Belated Menu Monday and Detox final thoughts

Totally forgot about Menu Monday last week.   I was so busy blogging about the Dr. Oz Detox Cleanse that I forgot to talk about the real food I was eating.  Speaking of the cleanse, I never shared my final thoughts once it was over.  

It’s been over a week since I finished the fast and I can’t say it changed my life. I’m back to the weight I was when I started. I don’t really feel any better than when I started either. I was however, affected by my inability to do the fast without cheating.  It made me see that my food habits are way out of control. I’m addicted to eating, especially eating terrible food.  So I’m trying to be accountable to my food intake. It’s not easy but I’m going to get there. 

Of all the times I’ve ever tried to lose weight and get healthier, this has been the hardest. Normally, I’ve gotten that initial big drop that encourages me to keep going but I can’t seem to lose a single pound. Still, I fight and hope that one day I’ll start feeling and looking better.

Oh, also, the detox showed me that smoothies at breakfast are a great way to front load your day with healthy nutrients. Plus, I can drink them on the go, while taking Max to school!

Here’s what we are eating this week. The Labor Day holiday threw me off and I keep thinking today is Monday.  We spent the long weekend in Chicago at my parents. Each summer they grow an amazing garden with more fruits and veggies than the two of them can normally eat.  We happily took home some of the harvest and most of dinner is based around our haul.

Tuesday: Jamaican Jerk Pulled Pork Tostada with homemade Jerk Seasoning and topped with homemade salsa.

Wednesday: Breakfast Wrap, Fruit Salad

Thursday: Cinco de Nachos (Happy start of NFL Season!)

Friday: Apple Cider Chicken

Saturday:  loaded eggplant, Un-fried green tomatoes

Sunday: Leftovers

Breakfast Smoothies: Berry Green Smoothie, Blueberry gone Nuts

Part of the haul included a ton of habanero peppers.  Any ideas on what to do with them? I like spice but I’m afraid these might kill me. 

Slimming Saturday: Setting Goals

Sometimes my inner defeatist gets the best of me and I’m convinced I’ll never get to a healthy weight. Right now, my inner defeatist the loudest voice in my head.

The day after I finished the Dr. Oz cleanse, I was down 7 lbs.  The next day, 5 of those were back, and they haven’t budged.  I’ve been staring at the same number on the scale for weeks, minus the loss from the cleanse.

I’ve been working out, hard, daily.  With Max in school I can devote more time to the gym and I’ve been trying to things to knock my body out of it’s rut. I’m getting more than the daily recommended amount of exercise. I’m doing some light weight lifting too to help with toning.

It’s my food.  It’s always my food.  I start the morning with good intentions.  I have a healthy green smoothie and I put it in my tracker. I usually track my lunch.  Then it goes downhill from there.

Now that I stay at home, I’m surrounded by more temptation. There’s always a treat for Max or Brett in the kitchen. Last week it’s been fudge and jerky brought home from our recent Michigan vacation.  Yesterday it was cookies that Max and I made to bring to Chicago.

I know what to do.  Chew gum.  Wait 10 minutes to make sure I really want it.  Find something else to occupy myself.  Do I do it?  No.  I feel like I have a mental block. Like I don’t want to lose band enough.  What is scaring me about this process?  Do I not want to give up the foods I love?  Do I not want my entire life to revolve around my diet plans?  I don’t know.  I’m just rambling in hopes that I can find some breakthrough in journaling.

It’s time to set some small goals to help me get going.  Here is my goal for the first week of September. 

      1)   Track ALL FOOD 4 out of 7 days.

      2)   Take all vitamins and probiotics 6 of 7 days.

      3)   Spend 30 minutes each day on Spark People

      4)   Take measurements. Maybe I’m losing inches but not lbs.

Also, in order to make the possibility of weight loss more tangible, I’m setting up some weight loss rewards

5 lbs- pair of shoes

10 lbs-60 min massage

15 lbs- A new purse

20 lbs- 90 min massage

Weight Change from last week: +1.2

Dr. Oz Three Day Cleanse Detox: Day 3 (Thank Goodness)

This is my series about my experience with the Dr. Oz Three Day Detox Cleanse.  Check here for my post on why I decided to attempt the the cleanse and how I prepped the ingredients beforehand and here for my experience on Day 1 and Day 2.

Dinner Smoothie

There isn’t anything special about the dinner smoothie.  It’s not bad, but it wasn’t great.  The coconut water helps to sweeten the smoothie up a bit but the avocado makes for a weird texture and unappetizing color.

The blueberries and kale don’t blend smooth either (at least in my blender) so I found it to be rather gritty. Oh, and the ¼ teaspoon of cayenne pepper is bizarre. It’s not a enough to make the smoothie spicy but it does give it a strange sensation in the aftertaste.  It’s hard to describe.  

Hint: if you a blending in stages, add the cayenne at the start so it fully incorporates into the smoothie.  I made the mistake of forgetting it until the end and I didn’t blend well enough.  I got a surprise sip that contained a large portion of the ¼ teaspoon!

For hunger, this was the most satisfying smoothie. I think the fats in the avocado helped. If you are a mid-day snacker like me, it would make for a good snack smoothie.

How I felt on Day 3

Day 3 was the worst. Simply terrible. My headache was stronger and my cravings were almost impossible to ignore. I still made it to the gym but felt lethargic during my entire workout. I had a meeting that morning and every restaurant I passed while driving looked delicious. Even Skyline. 

If you haven’t spent time in the Cincinnati area you probably haven’t heard of Cincinnati Style chili or it’s mother restaurant, Skyline.  I’ll probably get tarred and feather for saying this, but it’s vile. But on day three, I would have happily scarfed down a 3-way. *

But I digress.   Day three was not good.  I just felt crappy.  All I could think about was food.  I wanted a hot meal. I was sick of cold smoothies.

This was not my experience the first time I did the cleanse. Last time, by day three I had lost all cravings. Sure, I wanted to actually chew something, but I wasn’t pining for bread or a Snickers the way I did this time. 

I almost completed caved at dinner.  At the last minute we decided to meet some friends at a local park for barbeque and music.  I didn’t have dinner planned for Hubs and Kiddo and after a long week it would be nice to socialize with other families.  When we arrived at the park, the smell hit me before we got out of the car.  Ribs.  My goodness I love ribs.  Mac n cheese.  Baked Beans. Beer!  All my favorite things, right in front of me.  I couldn’t help it.  While I didn’t get a meal, I did steal 3 macaroni noodles off Max’s plate.  I also took a tiny sample of ribs, just to compare them to my own recipe. (Mine were better). At least I refrained from sampling the beer.

When we got home, like the night before, I passed out on the couch by 9:30, headache still raging and the thought of eggs and toast in the morning sweetening my dreams. I didn’t even bother with the detox bath.

Answer to questions

On Facebook, a friend asked if I was doing this to lose weight or to feel better.  I was doing this to feel better since after vacation I was feeling bloated and gross. However, this detox is designed to help jumpstart your metabolism, which I need in an effort to start losing weight.  Also, weight loss does happen while doing this, since you are eating much cleaner than one normally would.  I’ve seen the numbers drop and will give a final total on my wrap up.

Jenn asked about the intensity of my workouts during the cleanse. On day one, I didn’t work out at all.  It wasn’t on purpose. It was just a busy day.  That said, I would probably avoid a major workout on day one since your body is adjusting to the change you spend most of the day wanting to eat solid food. Speaking for myself, a workout would only make me more hungry and likely to give up and eat a solid meal. During the next two days I did light workouts but that was because of extenuating circumstances. The day before the cleanse I tried a new weight routine and destroyed my legs.  I spent the next two days limping and cringing every time I had to stand up, sit down or go up stairs.  I really couldn’t do anything but some light cardio to loosen me up.

If you are doing super long runs or intense workouts I might suggest doing to the cleanse when you can take a break from those things. Maybe by day three you’ll be feeling better, but it could lead to more hunger, thus leading to more temptation.

*I realize I just offended most of Cincinnati by hating on a beloved institution.  Would I win your love back by saying Graeters is the best ice cream in the world. I’ve had lots of ice cream in lots of places and nothing, not even the most hipster locally owned, milked the cow in the backyard earlier that morning ice cream shop can outshine Graeters. I could eat Buckeye Blitz every day for the rest of my life. 

Dr Oz Three Day Cleanse Detox: Day 2

This is my series about my experience with the Dr. Oz Three Day Detox Cleanse.  Check here for my post on why I decided to attempt the the cleanse and how I prepped the ingredients beforehand and here for my experience on Day 1.

Lunch Smoothie

I won’t lie.  This smoothie is a doozy. It’s veggie heavy (Kale, cucumber, celery) making a thick, fibrous drink.  Before I started this cleanse I read some reviews from others equally crazy detoxers. The biggest complaint was regarding the lunch smoothie.  By day 3, most people had manipulated the recipe to make it more palatable.  Here’s what I did to make it drinkable.

•             Add more almond milk.  There was NO WAY my blender could process all the ingredients without more liquid.  The recipe calls for ½ c of almond milk but I needed a full cup more to help it blend.  Otherwise, it would have been more salad than smoothie
•             Trim and peel the celery. I cut off all the celery leaves and the thick white bottoms. I also peeled the top layer which is where most of the stringiness comes from. I only used three stalks instead of four. 
•             Peel and seed the cucumber.  Cucumber skin is super bitter, so by peeling it you greatly enhance the flavor of the smoothie.  I’m sure there’s some benefit to the skin, but I would have been unable to drink the smoothie and given up on the cleanse if I didn’t peel and seed.
•             Use tiny pieces of pineapple.  If you are using store bought frozen pineapple, this is less of a problem, but I cut and froze my own.  My blender had a tough time blending the pineapple so I found smaller chunks helped the process. Also, I added a few more chunks of pineapple to the mix to help along the flavor.
•             Just add the lime juice/pulp.  Dr. Oz just says one lime and doesn’t specify how to prep it.  Some people just threw the lime in whole.  No thanks.  Lime peel is bitter. I juiced my lime, getting as much pulp as I could into the mix. 

Despite all those tips, my blender still had a tough time processing all the food.  I few times I had to get out a spoon and manually mix to help it along. 

This makes a TON of smoothie.  I had trouble drinking the whole thing and I read some people saved half of it for a snack. Despite the complaints from others, with the tips I mentioned above, I didn’t find the flavor all that bad. With the pineapple and coconut oil it had a tropical feel.   My three year old actually liked it and requested his own small glass!

Drinking in a smoothie in beer glass didn't make me feel any better about not drinking beer. 

How I felt on Day 2

Day 2 was a bit better than Day 1, until evening when my detox headache got the best of me.  I did get a decent workout on Day 2 and then spent the afternoon pushing Max around the steep hills of the Cincinnati Zoo in the blazing sun. Despite drinking mass quantities of water, I’m sure that didn’t help.

I managed to avoid all of the tasty zoo treats, even when Max was given a free Icee.  In the heat, that fluorescent blue Icee looked damn delicious.  I did accidently cheat later in the day when without thinking, I popped some Chex Mix into my mouth while making Max a snack.  I did it again when cutting up some broccoli. That was an eye opener.  How many wasteful calories do I consume by mindlessly popping food in my mouth just because it’s in front of me?  It’s a serious concern and I need to get better at being aware.  Has anyone combatted this issue before?  I’d love suggestions on ways to be more mindful.

Free things have no calories

I still spent the day craving real food.  I had half a breakfast smoothie as a snack (Max drank the other half when I wasn’t paying attention) and it helped the afternoon hunger binge.  Like yesterday, I took my detox bath while my guys ate a proper dinner. Despite being upstairs engulfed in steamy lavender/Epsom salt bliss, the aroma of burgers and roasted broccoli still made it’s way to the bathroom to taunt me. I don’t know if this was part of the detox or not, but I sweated like crazy during the bath.  This didn’t happen the night before.

I sucked down a dinner smoothie around 7:30. By 8:15 I fell asleep on the couch wrapped in Brett’s arms, hoping that by day 3 I would have the amazing energy all the other reviewers experienced

Dr Oz 3-Day Cleanse Detox: Day 1

This is my series about my experience with the Dr. Oz Three Day Detox Cleanse.  Check here for my post on why I decided to attempt the the cleanse and how I prepped the ingredients beforehand. 

I have a lot to say about each smoothie so I figured I would go through one each day and then discuss how I felt during each day of the detox.

Breakfast Smoothie

Having done this cleanse once before I was looking forward to the breakfast smoothie. It’s by far the best of the day, probably because it has the least amount of veggies. 

This one also blends up the easiest.  As much as I would love to have some uber expensive blender that turns ski’s into dust, I just can’t justify the expense. (PS My birthday is in December). So instead make due with my mediocre Oster blender.  I’m a regular green smoothie drinker, so I’ve learned a few tips to help turn fiberous fruits and veggies into a smooth beverage.  First, blend the leafy greens (in this case spinach) and the liquid (in this case, water) together until the greens are liquefied.  Once that is done, add the rest of the ingredients. If your recipe requires a ton of solids (like the lunch smoothie) add the fibrous ones first, blend, then add the rest.

This is where me blending spinach and water. I once read you can fit a mason jar on your blender so you can make the smoothie in the jar, then drink it right out of the jar, thus saving dishes.  It doesn't work.  Immediately after snapping this picture, green liquid started rapidly flowing out of my blender!

For this smoothie I was able to add the raspberries, banana, lemon, flax and almond butter all together and it blended into a pretty pink concoction.   I’m generally anti-banana but I found when I use frozen bananas, the banana-ness is tamped down to level that doesn’t make me gag. Plus, frozen bananas provide a smooth texture.  

If think you’ll have a texture issue when trying to drink the smoothie, try using a straw and adding some ice to the drink to make it super cold.

How I felt

 I cheated before I even got to the first smoothie of the day.  Fail.  

I’ve been trying to cut down on my coffee consumption so the green tea switch wasn’t hard.  Don’t get me wrong, I love coffee and I won’t be cutting it out of my diet any time soon but I’ve cut down from 3 to 1 cups a day, so it wasn’t hard to cut it out completely, temporarily.  If you told me I couldn’t have it ever again however, I might freak out.

Anyway, the only problem with green tea is that I cannot, under any circumstances drink it on an empty stomach.  If I do, I’ll be vomiting within 10 minutes.

Well, guess who forgot that rule? 

I was planning to make my smoothie after I dropped Max off at school, so when the stomach pains hit I didn’t have time to throw one together.  I grabbed a few chunks of cantaloupe as I went out the door and prayed I didn’t barf on the new teacher.  That would have been a terrible way to start his first year of school.

The breakfast smoothie was sufficient sustenance until I had a late lunch at 2pm.  Despite the lunch smoothie being HUGE, by 5pm I was starving.  Late afternoon has always been a trigger time for me.  It’s when I have my worst eating habits.  So not only was I legit hungry but the little devil over my shoulder was telling me “This is the time we stuff our face.  You know there is fudge and jerky in the fridge, right”.   

I managed to ward it off til 5:30 when I cut Max a slice of fudge and gave myself a tiiiiiinnnnnnyyyy piece.   At that point, I figured I might as well have an early dinner and made the dinner smoothie.

Later, we took Max to get ice cream to celebrate the first day of school and I just looked on while Brett and Max consumed my favorite dessert.  I didn’t even have a taste when offered.  Go me!

In order to avoid further temptation while Brett and Max ate dinner I took my detox bath while they dined on the most delicious looking salad I’ve ever seen in my life.  The bath is amazing, though when I got out I was woozy and had a terrible headache.  Apparently, the detox headache is a common thing.  After an hour I felt even worse and couldn’t stomach drinking another smoothie as a snack. I caved and had a small mixed green salad with balsamic vinegar and one pepperoncini. 

I feel a little crappy about cheating, despite it being a healthy one. I feel like I can’t follow through on anything. However, one slip up isn’t the end of the world. It’s not a reason to stop the entire process.

So I’ll try again tomorrow and I’ll do my best.  I can’t say I’ve noticed any major difference in how I feel or look.  Maybe once the headache goes away I’ll start to notice something.

If you have any questions about this cleanse, please feel free to ask them in the comments. I’ll be happy to answer them based on my experience.