Diary of an Eat Fit Food "5 Day Cleanse"

Eat Fit Food provides fresh, healthy (and deeeee-licious!) whole food meals and snacks delivered to your door in both Sydney & Melbourne (with plans to expand nationally in the near future!). Designed and prepared by EFF chefs in consultation with their team of dieticians, EFF meals make eating healthy literally 100% effortless. I recently did the 5 Day Cleanse (gluten free, diary free, processed sugar & red meat free) and took away so much more from it than I expected to. Here's what went down:

(above) On the first day, 2 swish looking Eat Fit Food eskys were delivered to my doorstep before 7am. Bring it on. I was SO excited to open them!

(above) This was the scene that greeted me - with a great big leaping hug - on the first morning: A day's worth of food (including snacks) in each esky, clearly marked and accompanied by a "menu" for the day.

(above) Day 3 Breakfast: "Free range scrambled eggs with a potato rosti, baby spinach & tomato jam".

Breakfast on other days consisted of "Detox" muesli with rice milk & poached berries, gluten free toast with fresh tomato and hummus or brown rice porridge with rice milk, poached pear and walnuts.

(above) Day 2 Lunch: "Brown rice salad with shallots, pepitas, sunflower seeds, raisins, peanuts & tamari dressing".

(above) Day 1 Lunch: "Warm roast root vegetable salad with pinenut & lemon ginger dressing".
All Eat Fit Food meals are developed to "inspire health & wellness through calorie-conscious, portion controlled meals". Sustainable whole foods contain quality nutrition: premium protein, lower GI carbohydrate, fibre, vitamins, minerals and healthy fats. All the good stuff. 

(above) Day 3 Lunch: "Tomato, carrot, beetroot, avocado & hummus salad with ginger miso dressing".
TT TIP: When I found myself a bit peckish after lunch or dinner, I made a big pot of Licorice Legs tea and enjoyed it over the course of an hour. 

(above) Day 1 Dinner: "Warm tuna with chickpeas, almonds, roast capsicum & lemon caper dressing".
TT TIP: While EFF recommend heating things up prior to consuming (for safety reasons), I didn't (and would strongly advise against using a microwave to do this). We haven't owned a microwave for 3 years now. I kind of loathe them. Read more here.

(above) Day 3 Dinner: "Chilli, ginger & lemongrass barramundi with broccoli, green beans, brown rice, squash & lemon".

A bunch of programs for men & women are available from eatfitfood.com.au - click here for pricing (it's actually very man friendly - you can "upsize" the portion sizes on any program for just a little bit extra). A program is selected depending on your goal - weight loss, detox or just a get-back-on-track "recalibration" (as Sarah Wilson would say). They are designed to reset eating behaviours, digestive function and nutrient absorption. Bonus points: All programs will also "improve vitality, health and nutrition".

(above) This was my food for Day 5 (the last day of the cleanse): "Detox muesli with rice milk & poached berries, Spicy Thai brown rice with broccoli, omelette & fresh lime, olive crusted salmon with sweet potato mash, silverbeet & lemon. And 2 snacks.

ARE YOU BLOWN AWAY YET??!

Some of the things I was unsure of before starting included:
Can I drink tea/coffee/wine while I'm doing the cleanse? Course you can. But then why are you doing a cleanse, Silly?!
Can I have extra food while I'm doing the cleanse? Again - try and "work through" any issues. You'll get the most out of the cleanse by simply eating only what is delivered an nothing more. Did I sneak in a few walnus after dinner one night? No. Maybe.
How will I manage preparing the various meals if I work away from home? With the exception of dinner, you can literally eat everything else you put in your mouth for the entire 5 days, straight from the container it comes in.

If you do a cleanse like this, I guarantee you will feel great, look great, have more energy, a clearer head etc etc. That's a given. But what I really enjoyed taking away from this experience was a sound knowledge of what constitutes a good balanced diet on a day to day (long term) basis. Here is the gist:
- Snacks are important. Very important. They keep everything trucking along smoothly, appetite-wise and are a good opportunity to sneak more fruit and veg into your day. Veggie sticks and hummus, a piece of fruit or a gluten free (muesli-type) bar were the Eat Fit Food snack of choice - One mid morning, one mid afternoon.
- Portion size, portion size, portion size. You know the deal. Keep it small.
- A good dressing makes the world go round (again, just a drizzle). The dressings that came with the EFF food were some of the best I have ever tasted.
- Have your dinner, maybe a pot of herbal tea, then call it quits until morning. No more snacking!
- Vegetables or salad should constitute at least half of your lunch/dinner plate. Preferably raw or lightly steamed.
- Fresh fish is an ideal dinner. Aim for twice a week.

And there you have it Tonic-ettes! I hope I've shed some light and answered any questions you might have. If not, leave a comment below and I'll answer it!