So I don’t want to get into the nitty gritty of the diet right now. I will touch on the different aspects of the diet and my experience with them as time goes on, so stay tuned! If you are interested in learning more about it, there is a lot of information on the internet. I did my research, but didn’t get a full grasp on what the Body Ecology Diet actually entailed until I read the book. Not going to lie, it is a little overwhelming! There are so many rules and different nuances that you need to follow… 80/20, acid/alkaline, food combining, cleansing…. Ahhhh!! As I read, I took notes in a notebook of all of the important points that I need to remember. This has really helped me as a quick reference guide, since the book is over 300 pages long with a lot of information!
I finished the book yesterday (I use the term finished loosely, I skimmed over some of the chapters, such as the one on colon cleansing- yikes!) I was so excited to get started that I made a shopping list off of the recommended products in the back of the book and headed out to Mother’s Market. I was so excited to find pretty much everything I needed! I bought quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat, spices, kefir, sea vegetables, and free range eggs. I also found cultured vegetables, which are a staple on this diet. If you don’t know what cultured vegetables are, you take cabbage and other vegetables and put them in the food processor. You then pack them in jars with a brine and “culture starter”, and let them sit at room temp for a week. During that time, all of the friendly bacteria start to proliferate and feed on the vegetables. Sounds gross, I know. But it is supposed to be super healthy and healing for my stomach, so I am going to eat it! Anyways, I wanted to try the cultured vegetables before I went through all the trouble to make them myself, so I’m glad Mother’s had some already prepared. I also hit Sprouts for some organic vegetables. Once I had all my supplies, I headed home to start preparing!
Word of advice: Planning is KEY! I probably should have created a meal plan for the week. I was so excited to get started, I didn’t really take the time to do that. Now I had a whole bunch of supplies, but no direction to go in.
I started with preparing the veggies. I figure if I have a bunch of clean, ready to use veggies that would be a good start! I ended up with a ton of shredded carrots and cabbage. Chopped broccoli and celery, kale, and daikon (my first experience with this veggie… it doesn’t really taste like much but has a nice crunch!), and diced red and white onion. I also cooked up some quinoa to have it on hand!
I decided to make a slaw with the carrots and cabbage that I could eat for a snack at work on Tuesday. I made dressing with red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard and garlic. Not that good.. why the heck didn’t I use one of the recipes from the book? They have some really good ones! I also made a big salad with lots of fresh veggies and a kefir and cucumber dressing. I took inspiration from a tzatziki sauce I made for Christmas… I put cucumber and garlic in the food processor with some dill. Blended in some kefir and a little bit of xanthan gum to thicken it up. It actually came out pretty good! For dinner I plan on doing quinoa with a cauliflower curry sauce that is in the book. I’m really excited since I love curry!
I figure this week I will take it day by day with the food prep and start planning out my meals for next week! I'm feeling great so far this morning, and I can't wait to see what this diet has in store for me!
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