Ch-ch-ch-changes, changes.

I haven't talked about it on the blog lately, but I know all you readers are no stranger to how sick I was last year, then again this year a few months back.  Same as last year when I was sick, there was no resolution.  We made some progress this time around with some abnormal test results we wanted to chase, but ultimately I'm as healthy as a spaghetti squash.  Again, same as last year, my doctor and I started out on the same page, which slowly turned into a nasty break-up when his only solution was hardcore narcotics which would work more as a band-aid then actually accomplishing anything.  I knew after our road trip, I wanted to try either a new doctor, or form of medicine - but I just wasn't quite sure what it would be.  While we were out and about, we stayed with our dear friends Ryan and Lindsey in SLC.  The 4 of us had gotten back from dinner while Ryan and Hunter were walking to the grocery store to get ice cream for the freshly picked garden rhubarb crisp Lindsey and I were making.  (Who cares if it was like 10pm.  When the craving strikes, who are we to say no?)  Lindsey opened their fridge to get out the fixins for our impromptu dessert, when I saw a blender half full of this glorious green mixture.  To anyone who might not be quite the vegetable lover, it might have looked like rather disgusting and like "sludge", but to those of us who are more in tune obsessed with veggies I knew exactly what it was.  A Green Monster, baby.  I got super super fuper super duper excited, and asked her if she was on the Green Smoothie train also.  And whattdya know?!  She was, which was pretty sweetness.

Don't worry, this isn't a huge blog post about how my friend girl crush also drinks green smoothies.  This is actually going somewhere.

That green smoothie conversation lead to one of her recent book reads, Crazy Sexy Diet.  She started out by saying "Well I recently did this cleanse...." and my first thought was "NOT THE CABBAGE SOUP DIET AGAIN."  However, the more she started talking about this cleanse, it sounded more like a new lifestyle and way of eating versus a cleanse in the traditional sense.  The scariest part to me was when she said "No drinking or coffee for 21 days."  Actually, let's be honest.  Booze?  Yeah, it is a fun social event but I can most certainly take it or leave it.  No coffee for 21 days?  God save us all.

Essentially it is 21 days of strictly vegan eating, lots of green smoothies, tea, water, meditation and exercise.  I thought a lot about what she had told me of the book and the cleanse on our way home.  After really talking to Hunter about it, we concluded the food portion wouldn't be too far off from what I was currently eating.  I've never been a big meat eater, and between Hunter and I, we could both have a meal of just veggies and various grains and be happy as an avocado in guacamole.  { I'm cracking myself up over here with the veggie metaphors, FYI }.  I took to the mindset that if a doctor can't figure out what was causing me so much discomfort and pain, possibly I could figure it out by what I was, or wasn't putting into my body.

One of the first things I did when we got back to Denver was order the Crazy Sexy Diet book.

And then proceeded to read it in 2 days.  Yup.  It's that good.

Kris Carr was diagnosed with stage 4 liver cancer, and opted to take on the battle herself versus sitting in a hospital bed waiting more treatment and medicine.  { I'm paraphrasing.  Read the book for the full story! }  Besides the book being so insanely inspiring, it is packed full of information, statistics and REALLY amazing recipes.  I knew the second I cracked the book that yes, I would most certainly be doing this cleanse she challenged you to at the end of the read.  I have to say, I've learned SO much from this book and am totally inspired.  { Have fun eating lunch or dinner with me, because I won't let you put a piece of cooked vegetable or meat in your mouth without me getting at least one tidbit in, and I wish I was joking. }  Last week was my "Ween Week", which was slowly removing any meat, dairy, caffeine and alcohol from my diet.  Today marks day 1 of the 21 cleanse!  It will be a really wonderful challenge but I am so up for the task.  I look forward to more energy, a new appreciation for raw foods while enjoying the morning and night suggested meditation.  

What does this mean for you fancy faces?  Tons of blog posts on what new foods I've been trying, how it's been going and my favorite green smoothie combinations.  { Current favorite?  Big handful of spinach and kale.  Cucumber, avocado, banana, strawberries, Almond Milk, oats, flaxseed, protein powder, echinacea powder all blended with ice. }  Poor Hunter has already had to sit through several sessions with me and his tablet on Pinterest browsing "Vegan recipes" for far to long than I'd care to admit.  I cooked this last week, and holy shizuka was that better than sex cake!  No seriously, it really was better than any refined sugar, calorie saturated cake you could come up with.

It's day 1 at 11am and can you believe I don't have a caffeine headache?!  I can't.  Apparently that ween week really was good for something.

I'll continue with the updates through the days and probably hours, so I hope you's bitches are looking forward to tons and dozens photos of veggiesssssssssssssssss!  Not like that would really be anything new.