Whole30 Cleanse Program

Whole30 Cleanse Program

WHY?!

by guest blogger Karin Hoskin

So a friend of mine posted on Facebook that she was about to do a second round of the Whole30 cleanse. Her decision to do it at all was based on the fact that she wanted to do a cleanse, but only if it allowed coffee and bacon . . . Whole30 does. I liked how that sounded so I committed to doing it also . . . and I committed my husband, my mother-in-law, my teenage son, and pre-teen daughter. Was I crazy? Yes. Did we do it? Yes. And no one starved.

The basic concept is to eat meat, veggies, and fruit. No dairy, no grains, no sugar....for 30 whole days. We already don’t eat wheat with three of us being extremely gluten reactive. We LOVE dairy, but were wondering if my daughter has an allergy to dairy. Oh, and we eat too much sugar, probably way too much sugar, especially after I realized that sugar is in EVERYTHING. Even bacon. Yep, sugar is in most commercial bacon brands.

We are cooks in our family. I love to cook, my mom loves to cook, and my mother-in-law loves to cook. And we are good cooks, yep, we cook really well. But there is always room for growth, so I took it upon myself to try new recipes during the 30 days and we have definitely found some new favorites. One if them is a super simple ‘Bistro Breakfast’, recipe as follows:

Bistro Breakfast

Feeds 4

1 (10 oz) package of bacon (Pederson’s is sugar/sweetener free bacon found at Sprouts Grocery)

1 head of curly endive lettuce
8 eggs, poached (directions at end of recipe)

For the dressing:

1 ½ tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon prepared Dijon mustard

¼ teaspoon minced garlic (about 1 medium clove)

salt & pepper to taste

Cook the bacon until crisp, drain, then set aside
While bacon is cooking, wash and tear up the lettuce leaves
Toss the lettuce with dressing, divide the lettuce, placing on 4 plates

Crumble the cooked bacon on top

Top each salad with two poached eggs and serve immediately

Poaching Eggs
There are many YouTube videos of poaching eggs, but basically I lightly spray or oil a frying pan and add about 2 inches of water, bring to a soft boil and crack the egg into the water, I sprinkle salt and pepper, then gently use a metal spatula to make sure egg is not sticking to the bottom of pan, cover and check in about 1 minute later, when done to your liking (traditionally it's right after the clear egg part turns white, so the yellow part is still very runny), use slotted spoon to remove the egg. You can poach more than 1 egg at a time, but you need to do it quickly as the eggs cook very fast.

Here's a recipe for a dinner that was fast, easy, and delicious:

Broccoli Chicken

Feeds 4

1 pound chicken thighs, boneless and skinless, cut into bite-sized pieces
Coco Aminos (or I have used Tamari, which is a wheat-free soy sauce, or soy sauce; Coco Aminos is a little sweeter and less salty)

Vegetable oil or peanut oil for stir frying
2 big heads of broccoli, trimmed and cut into florets

1 sweet onion, peeled and sliced into bite-sized pieces

1 cup roasted salted cashews (optional)

Marinate the prepared chicken in Coco Aminos for at least 30 minutes
Stir fry the chicken, broccoli, and onion until chicken is cooked and vegetables are fork-tender
Add the cashews and cook until warm
Use Coco Aminos, Tamari, or Soy sauce for additional flavor

I served pineapple and kiwi for dessert afterword!

We continue to basically eat Whole30 with a few allowances. I buy regular ketchup, because the sugar/sweetener free stuff is gross. We have homemade pizza usually once a week, but we don’t also have lasagna the day before and macaroni and cheese the day after . . . so we’re trying to be conscious of not eating so many grains and so much cheese. As far as sweets or alcohol goes, we eat and drink treats, but very consciously, meaning that we’re not eating handfuls of crappy candy, but savoring a beautiful tasty chocolate truffle. Or rather than drinking a few beers, we now enjoy one really amazing local small batch brew, a very nice wine, or a specialty cocktail.