The End Of My Juice Cleanse Day 4 & Day 5

Well, I have to say, I AM SO GLAD I DID THIS!  I will write more another time about a few of the reasons why, but one of the main reason is that I feel like it “reset” my tastebuds.  Fresh, raw fruits and vegetables taste AMAZING to me right now.  I have no coffee cravings.  I have no sugar cravings.  I don’t even have bread cravings, which is huge for me.  

I like how regular juicing makes me feel, and I needed reminded of this.  I am now very motivated to keep juicing at least a few times a week, not as a substitute for food, but as a supplement.  On the days I do not juice, I will drink my green smoothie.  

Ending the fast should be taken slow.  I was not very good at this.  You see, it was my daughters birthday on day 4, so I did ok for breakfast and lunch, then came cake time..but we will get to that.

~Banana, Mango, Strawberry Smoothie w/ chia seeds

~drank 16 oz lemon water

1 frozen banana

1 cup frozen mango chunks

1 cup frozen strawberries

2 tablespoons chia seeds

put all in blender with enough water to make it blend

This was yummy.  I usually add greens to my smoothies, but I was making this to share with my birthday girl, and I wanted it to be pink.  It was delicious.  The added chia seeds make it very filling.

Spinach Salad

Brown Rice

I used my awesome mandolin slicer to slice the veggies.  I sprinkled it with pumpkin seeds and almonds for some crunch.  The brown rice is from Trader Joes, they sell already made, organic frozen brown rice.  So easy!  This salad tasted really good. It was crazy how simple sliced vegetables tasted so yummy to me, and I was eating them as eagerly as I would eat other foods.  That was new.  I love veggies, but I REALLY loved this plate of veggies.  Usually I would want some type of sauce on my rice.  Not this time.  I wanted it just plain, the nuttiness of the rice really came through.  Again, I felt like my palate had been cleaned and I can actually taste and appreciate real foods in their natural state.

Oh yea…would you look at THAT!  That, my friends, is vegan Mexican Chocolate Cake from my local health food store.  I live just a block away from this store and this cake is often calling to me.  I had no time to bake a birthday cake for my girl, so I ran to the store and bought a few pieces of this cake just minutes before my birthday girl was supposed to be home. I stuck in some Hershey bar squares (not vegan) to make it festive, and put it on a platter.  I added some pastries. My daughter loved it.  

Although I don’t feel sugar cravings, that doesn’t mean I didn’t want some cake when it was right in front of me!  I had some, and didn’t feel to well after.  It just felt heavy.

 Dinner

Dinner was tricky.  My birthday girl decided that, instead of a big birthday party, she wanted to invite one friend to the mall to shop with her.  I loved that idea, we have done it before and it is SO much easier than having a party!  They had great fun.  They shopped, used the dollar massage chairs, rode the carousel, took pictures in picture booth, had manicures, ate at the food court, got a cookie and ended the night with frozen yogurt sundaes.  I loved that all this fun was in one place, and I had much fun watching them have fun!

There was not very many choices for a decent dinner at the mall food court.  I went to the Italian place and asked if they could make me pasta & tomato sauce with no cheese.  They were happy to.  I also had some of their roasted potatoes and a Caesar salad.  I didn’t care for the dressing, I barely dipped the pieces in.  It was just too salty for my taste, and full of junk.  The rest of the meal tasted great!  I was happy.

I didn’t do yogurt sundaes with the girls, but I did get a cookie.  Again, it tasted good but set heavy.  I think it was too soon to be eating sweets!!  

__________________________

Day 5 was not so good food wise!  Started out ok, but the way I ended the night.  Blech.  I felt so yuck.

I will make this quick.  I had a ladies brunch that Saturday morning.  I had my first cup of coffee in a week.  It was good, but the addiction seems gone.  I kinda miss how GOOOOOD it used to be!  🙂  There was fruit and pastries.  I had fruit and a few bites of a scone.  I preferred the fruit.  So interesting.

Lunch-took my two older girls out to lunch and a movie.  We ate at noodles and company, I had the Bangkok Curry Noodles, no chicken, no mushrooms extra broccoli, and a nice green side salad.  It was yum and full of color!  Then we went to a cafe.  They had gelato and I had coffee.

Dinner-Family night.  Ordered pizza.  I took off the cheese, but it was Pizza Hut pan pizza and it was THICK and greasy!  I also had a couple bread sticks.  It was just too much greasy bread.  Blech.  

I miss my juice!!  Who woulda’ thunk it?