A Week After My Cleanse & Green Orange Smoothie

On Sunday I was positive I would never do a cleanse again.  However, almost a week later, I'm not so sure.  Maybe I'll have to try another brand and compare the two.

Some positives from the cleanse:
- I have lost 10 pounds in 2 weeks (this has included healthy eating after the cleanse and working out regularly)
- I'm not craving junk food as severely as I was before and I have become much more mindful of when I am full
- Coworkers at work have stated that I already look thinner and my skin looks healthier

Negatives:
- I felt a bit naseous through Tuesday
- I was so sick of juice!
- I have felt a bit weak when returning to my normal workout routine

On a side note I made the most delicious smoothie Thursday morning and made it again this morning.  Although it looks very green it actually tastes a like an Orange Julius.

Recipe:
1 cup spinach
1 banana
1 cup orange juice
1/4 scoop of vanilla protein powder (I am currently using Syntha-6, Vanilla Ice Cream)
I Tablespoon of chia seeds
I blend all of these togethers using a Magic Bullet then I add crushed ice to the top and blend it again.
Calories 310



I prefer a more fruity smoothie, so on Thursday I added raspberries and this morning I didn't have any berries so I added some raspberry kefir.

Life Juice Cleanse - Last Day

I'm definintely done with this cleanse.  Iwasn't hungry and I wasn't craving other food, but I was dreading the thought of drinking more juice.  I got a late start to the day and ended up not going to Kickboxing because I got completely wrapped up in the book I'm reading and couldn't tear myself away to get out of bed.  (As a sidenote check out Jodi Picoult's The Storyteller.  I love Jodi Picoult's stories and this one had me laughing, and crying.)  This means I had to drink the juices even faster than the other two days, blech!  Don't get me wrong, these juices aren't bad and actually are pretty tasty, I'm just tired of them.

Once I was able to tear myself away from the book, I'll be honest, once I finished the book, I went out for a lovely walk.  The weather is beautiful!  I ended up eating almonds again and skipping the second Oh My Greens, maybe I'll be in the mood for it later in the week.  Looking forward to easing out of the cleanse tomorrow and starting to eat more normal food.  The plan is fruit, maybe a juice or two and almonds tomorrow.  Tuesday I can add some lightly steamed greens and Wednesday I will add in some salads and complex grains.  Thursday fish comes into play and Friday is the start of my healthier eating plan.

Life Juice Cleanse - Day Two

I slept wonderfully last night and woke up feeling pretty good, but a tad bit light headed.  I took Haley for a walk and was excited to see the sun out, even though it was pretty windy.

The Solé took me a bit longer to drink this morning, but the Positive Balance went down better.

The one thing I haven't liked about the cleanse so far is that I feel like I have to drink the juices almost back to back to get them all in, or maybe I just drink them too slowly.  Shortly after I finished the Solé it was time for Positive Balance and then Oh My Greens.  Add in the fact that I am trying to increase my intake of water, I feel like all I am doing in drinking.  

This afternoon I treated myself to a massage.  It was one of the recommendations that Life Juice gave.  I have been a bit sore from working in the two year-old classroom this week and moving a classroom at work yesterday, and then helping a friend move a few items.  Plus I'm a bit stressed from all the wedding planning.  The massage felt wonderful, relaxing and I was glad I indulged.

After the massage it was time for the Bodacious Bunny.  I also decided to eat 8 almonds.  Life Juice gave a list of a few items you could eat if you absolutely had to, although I didn't absolutely have to eat something, I did feel like my body needed them.  Other food choices were a few celery stalks, a couple of cucumber slices, warm vegetable broth or a half cup of coffee (no sugar or cream).  But I felt like I needed that protein more than anything else so I opted for the almonds, which I keep in my pantry anyway.

Since I feel a bit tired today I plan on finishing off the second Oh My Greens and the Spiced Almond Milk then taking another bath and then off to bed early.  I hope to have enough energy to go to my normal Cardio Kickboxing class tomorrow morning at the gym.

Life Juice Cleanse - Day One

Over the last few years I have considered doing a cleanse.  I have been interested in how I will feel during cleanse and if really would make me feel better at the end of it all.  Then I get engaged, I'm struggling to eat healthly, and Big B is out of town for a long weekend.  Perfect time to see how a cleanse goes, so I'm going for it.

I started off by doing a lot of research.  I read this article, and this one, and then lastly I found Chef Amber Shea's blog where she reviewed numerous juice cleanses with a little more depth than other articles I had found.  I really appreciated all the information that she shared.

After reading all the articles I narrowed down my choices to Life Juice, Blueprint Cooler Cleanse and Suja.  These cleanses all hit the items I was looking for in a cleanse.  I wanted my cleanse to taste good, have organic fruits and vegetables and the juice be cold-pressed.  I read through each website and Blueprint was out because one of their juices contains cashews, probably not a good match for me with my allergic reactions to them.  All the juices ended up being about the same price when I added in shipping costs.  So, I ended up with Life Juice because they have the cheapest shipping price and I would rather spend that extra money on the juices than on the shipping.  Hopefully it means its the best, right?  Who knows, maybe next time I will try out a different brand.

I had planned on starting the cleanse on Thursday, the day Big B left.  That way I would have a day to come out of the cleanse before he got home.  However, I didn't receive the juices until mid-day on Thursday, so that plan was out the door.  (Note to anyone interested in ordering from Life Juice in the future, make sure you state a day earlier than you plan on starting when completing your order.  This seemed to be an issue for Chef Amber also.)  The packaging was nice and the juices came in a large insulated bag with a smaller insulated bag to carry a juices you might need for the day with you.  The information card was cute and I was excited as I loaded the juices into the fridge.

I woke up this morning ready to go.  The reviews for the first juice, Solé, were not glowing.  Solé is a mix of filtered water, lemon and pink himalyan sea salt.  And the reviews had mentioned how salty it was, I actually missed the fact that there was even lemon in it while reading the reviews.  Throw in the fact that I normally try to avoid salt as much as possible and I was a bit nervous.  Life Juice recommended warming Solé, but this sounded a bit like drinking that hot-salt-water-I-used-to-gargle-as-a-kid-when-I-had-a-sore-throat, so I chose to drink it cold.  And I was pleasantly surprised, Solé reminded me a bit of a margarita and I had no trouble finishing it.

Juice #2 was Positive Balance, I was not a fan and struggled to get it down.  I have a feeling it is the beet ingredient that turned me off.  I am hoping it will hit the spot a bit better over the next two days.  The plan was to drink this around 9:30 am, but since I was at work and ended up in the two-year-old's classroom, I didn't finish it until close to 11 am.

Juice #3 was Oh My Greens, it had a lot of the same ingredients as the Positive Balance, but I definitely enjoyed it more.  By now it was towards the end of my work day and I am starting to wonder how I am going to finish all 6 juices.

Juice #4 I drank on my way home from work.  Number four is Bodacious Bunny, lots of carrot in this one!  Although I don't typically enjoy carrot I did like this juice.

Juice #5 was supposed to be Oh My Greens again.  However, it is now almost 8 pm and I just didn't think I could drink two juices before going to bed.  Although most sites, including Life Juices, don't recommend skipping a juice, I had to go with how I was feeling, so I skipped it.

Juice #6 was Spiced Almond Milk.  Life Juice recommended drinking this warm like Solé, but I wasn't in the mood.  Either way I thought it was pretty tasty cold, maybe I'll try it warm tomorrow.

I've only noticed a slight headache today and hope that I continue to feel good throughout the remaining two days.  After this post its off to a warm bath with epsom salt and Bath and Body Works Lavender Vanilla Luxury Bath, sounds like a good end for the evening!

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