L.O.V.E. it round two

My 5 day vegan cleanse from Organic Avenue has ended (Read my daily recap below) and I was surprised how easy it was for me to complete Level 2, which is mostly juice. Yet again this year, I was not hungry during the cleanse, quite the opposite! I was so sick of drinking that many times I could not finish the juices and I ended up pouring them down the sink. I lost my holiday weight gain (yes!) and I while I knew I was purging toxins from my body, I did not spend the week in the bathroom. I attribute this difference over last year to my much improved eating habits; i.e. more veggies and fish, less red meat and dessert.

I am proud to report that in the last year I have lived for the farmer's market, learned how to cook my finds with some great recipes from Chef Melissa Petitto and have become smitten with dark chocolate. I have given up caffeine, (except for the chocolate), spent more time exercising and taken up meditation. While I can't attribute all this to doing a cleanse, last year's experiment was a revelation for me and how I treat my body. While my body was healthier this time around, the cleanse really had an effect on my skin. The week ended with me feeling good, but with bad skin and the need for a facial!

While Organic Avenue has amazing product (shout outs to the Gazpacho and the Cacao Smoothie), it has not gotten any less expensive. I was lucky to find an online deal from MindBodyGreen which provided a discount upfront. Thankfully the savings paid for the extra delivery fees I would have accrued. Unfortunately the delivery was atrocious! My daily juices delivered late every day and twice they were so late, I had to leave for morning meetings and then return home to start my cleanse at 11am. Unfortunately this threw off my whole consumption schedule and often I was having my last juice at 10pm which is way too late,

This time around I didn't see or feel any of the dramatic changes that I did last year when I did my first cleanse. Therefore I'm considering doing my own version of a cleanse in the future. Possibly juicing my own breakfasts and tossing my evening salads. Hopefully this will not only cost me less, but will spark my creative meal planning and give me an excuse to hit the Union Square farmer's market three times a week.

photo courtsey of the 100 calorie blog

L.O.V.E. Yearly II

While I wasn't due for my yearly cleanse until March, I went into this holiday season craving it! The idea of detoxing my body is what got me through the holiday eating, (let's face it, chocolate helped me out a great deal too) and reminded me there was something to looking forward to in January. I enjoyed my experience so much with Organic Avenue last year, I decided to stick with the company, but commit to their level 2 cleanse, LOVEfast (Live Organic Vegan Experience), which is a juice based cleanse with a salad at the end of the day.

Day 1 - Normally I would head to the L.E.S. Organic Avenue store to pick up my daily juice, but this year I was able to score a sweet deal via MindBodyGreen, a website dedicated to tips for a healthier mind, body and planet and decided to have my juices delivered. I felt bad for the delivery guy at 8am when he rode up to my door on a bike in 25 degree weather! Here's my menu today:

• Chlorophyll Elixir
• Fresh Pressed Apple Juice
• Young Love Juice (Cucumber, spinach, celery)- 77 calories
• Green Embrace Smoothie (Banana, Mango, Spinach, Coco Butter, Doc Brocs Alkaline Plant Powder, Lacuma, Spirulina)- 740 calories
• Raw Green Soup - 93 calories
• Dandelion Cream Salad
• Green Mylk Drink: (Cucumber, celery, Spinach, almond mylk, cinnamon) - 194 calories

Since I've done this before, I was anticipating my Sunday evening email telling me what was going to arrive Monday am for the start of my cleanse. Mentally I was prepared for this entire week knowing that I would only eat one solid item a day. Luckily, the shot of Chlorophyll was not as bad a I remember it and once I brushed my teeth the taste was all but gone. I also learned to like the Green Juice last go round and actually seek out a juice bar where I can have this made when I feel I need it during the year. I drank my juices pretty much on schedule today and was excited for my 6pm soup. Too bad! I had a vision of a thicker broth that even chilled would feel more like a meal and less like a juice - wrong. I ate as much as I could and ended up dumping the last 1/4, so by 7:30pm, the Dandelion salad was calling my name! While it wasn't the best O.A. meal I've had, it was nice to chew something and the pine nuts and raisins added texture and a bit of sweetness. The last thing I wanted to do was drink that Green Mylk, but I knew that with less food and more juice on this level of cleanse I need all the calories I can get. At 11pm, I'm headed to bed with no head ache or withdrawal from sugar, but my insides do feel like they are being rung out a little.

Day's winner: Green Embrace Smoothie   Day's loser: Raw Green Soup

Day's weight loss: 1.6lbs

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Day 2 - Due to the upcoming snow storm, I was delivered today and tomorrow's cleanse at once. Here's what I have to look forward to for Tuesday:

• Chlorophyll Elixir
• Fresh Pressed Orange Juice- 219 calories
• Green Love Juice (Kale, Cucumber, Spinach, Celery, Romaine, Swiss Chard, Collard Greens, Apple, Lemon, Parsley Juice) - 123 calories
• Blueberry Spirulina Smoothie (Coconut Water, Blueberries, Banana, Coconut Oil, Spirulina)- 371 calories
• Cucumber Basil Soup (Coconut Water, Coconut Meat, Cucumber, Avocado, Basil, Garlic, Himalayan Salt) - 350 calories
• Kale Dulse Salad
• Green Mylk Drink: (Cucumber, celery, Spinach, almond mylk, cinnamon) - 194 calories

Had a great night's sleep, even if it was only 5.5 hours (early morning meeting), and felt energized to start my day. The mornings juices were tasty and at 11am I tried to lay down for a nap. Instead I just laid there unable to sleep. The natural juices have this effect on my body, which is actually wonderful. So, I got up to drink my Green Love. OMG, what happened to my green juice? I love the Young Love they usually send, why is this one so horrible? It's so bitter and has a weird after taste, must be the Swiss Chard that the OA website is raving about. I'm sad to say from there the day's juices didn't get that much better. The smoothie didn't have the thickness of the first day and tasted mostly like coconut water (not a huge fan). The cucumber soup grew on me by the end. It started off with mostly a coconut taste, but the basil and garlic really came through and I found myself happier with every slurp. The Kale salad was served my need to chew on something, but was practically tasteless and by the time I was supposed to drink the Green Mylk, I was sick at the thought of ingesting anything else so 1/2 of it went down the sink. I got into bed with a headache and realized that even though I was drinking all day long I was dehydrated. I'd forgotten to drink even a sip of water in the past two days. So I down a large glass and laid down for a good night's sleep.

Day's winner: Cucumber Basil Soup   Day's loser: Green Love Juice

Day's weight loss: 1.8lbs

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Day 3 - Slept a great 8 hours and my headache is gone! My juices were already in the fridge from the early delivery so this is what I'm drinking today:

• Chlorophyll Elixir
• Fresh Pressed Pear Juice- 294 calories
• Veggie Vibe (Carrot, Cucumber, Beet, Celery, Chard, Spinach, Ginger, Parsley, Lemon) - 113 calories
• Cacao Smoothie (Coconut Water, Blueberries, Banana, Coconut Oil, Spirulina)- 902 calories
• Cucumber Basil Soup (Coconut Water, Coconut Meat, Yacon Syrup, Agave Nectar, Cacao, Vanilla) - 350 calories
• Kale Dulse Salad
• Green Mylk Drink: (Cucumber, celery, Spinach, almond mylk, cinnamon) - 194 calories

Cacao Smoothie photo by Organic Avenue

The morning started off the same and I was looking forward to the Veggie Vibe juice. At Pravassa's Vermont vacation last September, Chef Melissa Petitto made a morning juice out of beets, apples and ginger so I curious to see how this one compared. While I very much enjoyed the Organic Avenue version, Chef Melissa's had a sweet and tanginess to it that wasn't to be found in this juice. Since I juiced the one in Vermont, I know the apples and ginger were much more prevalent than what I had today. Since I wasn't thrilled with yesterday's smoothie and today's also listed coconut as the first ingredient, I wasn't expecting much. OMG what an amazing surprise. The Cacao Smoothie is my new favorite food! I have to figure out a way to work this into my weekly diet. It's like drinking chocolate cake batter, but not as thick or sugary. Seriously it was so good that I put off eating the soup so the cacao memory would linger longer. This evening I attended a 7:30pm yoga class, so it put my evening routine into a bit of disarray. I ended up taking a few swallows of soup, skipping the salad and drinking 1/2 of the Green Mylk. But I actually feel refreshed and revived after class and not hungry. So while today's cleanse had quite a lot of calories, I didn't end up consuming them all. We'll see how this effects my weight loss by tomorrow.

Day's winner: Cacao Smoothie   Day's loser: Cucumber Basil Soup

Day's weight loss: 0.8lbs 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Day 4 - Ok, due to some left over juice/food in the fridge, I decided to make my own version of the cleanse today:

• Chlorophyll Elixir
• Fresh Pressed Grapefruit Juice- 193 calories
• Carrot Juice - 189 calories
• Blueberry Spirulina Smoothie (Coconut Water, Blueberries, Banana, Coconut Oil, Spirulina)- 371 calories
• 1/2 Cucumber Basil Soup (Coconut Water, Coconut Meat, Cucumber, Avocado, Basil, Garlic, Himalayan Salt) - 175 calories
• Kale Dulse Salad
• Fennel Orange Salad (Lemon, Cucumber, Himalayan Salt, Orange, Pepper, Olive Oil, Fennel, Dill)
• 1/2 Green Mylk Drink: (Cucumber, celery, Spinach, almond mylk, cinnamon) - 97 calories

I was really surprised when I unpacked my juices for the day and saw the Blueberry Smoothie. Supposedly I was given this smoothie on Day 2, but I think the bottle was labeled incorrectly and I actually drank the Lemon Lime Smoothie that day, it was green after all, not purple. Anyway, due to the late delivery on the juices, I didn't get started until 10:30am and chased my shot of Chlorophyll with the Grapefruit Juice. Yuck! I don't like grapefruits to begin with, (my husband will tell you a funny story about that one day), so I was sure the juice was going to be torture for me. Sure enough, 1/2 if it went down the sink. The Carrot juice that followed was much sweeter than I expected and was purely carrots. While it wasn't bad, I decided I'd rather eat the carrots for the nutrients and the crunch factor. So, turns out the actual Blueberry smoothie is delicious and my 'lunch' was amazing. Ok, maybe not as amazing as the Prosciutto di Parma Crepe my friend ate across the table from me, but hey, I enjoyed it! For the second half of the day, I didn't want my left over juices to go bad, so I ended up consuming the previous days remains and added in the Kale Salad. Overall it was fine, the fennel salad was by far the tastiest, but I'm glad that I only need to consume 1/2 the liquids. While I did mess with the Organic Avenue formula by eating an additional salad today, I was shocked when I weighed myself in the morning and discovered I'd actually GAINED 0.2lbs. I mean they are only 5oz salads! Guess my morning Pilates session didn't burn enough calories. Well, tomorrow is the final day and I'm looking forward to my celebratory sushi meal on Saturday night.  

Day's winner: Blueberry Spirulina Smoothie  Day's loser: Fresh Pressed Grapefruit Juice-

Day's weight GAIN: 0.2lbs

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Day 5 - Last Day! It's a choose your own adventure day as I didn't get to start the day's cleanse until 11am due to a late delivery.

• Chlorophyll Elixir
• Lemonade (Purified Alkaline Water, Lemon, Lime, Ginger, Agave, Himalayan Salt.)- 351 calories
• Young Love Juice (Cucumber, spinach, celery)- 77 calories 
• Banana Almond Smoothie 8oz (Coconut Water, Banana, Coconut Oil, Almond) 
• Gazpacho Soup ( Tomato, Carrot, Cucumber, Celery, Bell Pepper, Apple Cider Vinegar, Garlic, Olive Oil, Cilantro, Lime Juice, Cayenne, Himalayan Salt.) - 137 calories
• Dandelion Cream Salad (Kale, Dandelion, Pine Nuts, Garlic, Daikon, Miso:Soy Bean Paste & Sweet Rice, Sesame Oil, Jalapeno, Cilantro, Dill, Hemp Seed, Raisins, Parsley, Lemon, Ginger, Himalayan Salt, Pepper.)
• 1/4 Cacao Smoothie - 200 calories
• 1/2 Green Mylk Drink: (Cucumber, celery, Spinach, almond mylk, cinnamon) - 97 calories

I was quite hungry by 11am so I downed both the Chlorophyll and the Lemonade. I'm not sure if it was my low blood sugar or something else, but the Lemonade (so good and perfect for a hot summer day), gave me a big of a sugar high feeling. It went away quickly, but I was surprised. Maybe it was the agave. I was very happy to have the Young Love back for my green juice and the Banana Almond Smoothie was amazing! The 8oz bottle (1/2 the size of a typical smoothie) came with a generic label and no nutritional or caloric information. Either this is a new smoothie for Organic Avenue or it was made on the fly, either way I vote they keep it in! The Gazpacho ended up becoming my pre-dinner about 6pm and I couldn't have been happier. The texture, the taste and the spices were perfect. My mouth was on fire while I ate it, but I didn't mind at all! Dinner was late at 8pm and the salad was a good end to the cleanse food. I ordered a bunch of additional vegan treats to ease me back into eating solid food again. One of the things I had delivered was the Cacao Smoothie so I treated myself to a few sips as dessert for the evening. Then 1/2 the Green Mylk capped off my day and another yearly cleanse. See my full recap and thoughts on the L.O.V.E.fast cleanse this Monday.

L.O.V.E.fast photo by Organic Avenue

Day's winner: Gazpacho Soup  Day's loser: Green Mylk Drink 

Day's weight loss: 0.6lbs

TOTAL weight loss: 4.6lbs

L.O.V.E it yearly

My 5 day vegan cleanse from Organic Avenue has come to an end (read my daily recap below) and I feel great. Not once during the cleanse was I hungry, although I did dream about food, I was not prone to mood swings, I lost weight and I succeed in purging toxins from my body. Most importantly, this break from grocery shopping and eating out has given me the opportunity to think about what I put into my body everyday and how I want to change that going forward.

While I have spoken about clean eating before, this cleanse has made me realize how much of a difference unprocessed food can have on your body. It has also made me excited to learn to cook this way. The first day off the cleanse I did not go wild and I was able to stay satisfied and interested in my food. Here was the menu:

Breakfast: 0% Fage Greek yogurt with agave and granola and a cup of coffee with soymilk

Lunch:  Organic Avenue's Portobello wrap Snack: a mandarin orange

Dinner: a treat at my favorite sushi restaurant consisting of: unsweetened green tea, grilled eggplant with miso sauce and 2 sushi rolls (toro and oyster) with brown rice.

Overall, if I can carry on with the routine of eating 3 meals and 2 snacks a-day, exercising, drinking lots of water and commit to cooking at least 2 vegetarian meals a week then this cleanse will be a continued success. Luckily I have a husband who is willing to alter his meal plan as he sees the value in changing our diet. This support will make sticking to the plan all that much easier. I enjoyed the experience of this spring-cleaning so much that I am going to commit to doing it yearly. Next year, whether I do the next step cleanse from OA or opt for a more economical route,  I hope to continue my food and health education and find new and interesting ways to take care of my body.

photo courtesy of Simon Howden

L.O.V.E. it or leave it?

This year for my spring cleaning, I've decided to clean my body, in addition to my apartment. I was turned onto Organic Avenue by some friends who routinely use their products.  The purpose of a cleanse is to rid one's body of toxins, clear out your digestive system and feel more energetic. The Live Organic Vegan Experience, or L.O.V.E., cleanse that I decided to try is called LOVEeasy, This is the basic cleanse meant for someone who is not currently a vegetarian and ease the body into digesting nutrient dense foods.

Day 1 - I picked up my cleansing case at the beautiful new store on the L.E.S. and this is my menu for the day:

• Chlorophyll Elixir
• Fresh Pressed Pear Juice
• Cucumber, spinach, celery Juice
• Burrito Crudo
• Edamame Salad
• Vanilla Chia
• Green Mylk Drink: (Cucumber, celery, Spinach, almond mylk, cinnamon)

Drinking liquid of any kind has never been my strong suit. It fills me up quickly and I always have to pee, so I knew drinking all these juices as well as the recommended daily amount of water was going to be my biggest challenge. Luckily, an email I received the night before I was to start simply stated: You do not have to finish every item. The above items were to be consumed in order about ever 2 hours. Immediately I decided that waking up to a shot of Chlorophyll is not the way I want to start my day, but hey, it's only for 5 days. There is light at the end of that tunnel. Throughout the day I ate or drank on schedule and by 7pm the thought anything crossing my lips turned my stomach. I decided to power through and even if I didn't finish the Vanilla Chia or Green Mylk if I could consume 1/2 of the servings, I would hopefully benefit from the nutrients offered. The one things that did surprise me about today: no caffeine headache. I cut down on coffee to 1/2 a cup a day in the week leading up to the cleanse, maybe that was the trick.

Day's winner: Burrito Crudo    Day's looser: Chlorophyll Elixir

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Day 2 - I woke up feeling great. I had a wonderful night sleep and the sun was shining into my bedroom. I checked my email and found today's menu:

• Chlorophyll Elixir
• Fresh pressed Grapefruit Juice
• Cucumber, spinach, celery Juice
• Sunflower Falafel
• Sunflower Sprout Salad
• Chocolate Mousse (really? YAY!)
• Green Mylk Drink: (Cucumber, celery, Spinach, almond mylk, cinnamon)

I decided to alter my plan of attack and took the shot of Chlorophyll on the bus on my way home from picking up my daily cleanse. Being surrounded by people, I figured this would ensure that I wouldn't throw up. What do you know, the shot wasn't too painful this time around. Next to down: the Grapefruit juice, not a fruit I'd choose to eat, was actually pleasant. The tangy sourness didn't bother me as expected it would. I was looking forward to my lunch of sunflower falafel and it did not disappoint. Honestly, it tasted just like regular falafel, but healthier because there wasn't oil dripping from it. Sprout Salad lacked total taste and the thing I was looking forward to most: the chocolate mousse tasted more like coconut with a hint of chocolate, but was delicious non the less. Again it was too much food for me to consume in total and I only drank 1/2 the green mylk. Best of all, my husband thanked me today for not being cranky. Haha, it seems if you set your expectations low, everyone's a winner in the end.

Day's winner: Sunflower Falafel  Day's looser: Sunflower Sprout Salad  

Weight Loss: 1.8lbs

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Day 3 - Today I woke up with thoughts of food. I didn't feel hungry and I wasn't thinking about any specific food, but the idea of food was lingering. I drank a glass of water and set off to pick up my menu.

• Chlorophyll Elixir
• Fresh Apple Juice
• Cucumber, spinach, celery Juice
• Portobello Wrap
• Sesame Seaweed Salad
• Key Lime Pie
• Green Mylk Drink: (Cucumber, celery, Spinach, almond mylk, cinnamon)

Everyday I mind the Chlorophyll less and less. I'm not saying I'm going to continue this every day, but it's over in 2 seconds and I move on. The fresh apple juice was a pleasant surprise today as the package told me it was going to be grapefruit. Taking a break mid-day to attend my favorite yoga class at Sankalpah, forced me to wait a bit for my favorite meal of the day: lunch. The Portobello sandwich was wrapped in something, but I can't figure out what (see photo). Inside the juicy Portobello was wrapped in spinach leaves with parsley and the other ingredients including: carrots, cucumber, beets, ginger and nuts were pureed and used as a spread. AMAZING! Unfortunately the most disgusting thing followed this experience. I don't mind seaweed when it's wrapped around raw fish. While there was no fish in this salad, it still reeked as it had just been pulled from the ocean. I forced myself to eat a few bite and then gave up and ate out the peppers, shallots and sesame seeds. And then I cheated. I couldn't help it, my will power gave in and I ate a piece of gum to banish the awful seaweed taste. While it wasn't a big misstep, I suppose I could have brushed my teeth instead. Well, tomorrow is another day!

Day's winner: Portobello Wrap  Day's looser: Sesame Seaweed Salad 

Total Weight Loss: 4 lbs

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Day 4 - I was very excited when I picked up my daily servings today as the menu included a Wheatgrass shot instead of the Chlorophyll. Yes!! Today's feast:

• Wheatgrass Shot
• Fresh Orange Juice
• Cucumber, spinach, celery Juice
• Raw Lasagna
• Fennel Orange Salad
• Apple Nectarine Crisp
• Green Mylk Drink: (Cucumber, celery, Spinach, almond mylk, cinnamon)

Today was the hardest day of the cleanse for me so far. I wasn't temped to cheat, but I felt a bit tired and kept thinking about food. Part of the instructions for this cleanse say to let your body do it's housekeeping. I took that to heart and after my early afternoon cucumber juice took a nap. Though I was tired, I had trouble falling asleep. I started in on my relaxation exercises which must have worked because the next thing I knew I was being awakened by dreams of Greek yogurt with granola. I'm actually surprised the dream wasn't about chocolate and, if you knew me, you'd be surprised too. I think I'll rack that up to progress! Once again lunch didn't disappoint. Slivers of zucchini separated the mixture of spinach, nuts, pureed peppers and sun dried tomatoes makes for great raw lasagna. Yummy! The fennel salad gave me hart burn temporarily and the apple nectarine crisp with slices of fresh apple and applesauce wasn't too bad. Maybe it was the nutmeg :) Well, tomorrow is the last day and I'm proud I made it this far.

Day's winner: Raw Lasagna  Day's looser: Fennel Orange Salad 

Total Weight Loss: 4.6 lbs

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Day 5 - My final day. I couldn't wait to begin because everything I drank or ate was going to be the last.

• Chlorophyll Elixir
• Fresh Pressed Lemonade
• Cucumber, spinach, celery Juice
• Pesto Zucchini Noodles
• Kale Dulse (salad)
• Lemon Cheesecake
• Green Mylk Drink: (Cucumber, celery, Spinach, almond mylk, cinnamon)

I went to pick up my final day's food in the crummy weather and decided it was the perfect excuse to finish my cleanse by relaxing on the couch. Yay, last chlorophyll shot! The lemonade was delicious, but alas I did not finish it. Too tart to drink the entire 16 ounces. The cucumber/spinach juice did it's job of cleaning me out all week and today was no exception. Since I was staying house bound I got my butt on the elliptical and decided to rock my way through a few hundred calories with the help of some Young Folks. I had to dig deep to make it through the workout, but I suppose that's to be expected as for the previous 16 hours I had consumed nothing but liquid. Next up, my favorite meal. Thumbs down the zucchini noodles! I make spaghetti squash all the time it's amazing. These zucchini noodles lacked flavor and the pesto sauce was a runny mess. The kale salad did nothing to brighten my food mood; zombie-like I chewed my way through it because I had to. I almost forgot to eat my cheesecake as by 6pm I wasn't the least bit hungry. But, as I'm supposed to be savoring these dishes I decided to press on. What a wonderful surprise! The irish moss, vanilla, lemon juice, lecithin and agave were whipped together and put over ground almonds and cashews. Who said vegan desserts are bad? I thoroughly enjoyed all the ones that my plan had to offer this week. I am looking forward to working my way back to real food this weekend. I'll post a recap on Monday so check back.

Day's winner: Lemon Cheesecake  Day's looser: Pesto Zucchini Noodles

Total Weight Loss: 5.2 lbs