It is the end of my last day juice cleansing with Vibrant Earth Juices! I must say, I miss food. I don’t miss it because I am hungry. I miss the act of eating and I miss going out to dinner and mostly, I miss nachos.
This morning, I woke up feeling lighter. I wasn’t trying to lose weight with this cleanse. However, it was hard not to notice that my stomach was flatter. I found that on the last day especially, I was more energetic. I actually thought that I would be able to go a couple more days of juicing if I didn’t miss nachos so much.
I had been a bit worried about the taste of the juices. Ginger and beets and flax meal just don’t sound like an appealing combination. But I was pleasantly surprised by the taste of them all. My favorites were definitely “Energy” and “Immunity”. I am already thinking that I may want to do another one of these after the overindulgence of the holidays!
Day 2 of my Vibrant Earth Juice Cleanse is almost over. I found today pretty uneventful. Not once did my stomach growl from being hungry. I wasn’t as wiped out as yesterday either. I was actually surprised that I was able to get through the day maintaining a steady energy level. I drank “Refresh” at noon which satisfied my craving for something a little sweet. Three hours later I had another helping of “Energy”.
I actually found myself looking forward to this juice. It wasn’t because I was starving but because I had grown to really enjoy the taste of these different ingredients paired together. It also gave me the boost I needed to finish up my work day. I tend to overeat, especially during dinner. I have a hard time not finishing everything on my plate. It was definitely nice though to not be in a total food coma at this point in the day. I am finding that these past two days, I have been more tuned into what my body actually needs rather than what it wants.
Recently I have been feeling very tired. I know that part of the blame is due to what I eat. Nachos are my weakness and all of that cheese makes me quite sluggish. I had watched the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead and was intrigued. So, I figured a 3-day Juice Cleanse would help me get healthy and energized. Luckily, we have a company right here in Santa Barbara that provides freshly pressed, raw and organic juices to your doorstep! I met with the owner of Vibrant Earth Juices who happens to have her Masters of Science in Nutrition, Dietetics and Food Science and is a Registered Dietitian. She was able to assure me that the juices were all gluten-free and would provide me with the proper nutrients for my anemia.
Today was my first day on the Juice Cleanse. There are 6 juices that I had to drink throughout the day. Overall, I felt good in the morning. I didn’t find that I was that hungry. Midday, I received some unexpected bad news that definitely took a toll on my body. I kept up with the cleanse schedule, but I felt worn out. I am not sure if I felt exhausted due to the emotional day or due to the cleanse. One thing that struck me though was that I wasn’t hungry. The juices left me feeling satisfied.
At 6 AM, I had the first juice which was “Energy”. I was nervous about the taste because of the ingredients listed, but I enjoyed it. Three hours later, I had the second juice which was labeled as “Immunity”.
I loved this one. It was similar to lemonade. I could see myself drinking this on a normal day. One of the things I like about Vibrant Earth Juices is that on the site, it outlines what each ingredient’s purpose was. From the site:
- Pineapple – Abundant in enzymes that aid digestion, speed up wound healing, and reduce inflammation. Additionally, its packed full of Manganese (benefits good skin), Vitamin C, and Potassium.
- Pear – Provides soluble fiber to improve elimination and increase the digestive system.
- Mint – Contains potent anti-fungal properties and soothes the digestive tract.
- Lemon – Rich in Vitamin C and bioflavonoids, lemon helps clear mucus, fight kidney stones, and prevents against skin cancer.
- All of the fruit and vegetable blends come with a teaspoon of Flax Oil. The flax oil is a vegan oil, high in antioxidants and Omega-3 fatty acids. The inclusion of this fatty acid is very important, as it helps with the digestion, transport, and absorption of the nutrients in the juices. Without it, the body has a very hard time utilizing what the fruits and veggies have to offer! Another amazing benefit of the oil is that it reduces the fruit and vegetables “glycemic load” on the blood stream. In other words, it reduces the impact the juice has on your blood stream, preventing huge spikes in insulin and glucose levels.
It was nice to confirm that each ingredient was contributing towards a healthier me. I am optimistic that Day 2 will pass without the hunger pangs I was expecting.
This evening, there was a pop-up dinner at Municipal Winemakers featuring food from Blue Owl. After calling ahead to ensure they would be GF friendly, I decided to attend. We started with a garlicky caesar salad that was quite good. However, the feature of the night were the three paellas that they made. There was a vegetarian option, a seafood option and a meat option.
Since all three were gluten-free, I decided to try them all. The seafood option had littleneck clams, shrimps, spot prawns, mussels, lobster tails and squid ink. The meat option had smoked duck, beans and spanish chorizo. Out of the three, I found that the meat option had the most flavor. And then there was dessert. For the “normal” people, there was pumpkin pie. For the awesome gluten-free crowd (there were three of us), we got GF berry pie!
This was packed with tons of fresh, flavorful berries. The crust was good too, even though it fell apart a bit when they tried to serve it. Overall, it was a great night with yummy food and lots of wine pairings that made me forget it was a Sunday night!
After spending some time at the Carpinteria Avocado Festival today, all we wanted for dinner was Mexican Food. We decided on Del Pueblo Cafe in Goleta. I ordered the Rajas Tacos.
These had grilled pasilla peppers and onions on two corn tortillas. They were topped with lettuce, cheese and salsa fresca. I found the colorful decorations in the restaurant really appealing. On a totally unrelated note… at the avocado festival we were able to determine that our backyard avocado tree is of the Bacon Avocado variety. Is that the best name or what?
Today was the Santa Barbara Sol Food Festival. The Sol Food Festival was a one day community created festival to raise awareness of the sustainable, organic, and local food systems of Santa Barbara County. I was especially excited since their “Garden of Eatin'” promised gluten-free items! The first thing I tried was the Organic Kale Salad from Soho’s stand. It had tomatoes, toasted seasame, sunflower and pumpkin seeds and avocado. It was mighty good. Then I sauntered over to the Sol Food Kitchen stand which featured Fairview Gardens. They had a veggie jambalaya with brown rice and gluten-free cornbread crouton.
This dish was nice and hearty. How cool was it that the cornbread was GF?! Next. I walked by the Pizza Guru stand and couldn’t resist a slice of gluten-free pizza.
The featured pizza was “Ebby’s Homegrown”. It had roasted organic heirloom tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant and bell peppers. They topped it with some fresh goat cheese and basil. This was good but it had been pre-made so it wasn’t as fresh as the first two items. I thought I was done eating, but then I walked by this appealing item.
Made-to-order Potato Chips in their own, dedicated fryer? Yes please! I also stopped by the Simply Pies stand where they had run out of their gluten-free miniature 3″ pielets. That was totally understandable as their pies are that fantastic! Don’t forget, you can sample their gluten-free offerings at our meeting on Wednesday (shameless plug)!
One of the nice things about eating at a hospital is that there is an awareness of different dietary needs. At Cottage Hospital, they ensure that at least one of their soups and one of their main dishes each day is gluten-free. Additionally, everything is labeled clearly as shown above so that there is no question as to what you can and can’t eat. I ended up having their salmon with pineapple relish. I got this with a side of rice and vegetables.
I was surprised at how good a hospital’s cafeteria could be! I loved the pineapple relish that came on top of the salmon. For dessert, I had some GF chocolate cake.
My favorite part of the cake was definitely the frosting. While there, I met with with the cofounder of Gluten-Free Santa Barbara to plan our first meeting. As a reminder, it is being held one week from today! It will be held in the cafeteria area at 5:30 PM. Additionally, every Wednesday, Cottage Hospital holds a farmer’s market from noon to 5:00PM. So, just show up a little early to get some shopping done!
To get the latest updates on our future meetings, events and more, just like us on Facebook! AND… if you plan on attending our inaugural meeting, please RSVP on the event site.
This weekend, we decided to give Arlington Tavern a try since I had been hearing some good things about it from some coworkers. While ordering, our waitress didn’t know much about what gluten-free meant, so I explained to her the questions she needed to ask the chef. I started with the caesar salad without the croutons. I loved how much cheese there was. I also had the crispy pork belly. Typically this is made on a flat top where other things are made. However, to avoid cross contamination, the chef made it in a pan for me.
I loved this dish as it was basically tastier, thicker bacon. For my main dish, I had the halibut.
This came with brussel sprout leaves, fava beans and bacon. It was good, but not quite as good as that crispy pork belly.
gluten-free in sb 