Get Lean – Day 2

Today I woke up and realized that I hadn’t planned ahead sufficiently. Yesterday I focused all my energy at the supermarket on finding the ingredients for Day 1 and forgetting all about breakfast for Day 2. I’m beginning to realize that this 30 days is not for anyone who can’t devote their entire life to shopping and cooking – I’m going to start thinking up a few more ways to incorporate this into everyday life.

The recipe for the Turkey Avocado roll-up required 2 red lettuce leaves – I didn’t have any large leaves of lettuce in the refrigerator. Should I use Kale instead I pondered for all of 2 nano seconds? Probably not the most delicious way to start the day. The closet thing I had to lettuce was my usual staple, microgreens, but that wouldn’t work to wrap turkey unless I was creating rolls for a fairy.

A lightbulb moment! I would make an inside out version of the roll. I used 2 thin slices of roast turkey (99% fat free) and filled these with microgreens. Instead of mushing an avocado I used a little spicy guacamole. Because I didn’t want to the rolls to be too fat and all fall apart I used the tomatoes that the recipe called for to make a tiny side salad with lots of finely sliced (chiffonade) basil.

Inside Out Turkey Avocado Roll-up

1 cup microgreens
2 thin slices of turkey breast – I used herb infused Columbus Turkey 99% fat free
2 tablespoons spicy guacamole
1 small tomato finely chopped
basil leaves – chiffonade

1. Place the slices of turkey breast on a board and in the centre arrange the microgreens.
2. Spread 1 tablespoon of the guacamole on the side of the microgreens (this acts as the glue). Season with fresh black pepper.
3. Roll up the sliced turkey and cut straight across. (I learned this from Charles Phan, The Slanted Door, San Francisco whilst making his Vietnamese rolls, “If you try to get fancy and cut on the diagonal all the filling falls out.”)
4. Use a few of the tiniest basil leaves to garnish the tomato side salad.

I am not a big fan of chestnuts, as I said yesterday the chocolate pudding worked because they were hidden. I was more than a little alarmed at the thought of eating them ‘naked’ within a salad, so I chopped most of them up. I also reduced the quantity in the salad to just 3 and found a little extra protein and substance by adding a tiny bit of avocado to the dressing.

When it came to the recipe for the dressing I was horrified to read the quantities – ¼ cup of balsamic is far too much, especially for a single serving) and then a ½ cup of water – this would make a soup for the spinach to swim in. One of my pet peeves is soggy over dressed salad but this dressing would take it into a new realm. Time to take a look at the recipe.

Spinach Salad with Creamy Dressing

1 teaspoon balsamic
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon spicy guacamole
1/4 cup English cucumber, diced
1 tomato (about ¼ cup), diced
3 chestnuts (packed in water) left over from chocolate pudding recipe of Day 1
¼ cup Bermuda Red onion, finely diced
2 cups baby spinach leaves
1 hard boiled egg, chopped

1. In a large mixing bowl whisk together the balsamic, mustard and guacamole and add 1 tablespoon of water. You want a nice creamy dressing so balance the consistancy carefully.
2. Add the cucumber, tomatoes, chestnuts and onion and mix into the dressing.
3. Add the Spinach leaves and gently toss to coat the leaves.
4. Transfer to a salad bowl and top with the chopped egg and serve immediately.

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Sailor.

So here’s where I have to admit I went off piste. The snack for the afternoon was a cucumber mint relish (cucumber, edamame, coconut water and fresh mint) – sounds delicious and I had all the ingredients ready in the refrigerator. However, I had recently bought some Rainer cherries at the market – they are so delicious I just needed to have these for my afternoon snack.

The recipe for day 2 calls for a steamed turkey breast with wilted kale and raisins and yet I’m never at home for dinner on a Friday night. I don’t want this 30 day regime to stop me from living my life so I kept in mind the recipe and chose accordingly at our post tennis dinner at Bloom café.

I ordered a delicious juice – kale, ginger, celery and apple juice. And I had a chicken apple salad – which included gogi berries, dates and lots of greens. I asked for the dressing on the side so as not to go too far off track and barely ate half the serving. It felt good to be out with friends having our regular dinner and eating healthy food – I resisted the usual slice of pizza with butternut quash and gorgonzola – that perhaps was the toughest part of the whole meal.

What to drink?

There’s no mention of how much water to drink while doing this 30 day makeover. I’m trying to drink a lot, at least 8 glasses, but it’s hard to remember. After my 40 minutes crazy dancing I am able to drink down gallons of water – there’s nothing like working up a good sweat to make you thirsty!

I’m also drinking my usual green tea – this gives me a nice caffeine buzz! No coffee or regular PG tips (not supposed to have the milk) and I’m trying to wean myself onto drinking PG Tips black but there’s something not quite as satisfying about it.

Exercise

Today I did the full muscle working exercise using the video. It’s a little frustrating that it doesn’t show you all the moves along with counting you through the reps. I have to stop the video after the leg lifts on the right side and go back to the beginning to do them on the left – not great. I’m supposed to be doing 20 reps for the first  couple of days and let me tell you it kills!  The exercises look so easy – and then you do about 7 and you limbs feel as if they are going to cramp up and fall off! But I keep motivated with the notion of getting trim for France and force myself to do a few more. None of this is easy but if I’m putting in the time I’m going to make the most of it.

My favorite part is the dancing for the cardio – I’m probably the worst dancer ever to have attempted this routine but I’m enjoying it and I’m hoping that by the end of all this I will be able to pop my shoulders like a pro!