Back in the game

I have not had a good exercising week. Somehow-- in the middle of yoga last Saturday-- I threw out something in my lower back. By the end of the class, I was in such visible pain that the instructor told me to lie down with my knees raised and to not move for about half an hour.

I had a fabulous massage that afternoon, and helped relieve the pain in my back greatly. It also left me very, very sore-- on Sunday I had muscle aches in places I wasn't sure I had muscles. I took it easy on my body for most of the week, partly because I was sore, and partly because I was afraid of hurting my back again.

This morning a student group I sit on the board of walked in the American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer. It was a nice, leisurely 5 miles-- and I held up pretty well. I started to feel a twinge in my hip toward the end of the walk, but it's gone away as the day progressed. I'm glad to have done it, and am feeling pretty confident about getting back in the game, so to speak. Tomorrow, yoga in the morning, work, then class at night. I have lunch and dinner already packed (my sister made a yummy stir-fry tonight, so I'll take leftovers of that and some of the minestrone soup I made this evening to get me through the week).

Breakfast: soy yogurt; cranberry vegan muffin; tangerine
Snack: apple
Lunch: very dissatisfying grilled veggie sandwich from a local cafe; fruit cup; mango iced tea
Dinner: veggie stir-fry with sprouted tofu over brown rice; two Marble Wildflower Wheat beers; smoothie with black cherries, peaches and spinach; grapefruit

I like the idea

I promised to come clean about the cleanse, so here I am.

I love the idea of cleanses, in theory. I like the idea of detoxing, and of helping my body to reset itself in some way. But I'm aware how very unhealthy most cleanses are. That one reason I was so taken by the raw fruit and vegetable cleanse suggested by The Vegan Next Door. I could still nourish my body, but it was an opportunity to get rid of the extraneous stuff for a day.

Here's what I ate:

Strawberries
A champagne mango
green tea
HUGE fruit smoothie with blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, and spinach
Yellow bell pepper
Red bell pepper
Green bell pepper
2 carrots
pineapple
avocado

In honest truth, I felt great-- my energy levels were strong all day, I wasn't even hungry really. I did have some serious acid-y reactions, though. By the time I left work for the day, I was having some serious heartburn-- and I was worried about teaching a 2 1/2 hour presentation in class. But I didn't realize that until after I'd left work, and I didn't have anything more substantial than more produce in the car. I started worrying about it, and I panicked-- I ate the first thing I came across, which unfortunately was an un-vegan cream cheese frosted cupcake. :(

I also ate some spaghetti with marinara sauce, and after class went out for vegetarian tortilla soup with a green salad (and a yummy caipirinha). I needed food, and I felt much better after I had it. So-- cleanses of any sort are probably not for me. I'll just have to work on cutting out the sugar, white flour and un-nutritional foods while focusing on eating whole grains and whole produce. I can do that-- so long as there are no cupcakes involved. ;)

It could be

Where has this week gone? I don't have time to come up for air, really-- but I wanted to drop by here with a few food updates.

Tomorrow, I am going to do a fruit and vegetable "cleanse," as recommended by Sarah Taylor of The Vegan Next Door. Basically, the idea is to eat as much as you care to of fresh, raw fruits and vegetables-- and nothing else-- for 24 hours. So please keep your fingers crossed for me tomorrow. It could be very good for me.

Today, I had a great eating out experience, and a catered not-so-great experience. More about those soon, I hope. (And by soon I mean: after the final presentation I'm giving for a class tomorrow night.) For today:

Breakfast: Kashi's Autumn Wheat cereal with almond milk; coffee with stevia and almond milk; banana; 15 whole raw almonds
Snack: soy yogurt; fruit leather strip
Lunch: whole wheat roll stuffed with roasted veggies and spicy mustard; bag of potato chips; lemonade sweetened with agave; tangerine; clementine
Snack: single serving bag Healthy Pop Kettle Corn; half tomato and avocado sandwich; strawberries
Dinner: green smoothie (bag frozen tropical fruit blended with huge handful spinach); two pieces leftover Farina pizza with avocado

Wish us luck tomorrow evening, friends. This presentation is the last of our grades for this course-- one step closer to my MBA.

Thank goodness

Happiest discovery ever: fresh organic artichokes taste fabulous when steamed in the microwave at work and dipped in spicy brown mustard cut with lemon juice. Thank goodness for my CSA boxes-- I would have missed on this discovery if the artichokes weren't in my fridge this morning.

Breakfast: Kashi Autumn Harvest cereal with almond milk; banana; soy yogurt; coffee with stevia and almond milk
Lunch: scrambled tofu with mushrooms, kale, carrots, red onions and avocado; steamed artichokes with above-mentioned sauce; strawberries
Snack: two fruit leather strips
Dinner: green salad with walnuts, fava beans and red wine dressing; pizza with many types of mushrooms, artichokes, caramelized onions and truffle oil; grapefruit
Snack: strawberry balsamic and prickly pear sorbettos

(Dinner and snack from Farina Pizza, which I LOVE but cannot afford very often. Thank goodness I have leftover salad and pizza to take to work tomorrow.) <-- I was somewhat worried that the pizza wouldn't be good without the cheese, but I actually found that I could taste all of the other flavors even more without its masking effect.

:) Happy Monday-is-over-celebration, friends.