What I Learned from my 10 Day (but really 5) Juice Cleanse

Before you jump on me for not doing the full 10 days, hear me out.  I have never stuck with anything health wise as long as I did with my juice cleanse.  For 5 days, I drank vegetable and fruit juice and ate nothing but raw vegetables, fruits, and lean meats.  Even though I had dreams of fried chicken and cornbread soufflé ( a new recipe that I love), I stood my ground and stuck to my cleanse. 

I think my face has slimmed a bit

You may be wondering why I didn’t go the full 10 days. Well, let me explain.  On day 3 I had lost 4 pounds.  I was so excited to see the number going down.  By day 5, another 3 pounds.  I couldn’t believe it.  Then I realized, after the cleanse I was going to have to find a way to retain the weight loss.  So I made a list of all the foods I didn’t eat this past week.  That included:

• Sodas
• Fast foods
• Starches
• Red meat
• Snack cakes

I decided that I needed to learn how to eat once off my juice cleanse.  I’m going to keep some elements of the cleanse.  I want to continue a glass of juice for breakfast and have a light lunch with lots of vegetables.  Dinner is still going to be a challenge for me because after work I’m starving and I tend to raid my kitchen like a crazy person.  Hopefully, meal prep and healthy snacks will help with that.

I also learned to control my portions and when to push the plate away.  It was great not having this “about to burst” feeling in my stomach.  I slept great at night knowing I had only eaten good food instead of having guilt from eating a lot of stuff I knew I didn’t need.  

In conclusion, this juice cleanse helped me to see the importance of eating right.  It’s going to be work but I’m will to change my eating habits to continue to see the number on the scale going down.  

Juicing: Day 1 and Day 2

If you read my previous post, you know that I am on a juice cleanse and I’m taking you on my journey. 

Day 1 was not too bad.  Drinking a juice for breakfast wasn’t too hard for me considering I don’t have much of an appetite in the morning anyways.  Lunch was a different story.  There are great places to eat within minutes of my job so it was hard passing them up for a spinach salad and grapes.  But I’m proud to say that I resented temptation and stuck to my cleanse.   I had slight of a headache but it subsided by the time I had my final juice of the day.

My lunch

Day 2 was little better.  I had a blueberry mint juice.  It was a bit tart so I made this weird face every time I took a sip.  What was more difficult today was dinner.  The way to end a stressful day is a delicious meal.  Well, since I couldn’t sink my teeth in a juicy piece of fried chicken, I switched up my dinner juice.  Instead of eating a green juice, I had carrot, banana, and apple juice with a handful of almonds.  Not quite fried chicken but it will work. 

Dinner juice!!!

One thing about a juice cleanse is that it will make you think about all of your favorite foods: shrimp fried rice, Chipotle burrito, PB&J sandwich.  I would fight a tiger right now for just a sip of a Diet Coke.  Even though it’s day 2 I’m realizing that it’s going to take a different type of self-discipline to get through the next 8 days.  You know, the type of self-discipline that monks have when they take a vow of silence. 

Thankfully I’m off the next few days so at least I can be cranky and hungry at home.

Stay tuned and be sure to follow me on Instagram (@ebonymariere) for pics and videos of my juice cleanse.  

Juicing: Taking You Along for the Journey

While everyone is making their New Year’s Resolutions for 2015, I’ve decided to get started a little early…2 weeks to be exact.  On Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest, juice cleanses are all the rage.  As a nutrition educator, I was skeptical of limiting myself to only one type of food.  As a food connoisseur, eating an all liquid diet didn’t excite me. 

Getting ready to make some juice

Let me just put it out there, I LOVE food.  By lunch time, I’m already thinking about what I’m going to cook for dinner.  It’s nothing for me to rummage through Pinterest for hours looking for new recipes.  I have numerous screen shots in my phone of recipes I find on Facebook.  The fat kid inside me gets excited about restaurant openings.  If there already wasn’t so many, I probably would have become a food blogger.

My last meal before the cleanse

Unfortunately, my love of food is also why I have gained more weight than I would like in the last couple of years.  At the beginning of 2014, my goal was to get out of the 200lb mark.  I work out and I do my best to eat right.  But sometimes McNuggets just be calling my name.  Sad to say, it’s the end of 2014 and I have yet to accomplish that goal.  Well, drastic times call for drastic measures. 

After talking to a couple of friends, I have decided to start a modified juice cleanse.  For me this will mean a juice in the morning, a light lunch, and juice for dinner.  I will also include snacks like raw vegetables, fruits, and boiled eggs and almonds for protein.  This isn’t a true cleanse.  A true cleanse would be a juice for all three meals, however, I ain’t bout that life.  It puts my mind at ease knowing that my body will still be getting a variety of nutrients from different sources. 

First 2 juices for Monday

Chicken for my light lunch

 I’m already nervous thinking about the hunger pains and headaches.  But like anything else, you can only take it a day at a time. My goal is to do this for 10 days.  Yes, 10 days.   In order to keep me on my toes, I will try to keep you all updated daily about my cleanse either here on my blog or on my Instagram account (@ebonymariere).  Be sure to follow to stay up-to-date with how I’m doing. 

 Have you ever done a juice cleanse?  How did you do? 

Sorority Sisters: A Review of the Criticism

Hey everybody!!! I am glad to be back for a minute to discuss the craziness going on in pop culture.  If you were on Twitter or Facebook on Monday night, you probably saw a lot conversations surrounding Sorority Sisters.  Sorority Sisters is a VH1 reality show following 9 women from each of the 4 historical black sororities.  Needless to say, Black Greek members and others in the black community were none too happy about the premiere of this show.

Source: hellobeautiful.com

Let me go on the record by saying that I'm not a fan of the Mona Scott Young franchise.  Mostly because her shows bore me.  Every show (Love & Hip Hop ATL, Love & HIp Hop New York, Love & Hip Hop Hollyood) is about wannabes clubbing and fighting.  Ain't nobody got time for that. But when I heard she was going to do a show about sororities, I was like "Wow.  Mona Scott Young will stop it nothing to get these coins."  So yea, I already knew that I was going to watch the first episode at the very least.

The only review I have of this show is that if I had it on mute I couldn't tell the difference between this or Love & Hip Hop or Basketball Wives.  Same weaves, same over contouring make-up,  same Forever 21 outfits, same leopard pumps : the formula for showcasing basic chicks.  Honestly, I'm not sure I'm interested enough to tune in next week.

However, what I'm more interested in is the criticism the show is receiving.  Black Greek life can be a very touchy subject.  Mostly, Black Greeks don't like non-Greeks discussing it unless you are praising their organizations.  Don't discuss the at time tragic hazing incidents or the elitist attitudes that some of them  carry.  Just praise them for the good community service work they do.  Okay...

On Twitter, some tried to start a boycott of VH1 and the companies who advertised during the first episode of Sorority Sisters.  So I can't get my pasta bowl from Olive Garden because they had a commercial during Sorority Sisters?? Or I can't rock comfy Fruit of the Loom underwear because you mad that VH1 put your sorority on front street? Don't blame Fruit of the Loom cause your sister showed up to the auditions.  Not one gun was put to the head of these women to join the show.  The producers are not holding them hostage to show out in front of the cameras.  All 9 of them, willingly, chose to participate in this show.  It sounds like you need to be finding them on Facebook and giving them a stern, but respectful, DM and leave me to my never-ending pasta bowl.  

My face when people want me to boycott food and underwear

Another part of this criticism that is confusing to me is how people are acting like Black Greek Life is too sacred to be  showcased in this format.  Last year, I wrote a piece on my disgust of how Preachers of L.A. was turning Christianity into a cheap spectacle that was misleading people about what the Bible really teaches.  Even though I heard a few objections to the aforementioned show, it was nowhere near the belly aching I have heard about Sorority Sisters.  Am I to believe that people are more upset about their organization being embarrassed than at Oxygen for mocking God whom they claim to owe their life to?

I don't believe that some Black Greeks are mad that they are being exploited.  I believe they are more upset that they are being knocked off that high pedestal they have put themselves on for so long.  As I mention earlier, Black Greeks don't like you talking about them unless you are praising them.  This makes them feel special, like they are a special breed.  However, this show is doing every thing but praising them.  So now we are seeing that they can be just a loud and brash as the rest of us. Fancy that...

As a blogger and someone who will be starting another business soon, I get wanting to protect your brand or reputation.  I also understand that these organizaton have years of history of sisterhood and service.  But I have a feeling that this particular situation is more about keeping up appearances than brand protection.  

What were your thoughts about the first episode of Sorority Sisters?