Detox Part 2

The 1st 3-day detox went by quite easily, so I followed it up with another 3-day detox.
A week seemed a good amount of time to cleanse the system, reboot my mind & get me motivated about feeling good for summer.

So a week of no wheat, gluten or dairy, turned out to be fairly manageable despite my love for milk (I have to say I have missed a good cup of tea, but a cup of honey infused Rooibos is still pleasant).

This detox is adapted from The Best of This Life Smoothie Detox & I combined it with some ideas from my previous plan & a bit of Paleo thinking;  and it was a welcome relief to the 1st high vegetable based 3 days. I really appreciated the freshly squeezed orange juice on the 1st morning & the thick yummy banana based smoothies. Which is great. You learn to appreciate & relish good, natural food rather than looking for treats in the form of processed, stodgy take-aways & fatty/carb-heavy snacks.

Here it is :

* Wake Up Water
- I'm continuing the practice of having lemon & ginger water 1st thing in the morning, based on the previous detox plan

* Decaf Green Tea (with lemon)

* Breakfast Super Juice

- 1 deliciously juicy orange freshly squeezed along with 1 apple, a few kale (or spinach) leaves, ginger &  lemon

* Smoothie mid-morning snack
These 3 combo's I tried are fantastic & filling

Blueberry crush

Strawberry Coconut Blitz

- 1 banana, 1 cup of Almond milk, 4 dates (+3 Tbsp coconut milk yoghurt & 1/2 Tsp vanilla extract optional    I didn't have)
- 2 bananas, cup of frozen blueberries, 2 cups of Almond milk, 1 Tbsp Chia seeds, 1 Tsp raw honey
- 1 banana, 200ml coconut water, 1 date, strawberries & handful of kale

* Sushi Salad Lunch (or green salad)

* Afternoon snack
- 2 brown rice crackers with almond butter
or
- handful of nuts

* Dinner
Roasted Butternut Curry Soup ♥

- Stir 2 Tbsp coconut/olive oil with 1 Tbsp curry powder in a big bowl. Mix a diced butternut, chopped onion & clove of garlic in, spread on to a baking sheet & bake for 20 mins @ 250 degrees. Then heat the cooked veg with 1 Tbsp fresh ginger, 3 cups of chicken/veg stock & 1 can coconut milk/cream, simmering for 2-25mins. Blend, add coriander & enjoy!
or
Roast Butternut/courgettes/squash, onion, drizzled with 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil for 45 mins @ 200 degrees. Spread the cooked veg with 1/2 cup blitzed, kalamata olives.

I was surprised how easy both detox's were, and how with a bit of preparation you can skip dairy, meat & wheat without even noticing.

I think I'll do these quite regularly to just keep a check on my nibbling habits!
x

Detox Week!

Following my 30 day challenge, I felt like I needed to check my diet too.

It's almost summer & I'm going to have to expose these shy dry legs & wear summery clothes verrrry soon. 

It feels right to carb up & eat comfort food whilst you're wrapped up in your onsie under a blankie in front of the fire in winter, but as soon as that sun comes out to play, it's time to feel fresh, light & energised.

And I'm so pleased I decided to do a detox (or 2...).
It's amazing how it helps alter your mind set & bring awareness to what we are eating  - rather than just shoving everything in sight down!

I have a terrible 'gowwan then' habit when it comes to yummy things. Whether it's birthday cup cakes at the office (there's 100 people, so it happens often), someones leftover weekend baking delights, a handful of raisins here, a leftover fish finger & chunk of cheese there, I'm often not fully aware of how many extra nibbles I'm consuming in the day.
I believe I eat quite healthily, and I do, but I probably eat too much & have too many 'extras' through the day.

So just like the 30 day Exercise challenge helped me conquer my fear of exercise & make it an every day norm rather than something to dread, this detox has helped make me more conscious of what & how much I am eating.

I have to say, when I list the food used to make up the meal over the 3 days,  it seems really measly, but surprisingly, I haven't been hungry once & quite the opposite, have felt full most of the time. The combination of food obviously works.

And the best thing is, the food is all readily available & affordable. I wanted to feel cleansed & refreshed without spending a fortune on special powders & supplements.

Here you go, from the Hungry for Change Detox Plan :

* Wake up Water
Squeeze 1/2 lemon juice & the squeezed juice from 1/2" knob of grated ginger in to a glass of water.
This apparently boosts your metabolism, hydrates your body & activates the bowels, ginger being a great detoxifier

* Breakfast Super Green Juice
Blitz 2 sticks of celery, a handful of parsley, 2 Kale leaves, an apple, 1/2 lemon juice & half a cucumber together with water to make a thick refreshing & nutritious juice.
This juice is a blend of easily digestible, alkaline minerals, like potassium. And alkalising the blood is important during the cleansing process as it keeps bad bacteria, yeast & fungi in check, which helps prevent cravings 

* Mid morning snack
Celery, Cucumber & carrots cut in to crunchy sticks
(or have another Super Green Juice)

* Lunch : Sushi Salad
Salad : 1 Avo, 1/2 chopped cucumber, 1 grated carrot, Handful of sprouts (alfalfa/ sunflower sprouts), handful of coriander, 1 Nori sheet cut in to bite-size pieces, 1 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds.
Dressing : 1 Tbsp finely grated ginger, 1 Tbsp Soy Sauce, Juice of 1 lemon
Sea vegetables such as nori, are one of the most nutrient-dense plant foods on Earth. They are particularly high in calcium & iodine which help draw toxins from the body.
This is so delicious, so detox or no detox I'll be adding this to my lunchbox options.

 * Afternoon snack
Soak 3 handfuls of raw nuts (almonds, macadamia, pecan, hazelnuts, Brazil, pine nuts, pumpkin seeds, or sunflower seeds)overnight, drain & store them in the fridge in a jar for the 3 days
Soaking the nuts improves digestion, increases vitamin intake as well as all sorts of other benefits as listed here 

* Dinner : Potassium Balance Soup (makes enough for 3 days)
4 cups of water, 4 courgettes, 3 celery stalks, 1 cup of green beans, handful of parsley, 3 medium tomatoes, 3 cloves of garlic, 2 tsp unrefined sea salt, 2 teaspoons of dried thyme/rosemary or French Provence herbs
Chop all the ingredients up & bring to a gentle boil. Simmer for 30 mins & then blitz to whatever consistency you like (I like mine totally smooth, no pieces)
This vegetable tonic provides an ideal combination for restoring acid-alkaline & sodium-potassium balance to the body's organs & glands.

* Dessert : Chia Seed Pudding (makes enough for 3 days)
Combine 1 1/4 cups Almond milk (or homemade coconut milk) with 1 Tbsp raw honey, 4 Tbsp chia seeds & 1 Tsp cinnamon.
Shake it all together & then divide in to 3 potions & leave to thicken in the fridge (30 mins)

* Calming Chamomile Tea
Finish  the day with a cup of herbal detox tea (Chamomile/ Nettle / Dandelion/ Liquorice)
A deep restful sleep is important during the cleanse as it will help digest unwanted stress hormones which can cause weight gain.

The 3 days were really easy. I feel fresh & eager to continue to eat healthily.
On to Detox No 2
<3

30thirty : It's a wrap!

So I completed my 30 day Challenge this week and fulfilled the tasks I'd set last week ; (all except the walk to work - there was such a  yukky couple of days of hail, rain & windy horridness I just couldn't bring myself to do it!)

Hoorah! ★

So all in all, I completed :

* 4 hrs running/walking
* 380 minutes of Yoga
* x6 15 min Nike+ routines
* 3 hrs other exercises

This totals 890 mins which divided over my 30 days = 29.66 mins. Close enough to my 30 min a day target!

(I do love sums that work out)

And how was it? 
Did it change the way I feel about exercise?

Fantastic & a big fat YES!

The introduction of regular exercise into my daily schedule definitely took away that weekly dread of doing something that I know is going to take a lot of effort & I don't really want to do.
And I've begun to enjoy it.
It's good to feel energised & stronger as a result of performing daily exercises.

28 days to the ultimate mind & body makeover can start so easily at home with a simple change in mindset.

I am now very good  friends with these, (and not just because they're a lovely shade of blue & look hot).

The only regret was that I ended my Health Month with an epic party at our advertising awards, and went so huge that it took me 3 whole days to fully recover. So I was left feeling like a bit of a loser for undoing all that hard work.

BUT, there's no point beating myself up over it. It was fun. I've learnt that moderation is also fine (hopefully I'll remember this lesson the next time there's a party), & I've just got to get back to feeling good.

So to get back on track, besides setting a new regular work-out regime to continue the good work of the 30 Day Challenge, I've decided to do a detox.

I was following Bri @designlovefest 3 day juice cleanse a couple of weeks ago which uses a product called Moon Juice from LA & was wondering if there was a  local version I could try. Then after my heavy weekend, it felt appropriate to do something similar & my hangover repent has fuelled my desire to tackle something similar even more! And it's funny, once I decided to do a short-term detox, I've been inspired from all different sources. My friend @angel7007 introduced me to the Paleo way of eating today & then the latest post on Goop includes a 7 day detox.

I'm actually pretty excited about these two 3-day Detox programmes I found here & here, and I've convinced Warren to join me in the challenge which makes any sort of diet or eating plan a 100 times easier.

How delicious & refreshing do these look!
You can just see the goodness floating in little green love hearts out of them
1st day starts tom
♥