Healthier eating in 2015: the Bon Appetit Food Lovers Cleanse #BACleanse

Happy New Year! This is the first post of 2015 and I thought I’d keep it healthy.

I really overindulged during the holiday season, and I wanted to find some inspiration to eat more healthily. In 2013, I took part of the Bon Appetit Food Lover’s Cleanse. It is less of a cleanse and more of a healthy cooking challenge. This year’s menu looked appealing, so I took the plunge. It started on January 2nd but I didn’t start until the 5th because who starts a cleanse on a Friday?

The shopping list was huge, but I figured that it would probably cost just as much to buy breakfast and lunch as I had been doing. It does take quite a bit of time in the kitchen, which is not necessarily a bad thing. I prepare my dinner every evening, along with breakfast and lunch for the next day.

I love that all the menu planning has already been done for me. The plan is not about deprivation or cutting things out. It is more about adding in more vegetables, healthy fats, and fruit. Each day includes a menu for breakfast, lunch, a snack, and dinner (which includes dessert!). The menu was put together by Sara Dickerman and nutritionist Marissa Lippert. It is a two-week menu. You can definitely customize and swap things out. Most recipes have suggestions for replacements.

If you are looking for healthy recipes, do check these out. I’m really enjoying the BA Cleanse so far. To see what I’m cooking during the cleanse, follow my instagram hashtag: #BACleanse2015OVB

Check out the resources:
Calendar/Menu
PDF of Recipes
Complete Online Menu
Guidelines
Blog Posts to Keep You Going

Here are a few of my favorites so far:

Breakfast: scrambled eggs with caramelized onions and goat cheese

Breakfast: pomegranate chia seed yogurt parfait

Lunch: swordfish with fennel, oil cured black olives, and blood orange

Lunch: tofu cabbage salad with kimchi miso dressing and peanuts

Dinner: swordfish with smashed white beans and sage, and kale salad with pepitas and red onion

Dinner: beet soup with caraway, bistro salad with roasted vegetables, and orange carpaccio with orange flower water and pistachios

Dessert: spicy Orange Hazelnut Chocolate Bark (I added coconut)

Author: onevanillabean

I have loved cooking and baking since I was 5 years old. It was the one activity that I would share with all my extended family. Like most people, I love traveling. I love visiting the markets, exploring unknown ingredients, and bringing them back home with me for inspiration. I find that recipes with simple and pure ingredients yield the best results. View all posts by onevanillabean