So last month I decided to start a new challenge- every month I would pick a goal for myself and pursue it for the next 30 days.  I got this idea from another blog called 12 Months of Lent – she basically creates a new challenge for herself every 30 days and then blogs about her successes and failures.

(See my initial post here – 30 Days of New Shoes )

Well for July I chose to eat nothing but whole foods for the entire month. I feel great!  It was so easy!  Everyone should do this- you would have to be really dumb not to complete this challenge.

I failed.  Miserably.  Horribly.  Cue hash tag #MassiveMajorEpicFail. 

I mean, I think I may have lasted a day.  I am the kind of person who used to be able to eat anything I wanted and never gain an ounce- so I am not accustomed to have ever had to monitor my food intake.  I am fairly good about watching what I eat now for health reasons and I eat mostly vegetarian but every now again I see a cupcake or a cheesesteak I can’t pass up.  And it is showing.  It is showing on the scale and in my closet.

Well I tried.  And then for August I didn’t even bother.  I failed that bad I didn’t even want to be bothered with such self-improvement.  Geesh. 

OK- well-  I started a new job, got a new hair-did (or hair-do if you prefer) – so I am going to give this another go.  I am not going to try this whole foods thing again- at least not yet.  This was maybe too big of a challenge.  I am going to pick something a little more realistic for my lifestyle for the month of September.

However, for the remainder of August I am just going to try to eat as healthy as I can- avoid the fast food joints (I rarely ever frequent fast food joints but every now and again you may find me huddled in the corner hiding shoving down a Big Mac).  Basically, I am just going to avoid sweets (I am not a sweets person so this won’t be too hard), extra sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, extra salt….but I am not committing to nothing but whole foods.

I am kicking this “mini” challenge off with  3-day diet reboot.  For three days I am going to follow this mini detox plan I found in Whole Living magazine. I love this magazine.  This magazine is an absolute MUST if you are trying to take the healthy road.  (12 Months of Lent also did this detox so it inspired me to flip through my old issues and find it.)

Here is what I get to eat at every meal for the next 3 days-

• For breakfast –  Strawberry-Grapefruit Smoothie

• For lunch – Beet, Avocado, and Arugula Salad with Sunflower Seeds

• For dinner – Carrot-Spinach Soup with Dill

For 3 days- this is what you eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  There are different recipes for snacks so you can mix things up a little bit- but this is what I am doing for three days.  No coffee, no caffeine, soda or fruit juice.   Only water and herbal tea.

I will be blogging my progress………and include the recipes……  here is the first- the Strawberry-Grapefruit Smoothie (pictures of recipes courtesy of Whole Living magazine)-

Strawberry-Grapefruit Smoothie

• Yield-Makes three 1 3/4-cup servings

Ingredients

• For The Big Batch

  • 1 grapefruit, peeled, seeded, and chopped
  • 2 cups hulled fresh or frozen strawberries
  • 1 sweet apple (such as Honeycrisp or Pink Lady), cored and chopped
  • 1 inch fresh ginger, peeled and chopped

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients, plus 1 cup water, in a blender and process until smooth.

Chow!!