Detox & Yoga Day 9:

Ok, so the post today will be light as really, it's starting to be routine, more of the same. We are starting to eat leftovers from meals past now, and repeating the dishes that are good to us - which is nice and taking some of the struggle out of figuring out what to eat. Still, it's admittedly a hassle as today I spent hours shopping and prepping foods so they would be easy to grab & go over the next few days, which worked out great but did take a bit of time.

Yoga Day 9: Saiko in Cap Hill! Finally - it'd been ages since I took her class and it was really nice. Plus, I'm teaching there more lately so it is nice to practice with the students I teach!

Detox Day 9: Tonight - comfort food!

Breakfast: Green Lemonade

Lunch: Spicy Corn Guac Salad

Dinner:
Spinach Salad with beets, fennel and other veggies.
(Comfort food!!) Spaghetti Squash with Organic Marinara Sauce, Shreeded Raw (cow) Cheese, with sauteed mushrooms and onions. OMG, it was like eating pizza, sad but true!

Other:
Little red wine and dark chocolate, and a few spoonfuls of goats milk ice cream.

Calories: 1000
Weight: down 10.6 pounds, and obviously normal for it to plateau at this point. Plus, PMS is upon me!

Detox & Yoga; Day 8

It is getting easier. I'm less hungry, not craving, and feeling satisfied from just eating reasonable amounts of food on the detox diet. For real...and I'm having fun trying to put together detox-friendly meals creatively and that look good enough to eat. In fact, though the book has a lot of recipes, they're all so simple and somewhat bland - I've already come up with a bunch that are just more...um...interesting, to me, anyhow - but not hard to make - just surprisingly tasty!

Twice now we've had friends over for lunch. Brave souls that they are, they've endured "detox lunch" that - had they not been told - they'd likely never labeled as such. I love to cook and am having fun getting to entertain a little without torturing anyone. Even Jill is more comfortable with things as it all settles in.

No overshare here - don't worry - but I must say there has been a corner turned in terms of elimination. It's clearly different than my former diet, and I guess that is good...right? I'm reducing fruit on an empty stomach, per the book, due to a little bloat and discomfort after eating a cup of cherries on an empty tummy. Just for a week or so, the book says, "you may not be clean enough for fruit..." alas.

Yoga Day 8: Solo practice between teaching a double. Had lots of time, nice practice - things are coming along. I quite enjoyed bow pose today. Just felt open! And, in Rabbit, I really focused on charging the energy up my spine mentally to stretch it and it felt kind of...amazing. Good one!

Detox Day 8:

Breakfast:
Green lemonade

Lunch:
Salad with Spicy Corn Guac Dressing, raw corn, heirloom tomato and spinach.
Thai-Inspired Sweet Potato Puree * RECIPE BELOW

Dinner:
My first on-the-go dinner: Lettuce wrapped around raw goat cheese, with pickles and mustard, cherry tomatoes. Like a sandwich, but not... ;) Not exactly thrilling, but it worked!

Dark Chocolate bits throughout the day: .75 oz
A couple cups of Aveda tea (I love this herbal tea!)

Calories: 950
Total Weight Loss: Down 10 pounds (gained .4 - first time to see the scale "up")

RECIPE:

THAI-INSPIRED SWEET POTATO PUREE

Ingredients:
2 garlic cloves
2 quarter-size rounds of ginger or galanga
2" of lemongrass, or 1 tsp dried lemongrass
Juice of a lime
1-2 drops stevia
Salt
Pepper
--
1 medium yellow or sweet onion, chopped.
3 yams or sweet potatoes, peeled and diced to 1/2" cubes.
6 oz. coconut *WATER* (not milk!)
--

Peel and dice sweet potatoes and place in steamer. Steam until soft.

In a chopper or food processor:
2 garlic cloves
2 quarter-size rounds of ginger or galanga
2" of lemongrass, or 1 tsp dried lemongrass
3/4" round of jalepeno* (optional)
Juice of a lime
1-2 drops stevia
Salt
Pepper

Pulverize to paste, or close too it.

Add to a sauce pan with 1 tbsp butter, place "paste" into pan and cook. Add 2 oz. coconut water as needed. Cook 5 minutes. Now add diced onion, and a little more coconut water. Cook until very soft. Place mixture along with steamed, soft sweet potatoes into a food processor. Process until smooth and of a desired consistency - adding the rest of coconut water to thin mixture. If you need more liquid, more coconut water or else water or veggie stock works too.

Put mixture back into the pan and reheat. Serve with lime wedges, and chopped herbs of choice.

Detox & Yoga Day 7:

Phew! First week is done. AMEN. Here are my bulleted thoughts on it so far:

• Doing this outside of summer - with lots of fresh berries and veggies at the farmer's market, not to mention raw corn on the cob and avocados - would be dreadful.
• It's not cheap - we spend a lot of money on produce. Could we worse - eating out likely was costing us just as much - but when a run to the farmer's market is $50, every couple days it seems...but again, feeding two of us healthfully is worth it.
• It's a time commitment - no matter how much her book says how "easy!" it is... what is true is that indeed, no one part is rocket science; it's the whole thing together that feels complicated at times. Always having green juice for breakfast, thinking about combining proper foods for lunch/snacks/dinner - but once you get the hang of it, it's not that bad at all.
• I've gotten to where things 2 weeks ago I'd have eschewed - cauliflower puree, goat milk ice cream - I now find plum delightful! It's changes your thinking and makes you appreciate things.
• Indeed, we need a lot less food to get through the day than we think we do. Period.
• In the first 7 days, I officially dropped 10.2 pounds - again though, I think it's more honestly around 5 pounds (ish).
• Overall, it's doable, a great reset and though I expect I'll eat somewhat normally after, it's a good baseline to aim for in that 80/20 kinda way.
• I'm trying things I'd never have been into before - like goat's milk ice cream. Read all about it here!
  

Yoga Day 7: Oh, yum. Today was just a deliciously perfect practice in West Seattle with Frances, perhaps partially since I'd taught the 7 & 9 a.m., so 3 hours of warming up the body time before hitting my mat. All good! Yay!

Detox Day 7: Good day, it was a long time to 1 p.m. for lunch after getting up at 5:45 and being in a hot room for 4.5 hours...but I did it on my green lemonade and a handful of cherries. Tonight I promised Jill we'd have red meat to celebrate 1 week, which is allowed. We also had dessert - goat milk ice cream which was delish!

What I ate:

Breakfast:
Green Lemonade
Rainier Cherries, 1 c.

Lunch:
Butter lettuce, Onion, Tomatoes and Raw Peas
Raw sheep cheese (1.5 oz)
2 farm eggs with asparagus, mushrooms & 1 oz. raw goat cheese

Dinner:
Butter lettuce, raw corn, raw peas, cherry tomatoes, salt, pepper, lemon
3 oz. Grass fed local beef (from the farmer's market)
1/2 c. cauliflower puree
1/2 c. green beans
4 oz. red wine

Dessert:
1/3 c. goat milk ice cream
1/3 c. strawberries

Throughout the day:
.75 oz. dark chocolate

Big day - 1300 calories
Weight: Minus 10.4 pounds

Detox & Yoga: Day 6

Well, I think it's safe to say we're getting in a groove with this. It is hard to be perfect at it all the time, but the "cheats" are *so* insignificant in the realm of the detox (much less so in the realm of life...) but they are helping. Like today, Jill ate 2 eggs as a snack before going to workout. Technically, a "no-no" but they are on the diet and it was that or possibly not working out, for fear of being too light-headed. I had cherries after my juice this morning (the 'proper time' if you're going to have them...) and then strawberries on my way to teach a 4:30 class. It's allowed, but if I were perfect - no fruit at all. Turns out I'm not perfect (shock!) and that is ok!

Yoga Day 6: I taught a 7 a.m. class and was all warm and loose to take the 9 a.m. with Yu. Great class, reasonably good focus, the floor felt afire but it was what it was. My energy still at times feels low, but I'm eating very few calories throughout the day, and expending a lot at once in a Bikram class. I'm good with that - if my body would kindly access the excess on my hips and thighs, I'd be much obliged.

Detox Day 6: It's funny, but I feel like I want less food. She said this would happen in the book - and so it seems to be happening. Today for lunch, we had a avocado/salad concoction (one of the best yet!) and I found that though I knew in my head a sweet potato was permitted to round it out, I had no desire for it. Weird! I will admit to missing my iced soy latte on the way to teach my 4:30 class...but I had a few berries and lots of water instead. Alas. Elimination is back "on plan" today - and so that part is feeling better. Jill it seems prefers spinach to salad greens, so we're on spinach now, which is my personal favorite- so I'm in! Got more groceries today, because you never want to be without avocados or raw goat cheese (we also got some raw sheep cheese, 2nd string but permitted - and I love this one! It has rosemary dried into the rind...good eatin' cheese!). For dinner - very exciting - we splurged with a "legal" grain (recommended rarely, but is ok after the detox) of buckwheat noodles - which cost $6.50 for 8 oz. - so we damned well better enjoy them. Jill prepped the veggies, we got the raw soy sauce (Nomu Shoya), and made a stir fry paste of ginger, garlic, lemongrass, jalepeno, stevia and lime juice.

Here's what I ate:

Breakfast:

Water

Green Lemonade (frozen the night before due to 7 a.m. teaching)

Snack: about 1 cup rainier cherries

Lunch:

Spicy Avocado Dressing with Spinach, topped with raw corn, tomatoes, and avocado

Snack: about 1/2 cup strawberries

Dinner:

Spinach Salad with heirloom tomato, 1/4 avocado, lemon juice, salt/stevia.
1/2 c. buckwheat noodles & 'stir fry' veggies, with a touch of coconut water, raw soy sauce, and a mixture of garlic, ginger, lemongrass, jalepeno for flavoring. Yum! I couldn't even finish it, believe it or not!

A few squares of my new favorite organic chocolate (more on that later!)
2-3 sips of yesterday's wine :)

Cheats: 1/2 green apple in my lemonade
Calories: 900
Weight: steady at a loss so far of 8.8 pounds

Detox & Yoga: Day 5

It's hard to believe in 2 more days, we'll be at the one week mark! I'm learning more all the time as I dig into this. It seems overall, my energy is a little less than normal - it could be the caloric intake dropping to around 1200 or less per day, and most of that being "fast exit" food - which is the point - but also means not much of it stays with you. And to be honest, not much is, um, "exiting" either. I don't know where it is going really. :) I'm still curious about the impact after a month, so I'm on board, but the cheating is starting. And really, the 'cheats' are still within the guidelines of the 'maintenance' diet - alkaline foods. Today, my big cheat was I chucked a green apple into my green lemonade. I went to 6 a.m. yoga and felt weak and depleted, and I had to teach at noon! So I did it. And it was good.

Did you know quinoa, which is NOT a grain, but sure looks/acts like one, has a zillion calories? Like over 600/cup. Though it's allowed, I'm trying to drop a few pounds, so...I'm limiting the quinoa intake - that is some killer packed-with-nutrients food. Whoa.

Yoga Day 5: As mentioned, I hauled myself to 6 a.m. yoga which had around 40 (!!!) people in attendance. It was kinda nice, actually, it felt like a full afternoon class. Kim taught, and it was a good one, esp. after that disaster of a class yesterday. I felt good in it - I think overall, I'm pretty ok to be on an empty belly in the morning (6 or 9:30) but it's a lot harder to have eaten all of 1 avocado all day and then hit 4 p.m. or later. Ug.

Detox Day 5: Well, as mentioned we had a little cheat of the green apple. Also, I ate the equivalent of 1 small pickle. That's it though - those are the big cheats! Not bad for 5 days in - this is not easy. The book has so obviously been edited by the publisher to add things like "it's so easy!" and "you'll be skinny" at the end of every other page. Kinda kidding, kinda not... but it's not that complicated, true - but it does require a lot of planning, organizing, time in the kitchen and powering through some hungry moments when you're out and about as there isn't much that you can just grab at the store. The farmer's markets are saving us! Today, we scored some killer cherry tomatoes, gorgeous spinach, and red onions for our salad. So good!

Here's what I ate today:

Breakfast:
Green Lemonade ala Green Apple (for shame!)

Lunch:
1/4 c. quinoa leftovers
1/4 avocado
1.5 c romaine lettuce with a little red onion, red pepper and a tablespoon of corn (leftovers)

Second Lunch :)
2 Lettuce Wraps (Lettuce, Goat Cheese, Pickle, Mustard and Red Onion)
Rainier Cherries

Dinner:
Spinach Salad topped with Cherry Tomato/Raw Corn Salsa (basil, lime, salt/pepper, onion)
6 oz. Swordfish on the grill
Garlic Whips
Butter/Salt/Pepper
Red Wine

Evening:
.75 oz. dark chocolate

Calories: 1200ish
Weight: - 8.8 pounds

Detox & Yoga: Day 4

Doing this during the winter would suck. Seriously, the avocados, corn on the cob, berries. I don't know how I would do it outside of farmer's market season. Speaking of which I practically spent a week's wages at the Farmer's Market in Wallingford yesterday - and can I say, it was worth every penny! Romaine as big as your head, garlic scapes, mini broccoli, Rainier cherries, carrots, beets, garlic, onions, salad mix, green beans, peas...the list goes on. And we keep eatin' it. Our yardwaste bin (which is where in Seattle you are required to put your food scraps) overfloweth. My pal Kirsten brought us a big bag of spinach from her garden for salad, and spicy greens for juicing. The spinach was 86'd by dinner.

It's really going ok, Jill is struggling maybe more than I am but it was my idea - she is (painfully) along for the ride. After all the nutso diets I've done in my life, this is actually (fairly) doable! Though today brough my first cheat: 1 dime size dollop of vinegar for my salad. I can't take the lemon juice salads twice a day anymore - and it's only day 4! But man, dinner with just spinach, shredded raw goat cheese, salt, pepper and that lil' bit of vinegar - YUM. I really cheerfully downed it. Shame on me. Catholic guilt abounds.

BTW, did I mention I've lost 8 pounds in the first 3 days. But then again, I think the first 5 were just the big mountain of Thai food I ate the night before. ;) Jill has lost about 5 pounds.

Yoga Day 4: Dear God. Somehow I did it, Lisa at 4 p.m. Fremont. But when you feel like you're in trouble by the end of the first set of breathing...it's scary. I don't think I was hydrated well. And, I think I'm better going in the morning before eating anything than going later in the day when I've stayed true to the detox and eaten maybe 300-400 calories - undoubtedly those calories were all used up by the time I got to my mat. Oy! Tomorrow's another day.

Detox Day 4: Well, I wrote about it above. Here's what I ate today:

Breakfast:
Green Lemonade

Snack: Strawberries

Lunch:
CornGuac Dressed Salad (I think I've perfected it! Revised recipe below...) in a "cobb" style/presentation
1/2 cup Pumpkin Pie Juice for dessert

Dinner:
Spinach Salad with 1 oz. shredded hard, raw goat cheese - CHEAT: 1/2 tsp Balsamic Vinegar.
4 oz. Grilled Opah
1 c. haricots vert
Butter (1 tbsp. all together)
Celtic Sea Salt
Pepper

Evening
3 oz. Red Wine
.75 oz dark chocolate

Calories: 1,000 calories today
-7.8 pounds

---
Recipe:

CornGuac Dressing (See photo above)

2 Avocados
2 Corn, raw, off the cob
Juice of 1 lime
1 small jalepeno pepper, more or less to taste
1 ring red onion, 1/2 inch thick
1 garlic clove (or more, if you like)
1/2 tsp. Sea Salt
Pepper to taste
---
Swirl it all up in the food processor! The coat a giant bowl of greens with it, top the salad with some more of the corn, red pepper, zucchini, avocado, and other veggies you dig. Plop a bonus scoop of the corn-guac atop it, and dig in! Great dip too for veggies.

Detox & Yoga: Day 3

So the author of the book I'm using, Natalia Rose, is a little bit woo-woo. But not THAT woo-woo. One of the things she requires you to do first thing outta bed is called "body brushing" - and I was actually surprised there is no Wiki entry on this! So, basically, it's just taking a brush to stimulate movement of the lymph fluids - which only move if you make them, there is no circulatory system within the lymph glands. Learn all about your lymphatic system here as it *does* have a wiki. Anyhow, the body brushing starts the movement of the lymph, and though it is recommended you use a "body brush" - which you can pay a lot for - I just use cheap exfoliating gloves which, as an added benefit, take with them a layer of dead skin. I must say, I've been diligent about this (evening have to undress and re-dress today, after forgetting at 4:50 a.m. - my bad, really). It feels really good! And does seem healthy and smart to do. Though, with all the yoga, I'm guessing I'm getting it done...

Yoga Day 3: Well, teaching weirdly today (6 a.m., Noon, 8 p.m.) I opted to do a practice alone after my 6 a.m. class. Being a teacher and having access to a hot room with mirrors, it just made my whole day go better and took a ton of stress off of me. I usually listen to music when I practice alone, which is a fun little bonus now and then. Went fine - I felt super open and loose, which then I felt bummed about, figuring a good push from a teacher would've probably elicited a truly kickass post-yoga bliss. Ah well, there is always tomorrow!

Detox Day 3:

The raw veggies are getting to be a little bit...much, especially when you can only dress them with lemon juice. That said, I'm carrying on! If avocado is on the menu, then all is well - easy to make a 'dressing' out of it. However, the detox rules do not allow you to mix "starch" (which for our purposes, avocado is considered) and "flesh" (nice word choice, Natalia) which includes meat, eggs, cheese. So today's lunch salad was what I terms "almost Greek" but it was kinda rough to choke down. If only balsamic vinegar was allowed!

On the upside, my big notion today was to grill asparagus and then wrap it up and take it as a car snack...and guess what? It worked! I miss my tamari almonds and crackers, but found chomping on asparagus after my noon teaching en route to my lunch worked great. Seriously. Asparagus in the car.

Hit the farmer's market today and spent 2 billion dollars but got some GOOD stuff for us to eat in the next several days - splurged on some Rainier cherries (allowed) and got buckets of veggies that we'll hopefully be able to eat cheerfully, even if raw... Here's the the day's food - again I got a little screwed up but I'm ok with how it went.

Morning:
Water
Green Lemonade

Lunch:
2 eggs
Many asparagus spears
Grilled summer squash
"Almost Greek" Salad

• Romaine
• Cherry tomatoes
• Cuke
• Black olives, diced
• Greek oregano from the yard
• Lemon juice
• Sea Salt
• Pepper
• 1 oz goat cheese

Dinner:
A portion of the "Awaken" Warm Grain Bowl from Thrive (check out the menu here!) - we are lucky to have this in Seattle - I'm no 'raw foodie' but for my purposes at the moment...yay! (It's at 65th & Roosevelt, across from Dania on 65th).

Quinoa
Various Veggies
A skimpy portion of Avocado (like seriously, could you spare it?)

Sadly this was a little rough on my lapband, so I didn't eat too much. Which was fine, as I just found out that quinoa - though nearly a perfect food - has 600+ calories per cup!! Since I barely ate dinner in the end, later I had:

A sweet potato
1 oz dark chocolate (which I measured and realize is a LOT. 1/2 oz. is plenty from now on).

1200 calories.

Detox & Yoga: Day 2

I find it fascinating the way we need to hear the same information 100 different ways to "get it." Or at least I do. One of the themes of this cleanse is to turn the body more alkaline, hence, less acidic. If you look at this list of alkaline and acidic foods, you'll see that it's more of the same - this site suggests you aim for 70% alkaline and 30% acidic foods. Surprise! All your green and low calorie veggies, low-sugar fruits, healthy oils, nuts and seeds are alkaline - and then all the "bad" stuff is acidic - meat (no judgment on meat, I love and eat meat! but it is more work for our bodies to digest, that is a fact), dairy, grains, convenience foods, coffee, tea, fruit juices, 'bad' saturated oils, and all sugary fruits (outside of berries, grapefruit, lemon, etc.). So there it is again! I feel like this message has been delivered to me in 100 ways to Tuesday since I was 5 years old. Still, never hurts to hear it in a different way and get a deeper understanding of how the human body works. There's more to think about than just fat, carbs and protein.

BTW: I'm going to try to open each daily post with a little bit about the "point" of the detox, like above.... :) Now, more about me...

Yoga Day 2: Lovely 9:30 a.m. class at Fremont with Julie. Good heat, nice energy - handful of friends and other teachers along. Not to be all woo-woo here, but today in the standing series I just felt the word "surrender" and between postures, I really, really let go and envisioned all of my energy just pouring out of my body through my feet - emptied out and relaxed, I had a lot more focus and new, fresh energy to give my next pose. I was more focused than I have been in a long time! I also got a couple "Good Jenn" on postures (spine twist, for example) I could barely do a couple weeks ago with the sciatica - they still feel a little stiff inside, but good to know the form is good on the outside!

Detox Day 2:
I woke up feeling pretty good - admittedly a little hungry, but nothing out of the ordinary really. I often wake up hungry but after a few minutes and a glass of water, it goes away for a couple hours. Ok - now I plan to talk about 'elimination' in a very, um, internet friendly way. It's part of the deal folks - stuff goes in, stuff comes out! But I'll keep it to polite conversation, as polite as poop can be. That said, things in that regard things started well - she says to expect 2 'healthy' movements a day that just come out, no really effort. All is well in this regard. Then, I had a cup of herbal tea, made my green lemonade and went to yoga. I drank my green juice instead of water in class (timing issue, couldn't get it in before I left) and then came home to fix lunch. Getting better at the salads! Still, at a point it does feel like you've been eating salad for 2 hours.

Had a near little 'melt down' before dinner. I ended up teaching a 4:30 class today so after lunch, I just had water and then about 8 oz. of the "pumpkin pie" juice (primarily carrot, with some raw sweet potato and a little avocado). Class went fine - but driving home, I had a little 'getting off sugar, now, are ya?' headache. Came home and ate a few bites of goat cheese (we had a "flesh" dinner - see below) and a big glass of water with a dollop of lime juice - and all was well.

Car snacks for this thing are near impossible. Unless you like hot celery sticks. Bluck!

Breakfast:
Herbal Tea
Green Lemonade

Lunch:
Corn & Avocado Dressed Salad
5 oz sweet potato with butter, salt & pepper

Corn & Avocado Dressed Salad Recipe

Into the Food Processor:
1 ear of raw corn 'off' the cob
1/2 avocado
1 slice red onion
1/3 red pepper
Chunk of jalapeno pepper
Juice of 1/2 lime
Sea Salt
-
Toss with chopped romaine lettuce. I added a few chopped mushrooms, and placed another 1/4 sliced avocado on top. Yum! Next time maybe more avocado and a scoop of salsa to further jazz it up. Maybe reserve a handful of corn for on top too...

Snacks:
Lots of herbal tea and lime water for snacks today. Trying to keep it clean!
8 oz "pumpkin pie in a cup" juice

Dinner:
Raw beet, carrot & cabbage salad (ok, likely only 1/2 cup...)
6 oz Halibut (fresh, local), with a little lemon butter
Spaghetti Squash with shredded goat cheese, salt, pepper & a little butter
Broccolini, steamed

Evening:
Red Wine (4 oz)
Dark Chocolate (1.5 oz)

Calories: 1500

Detox & Yoga: Day 1

Yoga Today:

Nooner at The Sweatbox Capitol Hill with Meghan. Perfect class for me today - good but workable heat, nice peeps and though I had to pay, decent parking. Overall pretty good practice, though I think I fell asleep at the savasana (I had just taught a 6 a.m. & 9:30 a.m. class...) Still battling the remnants of the sciatica through a totally crap Triangle pose, but otherwise feeling pretty good!

Detox Today:

First day - seems like something that will be so easy once I get the hang of it; but right now it seems exceedingly complex though it's not. The goal of this detox is to starve the yeast and poor bacteria in the body, as a reminder :) In a week this will be a breeze! Here's what I ate today (recipes for my own re-use, but feel free...):

Breakfast:
"Green Lemonade" (You'll see this daily: A head of romaine, 5-8 Kale leaves, a lemon (skin on) and a hunk of ginger through the juicer.

Lunch:
1 Sweet Potato w/ a pat of organic butter, salt & pepper
1 Guacamole Salad

• Head of red leaf lettuce out of our garden, chopped
  
• 1/2 Avocado
• 1/3 c. raw corn off the cob
• 2 big mushrooms, chopped
• 1 tbsp onion
• Stevia drops (sweet), lime juice, hot sauce, salt & pepper to taste

I whipped up the avocado and corn in the food processor and used it to coat the lettuce and other veggies. The options on this one abound - next time, no stevia and I'll what I think without it. It was a creamy, veggie-packed salad that didn't feel like I was eating a whole head of lettuce!

Snack:
"Pumpkin Pie Juice!"

• 32 oz Carrot Juice
• 1/2 Avocado
• 1 peeled/cubed raw sweet potato
• 1/2 tsp each cinnamon and cloves
• pinch salt

Juice the carrots - 32 oz. Then in blender or food processor, blend raw sweet potato, avocado and 1/2 the carrot juice until smooth. Add spices and rest of carrot juice. Really tasty cold! (This is from Natalia Rose's book - but I omitted the Stevia and added salt).

Dinner:

Well, I kinda got timing all messed up and had another batch of the pumpkin pie juice and some carrot/beet salad, that...well, sucked. No, really, it needs work.

Snack:
1 small square of dark chocolate (legal!!!)

About 865 calories all together. Tomorrow will focus on more protein!

And she's back...

Where have I been? Busy. But who isn't?

I think I've been off trying to negotiate and figure out what's next for me in life. Meanwhile, though, I've been teaching lots of Bikram yoga - class #300 last Thursday in fact! Practicing has been spotty since early May when I hurt my right hip and developed sciatica - a condition that I would argue falls outside of Bikram's "you're never too old too sick...etc. to do the yoga." When you can't stand up, well, you can't do this yoga. I rested, it helped, and it's better now.

So here's what's up: I'm resetting! Starting today I'm doing Natalia Rose's Detox for Women. A 30-day detox diet that is reasonably do-able with the aid of a few niceties. And you get to actually EAT, which is the only way I'd do something like this. Here's a link to it:

http://www.detoxtheworld.com/books-detox-4-women.php

So, I plan to blog about it daily as part of my commitment to myself. I'm doing a 30-day yoga challenge too, so I'll report in on that as well!