Well, day 18 required some creativity.  We had some family in town to visit DC for the first time, so we joined them for some sightseeing.  While I was able to enjoy my Beachbody Ultimate Reset breakfast (another fresh fruit plate), I had to deviate from the prescribed Reset recipes for lunch and dinner.  We were going into a number of Smithsonian museums, and most of the museums do not let you bring in water or food.  So, we were without our distilled water and food.  Also, at the risk of security confiscating my Himalayan pink salt (or worse, detaining me on suspicion that the powder was something else), I opted to keep the salt at home.  We survived.

After having my Mineralize, Optimize, and Revitalize supplements at home, I took a nice long walk on a beautiful day and joined the group at the National Museum of the American Indian’s Mitsitam Cafe.  For those of you unfamiliar with DC, the National Mall is where many of the standard touristy activities are.  The vast majority of dining options on the National Mall are garbage – hot dogs, pretzels, chicken strips, french fries, McDonald’s, and other processed wonders that your typical American tourists wouldn’t hesitate to stuff shamelessly into their faces.  The Mitsitam Cafe is a glorious exception to the artery-clogging wasteland of museum cafeterias.  It features American Indian cuisine among various regions, and it is one of the healthy alternatives on the National Mall.  Normally, I would have no problem eating healthy at the Mitsitam Cafe – there are lots of vegetables and healthy grains, like quinoa, fresh salmon, and other things to choose from.  However, this final week of the Reset is so strict that it was hard to find something to eat there.  A lot of the vegan dishes had grains or were prepared with a vinaigrette (which, to me, equates to sugar).  The only thing I could find that met the criteria was a side dish of grilled zucchini and stewed tomatoes – no butter or sugar or vinaigrette.  So, my husband and I enjoyed two side orders of the zucchini and tomatoes, and split a side salad of greens, carrots, cucumber, and tomatoes (no dressing), and a mixed berry fruit cup.  Success!

Our afternoon Alkalinize supplement wasn’t easy either.  Since we can’t bring our own water into the museums, and there was no distilled water in a 1-mile radius, we settled for gift shop Polar Springs bottled water.  I know, I know, it’s no distilled.  I’m hoping that one 16-ounce serving of nondistilled water won’t do any harm.  Considering that I was also very thirsty, I’d rather have some water to hydrate myself than no water at all.

For dinner, we made reservations at a local spot that we knew had great salads that would be Reset-friendly.  As an appetizer, we split an baked eggplant stuffed with tomatoes, garlic, onions, and green peppers.  For our main course, we each had a mixed salad of Romaine lettuce, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, and carrots with oil and vinegar dressing on the side.  Seeing that some of their other salads had toasted pine nuts, and knowing we can eat toasted pumpkin seeds, I asked for them to add the pine nuts to the salad for a little protein.  It was delicious!

Day 18 Dinner

With all of the family leaving tomorrow, it’s back to the Reset recipe book for the final 3 days!  While it has felt nice to sit down in a restaurant again and be served for a change, I’m looking forward to preparing our own meals so we know we’re getting the right food and portions.  We’ve both been a bit more tired than usual in this final week, and I suspect part of that has to do with the compromises that we’ve had to make to our diet (I really think our portions out at restaurants haven’t been as big as we are allowed to have on the Reset).  Also, we may be more tired due to the emotional and mental exhaustion associated with the funeral service and all of the family in town.