Follow Up: Cleanse & Detox in Photos

As a follow up from this post on my cleanse & detox, I wanted to share some pictures of what it looks like. If you're a visual person like me, having colorful photos of what you're getting yourself into can help, can offer some food inspiration, and can make the cleanse seem much less scary and easier to tackle. These are photos I took last year when I cleansed - take a look!

Breakfast

This was the least painful meal since the last 2 weeks I've gotten into this green smoothie kick.

Granted this one had no greens and less fruit - so I have to admit less filling.

It also incorporated peanut butter (and don't get me wrong, I love peanut butter) but I didn't care for it mixed with the shake. Believe it or not, I'll stick to the spinach, kale and fruit smoothie.

Lunch

Okay, I'm going to admit right now D and I did some cheating. But it's not what you think, I swear! We weren't sneaking in scoops of Ben and Jerry ice cream or anything, however I was taking our "two snacks" during the day and incorporating it into our lunches and dinner. Mainly because I wasn't hungry for a snack during "snack time" but also because it bulked up our meals. Yeah, maybe it defeats the purpose of following an exact meal plan, but hey -- at least I'm trying right?

As you can see above, I used the cup of cucumber allotted for a snack and made a salad that included a spring mix and broiled chicken that I seasoned with garlic and onion spices. And the dressing was made with olive oil we were allowed to have, mixed with balsamic vinegar.

Dinner

Similar to lunch we "cheated" and made our asparagus snack as a side for our dinner. This time I topped the chicken on a bed of arugula which has a nice peppery flavor. I did the best I could to make these meals look appetizing, and I think I did a pretty good job if I do say so myself. 

Did anyone else try the detox? What did you think of this plan?

xo Steph

2014: The Perfect Time for a Cleanse & Detox

With the new year and new resolutions, this is the perfect time to restart your body with a cleanse & detox. It's kinda like a fresh start (physically and symbolically) for your body to get rid of all the bad stuff we ate during the holidays (I know I overindulged!!) and get back on track to a healthy lifestyle. I acutally did this cleanse with D back in May of last year and I really felt the benefits. Not only did I feel  cleansed, but energized and excited to eat cleaner. So what did I use?  I picked up this book "Look Better Naked" by the editors of Women's Health magazine which gives you a 6 week plan to basically look, well hot! They suggest using the 2-day cleanse to kickstart your 6 week plan but you don't have to use it. I did this cleanse again starting new years day and I'm feeling so excited to restart my body and try to stick to the 6 week eating and working out plan!

In a nut shell, the 2-Day Cleanse looks a little something like this:

Breakfast:
Light shake
Blend 1 cup fat-free (soy, almond, rice or hemp) milk
1 cup berries
1tsp peanut butter or flax seed oil
1 cup ice

Snack:
1 cup sliced cucumbers
1 cup green tea

Lunch:
steamed or raw greens (romaine, spinach, mesclun, arugula, kale etc.)
4 oz. lean protein (white meat chicken, firm tofu or fish)
2 tsp oil (olive, sunflower or walnut)

Snack:
10 asparagus spears, blanched
1 cup green tea

Dinner:
same as lunch

Yeah, to some this might look like their regular food plan. But to me, this looks meager and challenging. The shake I know I'll be able to do because I've been drinking breakfast smoothies for the past few weeks and I'm totally down with it! The nice thing with this plan is we are allowed to add spices and fresh herbs to make the meals more appetizing. For example, I think I'm going to add a little vinegar and fresh dill to make a cold cucumber salad -- that's more flavorful right? We are also allowed 2tsp of oil with both lunch and dinner to use how we want. I'm thinking of mixing that with some balsamic vinegar to make a vinaigrette and fresh herbs to make a dressing for my fresh greens. Lastly, I'm trying to think about how to liven up that meat since we are only allowed to bake or broil it. I'm thinking chicken could be marinated in fresh lemon juice and cracked black pepper. And fish I could experiment with some spices and use a rub. 

and a little humor to reminds ourselves to laugh when we're lashing out in hunger (I do this, do you?!)

Has anyone else ever done a detox and cleanse, and if so how did it go??
Anyone else committing to a healthier lifestyle for 2014?

xo Steph

cleanse & detox {in photos}

As promised, I wanted to share with you what my cleanse & detox weekend looked like. In all honesty I have to say it wasn't as bad as I anticipated. And granted I can easily say that now that it's all over, but seriously....wasn't that terrible. It was actually nice to know that for two days I was eating nothing more than whole, natural foods, that were minimally processed and as close to it's natural state as possible. I really feel like I got a lot of crap and toxins out of my body and felt refreshed (though a bit weak) come Monday morning and felt like I even lost some water weight. And who knows, maybe this did nothing at all for me, but mentally I feel like I did something good for my body (almost like hitting a restart button) and definitely getting a much needed jumpstart on that bikini body. Because you know what they say, summer bodies are made in the winter. I guess that would be spring for me. Boo! What a slacker I am, I'm already behind.  Check out the exact cleanse diet in stuck to in {this post}.

Breakfast

This was the least painful meal since the last 2 weeks I've gotten into this green smoothie kick.

Granted this one had no greens and less fruit - so I have to admit less filling.

It also incorporated peanut butter (and don't get me wrong, I love peanut butter) but I didn't care for it mixed with the shake. Believe it or not, I'll stick to the spinach, kale and fruit smoothie.

Lunch

Okay, I'm going to admit right now D and I did some cheating. But it's not what you think, I swear! We weren't sneaking in scoops of Ben and Jerry ice cream or anything, however I was taking our "two snacks" during the day and incorporating it into our lunches and dinner. Mainly because I wasn't hungry for a snack during "snack time" but also because it bulked up our meals. Yeah, maybe it defeats the purpose of following an exact meal plan, but hey -- at least I'm trying right?

As you can see above, I used the cup of cucumber allotted for a snack and made a salad that included a spring mix and broiled chicken that I seasoned with garlic and onion spices. And the dressing was made with olive oil we were allowed to have, mixed with balsamic vinegar.

Dinner

Similar to lunch we "cheated" and made our asparagus snack as a side for our dinner. This time I topped the chicken on a bed of arugula which has a nice peppery flavor. I did the best I could to make these meals look appetizing, and I think I did a pretty good job if I do say so myself. 

Drinks

Other than water, we were allowed to have green tea. So let me tell you, we went to townnn on the green tea. I am already a tea freak and have over the years gotten D hooked as well so this one saved us. Having a hunger pain? Have some tea. Getting cranky because you're starving? Have some tea.

Tea. saved. our. life.

With our cleansing weekend we also had a a nice chance to reconnect. 

As I've mentioned before I'm in my crazy busy season at work, so for the last two months I have been working late 3 days a week and getting home around 10:30. That has been sucky, and means I never see D, let alone have time to blog. There's just never any time!!

Remember that episode of Saved by the Bell where Jessie Spano has so much to do, gets addicted to caffeine pills and crashes and burns.

Yeah that's me.

But this past weekend we had time to drink tea on our fire escape and watch the world go by....

and that I loved.

Feeling cleansed and ready to take on the world weekend!

xo Steph

cleanse & detox

What am I doing this weekend? Well thanks for asking! Actually D and I are going to be doing a weekend cleanse and detox. Yup, you heard that right! So basically here is what's going to happen. I've been wanting to "kick-start" a healthy lifestyle lately (which has been so hard for me the past few months because I am in my "busy season" at work -- which means a lot of late nights and eating convenience food on the go) so I feel like it's showing in my waist line. Not ok. Enter the cleanse and detox weekend. I picked up this book "Look Better Naked" by the editors of Women's Health magazine which gives you a six week plan to basically look, well hot! This begins with a weekend to cleanse your body of all the yummy not-so-good-for-you things to start with a clean slate so to speak.

In a nut shell, the 2-Day Cleanse looks a little something like this:

Breakfast:
Light shake
Blend 1 cup fat-free (soy, almond, rice or hemp) milk
1 cup berries
1tsp peanut butter or flax seed oil
1 cup ice

Snack:
1 cup sliced cucumbers
1 cup green tea

Lunch:
steamed or raw greens (romaine, spinach, mesclun, arugula, kale etc.)
4 oz. lean protein (white meat chicken, firm tofu or fish)
2 tsp oil (olive, sunflower or walnut)

Snack:
10 asparagus spears, blanched
1 cup green tea

Dinner:
same as lunch

Yeah, to some this might look like their regular food plan. But to me, this looks meager and challenging. The shake I know I'll be able to do because I've been drinking breakfast smoothies for the past few weeks and I'm totally down with it! The nice thing with this plan is we are allowed to add spices and fresh herbs to make the meals more appetizing. For example, I think I'm going to add a little vinegar and and fresh dill to make a cold cucumber salad -- that's more flavorful right? We are also allowed 2tsp of oil with both lunch and dinner to use how we want. I'm thinking of mixing that with some balsamic vinegar to make a vinaigrette and fresh herbs to make a dressing for my fresh greens. Lastly, I'm trying to think about how to liven up that meat since we are only allowed to bake or broil it. I'm thinking chicken could be marinated in fresh lemon juice and cracked black pepper. And fish I could experiment with some spices and use a rub. But let me tell, this is going to be quite the challenge....

I'm hoping I feel energized and revitalized after this. Otherwise right now I'm having visions of D and I extremely grumpy and irritable because we're hangry (angry because you're hungry) and end up turning on each other in our starvation state! Haha ok maybe I am being a little dramatic -- but truth be told, we've both been known for getting moody when we're hungry. Hope we make it out of this alive and well!

We're going to Trader Joe's or Whole Foods tonight (crazy kids we are) to prepare for the weekend  and to kick-start the next 6 weeks of healthy eating (which I'll be sharing on the blog next week). Wish us luck and I'll let know how I'm feeling on Monday!

yup, pretty much.

Has anyone else ever done a detox and cleanse, and if so how did it go??

Needing words of encourage here....

Wish me luck!

xo Steph