Day 3 and I See RESULTS! Part 1

So, one of my big complaints to Alvaro has been that I carry my weight in my stomach and how much I hate that. He's been telling me he's convinced it's inflammation, not fat. He was convinced that through a cleansing diet of fruits & veggies that I'd see the inflammation start to disappear. Well, I'll go ahead and say it. He was right, I was wrong. I woke up this morning and looked and felt like I'd lost 10 pounds, all in my stomach. MIRACLE! Or just a healthy diet, actually. I don't want to get into graphic details here, but when you transition to your diet consisting of mainly fruits and veggies it really "cleans you out". Alvaro tells me many people actually think they're getting sick or have a stomach bug, but it's normal. This is the detox part!

Last night I sat down and actually planned out today's AND tomorrow's meals! I woke up "early" (for me!) and had tons of energy, especially once I realized I was already starting to see results. I ran some errands and ended up at EarthFare to gather some specialty items I knew I wouldn't be able to find at the produce stands or Harris Teeter. I ended up crunched on time and found myself hungry at the grocery store, which is never a good thing. I ate lunch at their cafe and that kinda threw the menu plan into turmoil (that, and the fact that they were out of cauliflower!), but I'm just going with the flow!

One BIG part of this diet succeeding or failing for me, and for most people, is having the TIME to plan, shop, prep, and execute healthy meals consistently. For that reason I'm trying my very hardest to use my "short" work days to shop for the next day and prep as much food as possible. I'm also spending the few hours I have in the afternoon between work at Jeremy's academy to get dinner going so I don't find myself home at 10pm, hungry, and looking at 45 minutes of work to put dinner on the table (when all I want to do is get to bed!). I highly suggest, if you're going to try to really go for it and change your diet, that you FIND the time to plan, shop, prep and execute. If you can't find it, make it! Especially for the first few weeks, which I assume will be the most difficult, it will likely be the difference between failing and succeeding. Trust me... Waffle House seems oddly appealing when you get home from work and there's nothing healthy waiting for you in the fridge!

Day 3-

Breakfast- strawberries & bananas
Lunch- Potato cake & tabbouleh from EarthFare cafe
Snack- Zucchini chips (not work linking. Fail. Yummy, but not chip-like at all. Still, I ate a whole zucchini because of it)
JUICE- Yummy green juice modified from yesterday's Kale & Apple smoothie. Details below.
Linner- Leftover green bean & tri-color quinoa salad
Dinner- Crock Pot falafel with raw (bean free!) broccoli hummus in a collard wrap, spicy peanut ginger kale salad, and leftover tabbouleh from lunch

JUICE! I had a fortunate occurrence at EarthFare today! A couple days ago I took the leap and ordered a nice Breville juicer from Amazon to replace the one I currently have (which is now free to a good home!). I realized this morning that I hadn't seen the "shipped" email, and upon further investigation realized that it wasn't due to ship till early August. Not OK! In the produce section I happened upon the exact same juicer, for the exact same price! Cancelled my Amazon order and walked out with my shiny new juicer just a few minutes later. Hooray!

My first juice was an adaptation of yesterday's Kale & Apple Smoothie. Into the juicer went kale, an apple, celery, a kiwi, a cucumber, a lime and some ginger. Out came a super delicious green juice that was sweet and fresh!