Cleanse Update - Final Days

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So at this point, I'm sure you all are wondering how everything went with the last week or so of the cleanse.  Rather than bore you with the details of what I ate each day, since it's pretty much the same as the previous couple of posts, I thought I'd just go over the cleanse itself.

As I mentioned before, the idea behind the cleanse was to rid our bodies of the sugar, flour, gluten, and animal by products.  From the first few days, I felt tremendously better.  I felt less bloated, and had a lot more energy.  Overall, I just felt way better.  My skin started clearing up a lot more, too.

We cheated a couple of times with pizza and Mexican, and I will say that the day after I ate bad, I felt like crap!  Workouts were rough the day after we cheated.  You know.... the more I ate the "correct" way during the cleanse, the better I felt, and the more I kept thinking, "there must be something to this Vegan and gluten free thing."  

Here I am, a couple of days after the cleanse, and I've now eaten some cheese and my body is already rejecting it.  My hands are swollen, my stomach is grumbling and I'm sure in about 3 days, my face will start breaking out again.

The biggest struggle I believe we had was the lack of planning and scheduling meals.  Since we didn't plan well, we ended up eating a lot of the same stuff, which of course got boring.  Being bored led to the cheating.

All in all, I'd say the cleanse was successful and a really good experience.  I didn't have a lot of cravings for bad food during the cleanse.  Though my husband wasn't so lucky.  Since he gave up coffee and caffeine, he was pretty miserable the first week.  He was going through some major caffeine withdrawals without his daily cup of java, so decided to try decaf, but hated that more than not having any coffee.  I plan to continue eating mostly gluten free and vegan as much as possible since I'm still continuing on my weight loss journey and I feel it's the next step for me.

Has anyone else out there tried a cleanse?  Has it worked for you?  I'm always open to trying new things.

Follow the entire cleanse series below....
          Days 1-4 - The Beginning
          Days 5-7 - Trying to Eat Right While Eating Out
          Days 8-11 - Getting Bored with food

Cleanse Update - Days 8-11

Follow the the cleanse from the beginning here.

All days --Basically I'm getting bored with the same kinds of foods.  Planning on searching for new ideas for next week.  Hopefully we can find something new and delicious... and exciting to make. 

What I ate....

Day 8 -- Breakfast -- Green smoothie -- Kale, strawberries, kiwi, banana

         -- Lunch -- Romaine salad with mushrooms, tomato and Italian dressing; hummus and tortilla chips

         -- Dinner --Fancy red potatoes :)

         -- Snacks -- Peanut butter and banana; no bake energy bites

Day 9 -- Breakfast -- Green smoothie

         -- Lunch -- Romaine salad with mushrooms, tomato and Italian dressing; hummus and tortilla chips

         -- Dinner --Grilled zucchini; popcorn

         -- Snacks -- No bake energy bites; Naval orange

Day 10 -- Breakfast -- Green smoothie

         -- Lunch -- Romaine salad with mushrooms, tomato and Italian dressing; leftover red potatoes

         -- Dinner -- Veggie Thai Spring Roll (SOOOO GOOD!!!); popcorn

         -- Snacks -- Peanut butter and banana

Day 11 -- Breakfast --Homemade oatmeal with apple, cinnamon and light agave nectar

         -- Lunch -- Romaine salad with mushrooms, tomato and Italian dressing; Strawberry/blackberry fruit salad

         -- Dinner -- **Cheat day** Slice of pizza

         -- Snacks -- Spoonful of peanut butter

Cleanse Update - Days 5-7 - Trying To Eat Right While Eating Out.

Pho Soup

Vegan Taco Salad

Rice Chex

Read from the beginning here. 

Days 5 though 7 were Friday, Saturday, Sunday.... of course the hardest days of the week in my book.  We always tend to run around more on the weekends or have no desire to cook after the long week, therefore tend to eat out more on the weekends.

Here's how it went:

Day 5 -Felt pretty good, but starting to wish I could have a bit of junk food in my life

Day 6 - Caved in and cheated a little bit with some Gluten Free pizza with cheese on it.... agh

Day 7 - Back on track again, but super bad munchies.  A result of yesterdays slip up?  Hmm... perhaps.

What I ate....

Day 5 -- Breakfast -- Green smoothie -- Kale, strawberries, kiwi, banana

         -- Lunch -- Leftover spaghetti squash from previous day, Hummus and rice crackers

         -- Dinner -- Ate at this place called Wild Cow in East Nashville.  Got a vegan taco salad.

             Looks great, and tasted pretty good too.

         -- Snacks -- No bake energy bites. These are homemade GF bites made from oatmeal,

             peanut butter etc.  Recipe to come.

Day 6 -- Breakfast -- Green smoothie

         -- Lunch -- Fajitas from Mexican restaurant

         -- Dinner -- Gluten free pizza crust with tomato and basil and cheese. *gasp* this is where we cheated.

         -- Snacks -- No bake energy bites; dried fruit bar from Trader Joes (these are AMAZING,

             healthy, updated version of fruit roll ups.  So good!!)

Day 7 -- Breakfast -- Rice Chex with Almond Milk

         -- Lunch -- Homemade veggie pho soup again.  YUM!!

         -- Dinner -- popcorn (typical Sunday night meal)

         -- Snacks -- Banana with peanut butter; energy bites; dried fruit bar.

21 Day Quantum Wellness Cleanse

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My hubby and I have decided to do a 21 day cleanse in order to rid ourselves of the crap we tend to eat - gluten and animal byproducts.  The idea behind the cleanse is that it will clean our your system and break your desire to eat the bad flour, caffeine, animal products.  After all, those are the products that slow us down, make us feel like crap and overall, make us hungry all the time and fat.  And did I mention those products, particularly the gluten laced products, sugar, and animal products are typically what cause CANCER and early death?

That makes me NEVER want to eat animal products again......

Now, I know this sounds completely crazy to try and go vegan AND gluten free, but it's been surprisingly easy thus far and we're just starting day 5.

The general idea?  Eat FRESH.  

We've been eating mostly fresh veggies, salads, fruits, nuts, etc.  I love most of this stuff anyways!!  And So far with 4 complete days these are the current results:

-Days 1 and 2 - felt bloated from extra fiber from veggies and thought I was hungry constantly.
-Day 3 - munchies are GONE!  I no longer felt the need to eat excessively, eat sugar, etc.  Also cannot get enough water, I've been drinking almost double what I typically drink.  I guess due to the "detox" process of ridding the body of the crap.  Also, super tired.  Not sure if this is due to stress from work and/or a double workout on day 2.  Time will tell.
-Day 4 -  Feeling GREAT!  Realized I don't need as much to eat as I typically do consume.  Skin is starting to rid of the crap, too!!  They say a cleanse can be really good for people with acne and stomach problems, which is what me and my husband both have issues with.

What have I been eating, you ask.... FAN-TASTIC QUESTION!!
Day 1 -- Breakfast -- Green Smoothie made from Kale, Grapes, Banana, and Strawberry
          -- Lunch -- Salad with mushrooms and cabbage and balsamic dressing;
              Hummus with GF rice crax.
          -- Dinner -- Popcorn (yes, it's gluten free if you don't make the nasty bagged kind)
          -- Snacks -- Apple

Day 2 -- Breakfast -- Green Smoothie (same)
          -- Lunch -- Salad with mushrooms and cabbage and balsamic dressing;
              Hummus with GF rice crax.
          -- Dinner -- Homemade Chinese Pho soup (recipe coming soon!!)
          -- Snacks -- Apple and handful popcorn

Day 3 -- Breakfast -- Green Smoothie (same)
          -- Lunch -- Steamed broccoli and rice
          -- Dinner -- Tons and tons of green beans and a small batch of popcorn
          -- Snacks -- Banana and peanut butter

Day 4 -- Breakfast -- Green Smoothie (same)
          -- Lunch -- Sauteed zuchinni and mushrooms with brown rice
          -- Dinner -- Spaghetti squash with garlic, spinach, tomato and basil. YUMM!
          -- Snacks -- Apple and peanut butter

At this point, I'm really excited to see what happens with my body in the next few days, especially now that cravings are gone.

And yes, I KNOW I have a small addiction to popcorn.  it's a super quick meal for me when I don't have a lot of time. Don't judge. :)

Toxins in Everyday Products

I've known for quite awhile that plastics are bad because of the BPA, which essentially causes you to ingest the plastic.  And of course I realized that by using re-usable dishes and cloths, it is much better on the environment.  However, Jillian gives some really good informatio in her post aobut Toxins in our everyday products.  There is BPA in canned goods!!  I didnt realize that!  Just another thing to stay away from! 

I'm realizing more and more each day why my grandfather who just turned 97 (HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Grandpa!!)  is in better health than a lot of people in their 60s.  It's all about his generation.  They made everything healthy and from scratch, rather than eating out, or buying food with a lot of preservatives and hormones in it.  He and my grandmother made homemade clothes, food, canned their own goods.  Really, I'm not sure if they bought anything from the store.  Then again, with 8 kids it was definitely cheaper to do it all on their own.  Plus, as a farmer, he and my grandma had nearly everything readily available to them, as long as they were willing to put some time into it.

Anyways, read below about the toxins BPA, PCB, VOC and Chlorinated goods.  You may be suprised what you find out!



From LOSING IT! With Jillian MichaelsTuesday, March 22, 2011

Banish The Toxins

In an effort to minimize our consumption of pesticides and other chemicals, we make a point of buying organic food when we can. But foods aren't the only things in your kitchen that can harbor harmful ingredients. By now, I'm sure you all know that you should steer clear of certain plastics and not use disinfectants and cleaners that contain poisonous chemicals — but do you know why these things are harmful? I know some of you may say, "We grew up with lead paint and other chemicals and we're fine." It's true that we didn't know how harmful some products were years ago, but because we didn't know, does that really mean you're fine? Do you know exactly what's going into your body these days? Here's a little list to help — these are some of the biggest hormone offenders that could be in your kitchen:

• Bisphenol A (BPA): BPAs are chemical compounds that are added to plastics to make them more durable; they're most commonly found in the linings of food containers, beverage cans, some baby bottles, and drinking bottles, and they can leach out into foods and liquids. Harmful side effects from consuming them can include increased risk of breast and prostate cancers, infertility, polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), and insulin resistance (which, in turn, can lead to type 2 diabetes). To be safe, store foods in glass containers, drink from stainless steel water bottles, and do your best to avoid canned foods.
• Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs): These major endocrine disruptors are chlorinated chemicals that were used as coolants and lubricants in electrical equipment; they may still be found in old fluorescent light fixtures and some electrical appliances. Because of evidence that they built up in the environment and caused harmful health effects, their manufacture was banned in the United States in 1977. Because of their persistence in the environment, however, farmed salmon and certain freshwater fish have PCBs circulating in their systems. Don't take chances when you eat fish — check the Monterey Bay Aquarium's list of safe fish.
• Volatile oranic compounds (VOCs): These are chemical compounds emitted as gases by such seemingly innocent everyday products as paints, plastics, cleansers, solvents, air fresheners, dryer sheets, dry-cleaned clothing, and cosmetics, and they can cause your endocrine system a whole mess of problems. I'm talking nausea, headaches, drowsiness, sore throat, dizziness, memory impairment, and — in the long run — possibly cancer. For kitchen-cleaning projects, switch to all-natural products, such as baking soda, hydrogen peroxide, white vinegar, and lemon juice.
• Chlorinated products: We all grew up with them — white paper towels, white paper napkins, and white coffee filters. And most of us don't think twice about what these products mean for our endocrine systems. But it's not good: The Environmental Protection Agency found that dioxins, the by-products of many industrial processes involving chlorine, including pulp and paper bleaching, are 300,000 times more carcinogenic than DDT (a synthetic pesticide now banned in the United States). How's that for a wake-up call? Keep yourself and your family safe and stick to products labeled chlorine-free, or PCF. Your hormones will thank you.