Hello everyone and happy Friday! I hope that you have all had an incredible week. I’m back to fill you all in with the past 11 days of my life, which was filled with green smoothies, exercising, and family time. ❤️ Last time I wrote, I was about to begin my 10-Day Green Smoothie/Advocare Cleanse. I began the cleanse Monday, March 25th and woke up to the sweetest note from Jordan. He was so supportive throughout the entire cleanse and helped me stay so strong & positive. Day 1 began with the “Berry Green Smoothie” along with spark, probiotics, a fiber drink, fish oil capsules, and herbal vitamins from Advocare.

All of the smoothie recipes I made came from JJ Smith’s book “10 Day Green Smoothie Cleanse,” but I did modify them some depending on things I preferred. The “Berry Green” smoothie contained: 3 handfuls of spinach, 2 cups of water, 1 apple, 1 cup of frozen mangos, 1 cup of frozen strawberries, 1 handful of seedless grapes, 1 stevia packet, and 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseeds. All of these ingredients made about 48 ounces worth of smoothie, which I drank throughout the day as my meals and I also snacked of fruit, peanut butter, and hard boiled eggs throughout the entire cleanse.

*Quick smoothie tip: blend your greens & water before adding the rest of your smoothie content, it helps make your smoothies much smoother and easier to drink! 😊 I accomplished a 1 mile outdoor run Monday afternoon and then went to the gym that evening with Jordan to accomplish another 0.25 miles of running + stretching & abs. Tuesday, I enjoyed the “Apple Strawberry” smoothie! This one consisted of: 3 handfuls of spinach, 2 cups of water, 1 banana, 2 apples, 1 1/2 cups of frozen strawberries, 2 stevia packets, and 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseeds. Tuesday evening, Jordan and I hit the gym again! I did some supersets of leg exercises followed by 2 miles on the elliptical. My legs felt like jello by the time I was done. While I was sipping on my “Apple Strawberry” smoothie, the apartment was filled with the aroma of Jordan’s amazing smelling dinner. He made tilapia, rice, and sautéed broccoli. I can’t wait for him to make this meal for me now that I’m actually past day 10 of the cleanse. 😉 Wednesday was a great day! I made the “Apple Berry” smoothie and added some vegan vanilla protein powder to it, which made a world of difference in my energy. This smoothie had 3 handfuls of spinach, 2 cups of water, 1 1/2 cups of frozen blueberries, 1 banana, 1 apple, 1 stevia packet, 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseeds, and protein powder. I accomplished a 1.70 mile run on Wednesday followed by some stretching and abs. Once my workout was complete, I packed a snack and headed out to the pool to enjoy the nice, sunny weather.

Wednesday evening, Jordan and I went to my parents house to look through all of the engagement pictures on the big screen. Bailey ended up taking over 700 pictures, so we had to sort through them to pick out our favorites so the editing process would be a little easier for her lol. Thursday’s cross-training included some arm circuits at home before work and a beautiful 1.83 mile walk on the trails. Thursday’s smoothie wasn’t my favorite, but I drank it and ate my snacks throughout the day. This was the “Berry Peachy Smoothie” and it consisted of: 3 handfuls of spinach, 2 cups of water, 2 apples, 1 1/2 cups of frozen peaches, 1 1/2 cups of frozen mixed berries, 2 packets of stevia, and 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseeds. Friday was day 5 and my long run day. I wasn’t very smart and didn’t eat anything before trying to accomplish a 2.50-3 mile run, so I ran out of energy pretty quickly, but I was able to add 0.25 at least. It was another beautiful day for an outdoor run! Once I finished my run, I went grocery shopping for the next 5 days of my cleanse and made my smoothie for the day.

Friday’s smoothie was “Peach Berry Spinach” and it was pretty good! This smoothie consisted of: 3 handfuls of spinach, 2 cups of water, 1 cup of frozen peaches, 1 handful of seedless grapes, 1 1/2 cups of frozen blueberries, 3 packets of stevia, and 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseeds. Jordan and I had Mila for the weekend and we started off Friday night with her going to see my little brother, Hudson, play baseball. He looked so cute out there and did a great job! He needs to stop growing up though.. ❤️⚾️ Little, Miss Mila passes out with her baby doll while we ended our Friday night watching a movie. After work on Saturday I came home to make my favorite smoothie out of the entire cleanse. This was the “Pineapple Spinach” smoothie and it consisted of: 2 cups of spinach, 1 cup of frozen pineapples, 2 cups of frozen peaches, 2 bananas, 2 stevia packets, 2 cups of water, and 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseeds. This smoothie was so good and pretty that even Mila wanted to try it and she liked it! 💕 Saturday was a fun-filled day! Jordan, Mila, and I went to the German Festival in Downtown Tomball until it began to rain & then we joined Jordan’s family that evening to see the new “Dumbo” movie, which was so great! I brought some almonds with me to munch on during the movie, so I wasn’t tempted by the popcorn & candy (even though it did smell amazing). Sunday I spent most of the day relaxing and enjoying the “Pineapple Berry” smoothie. This smoothie had 4 handfuls of spinach, 2 cups of water, 1 banana, 1 1/2 cups of frozen pineapple, 1 1/2 cups of frozen mangoes, 1 cup of frozen mixed berries, 3 stevia packets, 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseeds, and pure deliciousness.

Sunday evening, Jordan and I attended our first softball practice in a league we started with our friends. It was so much fun and a great workout! Over the weekend I found out that I was allowed to eat vegan mayo on the cleanse and low sodium tuna, so I decided to be creative on Monday morning and made some healthy deviled eggs. I loved how they turned out and will be making them much more to snack on. Monday’s (day 8) smoothie was “Spinach Kale Berry.” This smoothie tasted decent and I added some vanilla protein powder to it. This smoothie consisted of 2 handfuls of kale, 2 handfuls of spinach, 2 cups of water, 1 Apple, 1 banana, 1 1/2 cups of frozen blueberries, 2 packets of stevia, and 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseeds.I completed a nice & easy 1 mile run on Monday afternoon before heading to work. I decided not to increase my mileage to preserve my energy for the 2 softball games that were coming for me that same evening. I didn’t realize how many calories I would burn playing softball. I had such a fun time and boy was it a great workout! We have a lot of work to do in the softball skill department, but we’re golden in the fun department. Hopefully we can win at least one game before the season ends lol! I woke up incredibly sore on Tuesday morning. I decided to take it easy with my workouts this week since I was coming off the cleanse & adding softball in the mix, so I skipped my cross-training on Tuesday & Thursday, but plan to definitely add them back into the mix next week!

I made some low-sodium tuna salad to snack on throughout the day along with the “Apple Mango” smoothie, which was another one of my favorites! This smoothie had 3 handfuls of spinach, 2 cups of water 1 apple, 1 1⁄2 cups of mangos, 2 cups of frozen strawberries, 1 packet of Stevia, and 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseeds. For the tuna salad, I did a mix of vegan mayo, mustard, and diced dill pickles. Wednesday was day 10! I was so excited I had finally made it to the last day. Honestly the last few days of the cleanse felt so easy because I had just gotten use to drinking smoothies & having healthy snacks. I got a very slow 1.26 miles of run/walk intervals followed by some stretching & abs. I was still so sore from softball, but I wanted to make sure I got some exercise in that day, so I didn’t backtrack too much on my running this week. My last smoothie was the “Pineapple Kale” smoothie, which had 3 handfuls of kale, 2 cups of water, 1 1/2 cups of frozen peaches, 2 handfuls of frozen pineapple, 2 packets of stevia, and 2 tablespoons of ground flaxseeds.

My AWESOME results after cleansing for 10 days:

•Cravings for unhealthy foods and sugar completely disappeared.

•I am mentally & physically in a much healthier place.

•12 pounds have left me (hopefully for good!).

•Feeling way more positive about life in general.

•I feel stronger during my workouts.

•I’ve lost 1/2 an inch-2 inches each on my arms, chest, waist, hips, and legs.

•I view food as a source of fuel more than anything else, but I still enjoy eating delicious & flavorful things.

•I am SO much happier!!!

Needless to say, I’m very excited about how far I’ve come from when I started the cleanse and I am so ready to carry out a healthy lifestyle for myself that will include an abundance of clean, whole foods & plenty of enjoyable exercise. I plan to keep dairy & gluten out of my diet for the next week or so before I reintroduce it. I’m interested to see which foods in particular trigger my stomach problems. It’s cool that I’m finally at a state that I can try to figure out my triggers for my stomach pain, so that I can eliminate them from my food choices. I woke up with a bad migraine on Thursday and ended up staying in bed until about 11am. Once I was able to get up and function, I started taking my MNS 3 vitamins from Advocare and a spark. It took me awhile to get hungry, so I sliced some apples to have with peanut butter for brunch. I’m trying to ease myself into eating whole foods again, so I decided to start with some fruit & nut butter during the day. For dinner, Jordan and I took Mila to Willie’s Icehouse. I ordered their Cobb salad with eggs & Italian dressing only. It was pretty good, but I couldn’t wait to finally have a meal with some grilled fish and sautéed veggies! After work this morning I fueled myself with some Biocharge from Advocare and a Peanut Butter Chocolate RXBar to prepare for my long, Friday run! I conquered 3 miles on the trails today! I was feeling down after having to take a walk break at 0.80 miles, but while I did my walk/run intervals to 2 miles I thought about where I started 4 weeks ago. I could barely run for 2 minutes without having to take walk breaks and now I’m running 0.80-1.25 without having to stop in between. Even though I want more progress, I have to remember how far I’ve come and that it will all work out as long as I keep working hard! I had so much fun jamming to Queen & Cardi B during my last mile and was so excited to see myself hit mile #3! We all must remember to be kind to ourselves and to be proud of what we have accomplished no matter how small it might be.I met my man to look at some stuff for the wedding and for a yummy lunch at Bar Louie. I ordered their Seared Salmon and it came with diced onions/tomatoes & cauliflower “couscous.” It was amazing being able to eat fish and veggies finally. Their cauliflower “couscous” was so flavorful & spicy, I loved it! Jordan ordered their DIY Blackened Fish Tacos, which he also loved!

Well guys here is where I’m going to leave you because I have a fun weekend ahead that I will also be sharing with y’all soon! Please feel free to comment or ask any questions. I highly recommend the cleanse that I did if you’re ready for a change or even to just reset your system and I’m here for you if you want to know anything about it! 😊

XOXO, Paige.