3 Day Cleanse

So I decided to challenge myself and do my very first cleanse. I have always wanted to try one out, but a lot of the ones I saw were mainly liquids only and that is not for me. I love food and I need to EAT not just drink or it wouldn't work for me and in all honesty it's not healthy.

The one I chose to do is mainly a raw diet, plant based, no dairy, no meat, no bread, NO COFFEE. I was inspired by a friend and kind of winged it and went with what I wanted to challenge myself with and what I could handle at the same time.

Not having coffee originally I thought was going to be my biggest challenge, but as much as I missed it, it wasn't the hardest part. (or the taste at least) After all I didn't drink coffee for my whole pregnancy with my son. For me the hardest was feeling really tired, which I guess could be connected to the coffee. Day 1 was a breeze for the most part because I was so excited about starting the cleanse, had everything prepped and a plan in place. When nighttime hit Day 1 I noticed I was slightly weak so I made sure I grabbed some nuts and grapes. At this time I didn't think I was consuming enough calories, but the snacks helped and I made sure to add more calories to Day 2. To make matters worse BAM I got my period which partly explained how I was feeling too. I went to bed at 9pm and got a little over 8 hours of sleep, plenty you would think right? Nope.

Day 2 I woke up to losing 2 pounds within 24 hours, I was happy! I also felt like I haven't slept in days haha. I had my more energized moments, playing with my son, walking around Target, prepping dinner...but the down times I felt like a zombie. Staring at the computer screen at work was rough. At any moment I thought I would fall asleep. Day 2 I knew I needed more food of substance and protein so that's why I packed a good portion of quinoa with my lunch.

Day 3 I woke up losing about 3 more pounds. This is really working I thought. I was super motivated to finish this personal challenge.

Day 4 - In a total of 3 days I lost a total of 6.8 pounds! It was so worth it, not extremely hard and I felt great after. This was such an accomplishment for me and showing myself that I do have will power that sometimes I think I lack. After this cleanse I felt like I was on top of the world. I got a well deserved large coffee in the morning haha.

I would 100% do this again and WILL be.


My Food Plan

Day 1:

Breakfast - Banana Smoothie w/ unsweetened Almond Milk
Snack - Grapes
Lunch - Salad w/ mixed lettuce, baby spinach, raw cashews, quinoa, tomatoes, avocado
Snack - Apple
Dinner - Lettuce boat tacos w/ mushrooms, zucchini, red peppers
Snack - Unsalted Peanuts
Snack - Grapes
Water Intake - 60oz lemon water, 32oz regular water

Day 2:

Breakfast - Banana Smoothie w/ unsweetened Almond Milk
Snack - Grapes
Snack - Raw cashews
Lunch - Quinoa, baby spinach, mixed veggies, avocado, splash of avocado oil
Dinner - Zucchini noodles w/avocado sauce & a side of roasted veggies (brussel sprouts, sweet potato)
Snack - Strawberries
Water Intake - 30oz lemon water, 64oz regular water

Day 3:

Breakfast - Banana Smoothie w/ unsweetened Almond Milk
Snack - Grapes
Lunch - Quinoa & roasted veggies (brussel sprouts & sweet potato)
Snack - Raw cashews
Snack - Strawberries
Dinner - Avocado & tomato mash, corn on the cob & a baked potato w/ a splash of avocado oil & a little garlic
Water Intake - 90oz lemon water

 

 

 

Positive vibes,

 

Jenn

Cutting Out Dairy

Being a mom of a preemie is a unique experience. From day one life has been slightly different than that of my mom friends. My son was 2 pounds 10 oz and exactly 10 weeks early. He stayed in the NICU for 6 weeks and it was so hard to leave him every day. You think you have a baby and get to go home with them and start this new journey as a little family. Our fate wasn't that, but that's okay, our journey was special. I am so grateful for the amazing hands on nurses, the doctors that made sure he had the best life possible, my family and friends for being their for me and mostly for my son and he was healthy, he just needed to grow. I made it my mission to make sure regardless of him being premature that he wasn't delayed in any way. I worked with him and still do every day to make sure he is always learning and growing. As a preemie mom, growing is something you always strive for and worry about whether it's their size or growing your childs mind.

My son has struggled with very bad allergies and some childhood asthma, has had two surgeries before the age of 3 and we were told he may need a third. I really did not want that to happen so I researched and explored different things to see if they could help and THEY DID!

He has had the tubes put in his ears like so many other toddlers as well as a hernia surgery in his groan. The one tube moved in his ear after almost a year and wasn't working anymore. It was still stuck in his ear and we brought him to the doctor and as suspected he had an ear infection. As soon as the one tube wasn't working, EAR INFECTION. Seeing this and knowing what I knew I immediately thought he would need a new tube put in. We treated the ear infection and made an ENT appointment with his previous surgeon. At the appointment he told my husband he had a lot of fluid in his ear but no infection. He removed the tube that was in the wrong place and told him to come back in 8 weeks. At that time I had it in my head, he had to get surgery AGAIN. I was so upset.

But after the research I did and the advice I received, things got better. I believe removing the tube had a good part of it as well. We think maybe since it was in the wrong place, but didn't fall out yet that it was preventing the flow of the fluids and it was making it build up. Along with that being removed, we stopped ALL dairy milk. Started him on coconut milk since he's had that before and then changed to unsweetened almond milk. The transition went good and we had no issues. He still eats dairy like cheese and yogurt but when it comes to milk, NO cows milk.

You hear about how dairy can affect congestion and mucus etc., well he is proof that is TRUE. With having no cows milk along with putting an essential oil mixture on his feet twice a day he is doing much better. His coughing, asthma issues and nasal congestion has decreased drastically. I am so happy we tried these two remedies and we will continue to do them in order to prevent things going back to the way they were. My son was sick all the time. Granted germs and other things have been factors since he does go to daycare, but this has limited those circumstances in a big way and for that I am grateful. He will get sick again of course but if by doing these two small things limits that even the littiest bit I am all for it! Anything to help my "baby".

We go for his follow up appointment in two weeks and I am very hopeful that he won't need surgery again. Fingers crossed!


Positive vibes,

Jenn

Clean Eating Baked Ziti

 

This dinner was a hit with this kid. :)  It's a 21 day fix approved recipe, Baked Ziti with ground turkey. YUM!

The recipe calls for:
1 pound ground turkey
1 pound whole wheat penne pasta
1 medium size part-skim ricotta cheese
1 tbs balsamic vinegar
2 cups organic/natural pasta sauce
1 tbs honey
1/2 cup part-skim mozzarella cheese
1tbs of each of these spices: garlic powder, italian seasoning, oregano, parsley, basil, black pepper

-- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
-- Cook the pasta al-dente.  While cooking, brown up the ground turkey in a pan. Drain any fat from the pan.
-- Mix in a large bowl all ingredients except the pasta and mozzarella cheese.  Combine the mixture with the pasta and put in a baking dish.
-- Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese, a little more italian seasoning and parsley on top of the ziti.
-- Bake for 20 minutes.

Banana Peanut Butter Smoothie

This smoothie is more my style!

The recipe calls for:
1 cup coffee
1 cup fat-free vanilla greek yogurt
1 tbs flax & chia seed blend
4 tbs natural peanut butter
1 frozen banana

-- Blend all the ingredients together and ENJOY! This recipe is two servings.

I used natural chunky peanut butter because it's all I had. If you only have regular greek yogurt just add a little vanilla extract for flavor. Also, if you don't want to use coffee, you can add ice or fat-free milk instead.


UPDATE: I kept half of this for the next morning and it was a little thick I guess from sitting overnight. So I just added a little milk and shaked my smoothie cup.

Quinoa Pizza Crust...Genius!

I was skeptical and worried about this recipe. I thought the crust would be soft and not crisp up, but I was wrong. This recipe is pretty much genius. It is such a good source of protein without having to add meat and you save so many calories than if you ordered pizza or even got a premade crust at the grocery store.  The crust had flavor and was crispy, especially along the edges. It definitely satisfied my craving and in a healthy way. The prep didn't take long at all, very easy.

This recipe was a huge success and one I will be using over and over! :)

The recipe calls for:
1/2 cup quinoa (I used rainbow)
1 1/2 cup water
1/2 cup shredded part skim mozzarella cheese
dried basil, few dashes
dried oregano, few dashes
garlic powder, few dashes
1 egg, beaten
spray oil

-- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
-- In a pan, bring the water and quinoa to a boil, lower the heat, cover the pan and cook for about 5 minutes or until all the water is absorbed.
-- Add the basil, oregano, garlic powder and mozzarella cheese. Mix it all together then add the egg and mix again.
-- Put foil on a baking pan and spray with oil.
-- Create a ball with the quinoa mixture and place on the foil. Spread out the "dough" so it is even.
-- Bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven and let it cool for a minute.
-- Add any toppings of your choice! I used a little pizza sauce we had on hand, some dabbles of part skim ricotta cheese and sliced black olives.
-- Bake for an additional 10 minutes.

The original recipe used shredded parmesan cheese and italian seasoning, any cheese or herbs you like would work though.

I could not be more excited about this recipe and I think you would be too. Try it out!

 

Making homemade pizza is all about fun and can be a great way to cook together as a family, kids and all. My son can't help just yet but babywearing helped keep him involved. He was very interested in everything I was doing. Kids would love adding the toppings and they can make it their own. You could easily make this into two separate crusts too so their creativity can come out. This is a good way to make healthy eating fun for them.

Some Healthy Food/Recipes

I don't get to do food shopping often because I can't bring my son Parker into stores yet, but on Friday I had a chance to go. I love food shopping. I wish I had more advance notice that I was able to go, I would've had a better list put together, but I got a lot of healthy food and organic food for my son.

 

flax/chia seed blend, ground chicken, organic quinoa, frozen veggies/steamables, organic bananas, organic green beans, frozen fruit, greek yogurts, organic apples, mushrooms, black bean organic pasta, zucchini & weight watchers string cheese

 

 

Here are some QUICK & healthy meals I made this week:

 



whole wheat penne with an avocado sauce I made which
was avocado, a little parm cheese, olive oil & pepper.

mushroom/spinach omelette with one ww string cheese
inspiration by a readers dinner the other night.







Another recipe was something my mom made in the crock pot. I wasn't feeeling well on Saturday and my parents came over so they brought dinner. It is a 3 point Weight Watcher chicken recipe.

See link for recipe!

This was breakfast this morning. A blueberry, strawberry smoothie. It was a bit sweet for my taste, but it was still good. I am going to try another kind tomorrow!

 

 

The recipe calls for:

1/2 cup frozen blueberries
1/2 cup frozen strawberries
1 tbs chia/flax seed blend
1/2 cup 1% milk
5.3oz fat-free blueberry greek yogurt

Total: 290 calories

Next time I am not going to use a flavored yogurt and try water, not milk. This should help make it less sweet and not as thick. To cut more calories use fat-free milk instead. I would've but I didn't have it on hand. The non-flavored greek yogurt is also less calories. Banana smoothie is next!