Week Four

WEEK FOUR of Whole Living's 28-Day Challenge

Some of you may have been wondering if I was still keeping up with the challenge since I haven't been writing about daily lately. The answer is yes. I am still very much doing the challenge. However, now that we're in week four, there isn't as much to talk about other what I've learned from the challenge:

One: Caffeine is wonderful, but I am not Lorelai Gilmore. I may have once been like her and claimed, "I can't stop drinking the coffee. I stop drinking the coffee I stop doing the standing, and the walking, and the words putting into sentence doing." You know what though? I am perfectly capable of not drinking coffee and functioning. In fact, I am falling asleep so much easier than I have in years now. Have I given up coffee completely? H to the ELL no! I have cut back significantly however, and it feels great! I'm choosing green and black teas more often and the results are showing. Um, beautiful skin anyone? :)

Two: Smoothies are just about the best thing since sliced bread. The Green Smoothie is officially going to be the start to my day from now until forever! I keep trying more and more smoothies from the list of recipes provided by Whole Living. Other than discovering that I really hate kiwi in smoothies, I have yet to try a smoothie I don't like.

Three: Cardio will not defeat me. I will defeat cardio. Working out on the elliptical is getting easier and easier for me each day. It makes me laugh now when I think back to the first day when only five minutes on it made me collapse on the floor. I lied there thinking, Why am I doing this?! I kept up with the workout everyday though. Now ten minutes feels more like three minutes. I've been up to 30 min. for two days in a row now, and I'll be up to 35 min. tomorrow!

Four: Organizing your life in small daily tasks does wonders for the mind. I have always had a problem with taking on massive projects all at once. I've never just "tidied up my desk" or any other small chore without going into freak-out-hyper-active cleaning mode. Now, I'm getting better at tackling small projects one at a time. It makes life so much less daunting. Also, I'm learning to relax. Really relax. Not just zone out in front of the TV, but meditate, listen to music, read more, etc.

Overall, the challenge has been a fantastic experience that has and will continue to restructure my life.

The Julie & Julia Project, Vegan Style

Summer of 2009, I dropped a then barely five-month-old Eleanor Rigby off for her very first grooming appointment. I had no idea that it would take nearly five hours, but I'm glad it did.

In the time I waited for her to be returned to me a clean puppy, I browsed a bookstore, grabbed some coffee, and found myself sitting in the warm summer sun with a copy of Skinny Bitch in my hands. By the time I picked my pooch up, I had devoured the book and made the decision to adopt a healthy vegan diet.

The decision came fairly easy since I gave up red meat in high school, ate vegetarian majority of the time, and avoided dairy as much as possible. I cleaned out my fridge, marched myself down to the local health food store, and began learning how to be vegan.

In the process I fell in love with cooking.

My mother studied culinary arts and is an amazing cook. Growing up, I was the lucky kid who had hot off the griddle chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast and came home to some amazing dinner that would put Donna Reed to shame. Honestly, ever since moving out after high school, I had been missing big, delicious meals. I certainly wasn't going to start living off salads just because I was becoming vegan! I still wanted to experience pot pies, fresh waffles, stir fries, homemade breads, and baked goods- oh my goodness, I couldn't be vegan if I couldn't have baked goods! I had to learn how to be a vegan chef.

Good news though- there's this little section in your local bookstores that houses vegan cookbooks. Did you know that was there? Neither did I until two years ago. Crazy.

I have now discovered beautiful things like Ener-G Egg Replacer, vegan butter, vegan cheeses, and several ways to make tofu seem like the most delectable thing you've ever put in your mouth.

I am over the top infatuated with vegan cooking. So much so, that I was inspired to start my own little cooking project right here on Tea & Audrey!

Remember in Julia & Julia when Paul asks Julia what it is that she really loves to do? She laughs and exclaims, "Eat!"

And do you remember the part where Julie says, "I'm not a real cook like Mario Batali or Julia Child"? Her husband responds, "Julia Child wasn't always Julia Child."

Well, I may not be Mario Batali or Julia Child either, but I do love to eat like her. I may have those incidents like at this recent Thanksgiving when my vegan pumpkin pie wouldn't set properly (even though two weeks earlier I made the same recipe and the pie turned out perfectly, of course). Or occasionally get so frustrated with myself for not adding enough water to the skillet and have to spend extra time scraping charred tofu off the bottom.

But I am a cook.

To prove it to myself, I'm starting my own Julie & Julia project.

Kim Barnouin co-authored Skinny Bitch and recently came out with her own cookbook, Skinny Bitch, Ultimate Everyday Cookbook. I was delighted when I flipped through her book to discover that it was unlike any other vegan cookbook I owned. I have some wonderful cookbooks too- three great vegan baking cookbooks, a book on Latin vegan food, vegan entertaining, vegan brunches, and more.

But Kim's book is different. It's my mother's cooking veganized. It's literally the everyday cookbook. And starting February 1st, I'm going to cook and blog my way through it. It's not as ambitious as blogging through Mastering the Art of French Cooking (there aren't even 200 recipes in Skinny Bitch), but I'm giving myself until the end of the year to finish the project.

I hope you'll join me for this crazy ride!

Happy Friday

Have a lovely weekend.

Tune in Monday for my big announcement!

Day Seventeen

DAY SEVENTEEN of Whole Living's 28-Day Challenge

What I Ate?
Green Smoothie
Apple with peanut butter
Vegan "chicken" patty sandwich with one slice tomato, sprouts, hummus, and 1/4 avocado on whole-grain bread
Ginger Smoothie (make it vegan by using agave nectar)
Small salad (greens, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, sunflower seeds, oil & vinegar) with soy yogurt

Detox Your Bod: Lower Body, Cardio, Walk for 5 Min., Run for 10 Min.
Um ok, so I didn't exactly work out today. Why? I was lazy. Plain and simple. I just didn't want to. I will not accept this as a setback though. Tomorrow, I will work out.


Detox Your Mind: Visualize Passionate Productivity
This one was fun. I'm a photographer...who's had her degree since August and I'm still waiting tables. Honestly, I'm terrified of applying for a photography position for fear of rejection. I need to be visualizing myself in photography. I need to gain the courage to go out there and apply for a job in the field I love.

Day Sixteen

DAY SIXTEEN of Whole Living's 28-Day Challenge

What I Ate?

Two slices of toast with vegan cream cheese and two kiwi

Green Smoothie

Grilled "cheese" (made with Earth Balance and tow slices of whole grain bread) with soy yogurt

Eggplant Tempeh Potpie (recipe from The Vegan Table)

Detox Your Bod: Mix Upper Body and Lower Body Moves, Walk for 3 Min., Run for 7 Min.

20 minutes on the elliptical today!

Detox Your Mind: Wake Up with Gratitude, Do One Delicious Thing

Waking up thinking about the things your grateful for is a fantastic idea. It definitely puts a little smile on your face before your feet hit the floor. Then, transitioning into doing something "delicious", something all to yourself that morning, makes for a peaceful time :)

Day Fifteen

DAY FIFTEEN of Whole Living's 28-Day Challenge

What I Ate?

Green Smoothie

One slice of whole grain toast with "cream cheese" and two kiwi

Tofu Scramble with two slices of whole grain toast and Earth Balance

Eggplant Tempeh Potpie (recipe from this lovely cookbook)


Detox Your Bod: Upper Body Moves, Cardio Moves, Walk 5 Min. Run 5 Min.
Due to the fact that I'm using an elliptical instead of running outside, I'm going to continue upping my time by five minutes every other day until I hit an hour. The upper body moves are a great extension of last week's arm toning routine.


Detox Your Mind: Get Connected
My social life has been changing slightly since starting the challenge. I'm learning how to say "no" to activities that will keep me out late and deprive me of sleep. Deprivation of sleep always leads to sleeping in later, which takes up more of my days than I'm willing to give up. However, I am clearly not willing to give up my social life either. It's more a matter of restructuring it- doing more things during the day with friends. Good thing I'm the queen of mid-afternoon coffee dates. And oh yeah, we got introduce my favorite thing ever back in yesterday! That oh-so-delicious thing called coffee :) So, I had a little coffee date with a friend. I also managed to keep it to one cup of drip coffee before switching to water.

Day Fourteen

DAY FOURTEEN of Whole Living's 28-Day Challenge

(We're halfway done!)

What I Ate?

Blueberry-Flax Smoothie (2 servings worth over the course of the day)*

Tofu Scramble with two slices of toast and Earth Balance

Avocado-Pear Smoothie*

Eggplant Tempeh Potpie (recipe from this wonderful cookbook)

Detox Your Bod: Core Series, Arm Toners, Walk for 5 Min., Jog for 20 min.

Unfortunately, I was feeling under the weather today and didn't have much energy to do anything, but watch football and The Golden Globes. Back on track tomorrow :)

Detox Your Mind: Do Some Zen Cleaning

Tapped into my newly discovered zen-like enjoyment of dish washing. And believe me, I had a lot of dishes to wash after baking the Eggplant Tempah Potpie!

*make it vegan by using soy yogurt and agave nectar

Day Thirteen

DAY THIRTEEN of Whole Living's 28-Day Challenge

What I Ate?

Green Smoothie

Tofu scramble! with two slices of whole grain toast and Earth Balance

Soy burger with tomato, 1/4 avocado, spinach, single slice of "cheese"

Strawberry Soy Smoothie (I actually made this with hemp milk as opposed to soy)*

Small garden salad (greens, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, sunflower seeds, oil and vinegar dressing)

Detox Your Bod: Core Series, Arm Toners, Walk for 5 Min., Jog for 15 Min.

Guess who held Crow for longer than two seconds today! Small, steady prgress...

Detox Your Mind: Repair a Relationship

*Make it vegan by using agave nectar instead of honey

Day Twelve

DAY TWELVE of Whole Living's 28-Day Challenge

What I Ate?

Green Smoothie

Two servings of Blueberry-Flax Smoothie

Two pieces whole grain toast

Veggie Sandwich (two slices whole grain toast, 1/2 avocado, 1/2 Roma tomato, red onion, spinach, carrot shreds)

Pasta (last of the leftovers from Day Nine)

Detox Your Bod: Arm Toners, Core Series, Walk for 5 Min., Jog for 15 Min.

My body is finally adjusting to the elliptical! Working out today felt more invigorating than it ever has!

Detox Your Mind: Shift Your Focus

This one was a good one for me to practice. I get '"mildly annoyed" quite a bit- especially being a waitress. It was very easy for me to be annoyed at work by the customer who asked me to break a large bill for her, only for her to leave me $1 in tip (which is insulting enough) on a $50 tab. However, after remembering the day's challenge, I was able to think Yes, this woman should've tipped me more, but I've had at least five tables tip me a full 20% tonight! It was an instant mood changer!

Day Eleven

DAY ELEVEN of Whole Living's 28-Day Challenge

What I Ate?

Green Smoothie

10 Grain Hot Cereal with fresh blueberries

Avocado-Pear Smoothie (I made it vegan with soy yogurt and agave nectar)

Two slices of whole grain toast with Earth Balance

Pasta (leftovers from Day Nine) with Savory White Sauce (recipe from this cookbook)

Today, dairy was allowed back in to your diet. Since I don't eat dairy anyway, I am slowly reintroducing soy back in the forms of "vegan dairy" (soy butter, soy yogurt etc.). It feels good. It was a real struggle for me to cut it out in the first place since it's a vital part of my diet as a vegan. I did, however, survive without it these past few days.

Detox Your Bod: Arm Toners, Walk for 10 Min., Jog for 10 Min.

The arm toners are getting a little bit easier. I have almost no upper body strength, however. So, it might make me a while before I feel strong in this department.

Detox Your Mind: Make the Most of Chore Time, Listen to Something Soothing

Doing the dishes. I enjoy doing the dishes. This was something I never really noticed until I was thinking about it today. I would venture to say much of it has to do with how much I enjoy cooking in a clean kitchen. Growing up I hated doing the dishes. My mother had a habit of stacking up dishes in the sink and sometimes they hadn't been scraped or rinsed properly. The sink was still getting used though of course. Food particles would clog up the drain and been floating in the inevitable pool of water. Sounds pretty, huh? Well, it would cause me gag continuously, because I was so grossed out by this. I hated having to touch disgusting wet bits of food left on plates. So, I got into the habit of always rising stuff off immediately after use. I am always cleaning as I go to avoid the scenario of chunks of food floating in the sink. I've been out of my mother's house long enough to keep my use of the kitchen organized and tidy. And I'm not afraid to say, I enjoy it.

Before bed, I sat up with a big mug of chamomile tea and listened to some A Fine Frenzy. It hadn't even been twenty minutes before I was comfortably sleepy and relaxed. This is probably my favorite stress-release so far.

Day Ten

DAY TEN of Whole Living's 28-Day Challenge

What I Ate?
Green Smoothie
Apple with peanut butter
Mango banana smoothie (1 ripe mango, 1 ripe banana, 2 cups coconut milk)
Veggie sandwich (2 slices whole grain bread, 1/4 ripe avocado, 1/2 Roma tomato, and spinach, red onion, 1/2 yellow bell pepper, mushrooms sauteed in approx. 2 Tbsp olive oil and 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar)
Green Smoothie
Hummus with celery slices

Detox Your Bod: Core Series, Walk for min 10., Jog for 10 min.
I still cannot do the crow. I try. And then I fail. And then I try again. And then I fail again. It's a cycle I'm not particularly fond of, but I am still determined. I hope that all the other arm exercises will strengthen me up enough to do it effortlessly someday.
Upping the jog (elliptical in my case) workout was good. I find the idea of doing the same amount of time two days in a row very smart. The first five minutes on the elliptical felt like a breeze compared to the first day. Therefore, I had a lot more stamina to go the extra five minutes afterwards.

Detox Your Mind: Visualize Success, Lengthen Your Meditation
This might be kind of silly since it isn't typically what one thinks of when visualizing success, but I visualized maintaining this lifestyle the challenge is creating. The eating healthy thing comes natural to me, but consistently working out or keeping my life in balance is always a struggle. After I did last week's de-cluttering task, my whole room was clean. Guess what. It's still clean. Normally, by this many days after a major cleaning project, stuff is already out of place, clothes are on the floor, and my desks are covered in papers. However, I'm putting a stop to it. Monday night, I tossed a pair of jeans on the end of my bed and a flag went off in my head. My mind suddenly reminded me, You're doing this challenge for a reason, so pick the jeans up and put them in the closet. And you know what? I did it. I put the jeans back in the closet. It sounds really small, but to me this is really significant. I've kept everything tidy. I no longer take my hair down and fling the band onto the nearest surface and then two weeks later have a ton of hair supplies in my room. I go put them in the bathroom where the belong. It's one small step for me, one big payoff for my clean room!

I'll be honest, I struggled with meditation yesterday. My mind was all over the place and I gave up within ten minutes. Fingers crossed for better luck tomorrow!

Best. Quote. Ever.

"Carnivores just love to take pity on vegans. They assume that because we don't chow down on meat or dairy, we are missing out on life. But we do just fine. Actually, we do more than fine. We are freakin' dandy. Though it comes as a raging surprise to some, we do the same things meat-eaters do. We love a hot shower. We watch funny movies and laugh. And sometimes, we even forget to return our library books. Crazy, huh?"

-Kim Barnouin

(Skinny Bitch: Ultimate Everyday Cookbook, page 37)

Day Nine

DAY NINE of Whole Living's 28-Day Challenge

What I Ate?

Green Smoothie

Two slices of whole grain toast

Mango banana smoothie (1 ripe mango, 1 banana, 2 cups coconut milk)

Cashew Cream Smoothie

Whole grain pasta with Brazilian Braised Shredded Kale (recipe from this wonderful cookbook)

Detox Your Bod: Arm Toners, Walk 15 Min., Jog 5 min.

I want arms like Michelle Obama. I remember watching her at the Inaugural Ball and being in awe of those arms. Having arms like hers has been a mere dream, but I have a feeling that these arm toners are going to whip my arms into shape! I am sore. Really sore, but it's a good sore (if that makes sense?). The Mermaid Press is a sneaky little exercise- you do the first ten times no problem, but by the twentieth you feel it! As I began it, I was thinking, there is no way this is going to tone my arms. I really shouldn't think such silly things. I'm always proved wrong when I do.

Those five minutes on the elliptical are getting easier and easier!

Detox Your Mind: Take Time to De-Stress

My outlet for de-stressing was simply wonderful- I cooked. I didn't do any real cooking at all last week and it was making me crazy. So, I made one of my favorites- PASTA! Yummy, delicious, whole grain pasta with Braised Brazilian Shredded Kale (see above for link to cookook with recipe). Cooking is such a release for me. For an hour or two it's just me, a cutting board, and a skillet. It's my stomach yearning to hold what's in the skillet. It's my tongue dying to know how that sauce is going to taste. It's magical.

Day Eight

DAY EIGHT of Whole Living's 28-Day Challenge

What I Ate?

Green Smoothie

Two Slices of whole grain toast with Earth Balance

Spinach salad with half a roma tomato, mushrooms, one fourth of an avocado, with Woodstock Dressing

Cashew Cream Smoothie

Vegetable Barely Soup

I cannot tell you how giddy and happy I was to introduce wheat back into my diet. I love bread. I love toast, rolls, biscuits, muffins, bagels, English muffins- anything you can think of that is classified as bread. Cutting it out last week was very difficult for me, but I made it! Bringing wheat back into my diet felt really good actually. I switched to eating nothing but whole grains when I was sixteen, so there was definitely no twisting my arm to give up white bread or bleached flour.

And yes, I did use soy butter (which you knew would happen if you read my note here). Also, there is soy in the Woodstock Dressing.

Detox Your Bod: Core Series, Walk for 10 Min., Jog for 5 Min.

OK, so the core series is a little bit harder than I expected. Plank is simple enough, but I ended up opting to do the alternate boat exercise as opposed to this. Crow however, is HARD. This is a little of what was going on in my mind as I attempted to do this exercise:

Okay, I can do this. I can do this.

Um, no I can't.

Wait, that's not a positive though. You can do this, Mandy.

Damn right I can!

Um okay, maybe not...yeah not so much.

However, I am going to keep on trying! I will master this exercise.

Again, I worked out on the elliptical as opposed to jogging. It felt great too! I am still not in love with the elliptical. I may never love the elliptical, but it's good for me. So, I keep on going.

Detox Your Mind: Sit and breath for 5 minutes, exhaling for a count of 4 and inhaling for a count of 2

I love, love, love this. This is quite possibly the most relaxing thing I have participated in. It's an amazing way to relieve stress. Seriously, stop what you're doing immediately and do this. Hey, go crazy and do it for ten minutes even!

Tears

The craziest things make me cry.

Like how I went from reading this blog post,

which led me to this website,

which made me start thinking about how I would love to eat delicious vegan food in New York,

and then...

I began crying over how much I miss New York.

I didn't know you could miss something or someplace so much until I went to Manhattan.

Day Seven

DAY SEVEN of Whole Living's 28-Day Challenge

What I Ate?

Cashew Cream Smoothie

Apple with almond butter

Veggie stir fry (leftovers from Day Six)

Green Smoothie

Carrot and celery sticks with hummus

Snacked on handfuls of almonds throughout the day

Detox Your Bod: Yoga Release, Back Strengtheners, Walk for 30 Min.

Today, I did the yoga release and back strengtheners, but opted to jump ahead to tomorrow's transition into jogging a day early. Although, I'm technically not jogging. I live in a climate that is COLD. A thirty minute walk on the ice is not ideal, nor is attempting to jog on it. So, I'm working out on an elliptical instead. I love the small transition of upping the work out by five minute intervals. I'm not the best at this sort of workout. Yoga I could all day. Anything more strenuous than walking is never something I've been a fan of, but I'm learning to be. Honestly, that was a huge part of why I decided to do this challenge. I need a reason to push myself and this is just the ticket.

Detox Your Mind: Deal With Stress Triggers

I'll be honest, I haven't been great about keeping up on my stress log. Though, I've been so wrapped up in doing feel-good thing due the the challenge, that I don't know that anything has been stressing me out too terribly much. I will however, try to be better about my log and dealing with stress triggers.

I went ahead and did yesterday's mind detox by cleaning up clutter. I ended up cleaning my whole room. I cleaned out my closet and filled two bags worth of clothes and shoes for goodwill. I also filled up three recycling bags of old magazines. My desks, dresser, and nightstand have all been organized. I'm so excited about this! I'm finally turning my room back into the nice organized space that it once was. It's becoming someplace I actually want to be as opposed to the mess of a room I sleep in.

Get ready for week two!

A Note About the Green Smoothie

{image via Whole Living}

If you've been following my journey through this first week of Whole Living's Action Plan, you'll have noticed the Green Smoothie as a part of the detox. Initially, I saw the recipe for the smoothie in the magazine and thought it was...interesting.

I tend to not like vegetables in liquid form at all. I've never liked V8 or any other liquid veggie drink. The Green Smoothie made me really apprehensive, but I couldn't deny that it's loaded with nutrition. I made a leap of faith and bought enough ingredients to make it at least once. Who knew that I would actually like it?! The apple and banana outweigh the taste of the veggies, which makes me forget that I'm drinking kale.

However, I have two simple suggestions for those of who are as apprehensive as I was about trying the smoothie. One, add two tablespoons of agave nectar- it helps cover the taste of veggies. Two, make the smoothie before bed and chill overnight. The recipe doesn't require any frozen fruit/vegetables or ice, so the smoothie isn't instantly cold straight out of the blender. I don't know about you, but I'm not a fan of room temperature smoothies. Chilling it overnight makes the smoothie that much better.

Viola! Enjoy your amazing Green Smoothie!

Day Six

DAY SIX of Whole Living's 28-Day Challenge

What I Ate?

Green Smoothie

Veggie stir fry (yellow pepper, spinach, sprouts, mushrooms, red onion, and chopped almonds)

Cashew Cream Smoothie

Apple with almond butter

Carrot and celery sticks with hummus

Detox Your Bod: Yoga Release, Back Strengtheners, Walk for 25 Min.

Mission accomplished :)

Detox Your Mind: Treat Yourself, Spend 1-3 hours clearing cluttered areas

Unfortunately, Saturday isn't technically the weekend for me since I work most Saturdays. So, as much I would've loved to have scheduled a massage and finally tackling my messy closet and cluttered desk space, I'll have to move it to tomorrow.

Day Five

DAY FIVE of Whole Living's 28-Day Challenge

What I Ate?
A banana
Steamed broccoli and squash
Blackberry blueberry smoothie (1 cup frozen blackberries, 1 cup frozen blueberries, 1/2 cup hemp milk, 1/2 cup apple juice)
Carrot sticks with hummus
Apple with almond butter

Detox Your Bod: Yoga Release, Back Strengtheners, Walk for 20 Min
Starting your day off with these exercises feels great. I tend to keep doing them right after getting out of the shower. They're stretches that feel great, but not enough of a work out to break a sweat. Doing them right after showering feels great, because I'm already feeling clean and energized. Eleanor Rigby was not a big fan of having to walk in the rain today, however. Good thing she had on her little coat to stay warm!


Detox Your Mind: Catch Yourself Complaining and Stop
I'm amazed to say I actually did this! I have to be honest, I complain a lot. I work in an industry where it's natural for everyone to be going off about this customer or that customer. While venting is healthy, in this scenario it doesn't do much more than upset me. It's officially my goal to not complain at work. It's the one place I'm guaranteed to complain multiple times. If I can manage to stop complaining there, it'll have massive repercussions on the rest of my life.

Day Four

DAY FOUR of Whole Living's 28-Day Challenge

What I Ate?

Mixed berry smoothie (10 oz frozen mixed berries, 1/2 cup hemp milk, 1/2 cup apple juice)

A banana

Grazed throughout the afternoon on almond slices, cherry tomatoes, and cucumber slices

Spinach Salad with Pomegranate and Avocado

4 kiwi (I've come to the conclusion that I don't like kiwis in smoothies, and opted to just eat the kiwi straight)

Detox Your Bod: Back Strengtheners, and 20 Min. Walking

I'll be honest, I did the walking today. Nothing else. I would love to sit here and tell you how it was an unconventional day and I had too much on my mind to get everything done. However, this plan is about change. It's about kicking those habits and excuses. Day 5, no excuses will fly.

Detox Your Mind: Opt Out of Office Gossip

Today dealt me an easier hand than most days would. It is both fortunate and unfortunate that I was scheduled to work with coworkers who aren't the gossipy type. On the one hand, it made it very easy for me to not get involved any gossip. On the other hand, I was never presented the challenge to resist gossip and prove to myself that I can do it. It'll be something I will continue to work on though. Just because the opportunity didn't present itself today, it will eventually.

Day Three

DAY THREE of Whole Living's 28-Day Challenge

What I Ate?

Green Smoothie

Apple with almond butter

Hummus with carrot and celery slices

Blueberry and Green Tea Smoothie (I used blackberries instead of blueberries- mm!)

Approximately 5 oz steamed broccoli and an apple with almond butter

Detox Your Bod: Yoga Release and Walk 15 Min.

The yoga release is unbelievable. I'm very tempted to up this exercise and do several other yoga poses in addition to these. Any of you who do yoga most likely understand what I mean by this- once you start doing yoga, it feels so good and is difficult to want to stop!

I am thoroughly enjoying upping the walking time. While an extra five minutes doesn't seem like a lot, I could feel it in my legs. I always assumed the walks with Eleanor Rigby were 10-20 minutes. However, having been timing them all this week, I discovered they average around 10 minutes. This discovery is now making me both nervous and excited about next week's transition from walking to running. It's going to push me, all for the better though!

Detox Your Mind: Start a Stress Log

By far, the stress log was a brilliant addition to this challenge. A huge part of why I took on this action plan was to help deal with stress. I know you must be wondering, "What in the world does a 20-something have to stress about?" Well, quite a bit actually- finances, job security, etc. Journaling about it feels great. I've able to get my thoughts out in a healthy manner. Another plus of a stress log is complaining to a notebook saves other around you the annoyance of complaining to them.

Another note: I noticed that dairy can be introduced on day 11. Since, I'm vegan and don't eat dairy, I've decided I will reintroduce soy into my diet on day 11. For the most part soy is my dairy. I use soy butter and soy yogurt in a lot of things. I will still refrain from soy milk, tofu, and tepah until day 13.

Yeah for me! I made it to bed before midnight tonight!

Day Two

DAY TWO of Whole Living's 28-Day Challenge

What I Ate?

Blueberry and Green Tea Smoothie

Apple slices with almond butter

Strawberry smoothie (10 oz frozen strawberries, 1/2 cup apple juice, 1/2 cup hemp milk)

Celery and carrot slices with hummus

Green Smoothie

Steamed broccoli

Snacked on two handfuls of almonds

Detox Your Bod: Back Strengtheners and 10 Minutes of Walking

I loved the back strengthener exercises. The seated twist felt amazing! Once again, I got all my walking in while taking my pup out.

Detox Your Mind: Move your sleep time back by ten minutes each night, starting now

This one is complicated for me. I'm young, fresh outta college...I don't exactly have a bedtime. I go to bed sometime between 12pm-2am, sometimes 3am. This is something I've really been trying to work on, because it's easy for me to be healthy by cutting out certain foods, doing yoga, using organic beauty products, etc. Sleep however, has been a real struggle for me. I've decided my goal is to simply make it to bed before midnight this week.

I've been learning a few struggles of mine this week. One being that I cannot fall asleep without the TV on. I tried. I really did. The day before the challenge began I said to myself, Go to bed early. You need to be well rested in the morning and you'll get better sleep without the TV. Well, I struggled to fall asleep. I crashed for about an hour and then woke up at 2am, and failed to fall back asleep until around 4am when I gave in and turned to TV on.

What can I say? I have a TV with a sleep function so it'll automatically turn off after x amount of time and I've used it well. Soooooo about that whole cutting back on TV time thing, it's not applying to my sleep routine just yet.

But I'm trying.

Another struggle I'm having is well built up in my head, but the no soy thing is really hard on me. It was no problem for me to substitute almond or hemp milk in place of soy milk. However, not having tofu or tempah is strange. It's such a normal and routine thing for me to whip up a tofu scramble or eat soy based meat substitutes. Cutting it out for one week is completely do-able. I was looking at the dietary reintroduction list today however, and noticed that I can reintroduce wheat into my diet on day 8, but can't reintroduce soy until day 13.

And I instantly starting craving tofu.

So here's the deal, I can and will refrain from all soy products until day 13 with the exception of Earth Balance on my toast come day 6 when I bring wheat back in. And yes, I know they make a soy free version, but I just bought a brand new tub of the soy garden version.

Deal?

Day One

DAY ONE of Whole Living's 28-Day Challenge

Dietary Challenge: Cut out/avoid added sugar, processed foods or beverages, alcohol, caffeine, wheat/gluten, dairy, peanut products, fruit juices, soy, corn, eggs

The diet part of the challenge was by far the easiest for me to do. Since I already follow a vegan diet, dairy and eggs are already omitted from my diet. I would say the hardest part was cutting out soy. It's a vital protein source for me, but I bought a ton of almonds and cashews to curb any tofu or soy milk cravings. I have to say I'm a huge fan of eating five or six small fruit and veggie based meals per day.

What I Ate?

Peach smoothie

An apple with almond butter

Spinach salad with half and avocado, red onion, sprouts, and shredded carrots (pictured above)

Curried Lentil Soup

Kiwi smoothie

Detox Your Bod: Yoga Release and 10 Minutes of Walking

This week's physical challenges are going to be the easiest. I already do 10+ minutes of walking with Eleanor Rigby everyday. Yoga is also something I thoroughly enjoy. However, since I haven't touched my yoga mat in over a month, it was nice to do a few simple stretches yesterday.

I am savoring this first week. I know it'll be the easiest, but I'm also looking forward to challenging myself physically in the upcoming weeks!

Whole Living: 28-Day Challenge

The January/February issue of Whole Living presented a 28-Day Challenge that I have decided to tackle head on. The challenge is broken down into four weeks, with each week having a dietary, physical, and mental goal.

And lucky for you, I'm going to be blogging my way through it. I need some accountability, so I figured why not share it with everyone?

I'll will say right now that they're are two things in this challenge I'm flat out ignoring. One being cutting out caffeine for the first week. I can't do it. Period. I will however, swap out coffee in place of green or black teas. Secondly, the first week asks that you take a week off from TV. I'm completely willing to cut back on my TV time, but there's a new episodes of Parenthood and The Mentalist this week. I will be watching them.

Otherwise, I'm excited about everything in this challenge! Stay tuned :)