Day 3, 4, and 5 Recap

What...me slack at blogs?  So I am still on the cleanse.  It actually gets easier as time goes on.  I am now starting day 6.  I am not sure WHAT I did to my back, but it has not been happy the past few days.  That is why I have not been around.  It hurts to sit...anywhere.  So I have not really wanted to post anything because it would require me to sit for an extended period of time.  I decided I needed to update this, so I am standing at my laptop.  Gotta do what you gotta do.

Anyway. A few things I have learned the past few days.  Wednesdays the middle child has speech and OT.  We get out at 12pm and by the time we get in the car and everything it would be close to 1pm before we get home.  So Wednesday's are McDonald's days.  Has been for years.  So I was like crap...what can I have there?  Ohhh....french fries.  They are just potatoes right?  Ohhh....no.  Here is the ingredients directly from the McDonald's website:

 French Fries:
Potatoes, vegetable oil (canola oil, hydrogenated soybean oil, natural beef flavor [wheat and milk derivatives]*, citric acid [preservative]), dextrose, sodium acid
pyrophosphate (maintain color), salt. Prepared in vegetable oil (Canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, hydrogenated soybean oil with TBHQ and citric acid added to
preserve freshness). Dimethylpolysiloxane added as an antifoaming agent.
CONTAINS: WHEAT AND MILK.
*(Natural beef flavor contains hydrolyzed wheat and hydrolyzed milk as starting ingredients).

Why, oh why is there beef flavor, wheat, and milk in their fries?  That is just rather unsettling.  So I went to Harris Teeter and got some Kettle Chips and ate some apple slices from McD's.   I have been feeling rather funky for a day or so, kind of a nauseous feeling.  I think I needed some grease.  Like when you go out drinking and drink a LOT, the best thing in the morning is hash browns from a fast food place.  At least for me.  :)

Anyway, I have done good and stayed on the cleanse.  My hubby is doing it as well.  I think we have both realized that this cleanse is more about seeing IF we can do it, more than anything.  Testing our will power.  So far, so good!

Cleanse Day 2 Recap

This REALLY is not as hard as I thought it was going to be.  My poor husband had a headache all day yesterday from the caffeine withdrawal.  I had a headache as well, but I think it was due to my headband.  I took it off and started feeling better.

I can say that I was exhausted by 8pm last night.  I went to bed, watched tv, and passed out by 9:30pm.  That is odd for me.  Normally I can NOT get to sleep.  Maybe this anticaffeine thing is good for me.  I also slept through the night and had rather vivid dreams.  Not nearly as sluggish today.

SO...we have been eating lots of beans in this house.  It has been rather "loud".  Things have also been going rather smoothly if you get my drift.  I know, I know.  TMI.  BUT I did say I would give an accurate description of what goes down in the cleanse for me.  Plus I am 90% sure that no one really reads this thing but me, so there ya go.  :)

Sunday night I made some Blueberry Coconut Bars which were amazing.  They were from the book.   I changed the recipe around a bit.  It called for cherries, but the only cherries I had were sweetened and I am trying SUPER hard to be strict with this.  I think now it is more about can I do this.  

V really liked it too.  :)

 So.  I still get a bit tired throughout the day, but today I feel more energized.  I actually cleaned the house this morning.  Yesterday was good until about 6pm when I was making dinner.  I started to feel the crash then.  Dinner was AMAZING.  And then all I wanted to do was lie down and watch My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding.  That show is hi-larious.

 Dinner was Cuban Black Beans and Brown Rice with Roasted Squash and Gluten-Free Crackers. This was taken directly from the Quantum Wellness book as well.  SO good.  No substitutions necessary.

Well...that is all.  If you have any questions let me know!  Stay tune for installment #3 tomorrow!

Cleanse Day One recap

I am shocked.  I was expecting this to be a bit harder.  We have lots of cake left over in our kitchen from the big kids birthday this past weekend.  It kinda stares at me every now and again and taunts me.  Other than that, not too bad!

I will admit to wanting a big cup of coffee though.  I have not had any headaches yet, so that is good.  I felt rather sluggish around 3pm.  My poor husband was about to pass out and fell asleep MUCH earlier than I did.  Somehow I convinced him to go on this crazy ride with me.

So here are my meals from yesterday.  For breakfast I had...

 Tofu scramble and a bowl of fresh pineapple and raspberries!  Looks yummy, right?  It was.  Super yummy.



Lunch was a collection of salads I made for the big kids birthday, a bean salad and a potato salad.  

Then dinner was a repeat of the salads and half a butternut squash.  If you haven't had one, you need to.  Just slice the  squash in half, scoops out the seeds.  Put in a glass dish with a blob of vegan butter and microwave that sucker for about 20 minutes.  You need to make sure the fork goes in easily.  SO GOOD.

Another challenge I had yesterday was, I wanted ice cream.  And I wanted it bad.  We had a bunch of free ice cream from my son's party and I never even opened some of it.  SO I have QUARTS of unopened Blue Bunny Ice Cream screaming from my garage freezer.

The solution....frozen banana pureed with some natural peanut butter thrown in.  SO GOOD.  Tastes like soft serve, but vegan.  

Well...gotta get my beans cooking for dinner tonight!  See you tomorrow morning for installation #2 of the saga.

21 day Quantum Wellness Clease here I come.

So...it begins today.  21 days of no alcohol, caffeine, refined sugars, animal products, or gluten.  I might go INSANE or this might be the best thing I do in my life.  Time for a change.  Good...bad...who knows.  All I know is that I plan on challenging myself the next three weeks.

How did I get the idea for this cleanse you ask?  It is the Kathy Freston "Quantum Wellness Cleanse" That link goes to the book I got on Amazon.  Here is a link to Kathy Freston's actual page.  Worth checking out.  

Another way I plan on challenging myself is by ACTUALLY keeping up with my blog, both of them.  This one to journal how the cleanse is going and my other blog,  Not a Short Order to post the recipes I use.  This actual page will be a day behind.  I want to make sure I have recipes and my insights into the cleanse all worked out for the day before I start typing.   The other link will have recipes posted as I go.

So...see you back later for my thoughts and recipe links.  FYI...so far so good.  Tofu Scramble and mixed fruit for breakfast.  YUM.

Feel free to cleanse along with me, leave insights you may have, or even some yummy recipes to try.  Just remember the rules!  

No: alcohol, caffeine, animal products, refined sugar, or gluten.

Food and Nutrition: The Final Frontier

In my house, we have picky kids.  Super picky kids.  Well....one in particular.  Nate.  With all the kids they always were given what we ate.  Aidan use to gorge on Wheat Thins dipped in hummus.  Most of the time the Wheat Thin was just the tool used to shovel in the hummus.  Then something switched.  I have no idea what happened, maybe it was just the age, but everything seemed gross except the child basics: nuggets, fries, mac n cheese, and pb&j's.

Nate, he never even tried anything.  I can honestly say he has NEVER had a pea or carrot in his mouth, that wasn't baby food.  It is not that we haven't given then to him.  They were the first veggies we tried, he just will NOT eat them.
V seems to do well with everything we give her.  She even ate a raw green onion the other day.
This is going to make the next stage of my life a tad bit difficult. 
In about a month I am going to do The Quantum Wellness Cleanse, by Kathy Freston. I am starting after Aidan's birthday party, well because I am going to be making a big fat cake and I won a bunch of Blue Bunny Ice Cream.  I know me.  I won't make it through the day.
The cleanse is a 21 day cleanse where you "give up" the big five:

• alcohol
• animal products
• sugar
• gluten
• caffeine

Not gonna lie.  I am terrified of the no caffeine.  I need to start weaning myself soon.  In the past when I have given up caffeine, I get HORRIBLE headaches.    I think that is going to be my biggest challenge.  


I am currently reading my book and looking through other books for some good vegan, gluten-free recipes.    I have "The Kind Diet" by Alicia Silverstone.  Even if you don't go vegan it is a very good book to read.  Lots of compelling arguments and she writes EXACTLY as I picture her talking.  I have a tendency to write the same way and I like it.  It seems like you are sitting across from her, drinking a cup of Yerba Mate, and discussing all things healthy.
So...the big day for me is May 20th.  The day I start the cleanse.  Feel free to join me here and cleanse along with me.  The total cleanse is 21 days and 5 items.  I have brought it up to a lot of people and they respond by saying "I can do one or two...."  which is awesome.  But it is for ONLY 3 weeks of your life.  I think this is what is going to make the cleanse interesting.
Do you think you can hang for 21 days with me?