Blueprint cleanse: Day 3

Today was more or less like yesterday - I felt mostly good. Energetic, clear-headed, and just kind of clean. Not to mention skinny - I've lost 4 pounds since I started! Maybe it's water, but it is motivating.

I did feel hungry at times. I've found my definition of "hunger" has really changed. When I do feel hunger pains, it's a more of an empty feeling (probably because my stomach is actually totally empty for once!) than a pain. I have had some random cravings for food, usually when I smell it, but it doesn't seem to trigger actual hunger. It's more of a passing thought that sounds good at the time but is quickly dismissed. I have discovered that I probably eat out of boredom a lot. At times during work, I would have an impulse to go to the snack cabinet. For no reason. I wasn't particularly hungry or experiencing a craving.

This experience has been an interesting one. I do feel "cleansed". I am looking forward to CHEWING again! I don't think I could do it every month, as the Blueprint Cleanse people recommend, but twice a year would be perfect! The first day is rough, but the glowing skin and numbers on the scale make it worth sticking out the three days!

Blueprint Cleanse: Day 1

I woke up hungry. Like, hungry hungry. I am a breakfast eater - it's my favorite meal of the day, hands down. I typically start out the day with fruit, Kashi cereal with soy milk or Greek yogurt (or an everything bagel with light cream cheese if I am being "bad"). Today, however, the first item on the menu was water, either room temperature or hot with lemon (mmm! how filling!). I drank down my water, but it didn't do much to curb my appetite (shocking, I know). I couldn't wait to get to work where my first juice was waiting for me!

When I arrived at my office, I raced to the fridge for my first juice of the day (the green juice, consisting of of romaine, celery, cucumber, green apple, spinach, kale, parsley and lemon). Tomorrow morning, I may not run quite as fast. It looks and smells like grass juice. I'm not accustomed to breakfast vegetables, unless they are in an omelet. So it was a little disappointing, but hunger prevailed and I cracked it open. To my surprise, it tasted much better than it smelled. But it was still kind of a struggle to get down. About halfway through, I was feeling a little sick to my stomach. Luckily, that passed (it may have been the green tea I was drinking to supplement the juice).

Now, I am waiting for my "lunch" juice. I'm trying to hold back until noon, but it's rough. I am drinking a water to shut my growling stomach up. Besides being hungry, though, I feel pretty good. Kind of mentally clear. But my breath is kickin'! And I read it's not good to chew gum because it makes your body think it's eating, which makes you hungrier. So I'll be hitting the Listerine pretty hard today, and tomorrow I will try to remember to bring my toothbrush.

1:00 PM - So I'm on to the second juice now (pineapple, apple and mint). I started drinking it around noon. I find that drinking them slowly curbs potential hunger. This one is actually pretty tasty.

2:40 PM - I was feeling a little sluggish a bit ago. Just kind of all-around not-so-hot. I'm kind of not looking forward to this next juice (the second green one! Noooo!), but I'm starving so I will choke it down.

4:00 PM - I triumphed over the second green juice! Yea! This one wasn't as bad as the first one (maybe because I was STARVING. I bet if I had rushed down to Central Park in a frenzy of starvation and ripped up a handful of grass, that would have tasted okay, too). Energy-wise, I am doing pretty well. I feel pretty well overall, but sometimes I get slight waves of stomach-upset. That and I am peeing a LOT. I am even considering going to the gym tonight.

7:00 PM - I drank my other juice (like a master cleanse - water, lemon, agave and cayenne) about two hours ago. It was very light, refreshing and sweet, although how people do the master cleanse and drink nothing but that for 2 weeks is completely beyond me! I'm on to the beet juice now. It's not terrible. Tastes like...well, beets. The ingredients are: Apple, carrot, beet, lemon and ginger juice. It's got a really strong taste.

9:00 PM - Time for the "dessert" juice - cashew nut milk. It sounded delicious and creamy, with vanilla and Cinnamon sweetened by agave nectar. And the first swig was delicious! So was the second. And the third. However, by the time I had made my way halfway through the bottle, my enthusiasm was beginning to wane. It was kind of thick, with bits of crushed cashews floating around in it (you have to shake this one really well). At times, I almost felt like I needed to...chew! This should have made me happy, but truthfully, finishing it was a struggle. The sweetness started to upset my now-pristine stomach. Shortly afterwards, as I was puttering around my apartment, I was trying to place the strange sensation coming from my stomach. It took me a while to put my finger on it: I was full.

The vegan experiment: Day 2

Day 2

Breakfast - I woke up early and hit the gym. I was feeling pretty good so I ran for 2 miles on the treadmill. Then I rode my bike into work (another 2 miles), so I was ravenous by the time I got in. I brought some rice yogurt to try for breakfast, and eagerly opened it up. Gaaa! Gross! On every possible level - gross! Looks - like mucus! Smells - reeeally, reeeeally yogurt-y. Very pungent. Tastes - just like it looks and smells. Totally nasty. I had to toss it. I ended up having a Gnu Fiber bar and some raspberries for breakfast...

Snack 1 - ...which kept me feeling full for all of about 45 minutes. So I had some blueberries I brought in before breaking into my lunch (soy cheese sandwich) early.

(Actual) lunch - Had some spicy thai soup, which was okay. Had to eat some almonds to stave off hunger, though.

Snack 2 - OMG I LOVE SOY PUDDING! This stuff is GREAT! As in - I could probably swap it with regular pudding and no one would be able to tell (except for the fact that it has "Zen Soy" printed all over the package). Also had a little vegan snickerdoodle cookie, which was totally decent. After work, I grabbed some pita and hummus and fixed some edamame, which I shared with Frank when he got home. Frank (who is also going vegan this week) wasn't feeling that great today. He said he had a headache and was feeling tired. I thought it was stress. He thought it was lack of meat. Meat withdrawl, if you will. Hm. For the record, I feel swell.

Dinner - Headed across the street to my local falafel joint and got a falafel salad. Frank had some fake vegan chicken (he let me try it - it was pretty good! creepily enough, they actually emulated the texture of cooked chicken very closely!), which seemed to help with his meat withdrawl. Frank hit the soy ice cream, but I'm pretty full.

When I tell people about my attempt to go vegan, I often get the response - "Wow. That's going to be really hard." So far, I've been kind of surprised at how easy it's been. It's only been a couple of days, though, and some real challenges lie ahead (a fancy dinner out on Thursday - it's a sit-down corporate affair, so we'll be lucky if there's even a vegetarian option). However, I'm determined, and as anyone who's ever seen me dig my heels in knows, this means I WILL do this.

On a final note - last night, I saw something on television that said, "If God didn't want us to eat animals, He wouldn't have made them out of meat." Huh? What are humans made out of?

The Vegan Experiment: Day 1

Exhibit A: The Fuzzie-Wuzzies

For most of my life, I equated veganism with an image of an under-nourished, over-educated, smelly population of preachy hippies/militant activists. Over time, my worldview has expanded somewhat (although I am still annoyed by preachiness...and smelliness), and I now realize that there are some perfectly normal, healthy vegans out there. Today, I am becoming one of them.

My reasons for attempting this experiment are twofold: First, I'm interested to see if I experience an improvement in my overall health, and second, because I watched the latest episode of "30 Days" and got upset about the treatment of the fuzzie-wuzzies. So, for the next week (at least), I am setting aside my deep attachment to cheese and all things cheese-related (oh yeah, and all other foods originating in or having anything to do with animals). I will be documenting my efforts here for the education and/or amusement of the masses. Bon appetit.

Day 1:

Breakfast - Stood with my coffee (with soy creamer), examining the ingredients list on a box of Life cereal before realizing I had no soy milk at my disposal (and hazelnut-flavored soy coffee creamer might not blend well with the delicate flavors of Life cereal). Abandoned Life completely for instant oatmeal (prepared with water).

Snack 1 - Around 11, start rooting around the snack cabinet at work. Find some raw almonds and a plum. Eat them while thinking longingly of my usual snack (string cheese).

Noon - Realize with no small amount of horror that chocolate is made with milk and thereby is decidedly not vegan. Fight the urge to weep.

Lunch - Mixed greens salad with cherry tomatoes, alfalfa sprouts, cucumber, and tofu. Yes, tofu. Tossed with enough balsalmic to disguise disappointing blandness of tofu.

Snack 2 - Am distraught to learn that my favorite flavor of Pop Chips contains milk. Exchange them for the much-less-flavorful (but still satisfying) "original" version. Eyeball the Babybel cheese mini-wheel in the fridge covetously, but resist. Must...think...about...the...fuzzie...wuzzies...

After work, I walked home and perused the contents of our fridge while having some pita and olive hummus. Other than that, there wasn't much in the way of vegan food in our place. When Frank came home, we took a field trip to our local health food store and loaded up with...SOY! Lots and lots of soy. Soy ice cream. Soy yogurt. Soy cheese. Soy milk. Some of it is going to be necessary to get through this week, other stuff we thought sounded cool and just wanted to try (vegan cookies! why the hell not?). We came home, inspected our pile of vegan booty with satisfaction and dove in. I had an Amy's Indian Burrito for dinner (weird, but good - spinach, tofu and Indian spices). I was thinking earlier that I might cap the night off with some soy ice cream, but I'm kind of all set with soy right now.

So far, so good! We'll see what tomorrow brings, but tonight, at least, I can sleep the sleep of the morally superior (Ha! Just kidding! Not preaching! No preaching here!)...