T20 BP Day 1

 Day one of Dr. Furman's Transformation 20

Breakfast

Banana Walnut Breakfast

1serving

1 banana
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
1 cup blueberries
1/4 cup walnut pieces
3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk

Slice banana into a cereal bowl. Stir in flax seeds, blueberries, walnut pieces, and non-dairy milk.

Thoughts:

This was good! The frozen blueberries made the almond milk turn a beautiful color of purple. It was tasty and filling.

5/5

Dinner

Creamy zucchini and corn soup

3 servings

1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic,
2 lb zucchini (about five medium), chopped
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
4 cups no salt added vegetable broth
1/4 cup raw cashews
2 tablespoons unhulled hemp seeds
4 cups spinach
2 cups frozen corn kernels
1/4 tsp. Black pepper or to taste

Add onion, garlic, zucchini, basil, time, oregano and vegetable broth to a large soup pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer for 25 minutes or until zucchini is tender.

Pour into a high powered blender (in batches, if necessary), add the cashews and hemp seeds and blend until smooth and creamy.

Return soup to the pot, add corn and spinach, bring to a simmer and cook until spinach is wilted. Add water if needed to adjust consistency. Season with black pepper.

Thoughts:

I made this wrong. First, I sauteed the onion and garlic with about a Tbsp of avocado oil. I used fresh basil. I misread the recipe, and blended about half of the zucchini mixture with the cashews... Oh, and I used homemade chicken stock I had on hand. Also forgot the hemp seeds!

It was alright. Not the worst Dr fuhrman soup I've had. My alterations probably improved it a bit :)

3.75/5

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The Morning After the Cleanse

Avocado n' Oats Breakfast Smoothie

Our green smoothie cleanse is officially over and guess what I had for breakfast this morning? A green smoothie. Believe it or not, I still like smoothies. In fact, just knowing that I can actually eat food today makes this smoothie taste better. I saw a recipe for a Custom Breakfast Smoothie that I'd wanted to try, so I decided, why wait! Her recipe calls for a mix of ground linseed, sunflower seeds, and almonds. I don't have that on hand, so I figured almond milk might give it a nutty flavor. Here is what I put in my smoothie:

Avocado n' Oats Breakfast Smoothie
2 cups almond milk
1 banana
1/4 avocado
1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa
2 Tbsp oats
a handful of baby spinach
agave to taste

We are celebrating the end of our cleanse by christening Kendra's new grill that arrived at her home this morning. I decided to marinate some carrot dogs for the occasion. I used this recipe that my mom directed me towards. You can read all about Kendra's green smoothie cleansing experience over on her blog Stroked to Life. Of course, this BBQ isn't an excuse to go crazy. Kendra bought some portobello mushrooms, zucchini, corn, and other veggies to grill tonight. We are also going to grill some pineapple, have a few different types of salad, and some chicken and shrimp if people want to eat meat (which I probably won't). I can't wait!

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Green Smoothie Cleanse - Willow's Day Three

So, I thought I was tired yesterday morning. Well, this morning was a thousand times worse. Andrew woke me up just before seven and I was not a happy camper. It felt like the train outside our apartment had become derailed during the night, flown up three stories, and proceeded to run me over. Alright, it might not have been that dramatic, maybe it was more like being hit by a cement truck...

I think I pushed a little too far at the gym yesterday. The right side of my back killed after I got home and  it got worse later on. By the time I went to bed last night I thought I'd pulled something. This morning Andrew had to grab me by the ankle and pull me out of bed. I was not quite coherent and in pain. While I was walking to the kitchen to start blending our first round of smoothies, Andrew looked at me and asked, "Why are you walking like a witch?" I hadn't noticed that I was hunched over, with my forearms pulled up and my hands in a weird half wringing--half grasping position close to my chest. I could have taken a picture and drawn an arrow that said Insert Poisoned Apple Here.

Once I was awake enough to start making smoothies, things got better. Andrew asked for...wait for it....wait for it... two Cinnamon Cherry Smoothies. I can't say I was surprised. That has been his favorite so far. While I was putting it all in the blender I realized that I didn't have enough cherries. I made some substitutions, but it wasn't the same. After pouring 60 oz into Andrew's containers there was only 8 oz left. I poured it into a small cup for myself. Andrew walked over, asked if the smoothie tasted good, picked up my cup and drank half of it.

I didn't make another smoothie until 2 pm. With the cherries gone, I had to look at the other fruit in the freezer. How did I not notice that we have blueberries? I decided to make a Blueberry Lemon Green Smoothie. My little brother was over doing his laundry and kept saying things like, "Wow, that looks good!" While I was shaving his neck (sounds strange, but he comes over for laundry and haircuts all the time) he kept eyeing the smoothie on the counter. Finally, he asked if he could have some. He didn't drink much and I could tell he wanted more. I doled out Andrew C.'s portion (to take to him at work) and my portion (the leftover 3 cups). Andrew T. (my little bro) told me that the smoothie was really good. As I was drinking it I thought, this is tasty, but it would be a lot better if I hadn't been drinking smoothies for the past 2 1/2 days.

When I went to pick Andrew up at the  office he had a lot more work to do. I really didn't want to drive home only to have to come right back, but I really needed to start sipping on smoothie in order to get all 128 oz in. While Andrew continued working, I drove over to Jamba Juice to get us some green smoothies (after a stop at Good Earth... turns out I'd received misinformation - they do not sell green smoothies). I ordered a 32 oz of Jamba's Apple n' Greens and a 32 oz of their Orange Carrot Karma. All I can say is yuck! Both Andrew and I agreed that they were equally disgusting. The orange one tasted like hay and the green one tasted just as bad.

When we finally got home (after 8 pm) I made myself a large Mixed Berry Green Smoothie. It tasted so much better than Jamba's. Maybe I need to open up my own place. Andrew said that it was even better than Roxberry's green smoothies! Drank part of it out on our porch while the sun was setting, nice, very nice.

Side effects: Not many after this morning. I am tired of making and drinking smoothies. Andrew woke up with a ton of gunk in his eyes and some pain. I think the eye pain is from allergies, not the smoothies. Lots of bathroom trips, but that's par for the course. Hmm... yeah, that's it.

Recipes:

smoothies

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Water, Water, Everywhere

You know you're drinking a lot of water when...

you start filling up anything in the house that has measurement marks on it.  The third day of the cleanse is almost over and I feel like I am sloshing when I walk.

cleanse

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Green Smoothie Cleanse - Willow's Day Two

Two days down! We are almost done with this cleanse. I woke up very tired this morning. In fact, Andrew had to come in a couple times to make sure I actually got up. Last night I started to have a headache right before bed. My head still hurt a bit this morning. Once I got up and moving I was just fine.

Andrew requested the Cinnamon Cherry Green Smoothie again. I made it about the same as yesterday, except for some added wheat germ. While Andrew was in the shower, I got the brilliant idea of surprising him with a delicious Chocolate Peanut Butter Green Smoothie. He loves Reese's... so he'd love Reese's as a smoothie, um, with some spinach... okay, it seemed like a good idea at the time. We'd run out of non-dairy milk, so I used water. The cocoa powder was bitter, so I added some chocolate protein powder. Still not quite right. Here is where I start being dumb. I decided to add some oats, a pinch of cinnamon, and a dash of vanilla (like chocolate peanut butter oatmeal cookies). Yeah, it was gross. Andrew tried it and thought the same thing. Since he wasn't going to drink it, I added a some banana and it actually helped.

For lunch I decided to branch out from the purple and green smoothies that we've been drinking. I started thinking about how carrot and ginger go really well together. After making a Carrot Apple Zinger (yeah, I'm awesome at naming smoothies), I drove it over to Andrew's work. I thought it tasted good, but Andrew said it wasn't smooth enough. The apple I added at the end hadn't become liquefied I guess. There wasn't much carrot smoothie left after pouring Andrew's into a bottle, so I made our Signature Green Smoothie again for my lunch (too bad I didn't finish it before going to the gym, left it out on the counter, and it was disgusting by the time I got home).

For dinner I decided to try a Tropical Carrot Smoothie. Andrew told me that he was tired of drinking smoothies and therefore didn't care what I made. At first, I blended up a bunch of fruit with some almond milk (went to the store earlier in the day) and coconut water, but I then realized that it wasn't a a green smoothie. I needed to put in some veggies. So, In order to keep the color and preserve the taste, I added a carrot. Voilà, instant green smoothie! I should add that a "green smoothie" in my mind just means a smoothie with vegetables it


By the time Andrew and I finished our last smoothie it was 9:30 pm. We added up our ounces for the day. I was short by about two cups and Andrew was short by one. It was too late to drink more smoothie. We'll do better tomorrow.


Side effects: I had enough energy at the gym, but at about 7 pm fatigue hit me like a brick wall. Andrew got tired at about the same time. I was in the bathroom a lot, so was Andrew, but Dr. Christopher's Lower Bowel Formula must be pretty mild. I wasn't sitting on the toilet all day like I'd expected. My mouth didn't feel as bad as yesterday. I did have to brush my teeth partway through the day to get rid of the weird filmy feeling.

Today was better than yesterday. Actually, today was pretty easy. I caught myself thinking that I could probably keep this up forever... that thought didn't last very long. At the end of the day I was tired of making and drinking smoothies. Andrew said that today was worse than yesterday. He had a lingering headache throughout the day. I told him it was all the toxins being released by his body. It could also be the stress of being on a cleanse while at work, who knows.

Recipes (you know you want to drink some chocolate, peanut butter and spinach together):

smoothies

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Green Smoothie Cleanse - Willow's Day One

This morning started off in a rush. Since Andrew decided to be supportive and do this thing with us, I had to blend up a TON of smoothie. I packed two different kinds for Andrew to take to work: Our Signature Green Smoothie (actually green, see above pictures) and a Cherry Coconut Green Smoothie.

In order to avoid the dreaded smoothie separation that tends to happen when a smoothie sits, I decided to put Andrew's smoothies into shaker bottles (yes, they are usually for protein powder drinks made on the go). Andrew finished off one of the bottles by the time we got to his office. This worked out well. I was able to take the bottle home, wash it, and use it again to bring him another smoothie later on in the day - another green one.

I drank the leftover smoothie that didn't fit into Andrew's shaker bottles. However, it didn't come close to the gallon that we are supposed to drink for the day.  Since I was out and about most of the day, I did buy a Berry UpBeet smoothie from Jamba Juice. In between appointments*, working out, and bathroom breaks... and I mean a lot of bathroom breaks... I was able to make the Green Smoothie Girl's Hot Pink smoothie. I decided to double the recipe and ended up reaching the max fill line on my Vitamix.

When Andrew got off work it was almost 7pm. This was the first time that I really started thinking about food. I didn't feel hungry, but I caught myself thinking about what we would have for dinner... oh, yeah, that's right, smoothie. In order to counteract my desire to actually chew something I pulled out some delicious peppermint gum (is that cheating?).

I made another smoothie for Andrew's dinner (he wouldn't touch the rest of the green smoothie in the fridge). This time I made one of our favorites: Cinnamon Cherry. For some reason we've been on a cherry kick lately.

Both Andrew and I did suffer from some fatigue in the late afternoon. Mine didn't hit until after the gym, so maybe working out isn't the best thing to do on a cleanse. As far as other side effects: Andrew got a headache. I felt like I had a film covering my teeth and tongue even after brushing.

Andrew did a lot better on the gallon of water. He got all of his in, but I'm still sipping on water as I type this. It's going to be a long night. I might as well roll out a sleeping bag on the bathroom floor. We took two of Dr Christopher's Lower Bowel Formula capsules a few hours ago. Yep, it'll be a long night.

Day One Smoothie Recipes (as a side note, these recipes may not be exact - I tend not to measure, so these are my guesstimates):

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