10 Day Cleanse

It’s that time again!! You know, when your jeans are just a tad too tight to feel comfortable in.  The extra glass of wine never hurt anyone. Those couple of bites of birthday cake, which turn into several pieces.  Snacking off the kids’ plates and just not really putting forth any effort with your diet. Guilty as charged!

I personally LOVE the AdvoCare 10 day cleanse.  I cannot do Spark due to my reflux (I can’t drink coffee or eat garlic, fried foods, too many starches, sugars, etc without feeling the effects.) What I can do instead of Spark is Pre-Workout. It tastes just like pink lemonade and it doesn’t have any sucralose as it’s sweetened with Stevia.

I try to do a cleanse every season (ever 90 days) and for me it’s more of a re-set of my system. I know what works. I know what I need to eat to feel and look my best. But it’s soooo easy not to…and to just be meh. Well, I’m over that and I’ve used every excuse in the book to put my cleanse off, so today is the day!

I mentally prepared myself yesterday, as I enjoyed some delicious Cabernet and made my beautiful family some ground turkey lasagna. Totally worth it and everyone enjoyed! So what will I not eat the next 10 days? Processed sugars, starchy white carbs, dairy, wine, and of course my beloved green tea lattes are off limits.  Last time I cleansed and was craving a sugar filled latte, I stopped at the local Yoga studio and grabbed a hot freshly steamed apple juice.  Totally curbed the craving!

Side note, I do have a schedule cheat night for our date night this weekend! I will roll with the punches, as we have not had much Jenn and Joe time with holidays and kids’ birthdays, plus bad weather.

What can I eat? ANYTHING in the fruit and vegetable groups.  I need to stock up for some more fresh goodness at the store!

Lean proteins are key–I doubt I’ll eat much steak and if I do, I make sure it’s 90% lean or like a filet mignon. Tons of fish and chicken for sure!  Beans are cheap and easy, and if I’m feeling hungry, I’ll toss some in with whatever I’m eating to keep me full.  You should NOT be hungry while cleansing!

Since this is not my first rodeo, I know I’ll have to fill up water bottles and leave them everywhere. I find it tricky to drink enough water when the weather is cold, but I will get it done!  I sometimes drink caffeine free herbal teas to help get more water in when I’m freezing. Hopefully I can drink enough and flush this fat away!

I’m quite annoyed with myself for not sticking with a consistent gym routine.  Sickness, weather, you name it will cause me not to workout and that’s kinda lame. I can totally work out from home, if need be…so my goal is to sweat 5 times a week. I consider Sunday a win, since I walked Holly for 45 minutes and then had an epic dance party with the kids after dinner. I sweat, so that counts in my book!

I’ll try to keep track of my food on my insta-story as that seems to keep me motivated and held accountable. I’ll probably eat the same thing a lot (for time sake) but I also hope to keep up with it longer than just 10 days.  I hate reaching for a man made protein bar and shake when I know I should be eating real whole foods.  When I’m not cleansing, I aim for 80/20–again, that’s 80% clean eating and 20% ehhh not so clean.

You’ll see the following foods throughout the week:

• Eggs
• Spinach
• Whole wheat toast
• Oatmeal
• Fruit
• Salads
• Roasted veggies
• Sweet potatoes
• Hummus
• Corn tortillas
• Ground turkey
• Venison
• Chicken breasts
• Tuna
• Nuts
• Dried cranberry
• Natural Peanut Butter
• Almond Butter
• Fish (Sushi too, just no rice and very little low sodium soy sauce)

I have also started doing some research on intermittent fasting.  I don’t know if I truly could go longer than 14 hours, but I may try! I find that when I cut myself off after dinner (6/7pm) I sleep better and feel better in the mornings. I have become quite in tune with my body and since my reflux acts up, I think eating a final meal around then gives my body plenty of time to digest before I go to sleep.  Sleep is SO important–we should not be having our bodies digesting while we’re healing and resting up for the next day.

Do you have any insight with intermittent fasting? I hear that it’s something you should gradually work up to, and I just don’t know how I feel about not eating for like 24 hours. I get pretty cranky if I don’t eat every 3 hours as it is, so I dunno…if it works for some people that’s great, but I am unsure I could get too many hours while breaking my fast.  When I did a strict juice cleanse for 3 days, by the end of the 3rd day I had to eat lettuce with lemon juice…I was so hungry!

Stay tuned and keep an eye on my instagram for updates.