I feel like i've fallen off the wagon. I need a jump. Sugar has creeped back into my diet on the regular. I've decided that I'm going to do the first week of the cleanse again. I know it was the hardest week, but that'll be it. Just 7 days. Tomorrow until next Friday. There's even some new recipes in the 3 day reboot.
I know this is all in my head. I need to have a challenge to change my habits. I need to write it down and tell other people about it in order for me to actually do it. So I've been mentioning it to folks and now I'm writing it down. There. I'll let you know how it goes.
Friday, April 27, 2012
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Looks Like We Made It!
The cleanse is officially over for me! Woot Woot!
So all in all, I think this was a good experience and I'm glad I did it. There were some struggle moments but I made it through. And I'm so happy that other people in my life joined me in the cleanse. I really don't know if I would have stuck to it past week 2 had I not known that others were in this with me.
In the past month I think I've cooked more than I ever had, thus sweeping my kitchen floor, loading and unloading my dishwasher, wiping down my counters, and going to the grocery store more than I ever have. I also think I have consumed more nuts, nut bars, and nut butters more than ever.
I might take it easy during the next few days (I've taken a week off of work!). But really, in the future, I plan to continue to bring healthy lunches to work and eat healthy breakfasts. I also plan to continue to cook at home cleaner meals. Going out to eat will, hopefully, be the only times that I'll have less-cleanse worthy meals. Even then, I'm hoping I'll be choosing menu items that I know are better for me, like fish. I think there has been a lot of great new recipes that we've tried and I've started to Pinterest recipes that look good to me (most of them that would fit into the cleanse). I know now that if I'm craving a special something to eat, like a sugary treat, that I can probably do without. I just eliminated caffeine, dairy, gluten, processed foods, alcohol, and added sugars from my diet for a whole month! I'm pretty impressed that I've completed this challenge! Thanks for all of the support from everyone in my life!
And for those of you who might still be on this cleanse, feel free to use this blog for some added support! Good luck!
So all in all, I think this was a good experience and I'm glad I did it. There were some struggle moments but I made it through. And I'm so happy that other people in my life joined me in the cleanse. I really don't know if I would have stuck to it past week 2 had I not known that others were in this with me.
In the past month I think I've cooked more than I ever had, thus sweeping my kitchen floor, loading and unloading my dishwasher, wiping down my counters, and going to the grocery store more than I ever have. I also think I have consumed more nuts, nut bars, and nut butters more than ever.
I might take it easy during the next few days (I've taken a week off of work!). But really, in the future, I plan to continue to bring healthy lunches to work and eat healthy breakfasts. I also plan to continue to cook at home cleaner meals. Going out to eat will, hopefully, be the only times that I'll have less-cleanse worthy meals. Even then, I'm hoping I'll be choosing menu items that I know are better for me, like fish. I think there has been a lot of great new recipes that we've tried and I've started to Pinterest recipes that look good to me (most of them that would fit into the cleanse). I know now that if I'm craving a special something to eat, like a sugary treat, that I can probably do without. I just eliminated caffeine, dairy, gluten, processed foods, alcohol, and added sugars from my diet for a whole month! I'm pretty impressed that I've completed this challenge! Thanks for all of the support from everyone in my life!
And for those of you who might still be on this cleanse, feel free to use this blog for some added support! Good luck!
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Pizzahhh!
That's right, I just ate pizza. Sure, it was gluten free and dairy free, but it was still pretty great. And, I didn't have to cook it! Yesterday I ate chicken pho that I also didn't have to cook. Week 4 is easy shmeazy so far.
So yeah, I'm going to keep on the cleanse for the 4th week. I'll probably depend less on the Whole Living recipes but continue to cut out the six off limit things as much as possible this week.
Once the month is over, I'm hoping to continue to bring clean lunches every day and, at least a few days a week, eat a clean dinner. For breakfast I'll likely bring back my greek yogurt, fruit, and Milk & Honey granola parfaits as well as continue to have smoothies. I'm hoping to only have coffee a few times per week. I definitely don't need it every day. I think one of the more important things I'm going to continue to try to do is keep up with working out on a regular basis. I've been averaging twice per week and I'm fine with that.
That being said, after weeks of very little added sugar in my diet, I don't think I've lost my sweet tooth. I think now though I've got a lot of good natural alternatives that I can choose to have!
So yeah, I'm going to keep on the cleanse for the 4th week. I'll probably depend less on the Whole Living recipes but continue to cut out the six off limit things as much as possible this week.
Once the month is over, I'm hoping to continue to bring clean lunches every day and, at least a few days a week, eat a clean dinner. For breakfast I'll likely bring back my greek yogurt, fruit, and Milk & Honey granola parfaits as well as continue to have smoothies. I'm hoping to only have coffee a few times per week. I definitely don't need it every day. I think one of the more important things I'm going to continue to try to do is keep up with working out on a regular basis. I've been averaging twice per week and I'm fine with that.
That being said, after weeks of very little added sugar in my diet, I don't think I've lost my sweet tooth. I think now though I've got a lot of good natural alternatives that I can choose to have!
WE DID IT!
Hey Everyone!
So the cleanse is officially over, although I think everyone is still trying to maintain a some of the cleanse rules this week. I know I am.
So the cleanse is officially over, although I think everyone is still trying to maintain a some of the cleanse rules this week. I know I am.
This whole cleanse experience has been really great. Yes, at times it really sucked. But I really believe it forced me to take an honest look at my eating in a way that I never have before. A lot of the times when I'm craving things it's purely psychological or because I'm dehydrated. Additionally, the foods I choose were often the wrong things to be snacking on. I like to think that the cleanse taught me to use my brain to choose what and when to eat instead of relying on my stomach (or my emotions) to guide me. It also helps that I've seen a ton of positive changes in just three weeks.
The first big change is in my digestion, and how I used to have constant stomach aches after eating. When I was a kid it was a daily occurrence, but when I learned to avoid dairy it only happened maybe twice a week. Since I've been on this cleanse it hasn't happened at all. No stomach aches. It's freaking amazing.
The second big change is in my skin. I've struggled since I was 10 years old with acne. Over the past month I have had almost no new breakouts. And the breakouts I have had are the kind that disappear in a day and not a week. Amazing! That alone makes me want to keep eating 'clean'.
And the third change is that I have lost a few lbs (I never weighed myself at the start of the cleanse, but I assume I lost about 3-4 lbs). More noticeable though is that I lost a few inches. I just had a wellness screening where they took my measurements and I couldn't believe it. I've lost several inches around my waist and hips. I can wear my skinny clothes to work that I haven't been able to wear in a few years without feeling uncomfortable. WOOHOO!
So yes, I am plan to keep this up. In moderation though. I'm still figuring out exactly my 'plan', but I think it will follow these guidelines:
Every day eat two meals that are vegan. The third meal of the day can be pretty much whatever, but in general I will be avoiding gluten, dairy, refined sugar, and grease and trying to load up on the veggies. I am adding espresso back, but I'm only drinking it black from now on (because then I drink waaay less of it) and I'm going to try and do approximately 1 shot of espresso before 11 so it doesn't impact my sleep. The rest of the day I'll just rely on green tea. This is still a work in progress, but for now I feel like I can stick with these guidelines.
Monday, February 20, 2012
Homestretch!
It's here people! We'll be in week 4 (yes, bonus week) before we know it. We've almost completed a 21 day cleanse! Nice! Even though Whole Living sometimes only calls this thing a 21 day cleanse, since they give recipes for the 4th week, I'm going to try my best to keep this going until the end of the month.
I went shopping yesterday and made the sweet potato soup vegetarian style (we made it with chicken prior to the cleanse starting and we thought it would have been just as great without the chicken). I forgot to take a pic before I froze it. I keep forgetting to take pics of my food lately.
This weekend was a long weekend for me (yay Presidents' Day!). On Friday we made the rice noodles with broccoli almond pesto. It was kind of bland, but I did think the rice noodles were a nice substitute for regular pasta. I had to work all day on Saturday but thankfully the location where I was working is attached to a Whole Foods so I got a mixture of stuff from their salad bar for lunch. I happened to be by another Whole Foods yesterday so I stopped in again for dinner. We had a late dinner at a steak house. A steak house! I know, how on earth did we have a cleanse meal there? We did our best. 4 out of 11 of us at dinner were actually on the cleanse, but it was a special occasion (my sister got married!) so we all allowed ourselves to stretch the rules a bit for a night. I had a salad, the salmon, mashed potatoes, and strawberry sorbet.
We've made a couple of great recipes lately from this website. Specifically this green bean and quinoa is great. We've made it twice. I made it with red quinoa because it was cheaper. I definitely like red quinoa better than white quinoa. And tonight we made these springrolls. I substituted honey for the brown sugar. Mine didn't look quite as nice, but they were really delicious.
Finally, Jennifer, my solution this coming week to the not-wanting-to-get-up-earlier-to-make-breakfast-dilemma was this fritatta that I made this morning. I plan to eat it for the next few mornings. All I did was throw some veggies in a skillet with some oil until they were pretty much cooked. Then I poured 4 scrambled eggs in there, let it cook for about a minute, then put it in the broiler for another minute or two until it was fully cooked. When I'm not cleansing, I usually put some shredded cheese on top. It puffs up nicely and then falls down. Today I ate a quarter of it with some sliced avocado on top.
So that's about it! Tomorrow I'm going to do some yoga!
I went shopping yesterday and made the sweet potato soup vegetarian style (we made it with chicken prior to the cleanse starting and we thought it would have been just as great without the chicken). I forgot to take a pic before I froze it. I keep forgetting to take pics of my food lately.
This weekend was a long weekend for me (yay Presidents' Day!). On Friday we made the rice noodles with broccoli almond pesto. It was kind of bland, but I did think the rice noodles were a nice substitute for regular pasta. I had to work all day on Saturday but thankfully the location where I was working is attached to a Whole Foods so I got a mixture of stuff from their salad bar for lunch. I happened to be by another Whole Foods yesterday so I stopped in again for dinner. We had a late dinner at a steak house. A steak house! I know, how on earth did we have a cleanse meal there? We did our best. 4 out of 11 of us at dinner were actually on the cleanse, but it was a special occasion (my sister got married!) so we all allowed ourselves to stretch the rules a bit for a night. I had a salad, the salmon, mashed potatoes, and strawberry sorbet.
We've made a couple of great recipes lately from this website. Specifically this green bean and quinoa is great. We've made it twice. I made it with red quinoa because it was cheaper. I definitely like red quinoa better than white quinoa. And tonight we made these springrolls. I substituted honey for the brown sugar. Mine didn't look quite as nice, but they were really delicious.
Finally, Jennifer, my solution this coming week to the not-wanting-to-get-up-earlier-to-make-breakfast-dilemma was this fritatta that I made this morning. I plan to eat it for the next few mornings. All I did was throw some veggies in a skillet with some oil until they were pretty much cooked. Then I poured 4 scrambled eggs in there, let it cook for about a minute, then put it in the broiler for another minute or two until it was fully cooked. When I'm not cleansing, I usually put some shredded cheese on top. It puffs up nicely and then falls down. Today I ate a quarter of it with some sliced avocado on top.
So that's about it! Tomorrow I'm going to do some yoga!
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Workin for the weekend
 |
| Weekend Breakfast Bowl |
- Try recipes using beans. I especially love black beans, so I need to take the time to find a recipe I will know is worth the effort.
- Make a soup. I haven't made soup yet, only because I thought it might be a cop-out. The soups Colleen has made look delicious, so I just need to get over myself and make one!
- Make breakfast on weekdays. I like to sleep until the last possible moment before I need to get up for work, which usually means I'm grabbing some fruit to eat at my desk in the AM. I love making a big breakfast on the weekends, so at least one day this week I'd like to make myself some eggs & veggies to eat before I leave.
- Get to the gym for a run. I have not been exercising. There I said it. I love to run, but just haven't been. So week 3 & 4 is where it all comes together (hopefully).
I've definitely been off-plan a few times but nothing that was so deep I couldn't pick myself up the next day & get right back into the Cleanse. Guilt of slipping off plan has always been part of my repertoire and it needs to stop.
Anyone's clothes fitting better? Mine are! Woot Woot
Is there a post-Cleanse party in the works yet?
Wednesday, February 15, 2012
Hello Week 3
Well yesterday we tried our first raw food restaurant. Yeah. Not good. I don't really want to talk about it. Moving on...
We've finished week 2!! Half way there!! Yay, gluten free grains and eggs here we come! Tonight I made us this. I love wild rice. Definitely something I want to eat more of.
As far as my week 2 assessment, I'm still down about 8 pounds from my pre-cleanse weight. Pretty much the same amount of exercise and same energy level. And I still have hives. I don't think I've mentioned on any of my other posts that I've had chronic hives for over a year now with no known cause of them. I've been to multiple doctors many times and taken many blood tests, but nothing. I had not tried cutting any certain foods out of my diet thus far because I'm on so many antihistamines that it would be hard to tell if the experiment was working (and the last time I wasn't on antihistamines I was in the ER) since I'm not actively breaking out most of the time. Once I decided to go on the cleanse I thought this might be an opportunity to see if something in my diet was causing the hives, especially after I watched this documentary. But no go. Hives are still surfacing periodically. Ahh well.
Recently I was thinking about why on earth I'd commit to doing this cleanse for a whole 4 weeks when Whole Living clearly calls it a 3 week cleanse (Week 4 recipes are a bonus). I'd be 2/3 of the way to the finish line right now rather than only halfway there. But I'm going to do my best anyway. Matt and I talked about trying to make that 4th week a test week where we try easing back into our normal eating habits but incorporating some of the things from the cleanse into it. For example, we could try out some of the dishes that we'd normally cook but start to modify them. That would probably mean mostly cutting out more dairy and gluten than we're used to. I think we'll continue using almond milk after the cleanse and I'm hoping to continue to bring my lunch to work everyday. After the cleanse, I'd like to see myself eat by the cleanse rules about 3 full days per week.
For those of you on the cleanse, I'm wondering how you hope to move back into your non-cleansing self?
We've finished week 2!! Half way there!! Yay, gluten free grains and eggs here we come! Tonight I made us this. I love wild rice. Definitely something I want to eat more of.
As far as my week 2 assessment, I'm still down about 8 pounds from my pre-cleanse weight. Pretty much the same amount of exercise and same energy level. And I still have hives. I don't think I've mentioned on any of my other posts that I've had chronic hives for over a year now with no known cause of them. I've been to multiple doctors many times and taken many blood tests, but nothing. I had not tried cutting any certain foods out of my diet thus far because I'm on so many antihistamines that it would be hard to tell if the experiment was working (and the last time I wasn't on antihistamines I was in the ER) since I'm not actively breaking out most of the time. Once I decided to go on the cleanse I thought this might be an opportunity to see if something in my diet was causing the hives, especially after I watched this documentary. But no go. Hives are still surfacing periodically. Ahh well.
Recently I was thinking about why on earth I'd commit to doing this cleanse for a whole 4 weeks when Whole Living clearly calls it a 3 week cleanse (Week 4 recipes are a bonus). I'd be 2/3 of the way to the finish line right now rather than only halfway there. But I'm going to do my best anyway. Matt and I talked about trying to make that 4th week a test week where we try easing back into our normal eating habits but incorporating some of the things from the cleanse into it. For example, we could try out some of the dishes that we'd normally cook but start to modify them. That would probably mean mostly cutting out more dairy and gluten than we're used to. I think we'll continue using almond milk after the cleanse and I'm hoping to continue to bring my lunch to work everyday. After the cleanse, I'd like to see myself eat by the cleanse rules about 3 full days per week.
For those of you on the cleanse, I'm wondering how you hope to move back into your non-cleansing self?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)