fffabulous

and the winner is...

This is everything. Of all the Oscar dresses last night, Scarlett's dress—and Scarlett Johansson herself—were my very favorites. The dress: Deep green. Fitted. Accessorized to perfection... That necklace, that hairdo, this 'port de tête'. Everything about it transpired elegance, confidence and feminine strength, and may I add power? Aaah, Scarlett. Thank you for the eye candy and the inspiration.

let the cleansing game begin!

So, let me be clear. I love food--I can't go for more than four hours without eating something. I love chocolate. I love coffee. I can't be on a diet for more than four hours. And, I have never been on a master cleanse. But for some reasons, I thought it'd be a good idea to do one. Everyone who has been on a cleanse has told me it's a good way to reset your diet, detox your body, clear your mind, and that you'll feel *amazing* at the end of those three days. So I put my order in. Then, I started sharing this with friends, and they either thought I was totally nuts, or they'd tell me that the first three days are the hardest and that I should go on a 10-day cleanse instead. GREAT!

Erin, the owner of the The Dailey Method-Menlo Park, has done this cleanse many times over. Back in July 2011, I emailed her to get her feedback on how her first cleanse went--because I needed more than a 'you'll feel amazing afterwards' to get on the BluePrintCleanse wagon. Nine months later, I'm finally doing it. Better late than never, right? Read on while I'm drinking juice #3 today. Btw, so far so good.

 

Hey Frederique!

So, this is my first cleanse. I've never been one to give up anything in the food department. I once gave up carbs for 24 hours and almost passed out on a bike ride the next day. Hence, I sort of live by the "everything in moderation" motto. I've never not had real food for this long and at times (esp dinner time) it's rough. At other times (like right now) it's totally fine. I did the most extreme option (excavation) which has the least amount of calories and sugar and the least variety in terms of juices. If you do the other 2 levels you have 3 green juices, a lemonade and a cashew milk PLUS a pineapple or beet juice. This level has 4 greens, the lemonade and the cashew milk. I drink kale and mango smoothies in the morning anyway so I figured if I'm going to go for it, I'll go for the full detox. In hindsight I may have done level 2. I think the green juice is ok but a few people doing the cleanse now can barely choke it down.

My goal in the cleanse is to detox...and to see if I have the willpower to stick to it for 3 days. I'm not doing it to lose weight...just to reset my body. I have been on a bit of a sugar binge lately (think Pinkberry, Fraiche, Trader Joe's dark chocolate covered almonds, etc.) I do feel pretty great in terms of energy. I was expecting to feel really tired but I don't at all. That being said, I'm not going out and running 10 miles either. Just doing TDM classes and taking it easy and so far so good. I think the challenge is picking a 3 day period when you don't have other stuff going on. I scored this week b/c my husband is away so that made it much easier to not be tempted. Although sadly even feeding Ava dinner made me hungry! Each night after I had the cashew milk (protein and fat) I felt much better. Last night, I had finished all 6 juices by 5:45 pm but wasn't hungry the rest of the night.

I'm curious to see how I feel tomorrow and as I re-incorporate different foods into my diet. I think this is something I could do once a quarter to mentally and physically reset things. It makes you appreciate food. That's for sure. Now even just a simple salad sounds delish. Will I give up Fraiche and red wine? Not likely. But I'm hoping that my body won't crave the sugar like it does now. We'll see!

Let me know if you decide to do it. We may make TDM a regular pick up location.

e