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 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 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 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 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 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 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!!