Diary I went to bed so late last night. But, I woke up super energetic this morning like usual. However, I think taking all four of those capsules together last night caused me to wake up with some pretty strong … Continue reading
Diary I woke up bright and early this morning, despite having the day off from work. I woke up energetic and ready to go! However, because I’m home for the majority of the day, I got distracted by all the … Continue reading
Diary Guys, I’m shocked. Dumbfounded. I feel like I’m crazy in the head! I weighed myself this morning, post-shower, post-oil-pulling, post-getting dress, and even with all of that, I am down over 4 pounds! Normally I would chalk this up … Continue reading
Diary This morning, to my surprise, I did not feel full! Not like the day before, even though I had eaten so much volume in food! Though my weight went up by a pound, but I’m not doing this for … Continue reading
Diary Ok, so this morning was not off to a great start. Yesterday, I had an amazing lunch with some pretty amazing social media peeps, and even though I ate healthy, that falafel bowl (and half a personal-sized raw carrot … Continue reading
Recently, I’ve been in a cleaning mode. I don’t know if it is Spring Fever, the desire to move, the realization that I don’t even use half of the stuff I own, or simply the fact that I’m missing a few papers to get my taxes done and they are due soon! Whatever the reason, I have been cleaning and sorting through my stuff which led me to an interesting discovery: a ReCleanse Herbal Cleanse that I had clearly forgotten I had purchased sometime within the past year.
I have a passion for studying health-related topics. I’m not sure I intend to go on many “cleanses” as I believe your daily diet can be just as cleansing. However, I am a fan of herbs! So, why put this to waste? Let’s try it out! (I really have a hard time wasting things…)
In this spectacular, refreshing packaging is a set of guidelines to follow for a diet while taking their herbal formulas. The provide you with the serving numbers you are supposed to have per meal according to your weight range. I need to consume 4 servings of low density carbs, 2 servings of high density carbs, 4.5 servings of protein and 3 servings of fat at every meal. This is NOT a typical way that I eat, but for the sake of the cleanse, I shall abide by the rules.
I basically looked at the list of approved foods and tried to figure out what meals I could throw together while still keeping variety. I must say, protein was the hardest. They basically have two suggestions for vegan proteins, so I added a third, keeping in mind that the foods are generally whole foods. They suggested soybean milk and tofu, but I added tempeh as tempeh is a fermented soy product with minimal ingredients (sorry, no fake meats in this one!).
You are NOT allowed to have preservatives, colourings, flavourings, salt, or processed sugars. You are NOT allowed to have hydrogenated or refined fats and oils. No frying, deep frying, or overcooking food. No condiments that have sugar, salt, colourings or flavourings (what condiments are left?!). You can’t have mushrooms, peanuts, farmed fish or yeast (only one exception is made with whole grain bread). No dairy, and no alcohol. My saving grace is that I’m allowed one glass of fruit/vegetable juice a day! But that is ONLY in addition to a full 8 glasses of water. This is a lot! It seems a little overwhelming to be honest, but let’s do it!
My plan for meals is as follows:
Breakfast: Smoothie (2 cups spinach, 2 cups berries, 1 cup banana, 532 mL or 18 oz. soy milk, 2 tsp. almond butter, 1 tbsp. ground flax)
Lunch: Sandwich (2 slices whole grain bread, 383 g or 13.5 oz tempeh, 1 avocado, 1 cup cucumber, 1 cup lettuce, 3/4 cup tomatoes), 1 carrot
Dinner: “Stir-Fry” (1 cup rice, 383 g or 13.5 oz tofu, 3 tsp. almond butter, 1 cup zucchini, 3/4 cup cauliflower, 3/4 cup broccoli), “Dessert” (1 cup celery, 1/2 cup dates)
Yes, I plan on doing this for every day. I’m the type of person that doesn’t usually get sick of food I like, so I’m hoping this will go well! Wish me luck!
Journal:
I wasn’t as prepared for today as I wanted to be. I was exhausted, my stomach was hurting a lot from having junk food two days in a row, I didn’t sleep very much because I had so much to do, and I didn’t even prep my grapes for today. However, after reviewing the whole diet plan again, I decided the best place to start again was with the grapes breakfast because the only two breakfasts that are left include persimmons (of which mine are not ripe yet), or a smoothie of which I had no time to blend. So I chose to do Day 1 today, packed some grapes, spinach and bananas, and went off to school.
I got to eat breakfast around 10:00 am as my students were outside at recess which gave me some time.
In the afternoon, I was not able to make my smoothie because our school kitchen is not set up for me to do so at the moment as a lot of people have been using it. So, this meant that I ate a banana instead to tide me over. It’s still on the meal plan, just whole instead of blended. It was a way better option than eating more junk again today. I am breaking away from the bad habits I’ve developed in the past few days. I hate feeling miserable. Raw foods are definitely the way to go.
After I got home, I had to quickly get set up because I had a webinar to watch. So, I took my dog outside for a bit, then came in and cut up some kiwis as that was the “pre-dinner” snack. I could have made my smoothie, but sorting through spinach would have taken way longer than just slicing up some kiwis. So that’s what I did. In fact, I didn’t make the smoothie all day.
Now, after the webinar, and perhaps even during the webinar, I fell asleep. I was so exhausted. I’m literally sleeping like 5 hours a night because I stay up working so much. I keep saying I need to balance things out, but the truth is I really do. Perhaps this weekend I’ll actually draw up a schedule for every day.
After I woke up from my nap, I immediately had a huge stomach cramp and had to run to the bathroom. Three times today this happened, and it has been painful. My stomach is finally in a full rebellion of the junk food I ate and is starting to cleanse itself. Hopefully this is short-lived and my body can do its job efficiently because I didn’t even go to the gym tonight in fear of being too far away from a bathroom for too long.
I didn’t feel like eating again for the longest time, but did end up making a salad before bed. However, the salad didn’t taste the greatest (it’s very hit and miss with the dressings), so I only ended up eating about half of it. But because my stomach was fairly empty, I was so hungry and couldn’t even go to bed without eating something else. So, off the meal plan but still predominately raw, I sliced up some banana, drizzled some apple honey (honey consistency but made from apple, no bees required), and put a few vegan chocolate chips. Now, I’m not sure what was wrong with my kiwis earlier, but they were very “zingy” and it left what almost felt like some stinging in my mouth which made the late night dessert not so good. Perhaps my kiwis were not fully ripe; I really don’t know. I don’t have any food allergies and have never reacted to kiwis before, but perhaps there is more to the story than I know.
Now, tomorrow is National Sandwich Day and it is a planned, off-course day. It will still be vegan with tons of raw veggies, but I am intrigued to see how my body reacts to bread. I do suspect that bread will help stop the immediate bathroom needs which would be nice while I’m at work since the staff only have one washroom to split amongst us all, but I’ve also heard people discover their gluten intolerance when trying gluten after so long of not eating it. So this will be an experiment to see how my body reacts. Then I’m back on course with the last two days of the Rawsome Healthy Diet Plan. I’m still trying to decide where I want to go after that, but stay tuned and you’ll find out.
Review of Symptoms:
-Stomach is in an all-out war, cleansing mode!
-Tired/exhausted
-Acne is the same.
-Hair is so soft, but still a little static-y.
-Muscles are finally less sore today. Aiming for the gym tomorrow.
-Tongue/mouth seemed to react a little to the kiwis (not swollen, just like a “sting”).
-Hungry
Weight at the end of the the day = 165.6 lbs (down 4.8 lbs from yesterday)
Total Calories = 2087 (83% carbs, 10% fat, 7% protein… good macro ratio!)
Journal:
Did you notice I went up 8 lbs two days ago and was already down 6 lbs the day after? What a shift! What an experiment! So essentially, my body was in shock after eating so much food, so much cooked food, so much salty and fatty foods. Then, after more hours than usual, my body proved it’s excellent digestion ability by getting rid of almost all of it within a day. I’m quite impressed to say the least.
While on the topic of my body cleansing itself, my tongue was COATED this morning. Honestly I had just opened my mouth in the way of the mirror and was shocked at how dead my tongue looked. It wasn’t white as before, but more of a dead, almost tan colour. Yuck! It came off with some tongue scraping again, but I tell you, it’s amazing what happens when you eat “junk” and then eat clean so your body gets rid of the bad stuff. Oh boy!
I wasn’t completely looking forward to my juices today, but it really wasn’t that bad once I started drinking some. From breakfast until lunch, I drank about a litre of organic grape juice. From lunch to supper, I drank about a litre of organic pineapple juice with pulp. And from supper until I went to bed, I drank about a third of a litre of organic blueberry juice. Honestly, it was very satisfying. So satisfying, in fact, that I was considering doing another day of juicing. But, alas my stash of leftover juices is getting low so I don’t have enough to do another day. So instead, I begin fruit smoothies tomorrow! I don’t have any other juice feasts scheduled for the rest of this journey, but should I ever feel like I need a “cleanse”, I now know that juicing is the way to go!
So today was an active day. It was a decent day, though not great. My free time at work is quickly getting eaten up with other things so I don’t truly get a break anymore. However, I have had less meetings so far this week after school so that has been nice. However, since I am travelling this weekend, I have much to do to prepare and I have spent the past two nights simply doing errands and trying to catch up on life. There is never a dull moment.
I went to the gym this evening and did 30 minutes of cycling. I raised the intensity some and felt awesome by the end.
And that pretty much sums up my day. After cardio, I sat at home doing work until I went to sleep. I always have work to do; there is never a shortage.
Review of Symptoms:
-Tongue coated in a dead, tan colour.
-Acne is the same.
-Energy is good.
-Digestion continues to be fantastic.
Weight at the end of the day = 176.6 lbs (same as yesterday)
Total Calories = 1252 (97% carbs, 0% fat, 3% protein)
Journal:
I don’t even really want to write this post today. I’m exhausted; drained. Not getting home before 6:30 at the earliest (8:30 at the latest) each and every work day is wearing me out. Not to mention, that does not include getting everything I need done, done. I’m behind on almost everything that I should have done by now as a teacher. But it is because I have had such a difficult start to the year… and I thought last year was bad! Oh how little did I know back then…
So in the entirety of an insane day, I ate 2 bananas. That’s it. By the time I finally got home (around 7:00 pm or shortly after), not only was I exhausted, but I was also extremely hungry. I wasn’t sure how I was feeling after today’s after-school meeting. A decision was made that I was honestly sitting on the fence about. It either meant I was going to have a much easier rest of the year, or that I had to prepare for what could be a very difficult and exhausting year in its entirety. My heart was being optimistic, but my head was being realistic. And though the decision was to press forward and though my heart was prepared, my head was left wondering what I may be preparing to put myself through. I was a slight emotional disaster. Needless to say, it was not a good situation.
So what did I do? I gave in. The thought of bananas almost sickened me and I went out. It was late; the skies were dark. I was emotional, exhausted, drained, and hungry. I was reaching for comfort which is something I rarely do. In fact, I normally don’t eat when I’m stressed or upset. So whether the chips from yesterday had something to do with the immense desire for something else or not, I’m not 100% sure but I would assume that it did. The interesting part is that I did not want my usual comfort foods. My usual Mexican place did not entice me. I didn’t want the heavy feeling of beans and rice in my stomach (something I normally would have jumped on right away before I started this journey). I didn’t want a huge, cooked, gourmet meal from a sit-down restaurant. I wanted a pita (not even the type of bread I normally want as I usually want fluffy bread) filled with fresh veggies. What a craving. If all I had ever craved in my life was a flat, pocket pita bread with fresh veggies in it, weight would never have been an issue. But either way, I decided I needed to listen to my body today after all the punishment it’s been through and I went off.
I went to Extreme Pita and ordered a regular falafel on white. I added lightly sautéed veggies (green pepper, onions and mushrooms sautéed in water not oil), pineapple, tabouleh, pickles, lettuce, tomato, a tablespoon of beans and chickpeas (decided to see how I would react to so little), and topped it with about a tablespoon of hummus and some sweet chilli sauce.
The first few bites were pretty good. It felt so good to just get out, sit down, stop stressing about the one thing my mind has been on lately since a decision was finally made, and just enjoy some free time for the first time in weeks. I say “free time”, but even while I was eating I was responding to work e-mails and catching up on work-related things that I should have done before but never had the time to. However, if I am truly honest, about half-way through the pita, it wasn’t tasting as good as it had. It’s not that anything had changed, but I simply realized it didn’t taste as good to me as it once had. My body has changed throughout this challenge. I don’t crave the heavy feeling in my stomach anymore. Cooked food does not taste as good to me as it once did. Yes, I am realizing that I don’t crave sweetness all of the time anymore, especially since I have been craving the taste of veggies to get a break from the fruit for quite awhile. But my body is not the same as it was before. And though I had the biggest fear of starving all the time when I started this challenge, I have not experienced even close to the amount of weakness and feelings of death as I thought I would have been. It’s quite incredible to say the least.
So after eating, I drove to the gym. I had full intentions of going in and doing something. But as I paused to sit in my car for just a few moments to finish letting the day sink in, I realized that this was the furthest thing from what my body wanted today. It wasn’t a day where I had to go to something because I was so stressed. It was a day where all the stress led to this decision and now that the decision was made, that is one stress that is gone. My body wanted to rest. It didn’t want to keep giving output when it finally had a chance to take a breath. Once I realized this, I left and drove home. Three and a half weeks of stress, of never taking a break while things were happening every single day, of not sleeping enough, and of meetings every single work day, it was time to just say no. It honestly was the best thing I could have done. Sometimes we simply need to listen to our bodies.
When I got home, I noticed those oatmeal bars that I had received the other day. I decided since I had already blown my banana day by eating a pita, I might as well try the squares. Don’t let yourself get into this mindset. It’s not worth it. I ended up eating a piece of a square only to taste flour. Oh my word. It took me back to being a child when you think the flour should taste good just because cookie dough tastes good. And when you take a big bite of flour, you sadly realize how wrong you were. Though this clearly wasn’t all flour, that’s the biggest flavour I had in my mouth. Now, if I had not been doing this cleanse, I guarantee it would have tasted different to me. But because of this cleanse, because my body has changed so much and flavours are so noticeable to me, that’s what I could taste and I had no motivation to continue eating them.
I relaxed for awhile, then went to sleep. Tomorrow is hopefully a brighter day.
Review of Symptoms:
-Exhausted.
-Stressed.
-Hungry after eating only 2 bananas all day.
-Taste buds are SUPER sensitive.
-Acne is the same.
-Despite eating a little, energy is still there.
Weight at the end of the day = 174.6 lbs (same as yesterday)
Total Calories = approx. 861 (68% carbs, 22% fat, 10% protein… a little high in fat)
Calm in Christ and Fitness 