Cleanse Done!

Yes, I finished on Thursday at the end of the day...so Friday was my first day back to "real food" (ironic?) after 3 days of smoothies.  I was pretty nervous to eat at first and ended up starting the day with green tea and then the breakfast smoothie.  I did finally treat myself to a (decaf!) coffee with a  little half n half and then some avocado toast at a favorite local coffee spot.  HowEVER, the toast was not that great AT ALL so I ended up scraping the topping off and ditching the bread.  The topping consisted of avocado, feta, and some cherry tomatoes...all very yummy!  The coffee was pretty tasty, too, and, although I've found I really don't NEED caffeine like I thought I did (I was actually only drinking half-caff and only one cup for the most part pre-cleanse so it wasn't TOO much in the first place).  I'm going to try to just get decaf when I get coffees.  We'll see if I start making decaf here at home (I actually put my coffee pot in the garage during one of my mid-cleanse-rampage-cleaning-sessions when I wanted the counters to look less cluttered) or maybe I'll continue with the green tea and lemon in the mornings.  Maybe I could get used to that??

Avo Toast (and side salad)

The first meal back after 3 days on the dark side 

(or was it light side?)

Okay, enough about the cleanse.  So far, now that we are at Saturday night and I've had 2 full days NOT being on the cleanse, I'm still feeling really good, I have a lot less desire for snacking and I've had smoothies for breakfast both days.  Planning/hoping to stick with the good habits and continuing to be mindful of what goes into my mouth! Okay, enough about the cleanse.  Really this time!

Today: 

Chloë the super-star at basketball 

(YMCA co-ed age 6 & 7 year old team)

She scored 10 points today!  5 baskets!

Cheering Squad on the sidelines!

We are guinea-pig sitting this weekend!

For the school pets at Eli & Owen's preschool.

Chloë & Ella want to hold these guys NON-stop!

Tomorrow Myke's parents arrive back into San Diego after 2 months back at their east coast house in PA.  We're excited to have them back and even more excited that they're bringing Gram (or "GG"), Myke's grandmother, with them for a 2 week visit!  So special that the kids will get to spend time with their great-grandmother.  

Is the time change really happening tonight?!

  

Is Easter really only 2 weeks away!?  

Can we SLOW things DOWN people??!!  Where is the time going?

Day 3 Almost Done

I had intended to blog each day during this cleanse...and I guess, in the end, I only missed yesterday, so only one day... but, to be honest, it's 9:20pm right now and my body & brain are shutting down.  I'm TIRED.  I'm not sure it's necessarily due to the cleanse itself, but I do think it has something to do with it.  When I get tired at night...I'm suddenly TIRED.  Past the point.  Can barely move one more limb.  I'm getting there right now but am forcing myself to at least post a few pics and write a few words.  Overall, I have felt GREAT!  Really!!  The smoothies are pretty good.  I never got light-headed or felt famished.  When I would get hungry it was time for my next smoothie and that would do the trick...and I'd feel great again.  I was a little sluggish at times for sure, usually a 1-2 hours after the previous smoothie.  However, I was so busy (as usual) and I truly believe that helped keep me distracted enough to endure a 3 day cleanse in the first place.  I initially had thought my busy life would make the cleanse hard (no time to prep the veggies, no time for feeling sluggish when I have so much I need to be doing, places I need to go, etc) but actually it was for the better.  Distraction kept me from having too much time to THINK about food.  Though I did think about a breakfast burrito on more than one occasion, which, interestingly enough, I very rarely actually eat.  I never craved anything sweet the entire 3 days, but I did think about salty/savory here and there but usually for fleeting seconds.  Nothing enough to lure me to the dark side and quit.  After all,  three days is just three days.  So, overall, I'd say this was a good cleanse.  No coffee, no artificial sweeteners, no dairy, no gluten and simple carbs...only whole foods and healthy fats.  

One weird side-effect I noticed was that I wanted to constantly be cleaning and organizing...but at the same time my brain was a bit off and I couldn't stay focused long enough to finish one project at time.  I'm like this ANYWAYS as a default...BUT it was definitely exaggerated during the cleanse.  Here are some photos below form yesterday and the crazy messy state the house was in.  I was "cleaning out" the cabinets and drawers.  I'd go to put something back and then end up emptying the entire area, cleaning it out and rearranging it.  So for a good part of the day there was STUFF on almost all counter tops downstairs.  

Day 2 Pics:

Green Machine!

Day 3: 

breakfast on the run

Lunch poolside at a friend's house

AND, just to have a non-cleanse item in this post:

Chloë & Owen on their first day of joint-skateboarding lessons at the YMCA

Owen picked the same deck as his big sis :)

Day One: Complete!

Myke blending my first smoothie

I'm still alive!  Day one was nowhere near as bad as I was expecting.  What was I expecting?  Well, to be honest, I was expecting light-headedness, headache, starvation, irritability.  I experienced none of that.  Maybe that's more second-day symptoms.  Time will tell!  

I followed the plan to a T.  The smoothies were not too bad (breakfast was best).  I felt pretty good all day...tired now, but it's 10:30pm and past my bedtime, so I don't blame the cleanse for that.  Just wanted to post a quick review of Day One before I nod off.  

I'll attempt to update more tomorrow...

Morning green tea with lemon

Lunch: before blending

Lunch: after blending

March Cleanse

AGHH!  Did I really skip the entire MONTH of February on this blog?

So much for my New Year's Resolution.

 Doh!

Oh well, moving on.  February was SUPER busy with a birthday celebration happening basically EVERY weekend of the month.  Ella turned 3, Myke turned 37, Kyla turned 9, and Chloë turned 7.   Plus we had two aunts, an uncle and cousin all come into town.  So busy busy busy...that's what we were.  Such a fun month though...if not exhausting at the same time!

Group shot- Christine, Ken (my mom's brother) & Tina (my cousin)

with the kiddos

My handsome hubby on his birthday 

So, I wanted to post here today for one reason: to hold myself accountable in some for or another...because TOMORROW I'm starting a THREE DAY CLEANSE!!  My very first detoxing/rejuvenating/re-engergizing (whatever the reason a person does a cleanse) cleanse! I'm just tired of yo-yoing up and down within the same 5 lbs and I need something to give me a clean slate to continue/re-start eating healthier.  Plus, I've always been curious about cleanses.  I first checked out local juice bars that offer cleanses...but it's insane how pricy they can be!  Plus, I don't have the time to go pick-up my juices every morning.  I'm not sure I have the time to make them myself, either, but we'll see!  I went to Sprouts (grocery store) today and picked up all that I need.  Here are some of the items:

Some of the cleanse ingredients

'

Here was my final real meal for the next few days: cheese enchilada and Mexican rice..and a spinach salad with Olive Garden dressing...yummy!   And wine.  Indulging 'til the bitter end! 

(it might not look like much...but I totally had seconds)

I'm terrified of being light-headed, having NO energy, having a pounding headache, STARVING etc...None of those are fun on their own, and they are ESPECIALLY not fun when you have to deal with 4 kids while experiencing any, if not all, of them!  

So we'll see how it goes.  I"ll report back tomorrow!  Adios!