3 Day Refresh - Day 2 Review

Overall,  Day 2 was much less positive than day 1. I had to get a flu shot (never my favorite thing to do), was must less occupied (had a very free day at work to catch up on paperwork which meant a lot of clock watching) and that made everything seem harder. I really doubted my ability to stay the course, I felt tired and didn't sleep all that well that night but here is the full low down...

BREAKFAST

Same story, different day...again I had my shakeo with frozen banana and berries.This kept me full until about 9:30 (about 2 hours) at which point I had some tea that I felt like did nothing for me.

MID-MORNING FIBER SWEEP

I actually found myself looking forward to the fiber sweep because I knew it would keep my full for  a while. I really don't dislike the taste of this and will likely incorporate something similar in my usual routine - definitely don't hate this!

LUNCH

 

Lunch on day 2 was a serious improvement over lunch on Day 1. I learned from my mistakes and  was feeling good at lunch. Gotta say again how much I really like the Vanilla Fresh! I need to buy that stuff on it's own! Anyone who buys this and doesn't finish and wants to unload some VF, I'm your girl!

AFTERNOON SNACK

I ended up having basically a repeat of lunch on Day 2 afternoon snack because why fix it if it ain't broke? I like veggies and hummus and it stays with me for longer then 1/2 teaspoon of almond butter would. This is a snack I have a lot so being a creature of habit, this just made sense for me.

DINNER

Now dinner is where things get dicey...my husband had jury duty and asked if I would mind if he just had a couple of beers and left over pizza for dinner. While he was totally supportive of me, he wasn't about to join in either. I had planned to make extra of whatever I was having to double as a side dish for his protein. I was fairly hungry when I got home so I decided just to get my own dinner started. I made the coconut steamed veggies (I added curry powder and some fresh grated ginger to go along with it) as well as heated my veggie broth. I ate slowly, drank some water and was planning to reserve my shake for "dessert" but even immediately after eating I was still hungry. This is when the thoughts of failure started to creep in. I also just so happened to purchase Halloween candy (because OMG THEY ARE RUNNING OUT AND WHAT IF WE DON'T HAVE ANY FOR THE 1 TRICK-OR-TREATER THAT WE GET?!?!?) so that was calling to me from the closet. I drank my shake but an hour later was still hungry.

Instead of veering majorly off track I decided that it was permissible to make myself a small, tortilla pizza (whole wheat taco shell, tomato sauce and light cheese) and call it a night. So did I cheat? Yes. Did I devour all the candy sitting in my pantry? No.

I went to bed early with a touch of a headache creeping up but tossed and turned for a long time before I finally decided to read which helped. Once I fell asleep I slept well through the night but had some wild dreams about truckfulls of dead cows and pigs being parked on my street (maybe it's because I've been eating vegan for the past 2 days?!) so I can't say that was the best night sleep I've ever had.

Onward and upward to day 3! Looking forward to finishing and celebrating our anniversary tomorrow!

Stay tuned for the final installment of Claud vs 3 Day Refresh! Who will win?!

3 Day Refresh - Day 1 Review

Gotta be honest, I have been thinking about completing a cleanse for a while but ever since I pushed the "submit payment" button I have been terrified. Luckily, now that I'm a day in and am writing retrospectively it all seems much worse in theory then it is in practice. But let me start from the beginning!

PREP WORK

After begging a friend to do it with me, receiving my 3DR package, tapering off caffeine and reviewing the contents I got down to the business of prepping. Meal prepping is something that happens almost every week in my house so I wasn't concerned about any of that. What I was concerned about was:

1) Having variety throughout the 3 days
2) Making sure everything was ready and easily available so I would have no excuses to cheat
3) OMG I'M GOING TO STARVE, WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?!?

After my expected freak out moment I made a list, went to Wegman's, perused the organic fresh produce while sipping a cold brew coffee and politely allowed an elderly gentleman to run over my foot with his power chair - not once, but twice. Typical.

The program is simple to follow, with a helpful booklet that easily explains what to eat when and in what quantities. See below:

The fruit options range from 1/2 a banana to 12 strawberries and veggies range from 1/2 cup kale to 3 cups of lettuce - obvi I went for options that gave me more bang for my buck in terms of volume. I felt like if I was going to be successful I wouldn't be able to just count out 5 measly asparagus spears and call that a meal. In terms of "healthy fats" you had choices like 2 tbsp hummus or avocado, 1 tsp of oil or 1/2 tsp almond butter. Most of the time I chose hummus since it was one of the highest quantities (do you see a pattern here?) but did use a little almond butter at one point.

Prep work was easy. I cut everything up, roasted a bunch of beets and brought my 21 Day Fix containers to work so I could easily portion stuff out while there for each of my meals. I labeled my bags with the day and the meal time so it was easy to remember what was what. Also, the guide includes spaces where you can write in what you will be eating and I found that very helpful.

And so it began! I went to bed early on Sunday, said a prayer, put on my sleep mask and hoped for the best!

DAY 1

BREAKFAST

 

Breakfast was easy as I have Shakeology with fruit a lot. I chose to blend mine into my shake to make it a bit bulkier. I froze my 1/4 banana and 1/3 cup mixed berries so that it would be a frostier drink. Worked like a charm so down went my 8-10 oz of water and then my shake. Perf. 

OPTIONAL MORNING TEA

 Hello - do not offer me something "optional" in a cleanse where I'm eating 900 calories a day and expect that I'm not going to eat it. I will every single time. So the morning 'very not optional" tea was a blueberry green tea and while I was STARVING (like, woozy starving) before I drank it, by the time I was 1/2 way through I felt fine. Makes me wonder how often I misinterpret thirst signals for hunger on a daily basis...

MID-MORNING FIBER SWEEP

Okay this was the thing I was feeling most nervous about...FIBER SWEEP?! I don't know about you guys but anything with the words "fiber" and "sweep" automatically make my whole body sweat. As soon as it hit the water it started to expand and I thought OH. MY. GOD. What have I done?! Fortunately this stuff is basically unflavored Metamucil and at 8 grams of fiber, I've done way worse things to myself just by overloading on Fiber 1 bars while intoxicated (but that's another story for another day...). Fiber sweep kept me full right up to lunch and I had no complaints by this point. 

 

 LUNCH

 

Lunch on day 1 was surprisingly large. I had my first taste of the vanilla fresh shake which is actually delicious, I totally find myself craving this now. I am not a huge vanilla fan in general so I was fully expecting to have to gag this down but it was totally not the case at all. I wish I could buy this and just have it all the time. The vanilla shakeology does not taste this good - Vanilla Fresh for the win. I also had 1 cup of golden beets, 1/2 an apple and some almond butter. My two mistakes were:

1) Waiting to drink the shake - always drink that first bc your stomach starts to fill up and it gets harder to drink the longer you wait and 

2) Too much sweetness at one time - switching out the almond butter for hummus would have been a way better choice because I really had no relief from how sweet everything was.  

Overall though, not mad at this lunch. I could get down with this. Feeling great and getting all hyped because I feel like I can actually do this!

AFTERNOON SNACK

 Because I'm not actually an adult who can plan her time well I ended up goofing things in the timing department for the rest of the day. Months ago pre-cleanse scheduling I had offered to run a resume workshop at my alma mater (GO HAWKS! #thwnd) from 3:30 - 5:30. This meant I would have to drive out of the city to campus and eating would be difficult. That said, I ended up waiting only 1 hour between lunch and my afternoon snack and wasn't even hungry by the time it came around. But I ate it because I knew I would regret it it I didn't. Fortunately it stuck with me through the presentation but not much further than that. By the time I was done lecturing to and critiquing resumes for 40 graduate students my feet hurt and I was exhausted. To be fair, when I present, to say that I am "animated" would be an understatement - it feels like a 1 woman show sometimes but that's my style - so I definitely expended a lot more energy then I do on a normal day. By this point a mild headache had set in which I pretty much attributed to no caffeine and coming off of the high of the presentation.

DINNER

 By the time I got home I was famished and knew there was no way I was going to make it until 7:30 for my husband to get home, shower and be ready for dinner. So I cheated and had my Vanilla Fresh shake early, around 6. The rest of dinner waited until we could eat as a family. I made lemony kale and pine nuts (which doubled as his side to go with his grilled chicken for dinner so that was easy and also totally delicious, will absolutely make that again) as well as my vegetable broth - again, optional, but definitely not optional for me. Headache still persisted and I was EXHAUSTED (read - "fell asleep on the couch by 8:45") but wasn't hungry which was a pleasant surprise. I definitely attribute the major exhaustion and headache to the presentation and lack of planning my afternoon meal times.

So there you have it for day 1! Day 2 to come tomorrow!

Ginger Beef and Broccoli

Okay, I don't usually toot my own horn (wait, does anyone believe that??) when I cook a meal that is NOT a cheat meal but could totally be one, but this time I just HAD to share. Okay, who am I kidding? I toot my own horn a lot when it comes to cooking at home but seriously, this one had to be shared!! This slightly crispy beef is coated in a sticky, sweet, spicy sauce that goes perfectly with steamed broccoli and brown rice. I couldn't have asked for this to turn out better then it did!This recipe would also definitely be delicious with chicken thighs or pressed extra firm tofu, cooked the same way if beef isn't your thing!

As a note, I hate doing dishes so I try to reuse as many pots and pans as I possibly can. So to steam my broccoli I start by added about 1/4 inch of water to my frying pan where I will eventually cook the beef, turn the heat up to high until it starts to bubble and then add my broccoli and cover with a lid for about 2 minutes, tossing about 1/2 way through. When it's tender and bright green I remove it with tongs and keep it in a bowl covered with foil until I'm ready to serve. I keep the broccoli on the side because if I were to toss it with the beef and sauce it would be totally overcooked, drenched and soggy and ain't nothin' worse then soggy broccoli, amiright?

Also, please note that I am terrible at measuring things out so this is my rough estimation based on eyeballing. I recommend tasting your sauce and checking to see if it needs more acid or sweetness before you add your cornstarch.

Ingredients:

• 1 pound lean stir-fry beef but into 1/2 inch strips
• 1 pound broccoli florets, large stems removed
• 1/2 cup uncooked brown rice, prepared according to directions  
• 2 tbsp canola or coconut oil
• 1/4 cup fresh ginger, peeled and diced into small pieces
• 1/2 cup water, divided in two
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tbsp agave
• 1 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar (white or apple cider vinegar would be fine also if you don't have RWV)
• Sriracha to taste (optional, depending on your preferred spice level)
• 4 tbsp cornstarch, divided in half

Directions:

1. Prep your meat and veggies while you cook the rice according to package directions. 
2. To steam your broccoli, follow the directions in paragraph two above. While this is steaming toss the beef strips with 2 tbsp of cornstarch. This will give your beef a crispy exterior and will allow the sauce to stick to it after it's cooked. 
3. Heat your frying pan over medium-high heat (on my stove it's a 7 our of 9) and add the cooking oil.
4. Once pan is hot, about 2 minutes add 1/2 of your beef and cook for about 5 minutes, turning occasionally until the beef is browned with some crispy bits around the edges.
5. Remove and set to drain on a paper-towel lined plate while you finish cooking the rest of the beef.  
6. Once the beef is all cooked and removed from you pan, turn your heat down to medium (6 on my stove), add your ginger to saute with the remaining beef bits until softened and fragrant, about 3-4 minutes. 
7. While the ginger cooks, prepare your sauce. Add all ingredients from water to cornstarch together and whisk to incorporate, reserving 1/4 cup water.
8. To finish, add remaining 1/4 cup water to your pan to loosen any stuck beef bits and ginger.  Then add remaining sauce and cook, stirring constantly as it bubbles for 1-2 minutes. 
9. Turn off your heat altogether and add beef back in, stirring to coat beef evenly. 
10. Serve by plating brown rice on the bottom, beet on top and broccoli around the outside of your plate. 

Enjoy!