Amy's Story - A First-time Cleanser Guts Her Way Through a Tough Day

I would sum the first three days for me up with the word "thirsty." I was so thirsty and had the slightest headache, but by day four it was gone.

I had my meals planned out for most of the week and it was real easy for me. I wasn't really tempted to eat anything not cleanse friendly.

Friday was a different story. I had made the Cherry Coconut Breakfast Bars recipe from Quantum Wellness Cleanse book and had run out by Friday morning and much to my dismay was also out of peanut butter! I had 10 minutes to eat before I had to take the kids for school. I ended up going for a fruit smoothie and a handful of nuts for breakfast. That night my husband was gone for dinner and it was just me and my two girls. I had promised them they could have a frozen pizza, but hadn't planned anything for myself. By the time I got done with work and we stopped to pick up a pizza for them I was so hungry I couldn't think straight. I decided to stop at a co-op in out neighborhood to see if they had any gluten/dairy free pizzas for me. They did have one Amy's Pizza, but it contained organic evaporated cane juice. I'm pretty sure that is sugar so I spent about five minutes in front of the pizza in the freezer trying to determine if it was cheating or cleanse friendly. I really wanted to try and stay true to the cleanse so left with no pizza. I ended up eating a bowl of oatmeal with coconut milk and a little agave. Not the best dinner I've made all week, but I wasn't hungry and I didn't cheat.

I learned my lesson and now know I that I need to plan out my meals to succeed! It's so easy to made a bad decision when you're hungry and tired.

So enough about the eating, one of my favorite experiences from the cleanse so far is the water weight I've lost. I haven't weighed myself, but my stomach flatter than it has been in awhile and a pair of pants I put on this morning is definitely slightly looser than last time I wore them. I can't wait to see how I feel even further into the cleanse.

One Week Down - How's Everyone Doing?

Congratulations to everyone for making it through Week 1! I know some of you got a late start; some of you started early. But there hasn't been much chatter here yet - I wonder how everyone's doing. I've heard from some of you - thanks so much for sharing your stories! I'll be posting them as we go along. 

For now, does anyone have anything to share? Has this been easy? Hard? A pain in the ass? Have you learned anything new? Found a great recipe? How's the world dealing with your cleanse? How are you dealing with the world while you're cleansing? What's happenin' out there?

At Last! A Delicious Cleanse-friendly Salad Dressing!

Hip, hip, hooray! After what seems like a lifetime of searching for a salad dressing that wasn't loaded with fat or sugar or sodium, I've finally found not one, but TWO great options! Leave it to the folks at Bragg to come up with something that's as good as it gets - nutrition-wise and taste-wise. It's gluten-free and has only 4 grams of sugar. And after scouring the ingredient listing and reading up on what fruit juice "concentrate" is (because there are various fruit juice concentrates in these products) I've decided that, for me, this stuff is just fine to use whether I'm cleansing or not. And that's based on my assumption that because the sugar content is so low, and because it's not mentioned in the ingredient listing, the fuit juice concentrate in these products comes only from the fruit - no sugar added.

I'm crazy about the Hawaiian flavor and really like Braggberry as well. And at 20 calories per 2 tablespoons it's a screamer of a deal in the calorie department. I get it at Whole Foods (it goes on sale fairly frequently) or you can order online. If you're looking for a great-tasting salad dressing I don't think you'll find better than this. I hope you like it as much as I do!

My Favorite 5-minute Meal - Only 267 Calories!

Last night I made dinner in five minutes, loaded up on nutrients, and consumed only 267 calories! Here's how I did it:

1.) I scooped out a half cup of spinach salad I'd tossed up a few days ago, topped it with sliced roasted beets I'd prepared on Sunday, and dressed it with Bragg's Organic Hawaiian Fat Free Dressing & Marinade (more on this stuff tomorrow!)
2.) I soaked a sweet potato in hydrogen peroxide for a minute to get all the grit and grime off; then dried it, poked it a few times with a fork, and put it in the microwave for 4 minutes.
3.) I grabbed a slice of tofu that I'd blotted dry earlier today and spooned on some fresh heirloom tomato pico de gallo I'd made on Sunday
4.) I cut open the cooked sweet potato and put a spoonful of the pico de gallo on that, too.

Tada! Dinner! So fresh, so easy, and not a calorie wasted. Everything I ate was utterly nutritious, not to mention downright tasty. Think about it - sweet potatoes, spinach and beets are all considered super foods.

And see for yourself - here's the nutrition in formation from my dinner: 
267 calories, 4 g fat, 12 g protein, 43 mg sodium, 39 g carbs, 7 g fiber, 24 g sugar, 0 mg cholesterol


And here's what each food brings to my table:
Beets - folate, manganese, vitamin K, vitamin C, omega 3s, fiber
Sweet Potato - vitamin A, vitamin C, manganese, copper, fiber, vitamin B6, potassium and iron
Spinach - vitamin K, vitamin A, manganese, folate, magnesium, iron, vitamin C, vitamin B2 (riboflavin), calcium, potassium, vitamin B6, vitamin E, fiber, copper, vitamin B1, protein, phosphorous, zinc, omega 3s, vitamin B3 (niacin), selenium
Tofu - manganese, iron, protein, omega 3 fatty acids, selenium, copper, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium


So, there you go - in 5 minutes you can have a satisfying, filling, nutritional powerhouse of a meal. So easy, so good for you! Yum!