As I mentioned yesterday, I made it a point to try several new things this month.  One of them was completing a cleanse.  This was NOT easy.  I’ve done short three-day cleanses before, but this one was two weeks and eliminated dairy, alcohol, wheat and for the first week meat and eggs.

I decided that after the holiday season it was time to re-set my digestive system and when I want to do that, a cleanse is the first thing that comes to mind.  I’m not a fan of juice only cleanses – for me it’s just too extreme.  So, this time around I spent the first week enjoying smoothies or juices for breakfast, light lentil or nut/seed based veggie dishes for lunch and dinner and lots of fresh food.  Nothing processed and no sugar.  Week two was the same except I had fish a few times and a veggie omelet for breakfast twice.

One of the ways I made it through without sugar was these wonderful sweet potato chips.  I made up a batch of them every other day and inhaled them like they were going out of style.  Now that I’m done with the cleanse, I still love these chips – so apparently they really ARE good and I wasn’t just so deprived that I convinced myself of their yumminess.

So, if you need a sweet, no sugar and HEALTHY snack – give these chips a try.

Sweet Potato Chips

Step one:  Peel and thinly (the thinner the better) slice one large sweet potato.

Step two:  Toss the sweet potato slices with a T of olive oil, sea salt and cumin or cinnamon.

Step three:  On an aluminum foil lined cookie sheet, spread out the slices into a single layer.  Bake at 400 until almost hard (watch for the edges to burn, pull them out before that happens).  I typically flip them once during the cooking process.  Cooking time varies depending upon how thin your slices are.  Mine usually took about 15 to 20 minutes.

Step four:  Cool and enjoy.  Half is a good serving portion, so just put the other half in a bowl with a lid and eat in the next day or so.

Doing a cleanse like this is very worthwhile – I felt great both during and after it, but it DOES require some pretty serious menu planning.  If that’s not something you excel at, check out my menu planning e-course.  It will teach you how to become a menu planning expert!

Shared on The Mommy Club, Tasty Traditions,  Real Food Wednesday and Works for Me Wednesday