Chocolate Coconut Cashew Clusters

4 heaping tbs raw cashews
3 tbs unsweetened shredded coconut
2 squares Ghirardelli 82% dark chocolate (22 grams extra dark chocolate of choice)
1 tbs coconut oil
Drizzle of honey (or 2 dates to make it Vegan)
Pinch of salt

Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend till gritty texture. Transfer to refrigerator for at least 1 hour. This helps it set better. Remove and using spoon or ice cream scoop create balls of yumminess.

Sweet Potato Breakfast Pie

1 medium sweet potato, cooked and cool (3-4 ounces)
3 egg whites
1 tbs chia seeds
2 tbs unsweetened shredded coconut
1.5 tbs almond flour
Dash cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
Pinch salt

Preheat oven to 350F. Remove skin from sweet potato and mash flesh in a bowl. Combine remaining ingredients (make sure to mix very well so the egg incorporates and you don't get scrambles). You may add stevia if you want it more sweet, I opted for no sweeteners. In an oven safe bowl/ramekin, either spay with cooking spray or coat with coconut oil. Pour batter into ramekin and bake for 30min or until set. Let cool. It tastes even better chilled but if you don't have the patience for that wait time it's good hot too (because I had ZERO patience this morning and ate it hot. Kellen liked it warm too).

As I mentioned in previous posts I haven't been eating any sugar or using sweeteners so this was plenty sweet for me. However, if you like sweet then you can add some stevia or honey.

Finishing the 10 Day Cleanse

Yesterday was the final day of the 10 days Candida Cleanse. To recap, days 1-3 I had horrible headaches in the afternoon/evening. Days 4-5 I felt pretty good, my energy was a tad low but nothing I couldn't handle. Days 6-10 were NOT GOOD. I had horrible diarrhea, a couple headaches, extreme lethargy and mood swings. After doing some research and reading others' experiences my symptoms were not uncommon. But they were still none the less uncomfortable. I stopped taking the GX Assist (DoTerra Essential Oils Blend for liver detox) and began using a Activated Charcoal supplement to help with the diarrhea.

I'm slowly going to start implementing some foods back into my diet but will continue to eat primarily a real foods/processed free lifestyle. My birthday is coming up on Thursday and I want to be able to eat a little something off limits, but not too crazy. Sadly, I will not be eating any birthday cake that day. The one thing I will not be adding anytime soon is sugar. No sugar, no fruit, no honey, no sweeteners. There will be ONE exception to the rule, and that's Stevia. Stevia does not "feed" candida so it's ok to use, however, this will be used very sparingly. I must say, after 10 days of absolutely no sugar or sweeteners everything tastes very yummy. I had a PLAIN sweet potato yesterday and it tasted like heaven. Seriously, like a sweet potato pie! My vegetables are also tasty, I sprinkle just a small amount of salt on them while grilling and that's all they need. Eggs taste awesome, however, I'm still working on making my chicken yummy. I did try cooking a large batch of chicken breast in the crock pot with tomatoes and salt on low for hours, which definitely helped.

As for the workouts, they've been "meh". With all these toxins being dumped into and out of my body I've definitely felt a difference in the gym. I stuck to my workout plan, but everything seemed so much heavier and more exhausting. I had a hard time keeping up with my usual pace. Even friends in the gym who see me on a regular basis mentioned I wasn't acting like my energetic and spunky self. Phew, last week was a doozy.

This week I will continue to stick to my workout plan and begin slowly implementing more starchy carbs (potatoes, beans, quinoa, rice etc) back into my diet. I will still be leaving out dairy and gluten for now and of course no sugar. The one exception will be my birthday lunch at Otto's Italian in the Venetian. Not sure what I want but I will try not to stray too far as I don't think my tummy will permit.

Butternut Squash Hot Cereal

1/4 large butternut squash, cooked
3/4 cup almond meal
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
2 egg whites
Honey, unsweetened shredded coconut and Chia Seeds (optional)

Pour the almond milk into a small saucepan and bring to boil. Meanwhile, place the 1/4 cubed butternut squash in a food processor and blend until smooth (or you can mash it up in a bowl). After the milk comes to a boil, add in almond meal and butternut squash. Turn heat to medium and cook until it is thick. Turn heat to low and pour in egg whites stirring constantly to help thicken cereal and prevent any scrambles. Keep stirring until egg is cooked. Turn off heat and pour into two bowls, sprinkle with sea salt. I topped my cereal with chia seeds and shredded coconut. Kellen preferred his with a drizzle of honey.

Not the Time To Set A New PR

Wednesday I woke up very tired and lethargic. It was one of those days when I forced myself to get out of bed and go to the gym. Just before I arrived at Golds, I received a message from my husband that our short sale was finally approved! I was so happy and excited from the news that I got a sudden burst of energy and motivation to hit the weights HARD. It was leg day so I just kept throwing one plate after another onto the squat bar. I completely forgot that morning I woke up exhausted. Until set 5 when I realized my heart rate was high and it wasn't coming down even between sets. I began to slow down even though my motivation was high. My body was saying, "NOT TODAY!" I took a couple of longer breaks and tried to push myself on the hack squat but my legs started shaking and I began to feel light headed. Definitely my sign to slow down and take it easier. The rest of my day was exactly like my gym time. Every time I walked up the stairs my body screamed to take it slower, relax a little bit.

Thursday was no different. I ended up taking the day off from the gym and just spending the day with light cleaning around the house, I even took a nap. Reflecting on both Wednesday and Thursday, I really feel like my body is exhausted from the cleanse. I'm eating sufficient calories and I'm not overtraining, so I believe all the toxins from the "die off" are effecting my body processes.

I used to regularly see an acupuncturist in San Diego. Her name was Erin, and what she taught me has stuck with me since I saw her 4 years ago. Erin always believed you should listen to your body, back off when it was asking for rest. The way she explained it made so much sense to me. Sometimes Eastern Medicine just makes more sense. She always said that I needed to slow down, and listen more to my body. I was way to hard on myself, and she was right.

And speaking of white tongues, because that's one of the reasons I chose to do the cleanse. The first day I met with Erin she asked to look at my tongue. It seemed strange to me but I showed her. She smiled and said, "it looks great, nice and pink!" I'm currently working toward getting my tongue back to NICE AND PINK with this cleanse. And it's working. ;)

What The Heck Is That!?

So what the heck am I eating these days? (and go ahead and laugh at my heck, I picked it up the 7 years I lived in Utah) It's very similar to the Paleo diet but without fruit and without starches (potatoes). I've been having to get creative in my kitchen again so that I don't get bored eating the same things over and over. I do have my staples on this diet; eggs, turkey bacon, chicken, eggplant and almonds. I've been eating these everyday. I try to rotate the vegetables to keep things fun and flavorful. And boy have I ever used my salt shaker these last 5 days! Here are a couple of the pictures I've taken. I like things simple and fast. When I'm hungry I'm HANGRY so it's got to be quick. I've really been liking scrambles and my turkey bacon every morning. I was a oatmeal or quinoa for breakfast gal so giving up my carbs first thing in the morning was hard. Not to mention giving up that cup of black coffee! And great news, absolutely no headaches today!

INFECTED!

Like the blog entry title? Hahaha, I'll explain. So about 2 days after my previous blog entry it was brought to my attention that I may have a candida infection. I decided to research a little more into the subject and discovered I had many symptoms that were connected to candida. My biggest and most prevalent being recurring infections, headaches, digestive issues (diarrhea), heartburn and... The dreaded white tongue! Candida can become a problem when diet is poor, you're a smoker, antibiotics have been used (antibiotics kill both good and bad bacteria in your body), stress, and other various lifestyle factors. Considering I've been through 2 rounds of antibiotics in the last 3 months and my stress is through the roof I figure the likelihood of having an infection for me is high.

I will still be performing a cleanse but it will look a little different. The cleanse will be void of any grains, gluten, dairy, sugar (even fruit), legumes, caffeine and alcohol. All these can feed the candida, so by removing them you are "starving off" the yeast. Supplementation with DoTerra Essential Oils to help cleanse the liver and further detoxify will be added to my daily diet. A probiotic is also used daily to help repopulate my digestive system with the "good guys".

On Friday I began the diet and started off my day with an ancient Eastern Medicine colon cleanse. Upon waking I drank 1 quart warm purified water mixed with 2 tsp of Mediterranean Sea salt and consumed within 30 minutes. About an hour later the "cleanse" started. And boy was it a cleanse! This colon cleansing method is compared to the efficiency of a professional colonic, and I believe it. I won't go too much more into detail, because it quite TMI but if you're interested further go ahead and google it. ;)

Both Friday, Saturday, Sunday and today I've had sufficient energy. However, I have been experiencing "Candida Die Off" which has been unpleasant. Headaches are common because as the yeast dies it releases 79 different toxins into the body. Fridays headache was so bad by the evening that I went to bed at 8pm to try to sleep it off. Saturday was a little less severe, Sunday was almost non existent. By today (Monday), no headaches! Also, my tongue is a lot less white. I know I should have taken before and after pictures of my tongue but I didn't think of that until today when I noticed more pink.

I'll continue to keep you posted on my progress through my 10 day candida cleanse. So far so good. But I must admit I miss my sushi and coffee. Boo hoo!