Spring Cleaning (and no I'm not talking about my closet)

HOLA! This morning I woke up to a beautiful 10 degree celsius day in FSJ. I was supposed to take my dad and his girlfriend, Holly, to the airport this morning; they are on route to Puerto Vallarta as we speak. I am sooo envious. Unfortunately my body had other plans for me, and I got hit hard with the stomach flu. :( This would suck enough if our family wasn't already one man down with Kirk and his broken leg. Anyways. In the spirit of looking to the bright side, this has inspired me to kick my ass into gear and put my full focus into food, and feeling good. For the next 21 days (starting today, since solids are out as is), I will be doing a 'cleanse' (I use this word loosely as I already eat pretty strict paleo, so a lot of the foods you may have to cut to join are already not a part of my diet. Based on the Clean Cleanse, advocated by Gwyneht Paltrow. Now that's 'Spring Cleaning' at it's finest. ;)

Basic Guidelines:

1. Liquids only for breakfast and dinner—and allow 12 hours in between dinner and breakfast for optimal digestion.

2. Solids are allowed for lunch.

3. No soy, dairy, gluten, caffeine, or alcohol.

4. Moderate intensity exercise daily to aid circulation and cleansing of lymph nodes

I don't eat soy, gluten or dairy as is, but the alcohol and caffeine will be hard. I'm planning to still have my one bulletproof coffee with breakfast smoothie, but green tea for the res of the day, as I'm a true believer in the benefits of coffee, and think the fat content will be beneficial to stay energized throughout the cleanse. Since this morning I was very ill I skipped breakfast, had a bulletproof coffee, and water all morning. By noon I finally mustered up the strength to stumble in the kitchen and make a smoothie, so i'm thinking i'll skip the solid meal today and hope my stomach feels better for the schedule tomorrow. My solid meal throughout the cleanse will probably look like a big green clean salad with a lean cut of red meat, bacon, free range eggs, or wild salmon. I find my digestion works best when I'm not doing the vegan thing, and I try to avoid chicken most of the time. My liquid and solid meals will be abundant in healthy fats like nuts, seeds, coconut, avocado, olives, ect, and I will probably add hemp protein powder most of the time. I typically workout 45 minutes of HIIT/cardio (running), but I may have to adjust depending on my energy levels and hunger. I will drink green juices in between meals when necessary.

Clean green goddess dressing from last post, herb mix, and local bacon!

My smoothie this afternoon was:

1/2 cup organic passion fruit juice
1 cup pineapple
1 cup strawberries
half an avocado
1/2 cup cucumber
1 scoop chia seeds
2 tbs organic virgin coconut oil

For the duration of this cleanse I'm going to include 1 cup organic dandelion root tea with organic lemon on an empty stomach in the morning. I will be supplementing with cod liver supplements, 10 000 iu vitamin d (in the morning), a multivitamin, 2-3 acidophlilus (spaced throughout the day)  and 2 coconut charcoals (before bed).

I am so excited to feel rejuvenated by the end of this, I've been feeling very run down from being super social (and the liquid confidence that goes along with that;) and from the stress I've been under at home lately! I would love to hear your feedback via Facebook or email! Have you done a cleanse similar to this? Are you 'spring cleaning' your body with me? Support helps build adherence:) Happy Spring Cleaning! <3