Clean Eating Cleanse Day 0: How to East Back Into Your Normal Diets
CONGRATULATIONS!!! For everyone that is completing the 5 Day Clean Eating Cleanse, congrats! I am sure your bodies and energy levels are thanking you for giving them a time to relax and recover. Since you have been on a lower calorie amount these past 5 days, as well as liming and/or eliminating certain food groups, it is important to ease your body back into your ‘normal’ way of eating.
Here are some tips:
- Much of the point of this 5 Day Cleanse is to allow your appetite to shift, your metabolism to speed up and your mind/body to realize it does not need all the junk. Please don’t plan to go out and eat horribly again, it will throw your body off and cause you to regain any water weight lost from the overload on sodium.
- If you are looking to keep loosing weight, you may find that you want to keep your calorie intake where it is at. If you did a 500 calorie deficit for the Cleanse, that is exactly what you should keep to continue losing weight. However, make sure your minimum caloric intake a day is 1200! If you are intensely working out, it may need to go to closer to 1500; you need to gauge this on your energy level and how you feel.
- If you are looking to maintain your weight, you will want to slowly bring your caloric intake back up to where you need it. A good and easy tool you can use to find the amount of calories you should have to maintain your weight is here. I would suggest adding between 250-500 calories back a day until you hit your normal intake.
- Don’t go out a drink a ton of alcohol or caffeine on Day 0; you will want your body to get used to in-taking those additional calories again.
- For sugar, wheat, and salt, be mindful of the amount you are eating and don’t eat huge portions at once or it will cause bloating. You should be keeping an eye on the intake of these processed items anyways so just consider this good practice for your new way of clean eating
- Continue to drink tons of water. Especailly as you start incorporating foods back into your diets, the water will help continue to flush them out.
- Overall, just listen to your body. If you are feeling super full, ease off. If you are starving, eat so your body doesn’t think it needs to go into starvation mode. Just be smart about the things you eat and keep in mind you worked this hard for a week to eat amazing, you don’t want to ruin it. At least enjoy the higher energy and flat tummy for a while!
Congratulations again!
To being fit and fashionable, Christyn
Clean Eating Cleanse: Day 5
You have just about made it!! Today being the last day of the cleanse, the meal plans are a bit flexible as I want you to use the vegetables/proteins you have left. Also, I understand the same food items can get very repetitive so feel free to eat what sounds good, as long as it is within the options and part of the grocery list. Make sure you stay within the options I am giving you for each meal though so you stay within the calorie counts!
*Remember to eat all meals 2-3 hours apart, having your last meal at least 3 hours before bed.
BREAKFAST
Detox Vegan Green Smoothie
Blend together the following ingredients: 1/2 cup Almond Milk Organic Greek Yogurt, 1 cup kale, 1 cup spinach, 1 small handful of flat, fresh leafed parsley, 1 cup sliced apple, Ice and water as needed for consistency.
Total Calories: 148
SNACK 1
Raw Veggies + Green Tea
1 cup each of baby carrots, cucumber and broccoli with 1 cup green tea (optional: grate ginger and add lemon juice to tea)
Total Calories: 100
LUNCH
Kale Salad + Quinoa/Chicken + Veggies
You have an option today; you can do the same salad you had yesterday with the kale and quinoa, or you can do 4 oz of chicken instead. You will be having chicken for dinner so do what you have the most of and/or what sounds the best.
At least one hour before its time to eat, mix 2 cups of kale with 1/2 tablespoon olive oil and juice from 1/2 a lemon. Let sit in fridge to soften leaves. Add 1/2 cup qunioa OR 4 oz lean chicken breast. (If you want to do both quinoa and chicken, only do 1/4 cup quinoa and 2 oz chicken.) Top with cherry tomatoes, sliced cucumber and broccoli.
Total Calories: 450
SNACK 2
Mango + Green Tea
Slice a mango, potion out approx. 1 cup and eat with the skin. Drink a glass of green tea with snack (optional: grate ginger zest and add lemon juice).
If you would rather, have 10 asparagus spears with 1/4 cup quinoa and green tea.
Total Calories: 100
DINNER
Chicken + Mixed Greens + Vegetable
Cook 4 oz lean chicken breast with 1/2 tablespoon olive oil. While cooking, mix 2 cups mixed greens (spinach and arugula, kale or other greens – whatever you have most of left!), 10 spears asparagus, chopped cucumber and cherry tomatoes with 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 teaspoon lemon juice. Dice chicken and place on top of salad.
If you don’t want the chicken, use 1/2 cup quinoa instead.
Total Calories: 400
Optional Extras (adding these on will bring your total calories to 1200)
- Orange Juice in morning before workout
- Green Tea throughout day – you can have as much of this as you want!
Clean Eating Cleanse: Day 4
Day 4! I hope everyone is doing good and feeling amazing. Keep at up, you only have 2 days left! Your tummy will thank you when its looking slimmer and flatter over the weekend.
*Remember to eat all meals 2-3 hours apart, having your last meal at least 3 hours before bed.
BREAKFAST
Detox Vegan Green Smoothie
Blend together the following ingredients: 1/2 cup Almond Milk Organic Greek Yogurt, 1 cup kale, 1 cup spinach, 1 small handful of flat, fresh leafed parsley, 1 cup sliced apple, Ice and water as needed for consistency.
Total Calories: 148
SNACK 1
Raw Veggies + Green Tea
1 cup each of baby carrots, cucumber and broccoli with 1 cup green tea (optional: grate ginger and add lemon juice to tea)
Total Calories: 100
LUNCH
Kale Salad + Quinoa + Veggies
At least one hour before its time to eat, mix 2 cups of kale with 1/2 tablespoon olive oil and juice from 1/2 a lemon. Let sit in fridge to soften leaves. Add 1/2 cup qunioa OR 4 oz lean chicken breast. (If you want to do both quinoa and chicken, only do 1/4 cup quinoa and 2 oz chicken.) Top with cherry tomatoes, sliced cucumber and broccoli.
Total Calories: 450 SNACK 2
Mango + Green Tea
Slice a mango, potion out approx. 1 cup and eat with the skin. Drink a glass of green tea with snack (optional: grate ginger zest and add lemon juice).
Total Calories: 100
DINNER
Salmon + Mixed Greens + Asparagus Salad
Rub 1 pressed garlic clove, 1 teaspoon olive oil and 1 tsp lemon juice into 4 oz piece of salmon and broil. While cooking, mix 2 cups mixed greens (spinach and arugula or other greens) and 10 spears asparagus with 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 teaspoon lemon juice. Place cooked salmon on top of salad.
Total Calories: 400
Optional Extras (adding these on will bring your total calories to 1200)
- Orange Juice in morning before workout
- Green Tea throughout day – you can have as much of this as you want!
Clean Eating Cleanse: Day 3
It’s Day 3 and by lunchtime today, you will be on the downward slope of this 5 Day Clean Eating Cleanse. Well done! Today we start replacing one of our servings of veggies with a high fiber fruit. Make sure you are still eating all the other vegetables called for though!
**Remember to eat all meals 2-3 hours apart, having your last meal at least 3 hours before bed.
BREAKFAST
Detox Vegan Green Smoothie
Blend together the following ingredients: 1/2 cup Almond Milk Organic Greek Yogurt, 1 cup kale, 1 cup spinach, 1 small handful of flat, fresh leafed parsley, 1 cup sliced apple, Ice and water as needed for consistency.
Total Calories: 148
SNACK 1
Raw Veggies + Green Tea
1 cup each of baby carrots, cucumber and broccoli with 1 cup green tea (optional: grate ginger and add lemon juice to tea)
Total Calories: 100
LUNCH
Mixed Greens + Canned Salmon Salad
Mix 1 cup spinach with 1 cup arugula (or other mixed greens). Add 4 oz canned boneless, skinless salmon. Toss with 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp vinegar and 1 tsp lemon juice and add sliced cucumber or carrots on top.
Total Calories: 300
SNACK 2
Mango + Green Tea
Slice a mango, potion out approx. 1 cup and eat with the skin. (save 2nd half of mango for dinner!) Drink a glass of green tea with snack (optional: grate ginger zest and add lemon juice).
Total Calories: 100
DINNER
Kale, Quinoa and Mango Salad
Mix 2 cups kale in 1 tbsp of olive oil, 1 tsp lemon juice and 1 tsp vinegar. Let sit for an hour to soften leaves. Once ready, add 1/2 cup cooked quinoa and 1 cup sliced mango. If wanted, add other mixed greens to salad.
Optional Extras (adding these on will bring your total calories to 1200)
- Orange Juice in morning before workout
- Green Tea throughout day – you can have as much of this as you want!
‘No Cheat Till Christmas’ Starts Now!
Happy Monday! Today marks day one of “No Cheat Till Christmas” and I am so excited for everyone who has decided to join me for a month of clean eating and staying strong (and fit!) through the holidays. As I mentioned on Friday, my best advice to get through the Holidays without falling for the temptations of tasty treats is to have a goal in mind to complete after the holidays. Maybe your goal is to loose 5 pounds to start 2013, or maybe you want to run a marathon/half marathon in the Spring (or in January with me!), or maybe, you just want to be able to come out of the Holidays and not be upset at yourself for gaining weight and looking/feeling bloated. Maybe your goal is to wake up on December 26th and say “I feel amazing, I look amazing and I am stronger then I thought and was able to not be tempted by food!” No matter what your goal is, committing to “No Cheat Till Christmas” with me is going to help you get through it.
No Cheat Till Christmas is pretty simple, you simply commit 100% to your clean eating diets and calorie allowances. While doing this, obviously, you don’t cheat on holiday indulgences and treats. A “cheat” is considered anything that is not considered clean eating and/or anything that does not contain nutritional value. It is so easy to eat just to eat during the holidays but the bottom line is, there are tons of other ways to enjoy the holidays that don’t negatively affect all the hard work you have been doing the rest of the year. Additionally, there are plenty of clean options to supplement the normal holiday treat and allow you to taste the flavors of the season without cheating yourself with something unhealthy (recipes to come on the blog!). As you should know by now after seeing some of the recipes and meals I post, clean eating does not have to be boring, it just has to be unprocessed! Here are a few more tips:
- Set your calorie allowances each day and plan your meals ahead of time. I like to use the WorkoutTrainer.com Meal Planner. This planner can assist you with planning out all your meals and macro nutrients and also will help you outline your calorie requirements for the day (when you set up your account). Another great way to track your calories is to download an app on your smart phone. I like the Livestrong.com MyPlate app and the Jillian Michaels Slim Down Solution app. Both of these apps will help you set your calorie requirements and track your meals throughout the day.
- Eliminate all processed foods from your diets. Processed food consists of anything that comes in a package that has more then 5 ingredients, or ingredients you don’t recognize (i.e. chemicals). Soda is considered a processed food in my book.
- Watch the sodium. If the sodium count is higher then the total calories of an item, leave it on the shelf. The higher the sodium, the more processed the item is.
- Watch the sugar. Aim to only eat things that contain 5g of sugar or less per serving.
- Don’t say “I can’t eat that” say “I don’t eat that.” It has been proven that people that say “I cant” when offered a treat will end up binging on healthy foods later because the word “cant” indiciates a restriction. When you say “I don’t,” it gives a sense of empowerment as “don’t” implies a decision the individual makes on their own.
- Plan a ‘Clean Treat’ each day. Don’t mistake this for holiday indulgences. A ‘Clean Treat’ can be anything from a smoothie to chocolate protein shake. I like to make ‘ice cream’ for my after dinner snack with Cookies & Cream casein protein. Mix that with some organic green yogurt and top with some berries or chopped almonds and I can have something sweet while helping meet my protein requirements for the day. (Ill be posting more protein filled ‘Clean Treats’ on Instagram)
- Follow me on Instagram @TheFitnessFashionista. I post the majority of the meals I am eating with quick recipes on my Instagram. You can always find a quick and clean meal to eat as well as be reminded your not alone in this commitment
- Hashtag photos and inspiration. Post your own pictures on Instagram and Twitter from your experience over the next month with #NoCheatTillChristmas so myself and everyone else participating can follow you. And…check out more of my photos on instagram and twitter under the same hashtag
