Smoothie Cleanse Day FIVE!

WOOHOO I made it! I just finished my last smoothie and couldn't be more excited at the prospect of solid food in the morning...and seeing my husband for the first time in five weeks! Solid food > husband....husband > solid food...ehh I'm excited for both!

Before I continue, by popular demand, the rest of my story from yesterday. Since I have places to be and people to see (or a bathroom to clean) I will sum it up for you in 140 characters or less. Someone told me I'm a bad example/encouraging people to crash diet/refusing 2 fuel my body and I think insinuated I have questionable ethics. BAM. Like I said yesterday, opinions are great and we all have them, but unless your willing to listen, keep it to yourself.

So this morning's smoothie was 1 cup almond milk, 1 banana, 1/2 avocado, 1/2 cup raspberries, 1/2 cup ice and some chia seeds in the shape of a heart. I love chia for two reasons. Reason one, they help to maintain an even level of blood sugar throughout the day. Reason two, they look like little dinosaur eggs.

So now that this cleanse is over and I have experienced it for myself, I will never do it ever again! I don't feel any different...just tired and hungry. But, I found some awesome recipes, and experienced something new so I still consider it a win. I won't be blogging any smoothies for a while I hope but stay tuned for the recipe for gluten free quinoa brownies! Happy Valentines Day!

Smoothie Cleanse Days 3-4

Day Three - Today consisted of repeat smoothies from day one. But day three also consisted of a good life lesson. I would like to start off by saying some things I hope you know by now. I am not a doctor, not a nutritionist, and I am not certified to give you any health advice...just life advice ;) I am not trying to encourage to do this cleanse/detox, just providing you with my honest feedback/recipes as I try it out for myself. That being said, my little blog here got me a slap on the wrist and I just want to say one thing...Just because you disagree with someone, doesn't make their opinion wrong. I'll admit I can be a very "judge the book by the cover" type of person and after forming my snap judgements I have a tendency to not change them. This time around I was on the receiving end of the judgement and it wasn't awesome! I heard a quote that says, "when you disagree with someone - don't dismiss them. Dialogue with them." If you don't agree with something someone is doing, but aren't willing to listen to, or take into consideration their point of view, then you might want to check it and respeck it. Word.  

Day Four - One day left! I'm still day dreaming about baked ziti and am planning on making a gluten free batch of it as soon as I can! I cheated today and had some peanut butter during my commute. YUM. Breakfast smoothie was a repeat but lunch was a newbie and a keeper for sure! It basically tasted like drinking pumpkin pie, which of course is awesome! It helped cheer me up while I tried...for the third time this week...to figure out why my work computer hates me...blue screen of death! This smoothie was 3/4 cup almond milk, 1 banana, 1/2 cup pumpkin puree, 1/2 pear, 1/2 cup ice and some pumpkin pie spice. Also, I have been adding protein and chia seeds to all my shakes this week because they are delicious and awesome.  

So here I am, four days in and I have to say that I don't feel any different, I'm just tired and hANGRY. I've been hangry before, don't you dare make me miss a meal or you won't like to be around me. But, this is a whole new level of hangry that I didn't know existed. I'm not really hungry but I want to ear and chew and the lack of eating and chewing is making me a very unpleasant person to be around! I am excited for this to be over and I don't think I will ever do it again. But the fact that I found some awesome and didn't have to cook this week makes it all worth it! Stay tuned for the final chapter! 

Smoothie Cleanse: Day Two

Well, I fell asleep last night thinking about baked ziti and at 5:30 when I woke up not only was I hungry but it still sounded delicious. I'm glad my office has a vitamix there so I can just eat breakfast at work.

8:00AM - Sneaky Spinach Smoothie
FINALLY breakfast time! This recipe was my favorite so far (until dinner). Around 10:30 I was definitely hungry and even more so at noon when everyone was heating up/bring in their lunches. It's hard to be excited about your fifth smoothie in the past 32 hours when everyone else is eating pizza, greek food, sandwiches, and macaroons!

1:00PM - The Sunshine Smoothie
When I was preparing my lunches for the week, this is one that I wasn't very excited about. I am not the biggest fan of pineapple but this ended up being really good and I won't mind having it for breakfast again on Thursday. By the time lunch came around I was ready to crash. I figured I would do lunch at one o'clock so it was in the middle of my day and I would be able to make it home before gnawing off my arm!

7:15PM - Chocolate Avocado Goddess
By the time I got to crossfit at 6 I was...hANGRY! I hardly had time to even scratch the surface of everything I had to do at work, I hate leaving things until the next day, and the smoothie I had at lunch was not doing me any good five hours later. I'm calling BS on all those people blogging about how satisfied they were drinking only smoothies. It's all lies! It's a good thing I am blogging about this and I have the accountability or I would probably be elbo deep in a vat of...peanut butter...steak...pancakes...anything I don't have to drink through a straw! Crossfit is awesome. By the time I left I was feeling better and excited to have smoothie number three for the day. This smoothie BLEW MY MIND. Seriously the best thing I have ever tasted. It was like puddingfrostingcakeheavenlove. Please for your own sake, make this smoothie. Two days down and three to go. I've got this!

Day One

Happy Monday!

7:30AM - Chocolate Morning Wake-Up
Deeeeeelicious! It pretty much tasted like a chocolate milkshake. I'm not a fan of chocolate so I didn't use much cocoa power. You could definitely add more if you wanted. I felt full/freezing afterwards and the day was off to a good start. Around 10:30 I started to feel hungry but I think it is because that is when I usually have a snack. Luckily I had meeting to distract myself and before I knew it lunch was here.

      

1:00PM - Blueberry Protein Power Shake
I wish this photo could show off all of the purple goodness. I made too much and ended up sharing with a co-worker whose response to the shake was...too many four letter words to put in a post my mom might read! Shake number two is a winner! When I left work after four I was planning on going to crossfit but by the time I got home at five I was way too hungry! Looks like it might be a week of yoga.

6:00PM - The Green Sunshine
Final smoothie of the day. Four more days to go! I didn't think I would end up craving any foods since I don't eat wheat, oats, or much dairy to begin with. But I am definitely craving something to chew! As much as I love smoothies, this might be harder than I thought...

Five Day Smoothie Detox

Yay my vitamix blender is finally here! 

Do you ever feel like you need to hit the reset button for your body? I DO! Over Christmas vacation, after one gluten-free gingerbread cookie too many, I started searching for the reset. I started doing my research on smoothie cleanses and found that most people (after the initial crappy feeling of detoxing) ended up feeling great at the end. Overall they claimed to have more energy, no food cravings, better skin, and what I'm hoping for...better sleep! It has been over a year since I have had a good nights sleep and while I don't think five days of drinking smoothies will fix all my problems, I don't think it will make them any worse.

After the initial research I conducted to make sure I wasn't going to die, I started to look for blogs of other people who had participated in a smoothie detox. I wanted to hear from people on how they felt, if they were hungry, if it effected their performance at work etc. Maybe I was looking in all the wrong places but it seemed like every blog I came across was that of an unemployed hippie that would sleep until noon before picking all of their fresh fruit and veggies from their garden and spending the rest of the afternoon painting and meditating on how hungry they weren't. That sounds like a blast, but my day looks a little more like waking up at 5:30, a day full of meetings, crossfit, and dragging my butt to bed. 

This is the plan I decided to follow/steal recipes from, minus the dinners. Go big or go home, three smoothies a day baby!

So, all that being said, this will be a post of a five day smoothie cleanse from an active, working individuals point of view. Here we go!

Cross-Country Car Ride

It's been two weeks (and one day) since we started our journey across the country. We took four days to drive from Syracuse, NY to San Diego, CA. It was an incredibly fun...long...amazing...never-ending...memorable experience.

Our journey started on May 26th at 6am in Syracuse, NY. After packing our teeny tiny little Civic SI floor to ceiling we were ready to go. Our first stop was in Erie, PA where we met Dan's family to say goodbye as they were traveling home from Myrtle Beach.

Day one: we drove through Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and after 12.5 hours of driving, Indie 500 traffic, and the roughest roads Indiana had to offer we ended up in Illinois. Dan has a college friend who lives in Illinois and was more then generous in allowing us to stay with him and his wife for the night. Photos from day one as follows:

Day two: May 27th we started another 12.5 hour journey. From Illinois to Missouri to Oklahoma and ending in Dallas TX. Lets see how to describe Missouri...MISSSSSERABLEEEE. If felt like it took days to drive through it...but then again so did OK. This second day of driving was brutal and by the time we got to Dallas we never wanted to get back in a car ever again! We stayed at my sister Stacy's condo in Dallas and LOVED it. Cutest neighborhood ever. Tons of little shops and restaurants all walking distance.

Day three: May 28th we contemplated staying an extra day in Texas but decided we should just keeping driving...neither of us were looking forward to the 13.5 hour drive from Texas to New Mexico to Arizona. Driving through Texas was pretty neat...for the first few hours...then we got to New Mexico and then back into Texas and then into New Mexico again and FINALLY Tucson, AZ!

New Mexico

Stopped for a little desert SUN

You can see for MILES!

Day four: May 29th we finally made it to CALIFORNIA! I have been dreaming of California since I was a kid. I don't know what it was but I just felt like California was where I needed to be. I don't know how long we will be here, maybe a year, maybe forever. This is such an incredible adventure and I am so happy that I get to have it with my best friend <3 

Bye Bye New York

We have made it safely to San Diego, CA! But, before you hear anything about that you have to hear all about our last days in NY...

Our last few days in Syracuse were filled with packing and goodbyes (which BOTH suck). I got to spend lots of time hugging and kissing my two little nieces who I miss more than anything already. Elise was very confused as to why everyone was crying before Dan and I left and kept telling us that, "everything is okay" and that, "we will see Bee next week." When I asked her if she would miss me she replied, "no, I am a big girl." I LOVE HER! All of our family and friends have been so supportive and encouraging and we are going to miss everyone...just not NY ;)

Do these kids have killer eyes or what?!

Nothing makes me happier than the smile on this kids face!!! She was having so much fun towing "Uncle Dan" around!

My big happy family <3