Days 26, 27, 28

Worked from home on day 26 and that always gives me the opportunity to make better meals and give them more time. I love putting on music or a good cooking show and getting down in the kitchen! I made a huge smoothie for myself after my morning water and my first smoothie.

I can’t say the same for the rest of our last days as our meals haven’t been too exciting. We  have been on rotation with vegetables like potatoes, broccoli, greens-which is fine but not exciting. On our last night we had artichokes again with honey-lemon dipping sauce from Life-Changing Foods from this post. Another standout was a baked hassle back potato that I made and created a sauce for it. The recipe is below.

I’m pretty excited about the results of this cleanse and will share more in a later post about if/when I’ll do another and how to incorporate, but for now, here are some noticeable differences from our cleanse.

-Energy level-way increased for us both. I usually get tired at least twice during the day and sometimes take naps. While on this cleanse, I didn’t take many naps and even stayed up later at night without being tired the next day.
-smoother skin-Mando’s skin got worse, at first before it got better. It’s improving but I think continued detox, through smoothies incorporated into whatever diet he chooses, will work even better for him.
-less urinary frequency-I’ve noticed that I’ve gotten up less at night to pee and during  the day as well with the exception of the first week. I think this has to do with less coffee and alcohol.
-less brain fog and twitching-I credit Hawaiian spirulina, cilantro, atlantic dulse (see veggie) and nori for this because it’s these things that help detox heavy metals.
-improved mood-incredibly improved. I’ve been feeling really happy and at peace. I credit wild blueberries, vitamin B-12 and just an overall clean diet.
-lost weight
-feel lighter
-better bowel movements
-more positive thoughts
-clearer thinking
-less bloated
-less anxious
-less depressed

Things I feel we could’ve improved on-

Variety in fruit-I stuck with the ones that fit my budget and convenience. Maybe the next time I do a cleanse I’ll venture a little further out.

Actually eating fruit-I had a lot more smoothies and juice which I’m still super proud about but I’d like to get into the habit of eating more whole fruits.
Too much salt-I was still a little heavy on the salt which I’d like to cut back on.
Didn’t stay consistent with the celery juice

Variety in veggies-I would have liked to have been a bit more creative with our meals and not resorting to throwing a potato in the oven for dinner. Having said that, some of those dinners were my favorite meals!

Habits acquired and Lessons Learned-

• I started almost every day of the 28-day cleanse w/a lemon and cayenne pepper water half room temp filtered water, half boiled. This is a great diuretic and weight loss tip. It also cleanses out your liver and can help prevent illness.
• Detox smoothies-I honestly thought I’d get bored of smoothies. Especially the wild blueberries but I got hooked! Sure, I’ll mix it up a bit and won’t beat myself up if I miss some days but I think this will be around to stay. Even Mando is a smoothie making machine now!
• Love for fruit-Mangoes, Papayas, kiwi, oh, my! I never really thought about how little fruit I was eating until this cleanse. Mangoes and papayas I didn’t even really eat at before this cleanse and now I love them! Papaya saved my life during this cleanse when I was constipated and mango is just so delicious and both are great for your skin! I will continue to eat as much fruit as I can everyday as early as I can so that I know that it will be done.
• Eating Out-This cleanse also helped me realize how much I eat out and what crap I’m eating! In the past, even when I think I’ve been diligent about ordering, there’s often some crappy ingredient snuck into it like canola oil which can reek havoc on your health. Further, the way things are cooked, mostly fried when it comes to me, isn’t good for health either. This cleanse has really beat into me how important it is to stick with restaurants that source local, organic products and that offer plant-based dishes, fruit juices and smoothies.
• Wheat Brain-I was surprised to find that most of my cravings went back to one thing-wheat. As much as I wanted eggs or cheese some days, it really irked me not to have that ‘full’ feeling after eating something weighted down by wheat. You know the feeling, the lump that sits in your stomach when you eat? The feeling that I once took for being full. Now full means something entirely different for me. Consider an example-if you serve a child a dinner of vegetables, carbs, side salad and small bit of protein, the child may very well proclaim that they are full before having finished said dinner. But if they know that an offer for dessert is around the corner, suddenly, the feeling of being full is lost on them. There’s always plenty of room for the things we want or think we want. That slice of chocolate cake, gooey brownie or piece of crusty apple pie. I’ve learned from this cleanse that the idea of being full can sometimes be relative to what we have learned throughout our lives about food.
• When you booze, you loose-I feel like not drinking for 28 days helped me to realize that I drink more than I’d like to. Don’ get me wrong, I like a good glass of wine to accompany a well-made meal and nice conversation, but somewhere over the years in my life, the lines have become a bit blurred. Somehow I lost sight of the enjoyment that can be found in an alcoholic beverage and got to the point where I could only see the end of a glass that needed to be refilled. I don’t know what will come out of this but I think it’s good to be aware of the changes I went through during this cleanse.
  Supplements-I haven’t been taking them long enough to see results but I do feel like I’m on my way. I think the B-12 has begun helping with my energy. You can see my post  Day 7-Celery & Supplements for more information on the supplements I take. I also added hawaiian spiraling to the mix. You can check for more information on that and other herbs  here.

Hassle back Potato Cashew ‘Sour Cream’

2 large Russet potatoes, washed and dried

1 cup raw cashews soaked overnight or 2-6 hours if you can’t overnight

1/2-1 cup water depending on consistency of sauce

2-3 cloves garlic, sliced

1 lemon, juiced

2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons coconut oil

1-2 teaspoons himalayan sea salt

freshly ground black pepper

cilantro

Carefully make several ‘slits’ in potatoes moving tiny pieces of the potato and replace with sliced garlic. Once you’ve put in the garlic, drizzle with coconut oil and bake potatoes at 400 degrees for 30-45 or until fork tender.

While the potatoes cook, rinse your cashews very well after soaking and place in blender along with the rest of the ingredients (except olive oil). Add salt and pepper to taste.

Once the potato is done drizzle olive oil on top and top with cashew cream. Replace in oven to warm the sauce if you’d like. Top with cilantro after.