pre-toxing
January 9, 2011 As I mentioned the other day, I’ll be started a detox on Monday. I’ll explain more then and throughout the rest of the week, but here are some basic reasons/changes/etc.
- I feel bloated 90% of the time
- My sugar tolerance has gone up a bit
- I can tell certain foods effect how my stomach feels, but am not sure which ones exactly
- Will be eliminating
- soy
- dairy
- wheat
- coffee/alcohol
- refined sugars
- Will be reducing intake of
- sugar
- salt
I’m going to start by doing this for 7 days, but hope to continue with some of it for a few weeks. This is in no way a diet. I just feel like my digestion should be better than what it is! I won’t be doing any, ahem, “cleanses,” but will be practicing a few things like dry brushing, to help rid my body of toxins.
I will be exercising and eating just as I normally do. I know that a lot of people experience major body changes within the first few days because it can be a shock to eliminate the above food groups. My diet doesn’t rely on any of those things, so I’m hoping to not feel sluggish throughout the week. For the past few days, I’ve also been sort of “pre-toxing.” I made that up! :) I’ve been trying to eat a little more raw and a little less of the foods I’m going to cut out, to help ease into things.
Nut butters will still be a must, however, unsweetened + unsalted!
I absolutely love the plain, unsalted almond butter that you grind in the machine at Whole Foods. I tried to recreate that at home, the best I could.
I threw in some fresh ground flax meal as well.
Chunky Almond Butter
- 2c raw almonds
- 1/3c ground flax meal
- Process almonds until somewhat powdery but still crunchy.
- Take out about a 1/2c scoop of the processed almonds.
- Add in 1/3c pre-ground flax meal.
- Process until smooth. Scrape sides as necessary. This took a good 15min and it was very thick at the end, but it did smooth out.
- Scrape into a bowl and stir in the 1/2c of processed almonds. This really thickens up the mixture, so it’s important that your AB is smooth before adding them in.
*This needs to be stored in the fridge, because ground flax will go rancid very easily.
*The 2c amount of nuts works perfectly in my 11c food processor. If yours is smaller, lower the amount.
Definitely not an extremely smooth nut butter, but still spreadable. If you’re having a hard time spreading it, just scoop some in a small bowl and microwave for 10-15sec. You could also add a splash of unsweetened almond milk, then microwave + stir.
{thick}
Since I’ll be cutting out sugar as much as possible, I still need to have something naturally sweet in my life!
Helloooo coconut butter!! If you’ve never experienced coconut butter, and you like coconut, it’s a must.
All you have to do is process, unsweetened, dried, shredded coconut and about 8min later, you have smooth + creamy coconut butter. It solidifies at room temp, but if you pop it in the micro or heat on the stove, it’s nice and smooth..
I haven’t made this in far too long. It’s great to top on things like:
- oatmeal
- pb + j
- sweet potatoes
- winter squash
- apples/bananas
- carrots
- etc!
Catch you guys Monday!!!
Ashley
Recipes, almonds, coconut, detox, flaxseed meal, nut butter
Reader Comments (86)
guess who got a food processor!!??!!? and I will be making YOUR nut butters because they sound the absolute BEST!
I have a HUGE PAIL of coconut flakes that I bought with the express purpose of making my own coconut butter. I have coconut oil, water, milk, but now I plan to have...butter! The only problem is that I have a Vita, not a food proc. And I have heard it doesnt work in the Vita very well...we shall see about that..soon...
Good luck with your detox. You were smart to "pretox". LEss shocking to your system that way...good call!
I tried making coconut butter once but it took like 40 minutes in my food processor haha, Vita ruins all other machines ;). I do want to make it again though bc in Holland it's virtually impossible to come by coconut butter, as opposed to coconut oil.
Man, I need to detox the sugar out of my life. Too many gingerbread lattes! Good luck! I'm eager to see how you feel.
This sounds just like me. Please post how it goes with some recipes. Good luck!
I usually don't go for any type of cleanse or food elimination things, but my stomach and digestion has also been "not right" lately so I am really anxious to see how this goes for you. I'd love to see how you do it and what you eat on a daily basis!
Good luck Ashley! I already don't eat dairy/gluten/corn products but sometimes I still feel a little sluggish/bloated - I don't eat sugar and the only soy I get is from tofu... I am a big coffee drinker. I'm afraid to go without it! :)
I look forward to see how you go about this, because I'm usually not for the whole detox, cleanse thing. Yours seems different and more geared towards you, which is great! Mmh I love coconut butter and it is so easy to make! I'm almost out!! Yikes!
Good luck with the detox, i'll be interested to hear about it!
Hi Avery, not Ashley, but I would like to answer your question... making coconut butter in the Vitamix works perfectly! I don't have a food processor and make my coconut butter (and nut butters) on the Vita. I simply put the coconut in there and blend away. Keep shoving it down with the tamper until it becomes a liquidy paste.
It is the most delicious thing, I love my homemade coconut butter, it is the best!!
Ana
Good luck with the detox!
I have a question though. Are you going to eliminate all of these things at once? Or one at a time?
It makes sense to eliminate the sugar and salt along with something else, but if you eliminate soy, and wheat, and dairy all at once you will not be able to find out which one is causing you trouble. Just a thought though, usually with elimination diets you do one food at a time to be able to compare how you feel without it vs while eating it.
Ana
Well as you know I am a big fan of detoxing, and I think you'll feel great afterwards! Good luck with it!
And I really like the idea of "pre-toxing". I'm sure it will make it much easier to get into the detox!!
xo
Nice, and totally legit! When you say "process" the coconut, why do you mean?
I can not wait to hear how it goes!
I will be really interested to hear how this goes for you. Will you re-introduce the foods one at a time to see which is the culprit?
That's so good! I can't wait to hear how it goes:) I'm already free of those things (except for a bit of salt here and there), but I still get bloating and such occasionally.
I can't wait to try making my own nut butters! I'm not a big fan of coconut, though, so almond allll the way:)
Looking forward to see what kind of recipes you come up with! We blog recipes that are also free of wheat, dairy, soy and refined sugar free. You should check it out for inspiration! www.sketchfreevegan.com
Good luck!
good luck detoxing :) i made almond butter yesterday too, since i won't be able to have peanut butter all week. i had to add something to it though so i put in a bit of salt, cinnamon, and less than a tablespoon of pure maple syrup. came out yummy!
I have a lot of stomach problems too. Do you drink carbonated beverages? Even soda water kills my stomach. It's really weird.
good luck with all this! i hope you start to feel better!
I had totally forgotten about coconut butter! I have a jar in my cupboard that has been sitting there for months. Thanks for the reminder!
have a great day! xo
I have similar digestion problems. I've thought many times about trying a cleanse, but it seems really difficult to manage on my busy schedule. I will anxiously await your results, though!
Good luck on the detoxing! It will be interesting to see how it goes.
Good luck! I'll be interested to learn about how you feel during the detox.
And I just got some coconut butter but wasn't quite sure how to use it. I think I'll put it on my breakfast!
I'm doing a cleanse/detox also - sounds very similar to yours, but mine is 3 weeks. If already completed 1 week and my stomach issues are all ready improved! Good luck in yours!
I've been thinking of doing a little detox myself. I seem to feel really bloated after most meals, but I'm not sure exactly what foods are triggering it. I'm curious to see how your's works for you, before I decide. Good luck!
I LOVE homemade coconut butter! I made some of HEAB's chocolate coconut butter in my Magic Bullet and it's delicious! Had it on my pancakes this morning!
Hi Ashley,
Major kudos for doing a detox, I'm excited to see how it goes for you. Also, where is your adorable green spoon from? I see it popping up all over blogs!
Best,
Alexa
Ana, thank you so much for your info! I am going to try it in the Vita and see how it goes :)
I've been eating less junk recently and my skin is clearing up. Such a nice benefit!
Coconut butter? I HAVE to make that this week!! It sounds amazing
Can't wait to see what you come up with and eat throughout the detox! And of course, I'll be here with my support throughout the way :-)
I definitely 100% agree with your detox, as I try to avoid those foods as well, but not completely.
Great idea, I am sure you will feel amazing after the detox- and very smart of you to do a little pre-tox beforehand!
I did a juice detox about 1.5 years ago and I felt so great afterwards (yeah, the first couple of days were a little bit rough...I think it was mainly the caffein withdrawel ), that it really raised my interest in proper nutrition and a healthy lifestyle, which lead to all sorts of great changes. I wasn't awfully unhealthy before or anything, but just not as concious of my choices and because I was eating mainly organic foods I thought I did ok. Oh the power of advertising and marketing... Btw, the juice detox consisted of 5/6 veg juices a day for 7 days+ lots of herbal teas and water. Most of the juices included some avocado, and a few some org pro-biotic joghurt (the only dairy on the detox), so I never felt hungry.
I have to get myself a decent food processor...I need homemade coconut butter in my life!
I didnt know making your own coconut butter was so easy. I'll be giving it a whirl soon! Hope your detox leaves you feeling amazing.
I hope this helps you figure out what's been bothering your system! I'll be interested to read about it - I'm not sure I have any "allergies" but certain foods definitely don't bode as well for me as others, and I have trouble figuring out what those are. Maybe I will try something similar soon - I'd love to just have it figured out!
Good luck with your detox!
My digestion was not at it's best, but after a 3 week trip home, it was better than it's ever been! I'm not quite sure what it was, but it might have been the HUGE decrease in intake of refined sugars.
Oh, and I REALLY want to make your chunky almond butter, as I have a 2 lb bag from Costco waiting for me to use! <3
Hey Ashley! This is something I may want to do in the future so I'd really like to see everything that you eat - at least for 1 or 2 days! Good luck and thanks for sharing your experience :)
Hope all goes well with the detox. I made coconut butter the other day - it was amazing! Next up: all of your delicious-looking nut butters! :-P
Coconut butter looks/ sounds pretty awesome! I've got to get my hands on some!
Coconut butter looks/ sounds pretty awesome! I've got to get my hands on some!
Good luck with your detox, Ashley! I'm really interested in learning of your findings, so please do share!
omg I have to start making those nut butters asap!!!
I'm really excited to follow you along your 'detox' =]
I didn't think you ate soy... what soy products do you eat?
So you're telling me this could save me $16 a jar on coconut butter?? ;-) Good luck with your first day of full-on detox. Can't wait to hear more about it.
I HAFTA make coconut butter. I'm going to try to use the reduced fat stuff just because you said I couldn't ;) I'm excited to how the detox effects how you feel!
cool, cool me too! i'm copying the Blueprint Cleanse for 3 days with my own juicer and then implementing something like this for another few days. i'm excited to see how it goes for you!
Hi, good luck on your detox, sounds like an elimination diet. I too had that same symptoms along with others, I found out that gluten, soy and dairy are problems. Be careful with going too raw if your having digestion problems, especially bloating.
I just bought some coconut butter as I didn't know you could make it at home. So happy you posted about this! Also, count me in as someone interested in your detox. I have been having some issues as well and not really sure what is causing the discomfort. Looking forward to your follow up!
Isn't the discomfort so annoying?? I'm sick of it!
Yes, it's definitely similar. I think for me it's wheat + soy, but hopefully I can figure it out a little more accurately. Thanks Melissa!
Good luck...Ashley [neverhome] tried to make it twice and it didn't work. Maybe you'll have the magic touch! haha