21-Day Detox Day 12: Nutless Vegan Pesto Sauce & Zucchini Noodles

Day 12 fell on a Sunday. My pain hadn't lessened much. I spent the rest of the weekend trying to figure out what may have caused the relapse. The pain made me more irratible and easily excitable and at the same more distant and aloof. It's amazing what our psyche does to deal with discomfort. I'm sure there is some sort of lesson in all this: something about patience and acceptance perhaps, so I try to stay as positive and keep reminding myself: "This to shall pass."

For breakfast I made myself a juice with my shake:

Carrot Tops & Licorice

3 carrots with 2 cups of carrot tops

2 celery stalks

1 Granny Smith

1 Fennel with tops

2 inch ginger

I finished my collard greens from the night before as well.

For lunch, I made a home made pesto sauce to have with spaghetti squash

Nutless Vegan Pesto Sauce

3 cups of basil leaves

1 lemon

3 tsp salt

1/2 olive oil

Process:

1. Peel lemon

2. add all ingredients into a Vitamix and blend until mostly smooth 

3. Enjoy with Zuchini Noodles or Spaghetti Squash

Then for dinner, I made some Zuchini Noodles and had that with leftover Grilled Coho from last night.

Zucchini Noodles

3 zucchini

2 tsp salt

Process:

1. Using a peeler, peel zuchini into thin strips

2. Once complete, sprinkle with salt, mix by hand and let sit for 1 hour

3. After an hour or so, put a pot of water to boil 

4. Once water has boiled, drop in Zuchini and cook for no more than 2 minutes

5. Drain and Enjoy!

Every Sunday, we go to my mother's house for dinner. She usually cooks up a feast fit for a Jewish holiday even it its just Sunday. I chose to bring my own meal to dinner this week to ensure that I was eating organic, sugar-free and grain-free food. Ever since I was diagnosed with my allergies, my mother has learned to cook wheat-free and dairy-free Russian/Jewish cuisine, so usually I don't really have to fret. 

The first thing my mom said when she saw me was: "You've lost weight." I have to say, I've weighed myself and I've lost maybe 1lb since I began the cleanse, but my clothes fit looser and I do feel lighter. Our weekly get together also usually includes a Facetime session with my grandparents who live in NYC. And the moment they saw me, the riot act started. I'm not exactly sure how they can tell via the video conference, but I guess they noticed I lost weight too. I got 20+ questions about what I'm doing and why. My grandmother was extremely worried about me based on my prior history. I had to calm them down and get the hubby to confirm that I was eating plenty of food and wasn't doing anything too crazy. My grandmother wasn't really convinced.

In the past, the attention I would be receive from others when I lost weight, especially during the height of my eating disorder was a drug. The elation I would feel from the recognition that I had succeeded on my quest towards perfection could not be matched by anything else. Nowadays, I don't have the same response. I'm not getting a thrill from knowing that because of my past, my grandparents are worried about my health. I'm not happy that's it's even a topic of discussion. No one exactly asked me about how I'm actually feeling, except for my step-father. I know that I can't hide from the attention I'm going to get as I cleanse my body of the toxins, but I know that I'm not focused on that attention this time. I know I'm not doing it so I can say I lost weight, I'm doing it so that I can be proud of helping myself get healthy.

August '12