Oh baby I like it raw!

Shout out to ODB! If you're in my age group and a fan of hip hop, you know what I'm talkin' bout! 

Day 29 and day 30!
Woohoo, I just finished drinking my 30th green smoothie and I am quite proud of myself. I don't know if it's a coincidence or what, but I had THE best rest last night. I think I slept an entire 8 hours and I woke up feeling 100% rested and ready to tackle the week. In addition to the fabulous slumber, here are some other benefits I noticed throughout the month:

• I am regular - this is HUGE!
• My endurance is stronger during the cardio portion of my cross training. I still have some work to do with the area of strength training, but I can definitely run longer and faster. Yesterday during cross training, I was sprinting at 7.5 mph on a 12% incline. Go Jenny Go! 
• My belly is flatter. It's not FLAT, but is definitely less puffy. I feel like my thighs are smaller too. I didn't weigh myself or take any measurements because I wasn't doing this for weight loss, but I put on a pair of slim, black pants yesterday that were definitely fitting better then when I last had them on in the winter. 
• I like greens! All types of greens. I eat kale almost every day now. That's amazing. 

Overall, it's been a good month for sure. I just realized that I also blogged for 30 days about the challenge so that is a side accomplishment! I guess I can officially call myself a blogger :)

Will I continue to drink the green smoothies?

Of course! They aren't just for breakfast anymore. You can drink a green smoothie at any time of the day or night and reap the benefits. 

On Sunday, I furthered my raw food curiosity and visited All the Way Live, a raw food restaurant in Philadelphia. The ratings were really high on yelp.com so I asked a colleague to meet me there. The food was fantastic! Here is a photo of what we shared. 

The upper left corner is lasagna. The upper right corner is a tasting of quinoa salad, soulful greens and BBQ mushrooms. The bottom is the apple cake - woohoo! Everything was absolutely delicious. I definitely will be going back and I may even purchase a week of raw meals from there. 

Sunday was a great day and I feel like the entire day was FUN! Here is the drink I created on Sunday before going to bed. I used extra water so it was more like a green drink than a smoothie.

1 c chopped kale, stems removed

1/3 c organic frozen blueberries

1 serving Amazing Grass Organic Wheat Grass

1 1/4 c water

1 serving Stevia Kal

Day 30

Today's green smoothie wasn't that good, but I chugged it down because I know it was good for me. Note to self. Do not add wheat grass and the cacao powder in the same drink without sweetener  I tasted it and had to put it back in the blender with some stevia because the taste was not pleasant. I guess I could have added some more fruit as well. 

2 c chopped kale, stems removed

1/2 frozen banana

1 tbsp Cacao powder

1 serving Amazing Grass Organic Wheat Grass

1 tbsp natural peanut butter

1 serving Stevia Kal

Cheers!

The September 30 day challenge is complete! Now, on to the October 30 day challenge...

Just drink it.

Day 28 of 30!
I almost didn't make the day 28 smoothie! It was Saturday and I was out ripping and running as usual. I didn't get home until after 10 pm and the only thing on my mind was bed. However, I received an encouraging reminder from my boyfriend who told me, "Just drink it."

Uh, yea...good point.

So I put on my pjs and headed to the kitchen to make my green smoothie. I guess it's never to late to flood your body with nutrients!

1 c chopped kale, stems removed
1/4 organic cucumber
4 frozen organic strawberries

1 serving Amazing Grass Organic Wheat 

1 c unsweetened vanilla almond milk

1 serving Stevia Kal

Cheers!

Ditching the diet mentality (or at least trying to)

Day 27!
I'm in the home stretch for this challenge. My Facebook friends are already talking about a new 30 day challenge for October. I have to put some thought into what my next challenge will be. Stay tuned.

Anyhoo...

Yesterday, I mentioned that I was hanging out with my favorite photographer and friend, Karise Allen. Here is a photo of us last night at happy hour looking very happy :)

Happy hour is one of my favorite things to do! There was a time when I would go every week. Now I go once every 4 - 6 weeks with friends when our schedules allow. Last night we started at the Cheesecake Factory. Now you know there is nothing half way healthy in that restaurant and certainly not on the $5 happy hour menu at the bar! I indulged with the Tex Mex Eggrolls. 

Deep fried greasy goodness. I tried just to eat the inside of the egg roll and avoid the fried flour tortilla, but honestly, that was the best part! They were pretty tasty, but I woke up this morning totally regretting eating that appetizer. 

Ugh.

As a person who is constantly working on ditching the diet mentality, it was really bugging me that I was so bummed about eating the stupid eggrolls! As a person who is NOT on a diet and eats pretty healthy 90% of the time, I should have just enjoyed the splurge just as much as I enjoyed hanging out with Karise. But no...I could not shake the guilt and shame of that splurge.

How many calories did I consume last night?

Oh the amount of fat on the plate!

I want to check the nutritional values online...

This was the record that was playing in my head all morning until I just STOPPED, took a deep breath and consciously switched my focus away from what I ate. No use in lamenting over what was consumed. Also, I know that as I was stressing about what I ate, my body was absorbing the stress which can result in inflammation. We no likee inflammation. 

I turned my focus to what was good instead of focusing on what was bad (or so I thought). I started to think about all the things I was grateful for. 

My feet that move me around all day.

My gut that digests the food I consume.

The sweatabulous workout I completed this morning.

The paycheck what was just deposited in my account.

The gorgeous fall weather.  

Pretty soon, I started to feel better. I just wish I remembered to focus on the good as soon as I started to feel bad. 

Baby steps...

Now, on to today's green smoothie recipe. 

2 c dandellion greens

1 c frozen organic blueberries

1/2 tsp matcha green tea powder

1 tbsp hemp seeds

1/4 organic cucumber

1 serving Amazing Grass Organic Wheat 

1 scoop Super Collagen powder (my newest addition!)

1/2 scoop Jay Robb Egg White protein powder (unflavored)

Cheers!

Whew! Running out of smoothie steam

Days 25 and 26!
I have to be honest, I'll be glad when this challenge is over. The fall season is upon us; it's 50 degrees in the morning and I don't necessarily feel like drinking a cold green smoothie in the morning. However, I committed to 30 days of green smoothies and I am going to finish this challenge strong!

Yesterday (day 25), I was out most of the day and grabbed a green drink while I was shopping at Whole Foods. Unfortunately, they were all out of the yummy Evolution Fresh green drink which I reviewed earlier. I tried a new brand by suja elements called Green Charge. After my first swig, I was like "darn this is some good green juice!" I kept on drinking.

Wait a minute. 

This beverage is making my sweet taste buds a little too happy. I looked at the sugar contents and read it has 33g of sugar in 1 bottle! Holy moly! I stopped drinking it immediately! I knew if I continued I would have a serious sugar crash in an hour. Even though the sugar came from fruit, it was too much for my body to process at one time. 

I've mentioned this before, but I think it's worth repeating. When drinking green smoothies, you really have to be careful with your fruit to greens ratio. Ideally, it should be 2 c of greens to 1 c of fruit. Even though this drink had spinach and kale listed on its ingredients list, it was mostly fruit - mango, kiwi, pineapple, apple and banana.

So Day 25 was kind of a bust, but today (day 26), I'm back on track. 

2 c organic baby spinach 
1/2 tsp matcha green tea powder

1/2 frozen banana

1 tbsp natural peanut butter

1 serving Amazing Grass Organic Wheat 

1 packet Jay Robb Egg White protein powder (chocolate)

You may notice some ingredients that I haven't used previously. I cleaned out my cabinet and found my beloved matcha green tea. This stuff is SO good for you! I don't know why it fell out of my daily rotation. Read the 8 Wonders of Matcha Green Tea and I'll bet you go out and purchase some. I haven't seen it sold in groceries stores yet. I usually get it online or at Teavana. 

FUN FOR THE DAY 

Yesterday, I went and got a manicure at my favorite nail salon. I always leave there super relaxed. Yesterday I decided to get a 15 min chair massage in addition to the manicure since we did a TON of upper body work that morning at Unite Fitness Studio. My shoulders needed a little TLC. One thing I have to remember is that the manicurists at this salon are just that - manicurists. They are not trained in massage. Although relaxing, it wasn't exactly what my upper body muscles were aching for. 

This afternoon, I have plans to meet my neighbor and favorite photographer, Karise Allen, for happy hour. #goodoldfashionedgirlfriendtime

Cheers!

I got that runner's high

Day 24!
I can't believe September is almost over and there are just 6 more days left in this month's challenge. Time flies when you're feeling healthy.

Speaking of feeling healthy, I saw this post on Facebook this morning and it reminded me that this journey to healthy is not about weight loss or fitting into a size 2. It's about being the happiest and healthiest person I can be. 

Today is my "off" day from Unite Fitness. I usually decide in the morning what my workout will be. Sometimes I don't work out at all. Other days I will walk outside or on the treadmill reading a magazine (yes, I am one of those people). In the past few weeks, I've had the urge to go running. I may have mentioned this before, but I don't consider myself a runner...at least I didn't before today's run. 

Let me explain. 

Right after I read this post on Facebook, I saw another post from a friend at 6:15 am. She was FINISHED her early morning run (3.2 mi in 36 minutes)! Wow, this mother and wife made the time to get up and out. What's my excuse?

As I got ready to go running in the park this morning, I was overcome with gratitude that I had legs that moved and feet that carried me. I had running shoes to put on and cute workout gear to wear. I thanked God for the air that filled my lungs with each breath. This mindset made a HUGE difference in my attitude this morning.

Not only did I actually get up and out to go exercise, I ran. 
And I ran. 
And I kept running. For 3.89 miles. 

I usually tend to walk more than I run, but today, I was working off of some other energy. Even when I stopped to walk (out of habit), I realized that my body wanted to continue to run.

So I ran. I kept running until I completed the loop at Cooper River Park in 45 minutes. 

When I got back to my car, I was like wow, I feel good!  Is this the runner's high that has been so elusive? If so, I liked it, and I want it again.

I imagine if I invoke a spirit of gratitude before any workout, I can expect the same high. I'm going to test my theory out tomorrow. 

#runhappy

When I returned to my abode, I prepared the following smoothie:

2 c dandelion greens

1/2 organic bosc pear

1/2 frozen banana

1 tbsp walnuts

1 serving Amazing Grass Organic Wheat 

1 tbsp chia seeds

1 c unsweetened vanilla almond milk

Cheers!

FUN FOR THE DAY

I ran and I liked it!