Cleanse, Day 8

The first week is complete! How do I feel currently? Stuffy and sick, if you must know. I took the day off to rest after I woke up randomly sick on Saturday morning with a cold that has persisted - detox symptoms, perhaps? Day 8 in the book says "Week 1 is under your belt and no matter how it went, the hardest part is behind you. There will be more icy patches ahead (detox symptoms can pop up at any time), but you've taken some heroic steps." While no one may see this cleanse as heroic, I am nevertheless proud of myself for sticking with it thus far through a week of work and a family party (which offered steak, cheesy mashed potatoes, my FAVORITE pumpkin pie, and lots of wine). My indulgence? A 1 inch square of dark chocolate. To make sure I had something to eat, Eric and I made a big pot of vegan chili and were surprised with how deliciously it turned out (neither of us had made chili before). Then we poured the leftovers over some quinoa yesterday and had another delicious meal! I'm (sadly) going to finish it this afternoon. I've also been pouring in some ground flaxseed, which has a very mild taste and provides some awesome added nutrition.

The juicer!

My veggies!

The juicing is quickly becoming an important part of my diet, though figuring out the logistics have been interesting. There is not much room in the fridge for days of vegetables as it is, so I had little luck stuffing in multiple bags of lettuce and cucumbers. Our first solution, being that it's freezing cold outside, was to try putting some things outside in a cooler. This worked for a few days until temps rose above 50 and then my cucumbers looked very sad. Back to square 1. Just as I was beginning to get really stressed about how to continue this lifestyle and not take over the fridge, we remembered my little fridge from college, which has been gathering dust in the basement. Perfect! Onto the porch it went, where I currently have set up shop.

There's our juicer! It takes me about half an hour in the morning to juice, drink, and clean up, provided that the vegetables have been cut up and prepared the night before. I make about 24oz a day and take a small mason jar to work for the afternoons. 24oz worth has included:

• 1 cucumber, 1 small piece of ginger, 1 wedge of lemon, 1 pear, 2 sticks of celery, 1 large broccoli stem (save the florets to eat later!), 3 leaves of romaine lettuce, 2 leaves of rainbow chard, 1-2 leaves of kale (I've had trouble getting it lately.. they are always sold out!), 2 carrots. 

I've been composting the pulp, but I've heard that you can use it in many recipes as well. Even this morning when I clearly felt sick, drinking the juice perked me up almost immediately - also, I've really been enjoying the taste of this recipe. The juice is really sweet, though perhaps this is just my taste buds changing? Either way, I love it.

Thanks to everyone who gave me soup recipes last week, as well. I'm frankly not used to cooking balanced meals every night and having enough for lunch the next day (what do you mean pb&j is not allowed during this cleanse??) - I've had to become a better planner and I've had to experiment with new recipes with limited time. The success of the chili was a confidence boost though - making a few bigger meals over the weekend to freeze and have later is one option for a busy week, especially when I'm trying to keep up with my PT routines. Oof! I'll have to get the recipe to post.

And as might be expected, as soon as I decided to not eat animal products, that was literally all I wanted. I thought about cheese and chicken and pizza 24/7 for the first few days and I'm still not out of the woods. It's also been hard to find restaurants to go to with friends, as even all the salads have cheese and meat included half the time. I have found though that I'm less congested this week in the mornings and I've been sleeping a little bit better.. hoping this trend continues. I've also discovered Braggs organic apple cider vinegar, which is quickly becoming my favorite homemade remedy. Before I give too much away though, I want to make sure it's really working.. if I'm still as happy with it in a week, I'll post about it. :)

Until then, let's hope the next week provides more delish food and less detoxing, please.