knitxcore.: Get Healthy!: 28-day Challenge Wrap-Up.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

Get Healthy!: 28-day Challenge Wrap-Up.

magic turnips!

As you may have deduced from my last "Get Healthy" post, we have pretty much given up on the strict guidelines imposed during the 28-Day Challenge. That is not to say that we have completely given up on healthy eating, but that our eating habits were exactly congruent with the standards.

In the last two weeks of the challenge, we did still eat the recipes; one of my favorites being the tofu scramble. I made it twice and ate almost all of it myself. The biggest problem we had with the challenge was the amount of ingredients that each recipe required and how much prep and cooking time was needed for each meal was just far too much. Of course, you could say that it would be worth the extra time to know that what we were eating was beneficial to our health and blah blah blah...

Unfortunately, it just didn't seem realistic to be peeling and chopping from the time I wake up until the time I go to bed. Emotionally, it wasn't worth the stress of the "dish wars" that making a billion things from scratch would eventually fuel. Ha!

Instead of looking at this experience as a complete failure, I'm actually walking away with a feeling of accomplishment. The zeal and dedication that we showed in the first two weeks made it abundantly clear that we are taking our health seriously and that we are united in the quest for a better "us". The challenge has brought us back to the regular flexi-tarian diet that we had agreed upon over a year ago. We eat mostly vegetarian meals, punctuated by small portion of meat once or twice a week.

scrambled tofu with collards and turmeric.

I've actually been reading up on Ayurvedic Lifestyles recently, and have found that some of the foods that we had been avoiding during the cleanse (and some of the foods we were eating) may have caused certain imbalances within each of our very different doshas.

But, more on that next week...

I'm happy that we took the opportunity to participate in the challenge and some of the recipes will definitely be integrated into our weekly meal plans! Whole Living definitely had the right idea, but it just wasn't the right idea for us right now. We'll definitely give "detox" diets another go in the future, but right now I could really go for a latte and donut!

7 comments:

p.mcg said...

the tofu scramble looks amazing! i usually add spinach instead of collard - also with salsa and some vegan sour cream *drools*

great job on the your 28 day health cleanse! i'm glad you walked away from it more knowledgeable and prepared to continue on the path of healthy eating :)

now only if R didn't put junior mints and peanut chews in my stocking...

Anonymous said...

You should feel proud you at least tried it and made an improvement. I wish this was something I could do!

Jen said...

Mmm, tofu scramble usually looks weird to me, but that looks tasty!
I feel the same way about a lot of healthy recipes, but mostly the problem happens in the winter. I do just fine in the summer with raw salads and fruit/veggie smoothies. Less prep time makes me feel healthier as well. Have you considered making big batches of soups on the weekend that you can portion out for the week? We do that with bean soups and chili so that the weekdays don't feel so crammed.

Kira said...

A latte and donut sounds amazing, but that tofu scramble looks pretty good too :)

Batty said...

The prep & cooking time gets to everyone. D: Glad that some recipes will stick to your weekly meal plans
:D

Stela said...

At least you tried!
The tofu scramble looks yummy!

Grateful4Crochet said...

I think the changes you made will probably be more sustainable in the long term, and thus so much better for you both.
As much as I would love to, I know I could never commit for a 28 day challenge, but from reading about your ventures with it here, I also made some ongoing changes, started making more veggy juices, and focussing more on whole foods etc. So not only did you both make mega changes and healthy choices- you inspired others to do the same! Nice work