If you have me on Facebook or Instagram, you've seen my posts about this new cleanse I'm trying. I got a lot of feedback, questions & requests for info. So here's a few notes and my personal opinions, pros & cons, and results.
DAY 1
I knew the first day was going to be rough - but I didn't really prepare for it physically at all. Mentally I was very motivated, very ready to detox my body and start eating clean. However, I failed to realize how much I LOVE food until you CAN'T eat it. Anything. The first thing you are supposed to drink is a cup of lemon water with cayenne pepper and apple cider vinegar. YUCK. I did find a premade bottle called Superdrop in the organic section of Fred's that also has organic maple syrup for some added sugar and to help with flavor, but it's still nothing I would ever drink voluntarily. These are 3 of the things I hate almost more than vegetables! (just kidding, I've gotten much better over the years with eating some choice veggies). I made the drink and literally had to hold my breath to take each sip. It only took me 20 minutes to finish that cup. Not bad, huh? I prepped all the smoothies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner the night before by cutting up all my fruits and veggies, measuring enough of each, and freezing them in plastic bags. This definitely saves a lot of time and I would recommend this if you are doing the cleanse during a work week. The second thing on the menu is green tea an hour after you finish the cayenne/lemon drink. This wasn't too bad, even though I also can't stand tea. I got mandarin flavor and it made it slightly better tasting. This is added to help those coffee drinkers keep the headaches away because you also cannot drink coffee while on the cleanse. How are we supposed to survive?? Surprisingly, the tea helped a lot with energy, I wasn't tired - I was starving. Maybe the feeling of starvation overruled the headache, who knows. I had my breakfast smoothie around 9, which was kefir, (an amazing probiotic that has more nutrients than both yogurt and regular milk), water, berries, kale or spinach, (I used kale), and the option to add chia seeds, (I passed on these). It wasn't too bad. Considering it was the first "food" group I had all morning, it was easy to down the whole thing pretty quickly. By noon, I was extremely hungry, but continued on my daily routine to head to the gym and do my mile run and weights/abs. I had a lot of energy which was great, but by the time I left I broke down and got a baked chicken breast from the café. I felt really guilty after eating it, but judging by my results it didn't have too much of a negative effect after all. For lunch I tried to drink my Pina Colada smoothie, with kale, lime, organic cucumber, pineapple, and coconut oil - but it was too thick for my taste. Not only was it too thick, I'm not a fan of lime either - but the consistency really turned me off and I couldn't finish it. So instead I had a handful of baby organic carrots. An hour later you are supposed to drink the dreaded lemon/cayenne/vinegar drink - which I completely opted out of. For dinner I finished about half of the metabolism smoothie, (kefir, kale, banana, avocado, and water) and I was pretty much so hungry that I wasn't hungry anymore. I had a few bites of Rylee's Kid Cuisine dinner which was chicken nuggets, mac n cheese, corn, and chocolate pudding. I felt like a complete failure at the end of day 1. I was ready to give up. This clean eating thing is not for me, I thought. I miss food too much and I hate the feeling of hunger.
Day 2
To my surprise, I woke up feeling rejuvenated. I slept great, wasn't hungry, wasn't tired, and jumped on the scale to see that the "damage" I thought I'd done was actually a great accomplishment! I was down 3 pounds. This was such an awesome feeling. I thought I really blew it, but to me, 3 pounds is great. It's better than gaining, hell it's even better than just maintaining. What a motivator. I was determined to keep going. I decided to modify things a little bit so that I would be more inclined to follow the ingredients. I added the lemon/cayenne drink to my berries and banana smoothie with kefir. It was awesome! It definetly has that spicy lemon/pepper taste - but it was disguised enough with the berries and banana that it was drinkable. I made enough for breakfast and lunch and I stuck to it perfectly. I added a handful of organic carrots again for snack, but I found that I wasn't as hungry or craving fatty foods knowing the results I saw. My stomach felt great. I wasn't bloated, no stomachache, no heartburn, just a feeling of natural, organic, success. I had the rest of my smoothie for lunch, went to my insanity class and sweated my butt off, and returned to work feeling energized, fulfilled, and proud. In the afternoon, I had a few strawberries, blueberries and even carrots with a couple tablespoons of RANCH. If you know me, you know ranch is my arch nemesis. I don't know if I'll ever be able to give it up. But I wanted to see if it made a huge difference, so therefore, I enjoyed it. For dinner I made myself half of a chicken breast, marinated in non fat balsamic vinaigrette and it was amazing. I made an extra one for lunch on day 3. Today was a much better all around day. I wasn't discouraged, I was a better motivated, rejuvenated, slimmer, me!
Day 3
Down another 1.5 pounds! Awesome! I'm really happy with the results I'm seeing. Not just on the scale, but physically and mentally. I'm proud that I stuck it out even after slipping up a few times. I'm very excited that my tummy troubles have subsided and I'm feeling the energy I used to feel after my thermogenic by only adding clean, organic foods and staying away from processed, chemical filled foods that I normally crave. I had my smoothie for breakfast, (kefir, cayenne/lemon, berries, and banana), I made enough for lunch and/or snack. Plus I have my healthy chicken breast for the afternoon when hunger hits. I keep carrots at my desk for when I do feel the urge to snack, but I am so much more aware of what I'm putting into my body after doing this. I am going to continue on with the smoothies. I will be eating clean and hopefully soon begin to only crave clean foods. Not saying that I may slip up here and there, but I do plan to maintain a healthy eating style and to make my main focus portion control for when I do decide to include a "cheat meal" into my routine. For now, I'm down 4.5 pounds in 3 days, but the benefits of the cleanse were so much deeper than that. Thanks for reading and if you have other recipes or suggestions that are for picky eaters like myself, please comment and share them!
Happy Friday!
Jess
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