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!

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!

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 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!