TMI (Toe Much Info)

Crazy Sexy Diet Announcement

1.  The toe fungus I've been fighting with my usual natural skin cure-all (neem) for months has nearly healed itself even with no neem or other medication. I've been fighting it for a long time. I thank the CSD.

2. At the risk of jinxing myself, we had a nasty croup-like virus pass through my preschool program. It touched every child and teacher and several parents. All I got was a sore throat.  Again, I thank the CSD.

What's true for me is, the CSD suggests things to do and eat that I already knew I should be doing, but I needed someone to tell me in the form of a book to do it.  I'm so glad I started this thing.

*Steph*

So Sushi

For lunch today, I made these I Am Loved Nori Rolls from Kris Carr's book and they are great. Very basic ingredients inside 'em (pea sprouts, carrots, avocado, rice and tahini), but something about the way the tahini and wasabi interact is phenomenal.  I'm making these again tomorrow!

Smoothie of the day: although I didn't exactly follow the fruits to veggies ratio for my 10am breakfast smoothie, it was so good that I had to share:

 The Use-your-imagination-because-I-have-no-photo Vegan Lowish Sugar Smoothie

6 kale leaves
a couple broccoli flowers
2 small dates
4 ripe figs
1 tablespoons cashew butter
1/4 (?) cup rolled oats
10ish frozen organic blueberries
Half water, half almond milk to process

Put it in an opaque bottle because the color which is purplish grey, thank you kale and blueberries. It tasted as good as a chocolate smoothie, but maybe because there was a lot of sugar from the dates and figs. But hey, something had ton sweeten the six kale leaves!

Today's juice: half a cucumber, two stalks celery, a beet, a handful of cilantro, a few broccoli florets, a few kale leaves, six or so romaine leaves.

Sexy Time!

Okay that might seem like a weird title if you don't remember the movie "Borat"!

Yesterday would be my 

Day 21

except...

we went camping over the weekend and I didn't really follow the CSD protocol.

How did that work for me?

I feel horrible and gross and heavy and tired today! We had soup for dinner because we both feel sick.

I'm throwing away those extra marshmallows that are asking to be roasted in the oven and thrown on a graham cracker.  Those will compromise my immune system enough to get me sick immediately, I can feel it.

That's me, today. I don't have any better pictures on hand. 
Skinny enough, right?

A note about weight loss

Last Friday, someone noticed I had lost weight.

And I have, almost 10 pounds actually.

And that's despite the fact that I had almost an entire jar (the big ones!) of peanut butter in the first week of the cleanse.  I have since switched to almond and cashew butters.

I'm going to continue the cleanse but I'm adding in a breakfast/snack at 10am-ish. It will probably be oatmeal or a kale smoothie. 

Why continue?

I have never felt better in my entire life, 

not even when I was a vegetarian yogi.

I feel like this diet was made just for me,

like a special gift from the cosmos

(which I am totally connected with today,

because I actually remembered to meditate!)

One of my weird embarrassing stories

Last night I ate two marshmallows on graham cracker sandwiches before bed (total CSD faux pas!) I woke up this morning dreaming I had made these little clear gelatin pellets in muffin molds and I was taking them out of the refrigerator. It was strange and random and gross.  After I awoke I had to wonder if my body was surprised at the presence of the gelatin-laden marshmallows and couldn't figure out what to do with it, and my brain picked up on the weird signals of digestion and processed it in a dream.

On that note, I must share a related quote from the Crazy Sexy Diet book:

"SHIT FOR BRAINS--Ever heard of the brain-gut connection? Dr. Michael Gershon, a researcher at Columbia university, calls the gut the "second brain". The gut has its very own nervous system, the small intestine alone has as many neurons as your spinal cord. Neurotransmitters are natural chemicals that transmit signals from one part of your brain to another. Guess what? They're also found in your intestines. In fact, a whopping 95 percent of all serotonin, one of the most important neurotransmitters, is made by nerve cells in your gut. And get this--the gut has at least seven different kinds of serotonin receptors. An imbalance in serotonin levels can be an underlying cause of depression. If one brain is out of balance, it stands to reason that the other one (the one you're using to read this) might be out of balance, too.  Many people with depression and anxiety also have bowel trouble. Maybe we need to pop less Prozac and pump out more poop." (Chapter 5).

Once upon a time, there were two salads

This is too easy!

It's SO easy being vegan.

It's SO easy eating a diet of 60% raw food.

(I'll be ready for the 80% goal very soon!)

This much stuff made two salads. One for dinner, one for lunch tomorrow.

1 small cucumber

1 avocado

3 rainbow chard leaves

5 romaine leaves

1 small ear of corn (cooked)

1/2 sweet potato (baked)

4 figs

tofu, raw or cooked

simple dressing:

hazelnut oil

balsamic vinegar

stone ground mustard

pinch of salt

cracked black pepper

top view:

bottom view:

make sure you take bites of sweet potato with bites of avocado.  

those two are a match made in heaven!

AND

don't forget to chew twenty times per bite!

*Stephanie*

  

Crazy Sexy Diet Day Seven

Hey y'all!

I haven't been blogging because I just have any pictures, but I wanted do a check-in post on this cleanse-thing.

• Stil going strong!
• Things I'm good at doing/remembering:
• exercise
• all the food stuff
• green juice for breakfast
• nasal rinsing
• being caffeine and sugar free
• Things I'm good at forgetting/ignoring:
• dry brushing
• meditating
• not eating too much nut butter
• that I should be doing homework instead of blogging
• I had wedding cake last night. It was good and worth it. It was covered in marzipan. And I didn't feel bad afterward but I bet my sugar cravings set in today so I'll have to have some of my black bean power bar dough.  What's that, you ask? My pulp from juicing+black beans+peanut butter+raw cacao+dates+vanilla blended in the food processor.  If I owned a dehydrator I would use it to turn this dough into a power bar because that's exactly what it tastes like (but less sweet of course).
• If you want to do this cleanse, do yourself a favor.  Buy twice as much produce (same variety, double the quantity) as you normally would.
• My juicer hates cucumbers and pears.  As soon as I start juicing those, it gets off balance and starts dancing about.
• Kale chips are my nemesis. They taunt me with statements like "We're green and healthy!" and "We have nutritional yeast so you'll get some vitamin B12!".  I know it's still a CSD-friendly junk food, but I'm so easily convinced that they are good for me!

When all else fails, insert pictures of dogs. 

:Mitch and his old friend Bodhi:

 Peace out!

Crazy Sexy Diet Day Seven

It's Day Seven of the rest of my life!!!  I think I needed a clear timeline to be motivated to start this cleanse-slash-new-way-of-eating, because to say "no more sugar or coffee, period" would have turned me off.  But now, I feel as though I could stick to this diet forever.

Let's see how I feel after eating wedding cake next weekend.  Yes, I will be eating wedding cake.  At least one bite. If I have to sit through a wedding, you better believe I'm having some cake.

Actually, cake sounds disgusting.  So did coffee when I went into Peet's today.  I'm clean!!!

I'll start with today's food:

The juice (I threw in some broccoli as well):

 Carr mentions the chlorophyll in the greens that is the benefit of the morning juice.  I can't help thinking that the "whole" food blended in the Vita-Mix would offer more nutritional benefits.  Anyway, I feel good so something's working.

Lunch: Brown rice and black beans, salsa fresca, avocado/cilantro dip, tomatoes, jicama, spinach

Dinner: Savory oats, inspired by Ali (here are some of her savory oats posts) with re-hydrated shitake mushrooms, tofu, and lots of raw veggies. I could barely finish half of this bowl.

Thoughts on this diet:

• As I've mentioned, my activity level has gone way, way, way up and my energy level has stayed the same.  In other words, I'm not bursting at the seems with green juice energy, but I'm able to pull off two to three times as much exercise and still feel "normal".
• I didn't realize how much I like breakfast until I can't eat until noon.  The green juice seems to actually make me hungry, but I get used to it and by noon I barely even care about food.  I love the way I feel and I'm afraid to add food to my morning routine lest I feel less good.  I've tried adding oats and walnuts to the juice, but it doesn't make a huge difference.
• Why does Carr say to eat fruit alone?  When she mentions that berries can be eaten in the morning if I am still hungry after my green juice, but to make sure when eating fruit not to eat anything else.
• Why does she say to get rid of processed foods but two snacks on the cleanse include flax crackers (processed, IMO) and Earth Balance?  Am I not getting something?
• This weekend, without the help of coffee and no sugar, I did yoga, jogged the dogs, read a boring book and wrote a paper about it, read lots more and did more assignments, went clothes shopping where there was a million people (exhausting), blogged, cleaned the house and did laundry.  And I still have energy left!

To those of you starting the diet this week (and assuming you read my blog), good luck, have fun, enjoy all the benefits of this wonderful cleanse! If I could stop sugar and coffee cold turkey like that, ANYONE can, believe me! I think it's the benefits of the green juice that help detox the body from those evil things and get rid of the cravings.  Just my opinion.

CSD Day Five (!?!)

You can bypass reading this entire post by by reading the following statement

"I feel healthy and energetic on the Crazy Sexy Diet Cleanse."

---

Some wonderful things about this cleanse so far

I'm shocked at how quickly the caffeine urges went away.

I'm equally shocked at how few food cravings I have.

I have done twice as much exercise this week but feel exactly the same,

if not a bit better and more clear.

Eating 60% raw is easy!

The nasal cleanse

I forgot to do the nasal cleanse today and have been runny and sneezy all day.

A testament to the effectiveness of the nasal rinse!

Food today

The juice:

In the juicer: 1 cucumber, 3-4 celery stalks, 5-10 kale leaves, 5 romaine leaves, 1-2 apples

Add that to blender with: 1/8 cup rolled oats, a few walnuts, a couple more kale leaves, water

It's very GREEN.

Since I'll most likely be eating out tonight and may be challenged to stick to the cleanse exactly, I'm having this for lunch:

Strips of 1 zucchini, 3 carrots, 1 cucumber topped with creamy avocado dressing (1 avocado, a drizzle of olive oil, a handful of cilantro, 1 tablespoon chia seeds, juice of half a lime, salt and pepper, water to process, in the Vita-mix). That quantity of food will last 2-3 meals. Raw food is filling!

My snack will probably be a decadent banana topped with peanut butter to get me through my yoga tonight.

CSD Day Three

WOW

I feel great!!!

Caffeine update

I'm down to a third of a cup of green tea.  

I don't even think I need any caffeine tomorrow!

(a true coffee drinker uses the word "need").  

This is coming from 

a-pot-a-day, 

set-the-coffeemaker-the-night-before-because-she-is-completely-incoherent-in-the-morning 

coffee drinker.

This cleanse is awesome.

Breakfast: same as yesterday

Lunch: see last night's dinner

Snack: see yesterday's snack + celery

Dinner:

Baby romaine, roma tomatoes, avocado, brown rice, black beans, crushed walnuts, lime juice, and a superfluous scoop of hummus.

Successes

No sugar for three days now? A miracle

I only had green juice until noon.

Nasal rinse, check!

Lemon and cayenne water first thing, check!

I woke up last night tasting bell pepper. Guess I'm getting enough rough food!

Needs Improvement

I keep forgetting to dry brush

I only exercised for fifteen minutes (hey, it was cardio kickboxing on tv--tiring!)

I need to calm down with the nuts and nut butters.

I need to take the whole 30 min of reflection/meditation time rather than 5 min before work.

~

I'll be back in a day or two with the latest updates on the Crazy Sexy Diet Cleanse.

~Stephanie~

~

CSD Day Two

Okay so the caffeine withdrawals seriously set in today.  

And can I really go until noon on juice alone?

I had a tiny cup of green tea.

I ate a banana at 11am.

There, I said it.

Cheater!

Breakfast:

Green juice (same as yesterday but without the dates)

Lunch:

Yes, it's on my lap. Thos are my legs and my t-shirt. 

Quinoa, sauteed radicchio, half a bell pepper, two carrots, a scoop of hummus, a scoop of guacamole.

I'm on the 60/40 plan

4pm snack:

Carrot sticks, almonds, a dab of peanut butter, some grapes.

7pm snack later after yoga:

Banana

Kale chips

Dinner:

Soup

Boiled dehydrated oyster mushrooms, ginger, and sweet pepper 

Spices: fenugreek, pinch of herbs de provence, salt, pepper, pinch of cayenne)

Garnished (after it cooled a bit) with kale and cilantro and the juice of half a lime

Since I ate dinner late today (another no-no on the cleanse), I thought light brothy soup would be good. 

I guess this will be a 

progress not perfection

kind of cleanse for this frenzied gal 

: )

CSD Day One

Crazy Sexy Diet 

Day 1

Breakfast

warm glass of lemon water with a pinch of cayenne

 just a couple of sips of black tea (weening from coffee)

Green Juice

--------------

1 apple

5 celery stalks

2 chard leaves

2 kale leaves

2 broccoli stalks

1/2 inch piece of ginger

in the vitamix:

the juice from above

2 more kale leaves

1 tablespoon fresh cilantro

2 dates (i cheated, but this is the last time)

I also added a couple dollops of carrot juice (does this count as a fruit?)

It took an entire thirty minutes to make this, and all I got was about two cups of green juice.  This problem will need to be addressed.

The Taste?

Delicious! That is, if you like salad.

I do.  

Even though my body was expecting an 

entire french press full of coffee 

with 

cookies 

(like it got yesterday)

it welcomed the green juice and it's

refreshing vitality.

Lunch

Falafels (they had gluten but someone made them just for me, so...what could I say?)

Cabbage and parsley slaw with asian dressing

Tomatoes

Bell pepper slices

Guacamole

Hummus

A *small* handful of corn chips

Snack

A banana with peanut butter

(sounds weird for a cleanse, right?)

Dinner

Leftovers:

Quinoa

Sauteed Radicchio

Tofu

Carrots

Kale

Bell pepper

Cherry tomatoes

It's 5:15pm, how am I feeling now?

I have felt great all day. I have a slight headache from not drinking caffeine but it's SO mild.  I'm tired but also energetic. I feel great, like I felt when I started a vegan diet. Lighter. Happy.

I know this sounds weird but I'm sharing it anyway

In yoga today, I was doing a forward bend that I couldn't do very well.  Internally, I thanked my body for allowing me to take care of it, and assured it that whatever discomfort it felt during my yoga practice and during my cleanse was for it's benefit, and that we would work together to achieve health and wellness.  I suddenly, involuntarily went more deeply into the stretch, more comfortably, like my body said "okay, then I will stop fighting. We're on the same team and we're not working against each other." So when I got hunger pangs today, I just assured my body that this was beneficial and cleansing and that I would nourish it with good food when it was time.

Crazy Sexy Diet

Without caffeine, you know I'll be feeling crazy. Sexy?  Maybe not : )

My friend Ali and some of her bloggy friends will be doing the 

Crazy Sexy Diet Cleanse 

for the next 21 days (or more).  

(It feels weird to call it a cleanse because it's so close to how I already eat!)

***However***

cutting out sugar, caffeine, alcohol, gluten, and processed foods 

will make for a great all-around healthy feeling, once I get through that initial 

withdrawal phase.

I'm going to start posting every (other?) day to check in about how the cleanse is going.  I just bought the book and will be reading that, too. 

(Did you know you can download a Kindle app for you iPad to read Kindle books? How ridiculously convenient!).

Hello, Greens!