No backsliding for me, thank you very much

That silence you hear is not from me falling off the Thrive bandwagon. Far from it.

It's actually the sound of busy-ness. I guess. I don't think that even makes sense. The point is I haven't had the time to blog about what I've been eating and feeling for the past four or five days on the Thrive diet.

So here's my recap: It's been mostly great.

Thank you. I'll take the check spelled out to Justin R. McIntosh.

I really should give up this sad attempt at comedy. Anyway, I've eaten a lot of great food, found some recipes I didn't quite care for as much and others I've already remade they were so delicious.

The winners: Zucchini pasta, chocolate blueberry energy bites and sunflower seed pate.

I've been clamoring to try the zucchini pasta for ages now, ever since I learned of the possibility of making spaghetti strips out of a vegetable from a raw foods cookbook.

I don't dislike regular pasta, I just always liked the thought of being able to get a full fruit or vegetable serving (or more) in the most efficient way possible. Hence, my love for green smoothies.

So for months, I've been on the lookout for a tool that would slice the zucchini into small enough strips that would closely replicate angel hair pasta (my favorite type of pasta).

And, as always, my wonderful mother came to the rescue with an instrument she found in some random shop or web store. Anyway, the magical tool has been sitting in my kitchen utility drawer for months, just groaning to be used (Honest. I could hear its rumblings).

Then I saw Brendan's recipe and knew I'd finally be making the dish.

So over the weekend, my girlfriend, Ms. Vegan, and I made a zucchini pasta with a sundried tomato marinara sauce from Brendan's book, "Thrive." And it. Was. Amazing.

Very tasty and the texture wasn't as limp as I thought it'd be. It helped that we added, per Brendan's recommendation, some soaked arame (a type of seaweed) and then stirfried the noodles with the arame and some sesame seeds in coconut oil.

It was so great, I ended up making another batch of zucchini strips last night for dinner to use up the leftover sauce. I scarfed it down, eating an entire zucchini (sans seeds) that was about the size of my forearm. No wonder my stomach was rumbly from all the fiber I had just consumed.

Now, on to the blueberry chocolate energy bars, which I enjoyed much more than the apple cinnamon ones, even though I loved those.

The chocolate blueberry bars had a stronger taste and were just as easy to make, consisting of dates, almonds, blueberries, carob powder, flaxseed, protein powder, sesame seeds, lemon juice and salt to taste. I've eaten a few for snacks and they're very filling and tasty.

Last, but certainly not least, is the sunflower seed pate. Actually, this is probably the best of the recipes I've tried so far. At first taste, it came across a little bland, but that's probably because I was eating them with regular old store bought crackers.

The second batch I made to compliment the vegetable crackers I made from Brendan's book and now I'm officially hooked. I don't know how I'll stop eating these. I ate them for breakfast yesterday when my smoothie, lacking dates, tasted a wee bit too much like kale for my liking. So I set the smoothie aside, till I had bought some more dates, and chomped away at my home made crackers and pate.

I felt so sophisticated and yet and old world, making things from scratch, but not just things like biscuits and cornbread, but pate.

After the whirlwind of the weekend, I still find myself with energy, mostly avoiding the afternoon slumps. But there have been moments when I've felt drained, though I think that has more to do with the change in the weather and my inconsistent sleep schedule (courtesy of the The Marietta Times and Graffiti).

And now that a week has passed on this diet, I think I can safely say this is definitely a food choice I'm sticking with a little longer. Especially after receiving a care package from Brendan's lovely publicist, Vida Engstrand.

The package contained gobs of goodies, such as instant smoothie pouches, packaged energy bars, Brendan's book on fitness and more. I'll be writing more about these products — and other recipes I've tried — in the coming days.

Cheers!