Day 21--And you didn't think I could do it!!

This has been a wonderful day! I feel like I've really accomplished something. Tomorrow I'll take my final measurements to see how I've done. But for now, here's an overview of the day's work:

BREAKFAST
As per usual, I had my wonderful, tasty fruit plate. Super yum.

LUNCH

Meal 62 of 63:

carrot-seaweed medley

microgreen salad

creamy garlic dressing

This was so tasty! I've never had edamame before this experience, and I find it to be super delicious. Of course, since I don't enjoy any flavors that come from the ocean, I modified the recipe a bit and removed the seaweed.

MID-AFTERNOON

HOORAY!!! THE VERY LAST ALKALINIZE BLECH! The final death drink. No more after this. Ick. What a happy day!!! (Like my cup? Circa 1992? Mhmm.. you know how I do.)

DINNER

Meal 63 of 63:

roasted veggies

avocado-cucumber soup

Okay, the roasted vegetables were fabulous. Loved it. The soup sounded yummy, and I even really did enjoy the process of making it. However, this soup is meant to be served chilled. Great in theory, but terrible in practice. I believe I took about 5 spoonfuls of soup before I realized I really couldn't handle it. There wasn't really anything much leftover to eat. I ate all the roasted veggies, waited a half hour, and chugged some water. Brandon I think pretended to like it. He said he'd finish my bowl. I don't see the soup anywhere, so I wonder what actually happened to it...

I'm headed to bed now, just a little hungry, but I'm okay with that. I haven't cheated during this process. I look forward to seeing my final results tomorrow.

Day 20--So close!

MORNING
I felt really great when I woke up this morning. I weighed myself just to see what happened with not really eating yesterday. As of this morning, I am down 13.2 pounds from the start of the reset. I often think about this weight that I'm losing. If I had just gone to the gym and worked hard, would I have ever lost this weight? Granted, it isn't necessarily normal to lose 13 pounds in 20 days (or like some other people who lost between 20-30 pounds in the process). But would this weight have ever come off just by going to the gym? I tend to think it wouldn't have. I think that if had I just worked really hard at the gym, I would have lost weight, sure, but these 13+ pounds would have remained in my system until I finally did something about it.

BREAKFAST
Like always, I had my fruit breakfast this morning.

Meal 58 of 63

LUNCH
I didn't necessarily want to eat this for lunch today because I really just wanted to eat my soup. But since my mom started prepping it and didn't really want it, she gave it to me and I felt obligated to try it out.

Meal 59 of 63:

jicama-avocado salad

I ate this while sitting outside. The bloodwork I got pre-BUR mentioned that I do have a kind of severe Vit-D deficiency. What can I say? I hate going out in the humidity in the summer. Maybe I need to move to San Diego... Anyway, I set up a blanket, my iPhone and a player, and my copy of Catching Fire (to reread), and I sat outside for about 2.5 hours. Hopefully I was able to get my day's worth of Vit-D.

The salad was pretty good. The avocado I used seemed to be a little too ripe for this purpose. It would have been great in guacamole, but maybe not this salad. Next time, I need to make sure the avocado is a little less ripe so that it still maintains its consistency after marinading. The jicama was as yummy as ever. I wasn't overwhelmed by either the cilantro or the lime juice. I found it just right.

DINNER

Meal 60 of 63:

Asian stir-fry

braised Swiss chard

This dinner was lovely. The ginger was subtle, but strong enough to give a great kick to the flavor. I don't often like using the Aminos in my food, but it was totally appropriate here. The carrots and broccoli were my favorite because they kept all the flavor, but I loved the bok choy for the crunch. It is definitely added to the awesome column.

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So there's only one day left. In preparation, mom and I established the lunch and dinner menus for the next week. We are sticking to the plan the way it's meant to be. During the first week post-reset, we are to continue eating the foods from this week while we slowly reintroduce some of grains back into our diet. We decided that Wednesday and Friday we will reintroduce quinoa and brown rice. After that, we are supposed to start introducing legumes back into our diet. We will be doing this Sunday and Tuesday. During this process, we are supposed to really listen to our bodies to determine how we are reacting to the new foods. If our body reacts badly to it (bloating, stomach ache, etc), we need to be able to identify it and consider removing it from our diet completely.

Mom reflected that she's excited to have yogurt and oatmeal again. I was honest with her and said that I don't intend to reintroduce dairy, and in fact, I don't plan on reintroducing meat products. I like the way I feel eating vegan. I like who I am. There is plenty I have to learn, and I've already bought a few books to help me process everything. It's a good thing I know vegans who can help me with the process. I'm just so very grateful for this program because it showed me exactly what I need and don't need in my diet. I'm excited for my journey ahead. Mom ackowledged for herself, too, that she doesn't need meat. She's actually grown accustomed to eating vegan.

Here's to the last day!

Day 18--IKEA food? Nahh.. I've got my greens.

This has been a tough day. In talking with Brandon recently, we decided that we wanted to make a trip out to IKEA. I needed to buy a bookcase for work that actually fit my standards, and I knew that IKEA would have what I wanted. We had been planning this trip for about a week. I knew this would be a bit problematic for me, but the day went pretty well.

MORNING
I ate my regular fruit bowl and enjoyed it, naturally. I put it off until a little later in the morning to give me the ability to eat lunch a little later and not be starving.

LUNCH
I had to pack my lunch and bring it with me to IKEA. I packed my Vera Bradley bag and stuffed it with my lunchbag, a half gallon of water, and my supplements. Try lugging that around the building.

Meal 52 of 63:

jicama, cucumber, and tomato on spinach greens

I will say it was challenging to watch Brandon and my friend Michele eat the IKEA food, but I enjoyed eating my salad. Michele keeps making comments like, "I don't know how you're eating like a rabbit and surviving." The funny thing is although I know I'm only eating fruit and vegetables, I don't feel like I'm eating like a rabbit. I feel satisfied. I feel good. I have a great amount of energy.

And let me just say that I love jicama (pronounced hic-ama).

Because I ate lunch so late, I didn't even get to drink my Alkalinize until about 4:00 after we got back from IKEA. I threw me off for an entire hour.

DINNER
On our way home, we stopped by the market to find fennel for dinner, but we had no luck. Instead, we substituted a bit.

Meal 53 of 63:

roasted fennel baked sweet potato 

lemony broccoli and asparagus

I can't get enough of it. So yummy.

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This day has been tough. We ended up putting our 18 year old cat down today. It was really difficult for mom and Stephanie. Stephanie has such a sweet soul, and she can be emotionally affected by anything and everything. Stephanie loves everyone and everything. Death isn't easy for her to process which is understandable because she was only 8 when our father passed away. I've seen Sashie fading away for a couple months, but her condition worsened significantly within the last week or so. I've had the time to process Sashie leaving us, so Saturday wasn't so challenging for me to go through. It was extremely difficult to watch Sashie try and walk or even simply lay down. I spent my morning today helping her eat and drink. she drank her water, but she couldn't even hold herself up. She was no longer eating her food, but she chose to simply lick it. She always loved going outside, so we had her stay outside this morning as long as possible. She was ready to give up--laying beneath the stairs, hiding underneath the fireplace...She was ready to go. It has just been an extremely difficult day. Goodbye, Sashie girl.

Here's to tomorrow.

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 12--Lessons Learned

MORNING
I weighed myself this morning, and I'm down 8.2 pounds. I've made the executive decision to try to drink 1.5 gallons of water a day. We'll see how I do...

BREAKFAST
Can you guess??

Meal 34 of 63:

fresh fruit

So going on people's advice, I opted to have some "p" fruits today--plums and peaches. I added them to my regular cantaloupe, blueberries, and strawberries. The peach and plum were delicious. I really enjoy eating fruit in the morning. Have I said that yet? As mom and I ate, I explained to her the purpose of the fruit. According to the DVD, since we don't eat food for roughly 12 hours between dinner and breakfast, the body needs something easy to digest as the body wakes up. Fruit is an easy food for the body to digest. In one meal, I'm eating all my daily servings of fruit. It is surprising how easy it is to survive until lunch. Maybe it has something to do with my water intake, but I'm not often hungry for lunch after eating the fruit. Maybe it's the water...maybe it's my stomach shrinking. Either way, I'm satisfied.

LUNCH
As I said yesterday, I wanted to try out the miso soup...

Meal 35 of 63:

hearty vegetable-miso soup

microgreen salad with creamy garlic dressing (my fave)

The prep work for this soup wasn't so bad. I actually preferred the prep for this soup over the prep for the sweet potato soup. The only down side is that it does take a long time to cook because the vegetables have to become tender. It's the first time I've worked with bok choy which I already knew I enjoyed. One nice thing about this system is that it forces you to interact with vegetables that you may not be accustomed to eating or using. I don't hate ginger as much as I used to since I've learned how to handle it better.

I couldn't eat my salad. I was full enough from the soup. I did, however, take a couple bites of tomato since they are from homegrown plants courtesy of my chiropractor from Earth Day. Yayy!

DINNER
I was really excited for this meal since eating the root medley during the first week.

Meal 36 of 63:

Mediterranean roast beets

collard greens

quinoa

So yummy! I've had collard greens before but never this way. We added coconut milk to it to give it a creamy texture. It was so yummy! It has a slightly bitter taste as the end. Apparently it's similar to brussel sprouts (which I don't eat--yuck). The flavors of this dinner were very good but very overwhelming. In the end, I was only able to eat about half of the beets, quinoa, and collard greens. Stephanie was more than happy to help Brandon finish the plate.

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Mom asked me what I've learned through this process (besides eating cleaning). Here are some responses:

• measurement conversions (ie, 3 tsp. = 1 Tbsp.)
• HOW to cook as I am not the most stellar chef there is
• various recipes to incorporate into daily life
• new vegetables (ie, jicama, swiss chard, kale, bok choy, etc.)
• multitasking in the kitchen
• reading recipes more efficiently
• portion control--you don't need to eat as much as you think
• when hungry, drink water FIRST--then wait a half hour to decide
• water is your friend
• steaming vegetables should only take 3-5 mins--NO MORE
• never use the microwave to reheat food because it kills all the good vitamins and nutrients
• I CAN survive without meat.

I'm sure I had more, but my memory is failing me. The excitement of True Blood and The Newsroom are distracting me.

Until tomorrow! Oh, and I only have to take Detox 6 more times! Alkalinize is only 9 more times! Current water consumption = 144 oz (1 gal = 128 oz), and I'm not done yet. Hip hip!!

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 4--Hallelujah!

MORNING --7:10 am
Thankfully my headache faded away during the night. I still had 32 oz of water to drink of my gallon which were left unconsumed by the time I woke up. I fell asleep on the couch while trying to watch Mary Poppins overtake Lord Voldemort, but that was unsuccessful. Since I woke up a half hour ago, I've consumed 20 oz of the 32 oz. I don't want to start a new gallon until I finish the previous.

My body was aching when I woke up. THAT I know is from the cleanse as we have to limit our physical activity. My legs, calves, and arms all achy.

Okay 32 oz done. Now time for another 12 oz, supplements, and breakfast.

BREAKFAST -- 8:29 am
I drank my 12 oz of water and put the Mineralize and Oxygenize in it, but I forgot to take my Optimize. The videos said it's no big deal, but I do need to take them later. They recommend splitting them up and taking 3 Optimize with lunch and 3 with dinner. That will be my plan. So prior to eating, not so hungry, but I was really looking forward to it! It was definitely a big improvement over the meals yesterday.

Meal 10 of 63:

2 cups fresh fruit

1/2 cup plain FF yogurt sweetened with Grade B maple syrup

1 slice multi-grain toast

So good. I love fruit. I am a little nervous, however, because I've never just had fruit for breakfast. Well..I guess that's not entirely true. I've had fruit with yogurt and granola, so this isn't completely foreign. I am nervous about possible hunger in a short time, but we'll see. I can foresee that this will be a plenty of water kind of day!

I'll also be testing myself today. Brandon and I will be driving out to get his license plates for his new car. It gives me a bit of anxiety because since I've started this, I haven't been more than 10 minutes away from the house where I could easily access everything I needed. This will help me prepare for tutoring next week.

LUNCH--12:45 pm
I was actually getting hungry for lunch. By 11:15 this morning, my stomach started growling. Soon after (and 20 oz of water later), I had another serving of black beans and rice with salsa and some cucumber salad from last night. Very satisfying.

DINNER--8:00 pm
Dinner was lovely tonight! I am a little nervous about getting hungry again...

Meal 12 of 63:

quinoa

stir-fry vegetables

cucumber and tomato salad

As you see, there is no meat or soy protein here. That's the lovely thing about quinoa. It's a grain, but it's very high in protein. I finished eating over an hour ago (first time since we started that we ate at a "normal" hour for dinner), and I'm stating to feel a little hungry. I know this means I just need to drink more water, but it's so tough when my younger sister is in the kitchen making popcorn on the stove.

I feel good today. Body aches were limited to this morning. I haven't had a headache since I went to bed last night. Food prep didn't take too long (this may be due to the fact that there was no marinating involved...). I'm feeling happy today. I'm more energetic than I have been. It certainly is night and day when comparing yesterday and today. Many people on the facebook pages say that Days 1-3 were tough and foggy for them, but starting Day 4 they saw a difference. I can certainly say the same thing. I hope this stays...