I have now been off gluten, dairy, refined sugar, soy, caffeine and alcohol for 14 days.  (See the Day 1 post here and the Day 7 post here.  See the last post here.)  I will likely be off legumes for the remainder of the month too, because I am now sick of them.  😉  Although I still feel like I have a lot of options despite the restrictions, I’m starting to miss having the option of eating out.  It is limiting my social activities, but I’ve been keeping busy with other things.

The food cravings this past week were once again directed towards sweets but were minimal and very easily managed.  In fact, I made carrot muffins with cream cheese frosting for a friend’s birthday and resisted from eating any of them!  The recipe can be found here and no one will be able to tell that they’re made with whole wheat flour.  So far, I am still very happy that I took on this detox challenge.  I hope to see more health benefits soon.

The Foods I’ve Been Eating and Their Recipes

See the post here for what I ate during the first week.  The following is a list of foods that I’ve since added to my meal repertoire:

• When the expensive, but tasty and convenient, cereal ran out, I started eating egg omelettes or boiled eggs and fruit for breakfast.  I’ve also been enjoying gluten-free toast with homemade peanut butter.
• Homemade Peanut Butter Recipe:  To make peanut butter, roast shelled, unsalted peanuts on a baking sheet in a 375 F oven for 8 minutes.  You can keep the red skins on if you’d like, but removing the skin will give you a smoother texture.  When the peanuts have cooled, grind them in a food processor until fine.  Then with the motor running, add peanut oil or extra virgin olive oil until you’ve achieved the consistency that you want.  Blend in salt and honey or maple syrup to taste.  I store mine in the refrigerator and take it out to come to room temperature before using.
• For the gluten-free bread, I used the “Delicious Gluten-Free Bread Recipe” from gluten-free goddess.  I used instant yeast, 1 large egg plus 2 large egg whites (whipped until frothy), added 2 extra tablespoons of honey and I had to let the bread rise for 2 hours (without using a bread maker).  Note that on the first day, the texture of this gluten-free bread is more moist than bread made with flour.  Also, it goes stale quite quickly, so I found it most enjoyable when toasted.
• I’m still enjoying the milk alternatives (see a comparison of milk alternatives and rice milk and almond milk recipes here).
• Lunches and dinners have started to include tuna fish sandwiches using my gluten-free bread, claypot rice dishes and stir fries (refer to the Asian recipe index).  I also made a Peruvian inspired ceviche with marlin, lime juice, red onion, cilantro, garlic, hot peppers and salt.
• I got sick of snacking on salads very quickly, so I started making granola bars and plain popcorn.
• Since most Asian deep fried foods happen to be gluten-free, I made Taiwanese popcorn chicken with deep fried Thai basil (also known as Salt and Pepper Chicken).  It was crunchy and absolutely delicious!  I just had to substitute fish sauce for soy sauce.
• In terms of dessert, I still haven’t felt compelled to experiment with gluten-free, refined sugar-free, dairy-free, and caffeine (ie. chocolate)-free baking yet.
• Finally, I made gluten-free dog biscuits for my dog, Blue, for the first time (healthy dog treat recipes posted here).  He’s loving this whole detox thing.  🙂

Benefits of the Detox Diet Thus Far

Health Benefits:  So far, the health benefits at Day 15 are the same as the ones I saw by Day 7.

Weight Loss:  I want to remind everyone that the purpose of this detox was not to lose weight, but to eat more healthily.  I don’t own a scale so I measured my waist line at the beginning of the detox diet.  I won’t measure myself again until the last day.  I will note, however, that my pants still feel tight.