieting or on a detox. Any sort of limitation always gets you thinking more about exactly what you cannot have.

Lunch on day 11: Pan-fried tofu with African Chicken sauce and baby bok choy with garlic

But I say the hardest days are the final ones. After all the days of hard work, towards the end of it you start making excuses for little cheats, you say to yourself, "There's no harm if there is a little bit of vinegar on my salad, is there? The kitchen made a mistake, and I can't very well send the dish back just because I neglected to mention that my detox stipulates that I shouldn't eat it...?" Or you start getting very confident, and when your friend asks you if you can come to a wine tasting dinner that he's organising, you feel confident that you can sit there and watch everyone drink, talk about, and enjoy glass after glass of wine - "Sure! I've come this far, of course I'll be able to drink Perrier all night!"

Yeah. Right. That would be a big N-O. That's where I lost it last Friday night, sitting in Red Tavern with 5 other people and 5 bottles of wine. 

Wild Rose Detox, Day 9 & 10: African Chicken Stew for the soul

On Day 10, I wanted to try a new tasty recipe. After days of salad and salmon, salad and chicken, salad and salad, I needed something complex, with layers of flavour, something warm for this freezing cold weather, and something comforting. At the same time, it needed to be light, and more Section 2&3, less Section 1 (if you're wondering what I'm talking about, click here) . I came up with African Chicken Stew - vegetable based, with no cream or wine. I found a wonderful recipe that could be played with to adhere to the detox. The main building blocks are onions, tomatoes, chili and cumin. It's a stew that's so healthy, it smiles :-)

AFRICAN CHICKEN STEW

For 4 people, you'll need: 

One medium (1.3kg) chicken

4 tomatoes

4 large chilies

2 onions, finely chopped

4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

5 cm on ginger, finely chopped

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground black pepper

1 bay leaf (optional)

Salt, to taste

300ml water (or homemade chicken stock)

3 tbsp olive oil 

Wild Rose D-tox, Days 4,5,6,7 & 8: More slacking, less cooking

 恭喜发财！新年快乐！

身体健康！万事如意！

If I may take a little break from the matter at hand, I'd like to wish Happy Chinese New Year to everyone! May this lucky Year of the Dragon bring happiness and good fortune to you all. I've just been online to try and determine what sort of year this is going to be for me. Despite the fact that I'm half Chinese, I don't really know much about solar and lunar calendars, what my ba zi  element is - I only just found out there is such a thing as a ba zi element when I went online and googled my fortune...! 

If you, like me, are interested in a basic analysis of your fortune this year but the only thing you know is your zodiac sign, this is the website I was directed to. You can use this link to find out what your true element is, and whether it is weak or strong. I'm not sure in the slightest that it's actually accurate, but it turns out that this is supposed to be one of the best years for me, a weak yang Wood Rooster :-)

I must say I feel I've let you down a bit and have lost a bit of momentum in my creativity, in terms of the food that I've been preparing for this blog. I was hoping that I could come out with recipes that made you go "WOW!" every day, but some days, all I feel like eating are a simple salad or a piece of fruit.

Wild Rose Detox, Day 3 - Fish Day!

Breakfast: Carrot, Apple and Pear Juice...again

I know the detox recommends vegetable juices and not fruit juices, and since Day 1 I've been trying to find a happy medium between the two. To me, the idea of 'juicing' carrot, celery, tomatoes and lettuce and drinking it seems bizarre, and I wonder who came up with doing that in the first place!

Nonetheless, in the interests of experimentation (I've certainly become more open to trying since I started detoxing), I have upped my carrot intake. My Day 1 juice consisted of 2 carrots, 6 apples and 4 pears - I didn't drink it all, my family saw me juicing and after having my one glass, they drank the rest of it dry!

My juice today contained 4 carrots, 2 apples and 2 pears - it was still delightful. 5 carrots tomorrow!

Lunch: Baked Salmon fillet, quinoa and avocado salad

For lunch, I tried to recreate a dish that I've eaten at the Pure Restaurant in Soho - it was divine, and such a smart way to mix flavours and textures to make a really satisfying meal. I couldn't make it look as pretty as they do, but it certainly tasted just as good! Not bad for healthy food!

Ingredients needed:

1 salmon fillet

Quinoa 

Cherry tomatoes

Coriander or parsley

1/2 an avocado

1/2 a shallot

Olive Oil

1 whole lemon (half for the quinoa and salad dressing, half for the salmon)

Aluminium foil

Wild Rose Detox, Day 2: Is this detox for you?

Breakfast: Raspberry, soy milk and apple juice smoothie

Lunch: 'Autumn salad' with spinach, pumpkin, brussel sprouts and roast chicken in an olive oil, lemon and shallot dressing

Dinner: Another autumn salad (!) slightly modified by adding tomatoes and cajun-spiced chicken

Day 2 of the detox has been slightly more challenging that Day 1, and it leads me to recall some of difficulties involved! Even though this is not such a restrictive diet, it is quite difficult to maintain if you are not prepared. Tonight, I stared blankly at the supermarket shelves, waiting to be inspired about what I will eat tomorrow for lunch and dinner. You always have to be a couple of steps ahead, or else you risk falling off the wagon, or starving! Food can soon become quite boring when you eat the same thing for several meals in a row. Although it is certainly easier to cook up a large batch and eat it over 3-4 days, you will start to find it a bit tedious, and all of a sudden want something as crazy as a triple cheese meatlovers pizza, or something as simple as a slice of buttered toast with melted cheese. Yum...

What am I talking about?! Don't listen to me, I'm just feeling a bit sorry for myself because I've eaten two salads in a row. I'm feeling the need for a steak tomorrow - which is allowed, thank the heavens!

Anyway, I am determined to stay on track! It's a good idea to have a small motivation, a treat or a little present waiting for you at the end of two weeks of hard work - a carrot on a stick.  I have one, and every time I think that this is just too hard, I'm going to think of that carrot, shut up, and eat my quinoa.

Today, I experienced lethargy, headaches, and general lack of motivation. I remember having the same symptoms the last time I did this, so I'm not worried and I know it will pass in the next couple of days.

But it has made me think about the optimum conditions that are not necessary but certainly helpful for completing this detox easily. I am lucky because I work from home, and have the luxury to be able to put together a meal at lunch time, not having to prepare everything in a lunch box to take to work. Not that doing this is particularly difficult - I did the detox with my flatmate DW previously, and she had no problems really - in fact her colleagues started to become really intrigued in all the interesting food she brought to work every day!

Could this detox be for you? It could be! But to make life easier, it's better if you:

• have the time (and patience) to prepare and cook every evening. This usually involves making a larger meal that you can eat for lunch the following day, boiling a vegetable stock to use for tomorrows' soup, planning a menu and shopping for ingredients in advance. If you work very late and this doesn't fit into your usual hectic daily schedule, then perhaps wait for a long holiday to try this.

• have a microwave at work to heat up your meals

• prepare useful Tupperware for your soups and lunch meals, as well as large bottles so you can make enough of your smoothie or juice to drink throughout the day.

• live close to a gym where you can exercise those toxins out and have a little steam-room session (this is before you go home and carry out the first point!)

• work close to a bathroom in your office ... I am loathe to mention it, but you will find yourself running there several times a day!

• don't make many social plans during the detox, and use it as a time to rest, recuperate and spoil yourself. Have facials, go for massages (also good for releasing toxins!), have a manicure, go to yoga...seeing other people eat and drink will be bearable perhaps once or twice, but it is too tempting to cheat if you stick to your regular social life.

Until tomorrow! :-)

Exercise: 30 minutes on the elliptical machine
Feel-good activities: steam room at the gym
Weight: 55.5kg
How I feel in 3 words or phrases: distracted, headache-y, drained

Wild Rose Detox, Day 1: What you can and can't eat

Day 1 is over and I'm doing well so far! Below is a table I've made of the foods that I should be eating and shouldn't be eating, and have stuck it by my work computer and on my fridge at home. I'm finding it fun and helpful to highlight all of the items that I've used as ingredients, so I can try to control the amount of each that I'm eating. I also section off my plate into a pie, so to speak, and only have Section 1 Foods covering a small slice of it.

The Detox recommends that you eat 80% alkaline and neutral foods in your diet (Sections 2&3), and limit your intake of acid forming foods to 20% (Section 1). 

SECTION 1 (eat less than 20%) :  Protein/Acid forming foods
Most recommended	Acceptable during programme	Not recommended during programme
Fish	Beans (dried fresh beans)	Buttermilk
	Beef	Cheese (of any kind)
	Eggs (whole)	Seafood (shellfish)
	Grains **	Yoghurt
	Lamb
	Lentils
	Liver
	Nuts (except peanuts)
	Oatmeal
	Peas (dried) fresh peas
	Poultry
	Pork
	Prunes (cooked)
	Rhubarb (cooked)
	Rice (white)
	Seeds (i.e. sunflower, flax etc.)
	Soy beans
	Tofu (plain, unsweetened)
	Veal
	Wheatgerm

SECTION 2 (eat 80% or more) :  Starch Foods/Alkaline forming foods

Recommended Acceptable during programme Not recommended during programme Millet, buckwheat Almond milk (without sweeteners) Bananas Rice (Brown) Apples Currants Quinoa Apricots Dried fruit Almonds Berries (blueberries, raspberries etc.) Fruit juices Cherries Flour of any grains Lemons Grapes Peaches, pears, plums, nectarines Honey Popcorn Malt Potatoes (baked) Malt syrup Pumpkin (squash, yams, sweet potatoes) Melons-cantaloupe, honeydew etc. Sesame seeds Molasses Tahini Oranges Tomatoes*** Pasta  Pineapple Raisins Soups thickened with flour Tropical fruit SECTION 3 (eat 80% or more) :  Bulk forming foods/Neutral foods Recommended Acceptable during programme Not recommended during programme Chives Arugula Cottage cheese Garlic Artichokes Mushrooms Ginger Asparagus Onions Avocado Tea (herbal, without milk)* Beans (green) dried beans Water Beets or Beet tops Bok Choy Broccoli Brussel Sprouts Butter Cabbage/Carrots/Cauliflower Celery/collards/corn/chards Cucumbers Dandelion Eggplant/endive/escarole Herbs (for seasoning) Kale Kohlrabi Lettuce Mustard Greens Okra Oils except peanut oil **** Pasley, parsnips, peas (green) Peppermint Peppers (green, red, orange, yellow) Radiccio Radishes Rutabagas Seaweeds (kelp, nori etc.) Sorrel Spinach Sprouts Turnips Vegetable seasoning (without yeast!!) Watercress

Notes
*Coffee, green tea and herbal tea are acceptable, max. two cups a day
** Barley, kasha, bulgar, spelt, kamut, amaranth, oats, rye, wheat berries
*** Food to eat in moderation: Tomato or vegetable juice, salt
**** i.e. Olive oil, flax oil, sunflower oil
To be avoided: The golden rules
Breads
Flours or flour products (pasta, cakes, pancakes, crackers, flour in sauces or gravy
Dairy products (except butter)
Tropical fruits
All fermented foods (wine, beer, vinegar, soy sauce, black tea, miso)

Wild Rose Herbal D-tox - a quick introduction

After indulging rather extravagantly over the holiday season (i've only just worked off the last bit of fondue!)...

It's detox time! 

I have previously tried The Wild Rose Herbal D-tox program as well as the Master Cleanse, in an attempt to be healthy and lose weight while doing it. I must admit that I 'attempted' the Master Cleanse more to lose weight quickly rather than detoxify. I say 'attempt' because I found the water, lemon, paprika and maple syrup concoction utterly disgusting, and thus didn't drink enough of it. Even if I had managed it, and even though some swear by the master cleanse and do it 3-4 times a year (for up to two weeks each time!), I found it to be the most unhealthy way to be 'healthy'. Needless to say, I managed 3 days and promptly ended it one morning with a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice. I tell you, it was like mana from the gods, orange juice has never tasted so good!

I did the Wild Rose Herbal D-tox in January 2010 with great results, this time my priorities were in the right place - I'd eaten far too much during the Christmas season and was feeling lethargic, lazy, bloated and uncomfortable. After finishing 10 days I had to stop, (simply and surprisingly because I felt I was losing too much weight), but my skin was glowing, my hair was shinier than ever, and I just felt GOOD. DW very kindly brought a kit back for me from Vancouver this winter, and I have been looking forward to it since she returned!

Paris - bon appetit!

HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone! May 2012 bring you happiness and health with good friends, yummy food and excellent wine! A new year, a new blog post. I feel bad to have neglected this little passion of mine, I could blame it on a number of things - work, traveling, the holiday season, and that crazily addictive series of Game of Thrones books that I just cannot put down! I'm literally hiding my current book under the bed to write this. Many thanks to WS for the thumbs up on Saturday night, and encouraging me to get back on the wagon! All the while, I have been taking countless photos of food, and have lots of posts on the back-burner. But for now, I'll start with my latest adventure - Paris.

Looking down Place de la Concorde

Driving around L'Arc de Triomphe

Aaaaaaaah Paris! There are many, many, advantages of dating a Frenchman, but one on the top of my list has got to be having an excuse to visit his homeland. The food, the wine, the art, enjoying all the simple pleasures in life – such is the splendor of France. Never will you ever catch me complaining about taking a 12 hour flight to spend time with his family.

Bronze statue - St. Germain de Pres

At the Rodin museum with one of my favorite sculptural works of art 

At the Rodin museum

The Thinker in his garden

My 3 short days there were nothing short of culinary delightfulness that warmed the heart. I'm not dropping names like Robuchon, Ducasse, Gagnaire etc. I'm talking about good ol' homestyle cooking by Maman B, served with a soup spoon of family recipes, a cup of savoir faire, a huge dollop of love, and a pinch of butter. I have never been to a starred restaurant in Paris, despite their prolific existence, and yet I really don't have the desire or need to. After not seeing her son for half a year, his mother really pulls out all the stops - marinading meats and planning meals far in advance of our arrival.