It's been awhile - per usual :) I have just been chugging along not really eating healthy, exercising regularly or managing my stress and cluttered life like I should. I know those are the times I SHOULD be posting to keep myself on track but alas - I just feel like a general bum and don't really want to share that feeling with the world. I'm working on it though. I decided to do something I have done before to try to jumpstart myself back in action. A juice feast!

Now before everyone freaks out about this I just want to outline the reasons why I am doing this - it may surprise you.

Does anyone else find themselves stuck in this monotony of habits?

You must eat breakfast between this and this hour, lunch is only deemed appropriate between the hours of 12 and 3 and no dinner after 8pm! How many people abide by these "norms" without even thinking about whether they are hungry or not during this times? I definitely do. In my nutrition class we learned the difference between hunger and appetite. Hunger being the physiological craving for food when your body really needs it. Appetite is merely the desire to eat based on things like these "norms," or maybe triggered by the scent of a piece of pizza. 

It's super important to learn what your body is telling you and whether you are truly hungry or just want food. I did a 3 day juice feast before for the purpose of detox and weight loss being a plus I guess (although I knew full well that it would be mostly water weight) but I found a surprise while I was doing the feast. I was no longer aware of these designated eating times and became really in tune with my body and when it was hungry (which obviously was an awful lot during the fast!) After 3 days of feasting and breaking my routine, I found myself wanting food because I was hungry and not because it was "lunch time."

That being said, I also have some ailments that have really been hindering my daily life for the past year. After going through about a million personal issues last year (i.e. Melanoma, close family death, relative with cancer, selling my family home, finances...and I could go on...) I have developed a pretty intense case of general anxiety. It mostly hits while I am sleeping - I clench my jaw, grind my teeth and pretty much tense up my entire body for the 8 hours I am asleep. Let me tell you - from first hand experience - Stress WRECKS your body. I have been a mess since last year. Part of the reason for my desire to transform my life and live healthy is to manage and hopefully get rid of this crazy thing called stress. No I don't think a juice fast will cure my problem and make my life stress-free but I do believe in doing things that will keep yourself in tune with your body.

So there ya have it - this is Day 1.

Last night I juiced up a storm. I realized that I needed to juice for the ENTIRE day. I know this is a no-no for hard core juice fanatics but I know myself and I will not want to come home and juice myself some dinner after fasting all day! First I chopped up a TON of veggies: celery, carrots, romaine, kiwi, cucumbers and some frozen mixed fruit that I defrosted for sweetness.

and I juiced away! It took about 1 hour to chop, juice, clean and bottle. Not too shabby! Here's what I packed for work today:

The green concoction is celery, cucumber, kiwi, romaine, and a handful of mixed fruit and carrots for sweetness. The other mixture is carrot/orange juice. I saved another portion of the green juice for dinner and will probably save some of the carrot/OJ as well. I think all in all, I am aiming for about 3 quarts a day. That obviously may change! I'll let you know :)

I am super nervous that I won't be able to complete 3 days but I told myself that rather than beat myself up about it I am going to do what feels right for me. If I feel absolutely horrible after 1 day, then that's fine - I'll drink a smoothie and see if that does the trick. If not, then I'll eat. No biggie. Even if I just juice for breakfast and lunch and eat a normal dinner, I know I'll feel a whole lot better! and what I don't need is more stress :)

I have done this twice before and both times were very different. The first time was surprisingly easy and 3 days went by in a snap. The second time I was soooo tired! I could barely keep my eyes open and my body in an upright position. I think this was because I gave up coffee a couple days before also. I am drinking coffee this time! I've tried and tried (and tried) to give up coffee and it just doesn't work for me. Because I am doing this feast more for mental benefits than physical, I don't see how 1 cup of coffee in the morning will kill me. I left my credit cards at home - it's just me and the bottle (juice bottle that is :) )

Hope everyone is having a fabulous day! I'll be reporting back later on the results of the day!

Amber

Has anyone else tried a juice feast/fast? How long did you last and how did you feel?

Too bad delivery is the same price as the bar! Think I could make my own??

Super Awesome Acupuncture Session? Check, Check!

Refreshing Run? Check Check Check!

After treating my body right yesterday with a delicious dinner, a soothing acupuncture session and an awesome run, I felt great! Why don't I do this everyday?

First - Dinner. I love Real Simple's Lemony Shrimp with Couscous recipe but per my attempt to cut out breads/pastas etc for at least one meal a day, I sauteed up a ton of spinach to use as the base instead of the couscous. It 'twas delish!

Started off with some fresh shrimp. I learned the hard way that you should always buy your seafood the DAY you are going to cook 'em up. Believe me, not a fun lesson to learn...

Chopped up the acoutrements (garlic, scallions, parsley, lemon) - cooked em all up together with the shrimp and beans and whoila!

Such an awesomely delicious dinner with so many great nutrients. I love sauteed spinach but I seriously hate that you have to use soooo much fresh spinach to get a teeny tiny amount after you cook it. Ah well - it's worth it!

Around 8pm my boyfriend and I went on a quick run (25 mins) on the way back picked up our dog for our cool down (15 min walk around our neighborhood). This method works out quite well. I would bring Jake with me for the run but he's not the easiest to run with (he's a sniffer!). Eventually when I get more comfortable running in general I'll take him with me.

Later on while studying for my midterm tomorrow (eeek), Jake and I snacked on some apples + cheese.

I just started up Season 1 of Glee and I am on the fence about it! I think maybe I was expecting more??? It seems like the whole world is just obsessed with it. Maybe I'll start enjoying it more after I stop cringing at some of the cheesy dance routines :)

Any Glee fans out there? Does it get better after the third episode? I think maybe they are still in character developing mode...

See ya guys in a bit!

Amber

I know it is no excuse but I left my overnight oats sitting on my counter this morning! The funny thing was I was craving a yummy healthy breakfast. I ran downstairs to our little corner store by my office and grabbed this chocolate muffin. I definitely should have grabbed some yogurt or something else but oh well. I also did get an Amy's burrito for lunch (since my lunch was in the same bag as the oats left at home) so I guess 1 outta two healthy meals ain't bad.

In other exciting (to me) news, I started up an acupuncture program from my jaw/sleep/stress issues. I switched health insurance in January and I now have acupuncture coverage. $15 a visit! SAWEET! I have tried a BAZILLION things to get my jaw feeling better and all they do is cover the symptoms and the only thing that actually makes me feel less stressed (and consequently sleeping better and not clenching my jaw) is acupuncture! and exercise - but that's a whole other story right now. I have an appointment this afternoon for my 3rd session and I can already notice a difference in my stress levels and sleep from just 2 appointments.

As for the exercise part - I really need to get on that. I have been seriously sucking lately and haven't run in 2 weeks or done ANYTHING. I don't know what to do to motivate myself. Any ideas??? I think I need to start blogging more to keep myself accountable. Food-wise too! Well folks (if any of you are still reading this little ole blog!) I am going to start my day and try to make it a productive one! I have a midterm this Thursday and a research paper due next week. Better get on it!

Happy almost hump day!

Amber

We have NO food at my house right now. I guess my meal planning didn't work out too well this week. I think I was sorta depending on cooking a lot and with the constant sleepiness, that just didn't happen. So basically we have a bunch of uncooked veggies chilllin in the fridge(no pun intended..ok maybe a little ;) ). My boyfriend informed me last night while I was in class that his dinner consisted of 2 pieces of mortadella, 4 mushrooms, and a handful of granola. Sounds like he hit all the food groups to me :)

Currently snacking on this little breakfast spread - I think I'm hitting all the food groups this morning as well. And yes I do consider coffee a food group :)

Why am I rambling about lettuce?? because I have 3 big heads of lettuce in my fridge waiting for...something. There are only so many sandwiches I can make with that much lettuce and I HATE to waste. It's a conundrum...Any ideas?

Breakfast was a little different this morning. Last night I made granola!

Honestly it didn't turn out to great. I think I had the oven on too high. I ate it anyway though with some greek yogurt and strawberries and kiwis(organic and local!). It was decent...

All mixed up:

I also decided I'm not a big kiwi fan either, but I'll save that story for another day.

What popular foods do you dislike? Aside from romaine and kiwi I also can't stand green peppers!

I totally thought I had been eating well these past couple weeks and actually felt good in my clothes. How did I gain 5 lbs in 3 weeks? I guess eating healthy doesn't necessarily mean eating the right portions! and I guess there is such a thing as "too much of a good thing." I have been ogling over healthy recipes and those damn Supercharge Me Cookies around the blog world and I must say I may have baked up a batch or five of those cookies.

On the bright side - I ran twice last week and gasp - it was enjoyable! Who knew? My plan is 3 times this week and I'm dragging the BF along :) I also have a meal plan to get me feeling good for this warm weather we are having in SoCal (it's 75 outside today!). My plan is simple and I hope, effective:

• Breakfast = chia oats or granola and yogurt but I am going to cut my portion sizes wayyy down. At one point I was making my breakfast with a cup of oats - definitely not neccesary. I found that I wasn't even that hungry at lunchtime after I had such a huge breakfast.

• Lunch = My plan is to keep bringing my lunch and to try to eat mostly veggies and protein for lunch. If I do bring a grain - I'll try not to make it the centerpiece of the meal. I find that I have more energy when I don't eat a lot of grains for lunch and I know it'll cut down on the calories. I'm throwing a disclaimer in there though since I know this will not be possible every single day since I tend to have a lot of leftovers. Today's lunch was a great example of what I want to bring for lunch -  I brought lettuce wrapped bean burgers with cheese and carrot sticks plus a lil dark chocolate to curb my sweet tooth.

• Dinner = I don't think I'll change much with dinner. I'll keep cooking at home and trying to amp up on the veggies. I need to get back in tea drinking mode after dinner - it's a great way to curb my sweet cravings and to settle my stomach.

Honestly I'm not making any huge changes but I'm hoping these little adjustments will pay off in the long run. I want to feel healthy and confident by summertime.

Do you make small changes when you want to get back into shape or are you an "all or nothin" type of gal?

I looove bok choy and the head of it they gave us in our box this week was HUGE. I simmered my mixture with the curry sauce and topped over some fluffy quinoa:

Most of my veggies were local and organic and I could definitely tell the difference in flavor. These veggies POPPED with flavor.

In other news - I am completely smitten with the True Blood book series. I have read 6 books in less than 3 weeks! How is that even possible? They are totally addicting! I am actually sad I have 3 books left but I'm super excited for Season 3 to come out this summer on HBO. They have done an awesome job with the characters - especially Eric, who I am completely in love with :)

This morning's breakfast was not too exciting. I ran out of chia seeds and after my disaster oatmeal experience yesterday, I didn't even attempt to bring something this morning. I grabbed a soy latte and bagel with cream cheese at the cafe downstairs. I actually brought a big salad for lunch today but then my friend called and I learned that I had won a bet and he was going to buy me lunch :) My only stipulation is that I need some VEGGIES! Too many carbs lately. My tummy hasn't been tolerating them very well lately either. Okie doke blog friends - I am off to be productive! Hopefully this caffeine will kick in soon :)

Amber

I am a disorganized mess this today with my meals. I am totally out of creamer, I left both breakfast tupperwares at work last night and my fridge is embarrassingly bare. Hence, the soy latte and blueberry muffin I grabbed at our cafe downstairs. I am actually taking a quick jaunt to Whole Foods for lunch to pick up some coconut creamer (gonna try out the vanilla flavored one this time!) and a quick lunch at their salad bar. Tomorrow it's back to bringing my meals - this is getting expensive!

Just some quick snapshots of what my day entailed. Everything in balance :)