Super Energy! 3 Days Into Green Cleanse

Today’s breakfast and lunch smoothie:

1 1/2 cup almond milk
2 cups spinach
Slice of mango
Three strawberries
1/3 cucumber
1 banana

I also added a tablespoon of SafSlim safflower oil to help with breaking down fat!

One thing I can say for green smoothies is how much energy they give you! I had the most intense workout today that I’ve had since getting pregnant three years ago! I used to run and swim daily at a very athletic level to maintain stamina for surfing. Today I felt like I’m starting to return to that place. Fantastic. Also I think the Cleanse pills I am taking are working really well with the green smoothies. Coco continues to enjoy green smoothies with me everyday and I’m thrilled with all the veggies she’s taking in!

I have had two non green meals but I’ll be stricter going forward (I hope!) though I really feel they haven’t impacted the benefits I’ve experienced in the past couple days. Going forward after the Cleanse I’d like to incorporate the smoothie into my daily diet!

 

Green Cleanse Day 1

So today I began a Green Cleanse to last for 14 days! To paraphrase from numerous sites, the Green Cleanse is meant to help detoxify the body by lessening the strain on the digestive tract to limiting food intake to green vegetables and fruits. The ratio is roughly 70/30 green vegetables to fruit and I’ll be doing smoothies/juices and green meals.

Food List for a Green Cleanse

• Dark green, leafy lettuce (romaine, red leaf, green leaf)
• Avocados
• Tomatoes
• Cucumbers
• Celery
• Carrots
• Red beets (one or two will last a week)
• Zucchini
• Bell peppers
• Broccoli
• Cauliflower
• Cabbage
• Asparagus
• Onions
• Corn
• Yukon gold or new potatoes
• Sweet potatoes or yams
• Acorn or butternut squash
• Watermelon
• Honeydew
• Cantaloupe
• Pears
• Apples
• Bananas
• Mangoes
• Papaya
• Peaches
• Plums
• Nectarines
• Grapes
• Coconut
• Oranges and grapefruit
• Blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, goji berries, and any other berries that you enjoy
• Any other fruits or vegetables that you enjoy raw or juiced

I’m going to attempt to document my experience with the Green Cleanse as it’s the first one I’ve ever done, interspersed with guest entries by my sister, who is ALSO doing the Green Cleanse right now.

I started the morning with a an Apple Pie Lara Bar and a Diet Start Cleanse Pill which I got from Whole Foods.

For lunch I had a green smoothie which my daughter LOVED! It’s a variation on spinach and banana based smoothies other mothers online said their children ALSO loved. Since I started my cleanse on Mother’s Day I wanted to make sure she was part of it somehow Since I freestyled this recipe I am calling it Coco’s Cheerful Green Smoothie because she was so happy afterwards! LOL it gave her a huge burst of energy — actually hilariously Popeye-spinach can-like.

Here’s the recipe roughly estimating:

Coco’s Cheerful Green Smoothie

2 cups large leaf spinach
4 strawberries
1 banana
1 cup crushed ice
1/2 a lemon (my sister’s tip on helping detox)
1/2 cup water

Maryland Pride for my tumbler!!

This made about 28 oz. Coco had about 4oz on her own!

Loving it!

On turbo speed after her smoothie LOL!

For an afternoon snack I had roasted seaweed.

For dinner I was planning on having another smoothie but wasn’t so hungry so I had half an avocado with a small sprinkle of salt and 5 boiled broccoli florets instead.

I had a light headache briefly twice but that was the extent of my bad normal reactions to suddenly withdrawing to a green diet.

Excited for tomorrow!

Product Review: Aromatherapy Products from Bath & Body Works

Lavender Vanilla Sleep Lotion, Paris Amour Body Glitter/Lotion, Eucalyptus Spearmint Stress Relief Body Soak, Vanilla Verbena Stress Relief Body Wash

I am a believer in aromatherapy and reviewed the excellent California Baby lavender bubble bath before, which remains the most powerful lavender product I’ve ever used. I would pass out within 20 minutes of cuddling my baby before her bedtime after she used it! I decided to try out the aromatherapy products from Bath & Body Works. These reviews are based on about two months of usage.

Lavender Vanilla Sleep Lotion

I LOVE the scent of this lotion and I do feel very calm and sleepy. Though I can’t say I really have the trouble I used to falling asleep. So busy these days once my head hits the pillow I am out like a light! I do think the aromatherapy quality of this lotion is very high though, it definitely has a strong natural smell of lavender. I know A LOT of people who use this product.

Eucalyptus Spearmint Stress Relief Body Soak

I love these bath salts and will mix them in with beauty bath powders for a nice soak in the tub. I soak in the tub at least once a week, it’s a re-integrating thing for me… I actually think these salts work more in a physical than emotional way as they make my body and muscles relax but don’t notice much in terms of an emotional uplift.

Vanilla Verbena Stress Relief Body Wash

I use this everyday and just pray it works. LOL! Lots of good things coming my way and knocking a lot of negative energy down dead — don’t know if it’s all the body wash, likely a series of things working out with I HOPE a long, large trajectory ahead. Does it work? Well, I’ve certainly found a lot of laughter in stressful situations than stress for the past couple months!

Paris Amour Body Glitter/Lotion

I actually bought this for my daughter because she is the girliest G-I-R-L in the world and loves lotion and all things sparkly. So we’ve shared the bottle! My complaint with Bath & Body Works is how so many of their scents smell exactly the same, fruity and sweet and not always in the most subtle way. There IS something more elegant about this fragrance though, more floral, which is really nice. Moisturizing enough and lots of glitter for my darling.

Red Nails (product review) and Ruffles

Blouse: Stella McCartney for GAPKids, Culottes: Stella McCartney, Duster: H&M

I swear none of the above is as ill-fitting as I think this picture makes it look. Maybe it’s just how I’m posing with bright January sun in my eyes… These culottes seem to always come out a little weird in pictures which is a shame because I am living in them this winter, they are so WARM and the pleating is so English gradeschooler and cute… Now this blouse always seemed too stuffy for LA and in DC it seems perfectly frivolous but I can’t wait to book a ticket to Paris or London so whatever, I don’t care it’s time for it to finally be worn. I’m really ambivalent about this duster which was bought for me winters ago on a cold day in Georgetown because I was freezing and hadn’t dressed warmly enough. It’s really kind of frumpy and doesn’t fall against the body well. It’s also kind of itchy on top of  not being flattering and for some reason the arms come short… but for some reason I haven’t parted with it!! I don’t have another duster so maybe I’m keeping it just to have one. This coordinate desperately needed something else but didn’t have time this morning to think the outfit through, if I could re-do it I probably would’ve just worn a grey blazer. Mais, que pouvez faire? What’s done is done.

For a while now I’ve had gold nails — good for the holidays I thought! My limited release polish Gold Fiction by Chanel, has surprisingly still held up over two years now… However, before I always had pink nails, I always had red nails (sometimes black). Recently decided I wanted to go back to red and picked up Russian Roulette by Essie as well as their fast dry top coat. Love the top coat, very shiny, and the color of Russian Roulette is so strong and deep though I normally do two coats of color no matter what I only did one with this!