squares and shapes

My bread-less and sugar-less days are over, but the weirdest thing happened. I don't crave bread or sugar and my body is so used to it that when I look at bread, I think "eh it looks good, but I'm going to get a salad instead"
WHAT HAVE I BECOME?
Either it's the initiation of being 22 or the detox actually worked.
Bread doesn't consume me and I don't consume it. And all the sugary stuff I couldn't eat....well I haven't had a doughnut, not even a sliver of one.
Not even a sliver of the bread and mini-cakes that I made. One bread being from a Paula Deen recipe that required no butter but a pack ton of sugar (Yes you read that right, no butter, but two cups of sugar) and the other was from a cookbook named "The Cake Bible" and yes, you read that right.

Paula Deen's No-butter but packed-ton sugar chocolate bread
2 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups of milk
1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325F.
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Beat in milk, oil, eggs and vanilla with electric mixer at low speed until all ingredients are combined.
Pour in batter evenly into sprayed loaf pans.
If using a 9x5 loaf pan, bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
If using mini-loaf pans, bake for 20-25 minutes.


Mini-Bundt White Almond Cake
1 box of white cake mix
1 1/3 cups of water
2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
3 large eggs
3 tsp. almond extract

Preheat oven to 350F.
Place cake mix, water, oil, eggs in a large bowl, and mix well with a beater, whisk or spatula. Add almond extract and mix well one last time.
Pour them equally into mini-bundt pans, cupcake tins or a loaf pan.
Bake for 30 minutes or longer if using a loaf pan or until cake is cooked.

Admire the shapes of the pastries, eat a tiny tiny tiny bite to test taste and wonder how you perfected shapes in baking but never perfected them in Geometry.

Ugh, if this was part of Geometry sophomore year of high school, I would get an easy A instead of struggling to write proofs or finding the diameter of a rhumbus. 

Day 8-10 of #datbreadlesslifedoe

I'm combining the last two days of my bread-less and sugar-less life because I haven't posted anything on my social media page and two, I GOT A PART-TIME JOB!
Ugh the relief.
Well, it's just a job until I find a big girl job, but it's a paid job in that I can actually use my savings account for saving up and not just a back-up for when I'm broke. It's a job where I practice wearing big-girl clothes and only wear jeans on Friday.
It's a job and I sit in a spinning chair and not my couch for eight hours.
The day I was supposed to start, I left my house early because one: the internet was out and two: I wanted to go to a hipster coffee shop near my work.
And a hipster coffee shop it was.
Located in downtown Martinez, this coffee-shop is known for its gluten-free friendly food, the legit-way-you're-suppose-to-brew-coffee coffee and a barista that has a strong resemblance of Aziz Ansari. Also cold brew coffee from tap, FROM TAP I SAY. Ugh it was amazing and I didn't have to lie about my name...well sort of.
When it comes to ordering drinks and baristas ask for my name, I usually give them my middle name, Gabriela, to avoid the awkward misspellings of my name and weird looks. Usually I get away with it, but not this barista, no.
I said my "name" and handed him my debit card and upon waiting for approval, he glanced at it and asked and then pronounced it beautifully with a questioned look of "Why did you give me a different name?"
Because my name is Estibaliz and as far as I know, now one in California has this name nor can pronounce on the first time so there.
He smiled, I told him I was Spanish, he gave me my cold brew on tap with soy milk and the Aziz Ansari look-alike disappeared into the backroom.
I sat down on a rectangular table next to a mirror where I weirdly frequently checked my lipstick to make sure it was not on my teeth or smeared on my face. I applied to a few jobs, drank my cold brew with soy milk and enjoyed a gluten-free sandwich with spinach, egg, tomato and pesto with blackberries on the side.

Name: Barrelista

Location: Martinez, CA

Total Cost: $8.90

Day #9

National Doughnut Day and the food that I have been avoiding at all cost throughout this ten-day detox. Ugh, it had to fall the day before the last day of this detox. Fortunately, my boss let me out an hour early which gave perfect timing to run to Krispy Kreme to get free doughnuts. 

Nope- the line was incredibly long, both drive thru and store line. The next venture was small doughnut shops, which to my embarrassment, and I found this out when I didn't look on Yelp to see if it was open and walked up to a closed shop.

Frustrated, hot and just wanting a damn doughnut, I drove to the nearest Safeway and grabbed the very last two doughnuts on the shelves for a dollar and gave them to my parents.

Daughter of the year (Sorry Ivonne) and Detox Survivor of the year.

Also, it was Friday and on Fridays you do what you want with food which is why I treated myself to a light beer and burger. Don't judge, it's Friday.

Name: E. J Phair's Brewing Company

Location: Concord, CA
Item of Choice: Pilsner with a Burger of bacon, sauteed onions, cheese, pepper aioli with side of fries
Total Cost: I don' know, my parents paid for it.


Day 10/Not really
Technically my day ended on Day 9 when I stuffed my face with a hamburger and beer, but I still had the morning shake the next day because I wanted to keep telling myself I could do it. It was the day before my birthday and I deserved to eat a bread and sugar because it was my birthday weekend.
Did I mention it my birthday was coming up?

Day #1 of #datbreadylifedoe (<-- I changed the hashtag, everything is back to normal)
Brunch at a farm-to-table place in downtown Walnut Creek. It was just as good as the other farm-to-table place back in Santa Rosa. Ugh, delicious fresh goodness and an eggs benedict that had me stuffed with happiness.

Name: Main Street Kitchen

Location: Walnut Creek, CA

Order: Eggs Benedict with ham on rye toast with coffee and soy milk

Cost: Around $18- I don't remember the exact price, but the cost doesn't matter when food is this good.

Like it was really good. Like my mom and I were tempted to stay for lunch and dinner because the place was that good.

Day #10

The last day. The day that ends it all and proof that I can last a day without eating a doughnut, as seen on National Doughnut Day post. 

I did it.

I didn't think I could do it, especially after I cheated that one weekend, but I did it. I can survive without eating bread or sugar.

I am a survivor like Destiny's Child/Beyonce and I was a year older.

I feel like I can conquer anything now.

Well...not everything but you can't my point.

My birthday came and went. I ate my way through a rack of lamb, a chiztora sandwich, Sift cupcakes and lots and lots of wine/coke and was happy as can be.

Feeling 22 as in I can eat bread and sugar and have a "normal 22-year-old life" like Zayn from One Direction.

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Day 7 of #datbreadlesslifedoe

It's been one week, and I'm surviving. Like Destiny's Child surviving. The bread cravings go away and so do the sugar cravings. I don't pretend that my morning shake is a doughnut and I don't secretly wish that my salad is covered in chocolate.
All in all, everything is okay.
Except for lunchtime.
The original detox states that for lunch a hearty salad is recommended and as a lover of spinach salad it was no big deal, until after day two when I was done eating a salad and just a salad. I couldn't survive eating just salad for lunch for the ten days because knowing me, I would get sick of it and then take a while for me to come back to salad and I didn't want to risk that. I thought I would be creative with my lunch specials and I definitely did but it's mostly something stuffed int something else. Egg stuffed in an avocado, egg stuffed in a bell pepper and stuffed tomato. It was all just a bunch of stuff. Just like this lunch that was stuffed with stuff.

Stuffed Apple with Mixed Greens
1 apple (fuji or granny smith- I had granny smith because I like the tartness mixed with the stuff, but whatever your stuffed heart desires)
1/4 sausage-chopped
Honey
Walnuts-chopped

Preheat oven to 400F.
Take apple and cut off the top part and cut out the insides of the apple, leaving 1/2 inch on the bottom.
Take sausage and chop into pieces and place in small bowl. Drizzle honey and chopped walnuts on top.
Place apple in the center of a cookie sheet for 10-15 minutes or until sausage is fully cooked.
Once cooled, place on a bed of mixed greens.
Eat and enjoy the sweet, savory crunch of a savory apple pie.

Five hours later.....

Dinnertime, the most easiest meal to eat throughout this whole process, but yet so difficult during the summer.

Summertime consists of outdoor BBQ, lemonade made from fresh lemons or powder, iced (soy) lattes, flip-flops and a permanent sock tan after wearing shoes for ONE DAY and hamburgers. Lots and lots of hamburgers. A cold beer and a hamburger. Ugh. I always say if I had one meal on earth it would be a big juicy hamburger and a large cold IPA. One of the main things I asked for after I returned from Sweden and finally being legal was a beer and a burger from the local brewery in my hometown. 

But with the detox of no bread and sugar, hamburgers were extinct in my family's menu, until my mom and I discovered portobello mushroom burgers and all our hamburger worries disappeared. 

Portobello Mushroom Burgers

4 large portobello mushroom caps

2 burger patties

Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

2 eggs

Mixed greens

Preheat oven to 375F.

Cover baking sheet with aluminum foil. 

Take portobello mushroom caps and cut off the stems and rub to make sure caps are clean. Place mushroom caps on baking sheet and drizzle olive oil, salt and pepper on each side well. Place in oven for 10 minutes or until mushroom caps are a dark dark brown.

While in oven, cook the burger patties to your liking (medium rare, medium, rare, well done etc). Fry two eggs until well cooked. 

Once mushroom caps are cooked, burgers are set and egg is fried, place caps on a plate, and layer burger patty, egg and then mixed greens and carefully sandwich the two caps together (Note: mushrooms caps will be hot if not cooled for more than five minutes). 

Eat with knife and fork like they do in Europe or eat with hands like they do in America, whatever your international lifestyle is.

Day 6 of #datbreadlesslifedoe

Okay, I cheated, like real bad, like worse than when I cheated in my basic kitchen and made cookies with a cookie maker bad. But it wasn't my intention to cheat, I had to cheat. I know that sounds like an excuse and all cheaters say that but this was for real.
I had to cheat.
Stop judging me okay? I'm not a failure, I'm not weak, I am a survivor like Beyonce . My momma did tell me better than that.
Besides, even Beyonce would have cheated on this thing and I don't think you would be judging her.
But before I try to defend Beyonce let me explain:
This past weekend I volunteered to help my great-aunt take care of her two grandkids under the age of two over in Dixon. Being that my mom and I were going to spend the night at her place, we didn't want be a burden and state "Sorry we gave up bread and sugar so for dinner and lunch can you make something that's NOT bread and sugar" and then have my great-aunt freak out over what to make that doesn't have an ounce of bread or sugar.
Also we were going to go to Fenton's, the notable ice cream shop as featured in Up, and trying to find a bread-free or sugar-free item at Fenton's and not be a picky-pain-in-the-butt for the waitress was really hard.
I didn't want to be a burden and I didn't want to be a picky-pain-in-the-butt for anybody so I decided to cheat.
Still judging?
Whatever, my mom said it was okay so when she's says something is okay, then it's okay.
I did have my smoothie in the morning which was fine then for lunch a Hawaiian burger in which I ate half of the hamburger bun and half of a cup of melon that my great-aunt didn't want.
Of course it wasn't until after I ate the sandwich that the waitress told me I could have done a gluten-free option instead of wasting half of a bun. Of course...
For dessert was a Coffee Cookies n Cream ice cream. Now don't say you can't say no to that. Coffee and Oreo's mixed together in a milky-creamy-causing-me-a-stomachache-later-on-goodness is just so tempting and was so worth the mild stomachache.
And it was the last time until my birthday I would have a sugary-goodness, I swore.

The moment Monday hit, I went back to my morning smoothie and made this lunch below that tasted like a pizza. LIKE REALLY TASTED LIKE A PIZZA.

Stuffed Tomato with Mixed Greens
1 tomato
1/4 of a sausage chopped
shredded cheese
garlic
Olive oil
Mixed greens

Preheat oven to 400F.
Take the tomato and slice off the top part. Cut the middle part of the tomato and take out the insides but leave a 1/2 inch on the bottom of the tomato. Take sausage and cut them into pieces and mix with chopped garlic cloves. Place sausage and garlic cloves in the tomato and sprinkle with cheese. Place in the oven for 20 minutes or until sausage is cooked and tomato is set. Place on a bed of mixed greens and drizzle olive oil over it. Let cool for 5-10 minutes and eat with your hands and taste the flavor of the pizza.

Ugh, it is possible to have pizza with no bread, it is! There really really is! 

Also I made two types of bread for my father, of course the one who gives up bread makes the bread.

Ugh, the temptation.

Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

2 eggs

1/3 cup honey

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 2/3 cup of flour

2 cups of shredded, unpeeled zucchini

1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 and lightly spray loaf pan or small loaf pans.

Shred the zucchini in a small bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, mix eggs, honey, vegetable oil, sugar and vanilla. with beater.

Add salt, baking soda, baking powder and flour until well incorporated.

Stir in zucchini and chocolate chips and mix all ingredients well for one last time.

Pour into prepared pan.

If using a loaf pan bake for 50 minutes, if using a mini-loaf pans bake for 25-30 minutes.

Lemon Raspberry Bread

2 eggs

1/3 cup honey

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon of lemon extract

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 2/3 cup of flour

1 cup of raspberries

Preheat oven to 350 and lightly spray loaf pans

In a large bowl, mix eggs, honey, vegetable oil, sugar and lemon extract with beater.

Add salt, baking soda, baking powder and flour until well incorporated.

Stir in raspberries.

Pour into prepared pan.

Bake for 50 minutes if using one loaf pan or 25-30 minutes if using mini-loaf pans.

Day 5 of #datbreadlesslifedoe

Day five and I'm going strong....sort of. On the outside, I look like I'm a strong capable 21-year-old that can live without bread and sugar, on the inside, I'm dying inside. Everything I see around me consists of some sort of bread and packed with a lot of sugar.
Ugh, America.
It didn't help that on Friday morning I went grocery shopping for my mom at 8 a.m either. The shopping part was easy, knowing exactly what my mom gets and staying under budget. What didn't help was that at 9 a.m. the entire Safeway started to smell like doughnuts.
Like chocolate glazed doughnuts.
Ugh, torture, just pure torture. I had only had a cup of coffee as I had to take my mom to work so the thought of a delicious chocolate doughnut just had me drooling.
Day five became difficult, I wanted to cave, I wanted a doughnut.
Ugh, you're killing me Safeway.

But I overcame the doughnut craving and busted out of that Safeway as fast as I could and made my usual morning smoothie with a banana.

Morning Smoothie Bowl
1/2 cup of water or 3/4 cup depending on how thick you like it
1/2 cup of cranberries
1/2 cup of blueberries
1/2 cup of almond milk
1 tbs of hemp seeds
1 tbs of pumpkin seeds
1 tbs of chia seeds
1 quarter of avocado
1 tbs of almond butter
1 tbs of coconut butter

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend until all ingredients are incorporated together.
Pour into tall glass or bowl and top with bananas.

Survived the doughnut smell and craving and treated myself to this smoothie bowl and watching They  Came Together with Amy Poehler and Paul Rudd, which if you have seen Parks & Recreation or any Paul Rudd movies, then you will understand this movie, if not then it will confuse you and think it's the weirdest movie ever.

It's not, it's amazing and hilarious and I love Poehler and Rudd both. 

It was even better when I mastered lunch to perfection and completely forgot about the doughnut smell.

Egg in Pepper with Bacon wrapped Avocado (<-- yes you read that right)

1/2 hass avocado-sliced

3 slices of bacon- cut in half

1 egg

1 slice of bell pepper

mixed greens

Preheat oven to 425F and cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Slice the avocado and place on cookie sheet rack. Take the bacon (uncooked) and cut in half and wrap the slices around the avocado. Drizzle olive oil and pepper onto the avocado slices and stick in the oven for 12-15 minutes or until bacon is cooked.

Preheat stove to medium-high heat and drizzle pan with olive oil.

Meanwhile take a bell pepper and cut horizontally, take out the inside of the pepper and cut one slice. Place bell pepper on stove and crack the egg onto the stove, some egg white may spill out but just separate from the pepper.

Cook until egg is fully cooked (the bottom is a crispy brown and the egg white is not runny).

On a plate, place mixed greens and carefully lay the egg-in-pepper on top and take bacon wrapped avocado and place around the egg.

Eat, savor the avocado bacon goodness and enjoy a savory lunch and completely forget about the doughnut from that morning.

Despite forgetting the doughnut, I had to bake scones for a family member who my mom and I were visiting and help babysit.

They were gluten free and semi-vegan, and by semi-vegan I mean that the only vegan ingredient that was in the scones was vegan butter.

I try and give as much credit as I can.

Gluten Free (Semi-Vegan) Raspberry Scones

2 cups of gluten free flour

1/3 cup of sugar

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 cup of vegan butter

3/4 cup of whipping cream

Preheat oven to 400F.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Cut butter and mix with flour mixture until it looks like coarse crumbs. Stir in the whipping cream and mix until dough holds together. Stir in the raspberries.

Lightly flour a flat surface and place dough on it and knead the dough 5-7 times until it is smooth. Divide the dough into four pieces and cut into triangular pieces and place on a sprayed cookie sheet.

Bake for 9-11 minutes.

Scones are not pictured as they didn't rise like normal looking scones....okay I forgot, but the not rising part was true.

Dinner:

Friday night and with the lack of motivation to cook and with my mom being out in the city with her friends, my dad and I went to BJ's in Concord to have dinner together. 

Now on the way there I looked up their menu to see if they had any gluten-free items or I would be entirely screwed if they didn't. Also googling "BJs" is the most awkward thing ever, I had to google "BJs menu" in order to save my eyes from any graphic or phallic images. 

I was safe. 

Luckily, BJ's did have a gluten free menu and I was able to order a pizza with gluten free crust. Ugh, I missed you pizza. 

I also kind-of-sort-of-unintentionally- cheated at dessert, but let's be real, I didn't want to pull another Cheesecake Factory and go to BJs and not get a pazookie. Like you just don't do that and they even had a gluten free pazookie...so yeah, whatever don't judge me. Besides I didn't eat any ice cream, my dad ate it all and I picked at the cookie where there was no ice cream, and the cookie was small so technically I had like four bites of a cookie, so it wasn't entirely that bad. 

Don't judge me.

Day 4 of #datbreadlesslifedoe

The end of the dreaded third day and I was proud to be that person who wasn't affected by it. Unfortunately, I wasn't that successful. Day 4 was the dreaded day for me. I was fine in my morning with my typical morning smoothie and daily watch of The Food Network channel. I had my cup of coffee per usual and was fine...until 1 p.m.
Sitting on my kitchen table watching Netflix and drinking water, I felt it. I had a pounding headache on the side of my head and felt like I wanted to take a nap, right there on my kitchen floor. I thought the headache came from dehydration so I drank five bottles worth of my Camelback water bottle, but nothing. I then took some IB profin and sat down for a couple of hours but the desire to take a nap never went away. Thinking that it was hunger, I had apples and almond butter as a snack, but nothing.
I still wanted to take a nap on the kitchen floor at 4 p.m.
Ugh, it was horrible and I ended up not going to the gym that day as I felt I was going to sleep on the elliptical, which as I picture it, would be very uncomfortable to do.

But here's my lunch from that day.

Egg in Avocado
2 hass avocados
2 eggs
1 bacon strip-chopped into pieces
Pepper

I've made this before in the past, but failed epically when egg spilled all over the cookie sheet, so I was determined to get it right and perfect this time, one because it's a waste of food and two it was the last avocado and eggs in the kitchen so I couldn't re-do them.
I succeeded and here's why:

Preheat oven to 350F.
Cut avocado in half and with a knife cut out a big enough hole to fit an egg in, but don't cut out all of the avocado as you want some avocado inside- so leave a 1/2 inch border around.
Crack egg into avocado shell, if some egg white spills out, let it spill around and just clean around the avocado. Sprinkle chopped bacon and pepper on egg. Carefully place avocado on cookie sheet at the corner of the cookie sheet so that the avocado, with the tip at the corner of the cookie sheet so the avocado stays well.
Bake for 15 minutes or until egg is cooked. Eat with a spoon and enjoy, hopefully with no desire to take a nap at 4 p.m.

Day 3 of #datbreadlesslifedoe

The third day, the day that my mother and sister warned me about. The day that this detox would hit and that I would feel like the wind was knocked out of me. That I would be shaking uncontrollably and my stomach would feel horrible.
The dreaded third day. I mentally prepared myself for this day. I told myself that it was okay to not apply for jobs that day and that it was appropriate to spend the day on the couch in a blanket watching a marathon of Chopped and be happy that I wasn't cooking dragon fruit with frog legs for 20 minutes and that I was at peace on my couch.
That third day.


Turns out that the third day wasn't all that bad for me. I woke up with no headache, my stomach wasn't grumbling, I didn't feel like crap and I applied for four jobs that day and didn't spend the whole day on my couch. I had my morning smoothie as usual and was fine. And I even had the energy to make the omelette below for lunch.
I am a survivor of the bread-less, sugar-less detox.

Lunch Omelette
3 eggs
1/2 avocado- sliced
1/2 tomato-chopped
2 slices of bacon-chopped
Olive oil
salt
pepper


Preheat oven to 400 and cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Place bacon slices on aluminum foil and drizzle with olive oil. Leave in oven for 7-10 minutes. Meanwhile, take eggs and whisk them with a fork until egg mix seems fluffy.
Turn on stove on medium to high heat and drizzle with olive oil.
Chop tomato and avocado and mix with egg mixture. Sprinkle salt and pepper if desired and pour into pan. Cook until bottom of omelette is cooked and with spatula, flip over omelette to the other side or if frustrated just flip as best you can and cook until eggs are fully cook.
Place on plate, and add chopped bacon.

It was delicious and I did not pretend it was chocolate or a sandwich.

Day 2 of #datbreadlesslife

Day #2 of no bread or sugar or dairy and I'm doing okay. I had my usual morning smoothie with bananas and a cup of coffee, and started the morning with The Food Network channel. I then continued my job hunting venture, updated my cover letter at least 20 times to gear it towards the appropriate job and had this blog open on another tab, telling myself I would write in it as I promised.
I didn't, the tab just stayed there for days until I finally caved and wrote something.
Lunchtime came and that's when things got difficult. It felt like my pantry and fridge were filled with things consisting of sugar and bread and nothing else. Even the milk had sugar in. Everything sugary and bready just teasing me. It was worse when the rice was calling my name in my pantry wanting me to cook it.
Why does food consist of sugar and bread? The question still remains unanswered.
It wasn't until I finally came to the conclusion of making myself a spinach salad- the usual.

Spinach Salad that I wish was chocolate
Handful of spinach
1/2 avocado
meat that was leftover from dinner one night-warmed and chopped up
2 tablespoons of black beans
1 tablespoons of pistachios

Place spinach inside a bowl. Cut the avocado into squares and cut meat into squares as well. Mix with spinach. Add in black beans and avocados and mix well then drizzle with olive oil.
Pretend it's chocolate as you watch The Food Network and see all the other chefs stuff their faces with bread and sugar.
Ugh, so jealous.

For dinner, I had halibut which in my opinion in the fish world, is delicious. Ugh the meatiest of fish.

Go try halibut or you ain't no halibut guuurrll.

Was that bad? I'm sorry. 

Day 1 of #datbreadlesslifedoe

About a week into me living at home after college, my mother insisted that I do a 10-day no bread and sugar detox diet since I stuffed my face with my own cooking and questionable meat on-campus, also sandwiches...lots and lots of sandwiches.
I was questionable about no bread and sugar for 10 days as it's me and I love anything sweet and bready, but after much arguments I decided to do it. I'm on Day 6 as of today, and will be logging and telling my journey of the past couple days until the last day which will end on my 22nd birthday.
No bread or sugar for 10 days....let's see how it goes


Day #1
The day started at 6AM when I woke up to take care of my one-year-old cousin with my mom and head to downtown Walnut Creek.
My morning started off with a smoothie of water, frozen cranberries, frozen blueberries, chia seeds, pumpkin seeds, hemp seeds, avocado, almond butter, coconut butter and almond milk and blended together into a bowl topped with bananas. The coldness of the smoothie gives you a shock in the morning but with the balance of the warm cup of coffee, helps*.
*Note: The original detox says to give up caffeine..but the person who created the detox clearly has not met me without coffee, so I stick with coffee and rebel a little.

Note the 6AM filter

The smoothie lasted me until 12PM lunchtime and that's when the detox kicked in.

Did you know that sugar and bread are in everything? LIKE EVERYTHING?!?!?!

Ugh, it was incredibly frustrating not getting my usual chicken club sandwich at The Cheesecake Factory and flipping past the pages as to not break my heart. But thank the baby jesus that a restaurant like The Cheesecake Factory offers multiple options other than just cheesecake and sandwiches. I ended up getting a tuna salad with wasabi dressing and no cheesecake, which mind you at The Cheesecake Factory is really hard to do.

I think it was the first time I had ever gone to The Cheesecake Factory and NOT gotten a cheesecake.

It was a weird experience. 

The day went easier and I wasn't starving, until dinnertime.

Originally planned to have dinner at home, my uncle invited us to an Italian restaurant in Martinez for dinner. Not wanting to be picky and declare my detox diet I just started, I nodded my head and just thought I would figure out how I would find a bread-less, sugar-less and dairy-less meal at an Italian restaurant (oh, yeah I'm also cutting down on dairy as I'm getting old and can't drink milk like a used to).

Through much contemplation, I picked a shrimp dish with a white wine sauce with potatoes and vegetables. It was one of five items on the menu that did not have bread, sugar or dairy, the other four were the salads on the menu. 

Being on this detox diet at an Italian restaurant mind you, is incredibly difficult, bread is served on the table before the main course and I just stared at it as my great-aunt and uncle and uncle and son ate it. It was like I was eating the bread, but not really. It was incredibly difficult when dessert came and everyone was offering me a piece of their dessert and I had to deny it, which is a rarity in itself for me. My great-uncle knew something was up, he was questioning my rejection to the creme brûlée. WHY WOULD I DENY SUCH A CREME BRULEE? 

Then my great-aunt insisted I had some. I couldn't contain myself....I couldn't sit there and contain my silence. Ugh, it was such a suffering.

I'M GIVING UP DAIRY THAT'SWHYICANTHAVEDESSERT! I finally stated. 

I mean it was true, I am giving up dairy, I just left the bread and sugar out to not make things complicated or make them feel bad that they chose an Italian restaurant where everything is majority bread, sugar and dairy. 

They accepted my statement and had a 10 minute conversation about dairy and gluten allergies. I was at peace and the creme brûlée wasn't staring at me or calling my name.

I was at peace with this detox and didn't go to bed hungry.