Day 17--First Bad Day in a Long Time

For some reason, my computer can't find my SD card, so pictures can't be uploaded. They will be uploaded as soon as possible..

MORNING
I woke up this morning about 10 seconds before my alarm sounded. I was WIDE awake, even though I feel like I didn't get much sleep. I can honestly say that my body is starting to function better now on less sleep than it did before. It would be interesting to have another sleep study to see if my sleep apnea has... reduced. Is that the right word? Hmm..

I weighed myself this morning. Down a pound since yesterday. I'm .6 of a pound away from losing 10 pounds in this process.

BREAKFAST
Breakfast was a lovely bowl of fresh fruit while sitting at my desk at work. I have become a MASTER of SAFELY dripping my Oxygenize into my water bottle while driving so I could take my supplements in the car early enough to eat as soon as I get into work. I was disappointed, though, because the cantaloupe seemed to have gone bad. That or it was so overripe that the flavor and texture were just off. I ended up eating only about 2 cups of fruit. I'm used to eating closer to 3 cups of fruit. I was really nervous about getting hungry during the day.

LUNCH
I had been really good about drinking my water up until lunch. I was really looking forward to dinner because it smelled SO GOOD when I mixed it up last night.

Meal 50 of 63:

Moroccan carrot salad

microgreen salad

However....it was a letdown. It could have been really good if I left out the optional cayenne pepper from the recipe. Yet since I wanted to stick to the plan as closely as possible, I wanted to add it. It was a huge mistake. So, I ate around it and only ate the MAYBE 2 cups of mixed baby greens. I didn't add anything else (cucumbers, tomatos, seeds, etc) because I thought it might clash with the carrots. It is a good thing that I had the foresight to include 1/4 an avocado. So lunch consisted of 2 cups baby greens and 1/4 an avocado. After a smaller breakfast and a small lunch, I was now even more nervous about getting hungry...

DINNER
I got home around 4:15 or so. I actually remembered to drink my Alkalinize at 3:00 like I normally do, so I didn't feel thrown off--not like yesterday.

Meal 51 of 63:

roasted delicata butternut squash

steamed lemon green beans

I couldn't get behind the squash. I liked it, but it was bland. I'm not a fan of the aminos, and I added it anyway. When will I learn? The thing is the aminos CAN be good in some dishes, but not all of them. I ended up eating twice the serving of green beans instead. Again, a letdown, and again, I'm left nervous about hunger.

I still have about 28 oz of water to drink for this gallon. Hopefully it will keep me satisfied the rest of the day.

Only 4 days left! I can't believe how fast this has gone by...

Day 15--Going Strong!

MORNING
I woke up bright and early at 5:00 am so I could get out to work for tutoring. I woke up before my alarm went off because my entire left arm from my finger tips to mid forearm was completely asleep and HURT. Waking up was easy. Well...besides the arm that hurt so badly that it was difficult to move..

BREAKFAST
As per usual, I had a wonderful bowl of fresh fruit. I ate it while I sat at my desk at work looking at all my packed boxes that need to be unpacked before September. Too daunting to deal with.

LUNCH
This salad today was MASSIVE!

Meal 44 of 63:

Asian cabbage salad

This picture doesn't do it justice. This salad's base was a full HALF of a Napa cabbage. It doesn't even include all the added veggies that went on top. It was a lovely combination of flavors, but the recipe definitely called for WAY too much dressing. It didn't bother me at first, but as I got to the bottom of the bowl, the flavor was just overwhelming, and I just couldn't handle it anymore. If I were to do anything differently beyond cutting out some of the dressing, I would add some almond slivers. I know cabbage itself is very crunchy, but there's something about nuts.

DINNER
How can I put it..... AMAZING. Oh my goodness, I could eat this everyday.

Meal 45 of 63:

baked sweet potato

garlic veggies

I could eat a sweet potato every day for every meal. I LOVE them. Since I was maybe 5 years old, it has always been my favorite food. (That and lima beans. Weird, I know.) For Easter, Christmas, Thanksgiving, etc., I could literally eat JUST sweet potatoes and be perfectly happy. The veggies were wonderful, too. Mom and I have learned over the last two weeks and decided to drizzle far less fresh lemon juice than the recipe called for. In doing such, it was perfect. We added some herbal seasoning to it for some pizzazz, and it was lovely.  But do me a favor and take a look at the plate from another angle:

Look at all those veggies! Sure we doubled the recipe for the two of us. I did ask mom as I was mixing it all how close she stayed to the recipe's measurements, and she said she followed it to a T. How can anyone say they're going to be hungry from just eating vegetables? Sure, I'm drinking a lot of water, but I don't even think I'm near my gallon at this point, and it's 9:20 at night. So good.

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I started my prep for tomorrow. Made my lunch, and set aside my water for tomorrow:

(The green and red bottles combined equal a half gallon (64 oz). The green and blue caps are combined 24 oz for my breakfast and lunch supplements. In the back is the rest of the gallon jug: the water I'll drink upon my return from work tomorrow.)

Normally during the school year, I'm feeling very tired at this point in the evening. Heck, during this summer, I have had nights where I have already been asleep for an hour. I definitely have high energy.

I'm also really seeing some changes in my body. First it was in the way my underwear fit. Then it was my thighs. My sister noticed a change in my face. Then I saw a change in my calves. Next I saw a change in my stomach. Today I noticed a change in my butt and "back fat" as my younger sister calls it. This is definitely the BEST decision I've ever made. Totally loving everything about it.

I will be honest though....I will miss the structure. Two weeks ago would I have said that? Probably not.

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 11--Halfway There!!

A few people who are also doing the reset recommended that I drink more than a gallon of water to help get things moving in the right direction. People have found more success with movement when they drink an additional half gallon of water each day. It's tough enough to drink a full gallon; I don't know how I'll do with drinking an additional 64 oz...

I knew today was going to be a rough day because Brandon and I had scheduled to meet with a DJ for the wedding at noon which is typically when I eat breakfast. Upon waking up, I decided to postpone breakfast for as long as I could to make waiting for lunch a little easier.

BREAKFAST
Surprise!!

Meal 31 of 63:

fresh fruit

LUNCH

Meal 32 of 63:

quinoa-lentil salad

cucumber and tomato salad

Yet another dish that Brandon would eat again. The cucumber salad was a little overwhelming with red onion, but it was still delish....even though my eyes were burning and watering for a good hour, and I didn't even cut them..

DINNER
I wasn't terribly hungry for dinner. I was turned off by the idea of eating the hearty-miso soup...that is until I saw what my mom made. I was already invested in making the sweet potato and roasted red pepper bisque again.

Meal 33 of 63:

sweet potato and roasted red pepper bisque

steamed swiss chard

Brandon helped out this time. I used a different setting on the blender, so it wasn't as smooth. It still had some chunks in it which was great. The flavor of the ginger wasn't as strong this time. However, the hairs of the gingers were EVERYWHERE. That got distracting. Next time, make sure no ginger hairs get into the soup. I used a barley miso as opposed to a sweet rice miso. I don't know if the barley is necessarily reset-friendly, but the shopping list didn't specify a type of miso. I think the miso flavor helped masked the flavor of the ginger.

Here's what mom ate:

Definitely more appetizing than the miso soup from phase 1. Maybe I'll make a serving for lunch tomorrow instead of eating the bisque...again. She also used the barley miso which is why the color of the broth is dark. I barely ate dinner tonight. Hopefully I can manage with just water. The swiss chard was great--less bitter than spinach, but a very similar consistency.

It was a tough day. After lunch sometime, I started getting a bad headache. I don't think it was from the Oxygenize but rather from my neck muscles tensing. I really tried sticking it out, but I had to take something for my headache. At 7:30, it was difficult enough to keep my eyes open from the headache. I knew that I could either sleep which would result in lots of bad stuff for tomorrow, or take medicine to help it immediately. I gave in. My headache has already improved greatly since I took it.

Okay, so we're halfway done. I definitely do feel like my stomach is shrinking. That or I'm just drinking so much water that I don't even notice. Either way, I'm generally feeling good. I have a lot of energy, and the cooking is getting easier. I'm not so stressed about prepping the food anymore--at least not when I'm quadrupling the recipe and doing the math. THAT part is stressful. But when I'm just making for me and mom, it isn't so bad anymore.

Here's to the next 10 days!!

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!