Breastfeeding is nuts.

Apparently the amount of calories you burn whilst breastfeeding is equivalent to going for a 5km run each day! So needless to say I am hungry all.the.freaking.time.

However, the month of September is approaching at full speed and September has exactly 30 days in it – making it the perfect month to try out something new:

My ‘something new’ for this month is going to be my very own breastfeeding-friendly detox. I can’t do a traditional liquid detox because Mika needs my milk and to produce milk I need to keep eating. So instead I have invented my own rather unscientific but common sense breastfeeding friendly detox diet. I’m focusing mainly on cutting out coffee (eeeek), limiting sweet fruits, decreasing highly acidic foods (meat, eggs), and removing yeast, wheat, gluten, oats & barley. If you’re interested (or interested in joining in) here’s the ‘no go’ list:

• coffee
• milk/cheese/butter/icecream
• white/brown sugar
• potatoes
• super sweet fruits (bananas, dates, mangos)
• wheat
• gluten
• yeast
• oats, barley
• mayonaise, tomato sauce
• chocolate

Once a week only:

• meat
• eggs

Usually the awful thing about any kind of short-term diet is that you end up focusing more on what you can’t eat more than what you can. So after outlining all the things I’m just not going to be touching for the next month – here are the things I am going to try and eat more of:

• Sprouts
• Celery
• Cucumber
• Garlic
• Green beans
• Spinach
• Zucchini
• Carrots
• Beetroots
• Avocado
• Lemon
• Tomatoes
• Buckwheat
• Lentils
• Spelt
• Tofu
• White beans
• Almonds
• Brazil nuts

Week 1 Menu:

Breakfast ideas:

• Millet & Raisin Porridge
• Buckwheat Porridge
• Buckwheat cereal with almond milk
• Spelt Porridge
• Spelt & Vanilla Pancakes

Snack ideas:

• Raw almonds + brazil nuts
• Vege sticks + homemade hummus
• Plain yoghurt + fruit & chia seeds
• Cucumber + sprouts with lemon
• Half an avocado

Mains:

1. Lentil Salad with roasted pumpkin
2. Carrot & Ginger Soup + Raw Broccoli & Mushroom Salad
3. Creamy Cannellini Bean Sauce over Spelt Fettucini
4. Spanish Bean Salad + Black Quinoa & Kale Salad
5. Black Bean & Sweet Potato Soup + Green Sushi Salad
6. Udon Soup with Spelt Noodles & Bok Choy + Millet Tabbouleh
7. Green Sushi Salad + Stuffed Tomatoes

I’ll be starting on Thursday September 1st. Tomorrow I’m finishing my shopping so the fridge is stocked full with great foods (to distract me from the lack of coffee in my life mainly…)

If you don’t want to join me in my detox, perhaps think of something else you could do for the next 30 days? You have another day to decide and prepare…