10 days is almost over…after today it will be. I’ve been thinking a lot about this “cleanse” I did and why I did it and how it effected me.

Last week I felt REALLY good. Like REALLY good….but the whole thing I have to admit, was hard. I don’t like feeling like I have restrictions, but I got past it because I wanted to try to see what upset my stomach and if it had any link to my eczema. I have to say it wasn’t that hard to give up grains or cheese because it was only 10 days. The hardest part was giving up whole milk (or soy milk) & sugar in my iced coffee. There were times where I just wanted a quesadilla, but really it was fine. (I should also mention I stayed away from broccoli also because my stomach doesn’t like it either.)

I had zero bloat, indigestion or gassy belly symptoms….and then I “cheated”. (I HATE the word cheat because of it’s negative connotation and the guilt it induces, but using it for the purpose of saying I veered off course.) On Monday I had some Eden soy milk in my iced coffee…and guess what, I paid for it all of Monday and Tuesday. I experienced immediate bloat and pains in my stomach…lasting all the way until Tuesday when I felt like I had a stomach hangover. I can’t believe the reaction lasted so long. I also read the package AFTER the fact and realized it has wheat in it. I really don’t think it’s the wheat causing the reaction, but no matter what I’m staying away from it for awhile. (Yesterday I attempted to make homemade hemp milk and today I’m going to try cashew milk…without a vitamix it’s pretty hard to make it perfectly.)

I mentioned before that I don’t like feeling restricted. It messes with my head because I already feel like I eat so healthy, why should I not be eating specific groups of food? Well, basically the soy thing is exactly why. There are foods that cause me discomfort and they shouldn’t be a part of my every day life. On the other end, I shouldn’t and won’t make statements about cutting out complete food groups because THAT doesn’t work for me. I AM going to avoid dairy for awhile…and then at some point in the future try little bits. I have to say that I’ve always felt and thought there is a link between dairy and my eczema. In 10 days of not having dairy the eczema on my fingers has cleared 80%. It hasn’t looked this good in 9 or 10 months.

I’m going to slowly work the food I cut out into my diet, adding in one thing at a time. Right now I’m going to do this for a few more days (maybe 1 or 2) because I want to make sure I end on a good note after that downfall AND that I keep feeling good.

So the positives were that I felt REALLY good. The negatives were that I spent A LOT of time planning and thinking about food, which I don’t really like. It was a lot more work because I had to make sure I had enough options AND that Danny had his meals and snacks. If you’re like me, you know food can consume you and that’s not a good way to be. I’ve always felt like food is meant to be enjoyed, which is why I couldn’t keep up with such a restrictive diet long term.

All in all, I would try this again because I feel like it was a good reset. I do feel badly that I cheated ONLY because it gave me a bad reaction. If it didn’t I really wouldn’t care. I think the good outweighs the bad in the sense that it gives you a reset AND insight onto what issues you may have with food that work/don’t work with your body. It’s also never a bad idea to cut down on sugar and other inflammatory foods.

If you want any more info on what I did over the past 10 days, then feel free to email me! I hope I didn’t contradict myself the entire time in this post, which I feel like I kind of did. Summary: I felt great. It was hard not having sugar. I liked how I felt. I didn’t like thinking so much about food and how restricted I felt. The end.

You all know my favorite place to get my world news is from the Today Show. (My in-laws are totally baffled by this I think.) I just can’t say no to Matt, Nat, Savannah…and really, Willie too.

A couple of weeks ago (maybe even last week) they had Mark Hymen on talking about his new Feel like Crap detox. You know I’m not a fan of anything extreme….but once I started listening & watching, I realized this isn’t extreme. What he’s proposing is basically EAT REAL FOOD for 10 days. No grains, no sugar, no dairy, no beans, no processed foods, no refined vegetable oils, alcohol or caffeine.

Mark Hymen suggests you may want to do this if you have: fatigue, bloating, fluid retention, constipation, congestion, brain fog, eczema, bad skin, insomnia, depression, autoimmune disease, headaches, etc. Read more about it, if you think you might be a good candidate of this 10 day detox. It’s NOT meant to be a diet and it’s NOT meant for you to be left hungry or deprived. I don’t think you need to really buy the book if you want to do this because there’s so much info on the internet. (BUT, you may want to buy the food if you don’t eat mostly vegetables/fruits/unprocessed foods)From what I can tell, it’s basically like doing a whole 30 for 10 days.

Just real food. If it has a label, he says, don’t eat it. The thing is, is that even though I eat very well, (this week) I feel like crap. We had a pretty healthy Easter. I made those lasagna cups and we had an abundance of vegetables and salad. The thing is, I picked out a broccoli dish to make and I didn’t read it through. My uncle made it and it was DELICIOUS. So delicious I ate a bunch of it. It was raw broccoli…which basically means my stomach will be in knots for days. Add in the 16 handles (fro-yo) cake we had for my sister…and two days out from Easter my stomach = MESS Monday & Tuesday and is just recovering today. I

I had a small piece. There was no seconds…even though I totally could have had one. So between the raw broccoli, the fro-yo and all the cheese eaten, my stomach is not happy. I have been trying to be kind to my stomach and eating mostly cooked foods to make digestion easier. I feel better than yesterday, but I’m still off. I still can’t stomach to eat any raw foods, so I’m still having all cooked foods and laying off salads for a couple of days.

So what to do. This detox sounds very interesting to me. I don’t think it would be especially hard for me, but I’d have to cut the sugar I put in my iced coffee (among other things…like grains and cheese but I don’t eat too much of those things). I love dairy & I love grains…but I think this is worth a shot to see how I feel after. I’m sure that my stomach will feel better by Sunday, but I like a good challenge…and it’s only ten days.

(Also a little disclaimer that I do think grains like brown rice & oats ARE REAL FOOD, but just for these ten days, it’s avoidable.)

I also love that you can kind of reset during & after this. When it’s over I would start by adding in one of the groups every 2 or 3 days and see how your body reacts to it. If you experience any discomfort or symptoms from eating say dairy or gluten, then you may want to consider that you have a sensitivity to it.

Danny and I are pretty sure we’re going to start this on Sunday. My mom is already 2 days in on her second whole 30 and I’m thinking I can also get some friends to join in. If anyone is interested in some of the recipes I’ll be making, I’ll be sure to share. Feel free to email me if you want an idea for recipes beforehand. I already made a general outline of what we’ll be having.

Morning! April 1st….I just realized it’s April Fools Day. No jokes over here though.

I have officially finished my March food budget challenge and I can say it was successful. I spent anywhere between $133 and $144 in the past four weeks, which means I saved over $200 for the month (because we budget $200 per week for food). I’m going to try to continue it for the next two months and see how it goes. I probably will be going closer to 150 because I’ve also been working on cleaning out our pantry too and it’s looking pretty bare.

This month was certainly eye opening for me. For one, I realized I CAN spend less money at the food store. I have said it before, but I’ll say it again, I would walk down aisles and just through whatever I wanted in the food cart.  It adds up…obviously!

Some things I learned in the past month:

My budget was the most important thing, so sometimes I didn’t buy organic. I didn’t compromise with milk, eggs or chicken and lettuce (those were always bought organic). Some things I didn’t buy organic were cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, avocado, bananas. I buy as much as I can organic, but I had to make some sacrifices.

Write everything down and approximate costs. This was the most eye opening. I also rounded up, so I had some wiggle room. I made a list of everything I needed and wanted and it’s cost. When I added things up if I went over, I’d just cross out some wants and make some changes.

Make a food plan. I write down what we’re going to eat every night. Sometimes it changes and that’s okay.

Get the most bang for your buck. Example, making a whole chicken can give you enough meat for multiple meals. Eat it with a salad and sweet potatoes one night and then next make some pasta and a pesto sauce to pair with the leftover chicken. Make broth with the leftover chicken bones.

I eat A LOT of salad and greens. I make a salad almost every night at dinner and have one everyday for lunch. Danny also has greens in his lunch a couple days a week. I spend $7 on lettuce (mostly organic, except  1 bag), $2 on organic baby spinach and $2 on TJ crusciferous crunch. I think it’s reasonable for me. I love salads and greens…and variety.

I still get nervous we’re going to run out of food. Guess what, we don’t. I don’t have any fresh food by the end of the week, but that’s the way it should be. I’m so used to having a variety of foods all week long and since I’m not buying as much, it’s just not there…but it’s okay too! Whatever I don’t get one week, I can get the next.

This past weeks meals:

• Chicken sausage and stir fried veggies
• Quesadillas with guacamole
• Whole roasted chicken, salad and hasselback sweet potatoes
• Turkey cutlets, roasted zucchini and salad
• Soycatash stir fry (edamame, corn, red pepper) with spiralized zucchini and avocado
• Breakfast for dinner (eggs & bacon)

I hope I gave you some insight into food budgeting and meal planning. I don’t know I’ll continue these posts weekly, but if you ever need any help or have any questions feel free to comment or email me! I’m definitely going to continue watching what I spend to help us save money.

Good morning! I am so happy with daylight savings, I don’t even miss that lost hour from the weekend. I love that it’s lighter an hour later…and I don’t care about the dark mornings because that’s when I have the most energy anyway.

I hope you all had great weekends. We had a one year old birthday party and then worked on some house things. We are 99% finished with our fireplace. I can’t wait to write up the process, I think it went really well. Danny and I also caulked and painted trim that has needed to be done for way too long. We didn’t think we could do it ourselves, but after our fireplace turned out so well, we gave it a try.

Mizuno just launched a new campaign which I think is so perfect for spring. It’s called “if everybody ran”. They are showing all the positive ways that running impacts our life and society.

While I LOVE running, I know it’s not for everyone, so if it’s not for you then I encourage you to look at this and think about moving more, whatever that means for you. Whether it’s a run, walk or bike ride, just think about how it would change your life in a more positive way!

I hope this gets your gears turning and makes you think about ways you can move more. I know I’ll be going in more walks now that the weather is nicer. We’ve had such a long, long winter that this campaign gets me even more excited to be outside…especially with Olivia.

So will you join in with me? Spend 10 minutes a day moving more? Every little bit adds up and you can see how it can make a difference.

P.s. You’ll notice there’s no disclosure. This isn’t a sponsored post, I just love what mizuno is trying to do….and they are my favorite running shoe, so I want to support them.

So think about it…what if everybody ran? Join me in moving more and using the #ifeverybodyran!