Category Archives: Salad

Day 20 Food Reboot

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“Uniqueness” of the Day:  This is my hardest day.  My head isn’t in doing this that much after last night’s horrible smoothie.  Most of today is smoothies and tomorrow are soups; knowing makes it even tougher.  And what makes it the hardest is I’ve gotten the worst shooting pains today from my AS (getting in & out of bed is like getting out of a bed of nails) I’ve had in weeks.  I got an encouraging phone call today from Jamie and got some fantastic recommendations from her new doctor – Dr. Furhman.  I learned that I need to really amp up my Vitamin d3 intake (more than the sun) + you can do up to 300 billion Probiotics per day (currently doing 10 billion) in smaller doses.  Basically, you can’t have enough of those since my gut has a lot of work to do in repairing.

Waking Up:  Went to bed at 11:30 and got up at  4:45am, got water & stretched until 5am, went back to bed & got up at 7:15am.  Stiffness in mid-lower back & left hip sends pain when I twist too much (it’s not much though).  Right hip, behind the right leg & right buttocks area are inflamed + I’m getting the worst shooting pains I’ve had in over a week.

Breakfast:  Green Smoothie
  • 2 bananas, peeled (subbed 1 banana, 1 kiwi)
  • 1 cup pineapple, cubed
  • 1 cup papaya, cubed (papaya not ready, subbed 1 mango)
  • 1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon of dulse flakes
  • 1 tablespoon bee pollen
  • 1 small slice of turmeric (look at #11) & ginger root – both reduce pain & inflammation
  • 6 to 8 ounces filtered water
Directions:  Blend together water, bananas and papaya / mango. Then add romaine lettuce and pineapple. Bend for 30 seconds or until smooth.

Synopsis of Breakfast:  Tastes fine & much less thicker than yesterday dinner’s smoothie.  Also a little ginger & tumeric goes a long way.  So don’t cut too big of a piece when you start out.  Also some smoothies will mask it better than others.  Makes around 30 fl. oz. or 2 glassfuls.  Lastly, I’ve noticed my stomach making lots of noises.  Maybe it’s due to the turmeric / ginger root?

Lunch Menu: Green Smoothie
  • 3 bananas, peeled (subbed 1 banana, 1 mango, and 1 kiwi)
  • 3 cups pineapple, cubed
  • ½ avocado, peeled and pitted
  • 4 stalks celery, chopped
  • 3 cups fresh baby spinach, chopped
  • 3 cups kale, chopped
  • 6 to 8 ounces filtered water

NOTE: If this smoothie is to big for you to drink all at once, drink half
for lunch and the other half mid afternoon.  I decided to make a 1/2 smoothie for lunch & half for the afternoon.  I cut the recipe in 1/2 and made one batch during lunch & one in the afternoon.

Directions:  Blend together the water, bananas and avocado. Then add remaining ingredients and blend for 30 seconds or until smooth.

Synopsis of Lunch & Afternoon Meal:  The pineapple makes this too acid-like (especially since I had some in the morning).  The taste is fine overall, but doing 1/2 now & 1/2 later worked out well.

Dinner Menu:  Fruit Salad

Directions:  Slice bananas and mangoes. Add blueberries. Squeeze juice from orange over salad. Add remaining pulp.

Synopsis of Dinner: This one was simple and a welcome change.  I ate the rest of the filling from the collard green wraps from yesterday along with some blueberries & strawberries.  The Day 19 filling had a bit too much cayenne pepper, so the berries offset the taste allowing a savory / sweet taste while making the meal neutral each time I had the berries.

Evening inflammation check:  Fought inflammation and shooting pains all day long.  If this continues tomorrow, I’m taking my Enbrel as it’s been exactly two weeks since my last shot (Day 7).

Gas / Bloating Check:  Had a few BMs today but gas & bloating was manageable.  As with a few days this week, the amount of food can make my stomach / intestines feel stuck or backed up.  This is due to all the food I’m eating.

Day 19 Food Reboot

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“Uniqueness” of the Day:  Today is my biggest test of wills.  After drinking over 50 fl. oz. of smoothie (look at my “dinner”), I am greeted with a variety of old foods I used to have at a Super Bowl party.  Temptation everyone, I couldn’t eat anything and watch everyone full of snacky-goodness while everyone else does.  Today is one of those days I wish to never repeat.

Started taking my vitamin B12 spray.  I’ll start with 2 per day since 6 per day yields a 20,000% daily intake of B12.

Waking Up:  Went to bed at 11:30 and got up at 6:00am with stiffness in the mid to lower back areas + my shoulder areas at the top are stiff too.  Both my right and left hip areas are slightly inflamed and it might be due to sleeping on my side.  Before today, I couldn’t sleep on my left side due to the right hip inflammation.  Since my inflammation was low last night, I slept on both sides and now I see inflammation on  both sides.  I’ll add a stretching routine before I go to bed tonight to see if I can sleep on my back all night.

Breakfast:  Green Smoothie
What I was suppose to have.  I did not have the ingredients needed:
  • 1 head romaine lettuce, chopped
  • 2 bananas, peeled (subbing 1)
  • 1 mango, peeled and deseeded
  • 1 oranges, peeled and deseeded
  • 2 kiwifruit, peeled
  • 1 tablespoon of dulse flakes
  • 4 to 6 ounces filtered water
  • 1 tablespoon bee pollen
Directions:  Pour the water into the blender. Add bananas, mango, and oranges and blend. Then, add remaining ingredients and blend for 30 seconds or until smooth.
  • 8 ounces unsweetened coconut milk (Used a real coconut & added some coconut meat to the smoothie)
  • 2 oranges, peeled and deseeded (subbed OJ)
  • 1 medium banana, peeled
  • 3-and-1/2 cup kale, chopped
  • 1/2 lime, peeled
Directions:  Add all the ingredients except for the greens to your blender and hit the “pulse” button a few times. Next, add the greens and blend on high for 30 seconds or until the smoothie is creamy.

Synopsis of Breakfast:  The kale is too powerful for this meal.  I suggest using spinach and/or swiss chard.  It make around 20 fl. oz. – 1/2 of what I normally make in the morning.  After 20 minutes I’m feeling more inflamed.  Although I cannot find the research on starch in raw coconut, I will not be buying or making coconut smoothies again.  However, I have used coconut flakes before & I don’t get inflamed.

Lunch Menu: Cucumber-Pumpkin Seed Soup Classic Salad (Panera Bread)
No time again since I needed to run up to Whole Foods & get my food for the rest of the food reboot.  I had what you see in the picture minus the fruit cup.
For those interested, here’s what I was supposed to make a Cucumber-Pumpkin Seed Soup:
  • 2 organic vine tomatoes, chopped
  • ¾ cup pineapple, cubed
  • 1 cup cucumber, cubed
  • ¼ cup parsley, chopped
  • 1 brazil nut
  • 3 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
  • 1/8 cup pumpkin seeds (or 3 tablespoons shelled hemp seeds)

Directions:  In your blender, mix everything except the hemp seeds and half of the cucumber. Just before serving, add the chopped cucumber and hemp seeds to the soup.

Synopsis of Lunch:  To be honest, I really dislike cold soup and was glad to substitute the salad + apple at Panera.

“Snack”:  Collard Wraps
  • 1 cucumber, chopped
  • 3 medium tomatoes, chopped
  • 3 to 5 sprigs fresh cilantro
  • 3 to 4 slices red onion, chopped
  • 1 cup red grapes, halved
  • juice from ½ lemon or lime
  • ½ avocado, chopped
  • dash of sea salt
  • dash black pepper
  • dash of cayenne pepper (optional to taste)
  • 2 large collard leaves

Directions:  Add all the ingredients except the collard leaves in a large bowl and mix gently. Divide the mixture into two and fill each collard leaf.

Synopsis of Meal: Not as good as the other collard green mix I made, but still tasty enough to get me to eat 4 collard green leaves.  The salad at Panera just isn’t enough and this “snack” is what my body needed.

Dinner Menu:  Green Smoothie

  • 4 cups organic kale, chopped
  • 1 banana, peeled (subbed 1 mango)
  • 1 cup frozen wild blueberries
  • 2 oranges, peeled and deseeded
  • 6 medium carrots, chopped
  • 1 zucchini, chopped
  • 4 to 6 ounces filtered water
  • 1 tablespoon bee pollen
  • 1 brasil nut & small handful of pumpkin seeds
  • 1 small slice of turmeric (look at #11) & ginger root – both reduce pain & inflammation
Directions:  Blend together the water, banana / mango, and oranges. Then, add the remaining ingredients and blend for 30 seconds or until smooth.

Synopsis of Dinner: Has anyone ever told you that you are crazy?  After drinking  52 oz. & having your blender make angry sounds at you, they have every reason to.  Clearly you need to cut back on the carrots as it makes the drink too fibrous & unappealing.  There’s very little on the visual scale – the color is about as nasty brown as you can imagine.  I know this is part of rebooting, but this was the worst tasting smoothie I’ve ever had.  I only suggest this recipe for the hardcore, stick-exactly-to-the-plan-kind of person.

Evening inflammation check:  Fought inflammation all day long after the coconut drink in the morning.  Some times were good (running around at Whole Foods) while other times not so good (getting up after a nap & the evening time).

Gas / Bloating Check:  Good day with only one issue the whole day (after having the coconut drink in the morning, there was a big BM that combined with the inflammation with the drink, made me miserable until after lunch).

Day 18 Food Reboot

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“Uniqueness” of the Day:  Moving materials up to Venice, Florida (will be here for a few months) delayed things and had to grab a salad at Panera Bread.  Other than that, I followed the diet plan.  I’m also happy to report that between the ballroom dancing, the 4 hours of cleaning up / fixing the house, driving, and setup in Venice, I report continuous great levels of energy and reduced inflammation.  The food reboot is showing real results that others are even seeing too.  God, this is amazing!

Waking Up:  Went to bed at 11:30 and got up at 6:30am to some body aches and right hip inflammation + some shooting pains – nothing too severe & is much better than previous mornings after ballroom dancing.

Breakfast:  Green Raspberry Smoothie
  • 3 bananas, peeled (subbed 1 kiwi, 1 apple, 1 banana)
  • 2 cups raspberries (used frozen)
  • 2 cups fresh baby spinach, chopped
  • 1 head romaine lettuce, chopped (subbed 1/2 – 3/4)
  • 1 tablespoon of dulse flakes
  • 4 to 6 ounces filtered water
  • 1 tablespoon bee pollen

Directions:  Blend the water, bananas, and raspberries. Add the remaining ingredients and blend for 30 seconds or until smooth.

Synopsis of Breakfast: The smoothie makes 38 fl. oz. and was quite thick due to the frozen raspberries.  It’s also crunch due to the seeds from the raspberries & kiwi.  Overall the taste is good, but the raspberries do overwhelm the taste.

Lunch Menu: Green Smoothie Classic Salad + Fruit Cup (Panera Bread)
Since I had no time today to make my lunch, Panera Bread will just have to do (and I still stayed raw – yea!)  The salad was made of cucumbers, red onion, romaine lettuce, tomatoes, apple on the side, and balsamic vinaigrette.  I also got a fruit cup but I won’t get it again.  Whatever nutrition value it had went out the window (old & mushy).
For those interested, here’s what I was supposed to make a Green Smoothie:
  • 2 bananas, peeled
  • 2 cups pineapple, peeled
  • 3 cups kale, chopped
  • 1 Brazil nut
  • 4 to 6 ounces filtered water

Directions:  Blend the water, bananas, and pineapple. Add the remaining ingredients and blend for 30 seconds or until smooth.

Synopsis of Lunch:  Your standard salad, but the balsamic was good.  I’m just glad it kept me in a raw diet today.

“Snack”:  Kale Salad w/ Tomatoes
  • 3 cups kale, chopped
  • 1/2 avocado, chopped
  • 3 medium tomatoes, chopped
  • 4 slices red onion, chopped
  • ¼ cup dried currants (subbed raisins)

Directions:  Massage the avocado into the kale; add the currants, onion and tomato. Mix well.

Synopsis of Meal: Let’s face it, kale is tough to eat raw.  The tomatoes and avocado make a sort of dressing in it which is nice.  In the future, I would substitute kale for swiss chard and/or spinach.

Dinner Menu:  Fruit Salad

  • 2 bananas, peeled (subbed 1)
  • 2 cups whole strawberries
  • 1 cup blueberries
  • 1 orange, peeled and deseeded (subbed OJ – didn’t have an Orange)
Directions:  Slice the banana and strawberries into a bowl. Add the blueberries.  Squeeze orange juice over salad, and add remaining orange pulp.

Synopsis of Dinner: I had no issue finishing off this meal.  Tasted well and a good meal to eat while watching some TV.  The OJ gives a nice kick to everything.  Next time subbing papaya or mango to replace the banana.

Evening inflammation check:  Right hip has subtle inflammation but it’s going well.  My next issue is getting a shooting pain while squatting or bending down.

Gas / Bloating Check:  In check, but would get some surprise bathroom breaks.  Some of that issue might have happened due to having the fiber supplement after the snack (which I had around 5:30pm).