Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Standard Process Cleanse: Day 1

I drank too much coffee on Sunday so I was wide awake come sleepy time. The package of supplements, powders and the how-to book had just arrived so I figured this was as good time read up on the ins and outs of the cleanse. Let it be known that my reading comprehension levels aren’t what they used to be. So I read and re-read everything again just to make sure I didn’t mess up. I already had a basic idea of what I would need food wise so I made a trip to the grocery store over the weekend and also stocked up on some local, organic produce (mostly greens) that I receive through a fantastic CSA called Breezy Hill Farm. Seriously, check them out if you live in the Canton/North Canton area.
Morning: Not as prepared as I thought I was. I had washed and pre-chopped lettuce, radishes and most of the fruit so I had a good start. But I still had to pack lunch, make the smoothies for the day and make it to work at a reasonable hour. I’m quite thankful that there was no school today or I’m not sure what I would have done.
VERY IMPORTANT LESSON 1 – Pack lunch the night before. Have everything prepped for morning shake, Use that pill box that my mother-in-law gave me to pre-count out the vitamins.
I kept the smoothie simple – blueberries, strawberries, a frozen banana, the powder supplement and water. I made enough for breakfast and lunch. I was fortunate enough to find a blender-bottle that my husband (the Bacon) must have picked up in his travels so I dumped half of the smoothie into that container and the other half landed in my big mason-jar mug (good for car rides). The smoothie wasn’t as sweet as I anticipated but it certainly was filling. It took me quite a while to actually finish the thing. I made it to work reasonably on-time and filled up my water instead of my coffee cup.

First shake of the cleanse
VERY IMPORTANT LESSON 2 – stop in the bathroom and check your teeth for rogue blueberry particles, strawberry seeds etc. I discovered this little tidbit about two hours into my workday. When I gave myself a quick smile in the mirror, I looked like a pirate. Half of my teeth were partially blackened by blueberry skin and I had strawberry seeds in more or less every crease. A quick swish with water and I was good as new.
Part of the Standard Process cleanse is journaling. I am supposed to write down my daily food intake along with notes about how I’m feeling (hungry, cravings, anger, fatigue). My biggest concern today is caffeine withdrawal. As I said before, I am a big time coffee drinker. If coffee drinking had a Klout score, I would be off the charts. I think I’m on an excitement high because so far I haven’t had any headache symptoms or signs. My guess is that by this time tomorrow I’ll be thinking about punching people in the throat. Fortunately – I did read that one can “wean” off coffee if need be by sipping small amounts of organic coffee for one or two days. That seems like too much work so I’m likely to suffer through any side effects knowing that they will pass.

Lunch – because I was rushing this morning, I quickly threw together a salad w/ romaine, radish, orange bell peppers and cucumber. I didn’t have time to make any of the fancy dressings so I filled a small container with balsamic vinegar and called it a day. I don’t mind vinegar alone on a salad. I also knew that I had the second part of my shake and a carrot I was feeling peckish later on.
I also ran to the grocery store to grab a few last minute items over my lunch break, lentils, fresh herbs, some additional veggies for dinner sautées, and grape-seed oil. I also learned that I am permitted to have green tea – so score one in the small amount of caffeine category. This afternoon, in addition to my water, I had one cup of peppermint green tea.
It is 4:45 and I’m starting to get a little hungry but nothing that can’t wait until dinner. Keeping busy at work is certainly helping. I gather this will become increasingly more difficult on the weekends. Speaking of weekends, looming in front of me is the fact that I have to make 300 truffles/cake pops for The North Canton Gone Mad fundraiser on Saturday.
Evening – still no sign of the caffeine shakes so that is a good sign. I did notice that my patience was lacking with the kids a bit while I prepared dinner, but we managed. I prepared a lovely medley of sautéed zucchini & yellow squash along with a side of brown rice and a salad. I also whipped up the Parsley/Garlic dressing that was in the cookbook that came with the cleanse (really it was more of a leaflet). The dressing contained Parsley, garlic, olive oil and lemon. It was pretty good. I may have added too much garlic but you live and learn and brush your teeth.
I failed to pre-pack lunch again and I didn’t combine my shake ingredients (remember, I’m lazy). Instead I chose to play a few rounds of DrawSomething, Scramble and Words With Friends until my husband came home. Tomorrow is another day for such planning.

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