40 Day Detox

Day 37

Almonds soaked in water

After yesterday’s long overdue workout and meal out at Tayyab’s in Whitechapel, my weight increased 0.4kg to 66.6kg while my Body Fat decreased 0.5% to 16.7%. My Body Water and Body Muscle both increased 0.3% to 57.2% and 43.3% respectively. After last night’s Chana Dal I feared it might add some flab to my belly, but it seems not, as Hamzah pointed out, it seems it was a good source of protein after all. Protein my body put to good use after the workout earlier yesterday.

I started my day with the same breakfast as yesterday, whilst also snacking on some almonds soaked in water.

Red lentils,, wholegrain basmat rice, black olives and vegetable juice

Red lentils, wholegrain basmati rice and salad

I exercised again today similar to yesterday’s workout.

For lunch I had red lentils, wholegrain basmati rice and black olives with vegetable juice.

For dinner I ate red lentils, vegetable curry and salad.

At night I snacked on some nuts, dates, fruit juice and hazelnut milk. Maybe one too many!

Day 38

Vegetable soup

I had the same breakfast as the last couple of days.

For lunch I had vegetable soup.

In the evening I was invited with my wife and the rest of my family to my aunt’s house for an Eid al-Fitr dinner. It was an extended family kind of event. As people had been fasting all month, my aunt had created a meat feast to delight her guests. There were numerous dishes to indulge in but all meat based: lamb shoulder, lamb chops, chicken, mutton mince… you name it, it was served!

My sister, mum, nan and wife stood outside my aunt's house arriving for an Eid dinner

Unfortunately, I couldn’t feast on hardly any of the variety that was served up. So I started eating what I could, the salad, and then that awkward moment came… when everyone starts to realise that your plate doesn’t quite look right, then comes the curiosity, then comes making the big deal about the whole thing. I had wanted to stay under the radar about my vegan experiment in front of my relatives. See I hadn’t been to my aunt’s house in 15 years or so. Back then I was a bit of an odd one out of the family, particularly the males and even more so amongst the second generation of cousins who were born in the UK because of my devoutness to my faith. I was extremely religious and being brought up in the UK at that time it wasn’t so common for young people to be so religious. I just didn’t want to continue to project an eccentric image! So I tried my best to play down the unwlecomed attention. I explained it was an experiment that would be over within a couple of days as I was most likely only doing it for 40 days and it was already day 38. In Punjabi my uncle jokingly remarked: “Ali! Tu Hindu Ho Gaya?!” (Ali! Have you become a Hindu?!) I said, “No, why do you say that?” He said “Hindus do 40 day fasts called chalisa.” I replied that I didn’t know that. Which at the time I didn’t. It’s only after researching my a recent blog post did I discover how widespread 40 day fasting in one form or another really is around the world. Ahh… if only I had known what I know now and I could’ve responded with a smarter answer… Oh, no! Stop it Ali! That would have only reinforced the image I was trying to shed!

Anyway, after my Mum and some of my relatives made a big deal about the whole thing, my aunt was very kind in offering me some daal she had made the day before. As it wasn’t meat she didn’t think anybody would have appreciated it with all the meat that she had on offer. How wrong she was. It was a mix of two dals. One was moong dal and the other one I can’t quite remember what it was (the meal was on 11^th September 2010 and its now 5^th January 2011!). But it was so nice, I asked my wife to try it and suggested that we should also experiment with mixing two types of legumes and pulses in one dish. Another great daal culinary experience!

Day 39

EcoMil Quinoa milk. 0% Soya. 0% Cholesterol. 0% Gluten. 100% Disgusting.

My breakfast and morning routine was the same as the last few days.

For lunch and dinner I ate urid dal with wholegrain basmati rice.

I exercised again today, just as the last couple of days.

Today I tried Quinoa milk for the first time. I think I can honestly say it is the most disgusting thing I have ever tried. I really can’t remember trying anything as horrid before in my life! It was so bad it almost put me off Quinoa in its whole form! I felt sick for a while, the smell in my mouth just wouldn’t go and almost every aroma reminded me of it! So this is the first vegan alternative to milk that I can honestly advise to keep well away from. ABSOLUTLEY DISGUSTING!

My weight, body fat, body water and body muscle readings during the 42 days of this detox and 12 days after completing the detox

These last few posts of the 40 day detox are a bit rushed as I’ve started a new project: it’s called the 120 Fat Loss Competition. This time not only am I going to be focusing on my personal progress and experimentation with diet and lifestyle, but there are also over 30 people at the time of writing this who have joined and are competing with me! I need to write my first blog post on that so that people who are struggling to start can get started. But before I do that I need to finish the posts for the 40 day detox first! Pressure! Pressure! Pressure! 

This was the last day I took any photos of myself topless. Unfortunately I still haven’t achieved the physique that I’d be happy to share. For before and after shots you’ll have to wait for the results of my new fat loss regime. It will be focussed on fat loss (rather than detox) and will last three times the amount of time as the detox i.e. 120 days. From all that I have learnt about nutrition and my own body over these last forty days I am confident that I will see really good results at the end of this next project. And then you will see my before and after pics!  

Red quinoa, plums, blackberries and coconut milk

I had my hot lemon juice in the morning, followed by Inca red quinoa, with garden grown organic British plums and blackberries.  

Vegetable curry, black olive, and wholegrain basmati rice

For lunch I had wholegrain basmati rice with vegetable curry and black olives.  

Hazelnut milk - LOVE IT!!!!

I resumed exercising again, doing my upper body resistance training and 20 mins of HIIT training on the cross trainer. 

During the day I teated myself to a glass of Hazlenut Milk. 

In the evening I met up with some friends for an urban clothing brand launch called Stirling. It was an interesting evening. I met up with Hamzah his brother and sisters and his girlfriend Mandy. It was the first time I met his siblings and it was the first time I had seen Mandy since starting this blog. Mandy was (maybe still is?) one of my most regular readers – if not the most regular reader, hands down of this blog. I think. It seemed every person we met that night Mandy was encouraging them to read this blog Thanks Mandy! Your support and enthusiasm has been really appreciated! Not only that, most of the evening whenever she got a chance she would ask me questions on stuff I had written about over the weeks. Mandy made me feel like a celebrity author that night. I know I’m not one (yet), but her response has sure given me some confidence. 

Chana Dal and Aubergine at New Tayyabs Restaurant, Whitechapel, London

After drinking lots of glasses of water during the event, we ended up at an Indian restaurant in Whitechapel called New Tayyabs. Hamzah had gone ahead of some of us, and as the restaurant was about to close I had to order over the phone without a menu handy. Hamzah recommended the Chana Daal with Bhaingan (Aubergine / Eggplant) – based on the requirements of my detox. I agreed. And boy was I glad I did. The Chana Daal and Aubergine mix was seriously good! It was the first time I tried Chana Daal mixed with Aubergine (or any vegetable for that matter) and it was so good that my wife has been cooking Chana Dal with Aubergine ever since! I recommend the mix. I had it with some salad and bottled water. Towards the end of my meal at Tayyabs I also discovered that poppadoms were ok to consume on my detox as they are usually made of chickpeas and other legumes like lentils. Overall it was a great restaurant experience!