"your greatness is not what you have, it's what you give"

I woke up at 5am this morning, sat down to enjoy my coffee by the wood stove in the basement, and somehow decided that today would be the start of an experiment in food.  I've been reading about juice fasts and smoothies for weeks.  I know the benefits of eating clean, and I'm not trying to lose any weight.  Considering the fact that I've only had one cold in the past year, I think I'm pretty damn healthy.  Not only that, I know a lot of people would love to have the genetic predisposition that I have to be small and fit.  Image isn't everything though; it's what's on the inside that matters.  No, I'm not talking about personality, although that does tend to be pretty important.  What I'm getting at is all the other stuff in there...  we have organs that we can't see (duh) that depend on us to keep them healthy.  There are plenty of skinny people out there who look freaking hot as hell on the outside, but their insides are all caked up with doritos and cheeseburgers.  It's high time we start taking care of the parts of us that keep us feeling alive. Literally.

I've been pretty open about my daily smoothie habit (kale or spinach with fruit and stuff).  It's an easy way to get in a couple servings of veggies and fruit, and it helps clean out your intestines while boosting your energy.  I know that I couldn't handle a juice fast because that basically consists of just juice for a set amount of time.  I need fiber and chunks of stuff.

So, what I am proposing, for the next week (maybe longer provided I feel as good as I hope to), I'm going to have smoothies and soups all day everyday.  Today was day one, and I had no problem meeting my daily calorie expectations today, and I never really felt like I was hungrier than I should be.  My only true temptation was the almost irresistible aroma coming from the greasy diner near work.  The smell of fried food is an embarrassing weakness for me.

Smoothie #1:
2 cups coconut milk
2 small bananas
1 small pear
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp allspice

Smoothie #2:
4 c.H2O
2 c. spinach
1 c. raspberries
1 c. mango
1 TB chia seeds
2 TBs sunflower seeds
1 packet of Emergen-C

Smoothie #3:
2 c. almond milk
1 c. blueberries
2 TBs Peanut Butter (natural chunky)
16 dark chocolate chips (ghiardelli 60%)

Smoothie #4:
2 c. coconut milk
2 pears
1 TB maple syrup (the good shit)
1 TB sunflower seeds


(I have veggie soup simmering on the stove as I type.)  

I woke up with a headache that I had most of the day (probably due to all the shit I ate yesterday and then capped off with beer).  I felt energized most of the day, and even now, 12.5 hours after waking, I feel pretty peppy.  So far, so good.  The biggest problem I foresee at the moment is in resisting my corn chip addiction.  Maybe I can find a way to put them in the blender... jk.  The whole point of the smoothies and soup is to have super nourishing stuff non-stop for a week.  Corn chips don't have much in the way of nutrients, so I'm going to have to wait til next week (or later) to get my crunch on.  

Until tomorrow....