oriental stir-unfry

I'd washed a pile of spinach to make a green smoothie, but when it came to lunchtime, I wanted to eat, not drink. So I made this instead. YUM!

I used the concept of stir-fried Chinese greens, which is one of my favourite things to eat when making oriental food at home. I say oriental as we always take a bit of Chinese, bit of Thai, bit of Japanese and hash it all together. In 'real' stir-fried greens you'd use pak choi, but this recipe, since it isn't cooked, recreates the original texture best with spinach.

ingredients:

200g (half a pound) of spinach, washed and dried

1 spring onion (green onion, scallion) finely chopped

1 small clove of garlic, finely chopped

half inch of ginger, finely chopped

2 teaspoons sesame oil (or other nutty flavoured oils)

splash tamari/soy sauce/nama shoyu

1 teaspoon honey (if you're true vegan, substitute with your favourite sweetener, but I'm not sure it will have the same effect.)

sprinkle of sunflower and sesame seeds

method:

Mix half of the oil, the garlic, ginger, tamari and honey and leave it to infuse for at least ten minutes (you can do this the day before for extra punch.)

Make sure the spinach is thoroughly dry. Drizzle the rest of the oil over the spinach and massage, with your hands, until the spinach darkens and becomes soft and glossy.

Add the chopped spring onions and seeds, then give the dressing a good mix or if you made it in a jar, then shake until homogenised and pour that over. Mix well.

Serve in rice bowls with chopsticks as a great oriental starter or side dish to some nori rolls.

spring clean: day 6, 7 & 8

progress report

We've been at this for a week. We're juicing sweet breakfast juices, sometimes having a bowl of fresh chopped fruit too, green smoothie for lunch and a green juice mid-afternoon, then another juice or a fairly simple raw dish for dinner. I've had a horrendous week of headaches and high temperatures, but I have had that "I'm invincible!" feeling too, from time to time, which is groovy. YummyHubby(tm) is having a salad at lunch too, sometimes partially cooked, with falafel, for instance. He's coping really well, much more so than a pure juicefeast, which he finds really tough. So although we're not currently juicefeasting really, we are following a really healthy, light regime, and it's doing us both good. 

I did say we'd do this for a week then step it up to just juices, so it's time to cut out the dinner salads, but I'm going to keep the smoothies going for a few more days, as it does make things so much easier. You don't get hungry, you're getting plenty of greens and they're a great carrier for all sorts of supplements.  Plus we're moving house this week, so we need that yummy banana energy.

daily consumption

We've had all sorts over the past few days, so this is just an average day as I can't think of the exact blends we've had.

1.5 pints peach passion fruit pear orange mango juice

1 pint spinach banana peach smoothie

1 pint celery cucumber mint pear juice

kale avocado olives pomegranate pepper onion salad

spring clean: day 5

still getting better

I'm mostly fixed, with a light nagging headache that comes back now and again. I'm quite tired too, but I suspect that's a side effect of all the painkillers I've been taking. I don't like taking conventional medicine but if I can't resolve it myself with the various natural remedies I'm comfortable with, then I can't see that I have a choice. But I do know that a month of juice will raise up my health foundations and I won't need to resort to chemical nasties to heal my head or skin or whatever it happens to be.

The office fruit box was surprisingly still full today, on new fruit box delivery day, so I helped out by clearing out all the mandarins and clementines and making a big jug of juice. They were past their best for eating but they made a delicious, slightly tart juice.

Today I made us some steamed veg for dinner. I was craving it, so I relented and had it. I was absolutely starving this afternoon and I really needed some solid food. Still, it's a huge leap from my comfort eating, overeating of late. I'll write more about that another day.

today's consumption

3 pints watermelon juice

1 pint spinach peach banana smoothie

1 pint mandarin juice

3 medjool dates

steamed vegetables with olive oil and garlic

Keep it juicy!

spring clean: day 4

Today has been so much better!

For breakfast we treated ourselves to a bowl of delicious strawberries that were too good to juice, followed by neat pineapple juice, which is our favourite. My headache has subsided. Yes, it's still clinging on for dear life there, but I can function like a normal person now. Hurray!

We're sticking to the mixed approach right now of juices, smoothies and some raw food, and in a couple of days we'll step it up again. 

I'm excited about the changes I'm about to start seeing. Just a few more days until I start to feel the benefits and I'm so looking forward to that.

today's consumption

bowl of strawberries

1 pint pineapple juice

1 pint pear mango spinach smoothie

2 pints orange juice

1 pint celery cucumber chinese leaf mint juice

Feeling juicy!

spring clean: day 2 & 3

headaches
Had a truly evil headache for two full days. Have taken lots of very strong painkillers as well as using lavender oil and trying to get plenty of rest.

I think this is a combination of stress and a touch of the bug that's going round, but just in case it's severe detox, I've swapped my dinner juice for a salad, to slow down detox.

the bearable lightness of being
I'd forgotten how much I like that empty stomach feeling. Is that odd? After months of overeating and comfort eating I've slipped so quickly into loving that delightfully light feeling of fully processed stomach contents!

consumption
Monday and Tuesday were almost identical:
water and herbal tea at regular intervals
1.5 pints carrot orange apple ginger juice
1 pint spinach banana mango pear smoothie
salad with lettuce, spring onions, olives, avocado, grated carrot, apple, tomatoes

I'm looking forward to getting through these first few tough days and getting into the swing of juicing. We had a massive fruit and veg delivery today and I'm so  looking forward to pineapple juice for breakfast, and a big green juice - I'm even ready to get face to face with my dreaded celery.

Keeping it juicy!

spring clean: day 1

daily consumption

green tea with jasmine

1 pint carrot orange apple peach ginger juice

1.5 pint pineapple strawberry mango passion fruit juice

1 pint spinach banana nectarine smoothie

ugli fruit (wow is that just gorgeous! so juicy!)

skipped dinner juice

YummyHubby wasn't well today so I played Florence Nightingale and went to bed early to keep him company. I did abandon him briefly to go to the supermarket and stock up for the next couple of days before we can get a grocery delivery.

Nothing else to share as yet.

spring clean

It's funny how things come together.

I've felt pulled towards lightening up my diet, getting some juices in, generally feeling like it's time to shake off the winter stodge.  I am pulled towards heavier foods and eat lots of hot food in winter.  As winter progresses I seem to erode all my good intentions and end up eating 100% cooked food. Of late I've turned to coffee to keep me awake and when that turned into a daily habit, accompanied more often than not by a slice of cake, that's when I knew it was time to slam the brakes on!

It seems that the rest of the raw world is feeling the same way. I do think it's a Spring thing. Over winter you store fat to keep you alive through times of scarcity. Come Spring it's extra, weighing you down, slowing you down, and you need rid of it. So around the globe people are cleansing through juices, smoothies, whatever feels right for where they are on their journey and what their body needs right now.

I've decided on a week of green smoothies and juices followed by just juice for the rest of the month of March. I'm open to continuing the juicefeast after that, but I'll play it by ear.

YummyHubby is joining in at least some. He may still have solids for lunch, but will have juices and smoothies with me at home.

We're about to move house, so being able to pack up the kitchen already, bar the juicing and smoothie-making equipment, will definitely make things easier! Our usual glass of wine to "christen" a new home that we move to will be replaced by a tall glass of OJ :)

goals, facts and figures:

I got on the scales this morning for the first time in months and was horrified to see that I've gained 20 pounds since last summer. The way my clothes fit backs this up, though. Everything's feeling a little snug. The smaller size I'd moved into last year has been relegated and the year before's jeans are back at the front of the wardrobe. Damn shame.

I've had some kind of eczema on my hand for a few weeks. It got very sore a while back starting to crack and bleed It's the worst I've ever had it. The natural remedies I tried didn't work, and the prescription cream I got hasn't fixed it either, so I'm hoping this juicefeast will work.

I stopped taking my twice-daily asthma medication Autumn last year, and now I carry, but don't need to use, a reliever. Of late I've felt I might need to start using it from time to time, so there's another reason to heal myself.

And last but not least I've had a lot of phlegm and mucous build up over winter. I cough a lot and have blocked sinuses. I want to clear of that out.

So that's where I'm starting from. Four specific things to tackle and an overall goal of feeling better, having mental clarity, physical energy, clearer skin. Man I love the results of juicefeasting. It's tough. Anyone who's tried it knows that. But the benefits are glorious.

BRING IT ON!