Linnae Turns Vegan Today

Despite the rain today, its almost spring and that means spring vegetables. Thank goodness, because I am tired of citrus and root vegetables.

The farmer's market was full of greens on Wednesday.

Starting today, Linnae will become vegan, and that means I need to be ready with a ton of exciting recipes. The only problem: she doesn't have an oven, which means she is going to have to eat a lot of stews, sauteed things and raw things. Once or so a week, she is going to come over to my house (which has an oven) and make casseroles and cakes to take back with her.

I'm not a nutritionist, so these ideas are simply what I have researched and learned about detoxes. You need to do your own research before you chose to go on a detox diet or at least talk to your doctor.

To Linnae:

Turning vegan can be hard when your body is used to eating over processed and sugary foods like prepared foods. So, to help ease into the diet I suggest starting with a detox. A detox is really just a diet designed to remove toxins from your body. It doesn't require anything but focusing on eating simple meals that are filled with vegetables and minimal spices and oils. This is a big change from what you normally eat, but it will help you feel more energized, your skin will look great, and you will probably lose weight. There are lots of detox diet plans out there: master cleanse, juice diets, etc. I think a combination of raw food, lots of water and minimal grains is ideal. There are a few things to keep in mind, remember to drink at least 8 glasses of water a day. Keep count, its more then you normally drink I bet. You need to drink laxative tea at night. You aren't going to be getting a lot of fiber, and the more you, you know, go the less likely you are to have those toxins in your body.

For breakfast have a smoothie. Adding supplements, if you can afford them, boosts the vitamins and minerals you get in your smoothie. This should fill you up for awhile, an appropriate snack if you get hungry is 100% fruit juice or raw vegetables. A small amount of whole fruit is okay, but you don't want to eat that much sugar. For lunch, some soup that is mostly broth with vegetables is great. Don't eat bread with it though, instead, eat some more vegetables, prepared in a different way. For example, steamed broccoli with sesame seeds or carrots and hummus. You can eat a never ending supply of raw vegetables. They are good for you. The most important thing is to eat small portions throughout the day to keep your metabolism going. Don't eat unless your hungry.

Dinner introduces the grains. More steamed vegetables, on rice is a good choice. Avoid tofu, soy is one of the most mucus forming foods on the planet and won't help you detox. Beans are a good alternative to rice along with lentils or quinoa. You could eat salads throughout the day too, just stick with a light dressing.

I don't want you to be miserable during this detox, I mean, you should do only what your are comfortable with. We'll work on this together! The detox should last about 7 days, however, if you think that 3 or 4 days is more reasonable thats okay too. Don't work out while on the detox diet, you should take things slow and get plenty of sleep and try not to stress yourself out. I suggest you do some research on your own too.

After this, we'll start normal vegan food. It's a lot more interesting.