The Clean Program: Year 3, Celebration Day!!

Clean chicken fried rice with not Clean red wine..but it was organic

Okay, so not only did we end the cleanse a day early, we ended it a day and an evening early! Our dinner was clean but the wine we had with it (and the german chocolate soft serve after) was definitely not clean friendly. Oh well, we are not perfect (surprise!) but I'm proud of us anyway! This morning, we continued our celebration with chocolate chip (still no sugar/no dairy chocolate) belgian waffles, strawberry/pecan maple syrup, hazelnut coffee and sweet red wine with club soda for a delightful Sunday breakfast. I'm grateful for this yearly reminder to eat mindfully, balance out the junk and processed food  with plenty of vegetables, fruits and whole foods and just take care of ourselves in general. Food is the best medicine, in my opinion, so I will try to eat foods that help and moderate the ones that do not. See you next year Clean Program! 

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 20...Last day for us!!

Yummy!

Last day of the Clean Program!!! Woohoo!! To celebrate I made lemon apricot pistachio bites and they turned out really good even though I didn't have enough apricots (had to add dates to make up the difference) and I couldn't find shelled pistachios so I had to shell 2 cups of pistachios! Totally worth it.

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Blueberry, kiwi, coconut, almond milk smoothie
Snacks: Lemon apricot pistachio bites
Lunch: Blackberry/raspberry "soft serve" with cocoa powder and no dairy/no sugar chocolate bits
Dinner: We have Ryan's sister in town again so we swapped our liquid dinner with lunch and had clean chicken fried rice.

Shelling for 10 years

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 19

I am pleased to announce that tomorrow is our last day on the Clean Program!! WOOHOO! We ended a day early last year too and here's why: who wants to celebrate on a Monday? Sunday is a much better day to break the cleanse. So, even though I want pizza right this second, I'm about to head into the kitchen to make a liquid dinner....but knowing it's the second to last makes it not so bad :) 

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Blueberry, pineapple, coconut, walnut and almond milk smoothie
Snacks: Pear, kiwi, almonds
Lunch: Mixed greens, mango, pineapple, chicken, carrot and zucchini salad
Dinner: Black cherry chocolate "soft serve". Frozen black cherries, no sugar/no dairy chocolate pieces and chocolate powder ran through the juicer with the homogenizing attachment. Life is sweet!

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 18

I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!! Only a few more days and I'm freeee....it is the best feeling for those first few days after the cleanse. FREEDOM! Usually after a few junky items, I decide that eating healthy tastes and feels better but it's still nice to have the option to pollute my stomach :) 

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Raspberry, walnut, almond milk, coconut and cocoa powder smoothie
Snacks: Zucchini muffin, apple
Lunch: I had a workshop out of town for work today so I had a salad with cucumber, mixed greens, sunflower seeds and zucchini. Ryan had a salad with chicken, mixed greens, zucchini and carrot.
Dinner: Blueberry, mango, pineapple, walnut, coconut and almond milk smoothie

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 17

Chocolate cherry "ice cream"

I sure hope nobody reads my Clean Program posts hoping for a good cleanse role model. I suck. I just can't be a Gwyneth or a Ryan even. All I can think about is french fries and pizza and COFFEE!!! "Well, Brandy, why do you torture yourself on this journey each year?" is what my imaginary audience says and to that I say "To remind me that eating french fries and pizza should not be my norm."

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Cinnamon, peach, raspberry, almond milk, cashew smoothie
Snacks: Zucchini muffins, apple, almonds
Lunch: Chicken over mixed greens, zucchini, carrot and with Bolthouse farms raspberry vinaigrette. It is pretty close to being Clean friendly but might be a little off. This was a last minute decision when I realized I forgot to make our dressing...better than Ranch?
Dinner: We had a Surfrider meeting tonight at a seafood restaurant and as the platters of fried fish wafted by, I ordered a salad...hold the tomatoes, feta and croutons. I'm over the cleanse. Ryan made some chocolate cherry "ice cream" (frozen cherries mixed with chocolate powder and chocolate in the juicer using the homogenizing thingy) when we got home because he refuses to cheat at all and didn't order anything. He shared because my salad did not cut it and he's a nice man :)

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 16

I'm feeling very whiny today! Probably because I haven't had my smoothie yet and so I'm hungry and cranky. I'm not very nice when I'm hungry...or tired. I need to be well fed and rested to be a good person, it is what it is.

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Blueberry, coconut, almond milk, chia and who knows what else smoothie (Ryan makes them before I wake up so your guess is as good as mine!)
Snacks: Apple, zucchini muffin, almonds
Lunch: Chicken, brown rice, peas and carrots with tamari and tahini (boring! I'm going to make a nice salad for tomorrows lunch...maybe with mango, mmmm)
Dinner: The worst soup of all time. If you want to gag down dinner, make the soup I made. Better yet, don't. Not sure how spinach, chicken broth, leeks and spices could go so very wrong but they did!

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 15

Just look at the lil bastards

It finally happened...I broke! We had a delightful assortment of cloud like pastries and coffee at work today for an event I worked at through lunch and by 12:45 pm, I couldn't resist their siren call. It was totally worth it. I think it's now a built in part of my cleanse to cheat once each year. Year 1 it was Denny's, Year 2 it was Panera (hazelnut coffee and chocolate chip cookie...drool) and Year 3 is the year of the delicate, cloud like, powdered sugar topped, chocolate creamy filled confection and a half cup of coffee. And I don't care who knows it!!! Maybe it's my sugar addled brain speaking but I don't think it's worth having a pure, "clean" body if it means being totally miserable emotionally. Should I be eating healthy foods the majority of the time? Yes, duh. But the occasional treat will not kill me and it is a part of life I really enjoy. Balance. This means not going back to my nonstop sugar filled days but maybe not cutting it out all together either.

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Zucchini muffin (okay, maybe I set myself up for failure by having a solid for breakfast which is a rule breaker). Ryan was good and had a smoothie, he has much more self control than I do.
Snacks: The best pastry and coffee of all time...and an apple :)
Lunch: Seasoned chicken with broccoli and forbidden rice (also known as black rice but today's just one of those days)
Dinner: Chocolatey-coconut blueberry smoothie with almond milk, cashews, flax and chia...just what I needed!

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 14

Zucchini muffins!

I was so excited to try out this recipe for zucchini muffins today! They turned out pretty good but next time I'll cut back on the salt and add less almond milk (I put like 3 or 4 splashes...it called for one, whoops!) Has anyone else found any good "Clean" baked goods? 

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Ryan went fishing and I got so caught up in painting our front door that we skipped breakfast....
Snacks: Zucchini muffins (I added dried cranberries and a lil coconut sugar, so good), apple, crackers with dill cashew "cheese"
Lunch: Ryan made us a black bean/rice patty topped with "Clean" guacamole. Sounds weird but was delicious
Dinner: Peach, pineapple, coconut flakes, cashews and almond milk smoothie

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 13

Love it when this thing's full of produce

Today has been a whirlwind, just like every other weekend since we bought a house! Grocery shopping, cleaning, painting, The Home Depot, etc etc. I almost didn't want to stop to make food because I know I have limited time during the weekends to accomplish everything I want to. One day I'll realize that you can only do one thing at a time and shouldn't worry about everything else but I'm not there yet :) 

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Another yummy "Cinnabun" smoothie, we're very excited about this discovery!

Snacks: Gluten free crackers (made by Ryan) with dill cashew "cheese"

Lunch: Chicken wrap using the leftover crockpot chicken sauteed with onion and topped with clean guacamole, clean slaw and mixed greens.

Dinner: Lemon blueberry smoothie (juice from one lemon, a few handfuls of blueberries, cashews, almond milk and an apple)

Making guac

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 12

We are running out of food!! This is a good thing b/c nothing is being wasted but it means that the snack supply is running low. I need to get my butt to the grocery store this weekend but I also need to help Ryan do some touch up painting on the outside of our house, organize everything, repair the screen that leads to the roof of our garage (except where we found a nest with an egg in it, that will wait until the baby is hatched and flies away) andddd a million other tasks. Lunch was another mish mash of what was left in the fridge/freezer and cupboards, pretty good but a snooze fest!

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Raspberry, blueberry, walnut, almond milk, date smoothie

Snacks: Apple, coconut chocolate bite, almonds, raisins

Lunch: Brown rice, broccoli, carrot and chicken with tamari and tahini

Dinner: "Cinnabun" smoothie: peaches, cinnamon, almond milk, cashews, flax

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 11

Gorgeous day!

I just cooked my rice noodles using the office Keurig....I felt like MacGyver! Then I took my made up recipe lunch out to the beautiful garden area outside of my office and enjoyed the sunshine. What a great day! I'm pretty much used to eating this way now but I have to say, I've been avoiding temptation as much as possible. No way I'd go in a movie theater right now. I cannot say no to movie theater popcorn. I'm pretty sure it's absolutely awful for you but luckily I rarely go to the movies or I'd have a serious habit. 10 more days! We can do it!

Today's Menu:

Breakfast: Blueberry, sunflower seed, almond milk, and chia smoothie

Snacks: Apple, pear, coconut/chocolate energy bites

Lunch: Maifun or "rice sticks" (noodles made from rice), leftover chicken from the crockpot chicken, slices of carrot, peas, celery, and a broth made from water, garlic, fresh grated ginger, tamari and dark sesame oil. This was a made up recipe that sort of resembles fancied up ramen noodles :) It's healthier though and quite tasty.

Dinner: TBD

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 10

Chickpeas still crispy from Sunday

Last night's dinner was a success! The kiwi lime slushy? Would have been awesome if I hadn't put almost a liter of club soda in the blender...it called for 12 oz....whoops! It ended up being more like a lemon/lime (I had to use lemon juice too b/c my lime sucked and had no juice) soda. So, still pretty good but not slushy quality. After all of this activity, Ryan and his sister spent the rest of the evening brewing beer. It was a very active kitchen night. Today is pretty boring food-wise because it's simply leftovers and the same ol', same ol' but on a completely unrelated note; I did want you guys to see my friend's new website for the cigar box guitars he makes. Super cool. I love things that are repurposed, it makes me want to be more creative and find ways to reuse the things I find. 

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Peach, cashew, chia and almond milk smoothie
Snacks: Apple, coconut chocolate bites, roasted chickpeas (found the best recipe to make them crispy, visit this site for instructions)
Lunch:  Leftovers from last night: crockpot chicken (turned out amazing but I made the mistake of cooking it on low for 8 hours instead of cooking on high for 4-5 hours as the recipe called for. It was a lil too soft but still delicious so there were no complaints!), autumn slaw (can't say enough good things about this) and brown rice.
Dinner:TBD

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 9

Crockpot time!

I love technology!! As I type this, my crockpot is getting itself ready to cook me a delicious chicken while I'm at work and my little vacuum robot (both Christmas presents) is taking care of the plethora of sand and hair that has made itself at home on my tile floor since we last ran the lil robot on Sunday. With a dog, a cat and my constant shedding, the robot keeps me sane and frees up time to speak to an imaginary audience on the internet: the FUTURE! I named her Consuela (like the cleaning lady on Family Guy, she's hilarious) but now I'm thinking that is racist, so I should probably come up with a non-offensive name like, Steve. Dinner table discussion for tonight! Any name ideas?

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Peach, walnut, chia and almond milk smoothie
Snacks: Roasted chickpeas, apple, pear, coconut/chocolate bites
Lunch: Leftover broccoli/snap pea soup for me, smoothie for Ryan
Dinner: Whole chicken (adapted from recipe on link) roasted in the crockpot with 4 chopped carrots, an onion, 2 stalks of celery, 4 cloves of garlic, salt, pepper, cayenne, paprika, chili powder, mustard powder and onion powder (I also soaked the chicken in salt water overnight). Served with brown rice and autumn slaw.

Snacking on the Clean Program

Wanted to share this post about snacking on the cleanse. It basically states that sometimes we snack when we're not truly hungry and to consciously think about if we are hungry, bored or experiencing an emotion we are dealing with through mindless consumption. While you may cleanse better without snacks, I have found that they are crucial to me staying on the cleanse. If I don't have a snack, I'll go buy some chips or cookies. I think this is because I eat small meals and so I get hungry more often. It is worth it to me to snack on "Clean" foods during the cleanse than to be cranky, miserable or to indulge in junk food.

Okay, that's it. The reason I am addressing this at all is that our first year we felt guilty about snacking but it's about balance people! Hopefully this will help you too :)

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 8

Coconut/Chocolate bites

Not much to report today, my friends. Since I made all of our food yesterday, I am just coasting today :) Tonight I'll get the ingredients ready for tomorrow's crockpot whole chicken! Ryan's sister is coming to see us, so we are switching our liquid evening meal with our solid lunch meal so we can enjoy dinner with her. I figured whole chicken with vegetables is pretty well liked, even by those not on a cleanse. I'll post the recipe later! 

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Blueberry, pear, lemon juice, almond milk and cashew smoothie

Snacks: Coconut chocolate bites (pictured above) I dusted them with chocolate powder to look pretty, apple, roasted chickpeas

Lunch: Chicken fried rice

Dinner: Broccoli, snap pea, garlic, and almond milk soup. Made the same way as the asparagus/leek soup from last week but I put a few too many veggies in there and it was more like baby food...whoops!

Here's a pic of the guac from yesterday....it was so good! We used the Food for Life brown rice tortillas...cut into 8th's and baked directly on the oven rack at 400 degrees. The guacamole is one avocado, juice from half a lime, chopped onion, olive oil, sea salt and black pepper...served with rinsed black olives. 

Guacamole with brown rice tortilla chips

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 7

Dill and Scallion Cashew Hummus

We have completed a full week of the Clean Program!! Woohoo!!! To celebrate, I have been cooking up a storm today! I made a dill/scallion/nutritional yeast cashew nut "cheese" (I prefer to think of it as cashew hummus, nut cheese sounds gross), chicken fried rice, roasted chickpeas, clean guacamole and brown rice tortilla chips and coconut/chocolate bites. And, of course, since this is all from scratch..it takes forever!! It does feel good to be eating whole foods though and it's only for 21 days. Then I can go back to eating ice cream :) haha, not what I should be thinking!! I will continue my quest in finding a balance between healthy foods and convenient foods that taste delicious.

While I'm slaving away inside, Ryan is slaving away outside

Today's Menu:

Breakfast: Raspberry/chocolate powder/chia/walnut/almond milk smoothie
Snacks: Apple, brown rice tortilla nachos
Lunch: Clean chicken fried rice (see below for recipe)
Dinner: Peach "milkshake! Frozen peaches, almond milk, milled flax seed, cashews and a wee bit o' coconut nectar sugar :) Great way to end the weekend!

"Clean" Chicken Fried Rice 

(adapted from this recipe)

3 cups cooked brown rice (this is 1 cup uncooked. Make the day before and refrigerate)

1 cooked chicken breast (cubed)

1/3 cup chopped onion

1/3 cup cubed carrot

1/3 cup peas (I used frozen)

1 stalk celery, thinly sliced

1 container baby bella mushrooms

2 tablespoons sesame seeds

1/3 cup gluten free tamari

4 cloves minced garlic

2 teaspoons freshly grated ginger

2 tablespoons ground black pepper

2-4 tablespoons olive oil (I used a lot because I was using a stainless steel pan and it's not nonstick)

Heat oil over medium high heat and add chopped carrots, celery and onion when oil begins to shimmer. Add pepper and a pinch of salt. Add all other vegetables, then rice and chicken. Add garlic, ginger, tamari and sesame seeds. Stir well until heated throughout. 

I usually don't cook the vegetables for very long because I like them crunchy but you may want to cook it a bit longer before adding tamari if you like your vegetables softer. 

This will come out a bit moister than traditional fried rice but it is super yummy. Enjoy!! 

Making "Clean" chicken fried rice

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 6

Creamy broccoli soup

Saturday! A day of rest...ha! Yeah right! I think we gave up our days of rest when we bought our house :) At least we had time to bike to the two farmer's markets in our town before slaving away the rest of the day on pressure washing and cleaning up rust spots on our house (perk of living at the beach!). On our bike ride, I learned the hard way (Okay, yesterday I said that I nearly died...looking back, that may have been a slight exaggeration) that exercise without snacks is a big no no on the cleanse. Lesson learned! I was felt super weak and light headed and had to lay down for a while when we got home. After a few of Ryan's delicious clean pancakes, I felt much better but hopefully you will learn from my mistakes! 

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Beet, celery and carrot juice

Snacks: Raw, vegan coconut bar from the farmer's market, a kiwi and chocolate walnut scones

Lunch: Kohlrabi fries, pancakes with almond butter and berry syrup

Dinner: Creamy broccoli and onion soup (I have to come up with something different for tomorrow night, Ryan will probably roll his eyes if I make one more creamy (insert vegetable here) soup)

Kohlrabi fries...delicious

 Ps. Kohlrabi fries are SUPER easy to make. Cut into fry-like shapes, toss with a lil olive oil and sea salt and throw in the oven (or gently place in the oven) at 350 until slightly crispy. 

Recipe for Clean Pancakes

Ryan blended a few different recipes and some improvisation to create his own pancakes for our enjoyment. The following recipe is in his own words, including the term "hefty sprinkle".  Hope you like them too! 

Ryan's Clean Pancakes

2 cups all purpose gluten free flour (Bob's Red Mill)
2 cups unsweetened almond milk
2 tbsp coconut oil (for cooking)
1/4 tsp sea salt
2 tsp baking powder
handful finely chopped almonds
hefty sprinkle of cocoa powder
light sprinkle poppy seeds
moderate sprinkle of cinnamon
2 tsp milled flax seed (may want to try one to avoid too gummy pancakes)

Mix dry ingredients together. Add almond milk and mix until smooth. Heat pan with coconut oil on medium heat and pour batter on pan. Add dairy free/sugar free chocolate pieces, if desired (we totally desired).

Smear almond butter on top of pancakes and serve with berry "syrup" to delight your tastebuds :)

Clean Berry "Syrup"

2 handfuls berries of choice (we used blackberry, blueberry and raspberry)
1 tsp coconut nectar crystals
Splash of apple cider vinegar

Cook over medium low heat until it boils then turn to low to simmer until berries soften and water reduces.

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 5

It's Friday!! Hooray! Let's break out the pizza, ice cream, popcorn and...oh, wait. BOO!! My optimism from the other day has faded! I think it's because I haven't had my morning smoothie yet and I'm hungry but I could really go for some donuts. I guess this just means I need to find some delicious "Clean" snacks for this weekend! I have been eyeing some recipes for Clean friendly nachos and almond butter cookies all week, I can get cooking tonight. I'm feeling better already :)

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Some smoothie Ryan created this morning because we forgot last night. I think it's raspberry, flax, cocoa powder coconut and coconut milk but I'm not 100% sure. 

Snacks: Apple, chocolate and walnut scones, almonds (light on the snacks today...that's what you get for not preparing!)

Lunch: Same as yesterday. Chickpea/broccoli mixture

Dinner: MYSTERY. Although, I have been digging these "creamy" vegetable soups. I adjusted the leek/asparagus recipe and substituted onion and spinach last night to create the photo pictured above. Very satisfying. **Update** I ended up making creamy broccoli soup :) Ryan keeps asking if we can have a different type of dinner but it's so easy!! Frozen broccoli, onion, garlic, coconut oil, almond milk, salt and pepper, and nutritional yeast. Easy peasy and so good! 

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 4

Gangs all here!

As I sit here, sipping my pear/blueberry smoothie, I'm feeling pretty smug. Look at me, totally rocking this cleanse. It seems to be easier this year. I think it's because we have so many more recipes to choose from and a lot more snacks to keep us occupied! I don't even really want to eat all the junk that somehow worms its way into my life ALL THE TIME. 

Today's Menu

Breakfast: Pear/blueberry/coconut milk/cashew smoothie

Snacks: Pear and avocado (from yesterday), apple, chocolate walnut scone, green tea, lemon water

Lunch: Broccoli/chickpea/brown rice/tahini sauce  Love it

Dinner: MYSTERY. Will update later. Btw, the creamy asparagus/leek soup was much better last night. It helps to follow directions :) 

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 3

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Okay, so it's day 3 and I'm feeling a LOT better. It started last night and I don't know if it was the lack of headache and body aches but I had a bunch of energy last night. So much, in fact, that I made chocolate walnut scones! These scones are labor intensive (see photo below of muddling dates into a paste) but I had energy to make them, roasted chickpeas and the dressing for our salad today (I also danced around while I did it)! You may notice that the scones more closely resemble chocolate lava cakes than scones but that is because I didn't chop the dark chocolate into small enough pieces. Lesson learned. I think they'll be delicious anyhow but they do look pretty funny! Ryan wants to hit a few tennis balls tonight and exercise and I told him that he can't unless he ups his calories (I am very bossy). He takes the cleanse WAY too seriously. Like, more seriously than the people at the Clean Program. I told him he can't be so strict and needs to eat! He made himself a vegetable juice and thinks that will cut it. He's going to be miserable tonight but not me! I refuse to go hungry for any reason. Fasting is just not in my repertoire.

Today's Menu: 

Breakfast: Walnut/Chia/Blueberry/Chocolate Powder/Flax/Almond Milk Smoothie

Snacks: Chocolate Walnut Scones, Roasted Chickpeas, Pear, Kiwi, Carrots, Avocado (I don't think I'll actually eat all of this but I wanted to be prepared after the hunger jungle I found myself in yesterday!)

Lunch: Same as yesterday. Humanely raised chicken sauteed with onion, garlic, sea salt and whatever other spices Ryan decided to add. Mixed greens, carrot, cucumber, and the dressing (pictured) made of 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/8 cup apple cider vinegar, a few shakes of mustard powder, sea salt and black pepper.

Dinner: Asparagus and Leek Soup, made with almond milk instead of coconut milk (much better this time around) we were supposed to have that last night but had a smoothie instead..for no reason at all...except WE WERE STARVING!! Soup was not going to cut it. Well, we could have added nuts or something I suppose to beef it up but a filling smoothie was just what we needed.

I am pleased to report that I am not really missing sugar. The smoothies are made without sweetener and I like them just fine. I tried a little of the coconut nectar crystals last night and it's very similar to brown sugar. The smell is INCREDIBLE though. Like a warm, delicious hug from the Caribbean. I'm feeling a lot more confident about the cleanse and the note I wrote to us on Sunday is turning out to be a self fulfilling prophecy :)

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 2

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Need to make some crackers and other snacks tonight!

Acquired a terrible headache yesterday that lasted until this morning. Side effects of detoxing from sugar and caffeine? Can't know for sure but it was miserable. I could not think and had to lay down while Ryan made our smoothie and lunch for today. I think that's also why I messed up our soup (put too much water, so there wasn't really room to add the coconut milk) or....maybe I'm just a terrible chef...hmm...

I'm thinking I need to make a bajillion snacks tonight so we are eating enough calories during the day to not be grumpy zombies in the evening when we can't eat solids. I'm not trying to lose weight, so I don't feel the need to restrict myself. As long as I'm generally following the guidelines of the cleanse and eating "Clean" foods, I should be okay.

Today's Menu:

Breakfast: Raspberry/Chia/Coconut Milk/Almond Milk/Almond Butter Smoothie

Snacks: Apple, pear, kiwi, almonds, all of the green tea

Lunch: Humanely raised chicken sauteed with garlic and onions served over a salad of mixed greens, carrots, cucumbers, and chopped celery. I made a dressing with 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/8 cup apple cider vinegar, a few sprinklings of mustard powder, salt and pepper (Roughly the recipe from the Clean Program Meal Plan). It was really good. I will keep that recipe :)

Dinner: Raspberry, walnut, chocolate powder, chia, flax and almond milk smoothie

The Clean Program: Year 3, Day 1

Terrible handwriting, but yummy menu

Note: Decided to switch up the Clean Program posts a bit. I'm going (to try) to post daily to break up the posts so they're easier to read. 

I'm hurting friends. Good lord. We did a beach cleanup on Saturday with the Volusia Surfrider chapter in Ormond Beach and who knew that one hour of picking up trash could be such a full body work out. My back, legs, arms, shoulders and entire being aches!! Maybe I should include exercise in my "getting healthy" plan. To make this all worse, I cannot turn to coffee or ibuprofen for a boost to get me through the pain. Instead, I have a walnut/almond milk/raspberry/cocoa powder smoothie! I thought it might be hard to drink with no sweetener and it was really good. This gives me hope!! I can't get too cocky just yet though: I had a delicious Easter brunch and tons of goodies (read: chips, candy, soda) yesterday, so it could just be that the withdrawals haven't kicked in yet.

Today's Menu:

Breakfast: Raspberry/walnut/unsweetened almond milk/cocoa powder smoothie

Snacks: Apple, carrots, lemon water **Update 3:30 pm: Ate all my snacks and I'm starving!! Need more snacks tomorrow**

Lunch: Broccoli/Chickpea/Brown rice with Tahini/Garlic/Lemon sauce (love this stuff.....good thing too because it's lunch allllll week)

Dinner: Asparagus and Leek Soup...I messed it up but it still tasted pretty good :) We also split an avocado straight out of the skin with a lil sea salt on there. We were both really hungry and figured it was better than scarfing a pan of brownies from Publix (well I figured that, Ryan would have probably just suffered through).

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