Project 358: Days 123 - 133

Oh, how I adore the long, drawn-out evenings of Spring and Summer...

Day 123: Suspension

Day 124: Please see this post. Easy as pie.

Day 125: Why, Kathy Freston, WHY??

For the past twelve days, Stephen and I have been doing the Quantum Wellness Cleanse, which involves eliminating caffeine, alcohol, sugar, gluten, and animal products from your diet for a course of 21 days. It's based on a book by the same name written by Kathy Freston. We've done the cleanse once before, back in January of 2010, and had a great experience with it. After a few rough days, we started to feel better than we had in years. My energy increased, as did my patience. I felt less bloated, my skin looked clearer and brighter, and I was sleeping really, really well. The book opened my eyes to a world that I had previously tried to pretend didn't exist: the sick, sad world of animal agriculture; reading it was the turning point in my decision to stop eating meat. If you're really, really bored some night, you can read about my first cleanse in more detail, starting here.

This time around, we haven't been quite so disciplined. I have "cheated" on several occasions with gluten (oh, bread, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways...), caffeine (daily cup, or two, of decaf coffee, which still contains caffeine), and sugar (can't resist the dark chocolate, which, coincidentally, also contains caffeine). However, I haven't touched animal products, which is easy, or alcohol, which is not always so easy. I'm not feeling quite as magical as I did the first time we did the cleanse, but my energy is up, I'm feeling good, and I'm sleeping great, so I'm not going to waste any time beating myself up about the aforementioned infractions.

The day I took the photo above was our third day of the cleanse. Both times doing the cleanse, Day 3 has been the worst and hardest day. Normally, I'm not a huge coffee drinker. I mean I like it a lot and I drink it everyday, but not in crazy amounts. Maybe one or two cups a day. Even so, caffeine withdrawals are no joke. On Day 3, I had the worst headache, dull and all-consuming. I was cranky and irritable and so very tired. That evening, I picked up Kathy's book and read the chapter on caffeine. Reading her words, I instantly felt better and knew that I could make it through.

Day 126: Our Little Sugar Plum

After dropping Evan at school recently, Stephen and I took Elinor to lunch at Sugar Plum Vegan, a local cafe that serves incredible vegan comfort food and baked goods. A little Mommy/Daddy/Ellie date. Here (above) she is observing another child as we wait for our food on the front patio. (Looks like she might have inherited her mother's staring problem...)

Below is a picture of my lunch, the Midtown Bacon Cheeseburger. I think my favorite part of this meal was the fries, but the sandwich was pretty darn tasty too. After all of the salads and sauteed veggies I was eating at home, I started to crave something "heavy." This meal delivered.

Midtown Bacon Cheeseburger from Sugar Plum Vegan

Speaking of veggie burgers, I recently discovered a line of frozen veggie patties that completely knocked my socks off:

Day 127: Sunshine!!!

They're a bit pricey at 2 boxes for $7 at Whole Foods (on sale; only three burgers per box), but they are sooo good and the closest you're gonna get to a natural veggie burger at home without making your own. There are only five ingredients listed for the Original Style Sunshine Burger: Cooked brown rice, Ground raw sunflower seeds, Carrots, Herbs and sea salt. The Garden Herb version, pictured above, has a couple extra herbs and spices, as do the BBQ and Sante Fe flavors. They are all soy-free, gluten-free, all natural, and vegan. They're great on a bun or in a pita, topped with loads of veggies and your favorite sauce, or crumbled on top of a big ol' salad, as pictured in the photo above. As I mentioned before, I bought these from Whole Foods, which carries a wide selection of flavors. I have also seen Sunshine Burgers in the Natural Foods department of Raley's, but the selection is limited to just two flavors.

And now some photos of my kids:

Day 128: Get Some, Elinor!

Day 129: The Sweetest Thing

Day 130: Fail. No photo.

Day 131: Big Girl Bed

Day 132: Field Trip To Fairytale Town

And, finally, a gardening question: the leaves of my pepper plants are damaged (see below)...any idea who/what the culprit could be?

Day 133: Owie

Goodnight!