the Conscious Cleanse......interrupted.

As I type this post this morning, I have already served up yogurt smoothies to my kids  and packed my husband's lunch (a terrific sandwich, btw).  Normally, I would have been munching on Quaker Oat Squares while doing all of this, but today it's just lemon water before I have my smoothie.  

I love the Conscious Cleanse - in fact, this is round 2 for me.  I did it back in September with my business partner (we co-own Style Spies, a fashion consulting/styling business) and blogged about it HERE.  But doing the cleanse with kids and a husband who are not cleansing is pretty tough.  I know with a cleanse there are so many challenges.  Life gets in the way, right? 

Just this weekend, we celebrated my husband's birthday.  I managed to do purification for one day (Saturday) but yesterday, his actual birthday, was a bust.  I didn't eat horribly but it wasn't cleanse friendly food necessarily.  Here are my confessions:  I ate an egg white omelet for brunch, black beans on the side with goat cheese.  For dinner I had a delicious salad (cleanse friendly), but then a couple pieces of goat cheese and red pepper flat bread, and tilapia tacos.  I did not eat the shells but instead ate just the fish and slaw.  Yummy!  Oh yeah - I had a few bites of his chocolate gelato that they served him.  ;-)

Saturday afternoon, I had to make a cake.  Argh.....who doesn't like cake batter and frosting?  It was a zebra cake that the kids picked out at the store......here it is before going in the oven....

and here it is being served yesterday afternoon!

Did I have a lick of batter?  Yes.  Did I have some frosting?  Yes again.  And here we are today, ready to get back on track.  Heading to the gym for a Fit Bar class at 9:30, drinking my lemon water, and making a smoothie here in about a half hour.  Go ME!  

I do want to share with my fellow cleansers my go-to's from the recipe book and elsewhere - since I've done this before I already have my favorites:

Breakfast: 

Better than Yogurt Chia Pudding

Hearty Love Smoothie

Lunch/Dinner:

Curried Carrot Soup

Cold cooked Salmon with brown rice or quinoa

Snacks:

Apple

Banana

Kalamata Olive Tapenade w/ gluten free crackers

Kale Chips

Joy Balls

Almond Butter Balls

One thing I REALLY want to do but just haven't yet is get a Spiralizer.  

What is that you might ask?  It turns your vegetables into slivers, making them pasta-like.  So much more fun to eat and create recipes around them this way, right?  In fact, there is a blogger I found who blogs only about recipes based around the Spiralizer.  Her blog is called 'Inspiralized,' and it's cute, clever, and informative.  Lots of great recipes.  I knew I liked Ali of Inspiralized when I read her 'welcome' info.  Here's what she says:  

"I'm Ali, your typical girl in her twenty-somethings looking to fit into her skinny jeans without having to give up the good stuff. "

Don't we all want this for ourselves?  I think so.  Thanks Ali for inspiring me.....I think i'll be purchasing a Spiralizer and getting into this pronto!  

So yeah - cleansing is hard, life does get in the way, but you can always get back on track.  I feel so healthy and clear when I cleanse, I sleep well, I am inspired to be a better me, a better Mom, a better business-woman, all of it!  

Cheers to week two of the Conscious Cleanse all - stay strong and make sure to forgive yourself for a little swipe of icing.  ;-)