Breaking the Fast

More Blueprint Cleanse Info:

I opted for Level 3: Excavation. This is the most intense level because the juices are all green; the other levels have more fruit juices. Dori did Level 1: Renovation (she likes green juice, but not the romaine that BPC adds).

6 juices per day.

  1. no.1: Green juice – romaine, celery, cucumber,green apple, spinach, kale, parsley, lemon.
  2. no.2: Green juice – romaine, celery, cucumber, green apple, spinach, kale, parsley, lemon, ginger.
  3. no.3: Green juice – romaine, celery, cucumber, green apple, spinach, kale, parsley, lemon.
  4. no.4: Spicy Lemonade – filtered water,lemon, agave nectar, cayenne.
  5. no.5: Green juice – romaine, celery, cucumber, green apple, spinach, kale, parsley, lemon.
  6. no.6: Nut milk – filtered water, raw cashews, agave nectar, vanilla bean, cinnamon.

I would definitely be able to make most of these – they are really similar to the green juices I was having over the summer.

I had a lot of trouble today. I woke up and did the 30-day shred, so I probably set myself up for being hungry all day long. By 2:30pm I had finished 4 juices – leaving just 2 for the rest of the night. I also cheated and had 2 cups of coffee with a little bit of the nut milk.

At 5:00pm, instead of going for one of the remaining juices (green or cashew milk) I went downstairs to a cafe and got a banana. I tried to chew it well so as not to overwhelm my stomach. I sipped water until I went home from work around 7:30pm. I did not want any more juice. I saved the green one and the cashew milk for later. I might have the green juice tomorrow morning.

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Bobby made healthy fried rice for dinner, so I had a big bowl of that. I pretty much only ate the rice because I wanted to stick with one type of food – it’s easier for digestion if you have just carbs, or just protein, etc…

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Bobby makes the best fried rice. And after dinner I had 2 cookies made by Auntie Jo.

My stomach actually feels okay – I was so so hungry all day today no matter how much I drank or ate and I was worried that when I started eating lots of solids I would feel terrible. But it’s okay so far… I’ll let you know how it pans out. I still feel hungry and I know I’ve had enough – it was a lot of rice.

I don’t know if I would do a cleanse like this again. For one thing, it’s really expensive! It’s $195 for 3 days (but I had 25% off so it was about $146). That’s a little more than $8/juice… which is pretty standard, but I can’t justify it. Especially since it wasn’t enough and I had to eat additional stuff each day. I think if I want to do this in the future I’ll just “juice ‘til dinner” and make my own juices. I’m going to NJ tomorrow so I’ll bring back my Breville juicer this weekend.

Overall – I’m really glad I did it. My stomach is/was flat for a few days and I lost the bloating. It made me realize the importance of appreciating food and not going overboard. It made me recognize that I need to be gentle to my stomach/digestive system because it’s sensitive. But I am SO glad it’s over.

If I don’t post tomorrow… Happy New Year! What are your plans? We’re going to New Jersey tomorrow after work and we’re going to a friend’s house for a small party. I think we’re coming back into the city on Saturday (Bobby is seeing a Nets vs. Cavaliers game).

Blueprint Cleanse: Days 1 and 2

I mentioned yesterday that I was doing the Blueprint Cleanse – it’s a “cleanse” (I hesitate to use that term, because it gives the wrong impression) that consists of 6 juices a day – 4 green juices, 1 spicy lemonade, and 1 thick and creamy nut milk (each 16 ounces). But I’m cheating. Well, let me just do the recap and I’ll explain more later…

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Guidelines: 1) You are supposed to wait at least an hour between juices; 2) you can drink unlimited herbal tea and water; 3) you’re supposed to finish at least 2 hours before bed; 4) there are some allowed “cheat” foods.

And guess what? Dori is doing this with me! We wanted to do it together for moral support 🙂 We’ve been gchatting all day long.

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Monday – Day 1

6:15am – I wake up. I drink a big mug of water, lemon juice, and cinnamon from 6:30-7:30am while I’m doing work. I also take a probiotic and 2 maca tablets.

7:30am – I do a 30 minute exercise video from ExerciseTV.

9:15am – I get to work and I’m a little hungry so I have my first juice. It’s a green juice and it’s delicious. I drink water and tea after it.

11:45am – I have my second juice. I’m not that hungry, but I figured it was time. This is another green juice.

12:00pm – Oops, maybe I am hungry. Hm. Drink some more tea.

12:30pm – Okay, I really am hungry. I break into juice number 3. It’s another green juice. Yum! I have more tea and more water.

2:45/3:00pm – Yeah, hungry again. I have juice number 4, which is a spicy lemonade (filtered water, lemon, agave nectar, cayenne). I don’t see how this will keep me full for long. I keep having water and herbal tea.

4:30pm – I don’t want to drink anymore because I keep having to pee! This is a lot of liquid.

4:45/5:00pm – Very hungry, so I have juice number 5 (green juice). Yikes – Am I supposed to last on one juice for the rest of the night??

6:30pm – I take a sip of the last “juice” (cashew nut milk with cinnamon) and I’m kind of grossed out. I thought this was supposed to be the best one! It’s heavy and thick and the cinnamon makes it terrible.

7:00pm – I’m talking to Bobby complaining about how horrible this is and how I should never have done it. He says to suck it up.

7:30pm – I get home and drink the rest of the nut milk. It grows on me, but it’s still not my favorite.

8:00pm – I need to chew something. I break out the celery (a cheat food) and have celery dipped in maple syrup (not technically on the cheat list, but maple syrup is in lots of “cleanses” so I figure it’s okay). I also make 2 lemonades (lemon juice, water, and a whole lot of maple syrup).

10:00pm – I go to bed. This is the earliest I have gone to bed since… I don’t even know when. Probably middle school.

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Tuesday

Honestly, pretty similar to Monday (but no exercise in the morning – I slept in and then did some errands). But today I cheat a little bit – I have a cup of coffee with some of the cashew milk in the afternoon, and then I have a cup of decaf after that.

At night, I can’t stomach the cashew milk. It’s heavy and it tastes weird to me. Why does everyone else seem to love it? I opt for a big bowl of steamed broccoli topped with some olive oil (I need the fats if I’m not having the nut milk), maple syrup, nutritional yeast (a nutritional powerhouse), and some dill.

Now I’m sipping some extra lemonade that I made (lemon juice, water, maple syrup).

Maybe I’ll go to bed early again tonight… or maybe I’ll do some work. I have some stuff I wanted to get done before tomorrow.

How do I feel?

Honestly, the best I have in a long time. I have a pretty bad case of IBS (or something?) and I was constantly bloated for the last month (at least)… but not now. I obviously can’t live on green juices for the rest of my life, but this is a nice break. I’m looking forward to my last day (tomorrow, Wednesday), but after that I’ll go back to eating normal foods. Maybe my stomach will be okay for a few days – I can only hope!

Maybe this shows that you can do a healing cleanse without being unhealthy or miserable. I don’t know if I would recommend doing this without cheating, because it doesn’t seem like a lot of calories, especially if you are tall (I’m just about 5’10”) or active. For me it’s been awesome because I feel like my digestive system is finally working properly.

I’ll do a more detailed post of exactly what the juices contained, the instructions that come with them, and more – after my final day.

Have you ever done anything like this? Or any other type of “cleanse”?

Christmukkah Party! Latkes Galore!

I am currently on Day 1 of the Blueprint cleanse, but I will review that when it’s over. Now I’m going to post about a holiday/Christmukkah party that my friends had last weekend. Last Saturday (the 19th) was the day of that huge snowstorm in New York. Bobby and I trekked up 10 blocks to David and Sarah’s house (my coworker and his fiance) for a Christmukkah party to raise money for Cycle for Survival (a very cool charity; check it out).

We walked in to see this:

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Really awesome desserts. There were nut cluster things, and rice krispy treats, and cookies, and some kind of chocolate bark. I mostly had the nut clusters, but Bobby loved the rice krispy treats. Sarah was cooking when we got there.

02 sarah cooking

Dinner was some delicious latkes. I never really had good latkes before. We dipped these in homemade applesauce and sour cream.

04 latkes!

And there were lots of snacks – chips, salsa, baked brie (inside yummy buttery bread), pears, drinks (eggnog, soda, alcohols), cheesy spinach dip, and crackers.

03 party spread

It was really fun. I missed going to parties – we never did much in California.

01 party pose

Their apartment was painted really nicely so I think I might get ours painted. It could do with a fresh coat. And here we all are (minus Bobby, who took the picture, and Ann, who left early):

07 party people

I should really get the recipe for the latkes. It’s one of my favorite ways to eat potatoes.

What’s your favorite party food? I usually bring a fruit salad – it’s pretty much no fail as long as you put some lemon juice and honey in it! And mint is a good addition too.

Merry Christmas! (Yes, I’m late)

Happy Boxing Day!

I’m still in Miami and loving this gorgeous “winter” weather. Bobby’s family has been amazing and we’ve been having a really fantastic time.

I’m actually home alone right now; I feel kind of sick so I’m missing out on dinner plans. I just had Christmas leftovers (turkey, mashed potatoes, and some veggies) and they were just as delicious today as they were yesterday. The recap is coming soon. In the meantime, check out these gorgeous pictures my dad sent me…

01 bouche

My mom makes Bûche de Noël every few years. Bûche de Noël is a traditional European dessert that’s served during the Christmas season. It’s also called a Yule Log. It’s mostly a French thing – the countries/provinces that make it (France, Belgium, Quebec, Lebanon, and more) are all francophone.

02 bouche

My mom usually uses 3 different recipes to make the 3 parts of the Yule Log: the cake part (sponge cake), the inside buttercream icing, and the chocolate outside icing (possibly buttercream as well? I forget).

This year she made a slug to be more realistic:

03 bouche slug

Reminds me of the banana slug that my dad and I saw in the Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park.

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Anyway.

My sister made Springerles, which are German cookies (biscuits?) that are made during the holidays. My Grammie always used to make them so I guess Julia took over that tradition this year. My dad said they were soft and flavorful. Definitely a success – Springerles are hard to get right.

04 springerles

To make the Springerles, you use a Springerle rolling pin to press the design onto a slab of dough; then you cut the slab into squares. This one is from Wikipedia:

Springerle_roller

Julia is a great baker, so she also made these loaves of Hungarian Bread for Grammie, Aunt Mattie, and Uncle Rudy.

05 hungarian bread

I love baking presents. It’s such a nice way to show that you care. You guys all know how much I loved making those gingerbread houses

I am going to go watch some TV (Glee, perhaps?) with a nice mug of tea. Want to be rested for tomorrow’s flight.

Merry (late) Christmas again, and enjoy your weekend. I’ll try to get up the many many recaps that I have for you this week!

New York Events (Join me!)

New York News #1:

Do you like Bethenny Frankel? She’s going on tour to publicize her new book, The Skinnygirl Dish (“so much more than a cookbook”) next month. She’s coming to the Columbus Circle Borders on January 6th (a Wednesday) at 7pm. I plan on going… let me know if you want to go together.

New York News #2:

My new friend Ann (my coworker’s girlfriend) alerted me to this Warrior Challenge sponsored by Sati Life and Patricia Moreno. If you apply and are accepted you get a month-long pass to Equinox gyms (a $180 value) so that you can take intenSati classes. You just have to commit to doing 3 classes per week for a month and attending the kickoff class (January 10th) and finale class (February 7th). intenSati is a high-energy cardio workout class created by Patricia Moreno. I applied last night.

Non-New York tipoff:

Do you have Netflix? Do you want a good workout recommendation? This morning I did a 45 minute dancey/cardio workout called “Dance Off the Inches: Calorie Blasting” that was FREE with my subscription. Netflix offers a lot of free streaming videos (I’m currently blowing through the first season of Dead Like Me) and I love the workout videos. This was my first sweaty workout in a while and I had so much fun doing it. I missed real exercise! I do enjoy my relaxed routine now (20 minutes of yoga? that’s all I need each day!) but sometimes I just crave a good workout.

I’m heading off to Miami tomorrow afternoon (to join Bobby, who’s already down there with his family), so expect another post soon – I’ll have lots of writing time in the airport. I have some great posts lined up including a recap of a Christmukkah  party with friends (think latkes, homemade applesauce, and eggnog) and a crazy little announcement of something I’m doing next week with Dori.

Happy Tuesday! Almost Christmas!