the cleanse

Why is it that weekends are always filled with tasty temptations? Oh! I know...cause the weekends are sooo much better than weekdays. Better things just always happen on Saturdays and Sundays. 
As it turns out, my Saturdays and Sundays are sometimes not so #EatClean as they should. Therefore, I rely on my Tone It Up Bounce Back Smoothie to snap me back early Monday morning. 
But this weekend I felt so bummed about bad eating choices that I made an impulse decision to  do a juice cleanse. If I make it through today, I would like to do this for 3 consecutive days. 

The breakdown...
I don't have a juicer. And I am not forking over $200 for someone to juice for me. So how in the world will this work? My trusty blender. Sometimes I think I spend more quality time with it than my fiance. {JK haha} 


Go on a Google trip and you will find one billion opinions on juice vs. blend. What I took away from it {in the four minutes I spent reading.....} is that when you juice you lose some of the fiber. Since I don't mind the slightly chunky texture of blended drinks and have no aversions to increased fiber...I am down with blending. {I use the "liquify" setting on mine}

{packed and ready!}

Meal 1 Smoothie {breakfast}: The Green Starter

• 2 stalks of kale leaves
• 1/2 sliced and frozen cucumber
• 1/2 banana 
• 3 strawberries
• 1 1/2 cups of organic carrot juice
• 1 scoop brown rice protein powder
• 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
• 2-6 oz water as needed

Meal 2 Smoothie: Great Grapefruit

• 1/2 grapefruit
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 8 oz water

Meal 3 Smoothie {lunch}: The Green Starter {again...}

• 2 stalks of kale leaves
• 1/2 sliced and frozen cucumber
• 1/2 banana 
• 3 strawberries
• 1 1/2 cups of organic carrot juice
• 1 scoop brown rice protein powder
• 2 tablespoons ground flaxseed
• 2-6 oz water as needed

Meal 4 Smoothie: Veg Out

• Handful of baby carrots
• 1/2 cucumber
• 1/2 celery
• 3+ florets of raw broccoli 
• 3+ florets of raw cauliflower
• 5+ baby tomatoes
• 6 ounces of water

It's a bit after 4 pm now and I am sucking down my M4 Smoothie. This is the one that I was most worried about. Broccoli and Cauliflower are far from being my favorite vegetable. Especially raw. And never have I ever had tomatoes in my smoothies so that was a new venture as well. It is the most vegetable tasting one, reminds me of a V8. I am able to get it down when I remind myself of all the amazing nutrients that it is packed with. 

All 3 smoothies today have been sooo very good. I drink the Green Starter every single morning and have become very accustomed to its taste...I actually LOVE it! The grapefruit smoothie made getting in my daily grapefruit one billion times easier; grapefruit is one of my favorite fruits but it can be messy to eat at my desk. 

I have been reading that when people go on juice cleanses they tend to keep their workouts very light or cut them out all together. I am not really feeling that route...I still want to workout and Josh is less than thrilled to drink his dinner so I am going to stick to a lean & green dinner. That requires a fork instead of a straw. This will consist of baked fish or chicken {seasoned with lemon juice and Mrs Dash} and fresh roasted veggies {asparagus or brussel sprouts}. Hopefully this won't entirely kill my cleanse plan. 

In case you were wondering {deepest apologies if you weren't}, I have been peeing constantly. Also no headaches, crankiness, stomach pains or negative side effects. But the cleanse is young! 

Cheers

:) amc

Two more things. 

1. While I would like to lose weight, I am NOT doing this cleanse for that purpose. I am doing it to kill my curiosity about the whole cleanse phenom. 

2. If you find that this is unhealthy or I am doing something so totally wrong, please tell me!!!