My body and the end of the year have a love-hate relationship. First there is the onslaught of birthdays. Moms and dads of the 80s were busy in March and April. Then there are the inevitable Christmas parties. Followed by a week at home with my parents. Read: stocked kitchen free for the picking filled with holiday treats. I spend every Christmas Eve at a childhood friend's house - her mom makes homemade perogies and cabbage rolls - hello! Then Christmas Day and the usual ungodly amount of food. Plus, of course, Baileys and coffee to start the day, and wine to carry it through. My mom's birthday is the 27th of December. My best friend's is the 28th. New Years. And then my birthday on January 2nd. At this point I have loved and laughed, guzzled and gobbled, enough for the entire rest of the year. Phew!
Now don't get me wrong. I am not complaining for a second about all of the lovely and special people I get to share my life with. It's pretty freakin awesome. But, these four weeks pretty much cancel out all of the salads, smoothies, and lemon waters I prepared the other 48 weeks of the year. Not to mention all the runs, yoga sessions, and gym workouts.
To make a long story short (which I am not usually good at doing), January is usually the month I try to kick start a new healthy year (until mid November rolls around again of course).
So. Drum roll please.... Time for a cleanse. Some call it a detox. Others call it a system reset. Others still call it nonsense.
With this I agree and disagree. There are no doubt nonsense cleanses out there. But never fear, there are no cayenne pepper, maple syrup, lemon juice concoctions anywhere on this menu!
The cleanse I chose (and dragged 3 loyal friends along with me to do) was inspired by a few different things:
First: The Blonde Vegan. If you ever want inspiration for a healthy meal or happy heart, check out her blog. Even if you aren't blonde and aren't a vegan (two things that I only marginally am), it is still a great place for recipes and ideas. She's really good at helping healthy foods masquerade as sinfully unhealthy ones. Think: vegan peanut better cups and cookie dough smoothies.
Second: this one seems obvious, but I love how great my body feels when I eat healthy.
Third: eating naturally and heathfully is good for the environment too! (Reason enough! Cows and chickens everywhere rejoice!)
I know you are bursting with curiosity by now so here you are, the nitty gritties of our 12 day cleanse:
Yes:
Fruit
Veggies
Quinoa and brown rice
Nuts and seeds
No:
Meat
Wheat
Dairy
Sugar
Salt
Any yucky processed foods - can you even call some of those things food?
Basically, we just ate whole, healthy food. The four of us kept up a facebook chat throughout for motivation and showing off. We happily discovered that there's actually a ton of things you can create if you spend a couple minutes to be creative. From homemade almond milk and cashew "cheese" to vegan brownies and delicious green smoothies. Yum and yum.
Disclosure time: we all cheated and drank *cough cough...a little* wine on the weekend (blaming it on yet another birthday party!) But that mid way cheat made it all seem a little easier. Wasn't it someone famous who said everything in moderation? Including cleanse rules right?
Anyways, the point of it all being that not only did it make me feel great from the inside (you're welcome digestive system), but no animals were harmed in the making. Nor should they ever be. But sometimes I can't resist a nice piece of aged cheddar with my wine.
Also, lots of those processed foods contain really nasty chemicals that are bad for your body and even worse for the environment. Palm oil, for example. I think I feel another blog post topic coming on here... But in the meantime, you can find some more information here.
Now don't get me wrong. I am not complaining for a second about all of the lovely and special people I get to share my life with. It's pretty freakin awesome. But, these four weeks pretty much cancel out all of the salads, smoothies, and lemon waters I prepared the other 48 weeks of the year. Not to mention all the runs, yoga sessions, and gym workouts.
To make a long story short (which I am not usually good at doing), January is usually the month I try to kick start a new healthy year (until mid November rolls around again of course).
So. Drum roll please.... Time for a cleanse. Some call it a detox. Others call it a system reset. Others still call it nonsense.
With this I agree and disagree. There are no doubt nonsense cleanses out there. But never fear, there are no cayenne pepper, maple syrup, lemon juice concoctions anywhere on this menu!
The cleanse I chose (and dragged 3 loyal friends along with me to do) was inspired by a few different things:
First: The Blonde Vegan. If you ever want inspiration for a healthy meal or happy heart, check out her blog. Even if you aren't blonde and aren't a vegan (two things that I only marginally am), it is still a great place for recipes and ideas. She's really good at helping healthy foods masquerade as sinfully unhealthy ones. Think: vegan peanut better cups and cookie dough smoothies.
Second: this one seems obvious, but I love how great my body feels when I eat healthy.
Third: eating naturally and heathfully is good for the environment too! (Reason enough! Cows and chickens everywhere rejoice!)
I know you are bursting with curiosity by now so here you are, the nitty gritties of our 12 day cleanse:
Yes:
Fruit
Veggies
Quinoa and brown rice
Nuts and seeds
No:
Meat
Wheat
Dairy
Sugar
Salt
Any yucky processed foods - can you even call some of those things food?
Basically, we just ate whole, healthy food. The four of us kept up a facebook chat throughout for motivation and showing off. We happily discovered that there's actually a ton of things you can create if you spend a couple minutes to be creative. From homemade almond milk and cashew "cheese" to vegan brownies and delicious green smoothies. Yum and yum.
Disclosure time: we all cheated and drank *cough cough...a little* wine on the weekend (blaming it on yet another birthday party!) But that mid way cheat made it all seem a little easier. Wasn't it someone famous who said everything in moderation? Including cleanse rules right?
Anyways, the point of it all being that not only did it make me feel great from the inside (you're welcome digestive system), but no animals were harmed in the making. Nor should they ever be. But sometimes I can't resist a nice piece of aged cheddar with my wine.
Also, lots of those processed foods contain really nasty chemicals that are bad for your body and even worse for the environment. Palm oil, for example. I think I feel another blog post topic coming on here... But in the meantime, you can find some more information here.
So for now - January mission: complete.
Yes!
And, for some proof that we actually did it, for all those doubters out there:
And, for some proof that we actually did it, for all those doubters out there:
Chia , coconut, blueberry smoothie and a John Green novel for the win!
Homemade, cleanse friendly pesto (courtesy of The Whole Pantry app), cucumber mint water, and a sneaky little kitten boy. Can you see him?
The necessary gallon of roasted veggies (thanks to the lovely Nicole Havers for the picture)
Okay Nicole, now you are just showing off! Avocado stuffed cucumbers with shrimp. Yum! *Note: since everyone has a different body and slightly different needs, some of us added seafood to the cleanse.
Thanks for reading friends. And...it being February 7th and all, I've already started the next one. Stay tuned!