30 Day Cleanse and Detox - Day 1 - Bumps in the Road

Hi, strangers! It's been awhile since I've updated this blog. I haven't been cooking as much as I did during law school (weird, right? I guess it's because I don't have my own kitchen right now and am never home...), but I had foot surgery yesterday, am starting a 30 day detox/whole foods cleanse, and thought this might be a good time to update the blog. Since I'm pretty much immobile, why not? My goal is to have it be kind of a daily diary for myself to help keep on track and to keep a log of the recipes that I make, so I can continue incorporating cleaner food into my diet and easily find inspiration later on.

I already feel healthy and wonderful, but I think we can always strive to be even better and can benefit from hitting the "reset" button sometimes. I will be doing the Arbonne "30 Days to Feeling Fit" program. In a nutshell, I'll be having Arbonne Protein/Fiber shakes and/or my usual smoothies for breakfast and lunch, and a simple, whole food, plant-based dinner. If I want a snack or extra energy, I'll have something simple like almonds or fruit/veggies, or an Arbonne Fit Chew or Energy Fizz stick. This is kind of how I already eat, but I think being stuck at home will limit the distracting things - gluten/processed food,  sugar, caffeine, and alcohol. Yep, that's right - no alcohol! I might have a glass of wine at my Women's Vegan Thanksgiving and actual Thanksgiving later this month, depending on how I feel. 

Here's what I won't be eating: 

• meat and dairy (easy - I already haven't for years!)
• gluten (no bread, flour, etc., but I can have quinoa and brown rice - though I'll try to limit them)
• soy (no tofu, tempeh, soy sauce, soy milk, fake vegan "meats" - I don't eat a lot of this anyway, and I can eat other beans!)
• sugar, honey, agave, etc. I'll only have the sugar from a little bit of fruit in my smoothies.
• coffee and alcohol (not so easy - both are important for a social girl like me! so it's good I'm stuck at home right now). I also can't have soda, but that's easy - who drinks soda? ew.
• oils, other than coconut or olive oil

So basically I'll be making a lot of yummy soups and stews, spaghetti squash, roasted veggies, rice and bean bowls, quinoa salads, and more. I am pretty excited about how good it is going to feel! 

So, without further ado, here's how it went with Day 1. Day 1 was weird, because I won't receive the Arbonne shipment with all my goodies in the mail until tomorrow. So today I'm kind of easing into it with smoothies and some leftover tortilla soup I made awhile ago. The soup has tofu in it, but I made it and froze it before I decided to do this cleanse and I don't want to waste it. And I'm not perfect! 

And then, to add to my imperfectness, I had some visitors - my best friend, Allison, brought me a small coffee that I added plain coconut milk to, and my brother and his girlfriend brought me a slice of vegan pumpkin pie. Fail!! But it was so nice of them, and in the scheme of things, wasn't that bad. Like I said... easing into it...

Breakfast: my usual smoothie recipe

Lunch: I was stuck upstairs, kind of in pain, and snacked on raw almonds and some Mary's Gone Crackers brown rice crackers

Dinner: Adaptation of the basic tortilla soup that I make with 1/2 an avocado (no chips or "cheese," though). And then the glorious pumpkin pie slice from Sweet Pea. Whoops. Oh well, there's always tomorrow! :)