Right now I don't care if I never see a glass of champagne again ( I can't believe I've actually written that down!!) , or a mince pie, or a piece of Christmas cake , or a full roast dinner. I have to admit to feeling sluggish; I moved less in the last two weeks too! Had the odd walk in the sunshine, when it appeared, but my usual routine changed beyond belief. I'm lacking my usual energy and am so excited about doing something to change things.
As Tony Robbins says "Make A Move". So I'm making a move to change my state. Starting Monday morning, because I'm still in the planning stages for my meals, but well on the way to completing them.
My goals: to love and support my body and mind by cleaning up my eating habits, to maximise my energy, bring back my usual flexibility, and increase overall daily movement.
And to do this I plan to use wholesome, clean, nutritious food, not a short term chemical based diet plan. I LOVE food and I love to eat, but it's all about balance. A balanced diet incorporating all the food groups is sustainable, and exactly what the body needs to feel nourished . That, of course, means losing refined carbohydrates, sugars, processed packaged foods, the wrong fats, alcohol... Yes it really does!
And to me the word 'diet' automatically equals restrictions anyway, and as soon as that happens it kind of overtakes all other thoughts, and you find yourself thinking about food that you wouldn't normally even touch, but because you're on a diet you'd quite fancy it! It's bizarre!
The most pure form of cleansing for me is juice - fruit and vegetables . Juices offer a wide variety of nutrients in an amazingly accessible way to be utilised quickly and efficiently by our bodies. Little work has to be done to break them down, as the fiber has been removed ( if you use a juicer rather than a blender) , so the nutrients can be assimilated in my matter of minutes rather than hours - how absolutely fantastic is that!!!
Last night I watched the film Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead ( thanks for the recommendation my lovely friend Rachel in snowy Canada) . Joe Cross drank fruit and veg juices (with nuts, seeds and pulses) for 60 days exclusively to correct an auto immune disorder he'd suffered from for years. It worked!!! And as an additional plus he released a shed load of weight, and gained an awesome amount of energy and vitality.
This sounds extreme, and although Rachel has suggested we have a little 'competition ' across the pond, I'm not sure I'm up to 60 days at the moment! I'll see how I feel after the end of next week.
Smoothies are great too, whole foods blended into a thick drink, are more sustainable and more food like than juices, so they're on my plan too. With delightfully tasty ingredients such as nut butters, chia seeds, Maca powder, various berries/other fruits, some organic probiotic yoghurt, almond and coconut milk, and even Raw cacao powder, and Raw honey . Really , what's not to love?!!
Sun Warrior do the best protein powder in both Vanilla and Chocolate and they make a great chemical free addition to smoothies to help balance blood sugar and provide us with complete protein containing all the essential amino acids. No soya used at all. They use Stevia to sweeten, and all ingredients are RAW, GMO free, solvent free, artificial colour, preservative and radiation free! Recommended by Emma lane, CHEK digestive specialist and Andrea Wood, Nutritionalist at the Mind and Body Clinic (find on FB).
In addition to juices and smoothies to sustain me through the day I'm planning on hearty bowls of wholesome soup. The variety is endless, as I've discovered through ploughing through my recipes books and websites.
I'm not a vegetarian but don't eat a great deal of meat and what I do eat I'm very choosy about. Grass fed, organic, local if at all possible and definitely free range ; I'm using organic chicken stock for the base of all my juices. I'll also be including various beans, including green mung beans (great food) , and lentils to bulk up and provide more protein . Creme fraiche , the proper stuff, will be added at the last minute to help the body digest the vegetables (picked up this little tip from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, amazing book) .
So Monday morning John and I will begin our day with warm lemon water, followed by a smoothie for breakfast. Mid morning we'll drink a delicious and nutritious juice. It'll be soooo good we'll literally feel the nutrients coursing through our bodies (his line!) Lunch will be a thick, hearty soup; mid afternoon another juice, and an early dinner of another soup.
I honestly can't wait! I know after seven day we'll both be feeling ready to take on anything... and we've made some big plans for 2014.
I'll be posting all details up on Sweet Enough and Balanced PT, and may blog some more too so if you fancy joining us for all or part of this EAT CLEAN week, please do, and please share how delicious (I'm confident) you find the juices, soups and smoothies.
Here's to a happy, healthy, clean eating week!
Rx
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