Detox/Cleanse & Green Smoothies - It's Not Too Late

With a new year, it always seems like a good time to start fresh and new!  And after the holidays - drinking more alcohol than usual and eating more rich foods than typical in my diet - I always like to start the new year with a Detox / Cleanse.  

A lot of my Facebook friends were asking me about detox and cleanse programs as well as smoothies so I posted the program I did last year.  I discovered a detox/cleanse program  from a vegan blogger I follow, Veggie Grettie - check her out:  http://veggiegrettie.com/  Last year, I did it for seven days and found it really easy! 

Fresh apples - eat as much as you want!

Delicious home-made veggie soup.

I found this program really easy to do because you are able to EAT (the foods on the program) and as much as you want in order to satisfy your hunger!  Last year I followed the program for seven days and I lost 9 lbs.  Now of course a lot of the weight lost was water so I did gain a couple pounds back, but I did get off that holiday sludge and felt great!  This year, I only did it for five days.  I didn’t gain much weight over the holidays this year because I was more careful about balancing my meals and not over doing it. However, I lost count on how many glasses of red wine, martinis and champagne I drank so I really felt like I needed to detox!  I lost 5 lbs and haven’t gained any back, but I’m also participating in a 30-day Green Smoothie Challenge right now so I’m sure that’s helping!  (More on the challenge later.)

Baked sweet potato and steamed broccoli.

Here is the link to Veggie Grettie’s original post about the   cleanse and the details on it.  http://veggiegrettie.com/2012/01/08/best-vegan-cleanse/

I’ve also included my food journal from this past January so you can see what kinds of foods I ate and how easy it was!  

DETOX/CLEANSE

• Consume ONLY fruits and vegetables (aim for at least 50% raw…I think I was closer to 70% raw)
• Have the bulk of your intake be from water-based fruits and veggies, but be sure to include sweet potatoes and squash
• Drink water, tea, fresh vegetable juice, or fruit and veggie powder drinks EAT AS MUCH AS YOU WANT…DO NOT GO HUNGRY!!!!!!

While I think it probably goes without saying based upon the outline above, I thought I would add some further clarification:

• NO oil
• NO grains
• NO legumes
• NO nuts
• NO animal products
• NO sugar
• NO artificial sweeteners *
• NO processed foods

30-DAY GREEN SMOOTHIE CHALLENGE

While scrolling through Instagram (my latest social media addiction), I came across information about the 30-Day Green Smoothie Challenge.  Most people who know me, know I LOVE LOVE LOVE my smoothies so I was really curious about it.  

Basically, the challenge is to incorporate at least one green smoothie into your daily meals every day for 30 days.  It’s not restrictive, you don’t have to give anything up - the purpose is to ADD healthy greens to your diet! When you sign up on www.simplegreensmoothies.com  (by the way it’s FREE) you’ll receive weekly shopping lists and recipes to make delicious green smoothies!  

Each week there’s a new little challenge that makes it fun!  Because I already loved having smoothies every day, this has been more like a “treat” experimenting with new recipes that it doesn’t even seem like a challenge to me!  I’m on Day 13, but it’s not too late for YOU to start!  And if you explore on Instagram with #simplegreensmoothies you’ll find oodles of other people who have joined the challenge and see what kinds of yummy (and in some cases NOT-so-yummy) green smoothies they’ve concocted!  If you join, let me know and follow me on Instagram:  thebookofdonna

24 oz of Deliciousness in a Jar! Made with 1 cup kale,
2 cups spinach, 1 cup romaine, fresh pear, frozen peach,
1/3 frozen banana, 1 tsp maca powder,  1 scoop plant-based
vanilla protein, 1/2 cup almond milk, 1/2 cup water,
and 4 ice cubes.  This was yummy, refreshing and filling!
Only about 310 calories - great way to start the day!

So how has your New Year of 2013 been so far?  Did you make any resolutions?  If so, how are you doing in keeping them?  Do any of your resolutions have to do with health and wellness?  Keep in mind, even if you fall off track the key to success is picking yourself up and getting back on track!  Don’t be hard on yourself because we all have bad days.  The important thing is not to give up on yourself - because according to the Book of Donna... YOU ARE WORTH IT!!!

Donna’s Detox/Cleanse Food Journal: (I didn't proof this section so please excuse any typos - this was what I wrote in my iPhone - just copied and pasted here for your reference.)

Wednesday 1/2

Breakfast: banana, green tea with lemon

Exercise: Bodyflow class 60 mins

Snack: small apple

Snack: veggie juice from Whole Foods with carrots, ginger, spinach, kale

Lunch: Amy's Fat-Free Chunky Vegetable Soup

Exercise: cardio - Nike Kinect Training 30mins 

Post-workout Drink: Vita Coco Coconut Water

Dinner: baked sweet potato, steamed broccoli (both plain with no salt or butter)

After dinner: Chamomile tea

Summary: feeling great and was never hungry at all today. A little sore from workout )from yesterday I think), but the soreness feels good and reminds me that work is in progress!

Thursday 1/3

Breakfast: green tea with lemon, pear

Exercise: 60minute bike ride

Lunch/post workout: green juice with water, spinach, Swiss chard, sunflower sprouts, half banana, dates, maca powder. 

Snack: fresh fruit salad with blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, oranges, half banana

Snack: orange

Dinner: homemade veggie soup with zucchini, spinach, Swiss chard, peas, corn, green beans, onion, carrots, celery, tomatoes, cabbage. chives, parsley,  Braggs amino acid and lemon. Sweet potato fries. 

Friday 1/4

Breakfast: miso soup with Swiss chard and shiitake mushrooms, green tea with lemon

Snack: baby carrots

Lunch: homemade veggie soup

Snack: fruit salad (same as yesterday)

Snack: homemade-sweet potato fries

Dinner: steamed broccoli and corn

Chamomile tea

Had a mild headache most of the day that I think is from the detox. Was also really sore from working out the past few days so took today off to let my body rest. 

Saturday 1/5

Breakfast: pear

Exercise: elliptical 25 mins, rowing machine 5mins, treadmill 35 mins

Snack; apple

Lunch: salad from Whole Foods: spring greens, spinach, kale, broccoli, beets, butternut squash, green peas, corn, broccoli slaw and fat free balsamic dressing. 

Snack: dehydrated okra chips

Sunday 1/6

Breakfast: pear, green tea with lemon

Exercise: Pilates mat class

Snack: avocado-banana smoothie with romaine, spinach, stevia

Lunch: Millers Fieldhouse - veggie burger with side salad, greens, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, Dijon honey dressing, Bloody Mary, 2 olives, 2 celery *This meal isn’t technically a “detox” meal because the veggie burger had quinoa and brown rice in it and of course there vodka in the Bloody Mary

Dinner: home-made veggie soup 

Snack: sweet potato chips

Chamomile tea

*I had already decided I was finished with the detox/cleanse and going to start the 30-Day Green Smoothie Challenge, which is why I decided to go ahead and have the veggiei burger and Bloody Mary.  But as you can see from my journal, I was able to eat a lot of food and I was never hungry.

Newtown: Let's Give Love and Kindness

Like many of you, I can't stop thinking about the awful things that happened at Sandy Hook Elementary School on Friday.  It's tragic, horrible, sickening, senseless, deplorable... there just aren't enough adjectives to describe what happened - it literally makes my stomach turn.  The entire community of Newtown, Connecticut is in my prayers.  

While we continue to ask questions like "Why?" and "How?" and try to find solutions on how to prevent something like this from happening again, I believe we should also focus on supporting each other rather than tearing each other down, as it seems like many of us have been doing lately.   WHY not do something nice for someone in need or even a complete stranger?  Or... HOW about: Let's be kind to each other.  It's amazing how an act of kindness can lift YOUR spirits.  Let's come together and LOVE and treat our neighbors - not even the way YOU think they want to be loved and treated, but by how THEY would want to be loved and treated.  

I recently saw this video on You Tube and I think I think it shows MANY great examples of acts of kindness.  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8Z-afKPmxs

What will you do to make this world a kinder place?

'Tis the Season to Eat, Be Merry and Drink A Gingerbread Smoothie!

Gingerbread Smoothie

Gingerbread Smoothie

It’s December and the holidays are in full swing!  It’s the most wonderful time of year! It’s also the time of the year and the season when most of us get a little out of control with our eating and drinking habits and binge on all kinds of heavy hors d’oeuvres, confectionary treats, and cocktails because we’re at more social functions whether it be a work party or Christmas or other holiday parties.  People seem to get in the baking mood as well and bring all kinds of goodies to the office.  It’s also MY birthday month (December 12th if you wanna sing to me or send a colorful balloon bouquet) and I have several celebrations throughout the month.

Now, I’m not going to tell you to NOT indulge a little because after all... it IS the holidays and it only comes around once a year.  However, if you don’t want to have to make that typical New Year’s Resolution of “losing weight” and “getting back in shape” it’s a good idea not to get too crazy.  

With my friend Jeffrey at my 12/12/12 birthday dinner
at the Brown Derby at Disney's Hollywood Studios.

As I mentioned, December is my birthday month and I have a lot of friends that I like to celebrate with throughout the month and we usually get together for dinners or lunches so what I usually try to do is balance things out.  For example, the other night my friend Jeffrey took me to dinner at the Brown Derby.  I had a flight of martinis which were three small drinks that probably was equivalent to one VERY large martini drink (delicious). We both ordered the Blue Jumbo Lump Crab Spring Rolls which are fried as an appetizer.  Umm... AHH-MAZING!  We both ordered the appetizer size Cobb Salad as our entree and I ordered mine without the turkey and bacon since I don’t eat meat, but it had LOTS of really yummy blue cheese and fresh avocado!  And of course because it was my birthday we HAD to have dessert!  The server recommended the Banana White Chocolate Toffee Tower, which I ordered and it was as decadent, rich and delicious as it sounds!  

Now because I had such a rich and fattening dinner, the next day I balanced things out: I ate light and worked out.  I had a green smoothie for breakfast, fresh cut veggies (broccoli, zucchini, celery, carrots) for lunch, sweet potato hummus as a snack and miso soup with two veggie spring rolls (made by my mom) for dinner.  Okay, well the veggie spring rolls were fried but I only had two and I ate so light the whole day I didn’t feel bad about it.

Anyway, according to the Book of Donna it’s okay to indulge a little during the holidays... just make sure to balance things out and not go crazy for EVERY meal and continue to exercise. OR... you can try having my delicious Gingerbread Smoothie when you’re craving something sweet!  It’s like having a gingerbread cookie in the form of a delicious, healthy smoothie!  And in case you didn’t know, ginger has many great qualities about it.  It has anti-inflammatory and anti-viral properties and is great for treating nausea.  

Benefits of Ginger - found this on Health & Organic Wellbeing's
Facebook page.  Like their page - they have great info!

Fresh Ginger

What's a Gingerbread Smoothie without a little gingerbread man?

Gingerbread Smoothie - Delicious!

This recipe I created is great and the raw cashews make it nice and thick that it seems like a milkshake and makes you feel like you’re having a dessert!  So if you’re craving something a little sweet, but want to have a “healthy” treat - try my Gingerbread Smoothie!  

The ingredients for Gingerbread Smoothie.

If you don't have a good protein supplement
try adding vanilla yogurt.  I love using
So Delicious Vanilla.

What’s your favorite food or drink to indulge in during the holidays?  Iced sugar cookies? Hot cheesy dips? Festive colorful cocktails?  Tell me!  And I’ll sit back and fantasize about them while I enjoy my healthy, guilt-free Gingerbread Smoothie. Please let me know if you try this recipe and what you think! Hope you have a happy holiday season!  

Gingerbread Smoothie

Ingredients:

1/2” Fresh Ginger, peeled

1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon

1/4 tsp Ground Ginger

1/4 tsp Ground Nutmeg

1 Banana, frozen *see tip

1 cup Almond milk (or milk of choice)

1-2 Tbsp Black Strap Molasses

8 Raw Cashews

1-2 Scoops Vanilla Protein Powder ***OR***

3oz Vanilla Yogurt (I used So Delicious non-dairy)

4-6 Ice Cubes

Directions:

Place all ingredients in blender (I used my NutriBullet) and mix until blended. Sprinkle with more cinnamon or nutmeg if you wish.

Tips:

*The key to making the “perfect” smoothie is having the right amount of frozen items whether it be the fruit or ice and liquid.  You may need to add more milk or ice depending on how thick you prefer the consistency of your smoothie to be.

*Use EITHER the protein powder OR yogurt, but not both at the same time.  I use a plant-based/vegan protein (brown rice and pea protein) that I buy from my chiropractor who created his own formula and sells it at his practice here in the Central Florida area.  It is the most amazing and best tasting plant-based protein supplement I’ve come across, but is not available on-line yet so I created the yogurt version which is So Delicious!  I always switch up how I make my smoothies so I don’t get bored with them.  I like to use the So Delicious brand because it’s non-dairy, soy free, has no GMOs and taste “so delicious” just like their name!

*I always freeze my bananas ahead of time so they are ready for smoothies.  Check out my Pinterest board for instructions on how to freeze them - this method also works with other fruit (I’ve used it for papaya and pineapple). http://pinterest.com/TheBookofDonna/great-tips/

22 Days of Thanksgiving: Day 17 - My Stretchy Comfy Pajamas

Every day from now until Thanksgiving I will be sharing things I am thankful for.

Day 17:

I am thankful for my stretchy comfy pajamas. After indulging in a magnificent epicurean delight with my husband that started with an amazing bottle of red wine followed by a 3-tiered seafood appetizer consisting of lump crab cakes, sea scallops and grilled oysters; a scrumptious main course of incredible fish with the most delicious sauce; followed by a decadent gourmet banana pudding for dessert... I am thankful and grateful for my stretchy pajamas so I can let the food digest in comfort while I sit on the couch watching TV with my husband. I am thankful for a delicious dinner date with my husband and my comfy stretchy pajamas.

22 Days of Thanksgiving: Day 16 - Being an American

Every day from now until Thanksgiving I will be sharing things I am thankful for.

Day 16:

I am thankful and proud I am an American. This morning, with tears streaming down my face, I watched a live naturalization ceremony as 30 people became American citizens on the Today Show. Many of those new Americans waited years for this moment and had to work very hard to make this happen. I am grateful to my Filipino parents who made incredible sacrifices so I could be born in this country as an American citizen. They left their own families to raise my brother and me here in the United States so we would have opportunities they didn't have and I never ever take that for granted. We live in a great nation where freedoms and opportunities are available if we take them and I feel like I live the "American Dream". I am proud and thankful to be an American.

My amazing parents.

22 Days of Thanksgiving: Day 15 - My Neighborhood

Day 15: I'm thankful for my neighborhood and the location of where we live. Realtors always say, it's all about, "Location, location, location!" I really love where we live. I enjoy our neighborhood and everything it has to offer: beautiful streets lined with old live oak trees, shaded jogging trails, convenient location that is so close to so many great restaurants! If you follow my posts, you know how my hubby and I love to dine out so it's wonderful to be walking distance to what's called "restaurant row" - not that we ever walk! We're also only 15 minutes away from the airport, 5-15 minutes from the theme parks depending on which one you're going to, and good shopping is in every direction you turn - hooray for that! Our neighbors are great - all friendly, neat and quiet. I love that I feel safe in my neighborhood. We're also just moments from downtown, interstate, turnpike and Bee-line (toll roads). I agree, it's all about location and yes, I love ours and I'm thankful and appreciative to have so many conveniences handy an close by. I'm thankful for our neighborhood.

22 Days of Thanksgiving: Day 13 - My Comfy Bed

Every day from now until Thanksgiving I will be sharing something I am thankful for.

Day 13 of Thanksgiving:

I am thankful for my comfy bed. After a busy, long day when I'm tired like I am today, I look forward to crawling into my bed and snuggling with all my fluffy pillows with my hubby next to me along with my furry kids. And as I lay in my bed and close my eyes reflecting on all that I am blessed with in my life, I say my prayers of gratitude and that always helps me fall asleep with a happy heart. I am thankful for my bed.