Cauliflower "Rice"

Quick, easy, healthy, vegan, gluten free, low cal, filling and even pretty tasty :-)
Source: Many blogs for example Everyday Maven has nice step-by-step pictures

Taste: 5 (out of 5)
Difficulty: 2 (out of 5), and not 1 because I am too lazy to chop cauliflower in batches

Ingredients:
- 1 medium sized cauliflower (140 cal)
- 1/2 tbsp olive or canola oil (60 cal)
- pepper and salt (optional)
Total: 200 cal, 4 servings, 50 cal/serving

Directions:
1. Wash cauliflower, cut it, discard the core and break of the florettes until you have pieces of approximately the same size.
2. Place the florettes in a food porcessor in 1 layer, do not overcrowd the food processor. In my food processor I have to shred a medium sized cauliflower in 3-4 batches.
3. Process until you get "rice" consistency. In my case I let the food processor run on high for 10 seconds and then pulse for 2 seconds 5 times.
4. At this stage you freeze a batch of your cauliflower rice in a zip lock bag for future use. You could then defrost the batch for 15-30 minutes and cook as usual. It turns a little mushier than freshly cooked, but pretty similar.
5. In a large non-stick frying pan heat 1/2 tbsp of oil over medium-high heat, add the cauliflower and cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
6. You can also add salt and pepper or other spices (turmeric, cumin, etc) while cooking. Or don't add anything if you want plained steamed rice.

Afterthoughts:
This is a really nice trick to make your meal healthier and eat waaaay less calories. In one cup of white rice there are 200 calories, in one cup of cauliflower rice there are 50: you save 75% of calories! And taste / texture - wise it works pretty well as a substitute for the "real" thing. Especially if you make fried rice, you might never notice the difference.

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Mango Ginger Lemonade and Weightlossophy Recap

A healthy tropical drink plus the wrap up of my Weightlossophy.

Ok, so this is the last day of my one week detox. The idea was to eat unprocessed foods avoiding gluten, lactose, alcohol, caffeine and meat. I do not feel any effect of this detox, but I lost 4 pounds. 2 will be back as soon as I have a “normal” meal, but even 2 pounds per week is pretty good, right? 

Also, this week I was posting my Weightlossophy tips, which I followed when I lost 55 pounds over 7 months last year. So here are the last general thoughts and the recap with links to all the previous tips. 

My must-have for weight loss

  I have been complaining about weight almost all my life, even when I was pretty skinny as a kid. I had many sporadic diets, after which I almost always gained even more weight. A standard story, really. 

  This time the primary difference was a very strong motivation and a deadline that came with that motivation. I really really wanted to lose weight and was ready to start the diet “right now.” The problem with many short term diets is that you tell yourself: I am starting a diet tomorrow, today is the last day of “normal” eating, so... let’s binge! And then when you’re dieting one day something goes wrong, someone brings a cake to the office and you eat 2 pieces, you feel that “today is ruined anyway, so let’s binge today and tomorrow back to the diet.” And so it goes on. The problem is that in one binge you can eat 3,000-5,000 or more calories. It will take a week to compensate for it. And by the end of the week you’ll be so demotivated that you’ll binge again. 

  Now I realize why such diets did not work for me. Because I “wished” I had lost weight, but not “wanted it badly enough” to commit. Don’t begin a serious long-term diet unless you are absolutely motivated, determined and committed. If you plan to start it “tomorrow” or “next Monday,” it would most likely only result in unnecessary suffering and additional weight.  

  It makes sense, does not it? Why fight so hard for something which is only in the “wistful thinking” category?  Just accept that for now you can live with your weight as it is and spend your energy on more crucial things. Don’t bother with diets unless it’s a top priority for you.  

  I suppose that would be my primary dieting tip :-). If you are motivated, than good luck! And I hope you find some of the tips that I published this week useful. I don’t claim that they would all necessarily work for you - everyone is different and needs a different diet that he can sustain. But even if one of these ideas might appeal to you or inspire you to make some improvements in your diet, I will be very happy. We’re all together in this “diet” thing :-).

  

Summary of my previously published Weightlossophy tips with links:

Know how many calories you burn

Count how many calories you eat

Record everything

Eat before you get hungry

Spend time on non-eating food-related activities

Use stick and carrot reward system

Change something to get off plateaus

And now the healthy tropical drink to celebrate the end of my detox. Tomorrow I am making my favorite apple buns :-)

Mango Ginger Lemonade

Source 

Improvised

Taste 5 (out of 5)

Difficulty 1 (out of 5)

Ingredients

- 1/2 mango (65 cal)

- 1 lemon (15 cal)

- 1 thin slice of ginger

- 1 tbsp agave nectar (60 cal)

- zest of 1 lemon

- 3-4 ice cubes

Total 140 cal, 1 serving

Instructions

Reserve 1,2 lemon slices for decoration. Crush the remaining ingredients in a blender. Enjoy!

Afterthoughts

Pretty good :-)

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Fruity Quinoa Salad and Weightlossophy tip #7: How to Get off a Plateau

This salad is super-simple, quick to make, healthy and sweetish - a nice way to start your weekend. And the tip on what to do when your weight loss plateaus.

This week I was publishing tips from my Weightlossophy thanks to which I lost 55 pounds over 7 months. Like anyone else, during that time I hit many plateaus, when no matter how good I was, the weight would not go down. Here are some things you might want to try to get your scale cooperate again.

How to get off a plateau

  A plateau is probably the most frustrating aspect of every diet. When your scale shows a steady progress, it is relatively easy to keep yourself motivated. But when you are doing everything right, and the weight just would not budge, you start thinking that things are not working and are much more likely to give up. How many diets were broken by these plateaus!

  I think that indeed when you hit a plateau, your body is asking for a change. But the change does not mean giving up the diet altogether. Make small adjustments: change the types of food you eat, the workout style, your daily routine, the time of your meals, your calories intake. In fact, the changes don’t necessarily mean eating less and working out more. Taking a short break from your workout and eating slightly more can also work wonders, as long as you are doing it controllably and for a certain period of time. 

  I was very often saved from my plateaus by trips. I just cannot go to a new place without trying the local cuisine - for me food is at least 50% of my cultural experience :-). I decided that my diet does not apply when I travel, so I ate beignets in New Orleans, coconuts in Hawaii and steaks in Omaha. I tried to eat controllably, but it did not always work. I would come back home after 4-5 days and discover that I gained 1-2 pounds. But they would be gone after a day or two of my standard diet. And by the end of the week I would lose even more and move off that plateau! 

  If you’re looking for a “scientific proof,” check out the graph in “How I lost 55 pounds” post. The grey areas stand for trips, where I did not track my calorie intake and burn. In many place the orange weight line flattens out before the trip and then drops much faster after. 

And now for the healthy recipe of the day.

Fruity Quinoa Salad

Source 

Improvised

Taste 4 (out of 5)

Difficulty 1 (out of 5)

Ingredients

- 1/4 cup quinoa (155 cal)

- 1/2 cup water

- juice of 1/4 orange (20 cal)

- 1/4 mango (30 cal)

- 4 strawberries (25 cal)

- 5 grapes (20 cal)

Total 250 cal, 1 serving

Instructions

1. Cook the quinoa with water and orange juice for about 20 minutes over medium heat until all the liquids are absorbed.

2. Chop half of the fruit and puree the rest for the dressing. 

3. Mix the cooked quinoa with the chopped fruit and pour the dressing over the salad. Serve warm or cold.

Afterthoughts

This is a detox recipe, so I tried to make the recipe as simple as possible, without adding any spices, sweeteners, etc. It might have been a little bland, but the dressing made a huge difference and it turned out a really nice dish. Not just for the detox.

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Eggplant Sub and Weightlossophy tip #6: Stick and Carrot

Eggplants have the same shape as baguettes of ciabattas. So why do we only use them as a sandwich filling and not instead of the bread? Check out this gluten free, low calories sub and one more Weightlossophy tip.

This is my spring detox week and along with my some light, healthy recipes I’m also posting the tips that helped me lose 55 pounds over 7 months last year. Today’s tip is harsh, but I think I might not have made it without it.

Stick and Carrot

  It is very common  for dieters to give themselves rewards for good performance: “when I get to 150 lb I will go shopping”, “when I get to 140 lb I am allowed a fancy dinner”, etc. Unfortunately, it did not work for me, because I would always put off the reward for later in order to binge today: “oh, I did not get there this week, no problem - I will get my fancy dinner next week”. 

  This time I had a clear deadline, to achieve which I had to lose at least 1 lb per week. So I decided that I needed both a reward and a punishment: if I lose a pound I get $x to waste on anything I want, if I don’t lose a pound I have to tear up and throw away an $x bill. x can be any amount that is painful enough to throw. By the way, throw means throw, not giving it to your friend or your favorite charity. There should be no justification, nothing to make you feel good about missing your target. Of course, the reward and the punishment can be anything: if I am good I will buy new jeans, if I am bad I will be doing dishes by hand all week. The main point is that the reward should be appealing and the punishment should be very detterring. 

  I know this tip does not sound good, but for me it made a huge difference - I have not missed the target even once. My “judgement day,” when I weighted myself to check for that lost pound, was Monday, and that was particularly effective because it prevented many weekend binges.
  Another argument that helped me accept this harsh punishment regiment was that so many people pay tons of money weekly for private coaches, support groups, etc. So I thought: I would be “paying” only for weeks when I am bad, for good weeks I’ll be getting my rewards :-).
  Side-note: The weeks when I was traveling were exempt from my carrot and stick policy - I chose to enjoy my vacations.

And now the gluten-free detox recipe

Eggplant Sub

Source 

Improvised

Taste 4 (out of 5)

Difficulty 1 (out of 5)

Ingredients

- 1/2 eggplant (30 cal)

- 1 slice red onion (10 cal)

- 1 garlic clove (5 cal)

- 3 mushrooms (10 cal)

- 2 rings red bell pepper (5 cal)

- 2 slices tomato (5 cal)

- 1 tsp canola oil (40 cal)

- 1 lettuce leaf

- 1/2 cup chicken or vegetable stock or water (5 cal)

- chopped basil, salt and pepper to taste

Total 110 cal, 1 serving

Instructions

1. Slice the eggplant in half lengthwise. Sprinkle with a generous amount of salt and let stand for 20-30 minutes. Rinse the salt. 

2. Preheat a dry frying pan over medium high heat and cook the eggplants on it, occasionally stirring them to make sure they don’t stick to the pan. If they do, add a little stock or water. Cook for about 10 minutes on each side.

3. Mince the garlic, finely chop the mushrooms and the onion, and saute with 1 tsp of oil over medium heat for about 20 minutes, stirring. If needed add a little stock or water. Add the bell pepper, season with basil, salt and pepper and cook for 5 more minutes.

4. Place lettuce over one half of the eggplant, top the sauteed mushrooms and peppers, add the tomato slice and cover with the second eggplant half. Enjoy your sandwich!

Afterthoughts

I was not sure how the eggplants would turn out if fried without oil, and found them quite juicy. Of course, if you don’t count calories, feel free to use oil. I  bet it would also be great to grill them, but I ain’t got no grill :-(. 

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Salad Bouquet and Weightlossophy tip #5: Spend time on Non-Eating Food-Related Activities

Celebrate the beauty and flavor of simple vegetables with a festive design. Plus the weight loss tip of the day.

Over the last two days I published the first 4 guiding principles that helped me lose 55 pounds over 7 months. This is my 5th Weightlossophy tip.

Spend time on non-eating food-related activities

  I am obsessed with food, have always been. I am one of those who remember places by the foods they ate there. A huge portion of my thoughts is dedicated to food, often even when I am actively doing something else. I suppose that’s just how I am and I have to accept it, especially since for me food is one of the greatest joys in life, and I don’t want to deprive myself of it. 

  But thinking about food does not necessarily have to lead to munching. You can direct all this food-addict energy into other food-related activities that will actually distract you from eating. Like planning what you are going to eat, looking up the recipes, doing grocery shopping, reading restaurant reviews and menus, cooking, counting calories (additional benefit of Tips #2), taking pictures of your food, and blogging about it (yes, yes - that’s one of the main reasons I started a food blog). 

  

  A perfect example of a non-eating food-related activity is the Salad Bouquet recipe below. Yesterday evening I spent at least half an hour thinking about the design. Today I spent another 30 minutes actually “building” it. Then at least 1 hour taking the pictures (we barely have any windows at home, so my only chance at natural light is on our small balcony in pretty ridiculous conditions ;-) ). And now finally writing this up. This gives you 2-3 hours happily dealing with food and consuming 0 calories. Not too bad, I think.

Salad Bouquet

Source 

Improvised

Taste 5 (out of 5)

Difficulty 2 (out of 5)

Ingredients

- 4,5 thin round slices + 1/2 tomato (10 cal)

- 4,5 thin round slices daikon radish (5 cal)

- 10-15 small lettuce leaves (10 cal)

- 2-3 twigs watercress

- 1-2 twigs parsley

- 1 medium bell pepper (30 cal)

- 1/2 mini cucumber (10 cal)

- 1 tbsp no-fat yogurt (10 cal)

- 1/2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice 

- 1/2 green onion

- salt and pepper to taste

Total 75 cal, 1 serving

Instructions

1. For the vase: Cut the top and the bottom of the bell pepper. Clean the remaining cylinder and fill with lettuce leaves, parsley and watercress twigs. 

2. For the flours: Place the thin round strips of daikon radish and tomato in a raw so that the overlap slightly and roll them all together to create a “rose”. For tomatoes it might be easier to use thin strips of tomato skins, especially for the finer “petals”. Place the roses inside the lettuce. With vegetable peeler cut thin slices of mini cucumber and arrange them “artistically” all around.

3. For the dressing: Peel 1/2 tomato, and blend together with the yogurt and the lemon juice. Add the finely chopped green onion and use the bell pepper tip (the one without the stem) to serve the dressing.

Afterthoughts

You can serve this salad as an individual dish, but it would probably fit better as a decoration for a large salad bowl on a dinner table. Of course, if you have a large salad, you can use one additional pepper to accommodate a larger amount of dressing.

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Buckwheat with Leeks and Brussels Sprouts and Weightlossophy tip #4: Eat before You Get Hungry

Buckwheat is a healthy and delicious side dish for meat, poultry, fish or veggies. Plus one more weight loss tip that you’ll love!

Yesterday I published the first 3 guiding principles that helped me lose 55 pounds over 7 months. Here is the fourth tip from my Weightlossophy, followed by the buckwheat recipe.

Eat Before You Get Hungry

  This sounds really cool, does not it? For me it was a crucial component. 

  Most of the weight loss books tell you to eat only when you are hungry and to stop eating before you get full. It takes the digestive system 15-20 minutes to send the “I’m full” signal to the brain, so if stop eating when you feel full it means that for the last 15-20 minutes you’ve been overeating.  

  Exactly because of this delay “I’m full” signal, I find this nutritionists’ advice absolutely useless. I primarily eat not because I’m hungry, but because I love eating, one of my most favorite activities in the world.  So it is hard for me to stop eating even when I’m exploding. But to stop eating when I am hungry?! No way! When I’m hungry I just eat anything available, and since it usually takes some time to prepare the healthier option, I often end up eating something less healthy as long as it’s ready. I also eat fast, and portion control is practically impossible. 

  So I decided to eat before I get hungry. This way I have a better control over what I eat. I can eat slowly and enjoy the food more. And since I feel full to begin with, it’ not as difficult to stop eating. The best thing for me is to niggle regularly on fruits, vegetables, nuts and berries between the main meals and to have very small portions during the meals. As long as I keep count of my snacks, I am not in danger of overeating this way. And I always  know that the next snack is coming up very soon, so I don’t feel deprived.  

  One more benefit of eating small amounts continuously: your digestive system gets a more regular supply of food, so it’s also a good way to prevent insulin spikes and waves of tiredness after large meals.

And here is the small meal of the day (the third day of my spring detox)

Buckwheat with Leeks and Brussels Sprouts

Source 

Improvised

Taste 5 (out of 5)

Difficulty 1 (out of 5)

Ingredients

- 1/4 cup buckwheat groats (160 cal)

- 1/2 cup water

- 3 oz brussels sprouts (35 cal)

- 2 oz leeks (35 cal)

- 1 oz bell pepper (10 cal)

- 2 garlic cloves (10 cal)

- 1 tsp canola oil (40 cal)

- basil leaves, salt and pepper taste

Total 190 cal, 1 serving

Instructions

1. In a small sauce pan bring the buckwheat with 1/2 cup of water to a boil, add 1 minced garlic clove and salt to taste, and let simmer for about 15 minutes. Do not overcook. You can skip garlic, I just love it and add it to everything. Buckwheat is wonderful with butter. I did not add butter today, because I am on a detox diet, but if you are not, just place some butter over the warm buckwheat, let it melt a little and mix.

2. While your buckwheat is cooking wash the vegetables. Crush the reaming garlic, chop the leeks and the pepper, and half the brussels sprouts. In a small frying pan preheat 1 tsp of canola oil. Add the garlic and the leeks. Saute for about 5 minutes. Add the brussels sprouts. If you need more liquids add a little water or chicken broth. After 5 more minutes season with chopped basil, salt and pepper, stir well and cook 2-3 more minutes. Your veggies should be ready just in time for the buckwheat.

Afterthoughts

- I eat buckwheat simply because it’s very tasty. But just for this post, I did a quick online search on the health properties of buckwheat. So here they are: buckwheat helps adjust metabolism, decreases cholesterol and blood pressure, improves blood circulation and protects against breast cancer. 

- Try to buy unprocessed buckwheat. The one you get in the supermarkets is usually precooked, and as soon as you add a little water it gets too soft and loses all texture, almost all flavor, and probably most of the nutrients. The best bet is to buy buckwheat from Eastern European stores. 

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How I lost 55 pounds in 7 months

Last year I managed to lose 55 pounds (25 kg) in 7 months. I am 5’5 (165cm) tall, so for me it meant going from size 14 to size 4 and sometimes 2. 

  I think the primary key to my success was a very strong motivation, but there were also some practical aspects that helped me persevere. Here are the main three rules which I found useful. In the following days I will be posting one more tip per day. I know that in dieting there is no silver bullet - things that work for some would be absolutely irrelevant or even harmful for others. So I am not suggesting that you follow all these tips, rather I hope you find some of them inspirational :-)

My Weightlossophy

1. Know how much you are burning.  

  I tended to hugely overestimate the energy that I burned when working out, primarily thanks to treadmills, ellipticals and workout videos that claim you burn 1000 calories in an hour. But then I had a metabolic assessment and discovered that I actually burned 400 calories, 100 out of which I would have burnt anyway, by simply being alive. Before that I had always thought: “I worked out so hard, I deserve some extra ice cream... or 2”. Now I knew why when I managed to stick to a workout routine, I’d gain weight :-).

  Metabolic assessment tells you how many calories you, personally, burn performing specific activities, such as sleeping, working, cleaning the house, running, walking, etc. I used Senswear, a small equipment you wear on your arm, which continuously measures your calorie burn based on your heart rate, body temperature, etc. Another equipment I found online that seems similar is Bodybugg. 

  Such equipment can be pricey to buy. Sometimes you can rent it from your gym. But even if you don’t have access to a personal metabolic assessment, you can approximate your calorie burn based on your weight, age and activity type on several sites, such as Nutritiondata or Healthstatus, which usually turn out quite accurate for me.
  Note of caution: as you lose weight you burn less calories for the same activity, so when you slim substantially, you might want to update your calculations. I know it’s sad, but hey - you’re getting thinner ;-)

2. Calculate how much you eat

  It is very tempting to believe that you can eat as much of the “non-fat” yogurt as you want, or that you should eat “plenty” of “healthy” foods. Walnuts are great for you, and it’s so easy to reach out and grab 2,3,4 more walnuts - how many calories can there be? Well, in 4 walnuts there are 100 calories, something that takes me an hour to burn. Not to mention “unhealthy” foods, where in a singe slice of an amazingly delicious cheesecake there can be 1400 calories - pretty much all my daily ration.

  My favorite online resource for calculating calories is CalorieKing. But there are many more great sites like that. After a while, as you become more experienced, counting calories gets much easier because you remember many items by heart, especially the ones you eat the most.

3. Record everything
  Now that you know how much you burn and how much you eat, record it all. Take a small piece of paper with you to work: it is so easy to forget a 100 calorie cookie that you munched on. Then add up everything and see what is your daily balance. It can be quite eye opening to keep such a record for a while. If you also weigh yourself every day, or at least once a week, you can see how your calorie balance impacts your weight. They say that a deficit of 3500 calories results in a weight loss of 1 lb. That was approximately true for me. 

  Don’t cheat! Don’t round up your workout time and round down the calories in your meals. It will only upset you in the long term, because you will feel that you’ve spent so much time and effort being “good”, and still have not lost any weight. 

  After a while it will be very satisfying to look back at your honest track record and see how well you were doing and how much weight you lost as a result. You can even make a graph, like mine (or prettier) to boost your morale :-).

I will be posting one additional tip from my “Weightlossophy” every day for the rest of my detox diet (April 11, 2010). So if you’re interested, check back in. Or if you have a thought or a question, please leave a comment,  and I’ll be happy to get the conversation going. 

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Horseradish Lemon Honey and Spring Detox

1 tablespoon of this healthy potion every morning for a cold-free winter, better digestion and a stronger immune system.

  This week I am going on a short 7 day detox diet. With all the cooking and baking this winter, I think it might be good to give the body a little spring cleanse. I had already had one detox like this last year - I have to admit I did not feel any different after it, but it didn’t hurt and I lost a couple of pounds. So why not do it again? 

  I am not following any specific regimen. I am skeptical of any food supplements, so I am not using packaged formulas, only limiting the foods I eat. 

  Based on a brief on-line research, the main idea in a detox is to eliminate alcohol, caffeine, gluten and lactose (no bread, soy sauce or milk products - only plain yogurt with live cultures is allowed), minimize processed foods, sugars and meats, eat as much organic as possible and drink at least half a gallon of water a day. So that’s what I’m going to do. 

  In addition, every day I will be taking 1 tablespoon of freshly ground flax seeds with a glass of water in the morning, and a cup of a laxative senna tea in the evening, to help the digestion. 

  The first day I will try to fast, only drinking water and herbal teas. But if I get too hungry or too weak I’m allowed 1 apple, 1 orange and 1 grapefruit. 

  And every day I will be posting 1 healthy recipe and a tip on weight loss that worked for me. 

Since today is my fast-day, and I’m not cooking anything, I am posting a recipe of a Horseradish-lemon-honey potion, that I’ve been taking for the last year. It is not tasty at all, but one tablespoon of it every morning had helped me and my parents pass a cold and flu-free winter. 

  So here is the Horseradish recipe, and if you are curious to see how last year I had lost 55 lb over 7 months, check back again later, for my “Weightlossophy” postings. 

Horseradish Lemon Honey 

Source

My mom heard about this remedy somewhere and convinced me to try.

Taste 1 (out of 5)

Health Benefit 5 (out of 5) at least for me

Difficulty 2 (out of 5)

Ingredients

- 1 horseradish root

- 2 cups water

- 1 lemon

- 2/3 cup honey

Instructions

1. Day 1: Peel and finely grate the horseradish root. It can be done by hand, but you’ll be shedding many tears and your fingers may burn. So I recommend cutting the horseradish into cubes and using your food processor. You can add a little water to the food processor to help with the shredding. Place the grated horseradish into a jar or another lidded container, with a capacity of 5-6 cups. Add 2 cups of water, stir well and cover your container tightly with a lid. Leave the horseradish in the refrigerator for a week.

2. Day 8: Wash the lemon, do not peel, and puree it whole (skin, seeds and all) in a food processor. Add the lemon puree and the honey to the horseradish, mix well, cover with a lid and leave in the refrigerator for another week. 

3. Day 15 and on: Now your health potion is supposed to be ready. Every day, first thing in the morning take 1 tablespoon of this horseradish lemon honey mix with a glass of water. To your health!

Afterthoughts

- My mom found this recipe somewhere and convinced me to try. I was skeptical, but eventually gave in. To tell the truth, it tastes pretty bad to me. And you don’t see the benefits immediately, so it’s hard to find motivation to persevere at first. But after passing my first winter without a single serious cold or flu (when I had always had at least 2-3 colds lasting over a week) I am finally convinced. I don’t have statistical data, and don’t claim that it’s good for everyone. All I know is that my parents and I passed a cold free winter. Even though I was living with and taking care of my boyfriend who had a really bad cold or flu (we still don’t know which) that lasted more than 2 months (my boyfriend did not want to take the horseradish drink, if you’re wondering).

- Horseradish root’s pungency can vary from a relatively mild flavor to an extremely sharp one. So on day 15 try a little bit of your mixture first. It should be strong, and may make your eyes watery, but it should not cause heartburn or any serious discomfort. If it’s too strong and burns your palate, add more honey and lemon and let it rest several more days.  If it is still too strong, you might want to run it through a sieve, discard the horseradish and mix the remaining liquid with more water, until it becomes drinkable. 

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