And the Beet Goes On

 You may have been wondering where I went.   I did break my fast at 23 days and started working on the BIG question...what do I eat?  I didn't want to write about something I didn't really know about so I waited to see what would happen.  I started out eating "regular food" for the first few days--heavy on the veggies and salads.  When I say regular food I mean I ate a little meat, like chicken, at dinner, had eggs or oatmeal at breakfast and a big salad with tuna and veggies on it at lunch time.  Pretty healthy stuff.  Here's where things get interesting.

When you stop eating food and go on juice you lose all your stomach ailments...daily aches and pains that you don't notice when it's an every day occurrence.  I have acid reflux quite a bit and that went away on the juice fast.  I would have cramps and mild nausea sometimes and that went away.  There is an uncomfortable bloated feeling that also went away.  And my blood sugar spikes and dips went away on juice.

When I started eating again those things came back in spades when I ate the wrong thing.  For me wheat was the biggest culprit but I also had bad reactions to sausages, sugary stuff and milk and cheese.  You get feedback right away and it takes a little time to recover afterwards.  Good incentive to get it right.

What's for dinner takes on a new meaning in these un-charted waters.  I began experimenting.  Here are some ideas if you are looking for what to eat.  I take a salad and either put a lean unprocessed meat on it (4 oz or so of tuna or chicken) or a 1/4 cup of seasoned beans...I like garbanzo beans with garlic, onion and italian herbs or black beans with garlic, onion and chili powder and cumin powder.  I am enjoying my new taste buds by adding fresh herbs like cilantro and basil to the salads.

Yesterday I harvested some baby beets and added one of them to my salad for lunch.  Later on I made the rest for dinner featuring baby beats, sweet potatoes (thin sliced) cooked in a mixture of dark maple syrup (1/4 cup and 4 TBS butter)  Saute until tender and add thin sliced granny smith apples and thin sliced ginger.  A Tablespoon of broth finished the mix...I served this over the beet greens sauted with onions and garlic in a little olive oil.

 It is heaven for the taste buds!  Here's the recipe:

• 3 medium beets, thin sliced
• 1 medium sweet potato thin sliced
• beet greens and stems 
• 1 small granny smith apple, cored and sliced
• 2 x 1 inch peice of ginger, thin sliced and peeled
• 2 cloves of garlic, pressed or chopped fine
• one medium onion, chopped
• 1/4 cup dark maple syrup
• 4 Tablespoons butter
• 1 Tbsp broth

• Olive oil to cover bottom of pan in thin layer

Saute the beets and sweet potato in butter over low heat for 5 minutes.  Add the maple syrup and continue cooking until tender--another 5 minutes or so.

In the meantime put the olive oil in another pan and saute the onion and one of the cloves of garlic.  Add the beet greens and continue to cook until done.

Meanwhile, add the sliced apple, pressed garlic and ginger to the beets and sweet potatoes.  Stir frequently.  Reduce the glaze by cooking over medium heat.  Add the broth and taste.  Add salt to taste.

When the beet greens are done, turn them off.  Season to taste.  Serve beet greens topped with the tangy-sweet beets and sweets mixture on top.