10 Day Reboot - Day Five

Planned Menu
Breakfast
Very Berry Mango Blend

Mid Morning Juice
Refreshing Fennel-Pear

Lunch
(from day 4)
Baked Zucchini with Tomatoes and Herbs
Reboot Green Salad
Mustard Vinaigrette

Afternoon Snack
Crunch & Munch

Dinner
Garam Masala Spiced Collard Greens
Sweet Potato and Bok Choy Soup

Before Bed
Herbal Tea or hot water with ginger root and lemon.

*****
I've reached the half-way point!

Breakfast was good but very filling. I didn't want to waste any berries by using only part of the containers so I used them all. It turned out good but was too much to drink all for breakfast.

I have to admit that my stomach was a little unsettled today and I didn't really feel like eating much. Breakfast filled me up so much that I wasn't hungry again until after lunchtime when I had my juice.

I brought a big salad for lunch instead because I didn't make the zucchini/tomato thing the night before but I didn't eat it while at work. I brought it back home and ate it for dinner. I was supposed to eat the salad with the mustard vinaigrette that I made a few days ago but I think I must have used old oil or something because it doesn't taste good. Instead I made up some Italian dressing (from the packet) and used that. I guess that could be considered a cheat but I'm not thinking of it like that. I'm choosing to think of it as inventive. :)

I was proud of myself today because I went with my sister to a midnight showing of The Hunger Games. Usually I would use that as an excuse to drink gallons of Dr. Pepper and consume tons of popcorn and candy but I wasn't really tempted to go off of the plan. Other than the popcorn smelling like heaven to me, I was fine with not eating anything.

*****
Actual Menu
Breakfast
Very Berry Mango Blend

Mid Morning Juice
Nothing

Lunch
Refreshing Fennel-Pear

Afternoon Snack
Nothing

Dinner
Big Salad w/Italian dressing

Before Bed
Nothing

10 Day Reboot - Day Four

Planned Menu
Breakfast
Tasty Tart Treat

Mid Morning Juice
Mexican-Style Jugo

Lunch
Refreshing Cucumber Salad
Sunset Blend Juice

Dinner
Sweet Potato and Carrot “Fries”
Baked Zucchini with Tomatoes and Herbs

Before Bed
Herbal Tea or hot water with ginger root and lemon.

*****
Yum! Yum! Yum! My breakfast for this morning was SO good! Instead of chopping up the fruit to eat like I was supposed to, I threw it all in my blender and made a smoothy. By far, this has been my favorite thing on the diet. I did leave out the grapefruit because I've never liked them and I'm happy with that decision because the outcome was fantastic. This is going in my favorite recipe binder. :)

After work yesterday, I made all of my juices for today because I knew I would have no time in the morning to make anything due to an early meeting for work. Unfortunately the day didn't start out perfectly because I couldn't find my keys (long story) and missed the meeting. But, because I prepared ahead of time, I don't have to worry about starving or going out for fast food for lunch because I have my stuff all ready to go.

For lunch, I didn't bring the cucumber salad that the program suggested. I ran out of time last night and so I just ended up slicing up a cucumber and eating that plan (along with the juice, of course).

Also, a friend from work commented that my skin is looking a lot clearer. Hooray! I don't take compliments well at all -- I tend to go either catatonic or into this whole denial routine when a compliment is given, but, it was really nice to have that feedback. Results! After only 4 days!

For dinner I was just too tired after work to make what I was supposed to so I just threw together a big salad and ate that.

*****
Actual Menu
Breakfast
Tasty Tart Treat

Mid Morning Juice
Mexican-Style Jugo

Lunch
Sliced Cucumbers
Sunset Blend Juice

Dinner
Big Salad

Before Bed
Nothing

10 Day "Reboot" - Day Three

Planned Menu for Day Three
Breakfast
Maple & Cinnamon Baked Apples and Pears

Mid Morning Juice
Minty-Fresh Berry

Lunch
(from day 2)
Green Basil Salad

Afternoon Snack
Reboot Green Salad
Ginger Honey Soy Dressing

Dinner
Sweet Potato and Carrot “Fries”
Vegetable Soup

Before Bed
Herbal Tea or hot water with ginger root and lemon.

*****

I'm feeling better today, thank goodness. I didn't end up making the breakfast I was supposed to for this morning because it would have taken too long and I had to get to work. Instead I just had the leftover baked apples with raisins and cinnamon from the first day.

I spent some time in the morning making the berry juice. I was really excited about this one because I love berries and it turned out really good, although it was a little tart. The only problem was the amount of juice. The two other juices I've made have produced a huge amount of juice that almost filled the jug that caught it from the machine to capacity. This juice only produced less than a pint. Oh well. I guess I'll just have to expect to chug gallons of the human blood looking juice and sip my beautiful berry juice to make it last longer.

Lunch was a little rough because it contained a LOT of mushrooms and I am not a mushroom fan. I had also never had an acorn squash before. My lunch did not look very appetizing to me so I made sure I had plenty of water to chase each bite if I needed to. The acorn squash, onion, mushroom concoction tasted pretty good but in the end it was the texture that got me. I gave up after eating about 1/2 of it.

I messed with the green soup a little yesterday when I was making it. It didn't look to appetizing so I got out my immersion blender and went to town. I figured I could just drink the soup if it wasn't very good. The soup turned out pretty bland, actually. Next time I'll have to add more herbs or something. I did eat (or drink) it all though.

I had a salad with me as a snack but I just wasn't hungry after lunch. By the time I started feeling hungry again it was pretty close to when I was leaving to go to the grocery store so I didn't eat it.

At the grocery store today I think I did a little better than I did last time. I shopped for 4 days of food this time and spent $80. I have much to learn about bargain shopping, that is for sure!

*****
Actual Menu for Day Three
Breakfast
Apple/Raisin bake (from day 1)

Mid Morning Juice
Minty-Fresh Berry

Lunch
Roasted Acorn Squash Stuffed with Mushroom and Sage
Green Vegetable Soup

Afternoon Snack
None

Dinner
Sweet Potato and Carrot “Fries”

Before Bed
Herbal Tea

10 Day "Reboot" - Day Two

Planned Menu for Day Two
First Thing in the Morning
Herbal Tea or hot water with lemon

Breakfast
Blackberry Kiwi Blend

Mid Morning Juice
V28

Lunch
Ginger Honey Soy Dressing
Carrot-Dill Salad

Afternoon Snack
Green Basil Salad

Dinner
Roasted Acorn Squash Stuffed with Mushroom and Sage
Green Vegetable Soup

Before Bed
Herbal Tea

*****

Sick, sick, sick, sick, and sick. That is how I describe this day. I had major headaches and body chills all day and ended up staying home sick from work. I made myself eat as much as possible, however. I didn't want to compound my "detoxing" with a side of starvation.

The blackberry kiwi smoothy that I made in the morning was really good! I'll definitely remember that one for future use. The V28 juice was a different matter entirely. That juice contained beets, carrots, celery, tomatoes, radishes, jalapeno, and lots and lots of parsley. It made a LOT of juice and it was all dark red. It looked like a quart of blood, I am not kidding you! Too bad I didn't take a picture. I have to drink this juice again later in the program so I'll try to remember to get a picture then.

To say that the juice was disgusting is an understatement! Maybe if you like V8 juice (which I don't) then you might like this one. The only way I could get it down was to hold my nose and chug. Luckily once it was down, it stayed down -- but I was burping up the taste of parsley the rest of the day.

I started making lunch pretty late in the afternoon and it made a really big salad so I ended up skipping the snack salad I was supposed to have later.

I also started making the green vegetable soup and the acorn squash late (like 7pm) and by the time I finished it was after 8pm. I decided that was too late to eat so I packed it all up and will have that for lunch tomorrow.

I went to bed a little hungry again.

*****

Actual Menu for Day Two
First Thing in the Morning
Herbal Tea or hot water with lemon

Breakfast
Blackberry Kiwi Blend

Mid Morning Juice
V28

Lunch
Ginger Honey Soy Dressing
Carrot-Dill Salad

Afternoon Snack
Nothing

Dinner
Nothing

Before Bed
Nothing

10 Day "Reboot" - Day One

This is how I'm going to update my progress. I'm going to post the original menu plan for the day followed by my account of what happened and then finally the menu that I actually ate. Hopefully those menus will be very similar but, hey, things happen.

I want to stick as closely as possible to the menu on the Join The Reboot website but there are some things I KNOW I won't eat (like bananas) so I've already swapped those things out for other meals.

*****

Menu for Day One

First Thing in the Morning
Herbal Tea or hot water with lemon

Breakfast
Cherry Cinnamon Apple Bake

Mid Morning Juice
Green Juice

Lunch
Arugula Spinach Salad
Mustard Vinaigrette

Dinner
Reboot Green Salad
Ginger Honey Soy Dressing

Before Bed
Herbal Tea (add lemon optional)

*****

Day one has finally arrived. I have to admit, I'm a little excited about the challenge and I'm optimistically hopeful that I will be able to make it the full 10 days without cheating.

Since today is Sunday and church isn't until 1pm, I slept in (my favorite thing) and got up around 9am. I went straight to the kitchen -- after letting my dogs out to do their thing -- and started heating up the water for some herbal tea.

I chopped up the apples for my breakfast (minus the cherries because they are out of season) and put them in the oven. While I was waiting for that, I started the chopping. I chopped up and washed 4 different kinds of lettuce, kale, and spinach. I decided to do it all at once because I want to make it easier on myself throughout the next several days. With the lettuce ready to go, all I had to do was grab a few handfuls and go. Too bad I got burnt out on chopping lettuce and I didn't chop any other veggies for the salad.

When it came time for me to make my first juice, I was excited because I was using my juicer for the first time. The green juice had kale, spinach, cucumber, celery, green apples, and ginger root in it. True to it's name, it came out green -- really green! But to be honest, it wasn't bad at all. I mostly tasted the celery and I like celery so that was fine with me.


I felt fine for the beginning of the day until I was at church and things were screaming to get out. TMI...I know, but that is what happened. After that, I felt fine again until after I ate my first really BIG salad. I've never been a fan of arugula and the salad was full of it. But, I dutifully chowed it down and then sat down to relax a little bit.

Later on in the early evening is when I started getting a headache. I'm sure it had something to do with the fact that I hadn't consumed my weight in Dr. Pepper that day, but whatever was happening, I was starting to feel not so well. I had NO energy or desire to chop any vegetables or eat anything else. I skipped dinner and went straight to bed.

To be fair, the website warned that the first few days would be tough and that I might experience flu like symptoms as my body detoxed from bad stuff. However, I wasn't expecting it to happen the first day! I'm determined to continue, though!

*****

Actual Menu For Day One

First Thing in the Morning
Herbal Tea or hot water with lemon

Breakfast
Cherry Cinnamon Apple Bake (minus the cherries)

Mid Morning Juice
Green Juice

Lunch
Arugula Spinach Salad
Mustard Vinaigrette

Dinner
Nothing

Before Bed
Nothing

Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead

I think I've gone crazy! It all started when I was home sick from work one day and decided to watch the documentary "Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead" which had been sitting, unwatched, in my Netflix instant queue for a long time.

I have no idea what made me watch it, or even put it in my queue to begin with, but the documentary was very interesting and informative. It is about a man from Australia who was living with an auto-immune disease and was generally unhealthy. He decided to take an extreme approach and go on a juice-only fast for 60 days.

Along his journey he met a very unhealthy truck driver who had the same disease as him and he gave the man his number when/if the man decided to make a change in his life. For some reason, I identified with this truck driver. He was fat and sick and tired of being fat and feeling sick all the time.

After watching the documentary, I went online to the website associated with the film (www.jointhereboot.com) and learned that they have a number or diet programs listed (of varying lengths of time). I decided that I really wanted to try one so I settled on the 10 day program. It isn't an all juice diet like the guys did in the documentary but it is a combination of eating fruits and veggies and drinking freshly made juices.

The first thing I had to do was buy a juicer (since I didn't have one) and I did a little research before setting on a Breville juicer. Next up was making a grocery list and going to the store. I have to admit that this first trip to the store was PAINFUL! I decided to only buy for the first 3 days but I still filled up my cart with practically the whole produce section! When I checked out the total came out to $175. FOR THREE DAYS OF FOOD! See what I mean -- painful! This darn economy!


I decided to start on a Sunday, because the Saturday before I was going to be in Tucson all day for a Broadway in Tucson show and of course I would have my "last meal" that day.


So now I'm all ready for this crazy adventure. I'm a little scared because I love eating meat and I love dairy (both of which I won't be having for the next 10 days). I'm not really doing this to lose weight, although I hope to lose weight -- if that makes sense. I'm doing this as a jump start for eating healthier, as a way to shock my body into walking d0wn a healthier path.

I'm going to weigh myself Sunday morning (starting day) and then not again until the morning after the last day. I'm not going to share my weight here, as I am too chicken, but I will post how much I lost (if any) at the end. I'm going to try to post my progress every day so stay tuned for the progress reports.

New Blog

I haven't updated this blog in a long time, as you can see. I have a hard time talking about myself because, frankly, I don't think I'm all that interesting. I'm going to keep this blog in case things in my life change and I have exciting things to talk about but don't be surprised if you don't see too many updates here.

But, I do have a new blog that I'm really excited about. It isn't so personal in nature so I have an easier time writing there. The new blog is about my adventures in learning photography. I also post all of the photographs that I take there (well, the good ones anyway).

I'd love it if you would check it out and follow me there. You can also follow me on Google Reader (if you aren't using that, I HIGHLY recommend it). When you are in Google Reader, just click on the Add a Subscription button and type the following: http:

//www.adventureinthedetails.com/blog/?feed=rss2

Feel free to leave comments and rate my pictures. Leaving feedback will help me get better and better. I can take it. I promise. :)

www.adventureinthedetails.com (yes, it is the same URL minus the blogspot)