I did it! Umm…yes, finally almost finished the month of vegan food, but what I mean is that I developed a great vegan healthy chocolate coconut bar! Made them tonight and they were yummy. I will post the recipe for you tomorrow night as a thank-you for following my blog through this month. If I can do it and successfully navigate Mother’s day, my 50th birthday, the Cathedral Arts festival, an invitation by friends to go out for ice cream, a church potluck and a successful band concert celebration without eating any refined sugar, white flour, dairy or processed food during these “treat” occasions – you can too.

I would like to encourage anyone to go through a detox or elimination diet. Do it to the level you can manage. For some, it might be taking your lunch to work and not grabbing fast food on the way home. For others it might be doing a trial of no gluten and/or dairy, or leaving out all processed foods, or trying vegetarian or vegan for a month. There is a level of detoxification that will work for anyone. Be careful if you have any disease processes going on, are on prescription medication, or are underweight. Do not even attempt a detox if you are a child or teen, pregnant, or have an eating disorder.

It is often best to do a detox under medical supervision, I do lots of elimination/detox programs with my patients (and I promise you, it won’t be 100% raw foods all month!), and found this has been helpful in many chronic conditions. As I found this month, even minor problems can clear up, such as sleep issues, joint aches, bloating, concentration/memory problems. If you are interested in consulting with me, drop me a line at natdoc@accesscomm.ca , or book yourself in for an appointment at http://www.wendynd.com . It will be an investment in your health that pays “dividends” for the rest of your life!

Here’s what I ate today – kind of a healthy treat day with a lot of chocolate!!

Breakfast:

Apple pancakes – brown rice flour, tapioca starch, coconut very small amount organic brown sugar, soaked flax seeds, rice milk
Blueberry sauce – blueberries, Agave

Lunch:

Bok choy and tofu stir fry from yesterday
Beets
Chocolate bean balls – cocoa, dates, black beans, vanilla, coconut – beans go very well with chocolate, gives it moisture and bulk

Snack:

Pomegranate

Supper:

Green salad
Oven potato slices with olive oil and herbamare
Refried black beans with olive oil, garlic, onion, green pepper
Watermelon

Snack:

Chocolate coconut bars – recipe tomorrow!