Life | Detox Diary Day Eleven

After a good nights sleep I woke up on Monday morning feeling about a thousand times better than I had the day before. Happy Monday! (I don't normally put those two words together....)

07.00 am - Hot Water and Lemon

07.30 am - Berry Smoothie

12.00 pm - Cocounut Macademia Bounce Ball and Teapigs Green Tea, the perfect little pick-me-up.

14.30 pm - After a very busy morning I finally had a chance to stop for lunch! I bought a Promixx Vortex Shaker to help mix up the powder, this was the first time I had a chance to use it. It has a little battery powered blender inside. Ideally you want to drink your Smoothie as soon as possible after mixing it which is why I didn't make ahead in the morning. I'd measured out the Almond Milk and Detox Protein Powder the night before and added half a banana and got......

....chunks! They look like little banana floaters! The Promixx mixes well but is no substitute for an actual blender. Lesson learned. I will have my fruit on the side in future! In other good news, I'm getting used to the texture of the shakes so having them twice a day isn't a drama.

19.30 pm - Dinner. We had the Hearty Winter Stew that I had frozen from Day Seven. We added half a cup of lentils to give it a bit more substance for dinner. The detox is great for that. All the recipes make quite a few portions which are perfect for the freezer.

21.00 pm - Chamomile and Maple Tea.

22.30 pm - Bed.

Life | Detox Diary Day Ten

On Day Ten I hit a wall....metaphorically speaking of course.

I didn't sleep well the night before......something to do with getting woken up by a drunk boy at 4 am (ahem Daniel). And then I woke up to a massive list of things to do and just basically wanted to cry....but I didn't. DB (that's Drunken Boy not Dear Boyfriend nor Dan Bernard) made me a Berry Shake and then we headed off to Sainsbury's to get supplies. I should have taken a picture of the trolley, you've never seen so much green stuff!

09.00 am - Hot Water and Lemon

10.00 am -  Berry Smoothie

12.30 pm - Almond Bounce Ball

14.30 pm - Berry Smoothie

17.30 pm - Teapigs Chai Tea with a splash of Almond Milk. This is my favourite Detox Treat, it tastes really spicy, and is so warming and comforting.

18.00 pm - I took myself off for a little Epsom Salt Bath Exorcism, I was feeling so tired and grumpy by this point.

19.00 pm - We had Thai Green Curry (detox recipe) just like Day One, except for this time we had it with Steamed Kale and Pak Choi instead of Brown Rice.

The thing I have struggled most with in Week Two is hunger, and hungry Ali is not a happy Ali. I've made this Super Mood Kale Salad (Detox Recipe) to have ready as a snack. It's so yummy, it definitely helped to put a smile back on my face.

20.00 pm - We watched the last ever episode of Breaking Bad...sob! I can't decide whether I like the ending or not. Either way it was a great show. Now we need a new one to get into....any suggestions? What's good?

22.00 pm -  Bed.

Life | Detox Diary Day Nine

Oh sweet, sweet Saturday, how I love you. And this one was no exception, a beautiful sunny day in Bristol, a hair appointment and shopping after.....aaaand squeezing in a little detox in-between it all!

08.30 am - Hot Water with Lemon. I actually woke up at around 5am with a headache but had a glass of water and managed to get back to sleep for a couple of hours.

09.00 am - Apple Smoothie. I tried this one with water instead of Almond Milk....big no, no! Almond Milk all the way when it comes to these Smoothies.

12.00 pm - At Maximum FX getting my mane sorted, I snacked on an Almond Bounce Ball and some Green Tea.

14.30 pm - Dan made me my lunchtime Berry Smoothie. He's found a really good way to make it taste less grainy for me. He adds the powder to a shaker with some warm water, gives it a vigorous shake and then adds it to the rest of the Smoothie Ingredients and then blends. It's sooo much better! Just a little note on this....I'm really weird about "food texture" for example I love the taste of pears but hate the texture, so others might not have a problem with the powder!

18.00 pm - When I got back from shopping I was ravenous! I had 2 tablespoons of natural yogurt with half a chopped apple and some pistachio's.

21.30 pm - We went out to dinner at Al Bacio in the evening. It was crazy busy in there and it took quite a while for our food to arrive.

I managed to resist all the anti-pasti, garlic bread, calamari, pizza.... I say this lightly on reflection but I literally nearly cried when they bought out pizza....my favourite food on the planet.

To distract me from a table full of people eating delicious food I took some pictures of them.....

.....And then my dinner arrived, a Whole Grilled Seabass with a Side Salad. As pretty as this little fella was I asked the guys at Al Bacio to fillet it for me, I love fish but this seemed like way too much work when I was so hungry!

Mmmmm, fries (in the background)....I didn't have any, sob!

It was absolutely delicious and there was so much of it I couldn't actually finish it. I can't wait to go back and try some more of the menu, everyone's food looked so good.

12.00 am - I had stuck on water all night so whilst the others went out to party, I went home to bed! I definitely feel more tired this week than last week.

Life | Detox Diary Day Eight

As I mentioned yesterday, Week Two of the Detox is all about the Liver.

"What's so great about your Liver?" I hear you ask. In true Chandler Bing style I think we should reverse that question to "What is not so great about your Liver?" And the answer would be - "Nothing". In terms of overall health, your Liver is the one to look after.

I found the passage below here.

It explains the importance of your Liver far more eloquently than I can.

"Your liver is your largest internal organ, and it’s responsible for an astonishing variety of life-sustaining and health-promoting tasks – including those that make healthy weight loss and weight management possible. Integral to countless metabolic processes, the liver supports the digestive system, controls blood sugar and regulates fat storage. It stores and mobilizes energy, and produces more proteins than any other organ in the body. It also regulates your blood flow and, if you’re a woman, keeps your menstrual cycles running smoothly.

One of your liver’s most important functions, though – and the one most crucial to your weight loss – is chemically breaking down everything that enters your body, from the healthiest bite of organic food to the poisonous pesticides that linger on your salad; from the purest filtered water to a glass of wine or a cup of coffee; from your daily vitamin and mineral supplements to your doctor-prescribed blood-pressure medication.

It’s your liver’s job to distinguish between the nutrients you need to absorb and the dangerous or unnecessary substances that must be filtered out of your bloodstream. But when the liver is clogged and overwhelmed with toxins, it can’t do a very effective job of processing nutrients and fats. So if you’re concerned with managing your weight, remember this important point: The more toxic your body becomes, the more difficulty you’ll have losing weight and keeping it off. "

So you see where I'm coming from? Detoxing that bad boy is pretty darn important.

For Week Two of Fi's Detox Plan I will be having a special powder mix blended into a smoothie to help support the liver. Throughout the entire Detox I have also been taking supplements specifically designed for what my body needs to support this process. I won't mention what they are, because everyone's needs are different.

Here's how Day Eight turned out.

07.00 am Hot Water and Lemon

07.30 am Berry Smoothie. I'm not going to lie, the detox powder doesn't make the smoothie taste bad but it does give it a really gritty texture. I'm going to have to work on that one!

11.30 am Teapigs Green Tea and Coconut Macademia Bounce Ball

13.45 pm I was working from home and decided to experiment a bit with the powder for lunch. I've long been a fan of the Tone It Up girls' Protein Pancake and though I would use this powder to try and re-create them!

It doesn't look the best but actually tasted great! I added some fresh cherries into the mix too.

19.30 pm After a good couple of hours stressing out about my new phone I got around to making dinner. We had Lemon Lentil Soup with Kale (a Detox recipe), like all the recipes this was really filling and tasty.

23.00 pm More freaking out about my phone, and an episode of Breaking Bad later. I headed to bed.