Green Smoothie Day 3 – Healing Journey Day 50

Journal:
Today is the last day of green smoothies and I cannot wait! I want to have the separation of fruit and veggies again. I actually miss having fruit all day and having my veggies at night. I cannot wait to do that again (though slightly differently… stay tuned!).

I woke up late this morning. It put me in a rush to get ready for church, but also felt nice to get some good sleep for once. I did not have time to eat before I went to church. However, my stomach felt like it was still recovering from my cooked foods two days ago, so it probably was a good thing I waited a little longer to eat anyway.

Church was really good. It actually had a health focus, but in the way of relationships. Through studies, people who have good relationships with people live longer, and those that live solitary lives do not live as long. Excellent topic in a series of health talks that will be happening. I’m excited for these ones!

Once I got home, I made a smoothie using bananas and Barlean’s Naturally Very Berry Greens powder. This powder I did not like so much. The strawberry-kiwi one is AMAZING, but not so much this berry one. Oh well. I drank it anyway.

Later on, I made another smoothie using bananas, frozen strawberries, frozen rhubarb, and organic kelp powder. This smoothie was decent (was going for a reminder of strawberry rhubarb pie), but a little sugar would have gone a long way with this! However, since I’m not consuming any additives right now, the sugar can wait.

As I was making a grocery list to go shopping this evening, I noticed I was not going to use the one orange, bell pepper in my fridge. I hate when things go to waste. So I did eat that as well. I could have blended it up in a smoothie, but I ate it separately. It was absolutely delicious. But in the program I will be doing for the next 5 days, bell peppers are not used. So, I ate it tonight before it goes bad.

Aside from grocery shopping, I didn’t do much else this evening. Pretty much I worked on the computer and went to bed, excited to eat different foods tomorrow.

Review of Symptoms:
-Acne doing decently better.
-Hair is doing so well.
-Stomach is feeling a little better today.
-Digestion is improving lots.
-Much more energy today.
-Feels good to wear your church dress that just fit you less than two months ago and it’s completely loose on you now.

Weight at the end of the day = 166.8 lbs (down 2.8 lbs from yesterday)

Total Calories = 1014 (87% carbs, 9% fat, 4% protein… did not eat near enough today…)

 

Green Smoothie Day 2 – Healing Journey Day 49

Journal:
This morning, I was on the ball! I was still tired, but super excited to go back to the school-based mental health convention. I also felt ridiculously terrible. After all that cooked food I ate last night, I felt sick. I honestly was considering whether it was a good idea to go to the convention or not, but my excitement overtook the pain I was experiencing with my highly upset stomach.

I made a simple smoothie out of bananas and kelp powder to take with me in my large smoothie container. I was able to sip on this through the morning sessions.

At lunch time, I zipped over to Booster Juice again and got the Tropi-kale smoothie. This was pretty good, though I prefer the Spinach Is In It one. I also ran into the grocery store that shared the same parking lot and bought a Happy Planet Extreme Greens juice/smoothie to drink later in the afternoon. This was an excellent plan as it kept me away from the pastries they kept in the hallway, even though I was extremely cold in the afternoon.

Once again, this convention had me so excited! Seriously teachers, look up: School-Based Mental Health Convention. Find one near you or one that you can attend. I came away with more from this convention than any academic-focused session I’ve ever been to. It was too amazing for words, so just find one and go.

After I came home, I made one more smoothie with bananas and romaine lettuce. It was simple but sustaining. I am regularly hungry though and cannot wait for green smoothie days to be over.

I basically relaxed for the rest of the night and went to bed. It was time to finally catch up on some sleep.

Review of Symptoms:
-Acne is still holding its slight improvements.
-Hair is doing phenomenal.
-Tired.
-Hungry.
-Energy is still good.
-Digestion is starting to recover from cooked foods relapses…

Weight at the end of the day = 169.6 lbs (down 3.6 lbs from yesterday)

Total Calories = 1748 (94% carbs, 2% fat, 4% protein)

Green Smoothie Day 1 – Healing Journey Day 47

Journal:
I woke up feeling terrible today. Cooked foods last night were not a bright idea. However, today was an exciting day at the same time as I was going to a professional development that I was over-the-moon about and I was prepared with the bananas I got. I probably should also mention that I barely slept last night (3 hours?) because it took me so long to get lesson plans created and printed as I essentially was making two. I have one student who is a wildcard, and as this was his first time with a substitute teacher in my room, I was nervous. So I made two sets of plans, prepared for any class that he may have to be sent out for. Sleep was not the priority, so my body didn’t even get the complete rest it needed to help deal with the cooked food it possessed.

Before I left work from setting everything out for the sub, I blended up some smoothies to take with me. I made a very large batch of a banana, peach, and organic kelp powder smoothie. I had my regular, large smoothie container and a small container to put it in.

I sipped on the large smoothie container throughout the amazing morning keynote presentations. Teachers, if you read these daily journals, you NEED to jump on any opportunity to see Dr. Ross Greene. You will NOT regret it. I could listen to him all day.

At lunch, I ran to Booster Juice and got a Spinach Is In It smoothie with a Wilderness booster. Tons of greens!

Throughout the afternoon, I drank the smaller container of the morning’s smoothie that I had.

And that summed up what I ate today. I came out of my meetings so refreshed and excited for what I was planning to do at school, but tired and really hungry at the end of the day. I cannot wait for this smoothie phase to be over.

Review of Symptoms:
-Acne is bad.
-Did not feel good at all!
-Hair is good.
-Digestion is still figuring it out what to do with the cooked food…

Weight at the end of the day = 170.1 lbs (down 1.1 lbs from yesterday)

Total Calories = 1490 (92% carbs, 4% fat, 4% protein)

Green Juice Feasting – Healing Journey Day 45

Journal:
I actually woke up excited for today. Some people may think that today wouldn’t be so great because I’m going back to juicing instead of having actual food, but honestly, I have come to really enjoy juicing as a form of giving your body a break from digesting food. It definitely provides a cleansing day.

Now, today I tried to space out my juices because not only are juices generally lower calorie, but because they are green juices, they are even lower calorie due to the greens content. So here is the schedule in which I drank the juices:

8:00 am – Skinny Glow (melon, apple, cucumber, spinach, celery)

9:40 am – After Glow (spinach, cucumber, celery, kale, apple, parsley)

11:10 am – Glow Boost (spinach, kale, cucumber, broccoli, mint, pomegranate)

1:40 pm – Ener-G Glow (pear, spinach, cucumber, celery, chlorophyll)

3:00 pm – Sky Glow (pear, cucumber, kale, lemon, mint)

5:00 pm – Peak Performance (apple, cucumber, kale, spinach, lemon, parsley)

6:45 pm – Emerald City (spinach, apple, celery, cucumber)

8:30 pm – Everglades (cucumber, celery, cilantro, lime, apple)

Why were some of my juices called “Glow”? Because I purchased them from Glow Juicery. It is an awesome place where they made cold-pressed juices that are raw and unpasteurized. They also make smoothies and raw foods to eat. I love this store and highly recommend you check them out!

The last three juices I drank were from a place called Splash Juicery which is also an amazing, organic, cold-pressed juice place. They also serve smoothies, raw desserts and raw meals. I just recently found out about this place and I’m so thankful I tried them out! Absolutely recommended as well!

So the odd thing was, I start getting a headache just before I started drinking my second juice of the day. I never get headaches. My eyes have been giving me some really bad troubles in the past week, and I fear I may be headed to some trouble I don’t want. I’ve pretty much stopped wearing my sunglasses so I can get as much Vitamin D to my eyes as possible, and I still need to cut down on the computer time. I can’t lose my vision… it’s time to get serious. I think some extra sleep would also help my case.

The headache feeling did go away, thankfully. I made it through the rest of the day pretty well, though I was unusually hungry. It’s amazing what happens when you’re used to eating a huge volume of vegetables and fruit so the compact amount of green juices. I can’t wait to eat again!

I did make it to the gym today and had an awesome workout (yes, even hungry and with only consuming green juices). I did squats, lunges, jump squats, dumbbell pullovers, bench push-ups, lateral raises, standing scarecrow, cable hammer curls, and cable tricep extensions. I then finished up my workout with 20 minutes on the stairclimber. Wowee! It felt so good to workout again. I honestly love being in the gym.

And that pretty much wraps up my night. I’ve got a lot of work to do in order to meet a deadline tomorrow (two papers that need completed), so I gotta get finishing those. I just have my Everglades drink left to finish, and then that’s it for me today. Tomorrow begins days 1 of 3 days drinking green smoothies and I’m excited!

Review of Symptoms:
-Acne is bad.
-Hair is good, but scalp needs exfoliated/massaged.
-Energy is really good.
-A little tired, but due to lack of sleep.
-Eyes are not good… too much computer and not enough sleep.
-Hungry!!
-Digestion is getting better again.
-Endurance is good!

Weight at the end of the day = 168 lbs (same as yesterday)

Total Calories = 1329 (84% carbs, 6% fat, 10% protein… these are STELLAR macros!)

Fruit w/Salad Supper Day 5- Healing Journey Day 42

Journal:
I have been looking forward to this morning all week. I bought tons of Navel oranges just to make a juice in the morning with my new juicer. And today, I finally had time to make it!

So I did the same thing as last time except this time I juiced 8 Navel oranges and added about a cup of organic, blueberry juice. Mmmm… it is such a good combination!

My digestion hasn’t been the greatest the past few days for some reason, and let me just say, I stand by the juicing when you’re having digestion issues. It works very well!

For the rest of the morning and part of the afternoon, I did work on the computer. I had a few stressful things to deal with and it took a lot more time than I thought. I did go to the kitchen and slice up 5 golden kiwis that I ate quickly. Eventually I took a shower and did some running around, including getting enough supplies to last me through the rest of the weekend.

Monday will begin a day of green juices all day. So I ordered some green juices from a local juice place that I will be picking up on Sunday. From Tuesday-Thursday, I will be consuming green smoothies. It’s coming! I’m pretty far down the healing spectrum.

When I got home, I was preparing to make my salad. BUT my husband wanted to Skype. So I diverged and sliced up a bunch of mushrooms and made up a quick guacamole type thing to dip it in while talking to him. In the guac, I put an avocado, a Roma tomato, a stalk of green onion, and some lemon juice. It would have been better blended, but I mashed it to save time from getting out the blender.

Well, let’s just say I was on track to getting in a large amount of calories, closer to where I should be. BUT my housemates went to sleep before I could go out to make my salad. And since they are asleep… I couldn’t use my blender, meaning I couldn’t make a dressing which also means I couldn’t have a salad. So… I started thinking hard. I restocked my pile of lettuce while shopping today, and so I wanted to be sure to get in my head of lettuce for today. It took awhile but it hit me… banana and lettuce!

I’ve seen so many people do this, and yet it didn’t come to me right away. So many people take bananas, put them in lettuce, roll the leaf up, and just eat it that way. That was how I was going to make a “salad” of sorts and get my greens in! So that’s what I did.

     

It was so simple, yet actually pretty good. And yes, I know… my bananas were ripening funny. When I received these bananas in my Organic Box, they were the greenest bananas I had ever seen. But, they were ready, so I used them! Tomorrow I should be back on to a “normal” salad.

Review of Symptoms:
-Hair looks good! No grease after 5 days of no washing.
-SKIN IS DRY!!!!!!!! My face is flaking. Need to do some serious moisturizing and consider using coconut oil. Need to start exfoliating as well.
-Digestion is back on track today.
-Noticed a bump on my ring finger… not sure what is up with that.
-Energy is good.
-Face still full of acne… and not normal acne either… deep things that deeper than anything I’ve ever had before… sometimes with a mix of little bumps too.
-Dehydrated. Need to drink more water!!

Weight at the end of the day = 167.2 lbs (down 1.2 lbs since 3 days ago)

Total Calories = 1886 (80% carbs, 12% fat, 8% protein… so much better!)

Journey Through the Healing Chart

Hello everyone.

I have been thinking about this for a long time and finally have decided that now is the time to jump right in. For the past couple of months, I have been intrigued by two charts that I have seen. One was presented by Joe Best from The Best Transformation on YouTube. He presented a chart that categorized the vegan doctors / gurus in a scale from healing diets to athletic diets. Unfortunately, he has recently taken the video down that had that chart so I have requested that he put it back up. I will let you know when/if he does.

For now, I have been presented with another chart that uses diet alone to categorize rather than names of doctors with their suggested diets. It actually breaks down into greater detail the steps on what would be the healing end of Joe’s presented scale. The detailed scale looks like this:

Though I don’t have huge health issues, I have been looking at breaking the hold that food can have on us; the feeling that we have to eat this right now. I watch people around me suffer intense cravings and not be able to stay away from junk foods at events. Food seems to call us to it and have more power than it should ever have over us. Though I have stopped craving foods for quite some time, I wanted to prove to myself that the hold of food is gone. I also have been suffering from bad acne again and have no doubt that it is linked to the vegan junk I was still eating. So as I said previously, I jumped in.

Now, if you are looking at the chart above, there is a dark green level at the bottom that has many foods I do not consume as a vegan. I will not be hitting that level. I am vegan, have been vegan for over a year, and plan on staying vegan for the rest of my life. That level may as well not be there whatsoever.

Looking at the chart again, you will notice the top level is water fasting. I am actually taking this chart one step further and going to be starting with two days of dry fasting. Dry fasting is where not only is food not consumed, but water is not consumed either. Yes, it is risky and not something you can do long-term. In fact, depending on where you live, I wouldn’t recommend more than 3 days at the most. Definitely research this one for yourself before you attempt this as this is the most risky stage of a fasting stage/detox.

So feel free to join me on this journey or simply stand by and watch my progress. I will try to log about each day, what my experiences are and how I’m feeling. I am continuing to live life as normal though my workouts may be lessened in the beginning depending on how I feel. I will discuss how I deal with social situations while I go through each of these phases and hopefully my experiences can advise you on a healing journey you may want to embark on for yourself.

Please remember that I am not a doctor but am simply sharing my own experience. Not everyone reacts to the same things the same ways. My journey is based on my own research, and a simple desire take a new journey with my health to hopefully end up in the best health I have ever had.