Cleanse update

I started off the year with a plan to do a full body cleanse for one month (the first month of the year).  The first 4 days went great! And I feel amazing. 

I enjoyed every meal!

~Fruit smoothie for breakfast that included- 1/2 cup blueberries, 1/2 cup strawberries, 1 banana, 2 prunes, water, and powders (maca, Resveratrol, MSM, deer antler and Spirulina), first day with Chlorella.

~Salads for Lunches and Dinners- Lots of different veggies- Lettuce, baby spinach, mushrooms, red, orange and yellow bell peppers, snap peas, cucumber, zucchini, tomato, avocado and lemon juice. 

~Snacks were fruit- basically a grapefruit each day, mango a couple days and orange. 

~Drinks- lemon water, apple cider vinegar water, Ho Shu Wu hot drink

So diet wise I was right on the mark:) However, I got so into starting off the year healthy that I wrote up a schedule for me to follow that included physical activities, such as 15 minutes of rebounding in the morning followed by 10 minutes of yoga and stretches after. Then 10 minutes on the elliptical machine before dinner or lunch, Dr. Oz' 7 day ab workouts that I did all daily, and 15 minutes of Prayanama (yoga deep breathing meditation). Because I included physical activity I got really worn out...in a good way actually. I slept so well! And many hours when permitted (as the cleanse required lots of rest).  But then I realized that I was doing too much physical activity to not have included any protein and healthy fats...as the cleanse requires no physical activity and lots of rest.  

So day 5 (yesterday) I decided that 4 days of a "full body cleanse" was enough, and that I will introduce protein back into my diet so my muscles can health and fuel themselves. I will still follow the cleanse diet, but add in necessary components due to the amount of physical activity I'm giving myself.

I have to say though, 4 days of change in an even healthier direction than my last month resulted in Huge noticeable changes. Apart from every muscle in my body hurting lol, due to the new exercises and yoga, I slept better, gained strength, gained lung capacity, no digestive issues whatsoever (such as heartburn), and even lost a couple pounds. All around I just feel better and couldn't be happier with the start of my year, and now I am motivated once more to include physical activity in my daily routine (in spite of the cold).

Blow are photos I took of my first 4 day meals to share...they are pretty much all the same, but wanted to document them nevertheless:) 

 Breakfast Smoothie 1/1/2012- Blueberries, Strawberries, Banana, 2 dates, powders (listed above) and Chlorella. And of course this was the day my BPA blender died:( So switched to using the magic bullet.

 Lunch Salad 1/1/2012- Ingredients listed above. I also cut up a red onion very small to add about 2 spoons in my salads...by day 3 I threw the rest away...the smell was too powerful!

 Dinner Salad 1/1/2012- Similar to the lunch

 Breakfast Smoothie 1/2/2012- Same as the day before minus the Chlorella. It's 2 colors, top and bottom because I forgot to add the powders ahead of time.

 Lunch 1/2/2012- On this day I slept in until 11:30am so by the time I had breakfast it was lunch time. So I had a fruit for snack/lunch, then had dinner at the regular time.

 Dinner 1/2/2012- Same salad as before, ratios change slightly and switched to a smaller bowl, because I got too full from my dinner salad the day before.

 Breakfast Smoothie 1/3/2012- Same as the one the day before minus the Spirulina. 

 Lunch Salad 1/3/2012- basically the same as others

 Dinner Salad 1/3/2012- Again the same, adding a carrot

 Breakfast Smoothie 1/4/2012- Same as day before, adding back in the Spirulina (Spirulina is a power food, a dark green powder, rich in antioxidants, that boosts energy and cellular health, includes easy-to-digest all-vegetable protein, is a rare food source of the essential fatty acid GLA and high in B-12 and easy-to-absorb iron) so including it daily in my smoothie was a health choice I couldn't pass up).

Lunch Salad 1/4/2012- Pretty much the same as the rest, with added kale chips. A summer favorite that I haven't had in awhile! Basically I just massaged a very small amount of olive oil into the hen dehydrated it at 100 degrees for 3 hours. Unlike before I didn't add any Himalayan salt or spice it up due to being on the cleanse. But it brought a great crunch to my salad.

As of tomorrow I will be adding protein to my diet and upping my physical activity by including the Peak 8 workout by Dr. Mercola, mentioned in a previous blog. I do it on an Elliptical machine. It is basically a 20 minute workout that starts out with 3 minutes of warm up jogging, followed by 8 repetitions of 30 second high intensity running and 90 seconds of cool down jogging. It's incredibly effective for weigh loss and all-around fitness, and doesn't take up much time.