So I'm Doing a Cleanse

I debated whether I wanted to share this latest venture with my blog friends but when I thought about all the encouragement I get from all of you on a daily basis through the blog, twitter, texts, etc I thought why not!

Now, this is NOT some juice only, no eating, or eating weird food type of cleanse.  It is actually a whole foods cleanse put out originally by Whole Living magazine in the beginning of this year.  I like it because you can actually eat as much as you want, but are just restricted by what types of foods you can eat.  The plan is broken up into 3 weeks with a bonus 4th week, which I will NOT be doing :).   My good friend, Rachel, asked me to join her so we could help keep each other accountable, eat meals together, and complain about how we really really want a piece of bread, a cup of coffee, or some chocolate!

NOPE...can't have this :)

I'm hoping that I'll come away with some better eating habits and kick my caffeine and sugar addictions to the curb.  As I type this I'm currently on day 1 of NO caffeine (I've been weaning myself off slowly) and I'm trying really hard to ignore the headache gaining strength in my brain! UPDATE: I caved and took some tylenol with caffeine and drank a diet Coke...oopsies!

Anyways, here is what the 3 weeks looks like and how I plan to try and stay full and not craving everything I can't eat :)

WEEK 1 - Fruits, veggies, nuts/seeds, oils

• Basically NO dairy, meat, grains, sugar, caffeine, alcohol, etc
• I expect to eat a TON of salads
• Smoothies for breakfast
• Sweet potatoes, avocados, olive oil and seeds to help fill me up 
• Roasted veggies maybe a soup for dinners
• Planning on making sunflower seed butter my best friend :)

I imagine this week will be the hardest since there is really no protein in any of these foods and I'm a protein LOVER! I'm going to keep it easy on the exercise this week since I won't be fueled properly for it and just try to relax a little...something I'm not usually very good at.

WEEK 2 - Adding seafood and legumes

• Can now eat beans, tofu, and all seafood...this should make things easier!
• I love salmon so I'm certain I'll be eating lots of this and shrimp!
• Hopefully my cravings for caffeine will be gone so I can enjoy the cleanse a little more, wishful thinking?
• I have some social engagements during this week/weekend so that should make it interesting to figure out how to navigate that (I want to try and stick to this plan 100% as much as humanly possible without becoming a hermit for 21 days!)

WEEK 3 - Adding gluten free grains and EGGS!

• Add grains like quinoa and rice.  Still no pasta and bread :(.  
• My regular breakfast of eggs is back!! 
• The possibilities are endless now and I should be able to make pretty substantial meals at this point.
• Kind of hoping I maintain this sort of eating most of the time after this is all over

Do I expect to never have caffeine, sugar or alcohol after these 3 weeks?  HECK NO!  Although, I would like to try and not drink coffee for as long as possible but I plan on enjoying a nice big glass of wine to celebrate the end of this whole thing :).

I'm starting on Tuesday...wish me luck and stay tuned to see if I survive!  

Question: Any of you ever done any sort of "cleanse" or eating challenge?