Elimination Diet Days 1 and 2 (or Green Smoothie 2, Sara 0)

According to the Whole Foods Nutrition method of doing this elimination diet I am partaking in, you are supposed to do a 2 day green smoothie cleanse or detox to kick it off.

And I really wanted to....the idea of packing all of my leafy greens into a smoothie that tastes like fruity frosty goodness sounds like an AWESOME plan to me. So I looked up some recipes. Went to the store and filled my fridge with green leafy things, my counter with lots of ginger and my fruit bowl with lots of, well, fruit.

I woke up super excited to make my first green smoothie. I mean this is going to be great. I can have these as snacks throughout this whole experience. I am going to be getting in all my greens. Puppies are dancing through rainbows and unicorns are farting glitter as I dance to the kitchen and fill up my blender so it looks pretty layered with all the fresh produce goodness. I blend and I blend and I blend and I blend.


So I try it and kind of gag. It was warm. Ewwwww....... So I add a boatload of ice to my shaker cup and add about half the smoothie from the blender. And I shake and I shake and I shake and I shake. And I sample it. And it tastes like colder lumpy spinach water. Kind of like half chewed spinach. Seriously it was gross. I. Just. Can't.

I made the executive decision to treat this 2 days like the Shakeology cleanse. Smoothies during the day. Salad for dinner at night. I needed something and after 2 smoothies I just couldn't handle another one. I had an apple for a snack and then ate a big salad for dinner.

I still wanted to workout but knew I had to take it easy. I couldn't go crazy and push myself and wake up with night sweats and the shakes again (the last time I did the cleanse I did double workouts and that totally happened. I learned my lesson.) So I busted out the Pilates Fix with Autumn. (That is by far my favorite Fix workout.)

The next day I hit up the store determined to make this smoothie thing work. I added more potent fruit Vitamix or fancy blender to make it really smooth. But I do love my Black & Decker. It is my food processor too and other than this lumpy spinach drink issue I have never had any problems with it. It works well for things like hummus and salmon burgers and sauces. So maybe it was me?)
(blueberries) to cover up the spinach taste and lots of cinnamon. Then at the last minute dumped in some chia seeds. I tasted it and it was better. I went overboard with the cinnamon and it was still not as smooth as I wanted (I probably need a

I then sat down an my laptop to drink my full of awesome tastes more like blueberries than spinach glass of goodness and proceeded to dump the entire thing on my laptop. Seriously like a tidal wave of blue goop all over the keyboard and screen. I went into save the computer mode and ignored the giant stain on my carpet (my laptop is worth more than the apartment carpeting for sure) and unplugged and flipped the entire thing upside down. I had a mild panic attack thinking back to my first laptop (which was also the first major grown up purchase I made on my own) and the coffee in the keyboard incident of 2002. So I took this as a sign that maybe I just needed to stop with the smoothie cleansing thing. I proceeded to make fish and veggies for dinner. (And my laptop survived! My hubby came home and asked me if I was going to eat my smoothie with a spoon. I am pretty sure the gelling quality of the chia totally saved me. Chia in everything. All the time. It is now my favorite seed.)

All in all my first two days were not a huge success. But on the upside I am already down 4 pounds which puts me halfway back to the plateau weight  I have been at the past year. For me I am pretty stoked and think it is a great start.

I am not totally sold on giving up the green smoothie thing either. In theory it seems like a great way to get in more veggies. So if you have any tips or tricks or awesome recipes, help a girl out!

Onward to phase one!



For more info on green smoothies check out the links below:

http://www.vegkitchen.com/tips/top-10-benefits-of-green-smoothies/

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2013/12/26/green-smoothie-recipe/

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-8715/is-your-green-smoothie-actually-healthy-and-balanced.html