Day 16--Back to Business

Today gave me the first glimpse into how I could handle this process while working. I had training for a pilot program I am doing that lasted from 8:00-3:00. I had everything all ready and prepared last night before I went to bed:

I drank all the bottled water by 4:00 this afternoon. All I had left for the evening was the 40 oz. left in the gallon jug. I had to pee so many times today! It's tough being back in the school and not being able to use the bathroom anytime it's necessary. I had to wait until we had a break...ugh!

MORNING
I woke up pretty well--especially for not getting bed until about 10:30. I weighed myself, and I continue to drop. By the time I walked out the door, I felt like I was so well-prepared for the day. However, I couldn't help but think I forgot something...

BREAKFAST
I enjoyed my breakfast sitting at my desk again. Can you guess what breakfast consisted of? Yes, fresh fruit. I didn't pack enough. I realize that as soon as I took a bite of the first peach slice. I knew early this morning that today would be a hungry day.

LUNCH
I wasn't very hungry for lunch. I actually finished the entire green water bottle by the time I needed to take my supplement (11:30). I had a basic microgreen salad with 1 tablespoon of creamy garlic dressing.

MID-AFTERNOON
I had every intention of bringing my Alkalinize with my and taking it as soon as training was over. However, I realized at 3:00 that I remembered EVERYTHING except the green death drink. I didn't take it until 4:00 which meant that dinner would be pushed back another hour. I was hungry this afternoon--not hungry enough for a snack, but hungry. The Alkalinize subdued my hunger enough to help me get through dinner prep.

DINNER
This was the only meal I was nervous about while looking through the week's menu.

Meal 46 of 63:

curry cauliflower

lemon pepper kale

I wasn't sure how I would feel about this meal because I've never really experienced curry. I've heard such mixed reactions about it that I wasn't sure if I would enjoy it. I knew my mom doesn't like curry, but while I was preparing it, I used a little less curry than necessary. However, I was so pleasantly surprised by how much I really enjoyed this! I would absolutely make it again.

I am still hungry. This is definitely a hungry day. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. Fingers are crossed for it! I have already finished my gallon of water, but I only got through one gallon.

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Now that I'm no longer taking the Detox, I find myself not having such difficulty using the bathroom. The Detox is meant to help RELEASE the toxins, but it seemed to have the reverse effect on me. Now that I'm no longer taking the detox, my BMs are coming back to normal like during Phase 1. I am grateful for that. I was really beginning to feel gross.

Day 14--End of Phase 2!

MORNING
Well I believe that drinking the 1.5 gallons of water a day and adding the "p" fruits to my breakfast has helped. I was able to successfully use the bathroom in the morning for the first time since I started Phase 2 a week ago. At least, not with drinking another 20 oz of water beforehand. I'm so glad!

I realized that today was a good day for one reason:

Last day to suffer through Detox. Hooray!!! Now to begin the countdown to the end of Alkalinize...but let's not get ahead of ourselves! We still have 7 days of that...

BREAKFAST
While preparing breakfast this morning, I was giddy. Really giddy. I couldn't wait to sit down and eat my breakfast! I haven't gotten this giddy feeling for breakfast in the last 2 weeks. Sure, I've been excited for some meals, but not like this. I definitely made note of that today.

Meal 40 of 63:

fresh fruit

Like I said.....YUMMY!! Who gets excited about fruit? THIS GAL! I never would have said that 3 weeks ago. Don't get me wrong--I've always loved fruit. Just not like this.

LUNCH

Meal 41 of 63:

kabocha butternut squash soup with coconut milk

microgreen salad (with ONLY sunflower seeds and creamy garlic dressing)

I can speak volumes about that soup. I could easily eat 3 times that amount of soup. It was creamy and delicious. The soup had only a slight hint of coconut which was very pleasant. The creaminess of the squash was lovely. It was tough "cooking" it in the blender because it was a bit thick and was tough to get all the squash out from the blender. This is definitely a soup I'll be revisiting again in the near future.


DINNER

Meal 42 of 63:

edamame and roasted corn succotash

lemon pepper kale

The prep for this meal was intense, but very easy. Maybe it was intense because I had a really bad headache, but regardless, it was intense. The total cooking time was MAYBE 30 minutes. However, there were several steps that built on one another. Headache or no, I really managed to keep up with it. Mom certainly helped with all the prep work, but I was definitely driving it. That's kind of how it's been throughout the process: I drive the cooking, mom drives the assisting and cleaning, and we both split the shopping.


In fact, while I was chopping and mincing the cilantro, mom said, "Wow, Kim, you really handle the knife well!" I find that kind of ironic given my history with knives, but it was certainly a compliment. I love working the knife in the kitchen. Watch out, people!!

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Thoughts on this phase? Well, besides the difficulties I've experienced in the bathroom, everything has gone very well. The prepping and cooking have gotten easier, and I actually look forward to cooking. Granted, I don't have to think much about what I'm cooking because the recipes are spelled out for me. That helps a lot.

I will admit that I'm really doing just fine without the meat. I do acknowledge, however, that I have had a craving for bacon or a burger or something along those lines. I know someone from high school who is vegan, and he said that as my body releases the toxins of the meat from my system, my body naturally has these cravings; they do go away. I can attest to that from when I cut red meat out of my diet 2 years ago. I craved it at first, but then it disgusted me.

I'm really toying with the idea of staying vegan after this is over. I feel cleaner. I feel better. Even when I overeat during a meal (which is NOT often), I don't have that wrenching feeling in my stomach that tells me that I had too much meat and, as a result, will need to lay down on the couch because it hurts too much to sit. When I overeat right now, I just feel my stomach telling me, "Kim, you should have stopped eating 5 minutes ago!" I can still sit comfortably. I'm fine. My energy is high. I'm still sleeping close to the hours that I sleep during the school year, but my days are more energized. Please...I was dancing in the shower this morning to some terrible pop song on Z100. I haven't danced in the shower since I was listening to NSync....about a month ago. Hah.

I mentioned this to my chiropractor today when I saw him, and he was really excited for me. "That's awesome, Kim. Not everyone can do it. I know I need meat. My wife, though, could go days without eating meat. What's great about what you're doing, though, is that you're really testing it out. You're not making this decision based on how you were raised or what people say, but you're listening to your body and making decisions based on what your body can handle." Not verbatim, but pretty darn close. I think he's absolutely right.

We will now be going into the third and final phase of this cleanse. I will still be eating vegan, but all the grains will be cut out from the diet. They will be available as options during certain meals, but I'm going to do my best to stick as closely to the meal plan without using the grains.

Fingers crossed!!

Day 13--Easy Cooking

MORNING
I was so thirsty this morning! By the time I went to bed, I drank close to 1.25 gallons of water. I slept super well, though.

BREAKFAST
I've been looking forward to this since last Wednesday--half for the taste and half for creating the picture.

Meal 37 of 63:

mashed chick pea

avocado

cilantro

steamed spinach

I love it. It's so good. Anyone reading this should try this at some point. It's so so yummy! Even my mom who hates cilantro really enjoyed this. I enjoyed "cooking" it. I never really enjoyed cooking before, and I'm really starting to enjoy it. I look forward to it even.. This was done solely through the food processor. It was lovely. I added a hint of Himalayan salt to it during the mashing process and prior to eating it. So yummy! I wish I could eat this again real soon, but alas, I won't be able to. Sad face.

LUNCH

Meal 38 of 63:

Mediterranean roast beets

microgreen salad with ONLY avocado and sunflower seeds

slight hint of fresh lemon juice

It was even better today than it was yesterday. The combination of the beets and the avocado is amazing. I ended up draining all the excess lemon juice because it was completely unnecessary. The hint of lemon from making the beets last night was more than enough. But like I said...the combination of the beets and avocado was fantastic. I will say, though, that having two days worth of beets (and a lot of them) have caused my urine to turn a shade of pink. I didn't realize it at first, but thankfully my fiance can put 2 and 2 together.


DINNER

Meal 39 of 63:

kabochu butternut squash with tahini filling

steamed asparagus

One thing I'm noticing is that as a whole, the amount of prep work that goes into the meals is slowly reducing. This was super easy to prepare. The hardest part was waiting for the squash to cook. I steamed the asparagus perfectly, and they were a beautiful bright green. However, I forgot to take the cover off, so they continued to steam which resulted in mushy asparagus. Boo. Oh well. It happens. The tahini filling was fantastic! Super easy to make, and very rich. I actually diluted it with some distilled water to make it a little thinner. Earlier it was so thick that it wouldn't even move when you tilted the bowl to the side. The tahini filling was so rich, though, that I actually had my sister finish some of the squash for me because I just couldn't make it work. It is a lovely combination, and the flavors just sing.

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I reflected a bit today, and I realized that tomorrow is the last day to drink the detox drink three times a day. I'm looking forward to not having to drink it so much. There are only 8 days left, and I'm hoping to finish out strong. I'm hoping to maintain drinking all this water. My head has been hurting the last few days. Hopefully that doesn't discourage me at all.

I've gone this whole time without snacking--not even any of the approved snacks in the afternoon. I have, however, had very vivid dreams about snacking.

In a recent newsletter update, they said that I might break out a bit from the toxins releasing. Almost on cue, I've broken out with pimples. Not too many, but enough that it's irritating. Hopefully with the continued water consumption and eating well, they will go away soon.

Here's to tomorrow--the last day of Phase 2!

Day 10--Some Good Results

MORNING
I woke up this morning feeling kind of terrible. My stomach was cramping so badly. I've been waiting for this Detox stuff to work. Perhaps it is slowly starting to work, but I wish it would go faster! The stomach cramps are not at all pleasant.

BREAKFAST

Meal 28 of 63

fruit bowl

LUNCH
I struggled with lunch today. When I sat down to eat, I was only a little hungry. Just to give you an idea of how much I was able to eat, I took before and after pictures:

Meal 29 of 63:

Greek salad with Greek dressing

sweet potato and roasted red pepper bisque

Granted, I did feel hungry about 2 hours later, but with the assistance of water, I managed. I was at Alison's house with mom babysitting the nugget will she is visiting a friend in Canada and Don was at work. Alison has a blood pressure reader, so I decided to read my blood pressure to see if anything has changed. I was nervous because of how much salt I drink in my gallon of water each day. I was amazed to see that my blood pressure HAS gone down. I can't recall what my blood pressure was exactly when I got my blood work done. I have it somewhere... It was roughly 126/73 or so. When I took it this afternoon, it was roughly 109/68. My blood pressure was a normal-high-ish before, but now it's better. When I was a senior in high school, it was 100/60, so I'm feeling pretty good about that now. Two years ago, my doctors were telling me I really needed to lower my BP, and here it is lowered. Nice.

DINNER
I was really getting hungry for dinner. Luckily, there wasn't a lot of prep work that went into the meal since several components were already done, such as the quinoa.

Meal 30 of 63:

quinoa-lentil pilaf

steamed broccoli

I was pleasantly surprised with this meal. Given the catastrophic lentil-lime salad last week, I was certainly skeptical.  It was very good though! Even mom was impressed. I did find the flavor to be a little bland, so I added some herbal seasoning and Himalayan salt. That did seem to improve things. This is definitely something I would have again. In fact, we made extra lentils just in case some of the other meals this week are a failure...

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I'm feeling pretty good right now. My energy has clearly improved. Some muscles are still achy once in a while. Except for my right calf muscle. My right calf cramps regularly, and I know that has nothing to do with this since I'm clearly very well hydrated with the gallon of water I drink each day. I'm not going to lie...I'm getting a little anxious. I want to be at the gym. I want to be moving more than I am. It's upsetting that I can't be more physical right now. I did some stretching today, and that seemed to help. 

Mid-way through tomorrow marks the halfway point in the reset. I do have to say that I think I've already been through the easier half. I'm getting very nervous looking at the menu for Phase 3--all fruit and vegetables. Completely gluten-free. Now, on the other hand, I'm looking forward to it because right now, I feel like I'm eating way too many carbs from grains. It's making me feel bloated. Blah. I am grateful, however, that this process is shrinking my stomach. I just wish it would happen faster.

Until Day 11!

Day 9--I've got "K9" written on top of my gallon of water. I've been waiting for it since I started.

Super long title, but whatever.

This day was a long day, and I knew that in advance, so I was able to prepare. Like I mentioned yesterday, I cooked all my food for today yesterday. I spent a good 6 hours in the kitchen. Prepping and cooking. It was worth it, though, to have a day of no cooking. I spent the day out in Hillsborough tutoring, and then went up to visit Michele.

People on the boards have revealed that it could take 2-3 days for the Detox to work it's magic. Oh, if I forgot to mention, this is the RELEASE phase where my body is supposed to release everything it's been holding onto. I'm still waiting for this release to happen. It's supposed to be a gentle release, not a OH-MY-GOSH-I'M-ABOUT-TO-CRAP-MY-PANTS release. We'll see.

MORNING
Waking up this morning was super easy, and that's with not going to bed until 10:45. My alarm went off at 5:00, and I was up, bouncing, and ready to go. This is clearly not because I'm cute, but rather than this cleanse is really helping me sleep. It took me no time to fall asleep last night, and I don't remember waking up once. Nice change.

BREAKFAST
The breakfast in the book for this morning was miso soup which I refuse to eat. So rather than suffer, I decided to eat a different breakfast from this week. This week mostly has fruit in the morning for breakfast, but I didn't want to have fruit. Instead, I took the only other non-miso non-fruit recipe for this week's breakfast and used it for today. I was pleasantly surprised. I ate it at my desk at work while I scribbled some answers to a Romeo and Juliet study guide question packet for tutoring since I've never used the guide and, oh, yeah, all my materials are boxed up for the summer.

Meal 25 of 63:

chick pea mash with avocado and cilantro

spinach

I added a bit of Himalayan salt on top of the chick pea mash before I packed it away. I was DELICIOUS! I could eat that a million times over and over again. The avocado really helped. The recipe called for slices, but who can really slice an avocado nicely without mushing half of it? I put it in the food processor which resulted in a guac-like avocado for my topping. So good. I highly recommend it.

LUNCH
Basic microgreen salad with some pinto beans and rice from last night. Also yummy. I added some more Himalayan salt to the top, and it was divine.

DINNER
This was the most frustrating part of yesterday because it was so time consuming, but the end-product is so darn good!

Meal 27 of 63:

sweet potato and roasted red pepper bisque

roasted asparagus with slivered almonds

This was the second meal that made me want to do this cleanse. If I can eat something as good as this and feel better about myself, why wouldn't I? Like I said yesterday, it's totally vegan and totally good. It does have a strong ginger flavor which I know some people don't like, but I thought it was fabulous. It's amazing how little you have to put into it to make something so good. There were even some small chunks of sweet potato and roasted red pepper. I love it. Yummmm...

Also, this was the first time I roasted my own red peppers. I felt so accomplished! One thing I'm learning is that sometimes I actually CAN cook. I might not actually burn the house down. I am finding that I do sometimes put the wrong quantity of something in the mix. I mean, really, what's the big difference between tsp. and tbsp.?? Unfortunately, it has resulted in unplanned doubling or tripling of recipes to make it work and not throw everything away.

This was a really good day, and a really good day for food.

Day 8--Welcome to Phase 2!

MORNING
I woke up and weighed myself this morning: down a total of 7 pounds. Woot! I'm feeling good. Even my headaches seem to be more manageable. They haven't gone away, but they're not as severe as they could be.

Today marks the start of taking the supplement Detox. Similar to Alkalinize, Detox comes as a powder and must be mixed with water to consume. Overall, it isn't difficult to drink. It takes like a weak unsweetened iced tea. The only downside is that it is somewhat grainy. Some of the mix does not dissolve. Imagine drinking weak unsweetened iced tea in a mug where the tea bag broke and is filled with the tea leaves. Best comparison I can make.

BREAKFAST

Meal 22 of 63:

fresh fruit plate

I love fruit for breakfast. It's simple, easy, and very tasty. On this meal plan, there aren't a lot of sweet foods that we eat, so having the occasional sweet fruit because we're supposed to is nice. I don't really miss other sweets right now. The fruit is taking control of that for me. It was pretty filling.

I ate around 7:00, but I started to get hungry around 11:15. Water should have been my friend, but I forgot to go to the store yesterday to get more distilled water. I've been really bad with my water intake today because of that. Ughhh. I finally got out to the store, but it completely through off my meal prep and eating schedule for the day. I like schedules. I like sticky to them. Today was completely off.

LUNCH
I was so hungry for lunch that I believe I didn't wait the full 30 minutes after taking my supplement. I think I waited just about 20 minutes. My stomach was growling so badly. I didn't start eating until about 12:50--fifty minutes later than I've been used to. Believe it or not but it can really throw you off. Lunch today was a basic microgreen salad.

ALL AFTERNOON
I cooked all afternoon. I've been in the kitchen from about 2:30-7:30. The only time I wasn't cooking was when I took a drive out to the store because I needed green beans, and I didn't like the supply at the first store earlier today. While there, I also grabbed some asparagus for tomorrow and more raspberries.

DINNER
Mmmmm....

Meal 24 of 63:

pinto beans and rice

steamed zucchini

steamed string beans with lemon

I've been looking forward to this meal since I decided to do the reset. This is actually one of the two meals that made me choose to do this cleanse. Alison had me try it about a month ago when she was eating it for lunch. It was so delicious!

I made six servings of this meal. Mom and I need servings for lunch and dinner. I also wanted Brandon and Stephanie to try it. I added some more Himalayan salt to it for a little depth. Mine looks different, though, from the book, DVD, and Alison's recipe. It might be due to the color of some of the ingredients and also the fact that I made so much. I also added some more distilled water to it while mixing it so the meal wasn't dry. I liked it; Brandon liked it. When Brandon likes it, it's a success. He's now proud that I can successfully cook a third meal since I'm not the chef in the relationship. It's lovely. Thanks, honey.

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As of 8:00 this evening, I am officially done cooking for the day. Not only did I cook dinner tonight, but I also cooked ALL my meals for tomorrow. The picture below illustrates all my meals for the day tomorrow. I won't be home all day, so when I leave my house at 6:00 tomorrow morning, I'll be bringing my gallon jug of water, supplements, and all these meals.

I need to make sure I remember a fork and spoon. And some Himalayan salt.

It's been a busy day, but it's been good. I'm sooooooo sore!!!! My legs and back are killing me. I've been standing all day, and I can tell. Mom wasn't here to help with the cooking as she's babysitting my nephew. But mom, I cooked you your serving of the soup for dinner tomorrow if you aren't tired of having it for dinner at Ali's tonight...


Tomorrow I'll reflect on the process of cooking all tomorrow's food. For now, I need to relax a bit.