Detox Derailed

I woke up today to my husband asking where the thermometer was because he thought he was sick.  He had just thrown up (TMI?) after having his morning lemon/ginger water. Our day didn't get much better from there.  We were both starving and tired and just felt....ugh. We even crawled back in bed to join our son in an afternoon nap.  Before dinner I finally broke and told him that I think we need to end the detox, or at least add something to it.  You should have seen the smile on that man's face.  Apparently he had been waiting all day for me to come to my senses.  After eating some baked chicken and a glass of juice, our day took a turn for the better.  We still had our Potassium Balance soup and Chia Pudding for dessert.  (I also may or may not have eaten a few M&Ms out of the bowl at my parents' house.)

So I can't really say the detox was successful for us.  To be honest, by day 2 it had us feeling pretty awful and food, or the lack of,  was all I could think about. That's no way to live...at least not in this house! HOWEVER, this is not to say I'm giving up on eating clean.  In fact, I checked out two books from the library today that I'm hoping will motivate me to keep at it.  From our experience, I don't think the detox was the best way to start eating clean.  In fact, it deterred us if anything.  But after looking through the books and reading through some blogs of successful clean eaters, I'm ready to give it a shot.  It's not going to be perfect.  I'm sure a few more stray M&Ms are going to find their way to my mouth, but if I can at least change some bad habits and add in a lot more fresh, healthy foods, then I'm all for it.


Here are the books I'm taking a look at:

How about you?  Has anyone else tried a detox?  Was it worth it?

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Detox Day 1

So far, so good.  I opened the fridge many times this morning to lurk for food purely out of habit.  Then I realized I already had my entire day's food mapped out for me and I closed the fridge and moved onto other things, like chasing down my 10 month old.

This is what I'll be eating for the next 3 days:

Here's what day 1 looked like for me.  I tried to remember to take pictures to share with you:

After Waking:
Lemon & Ginger Water

Much to my surprise, this actually was pretty good and refreshing.  Now the texture, I could do without.  I think part of that is because I had too many larger pieces of ginger root floating around on top. Tomorrow I will be more careful when grating it.

Breakfast:
Super Detox Green Juice

My blender was filled to the top with green vegetables plus one whole lemon.  I stirred and stared for a long time before trying my first sip.  I even called my husband at work to see what he thought of his green juice this morning.  He warned me that it had a little bite...and it did.  It wasn't bad, but the texture is what got me again.  I definitely had to chew this. Now I will say that the recipe calls for juicing the vegetables, but says you can blend it if you don't have a juicer.  Since I don't, I blended everything, which I'm pretty sure accounts for the thick grittiness.  It also made a lot...almost two extra large glasses, so I only drank one glass and am saving the rest for later.

Mid Morning Snack
Cucumber, Celery, and Carrot Sticks
To be honest, I didn't even attempt to eat these.  I had my fill of veggies before noon.  Maybe tomorrow.

Lunch
Sushi Salad
** I was so excited to eat something that I completely forgot to take a picture.  But trust me, it looked pretty good!

By this time, I was very hungry and couldn't wait to get my hands on something I didn't have to drink out of a cup.  I have to say, it was delicious!  The avocados and homemade ginger/lemon dressing was very satisfying.  I do think I'll add a little less lemon juice to the dressing tomorrow because it was almost too much to take by the end.  But all in all, it was very yummy and made me think I was eating a  sushi roll.

Mid Afternoon Snack
Activated Almonds 

I soaked the almonds in sea salt and water overnight.  They were delicious and I had to make myself eat only one handful.

Dinner
Potassium Balance Soup

I prepped this big pot of soup earlier in the day and cooked it about 30 minutes before we were ready to eat.  It's enough for the whole week and I will just warm it up as we eat. It had good flavor, but I'm getting a little tired of veggies at this point.

You will do a lot of veggie chopping.  You may as well clean and chop all of your green vegetables (except avocados) when you get home from the store.

Dessert
Chia Pudding

This was pretty good and the consistency reminded me of tapioca pudding. At this point, I was more than happy to eat something that wasn't green.

After Dinner
Calming Chamomile Tea

I was glad to have something to drink in the evening.  I'm a big nighttime snacker and this helped me not feel like I was starving before bed.

All in all, I have to say I'm pretty proud of myself for making it through Day 1 without "cheating".  My biggest accomplishment today was turning down a lunch invite from a friend.  As good as that sounded, I knew I may as well throw in the towel if I went.  We still got together, just not over lunch.  It was a struggle toward the late afternoon/evening, and I found myself daydreaming about Reesee's cups and coffee. But I made it. One down, two more detox days to go!

If you're interested in trying the detox for yourself, here's a link to the rundown:
http://www.hungryforchange.tv/article/3-day-detox-plan

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New Endeavors for a New Year

Every January I seem to have the same resolutions....lose weight, get healthy, blah, blah, blah. Every February I'm usually sitting on the couch stuffing my face with potato chips & regret. This year was no different except for my obsession with Pinterest. (I've lost many potentially useful hours of my life to Pinterest.) I stumbled on a post for clean eating and started clicking.  It led me to several different blogs and lots of information that seemed to make sense.  The basic idea is:  put good things in, get good things in return. You are what you eat! I really liked the fact that it's not a diet, but a general way of life and that there are no counting calories, points, carbs, etc.  In fact, the goal is to be healthy, not to lose weight.  (That's just a side effect I'm pretty fond of.)  

By the way, I am by no means an expert on this.  In fact, I have not yet completed one single day of "clean eating". (That begins tomorrow!)  This blog is just a way to keep me motivated and honest. If it 
does the same for others, that's just another one of those lucky side effects. ;)  

After reading the book Hungry for Change, I decided to kickstart eating clean with the three day detox outlined by the authors.  Not only this, but I actually got my husband on board.  This means I didn't have to hear one complaint about the outrageous grocery bill after my shopping spree at Whole Foods!  This also means I had to prep his breakfast and pack his lunch to make sure he's actually detoxing tomorrow and not devouring a fried chicken sandwich at his desk while I'm at home gnawing on carrot sticks. 

So here goes nothing....wish me luck!  

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