I remember once having a conversation with some girlfriends and one of them telling the group that she read an article regarding general eating habits that were discovered of thin people.

One of those habits was eating a salad with their meal. I remember the concept feeling so foreign to me. I don’t know why. It just didn’t feel easy or natural. I would have never thought then that I would make a salad for myself and my husband almost every single day for almost 2 years (and hopefully for the rest of our lives!)

But that’s how it goes in all journeys. Things that seem unnatural or difficult or tedious become common play after a while. And then you can’t even remember the reasons why it felt so impossible before.

So salads are a big thing in my house. It is our lunch. Almost every day, pretty much without exception. Sounds miserable? I promise you its not!!!!

Salads give us the opportunity to eat RAW, load up on good calories, stay healthy, and pile on the greens! And the beauty of it is that salads allow for so much variety.

When we first started this blog, I posted about my lunch salads and gave a guideline of the ingredients I used. But of course, as we evolve, so does our blog. I no longer put corn in our salads. Is corn absolutely delicious and sweet….YES…is it good for you….NO! Most corn is genetically modified and high in fructose. At least that’s what the hype is. And although I love it and will not hesitate to eat a corn at the cob at the Youth fair, I’ve chosen to remove it from our daily salads. I used to think that my salads wouldn’t taste good without corn, but once again, we have learned to love salads without corn and are doing just fine! The same goes with Craisins. We love craisins, but they have added sugar. Instead, we now put raisins. They are still high in sugar and add a nice sweetness to our salads, however, they have no added sugar which I prefer.

So, every day I prepare a different salad. Sometimes its out of this world delicious and sometimes its just ok. But everyday its good for our bodies.

Here are some of my basic recipes:

Salad #1 – (I always use olive oil and balsamic vinegar or lemon to dress my salads.)

• Organic Spinach
• sprinkle of sliced almonds
• 1 tbsp of chia seeds
• 1/4 sliced apple
• sprinkle of raisins
• 1/2 an avocado
• 1 hard boiled egg
• shaved carrots

Salad #2 –

• Organic spring mix
• a couple of broccoli florets raw
• 1 cup of chia seeds
• 1 tbsp of chia seeds
• 1 tbsp of flax seeds
• 2 red beets
• 1/4 sliced pear
• shaved carrots
• sprinkle of raisins
• sprinkle of sliced almonds

Salad #3-

• Any leafy greens I have (sometimes I mix kale and romaine or butterhead lettuce and collards…just depends on what I have in the fridge)
• 1/2 zucchini sliced (raw)
• 1/2 yellow squash sliced (raw)
• 1 tbsp chia seeds
• sprinkle of raisins
• sprinkle of almonds
• shaved carrots
• 1/4 sliced pear or apple
• 1 red beet sliced

The truth is that these combinations work with any number of substitutions. I rely heavily on what i have at home and on ripeness. If I used a pear in my smoothie I toss the remainder in my salad. I focus on not wasting my ingredients.

Ok, the last week of the Whole Living cleanse is week three:

Fruits, veggies, seafood, nuts and seeds, eggs, gluten free grains.

Orlando has successfully completed his fast and whole living cleanse right before his 36th birthday. And lost 10lbs that creeped up on him during the holidays and fantasy football season.

These salads were great for Orlando’s cleanse because they were no different than what he had been eating before.  Note: I did not put any eggs in his salad until week three.

Next week we will post some of our dinner recipes used during the cleanse. Have a great week!!!!!