Post cleanse high

I feel great!! The juice cleanse ended Friday night. I have never been so happy to be eating a paleo diet. :-) Some people say that they have a lot of energy on a juice cleanse. I did not. Not even remotely. But I did try very hard to do some sort of physical activity throughout.

As a reminder, my reasons for doing the cleanse:

1. To get rid of the carb and sugar cravings - this totally happened. I actually noticed the afternoon of the first day that my desire for afternoon sweets was way lower than normal. It made me think that in the future a 1 day "after vacation" cleanse might be a good way to refocus my efforts.
2. To get rid of my bloat and jump start weight loss - This also happened. My net weight loss for last week was 7.2 pounds. A lot of that was bloat but it has made me feel so much better and my clothes aren't so snug.
3. To show myself that my will power is strong enough to make the sacrifice - I was proud of myself for seeing it through.

 Saturday morning I got up and went to Jazzercise. I was still weak from my cleanse, but I work out well in the morning so it wasn't bad. I had paleo choices from Chipotle for lunch.

For dinner, I made a paleo stew that was in an article my friend Gwen had posted. Here is the recipe:

 Makes 5 big servings

2 pounds of chopped chicken thighs
chopped onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons of coconut oil (solid)
1 large tomato, chopped
1 bag of frozen mixed peppers and onions
1 jar of Sharwood’s Indian cooking sauce (I like their Butter Chicken) Salt, pepper and
spice to taste. (I like lots of red pepper.)
1 cup of water

 Directions:

1. Heat cooker on medium high, stir in coconut oil, chopped onion, and garlic.
2. After onions are translucent, add the chicken and stir for about a minute. Season
with salt, pepper and spices.
3. Add bag of frozen peppers and onions, add jar of Indian cooking sauce, add 1 cup of
water. Turn up the heat and bring to a boil.
4. Reduce heat once pressure lid is on and let simmer for 25 minutes.

Interestingly, the list of ingredients calls for a large chopped tomato but the directions don't. Oh well! I LOVED using the pressure cooker. This is my first time and it was great! BFF & I went to church Saturday night and I was able to cook it when we got home. The chicken was cooked perfectly in about 35 minutes. I will have to find some other great paleo pressure cooker meals! I haven't had a lot of good exposure to Indian food so I was worried about the flavors, but this was really good. I chopped and roasted potatoes and used as a base. BFF liked it too!!

Sunday I made myself some scrambled eggs for breakfast. Yum! For lunch I had leftover stew. For dinner I cooked up some salmon and roasted some brussel sprouts. Delish! I like all of these foods anyway, but after only 3 days of not eating (chewing), everything was fantastic!

I leave for Louisiana Friday morning, so I have prepared everything to eat until then. Baked ham and cheese fritatta for breakfasts. Lunches and diners are leftover stew or salmon. For snacks I have lunchmeat to have roll ups. I also make a tomato & cucumber salad with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. I should be all set!

I made it to CrossFit this morning and I felt STRONG! This isn't the greatest picture, but I love my dress today. I have had it for a while, but I love the fun colors.

 My hope is that the energy and strength stays with me through the week. I'm also glad that I'm in town and can get caught up on what you all out there have been up to these last few weeks!

Hugs!