My Overall Thoughts of the 7-day raw food detox

I thought I'd share my final thoughts on the raw food 7-day detox and give you some tips and tricks that helped me get through it.

Honestly, it wasn't that hard at all. And I had plenty of temptations around me (Hello, Valentines chocolate!) but there is just something about being full on whole un-processed, un-cooked foods.Though I find it impossible for me to become a 100% raw foodist at this time in my life, I will definitely continue making a lot of my meals consist of raw foods.

DISCOVERING "NEW" FOOD
 I found a new appreciation and liking to foods that I didn't really consider "snacks." For example, I was completely content with a couple of orange slices or a baggie of carrots and I didn't need anything else with them. And I found a new LOVE of avocado. I began to actually even crave salads and raw foods.

SIMPLICITY
You can't beat the simplicity of throwing together a healthy dinner in 5 minutes after a long day in the office! It was unbelievably nice to not have to worry about having to slave in the kitchen for an hour when I got home.

ENERGY
I  know I've talked in depth about the about of energy it gave me, but I just can't say enough about how truly great I felt all week. I felt like I could on for hours in  my workouts and I work up in the mornings with no use for coffee.

WEIGHT LOSS

 I read a lot of articles online about people that lost over 10 pounds in a week eating raw foods alone. I did not though. I lost about 2 pounds, but I think that may be more to working out like a crazy woman for the week. I definitely think that keeping up with the raw food meal plan, would assist with weight loss though. I just don't think that 1 week is going to completely detoxify your system of all the toxins after all the years of junk food eating.

Some tips I've learned along the way:

 - PREPARATION is KEY! Have a meal plan. Have snacks ready in the fridge. Cut and slice all your foods
 - Drink a ton of water. And I mean a lot. This really helped with water retention with me. If you can't get  your water in, add some fresh lemon or lime. Keep your water with you at all times.
 -Sleep. The first day of the detox, I was exhausted! I could barely keep my eyes open. I know this was from beginning the cleanse. Sleeping for 12 hours that night made me feel a million times better.

All-in-all, this is something that I would complete again. As I mentioned, I will continue keeping some of my meals raw and then maybe 2 or 3 times a year, complete the 7-day detox again. I love the way it made me feel!

Any questions? Feel free to ask!

Stay beautiful and fresh, my friends :)

XOXO,
Crystal

Weekend Recap, Raw Detox Diet

This will be a short post - super busy! But wanted to give a weekend recap. This past weekend were my final days on the raw detox diet and I slowly began adding in non-raw foods.

On Saturday, I added a chicken sandwich and some baked fries for dinner. I walked 2 miles in the morning and a mile in the afternoon. I felt great and didn't have any tummy problems with adding food back in.

On Sunday, I added in brown rice, egg and roasted veggies for dinner. I did not exercise, just took a rest day. I still feel great! I feel like I have so much more energy even now that I am adding back in foods.

As I mentioned before, my plan now is to eat breakfast and lunch as raw foods and then dinner as whatever I'm feeling, whether it be raw or not. I plan of being about 75-80% raw still because I can't even begin to explain how much better I feel!

That's it for now. I'll be posting my final thoughts, tips, etc later today. Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!!

XOXO,
Crystal

Day 5, Raw Detox Diet

I feel like I'm starting to write the same thing everyday and I'm getting a little bored with myself haha. Things are going great, I have boat loads of energy, I feel fabulous, blah, blah, blah. Honestly, I didn't think I could make it raw for an entire week so I'm giving myself a big 'ole pat on the back :) I've not only gone raw all week, I've been in the gym having hard core sweat-fests all week. Super duper proud of myself! I've gotta keep it up!

Breakfast - 2 nectarines
Lunch - Subway salad (I forgot my lunch in the car, and though this isn't great, it's the closest thing to work that kept me raw. And YES, it was hard to not grab chips and a cookie...)
Snack -peanut butter pack
Dinner -Salad with pretty much all the veggies that were left in my fridge


My lovely lil child (AKA dog) decided that her food was not enough last night and that she must eat the trash as well. So not normal for her but "Bad, Sadie!" So last night I was up with a sick little dog who was having umm "stomach issues" for a lack of words and I got about 2 hours of solid sleep. On the couch. Yeah.

BUT I still made it to the gym for a hour tonight. (Who am I and what did I do with lazy-crystal?!) I almost used it as an excuse but then I thought, it's FRIDAY and I get to sleep in tomorrow and I really have no reason to not go because honestly I wasn't falling asleep tired.So BOOM, another hour in the gym!

My plans for this weekend include a girls day, a dinner date with my one and only, grocery shopping and slowly adding back in some healthy non-raw eats. What are you doing this weekend?

XOXO,
Crystal

Day 4, Raw Detox Diet

I don't know where my energy came from (ok, that's a lie - it came from eating clean all week!) but I was on point at the gym last night and got in a fabulous 2 hour workout!! 700 calories burned, GO ME! I just felt like I could go on forever. My legs this morning are hating me, but that's okay cause I woke up this morning 1 pound lighter :)

I can't explain how much better I feel after this raw detox. It is truly amazing how much healthier your body feels when you feed it only fruits and veggies!! I feel fantastic!

The only complaint I have at all is that my skin is super-duper dry this week. I was doing some research and I think this could be due to having not much protein. I think if I was to do this raw detox again, I would add some protein shakes to the mix. I actually plan on purchasing this weekend - anyone have any recommendations?? Also, anyone suggest a pro-biotic that they love? Let me know! :)

Other than that, things are great. I'm not that hungry still, which is fantastic and I have so much energy that I don't even miss coffee in the mornings! 

Breakfast - Pineapple chunks
Lunch - Guac with cucumber "chips" and baby carrots
Dinner - Salad with spinach, cucumber, green pepper, onion, tomatoes
Post workout - Half of a raw protein bar

Worked out on the elliptical for 30 minutes, 200 calories burned. Yes! :) I am still really sore from yesterdays 2 hour sweat fest! So I just took it easy today.

Hope you guys are having amazing workouts as well. Summer is just around the corner (it's year round in South FL!) so let's get in the best shape of our lives! (too corny?!)

Happy Thursday friends!

XOXO,
Crystal

Day 3, Raw Detox Diet

I completely cracked this morning and had a strawberry poptart. I don't even liiiiike poptarts and they've been in the house forever because we don't eat them. But this morning, as I was waiting for my ride (I am STILL car-less, thanks Mr. Mechanic...) I saw the poptart in the pantry and grabbed it.

And then felt horrible after I ate it. My tummy definitely did not like it either. Over it and moving on though.

The rest of my eats were fantastic!

Breakfast - dreaded poptart...no comment
Lunch - YUMMY salad! I added chickpeas and black beans, threw in some baby carrots and cucumber, mixed with chia seeds and acv
Snack - Fruit bowl of strawberries, pineapple and oranges
Dinner - Guac with cucumber "chips" (simple but perfect)
Dessert - Homemade apple sauce (apples, cinnamon, honey and water in food processor)

Fruit bowl was so gooood!

We are now over half way through the week. And that means half way through my raw detox. And honestly, I am feeling much better! I am more tired than usual though and I could go to bed at 8pm every night, but I know that's just my body detoxifying and cleaning house!

After this week, I've decided to keep up with the raw eating most of the time, but still add in some favorites. I am thinking breakfast and lunch be completely raw and then dinner can be my choice. Anyone else have any experience with a half raw diet? Or I guess this would be more like a 75% raw diet...

I'm just basically going to listen to my body. I KNOW I can not live without peanut butter, chocolate and oatmeal (sometimes all at the same time) so I'm not going to deprive myself if that's what I want for dinner.

I hope everyone is having a fabulous, skinny week!

XOXO,
Crystal

Day 2, Raw Detox Diet

Today has been much better. I'm still stressed out to the max with car problems, but I'm really trying to not let it bother me as much. I'm trying to stay calm and know that worse things could be happening. Plus I have an amazing boyfriend who is just perfect in stressful situations ♥

I wasn't as hungry today but I did snack a lot. And I feel skinnier though I know I haven't lost anything. I just feel light and healthy haha. I have to remember to weigh myself in the mornings so I can keep track!!

Some random things I've come to realize:

- Smoothies are not the breakfast item for me. I love smoothies but on cold mornings, it's the last thing I want. So I think I will save my smoothie packs for desserts and have something more like just plain fruit in the mornings. Today it worked out much better that way.

- Water is really hard for me to get into when it's cold too. I've making lemon and lime water and it's been a little easier than regular water. At work today, I kept forgetting to drink it though.

- I definitely did not buy enough veggies for the week. It's only Tuesday and I'm already out of tomatoes and romaine. I'm eating much bigger salads than normal since it's my only meal at lunch and dinner. Fruits I'm doing just fine on though. I think to save money, I will make it work for one more day and eat what I have and then back to the Farmers Market.

- I could literally eat avocado all day long. I never realized how much I love them! I have to really watch myself since they are high in calories and fat. I've been using it mixed with apple cider vinegar as a "dressing" and I really need to come up with something else so I'm not eating so much fat.

- I could eat oranges all day long too! It's just the perfect little snack. I usually don't buy them because I hate peeling them (I know, so lazy) and getting my hands all sticky. But I sliced them up in 4's and just eat them like that. Perfecto!


FOOD LOG:
Breakfast - Banana
Snack- 1 1/2 oranges, sliced
Lunch - Salad with lots of veggies, almond slivers, sunflower seeds tossed in acv
Snack -  Homemade simoas cookie
Snack - Celery and pb (I can NOT stay away from my nut butters...uugh!!!) 
Dinner - Veggie Guacamole on romaine (which would have totally been better with tomatoes!!)
Dessert - Smoothie with spinach, pineapple and chia seeds and then topped with more pineapple chunks.

I did the CrossRamp for about 45 minutes, followed by some crunches and planks. I skipped the gym yesterday so it felt good to be back.

How are you guys doing on your diet and exercise?! Hope everyone had a lovely Valentines <3

XOXO,
Crystal

Valentines and Raw Dessert

Happy Valentines, my LOVEly readers!! Hope you all are spending love day being in...well, love! :)

I am officially in LOVE with this new dessert. One that I can EAT on the raw detox!! I was trying to find a raw treat that I could enjoy on Valentines while everyone else was eating their fattening (good!) chocolates and I came across Katie's Girl Scout Cookie LaraBars and made them pronto.

All I can say is HEAVEN! They are sooo yummy and taste even better then the Girl Scout samoas. I'm usually a chocolate person but I omitted the chocolate chips (for the raw detox) and was still completely in love.

Girl Scout Cookie LaraBars
Recipe by Chocolate Covered Katie

• Packed 1/2 cup pitted date
• 2 T unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1/16 tsp pure vanilla extract
• scant 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 T (or more!) chocolate chips ( skipped for this weeks detox)

Put all the ingredients together in your food processor, and blend.Easy, peasy. And so yum!!

Today I am loving the raw food diet :) I will post how my day went tonight.

XOXO,
Crystal

Getting Ready for my Raw Detox

Yesterday I spend about half an hour slicing and dicing all my veggies and fruits and getting prepared for my 7-day raw detox diet! I just thought I'd show you a picture of some of my food (doesn't include any of my greens)

Veggies - Cucumbers, carrots, green pepper, broccoli, green onion, avocado
Fruits - Smoothie packs, bananas, nectarines, oranges, apples, pineapple

I'm sticking with just basic fruits for breakfast and snacks and salad for lunch and dinners. I'm really not even sure if this is enough for a week (I already need more bananas!!), but the Farmers Market is close so I will be visiting often if not.

I'll be posting how my first day went tonight so make sure you look for that later. Happy Monday!!

XOXO, Crystal

Raw Food Detox

Yesterday I woke up feeling bloated and just all over gross. Lately, this has become something that happens at least a couple times a week for me. I won’t go all into the specifics, but I definitely know that something is whacky with my digestive system. I just don’t feel “normal.”

I’ve been reading about raw diets for a while now, after one of my favorite youtubers, LizYArtur started talking about it years ago, but I never thought that it was something I could manage full-time since I still have to cook for my boyfriend. It’s hard having all your old favorite foods in front of you when  you are on a new lifestyle change, but the boyfriend has been amazing with helping with dinners lately so I thought this is the perfect time to try it out. Plus my body has been craving salads like none other and you can’t deny what your body needs!

I can’t say that I am going all out on the raw food diet, but I definitely want to compete at least a 7-day raw detox and then continue with a healthy lifestyle without processed foods. So that is my goal for now. I am hoping that this will give my digestive system a quick start to get back on track and stop all this bloating and give me some much needed energy to rid of this sluggish feeling lately. And a jumpstart with weight loss is always an added benefit :)

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I’ll have to stock up on all the fruits and veggies this weekend at the Farmers Market, so I won’t be starting until next Monday. But from today through Monday, I want to start cutting back and slowly start to cut all the processed foods and meat out of my diet. 

I thought I have a pretty clean diet as of lately, but when I sat down, thought about it and evaluated, I do still depend on some processed food that could definitely be cut for good. For example, I live off frozen dinners for work lunches, only because they are cheap, easy and fast but I’ve been wanting to cut them out for a while anyways so this is where I will start. They have a ton of sodium and I could easily make something much healthier at home. I know I just need to give myself some extra time to prepare, instead of grabbing one out of the freezer! 

Also, I eat Kashi Crunch cereal for breakfast every day, and though this isn't the worst cereal out there, I could definitely cut it out as well and add much needed fruit in the mornings!

Items I will avoid: Dairy, Coffee, Meat, Sugar, Alcohol, Grains

Also, I have fell in LOVE with this website!! She has the BEST recipes and tons of tips and tricks and information. I have spent hours looking over her website and blog and it has all been so helpful!

So that is about it for now! I'm excited to get my body back in great shape and begin a healthy lifestyle! 

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XOXO, 

Crystal