Thursday, April 25, 2013

Post game recap

So the 3 days passed and the weekend came. It did not kick off my healthy like i thought it might and I am not sure it did anything except cause me some pain by the end. That being said, I went back to my normal habits because my work sent me on a business trip to Miami... did I mention a friend was able to get a free flight (she travels a lot for work) and join me? Let's just say - I put on vacation brain. I did not phase out of the cleanse as I should have.

So what did I take from it? Breakfast: I have fruit and water with lemon. During the day, I drink more tea and water. In general, if there is a fruit and veggie option, I want to take it. It's hard to say if this will be a true and consistent pattern since it has just been a few days, but I really feel like it gave me a new outlook on snacking. I used to think crackers and popcorn was a good snack, but I can easily sub that for blueberries and blackberries. Now, if only that was in the vending machine.

So what next? Well, I am going to attempt cauliflower pizza next week (I will let you know how it goes!) and I have another half marathon this weekend. So I am going to continue my healthy habits and hope to continue to become more healthy.


Friday, April 19, 2013

Day 3 - WOOHOO

I am so tired of Juice. So tired. I think I hit that point last night where my body was fighting with my mind. I was nauseous, had a head ache, was exhausted and somehow dehydrated? I have been drinking a crazy amount of water, but I think it goes through me so quickly because of this lack of solid food - aka it just goes through like a faucet when it normally absorbs into food and stays in my system to keep giving me sweet sweet satisfaction. So, it was not an easy night. I did have a quarter of an avacado... IT'S ON THE CHEAT LIST! I promise!

Day is almost overrrrr. Let's do this! :)

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Day 2 / Night 2

Struggle City.

The morning started off well and my energy was up.

The day flew by as usual, but I could feel myself not enjoying the juices as much. I knew the flavors and I was aware I wasn't eating more often.

Currently doing everything I can to not cheat. Thinking about using one of their approved cheats- quarter of avocado, warmed vegetable broth, celery. Yeesh, this is the hard part.

No great update, I hope I can sleep this off and feel energized once again tomorrow.

Darn it, this would have been my last night! Cursesssss FedEx!

Oh well, wish me well.

Night 1 - Challenge

So all was well and good until the juices ended and temptation began. I had to leave my house to avoid snacking and went to see a movie at E street cinema. At the theater it was hard to resist popcorn AND I almost got these mango chips - but I resisted knowing it was cheating.Will power!

I saw this interesting movie called 'To The Wonder' - an indie film with Ben Affleck, Rachel McAdams and Javier Bardem. It's hard to explain this movie because there was minimal dialogue and mostly told through voice over introspection. It also had characters who thought in English, French and Spanish - any thought is always prettier in Spanish or French - I don't mind subtitles. It was really beautiful, so many of the shots were in nature from the shore, in the ocean, the ocean floor, landscape shots, etc. Basically, what I took from it was all the characters were searching for love whether it was from god, their lover, their wife, their child, the earth. It also explored those different kinds of love. Honestly, I am still trying to figure out exactly what I think of the movie, but that's my favorite kind - the one that sticks with you.

Well, I have derailed from cleanse talk, but that is how I get through remembering I haven't had solid food. I really haven't missed it, but I probably would if I wasn't working on the days of juicing - then distracting myself with movies. :)

Quote of the day:
"A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new" -Albert Einstein

Day 1 - Part Deux - Juice Tasting Day

JUICY!

Wake up - hot water and lemon.

8:00am-9:15am Juice #1 - Romaine, Celery, Cucumber, Apple, Spinach, Kale, Parsley, Lemon

https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment/u/0/?ui=2&ik=4619a2ab85&view=att&th=13e1a010004fb888&attid=0.1&disp=inline&realattid=1432602118259212288-local0&safe=1&zw&saduie=AG9B_P9MWkkiizzhRhdCtJTDId9q&sadet=1366291415222&sads=1VrHwwDSc3_FC-J-2FVpnZnPo58&sadssc=1

Weird.. it literally tastes like drinking a salad. At first, it was a but strange and jarring, but then I started appreciating the salad-y flavors. (Bigger gulps helped) As it went on, the apple and lemon flavors stood out from their vegetable brethren - and that was yummy. It was going to be repeated later so I was holding out judgement for when it was not so early.

10:45am-11am Juice #2- Pineapple, Apple, Mint




https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment/u/0/?ui=2&ik=4619a2ab85&view=att&th=13e1a010004fb888&attid=0.2&disp=inline&realattid=1432602118259212288-local1&safe=1&zw&saduie=AG9B_P9MWkkiizzhRhdCtJTDId9q&sadet=1366291506638&sads=evLpmN0DhIO3gn3srHYZxSVpWRA

SO DELICIOUS! :) I mean, look at the ingredients. It's so yummy and satisfying. No hungry feeling.
1:00am - 1:55pm  Juice #3 Same as #1 - Romaine, Celery, Cucumber, Apple, Spinach, Kale, Parsley, Lemon    (My phone died, more photos tonight/ tomorrow)

You know, now that it's lunchtime - it actually tasted quite good. It was weird as the first thing in my body, but actually quite delicious this time. I also have to say, I am drinking so much fluid, my body isn't processing being hungry at all. I feel pretty good. I can't say if I feel better/ worse than most days - but definitely feel better than yesterday during my accidental fast.

2:03pm - got an email for a discount on Comet PingPong - a pizza restaurant/ hipster ping pong bar. Thinking of pizza is not a good idea. Feeling a hunger pang. Fight it.

2:45pm - 3:45pm Juice #4 - Spicy Lemonade

Fun! Literally tasted like cayenne in lemonade. It was tasty and gave me a very mild burn which helped trick me into thinking I ate something vs. drank a juice.

5:00pm - Juice #5 - Apple, Carrot, Beet, Lemon, Ginger
So, so good. I am realizing these fruit juices are to keep one happy during your lack of food days. It was like a nice candy. I do love beets though, if you didn't like beets, you would not like this one.


6:50pm Juice#6 - Cashew Milk with Cinnamon

This was so creamy and satisfying. It was a really nice reward to carry me through the night.




Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Cleanse Day 1.. almost

Day 1!

I woke up super enthused. There are recommendations and rules that go along with the cleanse. Recco #1 Best way to wake up your metabolism is with water and lemon. So I rocketed awake, boiled water and cut a lemon. Mmmm, that's pretty tasty.

Day 1 enthusiasm carried me into work and I quickly made my water and tea - another part of the cleanse. With the juice, you should drink as much water and tea as you can. Battle station:



Suddenly, I realized my enthusiasm lead me to forget the juices hadn't arrived yet! I set up my work schedule to take an early lunch to go get the juice and come back to work (plus or minus). Fed Ex came at 9am (I get to work at 8am) and the front desk attendant was not at the desk - FedEx left. Whoops. After some calls, he was going to redeliver at noon. Okay, well.. I won't be able to get home then, but - ok! - day 1 enthusiasm said, "it will work out just fine." (Spoiler alert: didn't work out fine) I planned to start at 1 pm and just drink the juices a bit faster than I planned. Of course, work got busy - I looked up and it was 4pm. Ugh.  Well..  now I am starving, without nutrients and debating chugging my juice when I get home at 6pm. This is not the healthy experience I was looking for.... Another issue is part of the rules say you need to wait 1.5 hours between juices and not to drink juice 2 hours before bed. So - that wasn't going to work. Also, lots of these juices encourage bowel movements, I wasn't interested in seeing the effect when drinking them all at once. Sigh, I was so excited to try the juices and be almost done day 1, but I got a salad and some fruit and settled my growling stomach. I want to do this cleanse right and not think the whole time, well - I messed up day 1, so maybe I should cheat this day! The real heart breaker is now day 3 of the cleanse is a FRIDAY! That was going to be my celebration day. Oh well.

Well the juice arrived (along with a bajillion ice packs you see below them):


Look how cute they are! I suppose that is my future the next 3 days. I am sure I will get excited to try all the juices tomorrow, so it will be fun. I am more concerned about day 2 and 3, when I know what I am in for.. (I am shaking my fist at the sky and cursing I didn't make it through day 1 today)

Day 1/0 did remind me what being hungry really feels like - I was okay most of the morning because I skip breakfast or get focused on work / forget to eat all the time. I was hyper aware of my stomach because of this experiment, but surprisingly I found the hunger pangs to feel more like the burn of carmex on chapped lips versus a feeling associated with agony. I changed my brain about what the feeling of hunger feels like - I hope I can maintain that mindset. At least I won't be as hungry as today!

To close today, I would like to share a photo that makes me smile...


Until tomorrow...

Monday, April 15, 2013

Diet or Exercise? I am trying the Cleanse Craze

I always insist that I want to be healthy and the vanity isn't the goal - which is true! But...... who doesn't want to look awesome? I know I do.

I grew up playing soccer which was a really great decision my parents made where I did gain a love for exercise. Of course, it also means I prefer tricking myself into exercise compared to the disciplined regimen of exercise. It also meant I always ate whatever I wanted and my parents would reinforce that I was always so active it didn't matter. Of course, time passed and I stopped playing soccer everyday and my metabolism slowed. I love who I am and i appreciate my body, but hell - why not see if I can get more fit? 

So.. for me, my usual efforts in fitness become all about new exercises. Going on long runs, taking kick boxing, yoga, sports, etc. Which is all supposed to make me banging, right? Well, I got a lot from each of those exercises, but it never seems to melt weight off me the way I see if happen on others. Of course, not everyone's body responds to exercise in that way - the sad fact of the matter is diet is everything if you exercise but still have some extra poundage on your body, like me. Of course, that's the point of valuing health over vanity. Sometimes you are taking great care of yourself, but you don't look like the models in the magazine - and that is completely beautiful. Models are too skinny anyway. I only get jealous when they have abs. 

So in my dieting endeavor, I am jumping in to reset my appetite and start making good choices about what I put in my body. I gave in and signed up for a 3 day juice cleanse. Sounds crazy, but I am actually excited. I used to think it was a way to starve yourself and wasn't healthy, but the more I read the more I realize I have to change the way I think about food. I love food, this won't be easy. I am hoping at the end of it I will have more energy, treat my body to a break from bad foods and alcohol and see how it works. 

I am using a company called BluePrint. (http://blueprintcleanse.com/choose-your-cleanse/renovationcleanse.html) I chose it because one of my best friends tried it and said the juices were tasty - this is important. The basic principle is they give your body a break from digesting solid foods and they give you every nutrient you need minus the empty calories. I will miss those empty calories. To prepare, I have tried to do as they recommended and 'think vegan' - eating fruits and veggies for the past few days (minus saturday night dranks). Lemon juice and olive oil dressing? Alright. Mango's for breakfast - delish. Let's see if they are on to something.

I will post each night to let you know of my struggles and as a way to keep my mind off of eating. 

Wish me luck!