Days 10 – 14 – Sucks… I got off track in my documentation of the process:)

Moral of my first cleanse story was that it was great. I had lots of questions, have had lots to share with friends and co-workers. I did my usual Starla thing I do when I have time and get interested in something – I “read up” on the subject on several sites and 3 books on the subject cover to cover.

Oh yeah and with the help of Madame B. Fly and my books – I led my first group of 18 through a similar 14-day process – the Indianapolis Urban League Young Professionals. Not all of them made it through but they DID learn some lessons on diet & health. I am still receiving additional requests via facebook to do the same with others! THIS IS SO COOL!!!

Juice Again

Per Madam B. Fly and Kimberly Snyder, hubby and I are now drinking water with lemon & cayenne pepper first thing in the morning to “wake up” our digestive system from a night of slumber and clear out mucus. I like it! Some days we even add ginger as in Kimberly’s recipe.
So in addition to this for the am routine – I actually got up this morning at 6 am to do Pilates!!! I am SO excited as this has been an item on my to-list and an appointment is “dismiss” daily on the calendar.
For breakfast, I TRIED – emphasis on TRY – to make Kimberly’s Ulitmate Green Smoothie minus the Cilantro(can you believe my neighborhood Kroger was out??? – what’s that about?) BTW –the smoothie, well… ummmm….this didn’t work out quite like I wanted it to! It turned out to be SUPER thick ( I now know that I should have added water at the first sign of extraordinary thickness!)

Juicing Eight

OOOOOHHHH-WWEEEEEEE! Today was juice day 1. Guess what – I was starving but I feel pretty good now (10:44 p.m.) You know what’s even better? I am plotting & planning other group cleanses. To top it off I decided that my next personal detox/cleanse will be all raw and juice! It’s so cool to have friends, business associates, facebook friends, co-workers, and others expressing interest in learning more and in tryiing a natural body detox for themselves. Can it get any better than that?

Group & individual detox will be offered as part of our holistic wellness consultations for my new business launching in 2010 for sure!

So what am I doing now:
Reading uo on various versions of detox programs including variations for men & women. If I find a great gems of information I’ll share them with you later for sure. As for those of you who are checking in to see what’s on the daily menu – this is what I had today:

Breakfast Smoothie with random fruit and Orange Juice
Peppermint Tea
Water
Carrot & Pear juice (per the juicing that Madam B Fly did for me!)
Water
Cinnamon Tea (and at this point in the day I was starving – i never looked forward to green juice ever in life)
Kale/Pear & Apple juice (again courtesy of Madam B Fly)
Smoothie with banana, cranberries, nut butter, frozen peaches & soy milk – it was a little too thick but decent.

So great day! My goal to improve the health & well being of my community is being accomplished 1 lifestyle change at a time! WOW!

Salad – salad – and mo’ salad!

Yes – days 6 & 7 of my diet cleansing journey were quite interesting. My system should be getting a well-deserved nourishing of a lifetime. For sure the hubby’s has – he’s been to the bathroom every few hours since day 3 or 4. I haven’t seen such obvious changes but I have to say that I do feel okay!

The past two days were RAW days in which we were only supposed to eat raw – fresh – uncooked – living foods. The biggest part of this challenge is trying to figure out what I CAN eat – how I can get some variety. Of course Madam B. Fly gave some suggestions of which tomato and avocado salad was my FAVE for sure! The other leaf salads that I made weren’t bad either – they all had a base of heart of romaine lettuce then the other ingredients varied and included: onion, avocado, tomato, radishes, sprouts, broccoli, mango, green pepper, cucumber and mushroom. I couldn’t believe I had forgotten one of my salad faves – olives – but that’s okay cause I usually by the canned ones anyway.

A chopped salad that looks great but wasn't mine - didn't have a camera handy!

In addition to all the salad, I did have several different fruits, water, tea, juice and or course a smoothie. (I even had a wheatgrass shot as an added bonus –burps that smelled of grass after that. )
My husband and I watched Food Inc together – I am hoping that helps shock us into more permanent dietary changes. There’s something very…GROSS about watching cows hanging from conveyor belts. Seeing chickens smashed into “hamburger filler” and the multitude of “corn” products! I do live in Indiana but I think there’s more than corn in most grocery stores – maybe?

Speaking of stores – I have purchased some items that have never seen the likes of my kitchen before. Among them are: hummus, tabouli, ginger root, whole radishes, fresh parsley, pita bread and fresh pears!

All in all I made it – I am learning tons and can’t wait to continue to share my journey with others.

Day 5 Friday 3:52

I am strug-gle-ing!
Pinpointing the problem: frustration + boredom = I want a chocolate/sweet snack!
I can now pointpoint the feeling I get when I am in my office most weekday afternoons. Question is will I be able to redirect those emotional cravings to something more healthy??? Today – yes; In 14 days – I hope the answer will still be yes!
I need a snack & I don’t think oranges and water can cut it. I am about to try it though.
I do have some anxiety in relation to the next four days of this journey in which the challenges is eating raw (live) foods and juicing. I have no clue of I am going to have for dinner right now – let alone a full 2 days of raw cuisine. So in addition to work frustration – I am an now frustrated with not knowing what to eat – BOOO!!!!
But in case you are wondering what was on the menu up until now…
Breakfast: smoothie (I could have this EVERYDAY!) Ingredients: soy milk; fresh bana, flax seed with blue berries, frozen strawberries, and soy strawberry yogurt.
Lunch: Naked Burrito Ingredients: black beans, rice, lettuce, tomatoes, olives, onions, guacamole, 2 kinds of salsa and a few chips on the side
Snack: fresh fruit from home – raspberries, tangerines, apples
Drink: H2O but is it – I had a Smart Water – what is THIS about? I have to admit, I bought it only because of it’s large cute bottle (see?)

But now that I am drinking it all I can this of is what a waste of plastic this is. Then to top it off – one of my students said that drinking this ‘educated’ water was like drinking a sports drink – yep electrolytes were added. What the heck does that mean? What is that doing to my body? What happened to water that tasted like metal faucet and was laced with fluoride and more importantly was FREE???

Yep there’s more…day 4!

Today’s Challenge: Vegan cuisine! I think I aced this challenge, but it wasn’t without a few hiccups!

Breakfast: Smoothie take 2: I started with a basic recipe: nut butter, a fresh banana and soy milk – instead of ice I used frozen peaches. I blended – I tasted – I didn’t like it. So I made a second batch to add to the first and voila – it was good! The second batch I used another banana, more soy milk, fresh raspberries, and more frozen peaches. MAIN HICCUP HERE: 1/3 of it ended up in the seat of the car =(

Drink: Raspberry Green Tea

Lunch: Now lunch was a treat. I have only had one type of hummus in my life that I ever “liked” all the rest – gross!! I’d thought I’d try to introduce it since I was on this new journey. The result – deliciousness!!!!! I had 3-4 baby portobella mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, and pita bread with hummus and tabouli!! It was so good & surprisingly filling! I practiced not drinking while eating which Madam B Fly says aids in better digestion and absorption of nutrients into your body!!! HICCUP HERE: Carrots are too loud and crunchy for a working lunch meeting – I had to eat the rest for my afternoon snack.

Drink: Tea and water

Snack: a few bites of a new trail mix – it was gross – had wasabi peas in it – wasabi is only for sushi (at least for me!)
Snack 2 (while cooking dinner): Soy chocolate milk -about 2 oz. then about 15 minutes later another small taste of hummus and tabouli with pita bread and one mushroom

Dinner: Baked sweet potato with soy butter and honey, green beans with onion and garlic, and soy nuggets (mainly for the men of the house). HICCUP HERE: I forgot the nuggets were in the oven and overcooked them – they weren’t black – every morsel has been eaten!

Dessert: A few spoonfuls of raspberry sorbet to satisfy my sweet tooth!

FLAVOR of the day???? Raspberry it seems!

Lesson of the day(lesson from yesterday – but there’s not enough hours in the day for me to truly chronicle all of the journey): BE PRESENT DURING MEALS!!!
Madam B. Fly says to be present and experience your food – I tried! I worked really hard to not eat standing up – almost succeeded in this until the snack while I was making dinner and the second helping of green beans I ate hovering over the kitchen counter. Oh well – I’ll try that challenge again tomorrow.

Happy Cleansing!

Good digestion is SOOO essential to health!

Read this this am on sparkpeople.com:

Easy Ways to Boost Fiber Intake

Fiber is one of the easiest nutrients to incorporate into your diet, and one of the most important. However, many Americans don’t reach their much-needed daily requirements for a healthy diet. Adults need 25 to 35 grams daily. Generally, children under 18 years require less. Using the “age plus five” rule will help you determine your child’s needs. For example, a 5-year-old would need 10 grams daily (5 + 5 = 10), and a 10-year-old would need 15 grams (10 + 5 = 15).

Insufficient fiber intake can increase your risk for many health problems, including constipation, high cholesterol, weight gain, irritable bowel syndrome, and even cancer of the colon. Here are more fiber-rich tips:
•Choose fresh fruit and/or vegetables over juices.
•To get more fiber and nutrients, eat the skin of cleaned fruits and vegetables.
•Include bran and whole grain breads daily.
•Drink more water to accommodate your increased fiber intake and reduce indigestion.
•Eat fewer processed foods and more whole foods.
•Try to meet your fiber requirements with foods rather than supplements.
•A large increase in fiber over a short period of time could result in bloating, diarrhea, gas, and all-around discomfort. It is better to add fiber to your diet gradually over a recommended period of about three weeks, to avoid abdominal problems.

Day 3 – the cleanse continues!

Well, well, well – Day 3 I felt terrible – I had a headache from the time I went to bed on Day 2 until I FINALLY gave in and took ibproufen (sp?) around 7:15 p.m. Could have been caused by many things – weaning from caffeine, not enough water, blood pressure out of whack, and the list goes on!

For today’s challege we had to limit dairy and eggs. I had my last hoorah with milk in my cereal, the sprinkle of cheese that was served on my lunch (i’ll tell you what that was in a sec) and the cream that was probably in my tomato soup from lunch and dinner.

What did I eat all day?
Breakfast – only about 5 spoonfuls of Kashi cereal with dried strawberries and a little honey (the rest vanished by way of M. O.)
Lunch – NOODLES & COMPANY – this could possibly be my first or second favorite fast food – it’s a toss up between this and Qdoba. Anyways I had my usual – whole grain tuscan linguine with tofu and tomato bisque soup! HMM MMM GOOD!!!
Snack – Some sort of pretzel bread from Trader Joe’s
Dinner – Panera Bread – You Pick Two -Half of the Mediterranean Veggie Sandwhich (was not as great as it sounds they were stingy with the veggies) and tomato soup.
Drinks – green tea, ginger & mint tea, water, water and mo water!

My family and I spent about 2 hours grocery shopping to stock up for the next two weeks. We bought tons of produce for eating and juicing at Costco! They have the best non-local produce in large quantities and good prices!!!! We then ventured to Trader Joe’s to get all of the other things that I couldn’t get. (oh yeah – i did try their sparkling cranberry juice – it was SOOOOO GOOOD!)
When were finally checked out the cashier asked it we were buying anything new! I had to think and look – why yes we were! I hope to incorporate most of the items as regulars including my rasberry sorbet for my sweet habit, and several soup purees – he said the Black Bean one was great – I can’t wait! *NOTE TO ALL BUSINESS OWNERS – good customer service goes a LONG WAY!!!!!!

For those of you saying well dang I can’t afford to go to THAT place and I don’t have a Costco’s membership – you can do this exact same thing with some substitutions at Marsh, Kroger, Meijer or even Super Target! For instance Frozen veggie are 77 cents each, you can get 5 avocadoes for $5 and 5lbs of pears?apples?(one of these) for $5 with your fresh idea card this week!
Being healthy doesn’t have to be expensive like most people think – especially if you catch deals and shop local! Check out Indy Winter Farm Market on Saturdays!
Okay – this is getting too long for all text – so i’ll catch you later for a post on Day 4 and other randomness. For those of you that joined in – TODAY AND TOMORROW ARE TOTALLY VEGAN – DITCH THOSE ANIMAL PRODUCTS!!!!

Day 2…

All I can say is……wow!

Let’s start with the fact that I went into Day 2 with a bang and I went out with a “hope I feel better in the morning”. I had a huge headache.

Today’s Challenge: Eat only 1 meat (which I didn’t have b/c of this) and no processed foods including my “normal” sweets, fast food and sodas.

What I ate: Apple Cider for breakfast (This is terrible but I was running late)
Whole grain homemade baked spaghetti with veggies (no meat ppl)
Dinner was same as lunch with an apple for dessert
I drank H2O but did sip on some gingerale with dinner (sorry Madam B. Fly )

The snack that got me (and the hubby) through the day was Archer Farms Sunny Cranberry Trail Mix from Target. I found a photo on Google – 16,700 hits for this product!

Photo Courtesy of The Healthy Everythingtarian!!

The mix contains cranberries, golden raisins (new to me), sunflower seeds (never really ate these before), almonds (I don’t like nuts) and pepitas (I didn’t even know what this was until now)!

Besides my field of FB comments on this subject, the experience of Day @ stimulated lots of energy and thoughts around the idea of transitioning to a healthy lifestyle and the commitment and tools one must have to do so! So many people had well-wishes and even wanted to join in themselves! Nice to be involved in positive peer pressure!

Stay tuned: tomorrow – limiting dairy & eggs!

In preparation for day number two..

We eliminate processed foods and meat!!

Found this article about what processed foods are on about.com – enjoy!

Question: What are processed foods?
I am having a hard time understanding what exactly is considered to be “processed food.” Do you have a list or something that would help me?
Jen – About.com User

Answer: Processed foods have been altered from their natural state for safety reasons and for convenience. The methods used for processing foods include canning, freezing, refrigeration, dehydration and aseptic processing.
We tend to think of processed foods as bad, but it turns out that many processed foods are not unhealthy. For example, milk would be considered a processed food because it is pasteurized to kill bacteria and homogenized to keep fats from separating. While some people prefer to drink raw milk, most of us should consume the “processed” version we find in our grocery stores.

Another healthy example of food processing is frozen vegetables. While fresh may be best, freezing vegetables preserves vitamins and minerals and makes them convenient to cook and eat all year around. Fruit and vegetable juice is also an example of a healthy processed food. In fact, some orange juice is fortified with calcium to make it even more nutritious.

Of course, there are a lot of processed foods that aren’t good for you. Many processed foods are made with trans fats, saturated fats, and large amounts of sodium and sugar. These types of foods should be avoided, or at least eaten sparingly.

Processed foods that may not be as healthy as fresh foods include:

•canned foods with lots of sodium
•white breads and pastas made with refined white flour, which are not as healthy as those made with whole grains
•packaged high-calorie snack foods, like chips and cheese snacks
•high-fat convenience foods, like cans of ravioli
•frozen fish sticks and frozen dinners
•packaged cakes and cookies
•boxed meal mixes
•sugary breakfast cereals
•processed meats
Processed meats might be some of the worst of these foods. Eating these meats may increase your risk of colorectal, kidney and stomach cancer. Processed meats include hot dogs, bologna, sausage, ham and other packaged lunch meats.
These processed foods and prepackaged meals are very convenient and popular. If you do shop for these foods, be sure to look for products that are made with whole grains, low in sodium and calories, and free of trans fats. Make sure you pay attention to serving size, too, and balance out the processed foods you eat with a delicious fresh salad and some whole grain bread.

Sources:

Larsson SC, Wolk A. “Meat consumption and risk of colorectal cancer: A meta-analysis of prospective studies.” Int J Cancer. 2006 Dec 1;119(11):2657-64.

Faramawi MF, Johnson E, Fry MW, Sall M, Yi Z. “Consumption of different types of meat and the risk of renal cancer: meta-analysis of case-control studies.” Cancer Causes Control. 2007 Mar;18(2):125-33. Epub 2007 Jan 22.

Larsson SC, Orsini