Day 19 ~ 30 Day Vegan Cleanse

~ Day 19 ~

I can't believe the cleanse is going to be coming to an end soon.  Well, not that soon...but soon enough that it's starting to weigh on my mind a bit.  I have been spending quite a bit of time thinking about what I will do next.  Will I begin to add in foods that I have been avoiding all month?  Gluten?  Dairy?  Chocolate?  Shakeology?  Will I continue on with what I am doing right now - while still avoiding things that other vegans eat (i.e. not restricted from the cleanse)?  I guess it's been weighing more heavily on my brain than I thought, because last night I had some pretty strange dreams.  One of my goals this week was to not have any Larabars.  In my dream, I went on a food binge and I ate a Larabar...then another...then a muffin...then chocolate..and who knows what else.  I woke up this morning wondering at first if I really had a Larabar...then feeling frustrated that I dreamed about all of that food.  I suppose that's to be expected when a person goes from eating a diet which includes sugar and refined & processed foods to whole, clean foods.  I do miss some of these foods, but I think it's more subconscious than anything right now...although ask me later and I might get cranky with you and tell you I want chocolate.

Lexi came bouncing out of school today talking about Pizza Night.  Yikes, what's this all about?  She told me she had a sticker and a note because it was Family Pizza Night.  Sure enough, in her folder was a flier for a school fundraiser at Pizza Hut tonight.  And, because the flier is not enough, they stuck stickers on the kids' shirts.  Really.  How I am supposed to try and talk a 5 year old out of Family Pizza Night? ARGH!  I ordered for carry out - at least that way I could avoid the restaurant.  But the second I walked into the store, my stomach growled and I wanted pizza - like REALLY wanted pizza.  Then, I had to smell it in the car the whole way home.  And I could picture myself EATING that pizza.  But, I came home, got the kids some fruits & veggies - which they had to eat before their pizza.  Then I asked Josh to please give them the pizza after I left the kitchen.  I went downstairs and did my Insanity workout - then the pizza cravings were totally gone.  Whew!  Saved by Insanity.

A funny thing happened this morning.  I opted for the mashed sweet potato and apple with cinnamon for breakfast and because I had the maple syrup out for my girls' pancakes, I drizzled a small amount onto my mash.  It was maybe a teaspoon.  The first taste was odd.  It was almost like a foreign substance - sounds weird, right?  As a sugar fiend, it was really interesting for me to taste the syrup and think "whoa, that's strong!"  That gives me hope that once I complete this cleanse and continue on with whatever nutritional plan I choose to follow - and at some point allow myself to have foods with sugar (whether it be an alternative like sucanat, turbinado, etc or straight up sugar) that I will reel it in big time and only have a very small amount (or decide to have none at all) instead of going off on some crazy sugar binge.

Well - that was an interesting blog post today, wasn't it.  Pretty introspective, I guess!

My food today:

Breakfast ~ Mashed sweet potato with 1/2 chopped apple and a sprinkle of cinnamon and a drizzle of maple syrup

Lunch ~ chopped veggies (radish, celery, cuke, peppers) and 1/4 cup chick peas with 1T vegenaise and 1T raw pumpkin seeds; chick pea veggie burger over chopped lettuce

Snack ~ Kale crisps

Dinner ~ Salad with 1T Braggs vinaigrette, 2 bowls of Sweet Potato Tempeh stew
Snack ~ 2 organic brown rice cakes with 1.5T raw almond butter

Water ~125+ oz.

Workout ~Insanity Plyometric Cardio Circuit

Pictures...just a few of my meals...

Breakfast mash

Lunch - this was SO good!

Dinner! :o)