We’re in to week two of our month long detox diet. Last week everything was going quite well. I was eating well and regularly and wasn’t getting hungry. We’d not had huge cravings for any forbidden foods and our meals had generally been pretty delicious (did you see the pumpkin, chorizo and chickpea soup from Saturday’s lunch?)
But this weekend the problems arrived. Saturday night was a leaving meal for some friends in Brussels. First the waiter put down bread bowls on both sides of me which I quickly passed out of arm’s reach. We couldn’t partake of the wine that had been ordered with the meal. And then the meal that I had tried to choose for it’s lack of forbidden foods arrived swimming in a rich cream sauce. Hm. After dinner we stayed in the bar for drinks while lots more friends arrived. Drinking fruit juice all night felt so miserable, so in the end we both ordered a cocktail and said it was in name of being sociable 😉
Then on Monday we went to Luxembourg for the day and it turned out to be a day of wanting what I couldn’t have: we couldn’t stop for a coffee and pastry after our stroll around town, it was yoghurt and mint tea instead. My mint tea came with a cinnamon cookie which I had to hide under the sugar pakcets to stop me eating it. Lunch was tricky and we ended up going to a soup cafe which was nice, but not exactly what we had been hoping for. And I had to avoid the big chunk of wholegrain bread they served it with. And finally for dinner we found a steakhouse which was actually very very good. But no wine with my steak, hide the bread behind the salt and pepper, order the steamed vegetables instead of the chips…
What I have learned is this:
- If it’s in front of me, I want it. Even if I hadn’t thought of a cinnamon cookie before my tea arrived, now I am bummed I am not allowed to eat it.
- Eating out is hard on this diet. Planning in advance where to go and checking the menu for options that fit really helps.
- I am glad to be doing this detox (really, I am) but I am also incredibly grateful that it is a choice, and that at the end of the month we can reintroduce the foods we love in healthy amounts.
- A little creativity can help…
And that’s where the title of this post comes in. Being deprived of rice and potatoes and “fillers” like that has made me have to think a little more carefully to be able to cook a dinner that is both healthy and filling (in a good way, not in a stuffed way, which is what we’re trying to avoid!).
Enter, grains. Meet millet and quinoa. I picked these up in a health food store last Thursday because finding them in our little local GB was impossible (GB did have Bulgur wheat which I bought for cooking with the day my gluten ban is up!).
I figure that a key to enjoying the rest of this month’s diet, rather than resenting it, is to have fun with exploring new foods and new recipes, and making sure the fridge is always stocked with delicious things to eat.
So I went off in search of millet recipes… (I didn’t even get as far as the quinoa search and look how many delicious recipes I have!)
Now tell me you’re not drooling already?! With this to eat every day I will be a full and content lady 🙂
Millet recipe sources (by row from top): 1. Farro & Millet Risotto, from 101 Cookbooks; 2. Autumn Millet Bake, also from 101 Coobooks; 3. Cranberry Mango Millet Salad, from Healthful Pursuit; 4. Millet & Sweet Potato Cakes, from Cooking Books; 5. Millet Breakfast Cereal, from Wholefoods; 6. Apple Pie Millet Breakfast Bake, from Healthful Pursuit; 7. Stuffed Peppers with Millet Black Bean Pilaf, from Jeanette’s Healthy Living; 8. Beef and Millet Stew, from Betty Crocker.
