Intro to sprouting

For this week's batch, I sprouted barley and mung beans. Both are very easy to sprout, delicious, and cheap! There are many guides out there with a variety of opinions and specifics. Here's the view I have come to adopt from Raw Chef Dan. It's a simple approach that makes a lot of sense and has worked for me. You can buy a sprouting jar like the ones pictured (forgot to put the lids on) or you can make your own easily. Basically, anything that you can use to soak the seeds/grains in and be able to drain will work.

First, you simply soak the seeds/grains overnight with plenty of water to cover them. I used 2 tablespoons of mung beans and 1 cup of barley. I usually stick to 2 tablespoons for seeds and 1 cup for grains. The next morning you drain the water out, rinse a few times and set aside laying down or at an angle, making sure as much water is out of the jar as possible. You repeat this morning and night until your sprouts are ready. Some things only need one day, others (like alfalfa) require up to 5 or 6 days. Make sure to cover the jar during the day (as if it were in the darkness of soil), but still allow it to get air. If you're sprouting something that needs to get little green leaves (like alfalfa) then the last day you simply let it get some sun before you do a final good rinse. You can also put them in a bowl of water and let the hulls (outer layer) float to the top and discard. That way you throw out the enzyme inhibitors that were protecting it until it was ready to grow.

That's it! You're ready to eat living foods that are packed with all the nutrients and enzymes of the entire plant. Sprouts are good in every meal of the day. They give an instant energy boost you can actually feel. They have a super clean/fresh taste too.  If you want to try a variety, I've seen small packages of sprouted beans at Publix. Toss them on your next salad and see what you think. I'll be sprouting a variety of things throughout recipes. Hopefully you'll get some inspiration, so don't make excuses, just give it a try!

Day 2, the hunger begins

Since I started eating raw foods today, I decided to log my intake and exercise on Nutridiary so I can keep track of my calories, nutrition, weight, and more. It takes some time to set up, but once you've got your basics in there, it's really neat to see the reports and track your goal.

I am proud to say that even though I went to bed late last night, I woke up and did 45 minutes of yoga today. Boy did I need it! The stretching really revealed all the tight areas of my body that need work. I'm sure I'll be hurting tomorrow. The DVD I followed was Denise Austin's "fat-blasting yoga" but I didn't get time to do the last session on abs.  This DVD is a nice cross of aerobic and yoga exercises and really works the muscles us women want to shape most.

Then, I finally got to eat some food! Going with the monofruit meal, I ate 3 bananas. That's all it took to get me full. Sticking to one food actually helps your body learn the signals of when it's full, so when breakfast can be more complex, you're less likely to overeat because of the crave for variety.

Lunch consisted of my favorite—green smoothies. We've actually been sticking to green smoothies for lunch at work for quite some time now, so it wasn't difficult for us. I'll be posting a video of how I make them over the weekend, as I get asked about this all the time. You should see the looks people give you when they see you slurpping down that "green sludge." But honestly, it's a super quick and easy meal to make. I usually add other ingredients, but the detox calls for simply greens and fruit so today I blended some spinach and kale with frozen mangos. It was delicious, refreshing, and satisfying. I do admit though, that because I couldn't add the other things I usually include, I was hungry a couple hours later. No snacking during the week though, so I reminded myself of yesterday and regained focus.

I usually really look forward to a huge salad with all my goodies, but no oils are allowed this week—and that means no avocados, nuts, or seeds (the things that make salads unique), so I was kinda bummed when I had to prepare it. I decided to go with turnip greens for the base and added: green onions, celery, asparagus, tomatoes, and carrots, with a lemon juice and grated ginger dressing. That ginger really gave it a kick and a little too much lemon juice with turnip greens makes for one tart salad.

Hopefully my sprouts will be ready by the next salad. I have a photo of my sprouting jar ready with a zesty sprout mix in the slideshow of this blog if you're curious. Sprouts are wonderful and easy to grow. They are also VERY CHEAP. A $5 bag lasts me a couple months with constant sprouts in the fridge. I would probably spend about $20 in that time if I bought them at the store. I see another video on this topic in the future...

Besides being tired, dealing with cravings, hunger, and a sore neck—it's been a pretty good day 2 of detox. And by the way, I've already lost 4 pounds!