Help me make my cleanse less awful?

[katecm]

A friend and I are doing a cleanse together this week, having only fruits and veggies. No salt, no added sugar, no carbs, no dairy, etc. Herbs and spices are okay, but no oil and, again, no salt.

I'm not sure I can be very creative with it, but any brilliant ideas would be most welcome. Today's salad had a dressing with avocado, water and lemon juice with basic, cilantro, red onion and jalapeno. It wasn't awful. But I don't want to eat it for every lunch and dinner, either!

I'm wondering if I can find spaghetti squash this time of year....

[katecm]

Some really great ideas here. Thanks so much!

And while I appreciate the concern, it's just a few days that are intended to wean me a bit off salt, booze, caffeine, and other things that I tend to indulge in. It's good to spend a few days really thinking about what I'm putting into my body. I do it now and then when I realize that I've become lax and it really is amazing what three days can do to increase your awareness.

[seamunky]

are vinegars okay? you could experiment with all kinds of tasty vinegars. try tossing your veggies in basalmic and then roasting them for deep caramelized flavors. of course, you'd be getting sugars from the basalmic but you're getting lots and lots of sugars from the veggies anyway.

[cheesecake17]

Try cubed jicama and mango with lime juice, fresh mint, scallions, and a sprinkle of chili powder.

Thinly sliced avocado with grapefruit segment and basil. Balsamic if that's allowed.

Grill hearts of romaine for a minute to add some flavor.

[katecm]

Jicama and mango sounds great.

[cheesecake17]

I've seen jicama sliced very thinly and rolled around shredded carrots and beets sort of like a summer roll

[jamieeats]

you could do fake spaghetti - use any sort of "sturdy" vegetable as your base - i would recommend asparagus or broccoli, and then saute tomatoes with garlic, spices, onion to make your sauce.

eggplant stackers are really good - just slice eggplant and tomatoes about 1/4 inch thick, and stack a few of them with oregano and basil and bake for about 15 or so minutes (or add garlic if you'd like!)

thinly sliced apples, baked for a few hours on about 200 with nutmeg and cinnamon are delicious!

my last suggestion is to let a few bananas sit out until they are very, very ripe, then mash them up in a bowl and put it in the freezer. depending on how long you freeze them for or how long you let them sit out before eating, but they can get to be a nice consistency similar to that of sorbet.

enjoy!

[katecm]

This eggplant and tomato idea sounds great. Maybe on the grill too!

[roxlet]

There's an article in this month's Vogue by Jeffrey Steingarten doing the master cleanse. He turned the lemonade drink into ices.

[chowser]

I'm trying to figure out what benefits a cleanse like this would have, too. But what about gazpacho? Can you have potatoes, sweet potatoes, other root veg? I love those roasted and pureed. My friend makes a great vegan potato broccoli soup. If I HAD to do a cleanse like this, I would wait a couple of months until great summer fruit are in season. I could live on summer fruit alone.

[hotoynoodle]

actually, veggies and fruits are almost all carbohydrate, with some fiber, depending on the fruit or veg.

what about nuts or nut butters? a dish of straight carbs, with no fat or protein, wreaks havoc with your blood sugars and insulin. you may want to consider almond or coconut milk to flavor your dishes and give you some fat and protein. it will mitigate the insulin hit.

any kind of sturdy veg can be steamed and then pureed, with some stock. process til thin like soup, or up til mashed potato texture. your call. carrots and ginger with a bit of orange juice is very good this way. you can also process some almonds or sunflower seeds in there. my personal faves are broccoli or cauliflower like this.

a nut butter thinned with warm water and a splash of hot sauce makes a great tasty sauce over warm veggies.

since i can never find spaghetti squash, i shred zucchini or summer squash into ribbons and use that like pasta. very good under home-made tomato sauce.

berries in a few spoonsful of coconut milk, with coconut shreds on top is great.

[dave_c]

To keep within the guidelines, the only thin you really can do is to increase the herbs and spices.
You can try roasting veggies to achieve some extra flavor from browning.

A cleanse is not only supposed to "detox" the body, but it also weans people off the high salt, high fat foods we're used to in everyday foods. It's sort of a palate cleanse too.

[katecm]

My thoughts exactly. We're so spoiled in our access to luxury items, we forget they're a luxury!