Wow! Is it really Day 8 already??? I was really hoping to have done a few videos by now, but time is FLYING! (and I'm a bit shy about getting  behind the camera! Maybe this weekend. :) In the past I've been an every day weigher when I'm trying to lose weight (and I'll go for weeks without weighing myself when I know I'm moving in the wrong direction) so through this cleanse I've decided to only weigh myself once a week. Today was weigh in #1 and I am down 3 lbs and almost 1% body fat! I really haven't been hungry, and only had a headache the first day and that's it. So far I have been feeling great... till today. 

Today I learned a lesson in emotional eating. I recently graduated from massage therapy school and today was my state board licensing exam. I planned out my food for the day, picked up my friend in the morning and drove to the exam site, and even had my mineral salt water, supplements and lunch in the car in the parking lot. I was even going to bring my water with me when my friends went out for drinks after the exam. I had it all planned out. After the test I left the exam site feeling not very confident, let's just say it will be a long 6-8 weeks until I get my results in the mail. I headed over to the local food co-op while I waited for everyone else to finish and as I was driving there the stress and anxiety from the exam set in. All of my friends were going to be drinking and I couldn't. I was going to pass my favorite vegan cupcake bakery and not be able to get any. These are both things I would have done without thought in the past when I was stressed. I didn't know what I was going to do as an outlet. I even caught myself wishing I had a picture in my head as I drove past a tattoo studio. I needed to do something! This is when I realized how much I rely on food when I'm stressed. I drove to the co-op, walked out with two bunches of beets, and drove home. Straight home. I wouldn't have done that before the Reset. I had a headache for the next hour or so and finished the night with a three mile walk. The headache is gone but I'm still pretty cranky, just ask Scott! Today is also the first day of Phase 2 so in addition to taking Mineralize, Oxygenize, Optimize and Alkalinize every day I've also added in Detox three times a day. I'd like to blame my moodiness today on the Detox, but I know it's really from not being able to eat my emotions. Tip of the day: Cupcakes are not a good crutch, even if they are vegan tiramisu!

Day 3 of the Ultimate Reset and I'm feeling great! My energy is good, sleeping good, not many noticeable changes yet. I haven't been too hungry, but definitely felt like my calorie intake was lower than it should be so today was the first day that I added in the optional snack. I chose hummus with raw veggies from the list of options. I am seriously LOVING all the recipes! Breakfast was fruit with sesame seeds and coconut flakes. For lunch today I had an amazing green lentil salad with lime and cilantro (give me anything with cilantro and I'm happy!) and a micro green salad. Dinner was a little trickier.... My only complaint so far (and it's only because I can be an airhead) is that some of the meals use a number of recipes... all of which are on different pages. Tonight's dinner was one of those meals. Nori Rolls with Tempeh and Nori Gomasio, Japanese Cucumber Salad and Miso Soup. While flipping back and forth through the pages I accidentally landed on the Hearty Vegetable Miso Soup recipe, not the Miso Soup recipe I was supposed to be preparing. Beachbody has made shopping for the cleanse super easy because they give you a printable shopping list for every week. Seeing ingredients in the recipe that weren't on this week's shopping list should have been the first giveaway... but off to the grocery store we went to get cabbage, broccoli (because I ate it all for my snack earlier today) and celery. The soup was coming along great... until I realized I was making the wrong one! Time to get the right soup going, which thankfully only took a few minutes to make. Then on to the Japanese Cucumber Salad... which I now notice that it's supposed to marinate for ONE HOUR. Oh boy. This entire time Scott is trying to help me, without getting in my way, and without killing me! He took over and helped make the Nori Gomasio which was REALLY good. It's a sesame seed, Himalayan sea salt, toasted nori seasoning. After all this it was time to assemble Nori Rolls. While they were no where near as pretty as you would get at a sushi restaurant (that seriously is an art!) they were really good. In the end, we ate dinner about an hour and a half later than we had planned, but the food was well worth it and these are recipes we'll definitely be using again in the future. We even got to use the plate set my mom got us! Scott is jokingly saying he should write a blog about tonight's dinner, too, from his perspective. I hope he does! So far I'm not missing working out as much as I thought I would. We went for a 3 mile walk last night and this afternoon. And with so much time tied up with food prep I honestly don't know when I would fit it in. After a delicious Asian inspired dinner I'm now off to study Shiatsu for my NY state massage boards next week. How fitting! 

Today's the day! Today is Day 1 of the Ultimate Reset 21-day cleanse for me!

First let me tell you why I decided to do this cleanse. I love food. Lots of food. And it's not that I eat that bad, but I honestly eat all day long and I can't help but think what shape I'd be in if I had any concept of portion control. The UR meals are very structured, what to eat, when to eat it, how much water to drink, so it takes the guesswork out of it. I'm hoping that the structure of it will force me to learn how to eat. Here's what else ails me: I have horrible sinuses and allergies, which is actually the initial reason I gave up dairy 3 years ago. I know that the main cause is probably my cats, but they're not going anywhere so I'll try anything. I suffer from swelling of my feet and hands, usually after exercising or walking in the warm weather, sometimes so bad I can't bend my fingers. What a lot of people don't know about me is that I also have sleep apnea. Not the kind where I could lose weight and it would go away, but the genetic kind where I have a fat tongue that blocks my airway when I sleep. I have used a CPAP machine in the past and refuse to go back to it. Currently I'm using a "binky" as Scott calls it that fits in my mouth and suctions my tongue forward when I sleep. Very sexy. I always fall asleep with it in, but wake up with it hiding somewhere under the sheets. Because of this I don't always feel clear-headed and alert and I believe that it zaps my energy. I've also been battling heel issues since January so this is going to be a nice break from running to give my body some time to rest and heal itself. In short, this is what I'm hoping to gain from this:

• lose weight
• learn better portion control
• decrease swelling
• alleviate allergies and decrease sinus inflammation
• gain mental clarity
• heal by body from over-training and injuries

I had routine blood work done last week and I'm planning on having it done again at the end of the cleanse so I can compare the numbers.

So how was Day 1? Not bad! I'm not going to lie, I was hungry. I think mostly because, like I said, I'm used to eating all day, but I was also legit hungry, too. So hungry, in fact, that I forgot to take a picture of my dinner! (Which, btw, was really good! It was baked tempeh, asparagus and baby potatoes.) The first week of the Reset has some meat and dairy products, but since I'm vegan I followed the vegan options for breakfast and dinner. Breakfast was quinoa, walnuts, pineapple and coconut milk. For lunch I had a big salad with all kinds of veggies including jicama and sprouts, cashews and pumpkin seeds. I've had a slight headache all day. I think it's too early to be experiencing any detox symptoms so I'm guessing it's from being hungry. One thing I know for sure is it's not from dehydration. One full gallon of distilled water down and I don't think I've ever peed this much in one day ever! I made up a batch of the Basic Vinaigrette and Greek Dressings for the week. So far the supplements aren't bad either. The Alkalize isn't great, but it's only once a day and you can drink it down like a shot in no time. I can't wait to see how I feel tomorrow!