21-Day Detox Day 9: Mashed Cauliflower

Last December, I was having a bit of a hard time. I was dealing with a lot of anxiety, specifically around my daughter's health. She was diagnosed with sleep apnea and at 2.5 years old, the ENT strongly recommended surgery. With every cold and tummy ache, I couldn't stop from feeling like the prognosis was dire. The stress of it made it really difficult to eat right and even take care of myself at times. Usually when I feel so undone, I contact Rachel Yellin for additional support. Rachel is a hypnotherapist who helped me while I was preparing my for my daughter's birth. During my session, Rachel suggested that much of my anxiety could be related to a chemical imbalance due to my diet and suggested that I look into the GAPS diet.

GAPS is a diet that was developed by Natasha-Campbell McBride, Russian-born neurologist and nutritionist who researched the link between nutrition and neurological illness, specifically her son's autism but also a slew of auto-immune conditions. Essentially, GAPS (Gut and Psychology Syndrome) centers around giving your gut a break and eating only easily digestible, non-allergenic foods that heal the digestive system. The diet is grain-free, sugar-free and involves taking large doses of potent probiotics to help kill off bad gut bacteria. At the time, the idea of cutting out sugar and grain from my diet seemed ridiculous, even if it was going to reduce my anxiety. And now on Day 9, I can't believe that I haven't had grains in 6 weeks and sugar for more than two. While, I'm not committing myself to any more than 21 days, I am feeling this is much more doable than I had imagined last December.

For breakfast, I had leftover juice from yesterday that I named Scary Green Monster.

For lunch, I made mashed potatoes (minus the potatoes, plus cauliflower). Cauliflower is a great alternative to potatoes, which are part of the nightshade family of vegetables together with tomatoes, eggplant and peppers. Nightshades have been shown to aggravate inflammatory conditions, especially arthritis and psoriasis. Cauliflower, on the other hand, has cancer fighting properties.

Mashed Cauliflower
Ingredients:
1/2 Head of Cauliflower
1 tbsp Ghee
2 tsp Spice House Ukrainian Village Spice

Process:
1. Put cauliflower into a pot, bring water to boil and cook until cauliflower is cooked
2. Using a potato masher or fork, mash cauliflower
3. Add Ghee and seasoning
4. Enjoy!

 For dinner, I made an awesome juice and used the pulp to saute with kale.

Juice for Thursdays
3 carrots
1 beet
1 lemon
3 cups spinach
2 springs parsley
2 springs mint
2 inch ginger

Kale, Pulp, and BBQ Chicken
Ingredients:
1 bunch Kale
1 cup juicer pulp from Juice for Thursdays
2 tbsp olive oil
BBQ Chicken from Detox Day 8
Salt to taste

Process:
1. Heat oil and saute pulp

2. Add Kale and saute for about 8 minutes or until Kale has darkened. Add salt.

3. Serve with BBQ Chicken & Sauerkraut
4. Enjoy!