The Dreaded Brown Rice Diet

Well it's that time of year for me to do my detox ritual. Nothing horrible - unless you (like me) think brown rice tastes like wood. I actually have a wonderful recipe for baked brown rice that I found in Cooks Illustrated, June 2004 and it tastes great - except when I do this detox thing. For one week it's only brown rice (made with water not stock) served with raw fruit (not bananas or oranges - don't ask me why) and fresh vegetables (except corn and mushrooms) - raw, steamed, baked, roasted, grilled or sauteed lightly in a little bit of olive oil. No meat, fish, poultry, eggs, cheese or bread products - but herbs and spices are fine as long as there's no salt or MSG.

For those of you worried that I might be doing something stupid to lose a million pounds (I wish), let me assure you that a naturopath gave me this plan years ago. She puts all her new clients through it to see whether or not they have any food allergies. You slowly integrate food back into your diet after the first week-one thing at a time, starting with bananas, dried fruit and rice pastas and ending with cheese products. Nuts, then fish then chicken, legumes and wheat fall in between. You are really supposed to wait a few days after adding one item and before trying any additional item to allow your body to adjust and for you to be able to notice any reactions. This process is supposed to take about a month to do properly if you are really checking for allergies. I incorporate things much quicker than that....probably about an additional week or so before everything is back in. I do take multi vitamins so I'm not really missing anything and it is for a short time. It allows my body to have a break from over indulging - something I've been doing a lot of lately what with Domestic Goddess' Sugar High Fridays and testing dessert recipes for the cookbook. It also forces me take stock of what and how much I actually eat.

Just so you don't feel too bad for me I thought I'd share a day in the life...
Breakfast
Fruit smoothie made with strawberries, blueberries, peaches and some Ceres juice which is pure and has no added anything - just wonderful juice - delicious anytime really
Lunch
Salad with olive oil & lemon juice with lots of herbs and pepper
Or
Sliced tomatoes drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with fresh basil (it is the perfect time of year for this!!!)
Or
cup of brown rice with left over vegetables from last night's supper
Fresh fruit (this diet is fine in the summer but brutal in the winter when there is no flavorful fresh fruit to be had. How many apples can a person eat!?!
Dinner
brown rice - tossed with fresh herbs, lemon zest and pepper (not worth a picture)
grilled vegetables - last night was eggplant, red peppers, asparagus and thick red onion slices marinated in olive oil, lemon juice and garlic

OR
tonigth I think I'll stuff the rice in a grilled red pepper
Fruit salad (I actually found Ontario strawberries that look fabulous and smell wonderful)

My real challenge is after dinner, because no matter how much rice and veggies I eat, I'm not satisfied without some real protein (like meat, fish, eggs and cheese) and bread. So this week it's early to bed for me, but I do feel better for it once it's over.

If anyone has any interesting ideas for veggies, I'm all ears