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!