Detoxing, sorta...

Yup, that's my breakfast and lunch today.  I have a green smoothie planned for dinner. 

Breakfast was a Honeycrisp Apple, purchased at The Fresh Market.  It was quite tasty.  A little Fiji like.  I've never had one before so I thought I'd try it.  When I tell you it took me three hours to eat that apple, I'm not lying!  It was HUGE!

Lunch was a little something I whipped up in the "kitchen" at work.  Corn tortillas with black beans, white rice (forgive me, I like white rice), spring mix, and a tomato/avocado mix with lemon.  I added lots of black pepper to the rice and beans.  It all could have used a little umf.  It was also dry.  It needed sour cream (but I'm staying away from dairy.)  It needed cheese (see previous comment about dairy.)  Someone suggested a chipotle ranch dressing.  That could have done the trick...anything is better with Ranch Dressing :-)

I can already feel my body releasing all the crapolla I've consumed in the last week.  It's a good thing!

A Beautiful Falling Off

Spectacular. Beautiful.  Epic.  Words to describe my fast decent to the dark side last week. 
It was one of those weeks at work that was...challenging. Long hours, nothing happened the way it should have and the looming deadline was happening with or without me.  It happens from time to time.
I found myself falling into old habits. LOTS of coffee. Little water. Processed foods that were fast and easy.
Saturday culminated in potato chips, pigs in a blanket, BBQ sauce drenched meatballs, pastrami, corned beef, onion dip, Buffalo chicken and...ROOTBEER.  HFCS (high fructose corn syrup) filled rootbeer.
I have not had soda other than that made with natural flavors and cane sugar in months. One small can led to two, a craving for more, and a craving for all that food. Fortunately it was all served buffet style so I didn't completely lose myself. Little bites here and there.
Today I had pasta. I was craving it and I gave in. And after a week of this, I feel horrible.  I am not surprised. The body is a strange thing.  Mine lets me know when enough is enough.
Once in a while, I'm ok to permit myself a treat. This week wasn't a treat.
Enough is enough. Getting back on the horse. Juice time!  A cleansing is in order...

My First Raw Food Experience - Vida De Cafe, St Pete Beach Florida

Yup.  Went to a Raw Food Restaurant.  Kind of an oxymoron since nothing was cooked.  Well, cooked fully.

Vida De Cafe was pretty good.  A number of interesting, not too scary things on the menu.  Two of the people I went with were vegans, so they were in heaven.  My other friend is NOT, but she did pretty good. 

I opted for a large Green Juice and an Apple Avocado Salad, and two glasses of water.  It was filling enough, and very good.  The dressing for the salad was quite yummy!

My friends got crab cakes, tacos, the same salad I did, along with Key Lime Cheese Cake (which was unbelievable!) and a Fudge Brownie and Choco Chip Ice Cream (which I didn't enjoy as much as my two bites of the key lime cheese cake).

The gals working there prepared each item, and it was presented very well.  Below are photos of some of our meal.  I wish I'd taken a pic of my juice, it was soooooooooo good!!

Would I do it again?  Probably.  Once in a while.  Why not???

Must See: Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead

Three people I know have mentioned this documentary in the last week. All three have begun juicing. 
My dear friend A invited me over to watch it this evening.  Very sweet of her. I don't have internet at home and its a download only from Netflix.

We began with a fabulous juice - cucumber, celery, tomato, apple, ginger, peaches, carrots - I think there was more but I'm forgetting.  Delicious!

Next we had an amazing spinach salad with hard boiled eggs, asparagus, and a healthy dressing my friend whipped up (totally amazing for a girl incapable of whipping anything up).  I love spinach, and I never think to eat it so simply. Genius!

In celebration of the movie, we ate our healthy fair in front of the TV. I confess to a glass of Chardonnay for dessert.  I haven't had an adult beverage in weeks. It was very nice!

The meal was wonderful and so filling. The movie was inspirational.  It follows a man with weight and health issues on a 60 day juice fast. He meets fascinating people and turns his health around. The story follows him and a fellow he meets along the way named Phil who asks him for help.

I won't give any more away, but....I laughed a lot, I experienced moments where I gasped in horror, I almost cried several times, I left inspired, and Phil is my new hero.

Thank you A and MM for telling me about it!  I'm not sure I'm up to a 60 day fast, but I'm inspired to continue my great food experiment of 2011 :-)
http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/