day two

Hope you all had a terrific Tuesday! Mine was guuuhh-rate!!! (Tony the Tiger style)

If you aren't up to date on what's been going on lately, you can catch up here. And day one's recap of my vegan/gluten-free cleanse can be read here.

Last night I set my alarm clock for a 6:15am wakeup call with plans to head to the gym. I love the feeling of accomplishment I get from waking up extra early (for me) and completing a workout before the work day even begins! Can you guess what happened? Remember yesterday when I mentioned that I got a mere 5 hours of half-ass sleep? Well, I wasn't lying because either I didn't hear my alarm clock go off, or I was so tired that I turned it off and don't remember a bit of it. It shocks me, because I am such a light sleeper. Call me crazy, but you could tip-toe, while holding your breath past my door and I'd wake up from it. Usually when I skip-out on a planned morning workout (every other day) I regret it and am really hard on myself. But this morning when I woke up... I didn't have an ounce of remorse because I knew that my body needed the rest-- especially with my cleanse going on!

Speaking of cleanse-- today is day number two! I MADE IT! Yeah, so what if it's only been two days? If you would've told me a month ago that I'd not only be giving up meat and gluten, but my beloved dairy (I'll see you in 19 days, cheese block), I would have laughed, eaten a cupcake right in your face, and told you to take a hike. I almost just wrote that I'd smash a cupcake in your face, but then I realized I would never in my right mind waste such a tasty being. Am I sad or what!?

Moving on... get it together, Sam.

Again, I began the day with a glass of water and green juice. This time we uped the anty and made 16 oz. glasses instead of 12 oz. Seriously, this whole juice thing is probably the easiest part of the cleanse (so far)and I totally plan to make it a daily (hopefully) routine whether I stay vegan or not. How awesome is it that you can get 1.5 cucumbers, 3-4 romaine leaves, 3-4 broccoli stems, and almost an entire pear in one glass that can be drank in 2 minutes (if you chug it down like me)? I think it's pretty fantastic, to say the least. Just thinking about it makes me feel healthy!

Luckily today, I didn't feel like I was going to eat my face off before lunch, and I survived until noon. After yesterday's tahini dressing disaster, I was quite a bit nervous about how I was going to get my salads down. There is only so much dry romaine a girl can handle! So, I took to ol' faithful (google) and found a "honey mustard" salad dressing that fit the qualifications! Don't worry, the recipe will come shortly.

With the honey mustard by my side, I got down most of a veggie loaded salad! Romaine, cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, and strawberries. Yummo!

For the rest of lunch, I sauted some baby spinach, onion, and garlic in a splash of olive oil and tossed that into a serving of brown rice & wakame noodles. Hands down, best thing I have eaten so far, in my two whole days!

A few hours after lunch I snacked on some unpictured raw cashews, cucumber sticks with roasted red pepper hummus, and a banana- half smeared with peanut butter and the other half with almond butter. HOLD THE BUS. This was my first time having almond butter... and do I dare say it? I believe I may have enjoyed it more than the PB. (Please don't hurt me all you PB lovers!) It was just much easier to eat and to me, was a little sweeter. Fantastic, I'll probably dream about it tonight.

For dinner? What else? A big bed of romaine topped with more cucumbers, carrots, and avocado, this time drizzled with "ranch" dressing. Yep, you'll get that recipe, too! I ate the veggies along with some brown rice seasoned with garlic salt, basil, thyme, and oregano topped with whole grain sausage. This meal was fantastic, but huge and I definitely couldn't finsish it all, but I did my best.

Day One Recap:

The morning started very well and I got down the green juice easily. Lunch came quickly and I thouroughly enjoyed my meal. Almost every bite of it! Snacks were amazing and made me feel like I could just nibble the night away. Dinner was not as good as lunch, but I did enjoy it and would totally eat it again!

My Concerns:

My stomach hurt a little bit today. I'm not sure if it has anything to do with the extra veggies added to my diet, or if it's just leftover crap I ate from the weekend. My guess would be a mixture of both.

My Hopes:

I hope that my stomach pain subsides by the morning, and my body gets used to the added veggie intake. Also, I didn't have a headache today from sugar withdrawls, so I'm hoping it stays that way. Yesterday I had major cheesey bread, sweets, and sugar cravings which weren't so bad today. Of course it didn't help that the BF ate pizza and chicken wings for dinner, but surprisingly, the urge to eat my food was stronger than the want of that junk!

I think each day is only going to get easier, and the more recipes I try, the more foods I will learn to love!

I ended the evening with a quick 1.5 mile run/walk and a shower. Now it's time for bed... once again my alarm is set for 6:15am and I'm praying that I hear it this time! But you never know... hehe!

Goodnight!

Do you prefer to workout in the morning or evening?

Are you a light sleeper?