Detox: Is Over! Or is it?

{In my frantic state of packing and finishing work projects, I forgot to post this one last detox post before I left for Chile. Flashback for a minute and pretend it is still January}

As January comes to a close, it is time to move on from the detox. It was a challenge but for a week, I think you can do just about anything. I found a few recipes that are going to stay in my recipe box. I did not try every recipe on the detox list. Even reducing the list down to 2 soups, 2 sauces, and 3 juices, I felt a bit overwhelmed with the number of "new" recipes for a single week.

I have a few recommendations to help you have an easier detox week:

1. Prepare Ahead - do a lot of prep the week before starting the detox.

2. Cook & Freeze - you can make the broccoli and arugula soup weeks ahead of time and freeze it in single portions. this is also easy to do with the dark greens like chard and kale. just steam for 2-3 minutes, plunge into a bowl of ice water for 2-3 minutes, place in plastic freezer bags and you are done!

3. Reduce Recipes - make only 2 soups and 2 juices. I made the broccoli and arugula soup and the miso soup.

4. Snack - for me the diet worked better if I ate in smaller portions, similar to my normal eating routine. it helped to break the dinner into 2 servings and have one at 4 or 5p and then eat the other half at 7 or 8p. I also kept a gorp mixture of pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and raisins on hand just in case I needed to eat something.

5. Eat Your Greens - quite possibly the best thing about this detox was the emphasis on eating greens. progreens made their first appearance in my standard protein shake (frozen raspberry covers the grainy texture the best) and I think they are here to stay. greens are easy to add to any dinner and can be prepared by simply steaming them in a large sauce pan. you can add garlic or soy sauce to the water for a little flavor but they are just fine on their own. during detox week I had baby bok choy (pictured above), rainbow chard, black kale, and watercress.

I enjoyed the challenge of having a strict diet but know that a week was enough for me. I normally eat a salad for lunch and have a large serving of greens with dinner. As a consequence I did not experience the common increase in energy nor did I feel like the diet was a "shock" to my system. The hardest part of the detox was the lack of carbs. But by the time we got to days 6 and 7, dinner had grains and I was much happier.

Thanks readers for the comments during the detox week!