Midway through Week 2 of Cleanse

We are chugging along with the cleanse! Added grains back in has helped a TON! I'm less food focused and feeling like it's really a fun challenge. A few tips for anyone doing it?! If you are someone who likes to cook, go off the menu. Remember the rules, but branch out a bit. I got caught up in week one and forgot about all of the other vegetables that I LOVE (like brussels sprouts), no reason you can't eat them.

Banana Oat Pancakes

The banana oat pancakes were killer. My first batch didn't well, I think using a cast iron skillet is not the best choice, and perhaps related, the heat was too high.. they didn't cook through. I used those as my "leftovers" and packed them for the next morning, reheating them in a non-stick skillet and they were great! It was a good first entry back into the real world!

Mushrooms with Kale

Here's one I forgot to post in week 1... the portobellas with kale! YUM! The marinade was fantastic! And the mushroom was so meaty, it made a great dinner!

Quinoa with pears and almonds is pretty good. Honestly, I was hoping that it would be better.  In my head, it was going to be sweet creamy deliciousness... it wasn't. It wasn't bad- don't get me wrong, but it wasn't what I expected.

Black Bean Patties with Sesame Kale Salad

The other night I made both the black bean patties and the Sesame Kale salad (I omitted the quinoa, because it just seemed weird). It was a perfect combination! Here's a hint with the black bean patties, make them thinner than you think.  I think like- CD size? They get a little crispy on the outside, adding fun texture, and I think if they were bigger (and thinner), they would be crispier and delicious!

Zucchini Noodles!

This week, I'm doing the Whole Living Detox Cleanse, and I'm in week one. This week we are surviving on Vegetables, Fruits, Nuts, seeds and lentils. It's pretty strict. At first I limited myself to just the foods listed in the plan. But after one too many servings of cabbage, I was really feeling like I wanted something more similar to my regular diet. I subscribe to a lot of healthy food magazines, that I enjoy reading at the gym! :) One featured some raw food recipes, and it inspired me to come up with this dish.

Makes 1 serving.
1 raw zucchini
1 Tbls Coconut or Olive Oil
1 portobello mushroom cap, diced
2 Tbls minced onion
1/4 prepared marinara sauce
Nutritional Yeast, optional

To prepare zuchinni. Slice thinly- using mandoline or sharp knife, then cut into strips to form "noodles". These could be blanched or used raw. I chose raw- but I would have liked them warm- and the sauce didn't heat them enough for me. In the Summer though- this might be fun!

Heat Oil in skillet. Add mushroom and onion. Cook until desired tenderness, then add the sauce and heat through.

To serve, top "noodles" with sauce mix, and sprinkle with a pinch of nutritional yeast to add "cheese". This recipe is Vegan, but you certainly could add a protein to the mix!

Detox/Cleanse Week 1 & Tri-Training Week 2 in Review

I last updated you just one full day into my cleanse. As I sat down to write on day 3 or 4, I realized, it would be horribly boring for you to read, so I decided, less is more.

Mango Smoothie

It's Sunday night, and week one is nearly complete. I managed to stick through it the whole time! Pretty amazing considering the temptations I had to face. On Day 2, we had a birthday lunch scheduled at work, I contemplated skipping, but I knew I didn't want to. So instead I looked at the menu and found a salad that would "mostly" work. This is a good tip in general, that I learned from a friend. When you want to stick to a plan, checkout the online menu first, and pick what you are going to eat. Then, when you are at the restaurant, you will be less tempted to go off your plan. As it turned out- it snowed like crazy on Monday night and the two birthday guests could not make it in. Crisis averted! Thankfully, I had brought the broccoli soup, for just this reason!

Beet and Spinach Salad

The next big temptation was Thursday... bowling night. I managed to make it through the night without drinking. At first it was pretty easy... but it's amazing how pushy your friends get once they start drinking. It actually wasn't that hard to say no, it's just that there was constant pressure... more annoying than frustrating.

I was nervous about the weekend, but I kept pretty busy and that helped. I know I'm a snacker when I'm home! I was not good about drinking water though-- I never am at home! It's probably good that I work 5 days a week!

Since this week was really low on the protein scale, I was a little nervous about how it would affect my training. If you've scanned the cleanse info, it says to stick to stretching this week, and don't be too active. This was not a problem for me. I completed all of my workouts as planned, with the exception of waking up Saturday morning with a headache that limited my interest in pushing myself. (when I got home from the gym, I used Peppermint oil, and it was gone before I got out of the shower- hindsight). Perhaps less healthy eaters would struggle more with energy levels, but I had no problems.

Sweet potato and Red Lentil Soup

I'm really looking forward to adding grains to the program! One of the things I've struggled the most with is not feeling full. I miss the satisfaction that only comes with grains!

Be sure to check the Whole Living website for these awesome recipes!

Whole Living Detox Cleanse Day One

Lately, I've been struggling with a lot of headaches, and some knee and SI joint pain that has been creeping back. It's only the first week of my tri training and I'm already struggling. I knew I needed to take a look at what was different. I started tracking my food, and really, to no surprise, it became pretty clear. Too many grains, too much meat, too much sugar, NOT enough veggies. I tried to get myself back on track, but there were just too many distractions. And then, last Friday, in an issue of Whole Living that I'd picked up weeks ago and hadn't looked at yet, I saw this cleanse.

The Whole Living 2013 Action Plan

After reading through the menu and recipes, I decided this was actually a healthy detox. There's no protein shakes or supplements, you eat real food, and you pretty much eat as much of the prescribed food as you feel like.  And so, I set out to the grocery store with a plan.

Today was day one...  I started out the morning (6 AM) with this Blueberry Smoothie! YUM! You can bet that this smoothie will be on the menu all summer! I added a half of a grapefruit to my breakfast (Not the smoothie) because I know that I'm a "Food" person- I like to chew- not sip- my meals. I think this helped a lot. I didn't get hungry again until about 9:45-- that's pretty good for just having a smoothie! I'd packed a baked sweet potato (with sliced almonds) as a snack. Perfect! (Sorry no picture)

Lunch (11:30 AM) was this fabulous Mango-Pine Nut salad! Now, I've had this recipe for EVER, and stumbled across it the other day, and with mangos on sale this week, it was a no brainer... the fact that it fit into the program was perfect!

Around 2:30 I broke into this Coconut trail mix. While I wasn't that hungry, I knew I was going to work out after work, and thought I should put something in my system.

Dinner was Broccoli Soup. Honestly, I REALLY wasn't sure about this one. I like broccoli enough, but I've found these pureed vegetable soups to be less than satisfying, if even edible. I made this with store bought veggie stock, and I waited to add in the avocado. I LOVE avocado and I thought i didn't want to waste one on a soup that wouldn't make it past one bowl.  I tested the soup, and it was really good! So, I pureed in the avocado-- it made it SO MUCH BETTER! Creamy and delicious! I added some pumpkin seeds, for crunch!

It's the end of the day, and I'm feeling really good! Tomorrow I face my first challenge... of course it had to happen, someone planned a birthday lunch! I don't want to miss time out of the office with my friends, so I scoped the menu and found a salad that will work pretty close with the plan. It's not perfect, but I'm ok with that! I'll make it up somewhere else, I'm pretty proud of sticking to day one!

Tri Training- Week 1 Recap

I haven't been a very good blog poster! I'm going to start trying...again. I say this a lot. :)

My 2nd triathlon is scheduled for June 15th, 2013. June still seems far away this week, even as we turned the page to March, but yesterday (Saturday) marked 15 weeks from race day! I have a lot of work to do.

I'm trying some new things this year. For starters, I've been swimming once a week since probably Thanksgiving (maybe before- I don't remember). A couple of weeks ago, I read an article that said that just swimming laps was relatively pointless, and you should basically be swimming increasingly difficult intervals. I decided to start following that plan. Today was swim #3. Because this swim plan is really geared toward a 1/4 mile swim, and mine is a 1/2 mile swim, I'm doubling the workout. Technically it has me swimming a little less than I was before, but it's definitely more of a workout. Today, I swam 20 laps (50 yds) as fast as I could with a 20 second rest in between laps. I've been using poker chips to count my laps- so that helps. And typically I've been able to go the same pace throughout the whole workout with in about a 4 second variable! I feel good about the workout. And I can really feel it in my shoulders!

Another thing I'm trying is Yoga. The gym I belong to is offering a Saturday morning Yoga Fusion class at 8am. Currently, the timing is perfect. I'm able to get up and do a short interval run before the class. I'm not sure how this will work as we move into warmer weather, and longer runs, when I can run outside. I'm really enjoying the class!

My goal this training session is to remember to continue to stretch everyday AND lift weights twice a week. I guess you could say, I'm approaching this triathlon a lot different than I did last year. I think I signed up with about 10 weeks to train last year. I was out of shape and it was a big goal. I definitely have more confidence going into it this year!

In closing, week one went really well! I got all of my workouts in pretty easily. I am struggling a little with my knee, but it's a post-workout soreness, and not affecting my actual workouts. This upcoming week, I am hoping/planning to do a 3 week detox cleanse. Honestly, I doubt that I will make it through 3 weeks, but I'm looking forward to trying!