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!
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| Fresh apples - eat as much as you want! |
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| 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.)
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| 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
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| 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.
