Lately, I've felt kinda crappy. I'm tired, cranky, overwhelmed with school, tired {did I say that already?} and it has left me wondering why. A part of me thinks it could be attributed to my diet. Those of you that know me well, know that I love my Del Taco. Not only do I find it delicious, but Brandon and I can eat dinner together for under $5. I understand this isn't the most nutritious of foods. And if we're being honest, my daily choices in food probably aren't the healthiest either. What? You mean peanut butter crackers and diet coke every single morning for breakfast isn't the best thing I could be putting in my body? Hmph.
Brandon and I have talked about doing a three day juice fast, simply to detox and rid our bodies of 28+ years worth of toxins. But I don't really know where to start. I've scoured the internet and there is almost too much information out there, and a lot of it conflicts with each other. Have any of you done a juice fast? What was your experience? What combinations are actually tasty? I worry that the green smoothies I see are going to taste like grass. We don't have a juicer, can I use a blender? Do I need to stay home from work? Haha, I'm picturing major stomach troubles if you catch my drift, aaaand we only have one bathroom.
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| This was actually delicious with some drizzled olive oil and black pepper |
I've decided I'm also going to try and eat more whole, unprocessed foods. And as much as I love brown rice, veggies and grilled chicken, I certainly cannot eat this for dinner every night or I'd burn out. Do any of you ladies have simple, whole food recipes you want to share with this clueless, pop-tart eating beginner?
HELP!
P.S. I'd never fully be able to give up Del Taco.
28 comments:
I do not have any ideas of you but this bowl of yumminess looks amaz!!
xxoo
I 100% relate to this post. It makes me sad that chocolate chip cookie dough is not a nutritious food item. Or that Five Guys will make me fat!
The boyfriend and I recently did a 30 day Paleo Challenge with our CrossFit gym. You essentially can only eat: lean meats, fruit, veggies, nuts, seeds (although you can unlimited quantities of approved foods). No dairy, grains, sugar or processed food. It's tough - and your body goes through a major detox that may or may not make you want to hurt someone, but it's worth it. I lost like 9 lbs in the 30 days. Sorry for the longest comment ever, but just wanted to share! If you google Robb Wolf - he has a website with a TON of great info!
Joy
I've had mixed results with juice fasts. The thing with green smoothies is you've gotta get enough fruit in there to make it taste good. There is a lot of bathroom time involved, because it's an ALL liquid diet. I'm doing a cleanse right now, but I just decided to do a gluten-free vegan cleanse instead of spending all kinds of time juicing.
I just did a juice fast! This girl was very inspirational and had some great tips: http://ashleymcglass.blogspot.com/search/label/juice%20fast
i know you probably don't want to do the diet i am on but the first cycle detoxes your body, hence why you lose minimum 6 pounds in the first week. we've also done the sacred heart diet to detox in the past...from del taco. ha ha. you know the good thing about my current diet is that i don't even crave the del any longer. maybe a cherry coke now and then but i don't even go.
for a good smoothie i would do the green monster.
I stand behind most of the recipes from Clean Eating Magazine - the 20 minute meals are amazing:
http://www.cleaneatingmag.com/Recipes/20-Minutes-or-Less.aspx
Here is a post on some reviews:
http://www.hope-squared.blogspot.ca/2012/01/meal-plan-jan23-jan29.html
Good luck!
M husband and I are OBSESSED with our blender called the VitaMix. You can get them at Costco. They are quite spendy, but SO worth it. It has the power of a lawn mower. (I'm not kidding) In the morning we throw a whole apple (not sliced, just throw the whole entire thing in), bananas, frozen strawberries, frozen blueberries, and frozen raspberries, and baby spinach in bleeeend! It's delicious. Being veggie haters ourselves, you cannot taste the spinach. We've also thrown in carrots and you can't taste those either! So...if you talked/convinved it over with your hubby, I would look up and invest in a vita-mix :)
I watched this documentary with my boyfriend called "Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead," about a guy who did a juice fast. It was so successful that Steven and I were pricing juicers to start it ourselves! But then I talked to my bestie (who happens to be a dietician) and she basically told me that is silly. She said that's what your kidneys are for --naturally detoxing you. And then she yelled at me for not eating better and exercising more.... :( Haha! Just eat healthier. When you go grocery shopping don't buy things that have more than 5 ingredients listed. Make the transition to whole wheat products versus white and drink lots and lots of water. The best detox you can do (that won't make you feel sick) is simply drinking water! :)
Just my thoughts!...lol
Hey! So I just did a 5 day "juice" cleanse (meaning juice, smoothies, or whole fruits and veggies). First of all, surprisingly you go to the bathroom LESS! Weird huh. I would suggest starting when you are off of work because the first 2 days I felt sooo crappy. I was cranky and pretty feeble, I didn't get headaches though. So yeah, a day off would be a good start! I didn't use any recipes, but did mostly fruit, and then like 2 cups of spinach for the veggies. you cannot taste it - I promise!! I also did brocolli in the juicer, but not sure how that would taste in a smoothie. Smoothies are just as good as a juice, as long as your liquid base has nothing processed in it. We buy the Green Plant Juice at trader joe's and use it for a smoothie base, and that tastes awesome like pineapple.
Also, when you are done with this and want to eat more whole foods, skinnytaste.com has GREAT recipes for eating clean, and so does http://www.eatcleandiet.com/recipes.aspx and http://www.thegraciouspantry.com/
Hope this all helps, I know what you mean about information overload!! I'm happy to answer any questions! :)
Katie
talk to Ashley! She did a juicing for an entire month! She has the best advice for it! I'm actually going to be trying a 3-day green smoothie challenge this weekend. cleanse all those california burrito's out of me!! and the alcohol too :(
i am slowly trying to learn more about healthy cooking and eating as well... the hubs and i have cut out fast food, anything fried, and most sweets. i feel better just doing that... but i am trying to go further and really research what is good for me and why.
a smoothie that i do like is my version of the green monster: 1 banana (peel, cut and freeze then when they are good and ripe), 3-4 strawberries, handful of frozen mango, splash of milk, small handful of ice, several handfuls of spinach, a couple tbs of sweetener (i use splenda or agave).... blend and add milk, ice and spinach until you get the desired consistency/color.... it SHOULD be green... and i swear, it DOESN'T taste like spinach.
i plan on posting as i learn more. but that's all i got for ya now!
but Del Taco is so good!!
lol but yes I agree sometimes our diets do take a toll on us.
Lately I have been using http://eatcleandiet.com/food_and_recipes/clean_recipe.aspx
to find good finds.
I literally Google EVERYTHING.
but like you there is SO much information out there, it is overwhelming & so discouraging.
also I would suggest reading Oxygen Magazine for helpful tips. They have some good tips for cleaning sometimes.
Hope this helps!
xoxo
jessica
I am not the person to talk to about this because I love everything that is bad for me--but I think if you eat healthily like lean meat, veggies and fruite then it is all about moderation and you can still have some of the less good things you like.
those aren't the only whole foods you can eat! When you go shopping read the labels and make sure you 100% know what each ingredient is. If there is something you don't recognize or can't pronounce then don't buy it! Use Pinterest to find good side dish recipes that use veggies. I love making sweet potato fries...so easy with a trickle of olive oil, salt & pepper and then in the oven for about 30 minutes. They are so good and good for you!
If you are doing a juice cleanse though, FYI you can't do the same cleanse with a blender. The juicer removes the juice only and none of the fiberous skin. So if you used a blender you wouldn't be 'cleansing' as much because you are eating the whole fruit and not just the juice!
I have a lot of recipes on the food tab of my blog if you are interested, I would say most of them are very healthy! http://mandeepearson.blogspot.com/p/food.html
good luck!
the biggest advice i would give is try to start every meal with s piece of fruit.. whatever fruit, any fruits, your favorite fruit...
then try to limit your "bad" choices- like del taco, to X amount of times a week... if you slowly start elimintaing the junk and replacing it with healthier options, it won't feel like a terrible "oh my god im on a juice fast mode", ya know?
but yes, i can guarantee 99% of your troubles stem from diet.. which means 99% of your troubles can be easily remedied with diet! (:
so start slowly, start small, and you will see results.. results you LOVE..hehe
(i prefer my blender to my juicer.. because i LOVE fruit! and no, if you add spinach to an all fruit smoothie, you will NOT taste it at all...)
i know other people may think differently but you really do not need to do an extreme juice cleanse to get back on track. Just switch over to eating whole, healthy food and you will be fine. Currently i am obsessed with Kale chips. They are ridiculously easy to make and are delicious. Just wash and break up the kale, put on a baking pan, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt or any spices you may want to flavor it with and bake at 375 for about 15 minutes until the leaves are crunchy. You will think you are eating real bad for you chips but you are not! Enjoy!
Your Del Taco is my Taco Bell. Which may just be as cleansing as a juice fast.
But really, I've been thinking about doing this for awhile as well, and I too, worry about the ahem bathroom situation.
Depending on which one you do, you shouldn't really get an upset stomach. But it will make you go more, you know, #2. ;o) The same thing would happened if you were eating whole, healthy foods and suddenly switched to Little debbie's for 3 days. Your body just isn't used to it. I'm glad you're only doing 3 days to start with. I've got many friends that do the 28-day fasts and I have no idea how they do it. Good luck!!!
My husband and I are on an unprocessed food kick. When I go grocery shopping I TRY to only shop the perimeter of the grocery store.
We eat a lot of fish. It is easy, healthy and tasty. That with a side of green beans-you are set and you have saved enough calories for ice cream afterwards;)
Husband and I did an Isagenix 30 day cleanse. Those are REALLY good because you still get to eat one meal a day...so it's all about balance and if you have a craving, you don't have to completely deny yourself.
It's a bit expensive (I think roughly $300 per person for the entire month), but it replaces 2 meals a day. And you won't quit bc you spent the money.
Otherwise--yeah fruit & spinach smoothies are great. Just had one this morning :)
First you should watch Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead. It will keep you inspired to do the juice cleanse and stick with it.
If possible, get a juicer and use that AND your blender.
Then, get creative. What tastes good to some will not taste good to others. I can put spinach in any juice and it does not bother me however I find celery in a juice to be GROSS! I also can not stand beets in a juice. I find that apples and strawberries mask a lot of funky tastes but apples froth a lot in a juicer.
I normally do a fruit smoothie every day a long with one or two juices. In addition, I eat mostly whole foods and my diet is 100% vegetarian. I must say, I do feel awesome. =)
Good luck!!
I often have the same thoughts and feelings. I would love it if you did a follow up post to this with some recipes you found that you liked and possibly how the juice fast goes :)
I always think the same thing... It feels like everyone always has "the best cleanse or diet" but I think just eating simply and getting exercise is the best thing.
Mmm I love del taco.One thing I like to do is make the "green monster smoothies".It's so good for your hair skin,and digestion and tastes so yummy even my husband likes it!
It's so simple...
1 banana
1-2 handfuls of spinach
1 cup of frozen peaches
1 cup of frozen pineapple
and add some water.
ice is optional too.
then blend.
The peaches and pineapple can be substituted for any other berries or fruit you might like.
You honestly cannot taste the spinach and after I drink it I feel so clean and refreshed.
Hope this helps! :)
My husband and I have become juice loving freaks!!! We bought a juicer off of Ebay for pretty cheap and have totally noticed a difference in our diet and the things we crave. We were originally inspired by the documentary "Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead." It's free on Hulu and Netflix...completely inspirational and motivating! My husband did a strictly juice diet for about 2 weeks. Maybe if you're thinking about doing a 3 day cleanse, start it on a Friday so you have all day Saturday and Sunday to be close to a bathroom...and be away from people! Haha! Literally, the first 3 days of a cleanse you want to kill {and eat} everyone in sight! It's not until day 5 that you really start to feel the natural "high" or energy that the cleanse provides. And sorry for the novel, but I hope this helps!
xo,
Marcie
A Sigh and Sanity
FAT SICK AND NEARLY DEAD is an awesome movie! its really inspiring. i def suggest juicing - you feel incredible. i find it to be more of a mental challenge than physical one. i have done a juice fast, and felt just as overwhelmed with information when i began looking into juice fasting, too. i LOVE blueprint cleanse. they are a nutritional cleanse designed to detoxify your body while still filling it up with good stuff. blueprint's cleanse programs are about 20lbs of produce a day in juice form, so i felt really good about following the program. plus, they send you lots of emails with advice before and during your cleanse so you can best prepare for the detox (they even send a list of "cheats" should you need to nibble. luckily i didnt have to use any. it was nice to know they were there though.). i cleansed with a few friends to get the group discount, but if you are on a budget, blueprint has a book which has lots of recipes for you to follow your own cleanse, and also TONs of information (benefits of juicing, how it works, what different ingredients do for your body, etc.) helpful! best of luck to you and i'm sure you will have an amazing cleanse!
no matter how you prepare...nothing can get you ready for it.
i know, not so positive.
i'd say juice til dinner and then eat something sensible for a few days to really see how the hunger is.
after mine, i've just started eating fruits and veggies til like 3 then i want to eat healthy.
and the weekends are a free for all. as in. cheetos. fun yuns. burritos ;)
you can do it! it's definitely an interesting challenge. and tweet ashley if you're going to break she's awesome at keeping you going!! :)
good luck :)
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