Oh fruit and cheese how I’ve missed you! For those of you just tuning in, my husband and I just completed a two week candida cleanse and detox. Coconut(in all its forms) and I now have a close and personal relationship. I cannot say I feel the same way about apple cider vinegar. I also wouldn’t be sad if I don’t drI nk lavender water for the rest of my life. We bagged that early on because I could not stand the taste. Picture yourself drinking soap.
We have so many results to tell you about. First I will be transparent. I did the candida spit test after the cleanse and discovered that I had not totally gotten rid of it. At first I was obviously disappointed. I mean, I drank raw apple cider vinegar for heavens sake! Then logic kicked in and I realized my end results were nothing compared to the severity when we started. I saw very obvious results so I still believe that this diet was the way to go.
I’ll let you in on some other downers while we are at it. The bone broth was really hard to get down by the end of the first day. Thank goodness it is only 24 hours. Trevor got headaches for a few days in a row, which is very common. I think I dodged some heavy bullets because I was already taking Plexus and had some detox side effects before the cleanse began. Also groceries were obviously more expensive than usual. We went through I don’t even want to know how many eggs. Lastly, like I said above, apple cider vinegar can bite me and I plan to never drink lavender flavored anything ever again…ever.
Stay with me now, this is the good part. I knew that I bloated after meals but I had no idea that the extra “baby weight” I had in my stomach was not actually fat at all. By the fourth day my stomach was as flat as it was pre-baby. Something from my previous diet, as healthy as it was, was causing inflammation and bloating. I’m planning to slowly implement foods back into my diet so I can nail down which foods caused problems. My husband noticed he was holding less water weight by the end of the day and his skin, “felt tighter.”
After the initial withdrawal phase I had more energy during the day. Sure, the detox and sugar withdrawals tested us at first but it cleared up fast and every morning we felt better than the day before. Ready for the best part? We both stopped craving sugar! Never in my life did I feel like I would be able to say that. I used to crave donuts ALL the time. As I mentioned before, I know Plexus gave me a leg up but Trevor wasn’t taking Plexus and had the same result. This made it so much easier to be disciplined and I would do the cleanse for this reason alone. Don’t get me wrong, I still love dessert. But there is a difference between enjoying dessert occasionally and craving it after every meal. If we don’t have those cravings, we have more self control regarding what we put into our mouths. So to wrap it up. I would still say DO IT! If you are looking for a full gut flush then this is right down your alley. You can access the post here.
Because we have had to deprive ourselves of some family favorites, that is the majority of this meal plan. Most likely things with cheese or a meat other than chicken and ground turkey. Now, we do not plan to just jump back into old bad habits. We want to keep gluten, heavily processed foods, and table sugar out of our diet. So if something calls for those ingredients from now on, you can assume I will substitute it for a healthier option like GF flour and Stevia. Also as a *bonus* I’ve included our Valentine’s Day holiday meal plan. I absolutely adore Valentine’s Day so we go all out. People should love and feel loved and I LOVE that there is a day to celebrate it.
Meal Highlight
I have more than one meal to highlight from this last meal period. When you think of a cleanse or a diet, you don’t typically associate it with delicious food, well at least I didn’t. We had some absolutely YUMMY I-couldn’t-wait-to-eat-the-leftovers type of meals during our cleanse. I added quite a bit of new dishes to our family favorites list. As far as dinners go we LOVED the Spiced Zucchini Beef, Coconut Chicken, Crackslaw, and Butter Chicken. When it comes to breakfasts and treats these are the things I will be making again: Cinnamon Sugar Donuts, Coconut Flour Waffles, Coconut Granola, Chocolate Coconut Cubes, Coconut Cupcakes, and Candida Killing Cinnamon Cookies. I will not lie to you…I made the cinnamon cookies three different times. To access the links for these recipes you can find them on my Healing Cleanse and Detox post here
Notes
Below the dinners I hope you’ll be thrilled to see a Snacks & Treats section. You’ll notice multiple lemon recipes. We have friends with citrus trees and it is citrus season in California so we are happy to take some off their hands. We usually have a dessert with Sunday dinners and I make a treat on Friday or Saturday. Some of the recipes in this section I already absolutely love, and some I have yet to try. Some are guilt free and some are reserved for cheat days, which tend to be Saturday and Sunday for me. Happy snacking!
*-Tried and true family favorite.
GF- Gluten free
B4D-Breakfast for Dinner (There isn’t lot of time in the mornings and we love breakfast food so we eat it for dinner instead)
CP-Crockpot/Slow Cooker recipe
YoYo- You’re on your own. (Because I don’t believe that someone should have to cook every day of the week)
Not sold on meal planning yet? Check out my crash course guide and I’ll have you convinced!
Let’s Eat
YoYo x2
Lentil Curry(GF)/Brown Rice
*Cracker Barrel Chicken n’ Dumplings/Mashed Potatoes/Roasted Green Beans
*Salisbury Steak/*Roasted Sweet Potatoes/GF Texas Roadhouse-Style Rolls
*Enchilada Soup/Corn Tortillas for dipping
*Better than Takeout Ham Fried Rice
*Caprese Lasagna(GF lasagna noodles)/Roasted Brussel Sprouts
B4D-*Crepes(GF)/Mushroom and Cheese Omelettes
B4D-Morning Glory Muffins/ Turkey Bacon/ Scrambled Eggs
*Fettuccine Alfredo w/peas and mushrooms (GF noodles or substitute spaghetti squash for noodles)
Any time a recipe calls for Alfredo of any kind I make my own. My mother in law makes a thick, cream cheesy, delicious sauce that the family loves and over time I’ve made a few tweaks to it.
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup coconut oil
8 oz cream cheese
1 1/2 cup(ish) milk(whole milk is more delicious if you don’t care about the fat)
3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
garlic, onion powder, salt, and pepper to taste.
Melt butter, oil, and cream cheese in a sauce pan. Wisk to combine cheese with the oils. Add in spices to taste, slowly add half of milk and combine. Add in cheese and stir until melted. Now stir in milk to desired thickness of sauce. If you add in more milk, make sure to taste in case it needs more garlic.
Valentines Day Eats
Breakfast- Heart Shaped Chocolate Chip Pancakes(GF mix)/Heart Shaped Fried Eggs/Strawberry Milk
Use a metal heart shaped cookie cutter or try to shape the heart as you pour the batter. To go the extra mile, in the shape of a heart, frame the plates with banana slices
Lunch-Heart Shaped Quesadillas(GF corn tortillas)/5 Minute Restaurant Salsa
Dinner- Beef Chimichangas (GF is using corn tortillas)
I understand these don’t really go with the heart theme but we just really love Mexican food. Instead of frying them we prefer to brush the tops with melted butter and bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes until crispy. If you want a healthy fried option use coconut oil.
Dessert- Strawberry Cheesecake Chimichangas
Second Dessert-*Chocolate Covered Strawberries
You can make these the day before and sneak them into lunch boxes or hide them in the fridge and take them out once the kiddos are tucked into bed. I use coconut oil instead of Crisco.
Other Valentine Themed Food Ideas
Heart Shaped Peanut Butter Cookies(GF)
Heart Shaped Soft Gluten-Free Sugar Cookies
Mini Heart Shaped Pizzas
Egg in a Nest
Want more ideas? Check out The Dating Divas’ roundup here
Home Well Managed 