Week #2 GOALS

[cheryl...@hotmail.com]

Hi Everyone- today I am attempting to do the juice fast, so far have
had 62 ounces with 32 to go. I did have a small smoothie made with
banana, raw almond butter, unsweetened coconut milk, and one date.
Felt I needed that evergy before my walk. Dinner tonight will be some
leftover french green lentil miso soup that was pulled out of the
freezer (I make batches of soup and add miso on the reheat in order to
retain the miso properties). Goals for this week are to cut back on my
fruit, only have it in the AM with juice or smoothies. I didn't load
up when I went shopping so that was good. For snacks I had pod edamame
and organic unroasted almonds instead. I also am aiming to pump up the
raw foods, been not eating that many for dinner but will try to this
week. So far I have exercised every day of the year (lol) and done the
neti, dry brush, terrible at the meditation still!

How's everyone else doing???

Cheryl

[Ashley F. [The Unintentional Vegan]]

Glad to hear things are going well so far! I did a juice fast this
weekend, but it was a little heavy on the fruit. Instead of a smoothie
you could try making some almond milk for energy. I went for a long
run yesterday and it seeemed to work well for me.

I'm also terrible at the meditation. Does anyone have tips on how to
steal away time for it or where the best place to do it is?
On Jan 8, 2:11 pm, "cherylkoot...@hotmail.com"

[Tanya S.]

WOW, so funny how we all started juice fasting. Is this a coincidence, or did I miss the memo? I've been juice fasting this whole weekend with my daughter. Had some soup as well, because I just NEEDED TO, but have been feeling amazing so far.

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[cheryl...@hotmail.com]

It's Monday and I hit the wall today at 3pm exactly- detox a ram a ,
bad gas, headache, listless, hungry but not,, it was stuggle to walk
even 20 mins at our mall.

Had green apple with cinnamon because I needed glucose and now I am
off to bed.

Cheryl

On Jan 8, 3:56 pm, "Tanya S." <tanya.m.schroe...@gmail.com> wrote:
> WOW, so funny how we all started juice fasting. Is this a coincidence, or
> did I miss the memo? I've been juice fasting this whole weekend with my
> daughter. Had some soup as well, because I just NEEDED TO, but have been
> feeling amazing so far.
>

> On Sun, Jan 8, 2012 at 3:11 PM, cherylkoot...@hotmail.com <

> >http://www.ecovegangal.com- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -

[StephNE500]

If it makes you feel any better, I had a bad day today, too.  First of all, I didn't eat since about 2pm yesterday (Sunday) because I had a really big lunch while on the road (at Moe's Southwest Grill - the tofu bowl w/brown rice, black and pinto beans, veggies, pico, lettuce, and guac - really good!), so I woke up hungry this morning.  I gave into a craving to have two Van's gluten free/vegan blueberry waffles instead of a green smoothie.  I think it was all downhill from there ... plus I had procrastinated last night and left school work to prepare for school this morning, so no yoga either.  Didn't get to school until right at 8am when students were coming in, forgot to pack lunch so had to come home on my lunch ... made another bad decision by not eating a salad I had prepared last night, and had an Amy's Tofu Scramble frozen meal instead.  Then proceeded to have an annoying afternoon with students today ... which was topped off by a student in my last class who didn't bother to do his homework this weekend - again!!!! - and also blow off another in-class assignment by writing about aliens instead of taking the topic seriously!  Ugh!!  Tutored our exchange student from Turkey (LOVE her, so that was positive) but didn't get home until 6pm ... and you'd think I would finally make a good decision today and eat the stupid salad, right???  WRONG!  I popped some popcorn and added raisins, semi-sweet choc chips, and gluten free pretzels to make my own trail mix for dinner.  So much for losing the 0.6 lbs I was hoping to lose today ... and I think I've had enough sugar for all of us here on this message board!  However, now that I have vented I'm going to get into some comfortable clothes and do yoga before bed tonight and try to get at least 5 minutes of meditation in... early bedtime for me tonight, and hoping to make all the right decisions tomorrow! 

[Tanya S.]

Yikes! Sorry to hear that Cheryl. Are you sure that you've been taking in enough calories?

[Ashley F. [The Unintentional Vegan]]

We all have rough days, but try not to dwell on them. Even if you have
a few missteps here and there tomorrow is a new day and the work
you've done up until this point is not wasted because of one bad day.
I hope everyone's week goes better!

On Jan 9, 9:32 pm, "Tanya S." <tanya.m.schroe...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Yikes! Sorry to hear that Cheryl. Are you sure that you've been taking in
> enough calories?
>

> On Mon, Jan 9, 2012 at 9:15 PM, cherylkoot...@hotmail.com <

> > > >http://www.ecovegangal.com-Hide quoted text -

[Tanya S.]

Hey Girls! I'm having a rough day (home-school wise), but still doing great on my Vegan diet. I've officially added Green Juice to my every day practices, I've increased the exercise (and feeling strong!!!), and I can feel my life changing. Now.....If I could just wake up earlier, drink my herbal tea with lemon in the morning, and find more time to PRAY, then I would be less stressed when my 11 year old decides to spell ALMOST EVERYTHING wrong! :(

[StephNE500]

I hear you, Ashley!  Sorry for any negativity that may have come across ... I was frustrated with myself yesterday BUT I was laughing nearly the entire time I wrote that post!  I thought: Wow, this is just ridiculous on my part and completely laughable due to the fact I brought it all on myself by some of the choices I made.  But I'm hoping I'm not the only one who has had that kind of day!!!  I know I've had a lot worse days in my non-vegan past ... I guess it's all relative.

Today's been much better :)  Got yoga in AND my green smoothie this morning before work!  Wow, how short of a time it has been since I first tried green smoothies and now I can't hardly live without one in the morning!  I'm slowly decreasing the amount of fruit I put in them ... and I tried to juice using my blender and a strainer (just a regular strainer) Sunday night--didn't work out too well and I didn't like it.  But I added the juice to my dogs' water bowls and they loved it! 

I wish everyone well and especially hope Cheryl is feeling better today! :)

[cheryl...@hotmail.com]

Thanks for asking, I am way better today. Was even able to go to
Bikram yoga
tonight. I assessed what I ate yesterday and it just was not enough
carbs
plus was detoxing from Sunday. Unfortunately, don't think I will cut
fruit to
under 3 servings per day. This makes huge difference in my energy
levels.
If I don't eat fruit I'll just end up eating more grain and fruit is
easier to digest
and more cleansing. The feeling I had yesterday was like when I tried
those low carb diets (back in my animal product eating days). There
is
no point to feeling that crappy as still have three weeks to go! For
me
the cleanse has been a success, even if not totally perfect. I am not
be
mowing on homemade baked goods, drinking 3 chai teas per day
and eating tons of gluten anymore. Cutting out those three things
lends
me to believe the three basically feed each other and are like a co-
dependent
relationship! Treated myself tonight to some "fun" food, open face
mexican
pizza made with ezekiel brown rice tortilla, refried pintos, my
friends homemade
salsa and daiya and tofutti sour cream. It was amazing!!!
Cheryl

[Mrs. Collins]

Sounds like a trend...yesterday was also a day I will just try to
forget ab out and move on. Bad decisions with food, no workout, and
headaches (tired) and ornery. Weird?
I think I need to add in some calories at lunch cuz my after-work
workout tonight was horrid. I was exhausted before starting.
Here is what my meals were like today.
B- Green Smoothie
S- Sipped about half of a Vega shake n go smoothie
L- Green Smoothie, apple, a few rice cakes, and 1/3 of a Larabar
S- Vegan protein shake and an apple
D- Popcorn, carrots and hummus, kombucha, and some pumpkin seeds.

Got in a 3 mile run. In bed at 9.
Thoughts?

On Jan 10, 8:45 pm, "cherylkoot...@hotmail.com"

[Ashley F. [The Unintentional Vegan]]

I don't mind the negativity at all - this is a place to get all of
that stuff out!

Mrs. Collins, I think you should definitely add some calories in at
your lunch. I know one thing that I've started doing that seems to
work pretty well is to eat the majority of my calories at breakfast
and lunch and then just have a light dinner, such as a salad. That way
I have the energy I need for work and my workouts and then my body can
rest easier when I'm sleeping since it's not trying to digest a big
dinner.

I usually wake up with more energy and then am able to sustain that by
having a large breakfast (chia pudding, almonds, green smoothie), a
mid-morning snack (1/2 raw energy bar), a large lunch (hummus w/
veggies, salad w/pumpkin seeds & avocado, green juice), and then
finishing off the other 1/2 of the energy bar for an afternoon snack.
Then after my workout I have a recovery smoothie with some protein
powder - by the time dinner rolls around I'm usually only hungry for
something light anyway, so it works out.

Let me know if you give this a try - I'd love to know if it works for
others too!

[Tanya S.]

Ashley, I'm interested in your Chia Pudding. Any yummy recipes?????????

[Ashley F. [The Unintentional Vegan]]

I usually do the following:
2 tbsp Chia Seeds
3/4 cup Almond Milk (or other non-dairy milk)
1 tsp Vanilla

Mix all of the ingredients together and make sure to get all of the
clumps out. Let it sit for 5-10 minutes and stir again. Cover and let
it refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight.

This is my most basic one. If you want add some more heft to it you
could add 1/3 cup of oats and an additional 1/4 cup milk - if you do
this be sure to let it sit overnight.

There are tons of variations though - here's a yummy chocolate one!
http://ohsheglows.com/2012/01/11/healthy-chocolate-chia-pudding/

Let me know if you try it out and what you think!

[Tanya S.]

Awesome! Thanks for this.

[cheryl...@hotmail.com]

I for sure want to make that Chai pudding this weekend. This week has
had some ups and downs physically but I haven't cheated (unless you
count one extra fruit here and there cheating). The hardest parts for
me has been Meditation (still not into it)and no black Chai tea. I
actually have adapted quite nicely to no refined sugar and no gluten.
Also I probably am not eating much raw food for dinner. By the time I
am eating it, it's just too late and can't bring myself to consume
anymore raw vege at that point. I have had a green drink every single
morning though, and before the cleanse I would probably have some
bread thing one day per week and hot cereal another day, green the
other days. Don't think I can go back to that, the green drinks really
start the day off right. Don't think I am going to do the juice fast
again Sunday. Making that much juice It really expensive for me and I
felt like crap the day after. This Sunday I will try this instead- 32
ounces green juice for breakfast, green smoothie for lunch, apple
afternoon snack and nice big raw salad for dinner. Right now have been
juicing 3 days per week, and smoothing the other 4 days.
The smoothies are so much easier to deal with to take to work.

Does anyone else feel like it's only like four of us left posting? I
wonder if some people dropped out??? Can't say I blame anyone, If I
was not already vegan this would be super hard. For me to just do the
big three- gluten, caffeine, and sugar, no matter if I do anything
else right, then this cleanse was a huge success!

Cheryl

> >http://www.ecovegangal.com- Hide quoted text -

[Mrs. Collins]

I am here!!! I am reading just not posting as much as I want...
I love the recipes and support on this board. I am doing alright. Feel
like being on the cleanse has reduces the amount of processed foods I
am eating and the green smoothies rock my morning!
Meditation, dry brushing...not so much.
Gotta start somewhere though- right?
Thanks for all the updates though. I am reading all and enjoy the
information!
XOXO
Sherrie

On Jan 12, 4:53 pm, "cherylkoot...@hotmail.com"

> > >http://www.ecovegangal.com-Hide quoted text -

[StephNE500]

Ashley - Wow, that chocolate chia pudding looks fantastic ... and the nutritional info looks fantastic as well!  I don't have chia seeds though, so I'll have to wait to try this one until I can get some :-(

Cheryl - I do feel like it's just a small group of posters and I wonder how many of the other 30+ people are doing a cleanse and how it's going for them.  I feel the same way about the CSD cleanse... if I wasn't already vegan I would be having major difficulties and it would be extremely overwhelming to implement meditation, green smoothies, more sleep and exercise, etc while learning to cut meat and dairy out too.  When I first went vegan I relied on a lot of meat substitutes that contain soy and wheat ... and within the last few months I've started transitioning to more whole, raw foods.  I actually had already gone gluten-free at the beginning of December, because I realized it was causing a lot of digestive problems and I'm actually being tested for Celiac Disease next week (my sister and my cousin have both been diagnosed recently too).  Honestly, if I wasn't getting physically and disgustingly ill from wheat products I wouldn't abstain from them voluntarily for the rest of my life so I can totally understand how gluten would be hard for some people to avoid.  I put off a lot of my symptoms for years because I didn't want to admit that it was gluten, but it just got worse unfortunately.  Staying away from foods with added cane sugar in them has been the hardest part for me, although it's getting easier now that I've not had much of it for 12 days now.  I'm already starting to notice how sweet things I used to think weren't sweet taste now - like agave nectar and maple syrup... holy cow they are sweet!

[cheryl...@hotmail.com]

Hi Steph-

Shopping now is even more limited isn't it. I think gluten is probably
not
great for most people. I will test the sprouted grains in Feb to see
how
I feel but right now loving my whole grains. They are little morsels
of energy!!!

Cheryl

[Ashley F. [The Unintentional Vegan]]

I agree that had I not been vegan before this probably would have been
tough. I just started upping my raw food intake in December too, so
that's helped out quite a lot. I know that the juice fast I did last
weekend would have been really tough if I hadn't started cutting down
on the gluten and refined sugar. Like Sam I find that I have way more
energy when I eat mostly raw. I've been experimenting with how much I
eat at different times of the day because I often find myself
overeating at night.

I'm progressively getting better at meditation. I've meditated for 3
days in a row now - 3 min, 15 min, and then 3 min. The 3 min ones are
fairly easy - the 15 is a bit harder, but I figure any meditating is
better than none. I found this great app for my iPad called Good Vibes
(or vibrations, I can't remember right now) that does guided 3 min and
10 minute meditations. I highly recommend it if you have an iphone or
ipad - it makes it easy to meditate wherever you are.

On Jan 12, 10:24 pm, Sam I <sam.d.ir...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi
> I'm still going at it. I haven't really posted much but have been
> reading!
>
> I went cold turkey vegan, no sugar, no processed foods, no gluten on
> the 1st.
> I said to myself I'll do it till the 21st and then see how I feel, but
> I'm finding I've got way more energy,
> and just feel better generally then I have for awhile.
>
> I just started working full time in a labouring job for the summer
> break, so my biggest problem is to eat enough
> calories so I'm not burning any muscle, because I don't really need to
> loose much more fat. Has been a challenge
> planned meals, but I'm getting the balance right!
>
> Looking forward to seeing how I feel next week, hope it keeps going
> the way it is going!
>
> Sam
>
> On Jan 13, 3:32 pm, "cherylkoot...@hotmail.com"