Cleanse Weekend: Days 3-5

Believe it or not, the cleanse weekend was a piece of cake.  My body has gotten used to eating every two to three hours and almost, dare I say, is starting to crave the healthy stuff.  What seemed to challenge me this weekend was trying to get in all of the food I needed to eat, when I didn't really get moving until the late morning.  On Saturday, I found myself eating dinner at 10pm, just to be able to get all the food in before going to bed.  Crazy?  Totally.

Using the required food elements, I started to figure out what I could make that would combine what I needed to consume.  For my fat and fruit snack, I put peanut butter on my blueberries.  Sounds gross.  Looks worse.  But the taste was delicious.  Think a PB&J sandwich without the sandwich part.  My Advocare connection mentioned an egg white pancake with peanut butter, which is nothing pancake and everything egg white.  Flavored with cinnamon and nutmeg, it actually almost resembled a crepe.  Of course, the regular grilled chicken breast, seared veggies, and brown rice made up my lunch.  But this time, I spiced everything.  Garlic herb, lemon pepper, and chili powder were all over my palate.  If only I could wash it all down with a nice hoppy IPA...

Cleanse: Day 2

Today will be remembered as the day I truly missed cheese.  Starting the day off with a quick 5k treadmill run, a guzzled fiber drink, and another chocolate MRS, I scurried out the door with my commuter mug full of green tea.  Weird thing was, I didn't seem to miss my morning pot of Joe.  It seemed like my day whizzed by as I was constantly eating my prescribed portions every few hours.  My chicken, green bean, and brown rice lunch would have been nicely enhanced with a few shreds of parmesan.  My afternoon strawberries and peanut butter would have been so much better with a stick of string cheese.  Even a short trip to the grocery store had me avoiding the cheese aisle, yet I had no problem gazing at the beer.  Was I really addicted to cheese more than coffee or beer?

While I stuck to my guns and stayed away from cheese, even when choking down my third portion of chicken for the day, I couldn't help but think how eight more days were going to be survived without my beloved dairy.  Luckily, I picked up some salt free spices to try out on tomorrow's journey.  Will it really only be Day 3?

Cleanse: Day 1

Beans and tomatoes w/ balsamic drizzle

Alarms for meals set.
Green tea and bottled water ready.
Measurements and weight recorded.
It was now time to get on with Day 1.
After chugging the morning fiber drink like a warm can of PBR, I started off the morning with a Chocolate MRS (meal replacement shake).  Knowing that those would be the most calories I would get all day, I cherished the richness.  Water and more water went down the hatch as a gallon each day is required.  Every few hours I had some premeasured fruits and vegetables, green tea, and more and more water.  A packet of Spark helped me get through the day without coffee.  As long as I had a warm mug of green tea, I didn't seem to miss the coffee.  Well, at least not yet.  Hardest part of the day was looking at that tasty block of cheese in the fridge and choosing green beans instead.  Tomorrow my morning starts off with a much needed workout.  Bring on Day 2.

The Cleansing of a Brewer

Every sixth months I find myself needing a kick in the keister to get my good habits back in line.  With a tumultuous start to my school year, I haven't been working on my beer fitness since summer.  Let me rephrase that.  I have been working on the beer part no problem, just not the fitness.  So what was this brewgirl to do?
Enter the Advocare 10 Day Herbal Cleanse.
Even though this was only part of the 24 Day Challenge, I knew that I only had time to start small.  With Winter Beer Fest season almost upon us, I couldn't commit to abstaining from beer for much longer than a week...for research purposes, of course.  The results that I hear from people completing the cleanse are amazing.  Besides that, getting rid of all the toxins and resetting my metabolism was beyond over due.  But at what cost?  I was having to say good bye to my favorite cajun tots and other pub food, my addiction to cheese, my need for coffee, and my beloved beer.  What was going to happen to me?  When I shared my plan with close friends, most just looked at me in bewilderment.  Me without coffee was enough to scare anybody away.  Needless to say, I went full throttle and dove right in.  After the supplements were ordered, the 10 days without a beer event scheduled, all that was left was to psych myself up.

The Night Before Binge
With my start date for the challenge to be November 13, I gorged on everything forbidden on the 12th.  Copious amounts of cheese, bread, and coffee made their way into my belly.  Not a scrap of leftover Halloween candy was spared.  I washed it all down with a beer of course.  In between the moments of feasting, I made my way to my favorite grocery store to get the goods for my 10 days.  Fresh fruits, veggies, free range chicken, unsalted and unroasted nuts, oatmeal, and brown rice filled my cart.  Of course, I tortured myself by going down the beer aisle.  Mentally making my list of beers to try after I completed the challenge, I quickly went through the checkout in order to get home and get cooking.  A fridge full of portioned out meals for the next three days prepared and the last drops of beer in my pint, I headed to sleep as Day 1 was just a few short hours away.