Detoxing Thus Far !

So gotta be quick here running to work,  but the detox has started ! I've made it through ok but came to a very sudden realization on Monday. I wasn't going to be able to have caffeine. Since school started last fall I have gotten back into having a very big caffeine. Yesterday and Tuesday  I was a complete ... YOU KNOW WHAT .  

By the time I got home Monday night from class I absolutely devoured this salad !!! Having existed on only a soup and juice all day. This salad had nuts, carrots, quinoa , kale , nutritional years, cranberries , and soy sauce. Unbelievable salad beast. Garbanzo bean pancake on the side ! 

As you can see my fridge is full of delicious fruits , veggies , and what you might not see is the 5 different soups I've made ! 

On Tuesday I packed dinner for class. Seriously you are looking at everything I ate yesterday (minus some kale chips i made) . Beat Juice ! Green Juice ! Soup , Salad and Berries . 

LIQUIDS . Coconut Water , Green Tea, and Water ! Ah purification never felt so good. I'm going to be honest this has not been as awesome as going to green juice was last time and I'm not exactly happy with how i feel so far. We'll see how the next few days go ! 

Cauliflower Wasabi Ginger Mashies and Getting the Detox Started

Today I started prepping for my five day detox that starts tonight. For five days I'm going to do nothing but juice, soups, and salads ! Truthfully I'm really looking forward to it. I went to Russo's in Watertown this morning to stock up ! This place is AMAZING. I was literally in vegetable heaven. 

They had all sorts of fruits and vegetables I've never even heard of. Look at this Ugli fruit ! Appropriately named ;)

I then went home and ate a whole wedge of cheese and a jar of pickles. YEP. I had to prepare for giving up whole foods and booze somehow ! 

I've been making soups and sauce all evening. I have four soups that I plan on rotating through the schedule this week. Here are the roasting parsnips , carrots , and butternut squash. 

Then I had a brilliant moment if I do say so myself. I had some left over cauliflower so I mashed it up. Then I realized that I needed to jazz it up so I added almond milk , lotsss of pickled ginger , and a tablespoon of wasabi paste. DELICIOUS. I ate it with soy sauce and some quinoa. Something with the consistency of mashed potatoes tasted like sushi heaven ! 

Some brussel sprouts on the side and now I'm ready to detox it up !!!!

Tequila Fridays - Margaritas and Mexican

This week has been a lot of working out and school work. Which is great. Wednesday night I had a date at Exhale for Core Fusion with a new friend , Danielle. Thursday I did a long run and dinner with my BFF Rache , Friday I did boot camp with Sarah, and this morning I did a long run with Molly ! I don't know what got into me but setting a work out date is really the way to kill two birds with one stone.  I miss my friends and working out so getting them both done is a double win! Friday after bootcamp I had organized to grab a few Margaritas with my friend from school. 

Instead, I realized I was exhausted and headed to the liquor store. For those who of you who have been out with me recently you will know by new obsession is tequila blanco on the rocks with LOTS of lime. The truth is , sour mix is gross. I can never find a place that even does skinny margs well. So i just order r tequila blanco and squeeze at least a half a lime in it. Let the ice melt a lil. DELICIOUS. Not only is it good for your waist line, its good for your wallet. Its usually half the price of a Margarita. BUT enough about me and my crazy ordering ....

Last night was Mexican night in my house. I made myself a "margarita' , some avocado cucumber soup, and a mexican pizza. This was a garbanzo been pancake with salsa , cheese , and avocado ! YUM 

It was very enjoyable! And trust me ... just one was enough for the evening ! 

I bought a movie on demand and went to bed early ! I have really become an old lady in my 27th year !!! One more day till my detox starts ! 

Highly Recommended Reads (or stuff you can read in less than two days if you have half a brain)

For Fun : 
Peach Keeper by Sarah Addison Allen

http://www.amazon.com/The-Peach-Keeper-A-Novel/dp/0553807226 

I just read this book. Being busy as most of us are doesn't really leave much time for reading. However, when I'm in Maine , I'm able to just sit down and devour a book usually in a weekend. That's what this book was. I sat down and read the whole thing over Easter weekend. Completely cute and light this book was just enough to put a smile on my face and relax me. 

















For your Inner Hipster : 
This is Where I leave You by John Tropper
http://www.amazon.com/This-Is-Where-Leave-You/dp/052595127X 

This book was a huge hit for people back in the day ... you know back in 2011. All the hipster bloggers jumped on it. So its appropriate for me to write about it now . Now that's its not cool. I read this right when it came out and I couldn't put it down. Some of the one lines and story lines in the book are laugh out loud hilarious. It has modern humor and values. The story is about Judd Foxman  who comes back to his childhood home to sit Shiva with his mother after his father passes. As they sit Shiva for a week secrets about their family become unearthed and they all learn a lot about themselves ! 





For your travel lust : 

http://www.amazon.com/State-Wonder-Ann-Patchett/dp/0062049801 
State of Wonder by Anne Patchett

Tells the story of Dr. Maina Singh who goes into the amazon to find her lost colleague Anders. What she finds is a lost tribe and society unlike anything you can imagine ! I read this book last summer and truly enjoyed it as I do all of Ann Patchett novels. She has an incredible style of writing that sucks you and keeps your attention! 

















Girl Power : 
Dressmaker of Khair Khana by Gayle Tzemach Lemmon
http://www.amazon.com/The-Dressmaker-Khair-Khana-ebook/dp/B004IWR3A6/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334773911&sr=1-1 

I read this on my trip to Nevis and I found it eye opening. I'll be honest in general I normally avoid books like this. I get sad reading about the terrible things in life. How shallow and awful I know. However, this book was amazing. It is a story about a family of females who live in Kabul and must learn how to survive under the reign of the Taliban.  Led by their sister Kamila Sidiqi they learn how to thrive with the backdrop of war and great fear. This book is especially interesting because the author wrote the book while getting he MBA from Harvard. The book is written truly to display a strong independent woman in business. its truly inspirational  




Laugh Out Loud : 
I everybody having fun With out me ?  By Mindy Kaling
http://www.amazon.com/Everyone-Hanging-Without-Other-Concerns/dp/0307886263

Mindy Kaling is hilarious. Just how hilarious ? I had NO idea until I read this book. My best friend Meg gave me this book for Christmas. IMO not sure if its because she gifted it to me or just because she is this awkward but everything in this book reminded me of Meg and my other best friends. Her hilarious awkwardness and journey to "fame" is amazing. I especially enjoy the fact that this is the same kind of self deprecating humor that Chelsea Handler uses without the raunchy sub stories. What couldn't be amazing about a book that reads "is this book takes you more than a day to read , we have a problem". 









For the Soul : 

Crazy Sexy Diet by Kriss Carr
http://crazysexydiet.com/ 

I've talked about this book quit a bit here on "the slice" (as someone call the blog to me the other day). I did the 21 day cleanse in this book but more importantly I learned a lot about food and how my emotions are connected to food! Reading and book like this that deals with clean eating and taking care of yourself is a worthwhile exercise 

Strawberry Banana Bights ! Dessert Done Right

Sometimes late at night I sit in front of my trash tv and I think about wineee, dessert, kale chips and I have an angel and a devil moment. This dessert  lets the angel win every time. I originally saw a version of this on Angela's blog OhSheGlows .

These took all of five minutes, I sliced a banana , a handful of strawberries , and then melted dark chocolate over a double boiler. 

I used Hershey Special Dark Chocolate. 

I put the berries in muffin tins in pretty flower liners ! 

The poured the melted chocolate over. Into the freezer for at least 45 minutes ! I made 12 and just one of these bights only has about 25 calories ! Just enough to satisfy and late night craving. 

~from myfitnesspal.com 

Cool as a Cucumber - Next Weeks Detox

Coming into Spring its always the time of year that we start to get "back on track". Next week I have organized a five day cleanse for myself.

This cleanse is based off a "detox" that Gwyneth Paltrow had on her site Goop.com. Goop is one of those sites I feel us females hate to love. As if we really could be as perfect as Gwen that we would dare to perfect Tracy Anderson and do nothing but drink lemon water. However, the truth is a lot of what she writes about is fun and interesting.

This five day detox focuses on soups, smoothies, and light meals. I plan to do juice for breakfast, soup for lunch, and big salads for dinner.

Tonight I tried one of the soups I was planning ahead of time

Cucumber and Avocado Soup
ingredients:

zest of 1/2 lime
juice of an entire lime
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cucumber, peeled and seeded, roughly chopped 1/2 avocado, peeled and roughly chopped

preparation :
Blend everything together until totally creamy and smooth. 

everything chopped together in a bowl

The finish product. Cool , zesty, and smooth !!! Yum ! This was great on the side for dinner tonight. 

How to survive your Monday

A few things that cheered up a somewhat miserable Monday for me :

1. Buying myself flowers on the way to work :) I (like so many other girls) love blue hydrangea

Ooo those two lint rollers in the background are moderately embarrassing ... 

2. A chai tea from Starbucks. Normally I just drink green tea but I switched it up and ordered Chai with some soy milk delicious.

3. Knowing that I will be going to DC on Friday :) !!!!! Woot woot

Monday / Tuesday are my class days so I find myself just praying to get to Wednesday. By then it feels like I've lived the week already. This Wednesday I get to attend Core Fusion at Exhale. I have a few passes for classes there and last week I did their cardio. I was unable to walk till about yesterday so I can't wait to go punish myself again. 

I had the discussion with my friends that there are certain classes you attend that just literally remind you that you aren't the fittest person in the world. Even in my Lululemon and sport headband I couldn't fool myself in this class. The teacher was constantly checking in on me by saying "Good Job Maggie". What she really meant was ... "don't die on us !!!". 

I've been getting back  into my health in a great way lately. Protein Shakes for breakfast and salads for lunch ! I found giving up veganism all together had a really negative effect, so I'm getting back to basics.

I'll share mine soon ... but until then see what these girls are doing ! A seven day green smoothie challenge. They are replacing one meal every day with a green smoothie.

http://www.peanutbutterrunner.com/7-day-green-smoothie-challenge/