Day 7- the end of one week already!

workout: 73 minutes on the bike with some pretty hard intervals. This was the third hard workout day in a row and my legs are tired.

nutrition:
bf: steel cut oatmeal/blueberries/protein powder/ almonds slivers/agave

green tea on the way to the meet

at Megan's gymnastics meet, left home at 6:45am and home at 2:00pm Again took my bag of treats which included almonds, Larabar, orange, water bottle

at 2pm: vegetable soup and a gluten free English muffin with almond butter

Accelerade in my water bottle while doing my bike workout

dinner: roasted vegetables (beets, potatos, brussel sprouts, carrots, turnips, onion, a little olive oil, minced garlic and dried rosemary cooked covered for about 45 minutes at 375 and then no cover for another 20 minutes.) I will be having leftovers of this as the week goes on.

also some brown rice with salsa

While watching the Superbowl I had a little blue corn tortillas with avocado/salsa. But didn't have much.


At Megan's gymnastics meet this morning I was really hungry, even after having a filling breakfast before going. I think the 11 mile run yesterday and not eating much caught up with me. But... had my almonds and Larabar and that took care of that.

I have a Math meeting all day tomorrow. We were told there will be donuts for breakfast and lunch will be served. I am sure there will be nothing served for lunch that I can have, so my lunch is packed. I think I am beyond the donut pull.

One week into this and I already feel like I have made good progress. I have been 'leaning' into this for 2-3 years. Diet has become cleaner and cleaner. I have read all kinds of information on nutrition, books, blogs, websites. I just needed something to get me over the edge. I needed to find a way to feel totally in control of my cravings and urges. This has really help with that problem, at least so far.

I leave with a quote from Kathy Freston's Quantum Wellness book, as she discusses doing the 21 day cleanse:

"...any time you disrupt a pattern or meet a challenge, you create an enormous space for a quantum leap to happen"

Day 6-getting through the weekend

workout: 11 miles on the treadmill. I was supposed to do 14, but the the movie was over and the satellite had so much snow on it I was getting no signal...so I called it a day. That is a lot of miles to do inside.

nutrition:
bf: before run steel cut oatmeal/protein powder/blueberries/agave nectar/V8

out the door at 9:30 and not back until 2:30 so I took my bag of food with me which included--
almonds, apple, Larabar, banana

before 5pm Mass: energy bar (see below)

dinner: brown rice with roasted red pepper/green beans/broccoli leftover AND leftover tomato panzanella on romaine lettuce

after dinner treat: popcorn/no butter just seasoning salt which I suppose does not go against the cleanse, but felt like a 'cheat'

Went to the local health food store (Mustard Seed Market) mainly to get some ingredients for an energy bar recipe Michelle passed on to me. It made me really feel like a newbie in this whole Vegan world. Lots of products there that I have never heard of before. So this is all a learning process.

Made the bars and they are tasty. walnuts, coconut, blueberries, cocoa and cocoa nibs, agave, Maca powder, flax meal, flax seed and banana. They made a 9 by 13 pan and I only had one 2 by 2 or so. I will have them as the week proceeds. I am thinking they would have some caffeine in them, but will be 'overlooking' that.

I feel very good today. I have been sleeping quite well, which is usually an issue for me. As I finish this first week tomorrow, I am contemplating what I want to take away with me after these 21 days. For me, it comes down to what is the healthiest diet for me long term. What will help me be a better athlete in the short term, avoid disease and the aging process in the long term?

I do not want to feel deprived for the rest of my life, but I really don't think that pretzels, crackers, licorice ...etc... need to be a regular part of my diet for me to not feel deprived. There are so many great ways to prepare whole foods that are delicious!

So this is just the beginning!

one of these days I will take some time to jazz up this blog.

Day 5-The cravings are leaving !

workout: 55 minutes on the bike with the hard set being 5 by 4 minutes @ 100-105% of LT tough, tough, tough but felt great on the bike. I cannot wait to get outside this March/April I have worked really hard on the bike this winter and hoping it will show. love my bike.

nutrition:

BF: protein shake-non sweetened soy milk/ blueberries/ banana/ protein powder

morning snack: almonds/ a few dried apricots

lunch: Big salad and 1 cup of 'fire roasted vegetable soup' from Heinens

afternoon: apple/ Larabar

dinner: Tomato Panzanella which I totally enjoyed. Tomato/artichoke heart/olives/arugula/broiled gluten free bread/ with olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressing. trying to insert link below-



This fresh365 online seems to have some nice recipes.

Easily made it past the donuts today. There really seem to be very little cravings today. I was NOT hungry today. My calorie intake has got to be well below where I usually am, and I was not feeling deprived at all.

My family had their traditional homemade pizza tonight and when I took it out of the oven and cut it up, I definitely felt like it would be good to have.

But it really was not a big thing to make and eat my tomato salad and I thoroughly enjoyed that. I will enjoy a bit of Teavan tea tonight.

We have quite a bit of snow coming in tonight. I have a 14 miler in my Boston training on tap for early morning tomorrow. I was hoping to get outside for it. But they are also predicting heavy winds. So my plans have changed to treadmill date. I am going to watch the movie 'Hangover' which I hear is hilarious and at time innapropriate. Sounds good.

Day 4: Moving along

workout: mainly a rest day, ab workout and my daily 40 pushups (Today's bike workout will have to be done tomorrow, got crunched by the need to take Megan to gymnastics and getting home from school late)

nutrition:
Bf: oatmeal/blueberries/protein powder/almonds/stevia and a banana

morning snack: almonds

lunch: big salad (no soup today)

afternoon snack: apple/ Larabar/ some blue corn chips after I got home

dinner: brown rice/ roasted broccoli/red pepper/green beans leftover from yesterday

that is it. Unbelievably, there are REALLY no other little bits of this and that. I have made it 4 days without licorice, coffee, or other treats.

Today felt easier than yesterday. I did not feel hungry ALL day today like I did yesterday. I think some of the cravings are slowly going away, and I am getting used to the feeling of NOT being full all the time.

I am still not feeling any surges of extra energy. It is getting to be the end of the week, and I am wearing down as I usually do.

Stomache feels better today, although DIFFERENT than usual. Hard to describe different. Digestion is working differently, I haven't decided yet whether it is better or just different.

Beginning to feel like I am settling in...

Friday is donut day at school tomorrow. On a typical Friday I drive to school telling myself I will NOT have a donut, and then by lunch I have walked into the office, right past the box, and cave in. Obviously tomorrow that WILL NOT happen. I don't even see it being a little war between the devil on one shoulder and the angel on the other shoulder. I have smacked the devil to the curb at least for these 21 days. There are no options, or decisions to be made. I will prevail with NO cheats on this!!

Day 3-Some things I am learning

workout: 5 miles on treadmill, including 3 miles at tempo pace Felt pretty good during the workout! Tempo pace for me is embarrassingly slow 8:24/mi

nutrition:
Breakfast-protein shake (unsweetened soy milk/blueberries/banana/protein powder)

morning snack-almonds/dried fruit

lunch-BIG salad, 1 cup lentil soup

afternoon snack, before run- Larabar/pear/1 piece of no gluten bread and almond butter

dinner-blackened tofu, avocado, tomato, taco (using corn tortillas) with roasted green beans, broccoli and red peppers


I feel like I am hitting a bit of a wall today. I feel like I could definitely feel the effects of no caffeine this morning. I was dragging. My stomache was also bothering me on and off during the day. I am sure eating all these vegetables and lentil soup gave me more fiber than I normally get and my body has to adjust.

This is also just a really busy week at school, and coaching swimming, and John is out of town today and tomorrow, and winter is getting to be long. These are all reasons that I may have been looking for food as comfort. there are no 'treats' on this cleanse. it does help me see how for me food can be much more than just fuel.

It will be interesting to see how my body adjusts over the next few days. Today, I feel hungry all day long. Not starving, just a slight hunger that I don't let myself get to very often on the typical day. I think it is a 'good' hunger, that I need to let myself feel more often.

What I am truly feeling enlightened about is how much eating I would normally do without even thinking about it. If nothing else this little experiment will help me to become a more conscious eater. THINK about what and when you are eating. don't just grab a piece of chocolate because you happen to open the cabinet that has chocolate in it...

I am definitely NOT a big fan of tofu. Had some tonight for dinner and was not very impressed :(

Moving on to day 4 tomorrow!!

Day 2

Workout: 70 minute bike workout--> 20 minute warmup routine/20 minute at 95-100%LT/5 minute rest/another 20 minutes at 95-100% LT/ 5 minute CD very tough workout.

I had a water bottle with 2 scoops of Accelerade while riding. Against the added sugar, but I burned about 1000 calories on the ride and felt I needed some calories to not bonk.

Meals:
Breakfast: steel cut oatmeal/blueberries/almonds/V8/one piece of gluten free bread with almond butter

morning snack: almonds/dried fruit

lunch: BIG salad (same as yesterday)

afternoon snack: Larabar

dinner: roasted pears and yellow potatos/ half a can of Progresso lentil soup

will have some Teavana herbal tea tonight

Not feeling a whole lot different so far. I am missing some of my little treats like coffee, glass of wine, the pieces of chocolate I might eat while making dinner. But...feel like I am getting enough food. Not too cranky in giving up the coffee.

On the way home from school before my bike workout I felt like I was pretty tired and I didn't know how the workout would go. But once I was on the bike there was plenty of energy.

Day 1- February 1st

workout: 5 miles on the treadmill 4:40-5:30am

food:
breakfast--steel cut oatmeal/blueberries/slivered almonds/stevia/low sodium V8/green tea

morning snack--almonds

lunch--BIG salad including beets, chickpeas, tomatoes, red pepper, arugula, olives AND about a cup of pumkin soup (more on that later)

afternoon snack--apple/nut thin 'crackers'

SWIM MEET this evening-Larabar on the way home

dinner--veggie burger and leftover roasted beets/potatoes/parsnips

I feel like I had enough food as the day progressed. It seems the hardest thing is to do is not just grab the snacks I usually do. I have licorice in my car and at school that I randomly grab as the day goes on. When I get home from school I am usually famished and grab all kinds of random crackers, cookies, whatever is around.

More on the pumpkin soup: I don't know what I was thinking when I made my plan for eating. The pumpkin soup is vegetarian, but as I was thinking about it this evening I looked at the label and of course it contains cream. So no more pumkin soup, I will have to look again for a vegan soup I can have.

I really didn't miss the coffee too much this morning. I made some green tea and had that on the way to work, so that the ritual of drinking warm liquid on the way to work was continued.

I made all my salads for the week on Sunday and so it is nice to just grab them as I pack my bag for the next day.

I have a hard bike workout tomorrow, so I will be interested to see how that goes. Off to do some reading, and sleeping!