Dr. Oz 3 Day Cleanse Review

I have been wanting to try a cleanse for over a year now. There is something about giving your body the wonderful things it needs and getting a refresh. I have been pinning them left and right lately. I thought it would be a perfect time to try one while I didn't have much going on and while Jake wasn't around to mess up my eating habits. I also thought it would be a great way to start off my 3 week, 3 meals a day, clean eating spree. I looked at all of the cleanses that I pinned, and this one looked the most affordable and the least crazy. Some required all sorts of weird ingredients or didn't sounds like enough food. I didn't need a juicer, my champ of a Black and Decker blender would work just fine. It also was very well organized with a nice little graphic, and I am quite the visual person. Honestly, I would have loved to do one where they give you all of the juices, but those aren't available for me here. 

DAY 1:

Breakfast- I was excited to start the cleanse. The tea started off my morning great. I didn't use the stevia, though. I made my first smoothie and it was great! Not as good as my normal green smoothie, but definitely drinkable. I also discovered the recipe makes a lot, which was nice.

Lunch- Yuck. I had heard this drink is gross, but I mean, it was GROSS. I don't like celery, so that was the first problem. The second was the texture. The recipe made an entire blender pitcher, and I only drank half.

Snack- I didn't end up eating a snack because I was not that hungry. I probably should have just drank one so I would have had enough energy to get me to the next drink.

Dinner- I loved this drink. It was my favorite one by far. The only problem was that the pepper burned my throat. I felt so good after this drink.

Day 2:

Breakfast- The tea and breakfast smoothie were a welcome treat when I woke up very hungry. I felt so wonderful after breakfast. 

Lunch- I wasn't that hungry by lunch, but I drank the second half of the lunch smoothie from the day before. It was a bit better after being refrigerated for awhile.

Snack- Oh wow, I needed this snack. I was hungry. I made the breakfast smoothie for a snack and it was awesome.

Dinner- I crashed in the afternoon, but the dinner smoothie made me feel great again. Yum! I would drink this smoothie on a regular basis, without the cayenne of course. 

Day 3:

Breakfast- I woke up hungry again but feeling refreshed.  Breakfast gave me a huge burst of energy. 

Lunch- It was a bit better, but I still couldn't drink the entire thing. I blended it for a LONG time to get a smoother texture. I have heard if you decrease the celery and peel the cucumber it is more manageable. 

Snack- I had the rest of the lunch smoothie. I know, I know. If you don't like the lunch, why didn't you make the other ones? I don't like to waste things, and it was already made, so I sucked it up.

Dinner- At this point I was feeling good and excited to be almost done with the cleanse(and ready to CHEW something wonderful the next day). I basically chugged this entire drink.

Results:

Cost- I bought everything on the list, plus some. I did already have some of the ingredients, but I wanted to stock up and I wanted to see what the price would be. The food aspect was around $65. This did not include the supplements, lavender oil, and salt, which are things that a lot of people already have. I didn't want to run out of everything, so I bought a lot. I bought about 3 bags of each kind of fruit. I ended up only use one blueberry, mango, and pineapple, and two raspberry, but I knew I would use them after the cleanse. I had to get frozen fruits because fresh berries are hard to get here. I had a ton of leftover ingredients in general, which is fine because I will use all of it. So I would say that you could get away with spending around $55. 

Hunger- Honestly, I wouldn't say that I was hungry. I craved real food. I wanted to eat things that were not all mixed together. With that said, I think it was just my body missing the act of eating. My body wanted to chew something. I thought the drinks were more than enough to keep me satisfied, but I was so excited when it was time to eat regular food again. It also showed me that I often eat out of boredom. I kept going to the fridge and looking in it and realizing I wasn't even hungry. Habits.

Weight Loss- By the end of the cleanse I had lost around 3 pounds, which wasn't a big deal because my weight fluctuates so much. My stomach was the flattest it has ever been by the end of the cleanse, though, so that made me very happy. 

Energy- After the breakfast and dinner drinks I had tons of energy. On the first two days I got a headache and completely crashed around 3:30. I had to take an hour nap. By the third day I didn't crash in the afternoon.

Dirty Deets- Cleanses sometimes get a bad wrap in this area. Some cleanses are supposed to completely clear out your intestines, which has you spending some time on the toilet. That is not what this cleanse is for. I did not find that my bathroom habits changed. I pee a lot as it is, so it was normal for me. 

Bath- Take the bath. Just do. It was fabulous and how often do you have an excuse to take a bath 3 days in a a row? I didn't get the lavender oil, though, and I wish that I had. 

Overall- I felt pretty good. It wasn't that far off from how I usually eat, just in a blended form. I wasn't too hungry, tired, or grumpy. The only part I didn't like was that I got a headache. 

After- The next day after the cleanse I woke up feeling really good. As much as I wanted to eat everything in sight, I found that I was less hungry the day after the cleanse and wasn't craving foods like I was during the cleanse. I continued to eat well, and ate raw fruits and veggies and a piece of fish the entire day. 

I am happy to say that this cleanse worked well for me and that I would do it again in a heartbeat. First of all, it was extremely doable. Many people say they couldn't do it, but you totally can. The ingredients are fairly normal, it is pretty straight forward, and you don't starve. It helped me practice my self-control and made me feel so refreshed. If you are considering doing it, go for it! I would definitely recommend doing it when you don't have a lot going on and temptations don't stand in your way. 

The Number on the Scale

I talk a lot about clean eating on this here blog. I like to share what I have learned over the past year and all of the wonderful recipes I have discovered. Clean eating has been so successful for me. I have felt great, lost weight, and learned to love foods that are good for me. There is just one piece of this little equation missing, and that's working out.

I've always been an active person. I played sports growing up, I like to go on walks, I try to take the stairs whenever possible, but I hate the gym. Like hate it with a burning passion. I also hate running and my asthma doesn't make it any easier. For me, it has always been about finding something that worked for me. I tried being a runner and even ran a 5k, but it has never been enjoyable to me. I stayed active growing up because I loved playing volleyball, but I stopped playing in college. Over the summer I developed my love for hot yoga and actually enjoyed going.

I started clean eating and doing hot yoga around the same time. I started to notice a little change in my body and lost a few pounds, but I didn't lose as much weight as I was expecting with all of the work I was putting in. The scale was still too close to the number I was used to seeing. I have never needed to lose a lot of weight or been that interested in losing weight, but to me it was more about pushing myself to be the best version of me that I could be.

When we moved to Okinawa, I continued eating healthy but stopped working out pretty much all together. I don't have access to bikram yoga here and as I have stated before, I hate the gym. This is when the weight started to melt off. Crazy right, not working out and losing weight? But I knew what was happening. I had built up a lot of muscle during the period of time I was doing yoga and now it was all disappearing. I knew my body was getting less toned, but I enjoyed seeing the smaller number on the scale. I never really cared about the number on the scale until I saw it dropping. It was exciting to see a number I hadn't seen since the beginning of high school.

I am proud of all the progress I have made with my eating habits, but I know that eating great is only one part of the healthy equation. I know that I need to get active again. I know that it is time to ignore the number on the scale and think about what is best for my body. Why is it that the damn scale can have so much influence over our minds? The number it shows doesn't even tell the whole story. It doesn't tell us how healthy we are.

I know it's just a matter of putting my mind to it and creating an exercising habit just as I have done with my eating. I know in the end the way I feel and the way my body looks will be so much more rewarding than the number on the scale. So right here, right now, I am committing to getting my heart rate up more often and putting in the work to get fit, even if that means increasing the number on the scale.

Does the scale get the best of you at times? Any great workout tips for people who hate the gym?

eating clean vs. eating healthy

I always thought I ate fairly healthy. I made sure to get balanced meals, with a grain, protein, and veggies. I used light dressings on my salads and low fat cheese where ever cheese was used (which is everywhere in my case). I fell for all the products that advertised all natural, sugar free, low calorie, etc. Yes, I loved an occasional indulgent meal, like pizza or Qdoba, but overall I ate "healthy."

We as a culture are obsessed with diets. We always want to be on the latest fad diet or eating new diet products on the market. We think we are doing our bodies a favor by putting all of these products into our system or depriving ourselves of food in order to lose weight. There are so many products that promise to help us lose weight or curb our appetite, and we eat it right up, literally. Can you say gullible??

Within the past year, I started doing a lot of research, reading articles and watching documentaries, like Hungry for Change. I began to really think about what I was putting in my body and what the food I was eating is actually made of. I learned that my diet wasn't as "healthy" as I thought it was. Many foods that claim to be diet foods, low calorie, low sugar, fat free, etc., are really not doing us any favors with the extras, additives and chemicals that are put in them to make them seem healthier. For example, I had been eating Yoplait light for years because they are so low in calories and taste great. I finally looked at the label and discovered that they contain aspartame, an artificial sweetener that is linked to weight gain and other medical problems.

So I got a bit crazy, looking at the labels of everything I had been consuming. I found that I was putting a lot of things into my body that I could not even pronounce or sounded completely unnatural.  I looked into the side effects of many of these chemicals and preservatives just to find out that most of them were linked to weight gain and other health problems as well. I learned that products that advertise low in fat or calories often have other things added in return to make them still taste great. Sugar free items are often high in carbohydrates. Low fat items often have tons of sugar added. Labels are misleading for a purpose, to make you think what you are putting into your body is going to help it. I also learned that the FDA has very low standards of what can bear the label "All Natural." Many people mistake foods with these labels as organic or lacking any sort of chemical, which is not the case. So in the end, what we think is helping us lose weight or stay healthy, is actually harming us.

Ever since I learned about the food I put into my body, I have completely changed the way I eat. I have cut out almost all processed foods. I always read the ingredients of a product before I buy it. I try to eat products with the least amount of ingredients and with ingredients I can pronounce and know what they are. I stick to the perimeter of the store and eat a lot of fruits and veggies. I have to make a lot of things from scratch. For example, I no longer buy jars of spaghetti sauce and instead use fresh tomatoes to make the sauce. I even shred my own cheese, as bagged cheese has additives to keep it fresh. I am constantly shocked by what I am finding out about products I once used.

Yes, eating like this can be exhausting, and that is why there are "diet foods" out there to help us cut corners. But if you are trying to lose weight and get healthy, the absolute best way to do it is through a clean diet. I have felt so much healthier and have had so much more energy since I have started to eat clean. And I have lost the few pounds I had always been trying to shake with what I thought was "healthy" eating. I am not perfect and I haven't been able to cut out every negative thing from my diet, but I really do enjoy eating clean. It has also helped that eating clean is not a diet, but a lifestyle. Diets seem so demanding and harsh and often have negative associations in our minds, where as a lifestyle fits more flawlessly into the way we live. When you eat clean, you are not depriving yourself of anything your body needs to function.

So I challenge you, even if you think you eat healthy, look at your labels. Think about what it is you are eating. Have you even heard of some of the stuff in your foods? Take it one step at a time. First, start incorporating more fresh fruits and veggies. Then, start cutting out processed food from your daily meals. You will notice how much better you feel and how you feel less restricted than any "diet" you have tried.

Visit this post to see what I eat on an average day.

Quinoa Pasta Greek Yogurt Chicken Mac and Cheese

This is by far the best healthy meal I have ever made/created. Most of the time, my cooking goes something like this: see an inspiration, collect what ingredients I have, throw stuff in, hope it tastes good. I like to experiment and I don't follow recipes very often. When you know what kinds of things taste well together and what adds flavor, you can change recipes to fit your needs. A lot of times I don't have all of the ingredients and I want to make it healthier, so I improvise and experiment. Luckily, my food usually turns out pretty great.

This recipe is so great because it combines health with comfort food. I really love eating healthy, but sometimes we all need a bit of comfort food. With this recipe, you can feel the comfort without feeling guilty.


You can use regular pasta for this dish if quinoa pasta isn't your thing, but I think the quinoa pasta elbows are so good. I use the Ancient Harvest brand, which most grocery stores carry.

Quinoa Pasta Greek Yogurt Chicken Mac and Cheese

Tablespoon Olive Oil

2 cups chicken

1/2 onion

8 oz elbow quinoa pasta (1 box)

2 handfuls spinach

4 oz plain greek yogurt

8 oz 2% shredded cheddar cheese

salt and pepper

Lawrys garlic salt

Directions:

1. Cook quinoa pasta as directed and drain
2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat

3. Place cubed chicken in skillet and season with salt, pepper, and garlic salt

4. After chicken is browned, add diced onion (you can add more olive oil if needed)

5. After chicken is cooked and onions are translucent (around 10 minutes), add two handful of washed spinach and cook until wilted
6. Add cooked pasta to the skillet

7.Add all of the cheese straight to the skillet and stir

8. Once the cheese is mostly melted, add the greek yogurt and stir

9. Add extra salt and pepper if needed

I hope you love this recipe as much as I do!!

How To Liven Up Your Salad

I personally love salads. I sometimes specifically go out just to get a salad. More often than not I order a salad at a restaurant because it sounds good, not just because I am trying to eat healthy. But when it comes to eating salad at home, I am not always as excited about it. Restaurants seem to know how to give that extra pizazz that makes me want to eat the salad. At home my salads seem to be boring and not as desirable. Over time I have learned how to liven up drab at home salads.

Add grilled veggies

Veggies are no stranger to salads, but when you grill them first, it gives something extra. The juxtaposition between the cool, crispy lettuce and the warm, soft veggies makes a salad a bit more fun to eat. 

Favorite grilled veggies: eggplant, onion, zucchini, squash

Quinoa

Quinoa is incredible on salads. It gives a salad a little bit extra crunch and a protein boost. Add the quinoa while warm for extra excitement.

Goat Cheese

Cheese is probably one of my biggest weaknesses, but I think in moderation it is ok. Any cheese is great on salads, but the creaminess of goat cheese is perfect. It is also one of the healthiest cheeses you can eat.

Fruit/Nuts

I am not a fan of this, but many people love fruit on their salad. Tangerines, strawberries, pears, just to name a few. Pecans, walnuts, and almonds are also great.

Over-easy Egg

Many people put hardboiled eggs on their salad, which is great. I like to put an over easy egg, because when the yolk breaks it mixes with dressing and makes the salad interesting. This idea isn't for everyone, but give it a try!

Beans

Beans are great on salads and also add extra protein. Put some black beans, corn, avocado, and salsa and you have yourself a southwestern salad.

Other favorite add-ins

mushrooms, feta, olives, avocado, corn, salsa verde, greek yogurt dressing, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, shredded carrots

What do you like to put on your at-home salads to liven them up?

A Day in the Life of My Stomach

Recently I posted about my clean eating journey. I thought I would share what a typical day looks like when I am eating completely clean.

My day always starts off with a green smoothie and a big glass of water. Some days my smoothie is "greener" than others.

Mackenzie Green Smoothie:

-Vanilla Unsweetned Almond Milk

-Frozen Berries

-Kale

-Spinach

-Banana(frozen works best)

-Half scoop vanilla protein powder

-Splash of coconut water

Occasionally I add some of these: chia seeds, cucumber, carrots, apple, mango, pineapple, greek yogurt

(pineapple makes it taste great, but has tons of sugar)

I find that starting out my day with a green smoothie gives me energy and keeps me full for a long time.

Sometimes I need a snack by 10 or so. My favorite snacks:

juice, Lara Bar, carrots and hummus, cottage cheese and strawberries

Juice is my all time favorite snack. I would probably drink juice for every meal if I could

Lara Bars are tasty and so natural! The have a fairly high calorie content due to the nuts, but they are still great for you

Look at your labels! The food you eat should have very few ingredients and things you can pronounce

ingredients: dates, unsweetened coconut, almonds, cashews, extra virgin coconut oil

Such a tasty high protein snack

For lunch I usually rotate a few meals:

-Scrambled Eggs with Kale and Onion

-Avocado Egg Tuna Salad (1 hard-boiled egg, 1/2 avocado, 1 can light tuna)

-Salad with veggies and a protein (eggs or chicken)

-My version of caprese: tomato, avocado, egg, balsamic

I try to keep my meals as gluten-free as possible (at least the obvious: bread, pasta, etc). I always include veggies and a protein. These lunches are easy for me when I am home everyday, but when I have to pack a lunch, I usually make extra at dinner and pack left overs. 

Dinner varies A LOT, but I do have a few go to meals. Most of my "clean" dinners include quinoa or quinoa pasta. If I am not doing gluten-free I occasionally throw in a whole wheat pasta. 

Many grocery stores carry this quinoa pasta. It is pretty tasty, but can sometimes fall apart

another great product

My tips for cooking quinoa

Here are some of my favorite and go-to dinners:

Avocado Tomato Bowl. Recipe HERE

Roasted Veggies with a side of meat and quinoa

Portobello mushrooms stuffed with quinoa, tomato, and spinach

Cilantro Quinoa Soup. Recipe HERE

Turkey quinoa burgers with greek salad

Summer Salad. Recipe HERE

Grilled Zucchini Nachos. Recipe HERE

Other recent favorites: BBQ Califlower Salad, Blackened Chicken with Cilantro Lime Quinoa, Turkey Thai Lettuce Wraps, and Quinoa Pasta with asparagus and artichokes

If I am eating at a restaurant, I try to stick to eating clean and have found some good options. Remember, veggies and protein!

The perfect Salmon salad with a lemon vinaigrette

I can't help but crave dessert after dinner. I try not hold off, but occasionally I have a treat. The best thing I have found: CHOBANI FLIPS. They come in 10 flavors, but my favorite is Key Lime Crumble. They aren't completely natural, but it is better than eating a real piece of Key Lime Pie. 

Frozen grapes and all-natural dark chocolate are good desserts too

A day eating like this makes my tummy very happy! The key is eating as close to nature as possible. I also make sure to include lots of veggies and protein to keep me full. Moderation and eating when you are ACTUALLY hungry, not just bored, is important.

Do you have any clean eating recipe suggestions? What makes your tummy happy? Have you found in good gluten-free or all natural products?

Linking up with Karly Kim For Totally Posted Tuesday

The Dirty on Eating Clean

Honestly, if you asked me if I would ever blog about this topic a year ago, my answer probably would have been no. Why? I love me some potato chips. Particularly cheddar and sour cream Lays, Cheetos, and Pringles. I've always eaten fairly healthy. My mom always made well balanced meals and taught me to eat my fruits and veggies. On the other hand, we could also put down a huge pizza and entire pints of ice cream. I guess you could say we appreciate food. 

College is hard on anyone in the food department. Freshman year you are given a magic card that you can swipe and get all the food you want. It is your first time away from home and no one is telling you what to eat. Freshman 15 anyone? After freshman year, you live on your own with a kitchen. You and only you are in responsible for your meals. On top of that, you are super busy. Ramen noodles, frozen meals; anything easy and fast is usually the norm. 

This summer I lived with my parents while Jake was at training. My parents have been on a major healthy eating kick due to health reasons and because they like to try new things. They have tried all the trends; gluten free, vegetarian, Atkins, you name it. I was bored this summer and decided to jump on this clean eating thing. 

I started reading about things that companies put in food products. I became grossed out with the chemicals and the crap that just doesn't belong in food. I researched what different things do to your body and why they aren't good for you. I started this crazy habit of looking at labels of everything I was eating to see what was in it. There were times I wanted to throw up thinking about the kinds of stuff I had been putting in my body. I found that even products that are advertised as healthy might not be that great for you and still contain chemicals. I learned the best way to ensure quality food is to eat products as close to nature as possible.

I learned how to feed myself with all natural products. I learned how to make healthy, flavorful dishes and to satisfy my hunger without sacrificing quality, such as the avocado tomato quinoa bowl. My entire relationship with food changed. I learned to listen to my stomach instead of my head and only ate when I was actually hungry. I began craving foods that were good for me. Along the way, something weird happened. I stopped enjoying the foods that I use to love. The thought of putting a Cheeto in my mouth made me gag. I sincerely wanted to eat things that were good for me, especially fresh pressed vegetable juice. 

So here's how it happened. I:

-Drank green smoothies for breakfast every morning

-Eliminated all processed food

-Added in as many fresh fruits and veggies I could possibly fit in

-Ate protein in different sources (quinoa, eggs, chicken, beans, yogurt)

-Made smarter choices when eating out

-Cut out most gluten-heavy foods

During my period of eating entirely clean, I was feeling great, had lots of energy, and lost weight. I will say that my goal was NOT weight loss, hence why I don't have before and after pictures. My goal was to have a different relationship with food, and that is what happened. Am I happy I lost weight in the process? Yes, who wouldn't be. Throughout the time I was eating completely clean, I lost 14 pounds. Losing weight has never been easy for me, so this was a complete shock. 

Eating clean is a lifestyle, but I will say it is really hard to keep up with. Through our vacation time and our move, it was almost impossible to eat clean. We lived in a hotel for over a week and take-out food was inevitable. Since we've moved into our house, it has still been hard. Jake enjoys comfort food and I like to cook things he likes, especially being so far away from home. I still try make smart choices. For example, I have a side salad with my pizza instead of eating extra pieces. Or, if I cook something not as healthy, I do it is naturally as possible. I don't use ready-made products with preservatives, I make it from scratch. Jake also likes to snack, which means we sometimes have some very processed foods lying around. Sometimes I do eat them, but it isn't the same. I don't enjoy the processed food as much as I did before I started eating clean. I get sick to my stomach if I eat something highly processed. I crave food that is good for me and feel great when I have a "clean" day. 

Is eating clean hard? Yes, it really is. It can get expensive, especially if you are drinking juice. Do I still struggle? Yes, sometimes I just really want dessert or can't stop eating the baked ruffles. Is it doable? Yes, if you commit. Is it worth it? 100%. If you are considering a clean eating lifestyle, I encourage you to try it! I can't wait to share more clean eating tips and I would love to answer any questions you have!

Avocado Tomato Quinoa Bowl

This is one of my go to meals. It is easy, healthy, and you can substitute in any vegetables you like. It is a super clean meal but doesn't sacrifice flavor. It's also an entire meal in one bowl, which I love!

Avocado Tomato Quinoa Bowl

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

I large tomato

1 ripe avocado

1/2 large yellow onion

1 cup quinoa

2 cups low sodium chicken broth

I clove garlic

1 tablespoon EVOO

1/4 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp paprika

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp Lawrys garlic salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1. Cook the quinoa in the chicken broth using my tips here 

2. Cut up the chicken, garlic, tomato, avocado, and garlic

3. Add the EVOO to a large skillet and heat over medium high heat

4. When the pan and oil is hot, add the chicken

5. Add all of the seasonings to the chicken

6. When the chicken is about half way cooked, add the onions

7. Once the chicken is cooked and the onions are translucent, add the tomatoes and cook, stirring occasionally

8. After about 2 minutes, add the avocado and cooked quinoa

9. Cook for another 2 minutes, and then it is ready to serve 

Feeds 2-4

Enjoy your delicious avocado tomato quinoa bowl

Linking up with Karly Kim