cleanse | days 19-21

DAY 19 --breakfast: smoothie [protein, bee pollen, coconut water, mixed berries, peaches, mango, spinach] snack: none lunch: [applegate] chicken sausage, avocado, herb lettuce, wrapped in a brown rice tortilla snack: 1/2 larabar dinner: juice [2 large kale leaves, 3 carrots, 1 beet, 1 lemon, 1 pear, piece of ginger]

the thoughts of cheating keep getting stronger and stronger. everything i look at that i am not allowed to eat right now, i think about taking a bite.

just one bite. no, don't! you're so close. but no one would know. just a tiny nibble. no way!

my mind goes back and forth. back and forth. thankfully, the side that really wants to see this through prevails every time.

DAY 20 -- breakfast: smoothie [protein, fiber, flax meal, bee pollen, water, mixed berries, peaches, spinach] snack: carrots with hummus lunch: turkey lunchmeat, guacamole, lettuce, onion wrapped in brown rice tortilla snack: none dinner: smoothie [protein, flax meal, almond milk, mixed berries, mango, kale]

i confess. day 20 and i cheated.  i had carrots at 11 PM. the closer i get to the end, the stronger the urges to cheat.  all in all, a great day though.

DAY 21 -- breakfast: none snack: none lunch: smoothie [protein, flax meal, bee pollen, fiber, coconut water, raspberries, mango, kale, spinach] snack: piece of [applegate] turkey lunch meat dinner: smoothie [protein, flax meal, coconut water, raspberries, mango, kale]

i rushed around early morning and then headed to apple store at 9:30 AM, to get my computer fixed.  i was there two hours, hence my not eating breakfast or a snack. needless to say, i was starving by the time i got back home at 12:30 PM and rushed to make a quick smoothie. so here i am now, just a few hours from being done with my 21-day clean program cleanse.  can't believe i made it. proud that i made it. feeling great.

so what's my first day post-cleanse going to be like? coffee smoothie for breakfast [water, ice, 1/2 banana, peanut butter, protein, fiber, kale] i might try a gluten free cookie, that i've been eyeing at the health food store [hope it's yummy as i've been fantasizing it is, but probably not] something super clean for lunch dinner out with a friend, which will include a beer

i'll be sharing my cleanse conclusion in a few days. i figured i'd get a couple regular days under my belt before sharing all my post-cleanse thoughts.

so happy i'm done!!!

cleanse | 10:30 AM

it's only 10:30 AM and...i have a headache. i'm so over this cleanse. but only today and tomorrow left. had to convince myself to not cheat constantly, especially late last night. all i want is a fricken cookie. or anything that i'm not supposed to have. no motivation to workout while cleansing. probably because i haven't eaten enough for three weeks straight. no one to blame but me for that. trying to stay focused. and i really have nothing to bitch about. so i guess i'll stop. only two more days!

needing to reset

days 1-3

days 4-6

days 7-9

days 10-12

days 13-15

days 16-18

days 19-12 and cleanse conclusion posts coming SOON!!

cleanse | days 16-18

DAY 16 --breakfast: smoothie [protein, fiber, bee pollen, coconut oil, coconut water, raspberries, mango, kale] snack: none lunch: two applegate chicken sausages snack: none dinner: smoothie [protein, fiber, flax meal, almond milk, water, raspberries, mango, kale]

pretty uneventful day. felt great but at the computer or running errands most of the day.  once done with the cleanse, my plan is to do a 'cleanse conclusion' post, sharing my overall thoughts regarding my three weeks of doing the clean program.  so if you have a question, please ask and i'll be sure to answer it in my final cleanse post.

DAY 17 -- breakfast: none snack: none lunch: white chicken chili snack: 1/2 larabar [i would have eaten a whole one but that's all i had] dinner: smoothie [protein, fiber, flax meal, avocado coconut water, mixed berries, mango, spinach, kale]

i woke up at 2:30 AM, from hearing ryder struggle to breathe. rushed him to the ER, where his oxygen saturation was low and he had a 101.5 fever. ended up receiving IV, labwork, chest xray, IV antibiotics and was put on oxygen. four hours later, he was diagnosed with bronchitis and we were sent home. and all of that threw off my morning and is the reason i didn't have breakfast or snack. the chili was such a great change from my daily roll-ups.  day 17 was just weird probably because of the combination of stress, lack of sleep and not enough food.  had a lingering headache pretty much the entire day.  blah! made grilled cheese with bacon and avocado for the family and it took everything i had not to nibble on the bacon.

DAY 18 -- late breakfast: smoothie [protein, fiber, flax meal, bee pollen, coconut water, mixed berries, mango, carrots, spinach] snack: apple with almond butter and carrots with hummus lunch: none snack: a couple pieces of [applegate] turkey breast lunchmeat dinner: a smoothie [protein, water, almond milk, mixed berries, peaches, spinach]

i'm getting kind of lazy. with my food. with my supplements. keep forgetting to take my supplements here and there. not wanting to really cook anything. although i never really wanted to cook anything just for myself. it's just that much worse now. just munching and wanting to get through these last few days. i should have eaten lunch but i had a late breakfast and then snacked a bit and lunch time had come and gone. thinking about cheating with all kinds of crazy stuff -- cookies, a coke, a hamburger. i don't even really drink coke but i'm really wanting some at the moment. these past three days have really been kind of weird.

only three more days. monday tuesday wednesday. monday tuesday wednesday. monday tuesday wednesday. that's all. three days. and i'm DONE!!!!!!

as confident as i am that this cleanse absolutely was the right thing for me to do, i absolutely cannot wait to be done!

cleanse | days 13-15

DAY 13 --breakfast: smoothie [protein, fiber, flax meal, bee pollen, coconut oil, water, mixed berries, mango, carrots, spinach] snack: carrots with hummus lunch: lettuce, spinach, chicken, avocado, mustard wrapped in brown rice tortilla snack: larabar dinner: smoothie [protein, fiber, flax meal, almond milk, water, raspberries, mango, kale]

pretty much blah day because of the day before. was tired the entire day. feeling so ready to be done.

DAY 14 -- breakfast: smoothie [protein, fiber, flax meal, bee pollen, coconut oil, water, mixed berries, mango, carrots, spinach] snack: none lunch: [applegate] chicken breast lunchmeat, herb lettuce, hummus, mustard wrapped in brown rice tortilla snack: half a larabar dinner: smoothie [protein, fiber, coconut oil, coconut water, peaches, raspberries, carrots, kale]

felt back to normal on day 14, but was really hungry by late evening [probably should have been in bed].  i think about quitting multiple times every day, this day included. just really ready to be done, but then also i've come this far and so why quit now. but yes, i'm so darn excited about day 21 being only a week away. wondering how i should celebrate the big day?

DAY 15 -- breakfast: smoothie [protein, fiber, flax meal, bee pollen, coconut water, raspberries, mango, carrots, spinach] snack:  apple with almond butter lunch:  [applegate] chicken breast lunchmeat, herb lettuce, hummus wrapped in brown rice tortilla and 1/2 larabar snack: 1/2 larabar dinner: you guessed it. a smoothie [protein, fiber, flax meal, coconut water, mixed berries, mango, kale]

man i woke up hungry on day 15 and stayed hungry most of the day. late night, i was so hungry that i couldn't think straight. it's funny how the days vary so much [not in my eating, but in my level of hunger]. besides being hungry, i felt great.

i know my lunches are boring and repetitive but i have no desire to really cook anything different or special. and i'm really not a very big vegetable eater ever. i tell myself every day that i'm going to make a juice, but that seems to never happen. maybe tomorrow. i have beets, carrots, apples and ginger waiting for me. i really need to juice more.

six more days and i'm DONE! cannot wait, cannot wait, cannot wait. kiele asked me today what my first meal was going to be post-cleanse...a donut? ummm...no, not a donut. but what IS my first meal going to be? it's kind of exciting to think about.

you can find my original post regarding this clean program cleanse here.

cleanse | days 10-12

DAY 10 -- breakfast: smoothie [protein, fiber, bee pollen, water, almond milk, raspberries, pineapple, spinach] snack: apple with almond butter lunch: [applegate] chicken sausage, lettuce, spinach, mushrooms, avocado & hummus wrapped in brown rice tortilla snack:  none dinner:  smoothie [protein, fiber, coconut water, raspberries, mango, kale]

while i was so hungry the previous three days, day 10 brought something different -- i was actually full after lunch and stayed satisfied the rest of the day.  well, i stayed hungry until we went to a 10 PM movie and oh...the smell of movie popcorn.

HELL YEA -- HALFWAY THERE!!!!!!

DAY 11 --

breakfast: smoothie [protein, fiber, bee pollen, flax meal, coconut water, mixed berries, pineapple, spinach, kale] snack: none lunch: smoothie [protein, fiber, bee pollen, flax meal, coconut water, mixed berries, pineapple, spinach, kale] snack:  none dinner: grilled chicken with side salad and 1/2 larabar [at restaurant at the polynesian hotel, disney world]

today was supposed to be disney world but the parks were so crowded, we decided not to go to any parks.  but we did go visit our friends, who were in orlando, from pennsylvania.  since i wanted to eat dinner with everyone, i decided to do a smoothie for breakfast and lunch and dinner at a restaurant [with our friends]. all went well with no cheating but i sure did want a sip of steve's jalapeno margarita and a bite of his white chocolate cheesecake. oh yea, i really wanted some of the fresh right-out-of-the-oven hawaiian bread too; it smelled amazing.

DAY 12 --

breakfast: smoothie [protein, fiber, bee pollen, flax meal, coconut water, mixed berries, pineapple, spinach, kale] snack: none lunch: salad of lettuce, avocado & black beans [at mexican restaurant at epcot] snack:  none dinner: a couple of beers

yes, you read right, i had a couple of beers at dinner. we spent the day with friends at epcot center and ended up at 'the house of blues' in downtown disney, for dinner. we sat on the patio, listening to awesome live music. we ate [well everyone except me], we drank and the kids played and played and played. we didn't get back home last night until about 10:30 PM and exhausted, i went right to bed. so it's now the morning of the 13th day and i'm back at it but feel pretty much like shit. i'm tired and way, way dehydrated right now.  but it sure was an awesome day and evening spent with our friends, who had flown in from DC. hoping to get my body back on track today.

you can find my original post regarding this clean program cleanse here.

a couple of iphone photos...

cleanse | days 7-9

DAY 7 --breakfast: smoothie [protein, fiber, bee pollen, water, blueberries, pineapple, kale] snack: none lunch: chicken, hummus, avocado, spinach & lettuce wrapped in a brown rice tortilla. carrots on the side. snack: pineapple dinner: smoothie [protein, fiber, water, mango, pineapple, kale]

another day of feeling great.  although i did feel more hungry than the previous few days. and i was up really late and so hungry by 1 AM, i could barely stand it.

and so begins week two.  YAY!

DAY 8 -- breakfast: smoothie [protein, fiber, bee pollen, flax meal, water, almond milk, blueberries] snack: apple with almond butter and juice [celery, beets, ginger, apple] lunch: a bowl chicken, spinach & mushroom soup and lara bar snack: carrots with hummus dinner: smoothie [protein, fiber, water, peach, pineapple, kale]

woke up and was certain my stomach was eating itself, i was so hungry. and the hunger continued throughout the entire day.  i was never satisfied...thought about food all day and dreamt about what my first meal will be post-cleanse.  besides being hungry, i felt great and even climbed the stairs, which also felt great. now to get my butt to yoga [why can't they have more morning yoga times?].

DAY 9 -- breakfast: smoothie [protein, fiber, bee pollen, water, peaches, raspberries, spinach] snack:  none lunch:  [applegate] chicken sausage, lettuce, spinach, avocado, drizzle of homemade dressing, wrapped in brown rice tortilla and 1/2 of a larabar [larabar = dessert] snack:  a few carrots dinner: smoothie [protein, fiber, water, almond milk, raspberries, pineapple]

while i was feeling good, day 9 was a day of wanting to be done.  i longed for a regular meal.  my tea was boring.  i was never satisfied throughout the day.  2-5 PM are my witching hours, for this cleanse.  thank goodness i'm doing this with a friend.  we gripe to one another. we share with one another. we support and encourage one another.

+++

i was reading about breaking bad habits last night and something i read shared about replacing a bad habit with a good one, e.g. replacing coffee with tea. sounds fine and dandy but all i can think about is having coffee again. but maybe that's because i'm not so committed to giving up coffee, when this is done. i've already said that i'm going back to coffee. i just am. so i guess i don't consider my coffee such a bad habit.

let day 10 begin. although i already really, really want a cup of coffee.  it smells so, so good!  and i have no idea how i'm going to manage days 11 and 12, being at disney world.

the coffee, that steve left behind when he left this morning, which i longed for but didn't have...

cleanse | days 4-6

DAY 4 --breakfast: smoothie [protein, fiber, water, ice, mango, pineapple, kale, spinach] snack: guacamole with a few brown rice crackers & half lara bar lunch: chicken with lettuce, onion and homemade dressing [kind of boring] snack: apple with almond butter [although i really wasn't hungry] dinner: smoothie [protein, fiber, water, ice, mango, pineapple, cantaloupe, kale, spinach]

day four was an overall great day. no ailments. and very productive day around the house -- cleaning, organizing, purging. my meals seem to be rather satisfying.

DAY 5 -- breakfast: smoothie [protein, fiber, water, ice, mixed berries, kale, spinach] snack: carrots with hummus lunch: chicken & avocado on bed of spinach [boring!] snack: none dinner: smoothie [protein, fiber, water, ice, mango, pineapple, spinach]

felt great. lots of energy. very productive. working hard to cleanse other areas of my life, along with cleansing my mind, body and soul [e.g. my to-do list]. i did get a bit of a headache in the evening, but it wasn't anything terrible. stayed up late and got super hungry around 10 PM.

DAY 6 -- breakfast: smoothie [protein, fiber, bee pollen, water, mixed berries, spinach] snack: none lunch: chicken, spinach, lettuce, avocado & hummus wrapped in brown rice tortilla snack: none dinner: smoothie [protein, fiber, flax meal, water, ice, mango, pineapple, kale]

day six was another great day. no ailments. lots of energy. busy day checking things off my to-do list. not really hungry at all. kids and steve had steak and mashed potatoes for dinner and then went for ice cream. not being able to eat the same dinner with my family is one of the toughest things about this program, for me. as i shared in a previous post, i do plan on eating two dinners with my family each week and on those days, i'll have a smoothie for breakfast and lunch.

what a difference days 4-6 have been compared to days 1-3, which were really tough. while i am getting a bit bored with my smoothies and the food in general, i have felt great these past few days. i fantasize about food-cheating many times throughout each day, but have yet to cheat. if only i could have all vegetables, butter, bananas and strawberries. and i really miss my morning coffee. i will most likely get back to stair-training tomorrow and still hope to try yoga [maybe next week]. we're headed to disney world sunday and monday, which should be VERY interesting [yes, i plan on sticking to the cleanse, while at disney].

lastly, i've talked to my kids about what i'm doing and they all seem to understand and support me. it's important to me that they realize that this is a short-term cleanse and that i am not dieting.

i really can't believe that at the end of today, i will have doing this a full WEEK! if interested in learning why i started the clean program, check out my initial post here. and have a question, feel free to ask.

cleanse | days 1-3

i decided to share my journey with the clean program, for anyone that might be interested in doing this cleanse in the future... i'm doing the clean program with my dear friend, em (thank goodness!!).  i can't share how much it has already helped, doing the cleanse with a friend -- sharing our food choices, different ideas, our moans & groans, etc. we both decided that we would skip the elimination diet and just go right into the cleanse.  i had already been eating well since new year's eve, so i considered those few days an ALMOST-elimination diet.

DAY 1 -- breakfast: smoothie (protein, fiber, water, almond milk, spinach, kale, berries & pineapple) shot of brown rice protien powder (mixed in 4 oz water) lunch: roasted chicken & quinoa salad dinner: organic split pea soup (kind of gross)

i start each morning with a glass of water and probiotics. then i have a cup of green tea. i wait an hour or so before having my smoothie. i gagged like crazy on the protein powder, to the point that i had tears strolling down my cheeks. i already had tried the rice protein powder in my smoothie the day before and it was terrible. sooo...my rice protein powder was dumped in the trash. and i've switched to whey for now. i also purchased the program's nourish powder and will see how that compares.

i was pretty hungry the first day and basically thought about food all day. i climbed 42 flights of stairs (training for this). although i don't think i'm going to do that again until i'm through a full week of the cleanse. my calves still hurt three days later.

my biggest complaints on day one were that i had this weird cotton mouth feeling all day, even though i was very well hydrated and i had the most raging, killer headache at night. i laid on the couch at 6:30 PM and never got back up, until i went to bed at 9:30 PM.

DAY 2 -- breakfast: smoothie (protein, fiber, water, almond milk, spinach, kale, berries & pineapple) snack: carrots & homemade hummus lunch: applegate chicken sausage, a few bites of quinoa & 1/2 lara bar snack: 1/2 lara bar dinner: smoothie (protein, fiber, water, almond butter, kale, berries & pineapple)

day two went pretty well. i was less hungry and no raging headache. my head did nag a bit at one point but no big deal. the toughest part of the day was when my family had pizza and i had my smoothie. went to bed at 10:30. overall, a pretty good, satisfying, not too hungry kind of day.

DAY 3 -- breakfast: smoothie (protein, fiber, water, almond milk, spinach, kale, berries, mango & pineapple) snack: carrots with hummus lunch: smoothie (protein, fiber, water, spinach, berries) snack: some fresh pineapple & a bit of guacamole with brown rice chips (skyler said the chips taste like paper) dinner: chicken burger, avocado & onions on a bed of lettuce and spinach with homemade salad dressing (dijon, oil, vinegar, lemon)

i've decided that i'm going to eat a couple dinners with my family every week.  so i did liquid for breakfast and lunch and burgers with my family for dinner. :-)  my back bothered me all day -- kind of aching, kind of hurting.  by the end of the night, my back was killing me along with another headache. i'm assuming it's all part of my body working to detox all the crap out.

all in all, the first few days were a wee bit painful. i had the cotton mouth, headache, backache and felt a bit sluggish and cloudy-headed. but today, the beginning of day four, i'm feeling pretty good. i feel less fluffy-puffy already and that feels awesome. no ailments at the moment, but i KNOW that could easily change throughout the day. the thing that bothers me the most is that my thoughts are always on food. normally, i never think about food. i eat when i'm hungry and that's it. i'm not usually a bad eater except during the holidays, when i get into the cakes, pies & cookies. also, it's not easy to prepare my daily meals separately from the rest of the family's meals. it takes a lot of time, thought, commitment and will-power (as i smell donuts, coffee, pizza, etc. that my family is eating).

to read why i'm doing the cleanse or simply learn a bit more about the clean program, check out my blog post HERE.

need to reset

i've been eating like shit. i haven't worked out in months. i've been drinking way too much (coffee & beer). i've haven't been very positive about things (especially about living in tampa). i'm fluffy-puffy -- just all around YUCK! i need to reset. i need to cleanse. i need to detox. i need to rejuvenate.

and that's exactly what i'm going to do.

i'm starting the clean program -- a 21-day cleanse, designed by cardiologist, dr junger. the basic premise of the clean program is that give the right conditions, your body has the ability to heal itself and achieve optimal health.  dr junger shares that many of the symptoms we suffer from (headaches, fatigue, weight gain, negativity, etc.) are caused by toxin build-up, which is readily accumulated throughout our everyday lives.  the clean program allows your body to reactivate your detoxification system, supports the detox process nutritionally and enhances elimination. there's also a lot of basic questions answered here.

i just finished reading the clean book and i have to say, i loved it. i have always believed in functional medicine and that's what dr junger is all about (a mix of eastern and western medicine).

today, i'm starting a 3-day elimination diet (strict diet of three meals of approved foods from this list, on page 8. and yes, i know...the forbidden food list is crazy.) then i will start the 21-day cleanse, which will consist of a liquid meal (shake, juice or soup) for breakfast and dinner and a regular meal (made from the approved foods list) for dinner. there's a whole bunch of recipes here and they really don't seem too bad. and i can snack when i'm hungry.

there's also supplements to take while doing the cleanse. dr junger's program charges $250-425 but you can also buy your own substitutive supplements, which is what i did (see below).

i'm hoping to get back to regularly working out too.  i'm starting to stair-train today, which should prove interesting since i'm so out of shape right now.  my goal is to eventually get back to crossfitting, which i haven't done since september. and i'd love to try yoga and incorporate it into my weekly routine.

as i was reading dr junger's book, i reminisced about how amazing i felt when i was crossfitting and eating a paleo(ish) diet. at the time, i was also getting lots of compliments on my skin. i always attributed this to the the exercise, but now i truly believe it was just as much my diet, as it was the exercise.

i know there's the skeptics, naysayers, cleanse-haters out there but i'm ready and excited for this -- a mind, body and soul reset. this cleanse just seems to make sense to me. my husband supports me. and i also plan to talk to my kids about what i'm doing, why i'm doing it, etc.

here's my BASIC CLEANSE PLAN -- days 1 - 3: elimination diet | three meals each day from approved food list

days 4 - 25: first thing in morning – probiotic with every meal – digest gold two hours after meals -- candizyme lunch - meal from approved food list put in morning & evening smoothies – brown rice protein, fiber, green vibrance (although i'm doing protein powder shot pre-smoothie because it's so gross) every evening – MVI, milk thistle, garlic tab, mag-citrate, vitamin D before bed – 2 TBS olive oil (not sure i'm going to be able to do this)

here's my PLAN FOR TODAY -- breakfast: shot of brown rice protein water morning shake (almond milk, ice, blueberries, mango, kale + fiber) tea

lunch: quinoa salad with chicken if juicer comes, i will also drink a juice (cucumber, celery, carrots, apple, ginger)

dinner: pea soup and spinach salad with dressing (oil, vinegar, dijon), onion, avocado & almonds

snacks, when needed: almonds, apple with almond butter & carrots with hummus

i want to note that i am NOT doing this cleanse to lose weight. yes, i'm a bit puffy-fluffy, but that has nothing to do with my current weight.

i'll keep you posted on how things go and how i feel. i'm hoping to last the full 21 days but we'll see how things go. right now, i'm afraid of the headaches and potential detox symptoms i've read about but from what i've heard, the outcome is amazing. if you are considering this cleanse, i highly recommend starting with the book. and of course, if any doubts or questions, check with your doctor before starting.

ETA: the brown rice protein powder shot (in a bit of water) was even more gross. i gagged like crazy, to the point that tears were strolling down my face. don't think i'll be doing that again.