28 Day Whole Food Cleanse

During this "Dry January" not only am I off the booze but also trying a whole food cleanse from Plantiful Kiki (if you’ve never heard of her I suggest following on IG- she lost 70lbs on the Starch Solution diet and has been an advocate ever since). The ebook called “Plant Lean - 28 Weight Loss Meal Plan” is based on the principles of The Starch Solution by Dr McDougall but the recipes are far from boring. I enjoyed them so much more than the Starch Solution website meals. I had had a lot of success in the past with The Starch Solution but I struggled to make recipes that weren't boring because I was so stuck on the 50/50 rule. This cleanse takes the headache out and leaves you with delicious, satisfying meals.

The ebook cost $10.50 (for me including tax) and I can view it on my phone, tablet etc. I also like that she has everything hyperlinked so you can jump back to where you need to go, plus she also gives you not just the full menu but the full shopping list for each week. The calorie amount listed under each meal but she has formulated it so they all are of roughly an equal amount making it very easy to switch them around based on your needs.

One week in and I'm enjoying it and not dreading another 3 weeks which is awesome.

I've been walking 5-6 times a week for 45-60mins.

This is what some of the meals in Week 1 looked like...

Week 1

Chickpea Curry with steamed asparagus and brown rice

Egg Salad Sammy with house salad and homemade ranch

Vacation Vibes Smoothie

Sunrise Smoothie

Green Goodness Smoothie

Macaroni & Cheese with Smokey Apple Green Salad

Broccoli Cheddar Soup with House Salad

Week 2

Easy Enchilada Bake and Southwestern salad (I was missing some salad ingredients)

Berry Smoothie

Sushi 

Omelet

Buffalo Cauliflower Salad

Thai Red Curry

Apple Carmel Treats

There are some dessert options for the sweet cravings which I felt like I was getting at the end of week two.

 

Breakfast Burrito

This is probably one of the ones I was most excited about because I love a savory breakfast!

BBQ Salad

Thai Noodle Bowl

Week 3

Smokey Tomato Hummus Wrap

Smokehouse Steak Fries with House Salad

Persian Chickpea and Rice Bowl with House Salad, 

this one was tastier than I was expecting considering how few ingredients are in it.

Blueberry Pancakes

OK I got a few days into Week 4 and caved. My own fault entirely - I hadn't prepped (seriously meal prepping is key to success), I didn't have all the ingredients I needed, I really wanted chocolate and wine. I have not plausible excuse but I will say I did learn some things.

I realized how much processed vegan food I actually eat and want to cut that back a lot. 

I realized how important it is to at least have a few meals accounted for or prepped so I don't fall into the habit of grabbing something quick and processed from the freezer.

I actually enjoyed quite a few of the meals and would definitely cook them again.

Generally on this meal plan I felt very satisfied but clean and light. I enjoyed this cleanse much more than the recipes from the Starch Solution website and definitely liked how it was all planned out for me in terms of menu and shopping list. There's no reason you should fail, even though I did.

The fact the you could switch around dishes because they were all of similar calorie content and that I could make more of a dish I enjoyed for another meal definitely made it easy to stick to. I can see this being a go to reboot whenever I need one. Next time around I will know which ones I like! If I didn't mention it before the smoothies were really good!!!

There is quite a bit of prep work with some of the dishes which makes sense when your eating whole foods and making everything from scratch (main meal, plus a salad, plus sauces and dressings) but as a full time work mum of three kids and then still having to cook the kids something different I did feel a bit burnt out in the cooking fresh after the 4 weeks. No one was happy with the amount of room in the fridge I was taking up either lol!

I’d like to maybe incorporate just doing every second night or prepping more on the weekends when I know in advance what I’m going to make. 

In the 28 days I lost 5lbs which was at least something but I think the fact that I hadn't lost more by the start of Week 4 was also killed my momentum a bit. I really was following to the letter, not drinking alcohol and exercising around an hour a day. I had a black coffee in the morning but other than that only drank water and sparkling mineral water.

I'd love to hear if you have success with this or if you found something else that worked for you!