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.
The reason you're only supposed to eat fruit alone and not after eating other things-especially fats and grains, is that fruit ferments when combined with anything besides raw vegetables. It actually passes through your system in 30 minutes though if you haven't eaten anything besides raw veggies before eating it. This is a big part of food combining :) If you've eaten other foods, such as cooked veggies or grains, you need to wait at least three hours before eating food. It's actually bad to eat fruit as dessert since it ferments on top of other foods and makes digestion even harder. It sounds like this plan is similar to the Raw Detox diet book which is actually quite good. The difference in the two seems to be at that the author of The Raw Detox Diet explains food combining and how and why it works. I snagged a copy of this book for around $7 on Amazon; it's worth the investment if you want to understand food combining. The book also answers the questions about earth balance and flax crackers-that is that these foods should be minimally ingested but that cutting them out 100% of the time can seem restrictive and often sets people up for failure. You're supposed to change your eating habits gradually so that they stuck before you progress to the next stage.
ReplyDeleteWow! I'm inspired to read Crazy Sexy again and give it a try! I loved reading the book, but since I didn't want to do the colonics, etc., sort of forgot about the rest. I love the way you describe your energy level. Keep us posted! It's so nice to have you back.
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