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.

Gratitude

Gratitude and Being Thankful

I saw this sign on being thankful one day when trolling through Facebook and reposted it to share with my friends.  I wish I could remember the page I originally saw it on, but I apologize because I don't.  I typically save photos with inspirational, motivational quotes that I like, then on certain days when one "speaks" to me, I re-share it with my Facebook friends.  A lot of times the photos will have a credit or source on it, but this one didn't so I am sorry and will try to remember to add a source the next time.  Any way...

Several years ago, I was watching the Oprah Winfrey Show (I know there are a lot of people who didn't love her show like it did, but I really felt I learned things from watching it so try to keep an open mind if you weren't a fan of hers.)  If you don't know about Oprah, she was someone who journaled regularly.  I was never able get into a regular habit of journaling although I had made several attempts over the years.  On one particular show Oprah started talking about keeping a "Gratitude Journal".  Basically, the premise of this journal (as I interpreted it) was that no matter how down you might feel, or how badly you think your situation is at the time, you should always be able to come up with FIVE things to be thankful for.  At the end of each day, you should write out those five things in the Gratitude Journal.  Through doing this, you'll start to realize you truly have MANY things in your life to be thankful for and you won't feel so down or awful about whatever your situation is.  

Well, I don't even really remember what I was frustrated about in my life at the time when I watched that episode.  I believe I was in my late 20's and think I may have been feeling like my life just wasn't what I had planned for it to be.  I probably wasn't in a dating relationship and I wanted to be married with kids, didn't love the job I had at the time, had a debt that I was having to work hard to pay off and I never had enough money to do what I wanted to do, you know... the usual frustrations of a single woman in her late twenties.  I was feeling sorry for myself and a little down.  I thought, "What the heck?  I should give this Gratitude Journal thing a try."  

I must admit, the first couple of times I had to think really hard to come up with FIVE things I was thankful for and I only came up with three, but honestly, I was making it harder than it needed to be.  They don't have to be super significant “things”, they could be ANYTHING , just as long as you are genuinely thankful for it (this is according to the Book of Donna).  And it's kind of fun to mix in things like "I am thankful for a husband who loves me and is supportive in everything I do" with "I am thankful for seeing the big burly man I saw running with his tiny toy dog because it made me smile".  I've been thankful for things like "discovering I had a flat tire at 10 am in the morning in the parking lot of the YMCA instead of 10 pm at night on some dark road" to "the military men and women who risk their lives to fight for our freedom" to "remembering to throw my umbrella in my purse" and "hearing an old favorite song on the radio that brought back great memories".  Oh, and I don't write mine in a journal - never was able to make that a habit, but I do "give my thanks" every night before I go to sleep before saying my prayers.  What I learned about doing this is:  When you're truly grateful for what you have, you'll be surprised how spectacular you and your life really is or becomes!  

Let me know if you already keep a Gratitude Journal or if you decide to start one, or if you just do it in your head like I do, and what you think about the process and if you gain any insight for it or through it.  Thanks for reading this - I'm grateful you took the time!