We've made it to the final week of this year's cleanse! Things are going well. I haven't quite met all of my exercise/yoga goals each week, but I've gotten close. My yoga class tonight went MUCH better than the one I went to during week 1. And instead of the gym last week, I went to Dance Dance Party Party. I'm planning on going again tomorrow. Dancing is a way more fun way to work out than anything at the gym.
We did go Seattle for the weekend between weeks 1 & 2. I definitely didn't stick to the cleanse, but I wouldn't say that I went overboard. I don't regret anything, especially the ice cream.
Finally, we had our annual Cleanse Potluck this past weekend. We had a full house of family and friends who all brought delicious cleanse-friendly dishes. Here's what we made:
Chopped Thai Salad with Sesame Garlic Dressing
Roasted Cauliflower & Chickpea Tacos
Mini Honey Lemon Tarts
I made it through the first week. Definitely a little hungry and a little grumpy. But I'm happy to report that I did end up finally making it to the gym for a bit on Friday and to yoga on Wednesday. It had been quite a while for both. Almost passed out during camel pose at yoga, but made it through. Next week will be easier. So far, I've lost a few pounds and feel my energy levels up.
I started week 2's guidelines (adding back all beans, fish, and gluten free grains) as of Friday night. You can check out my instagram for some pics of what I ate this week.
We also noticed that we've gotten way better at eating out while on the cleanse compared to our first year. Yesterday I managed to find something cleanse-worthy at a suburban chain restaurant and then we went to an Indian place that's all vegetarian and also has a lot of vegan & gluten free options. Plus they don't use refined sugar. Finally, it was delicious.
We've already got some pre made meals ready to go for this week in the fridge. We've got some chickpea saffron stew that has been a goodie for years for us and Matt made a vegetarian version of this pazole. I think we even still have some soup frozen from last weekend.
This week, for the first time, I made my own almond milk. That's because all of the store bought kinds usually have processed stuff in them. It was good, but probably not worth the work, even though it wasn't even that much labor. This week I'd like to make my own granola because my fave Milk 'n' Honey brand has wheat and soy in it. If anyone has a good recipe that doesn't add extra sugar, I'd love it.
For anyone curious to know if we're going to host a Cleanse Potluck again this year, I think we will do it on Sunday, Feb 22nd. Let me know if you're interested and I'll get you more info.
Welp, February is here, along with the cleanse and a blizzard. A little snow is not going to impact our cleanse plans. However, my agency was closed today and my car is snowed in, so that meant I got quite a bit of free time at home to think about how hungry I am already. Eesh! It's only day 1, so I'm not concerned. Here's what's up for 2015:
1. Social support:
We've got 3 households on board: myself and my husband, my sister, her husband, and my mom are all for sure doing the cleanse. My dad also actually said he'd do it with us and I think it's quite possible that my Aunt will come along. I've talked to them about doing a soup swap where we each make 6-8 servings of cleanse-worthy soup, pack it in individual freezable serving containers, and trade with each other.
If you're planning on doing the cleanse this month, let me know! Let's eat together!
2. Basic eating rules:
Simple. Cut out these 6 things from your diet:
gluten, dairy, processed foods, added sugars, alcohol, & caffein.
Folks can really make this cleanse whatever they want, but I'm going to use the 2013 Whole Living Action Plan as my guide, where week 1 starts pretty basic fruits & veg + lentils, and then each week there are additions such as beans, grains, fish, egg, soy, lean meats. Surely you can check out tons of recipes that I've pinned to my Cleanse Friendly Recipes board.
3. Exceptions:
I try not to make too many exceptions during the month of February, but I'm planning for two: 1. we're spending a weekend in Seattle for a friend's wedding. We'll do what we can, but we wont' be able to cook and we won't want to stress over what we're eating. 2. coffee. i'm going to try to keep it to just one cup per day rather than the multiple cups I tend to drink. I'm pretty sure one cup will ward off headaches.
4. Exercise:
I have seriously been slacking off on exercise and yoga. My goal is going to be to get to the gym once per week and get to a yoga class once per week.
And that's it!
