Day 2: Vegetables

Veggies, one potato

I woke up this morning feeling good, but with a slight headache that I attributed to sinus pressure from my cold. Or maybe it's due in part to detoxing.

The scale indicated that I lost 2 pounds. (I hear you, little voices in my head saying, "It's just water weight!")

For starters, I had the option of a baked white or sweet potato with a pat of butter.

I love you, butter. Please marry me.

I chose a sweet potato because we had them on hand, from Tom's garden, and they are so nutritious.

Last night I went to Trader Joe's to purchase more items for my special diet, and my eyes were drawn to a stack of brussels sprout stalks. I loathed brussels sprouts as a child, not surprisingly, but in recent years I've had them plain and in a variety of dishes and recanted my former stance as a brussels sprouts hater. Still, I kept forgetting to buy and cook them. Then last week I had some that my sister Mara prepared-delicious- and decided that I had to buy some for myself!

As I stood there eyeing the mound of stalks (which, by the way, are super weird looking and could very well have been invented by Dr. Seuss), the grocer lady adding to the pile asked, "I just found a perfect stalk. Would you like me to get it for you?"
"Yes," I said, "I would love that!"
So very carefully, even reverently, she handed me a stalk so perfectly loaded with adorable green sprouts that we both just stood there a moment, the stalk between us, hushed by such beauty.
"Thank you," I whispered, as I cradled the stalk and walked back to my cart.

Then when I got home, I thought, what the blank do I do with a stalk? I had only ever seen the sprouts de-stalked. Apparently, you can plop the whole she-bang in the oven and cook it that way, but I decided to remove the sprouts from the brussel tree, wash and quarter them, then saute them in olive oil with plenty of fresh garlic. It took awhile to cook down, but the end result was divine! Plus, they are high in protein.

(Faced with a large skillet still full of sauteed brussel sprouts, Rachel turns to Google: Can cooked brussel sprouts be successfully frozen?)

Snacking consisted of a yellow bell pepper. Also, hot tea.

Wow, those brussel sprouts really filled me up. I don't think I want to eat them again for at least another month. I bet I gained those 2 pounds back.

Dinner was a very small fresh green salad with broccoli sprouts. I had plenty more veggies to eat for today, but I really didn't feel that hungry.

Maybe my body is shutting down.

Did I mention Tom is baking sweet potato pies? What is with that man?

Notes:
Today was much easier than yesterday. I practically ate all day during fruit day, but since vegetables are more filling I didn't need to eat as much. I did make sure to have plenty of fresh veggies on hand, just in case.