Tofu Paneer Saag

April 9, 2014

My name is Kelly, and I’m an Indian-food-aholic.  Pre-Advocare cleanse (update on that later in the post), my friend Lauren and I had these coupons for our local Indian buffet that basically made it $5, which basically forced us to eat there every Thursday for lunch.  After weeks of eating piles of delicious pakoras, navartan korma, saag, paneer tikka masala, and whatever-those-delicious-little-dessert-balls-floating-in-syrup-that-taste-like-pancakes-are-called, I shocked my system by not going for several weeks in a row.  My body refused to accept this, and I dreamed about Indian food.  I wish I was joking, but I straight-up had a dream I was eating pakoras soaked in some sort of delicious sauce that came off an orange-colored veggie dish while the aforementioned syrup drenched thingies danced on a nearby table.  Danced. I know they don’t have arms or hands, but that doesn’t stop them from dancing, now does it?

Needless to say, I needed a massive dose of everything Indian food and I needed it immediately.  Oddly enough, when I started looking up recipes most of them were *almost* healthy.  I say almost, because they usually started with a lot of butter and oil and were topped off with heavy cream.  Luckily, canned coconut milk is a perfect swap for heavy cream (and probably more authentic?) and oil and butter can be greatly reduced, if not skipped entirely.  This made for an incredibly tasty meal, whether you like spinach or not.  It honestly has so many other flavors going on, then if it wasn’t green, I wouldn’t be entirely positive that’s what it was.  Perfect way to get some extra veggie nomage in.

Now for the AdvoCare update! I mentioned a few weeks ago that I was staring the 10 day cleanse and Josh was doing 24 days (10 day cleanse + 14 days max phase, unfortunately I couldn’t make the 14 days vegetarian friendly enough as many of the pills contain gelatin).  We’re on day 17 now and it’s going pretty well!  For the 10 day cleanse portion, we were incredibly strict.  No dairy, no sugar (except for fruit) including artificial sweeteners, no caffeine outside of the Spark, no alcohol and stuck very closely to the recommend meals (which were along the lines of keep it simple, lots of veggies, lean protein, complex carb sometimes).  After day 10, we loosened the reins a little (I’m still following the dietary plan so I don’t make Josh jealous when I have a big latte and he’s crying into a glass of water) — we’ve occasionally had a small amount of dairy, we’ve splurged on coffee with soy milk a few times, and we’ve had a few alcohol drinks (Whiskey neat for Josh, vodka soda for the lady).  After the 10 day cleanse, we had lost TEN POUNDS! A little weight has trickled off the last few days, but it’s definitely tapered off (maybe because we’re low level cheaters, but probably because the first came off so quickly).  Because we were still eating a normal amount of calories and pretty much normal food, I don’t feel like those pounds will come right back the minute I have a slice of pizza (but if they do, I’ll be sure to come back and delete this sentence so I’m not a fool for all eternity ;-)). The cleanse drastically altered our eating schedule in that we’re snacking more and our meals are more spaced out — our dinner is sooooo late compared to what it used to be.

This post is already getting pretty lengthy and I plan on Josh doing a full review after day 24, so I’ll wrap it up.  After 10 days I would say the pros are: reinforce better eating habits (both when you eat and what you eat), rapid weight loss, Josh’s skin has cleared up fantastically, drinking lots of water and less bad-for-me drinks, general feeling of wellness and energy, and unlike a regular diet, the cheats we’ve made have been incredibly small and I feel no guilt for them — I honestly feel pretty in touch with what my body needs (like a million eggs) and the cleanse reinforced that.  The cons would be: the vast amount of crappy and conflicting information out there, having to really plan ahead (both meals and when to take pills), the disgusting taste/mouth feel of the fiber drink.  Even talking about that fiber drink now makes me want to vomit.  I’m glad to have gotten through it, but I’m not sure I could drink that again.  My friend even said to me, “Uhhh didn’t someone give you that for free? Should you really be saying it makes you want to vomit?” Yeah, well, I’m honest.  But you should know that already.   I want to end on a positive note though, so I’ll just say that how delicious the Fruit Punch and Mango Strawberry Spark are definitely almost make up for the fiber drink — we’ll be continuing drinking that in lieu of shady energy drinks.  Or at least I will and will “strongly encourage” Josh to do the same.

P.S. Check out my first post on Advocare for more info on getting in contact with Becky (if I didn’t scare you off with my fiber drink talk).  Please know that I received the cleanse portion for free, but obviously my opinions are 100% my own.  I also want to point out that even though Josh and I lost 10 pounds, that doesn’t mean you will.  We definitely could afford to lose the 10 pounds each (and then some), so take our loss with a grain of salt.

Tagged with: Dairy Free • Egg Free • Gluten Free • Hidden Veggies • Indian • Nut Free • Spinach • Tofu • Vegan • Vegetarian