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Tips and Tools

Now that we have discussed the facts behind making the right choices, identified the good and the bad, and helped you restock your kitchen for success, I’d like to provide you with some quick tips to make the next ten days—and the rest of your life—a little easier. Change and transition are not easy, so hopefully the information on the next few pages will be useful.

KITCHEN TOOL ESSENTIALS

Would you set out to begin a DIY project without a hammer or other necessary equipment? Of course not! If you want to cook you need a well-stocked kitchen. I suggest you have the following tools on hand—they’ll make cooking fast, simple, and fun.

  • a set of good-quality knives
  • two wooden cutting boards—one for animal products, another for fruits and vegetables
  • an 8-inch and a 12-inch nonstick (non-Teflon) sauté pan
  • an 8-quart stockpot
  • a 2-quart and a 4-quart saucepan with lids
  • an 11-inch-square nonstick (non-Teflon) stovetop griddle
  • a Dutch oven
  • a grill pan
  • several rimmed baking sheets
  • several square and/or rectangular baking dishes
  • a food processor
  • a blender
  • an immersion blender
  • an instant-read thermometer
  • a coffee grinder for flaxseed and spices
  • wire whisks
  • spring tongs
  • a fish spatula
  • rubber spatulas
  • a vegetable steaming rack or basket
  • assorted measuring cups, metal for dry ingredients and glass for liquids
  • assorted measuring spoons
  • a citrus reamer
  • Microplane graters/zesters in assorted sizes
  • a food mill
  • natural parchment paper and foil
  • a timer
  • sealable glass containers in various sizes for storing leftovers (plastic contains known hormone disruptors, which have been associated with insulin resistance and weight gain as well as female hormonal imbalance and thyroid disease)

SHORTCUTS AND TIME SAVERS

One question I am often asked is: How do I detox on a busy schedule? Trust me, it’s easier than you think, but it does require a little planning. I find that when I invest that time, it pays off by keeping me healthy and eating well. In the end, it makes life a little easier, too. Here are some of my own recommended time savers:

  • Cook once and eat twice by doubling the recipe and enjoying leftovers later in the week.
  • Do as much prep work as possible the night before you plan to cook.
  • Chop veggies ahead of time and store them in airtight containers, ready to be used in salads, stir-fries, and other recipes. Precut produce is also available at many markets, both in bags in the produce aisle and at the salad bar. Although it may be a bit more expensive, it drastically reduces prep work.
  • Frozen vegetables (preferably organic) are a real time-saver—especially if you already have some in your freezer and can avoid the need for last-minute grocery store stops. Cascadian Farm, and some store brands, provide high-quality, organic frozen vegetables that were picked and flash-frozen at the peak of freshness.
  • Choose fresh prewashed organic leafy greens, such as spinach, kale, arugula, and romaine lettuce.
  • Make sauces and marinades and, if you’re in the transition phase, cook brown rice and other whole grains in advance.
  • Carefully chosen canned and jarred foods, such as vegetable or chicken stock, sardines, wild Alaskan salmon, artichoke hearts, and roasted red peppers, make it easy to toss together last-minute meals and enhance salads. Remember to choose low-sodium versions and read labels carefully to avoid gluten, dairy, sugars, and other unwanted ingredients.
  • Choose two days during the week (Sunday and Wednesday seem to work well for many people) when you are going to spend a few extra hours in the kitchen, cooking and preparing as much as you can in advance. With all of your ingredients ready to go, a fresh home-cooked meal can be on the table in less time than it takes the take-out delivery to reach your home.

PLAN YOUR MEALS, SHOP, AND PREPARE FOOD IN ADVANCE

Let’s face it: If you wait to decide what to eat until just before you leave for work or just after you get home in the evening, you may not have everything you need to put a meal on the table. Being caught off-guard while having a growling tummy could put you in danger of going off the program entirely and just grabbing what is available, quick, and easy—usually addictive, processed junk. That’s where planning comes in. Take some time one day per week to sit down and plan your meals for the upcoming week, and make a shopping list. Go to the grocery store and purchase all of the ingredients for those recipes in advance. Make sure to stick a few frozen goodies in your cart—such as frozen produce or shrimp—which will come in handy as you work your way through the fresh food earlier in the week.

Remember, no matter how challenging the prep work seems at first, I promise you’ll find that it gets easier and easier, and you’ll be a whiz at planning meals in no time. You’ll come to appreciate arriving home to a fridge filled with marinated meat and chopped veggies just waiting to be stir-fried.

I totally understand the instinct to order takeout when you’re tired after a long day of work. But if you want to detoxify your body, calm the inflammation that’s ravaging your system, balance your hormones, lose weight, and reverse diabesity, it’s crucial to stick to the plan.

GOOD FOOD ON A TIGHT BUDGET

Relying on inexpensive, overly processed food is tempting, given our demanding lives and schedules, but the cost is actually much greater than it appears. Feasting on salt, fat, and sugar can lead to serious diseases that cost hundreds of dollars in doctor’s visits and prescription drugs. We can become sick and sluggish, resulting in less productivity. We might have less patience for our loved ones and less energy to work or enjoy ourselves. Considering the real cost of cheap, processed food, you can’t afford not to cook.

By now some of you might be wondering how to make this work on your budget. It helps to track all of your expenses for one week and see how much of what you spent went toward achieving your health goals. Right off the bat, you’ll be able to spot recurring items and pricey habits that don’t get you closer to your goals. For example, if you brew your own coffee each day instead of stopping at a coffee shop, you could save up to $1,500 a year. Do you order takeout for office lunches and Friday night dinners? You may be surprised to find that cooking your own food—even the high-quality food I’m talking about—can save you money. By reorganizing your budget and taking a look at other nonessential discretionary spending, you might create more funding for good food.

You can continue to save money even after you adjust your budget. I recommend getting a copy of “Good Food on a Tight Budget” by the Environmental Working Group (www.ewg.org) to learn what foods are good for you, good for the planet, and good for your wallet. Stick with simple ingredients and a handful of spices that you can use in many dishes, rather than expensive ingredients that you’d use less often. Shop at discount stores such as Trader Joe’s or shopping clubs like Costco. Get fresh, local produce from a community-supported agriculture (CSA) group or farmers’ market. Look at store circulars to see what’s on sale, and shop private-label brands, many of which offer high-quality, organic staple items.

HEALTHY SNACKING

My version of detox doesn’t involve juicing, fasting, or even hunger. You’ll find that when you eat real, nutritious foods, you will be naturally satisfied. That said, if you go too long between meals or find that you are hungry outside of mealtimes, it helps to have a snack on hand.

For many, however, snacking has become reckless behavior, synonymous with eating a candy bar from a vending machine or nibbling through a bag of chips, a carton of cookies, or some other salty or sweet packaged item. Let’s recast how you think about snacking so you can change your habits.

If you eat well and keep your blood sugar balanced according to the principles of the 10-Day Detox Diet, you probably won’t need a snack. But sometimes you might. I view snacking as another occasion to flood your system with protective nutrients that quell hunger, quiet inflammation, and steady your blood sugar. Just as you do at meals, you should combine nonstarchy veggies with quality proteins and healthy fats for snacks. There are many flavorful ways to do this: Enjoy celery sticks with almond butter, a “mezze” plate with a variety of nuts and vegetables, a slice of natural deli meat (without nitrates, high-fructose corn syrup, or preservatives) spread with mashed avocado and wrapped around a romaine leaf, or a hardboiled egg with sliced red bell pepper. The beauty of the program is that you can be completely flexible once you get used to a few simple guidelines.

Although I don’t believe in counting calories or policing portion sizes, your between-meal eating occasions should be smaller than your regular meals. Eat until you are comfortably satisfied, and there’s a good chance you’re eating the right amount. The key is to keep a variety of healthy snacks on hand so that you’re not tempted to visit the vending machine when your stomach starts to growl.