Wedding Blog

Do you GOOP? If you haven’t heard of GOOP yet, it’s a weekly lifestyle newsletter sent out by Gwyneth Paltrow. She writes about all kinds of things; each week focuses on a specific topic, like her favorite restaurants in LA, NY, and London, to her favorite cookie recipes, to gift ideas, to an extended discussion of “frenemies”. Some of it is fascinating, some of it I totally can’t relate to, but all in all, I love receiving the GOOP newsletter in my inbox once a week. A few weeks ago, the newsletter’s topic was a 1 week detox program that focused on resting your digestive system and expelling toxins from your body, while not actually starving yourself.

Ever since Mrs. Canary did the Blueprint Cleanse, I’ve wanted to participate in a detox program. Now that I’ve moved away from my parents’ house, I’ve also moved away from my gym, and eating with my 30 year old husband is very different from eating with my 60 year old parents who are hell bent on watching their cholesterol. After a nasty bout with E.Coli a few years back, my kidneys and bladder are a little bit damaged, and I find myself having to go pee 3-4 times a night, which is horrible for my sleeping patterns. Between my change in diet, leaving my gym, and my pee habits, I knew I wanted to give my insides a jump start. But the price tag of Blueprint was hard to swallow, and while I was ready to get on board and do it, Mr. Penguin refused to participate with the $85 a day price tag per person. And I knew I couldn’t go through a cleanse without a partner… especially if my partner was eating normal foods while I was cleansing. So, when GOOP’s detox newsletter came out, I showed the plan and recipes to Mr. Penguin, and he said he’d definitely get on board with this one.

As a disclaimer, you should discuss any sort of detox program you start with your doctor!

Last night, we purchased the food needed for the first 5 days of the program, using the recipes provided. It was an epic shopping trip. Check out our loot:

I’ve never bought that many groceries at once! We usually hit the grocery store once every day!

Surprisingly, the diet doesn’t cost much (considering you are not allowed to eat anything else). I bought all the food for the first 5 days, for the two of us, and the bill came out to $160. Keep in mind that I bought 2 expensive canisters of supplements ($14 for GreenSuperfood + $15 for whey powder) that I won’t buy on subsequent shopping trips. So that comes out to about $16 per day, per person, for food.

Some of the interesting additions to the detox are these:

Whey protein - A great source of protein (duh), and is more rapidly digestible than other sources of protein

Green SuperFood with probiotics - GOOP suggests a different brand (ProGreens) but the Green SuperFood was on sale at our grocery store for 50 percent off ($14) and we couldn’t resist a good deal.

Agave nectar - A natural sweetener that has a lower glycemic index than other natural sweeteners. It tastes really good, like a very light honey.

Grapeseed oil - Holy moly! I thought this stuff was packaged in a green bottle, but as you can see, it’s actually that electric green color! It’s clean, neutral and light tasting.

Almond milk - Made from ground almonds. This is completely vegan, and completely disgusting. I was describing the taste to Mrs. Bee last night, and I told her it tastes like baby pee. She said she didn’t know what baby pee tasted like. Ah, touche. Okay, so I don’t either, but I imagine that if you ever drank baby pee and almond milk side by side, you’d have a hard time telling the difference.

Coconut water - Coming from a Thai family, this is something I’m very familiar with. It’s the water that comes from young coconuts, and is very yummy! It’s a popular drink in tropical areas. You get to drink one a day!

Anyway, I won’t go too far into what the detox entails, as you can read about it here. But I will report back to you and let you know how it’s going! Here’s our day 1 meal plan:

7AM (or upon rising): Glass of room temperature lemon water
8AM: Herbal tea
10AM: (breakfast): Blueberry and Almond Smoothie
11:30AM: Coconut water*
1:30PM (lunch): Salad with Carrot and Ginger Dressing
4PM (snack): A handful of mixed pumpkin and sunflower seeds
6PM (dinner): Broccoli and Arugula Soup
*Make sure that the coconut water has no added sugar. Fresh is ideal but the brands Zico or Vita Coco are readily available.

I packed up Mr. Peng’s food for him to take to work (everything but the 6PM dinner). Here’s what it looks like:

That nasty tub on the left is the blueberry almond smoothie. Doesn’t it sound delicious? Don’t be fooled by names. It’s a “plug your nose and chug” kind of drink. I’m still a little traumatized that I defiled delicious blueberries like that. Mrs. Coconut participated in this diet for a few days, and said it definitely made her body feel better, despite a couple foul tasting recipes.

I’ll report back a few days into it. Wish us luck!

Have you tried a detox?