Day One - Found Green Drink with Great Taste!

This Martha's Vineyard 21 Day Detox Diet attracted my attention- first with it's title and then with the stated results.

So I'm giving it a whirl. What Have I got to lose but pounds and toxins, right?
I'm a vegetarian so I eat pretty well. I was an ovo-lacto vegetarian until this year-
(which means I ate dairy). I have come to the conclusion that dairy may not be good for me.
I have been slowly gaining weigh although nothing in my routine or diet has changed.

So I have given up wonderful cheese and creamy ice cream. I miss them. But in a way, I think they are probably around. It's possible that they have left a lot of chemicals and hormones, and who knows what else, in my system. And so the detox.

I read the other blogs and almost changed my mind. It seemed people had a hard time getting to the end because the drinks tasted so bad and the eating (drinking) plan was boring.

I didn't want a diet version of Fear Factor. I know myself. I am the original picky eater. I am very unlikely to eat or drink anything I don't like the taste of - especially something green!

Then I read a blog that suggested combining the drink mix with herbal tea. Genius!
I also went to Wholefoods and asked which green & berry drinks were the tastiest.

Here's what I learned:
earth's promise makes green, purple (berry), red and orange fruit & vegetable drink mixes. They are vegetarian and have no sugar. (They include everything Dr.Roni requires and more!) The powders come in great tasting flavors - totally drinkable. The green veggie drink comes in mint or kiwi/strawberry flavors. The berry in berry/ pomegranate.

I took them home and mixed 'em with a very bold herbal tea, rishi organic Tangerine Ginger. I also added 2 packets of stevia, just in case. Both tasted great - yea! I knew I could do this program. ( Today I mixed one and forgot to add the stevia. It still tasted great.)

I added the mix to hot tea. The berry version dissolved easily. The veggie version required a little wire whisk action but both remained dissolved. They didn't settle at the bottom of the cup - eeewww.

If you are having trouble with the drinks, don't give up yet. Give earth's promise a try. They can also be found online here.

I found all the other supplies at Wholefoods, too, right down to distilled water and epsom salts.

All except Inner Cleanse, that is. Which is fine with me. I am very pro-active with my health and so have tried "cleanses" before. They are not for me. The laxatives in them just keep me busy all day. I chose Tri-Cleanse Complete Internal Cleanser. This one works gently with all the colon cleaning bulking agents and no (habit forming) laxatives. We'll see if this makes a difference later, I guess.

I have a Juiceman Jr. juicer. Not too fancy but it will do the job. I usually use it to juice fruit. I have never really juiced any veggies. I like to eat them. Today, though, I made my first veggie juice. I was worried I would hate it (picky eater) but it was actually good.

I used a recipe from the Big Book of Juices by Natalie Savona. She rates all her recipes with 1 -5 stars for energy, detox, immunity, digestion & skin values. I choose # 177 Creamy Green - sounds just awful but tastes great and it had 5 stars for detox.

Here's the recipe: ( I don't think Natalie will mind)

1 bunch parsley, 1 handful of watercress, 4 carrots, 1 lime - get a big lime. Lime makes all the difference, I think. The carrots hide the greens and the lime adds a real zing. I happily drank it all.

I was hungry at juice time and this did the trick.

Tomorrow, I will tackle the soup. I don't like soup (picky eater). I hope I can come up with something I can eat...uh..drink :)