1. My View Today

Stay tuned for more #febphotoaday Instragram fun! And feel free to join me!

just try it – you won’t be disappointed!

Week 2 Recap by the Numbers:

Number of 30 Minute Yoga Videos Completed: 1

Number of Minutes in Hot Yoga Class: 375 (BAM!)

Number of Green Juices Drank: 6

Number of lbs. Lost this Week: 2

Number of lbs. Lost Total: 6

This week was an awesome week for me based solely in the fact that I went to a hot yoga class almost every day. I was getting my sweat on ALL WEEK LONG – it was awesome! I am LOVING than 95 degree heat in January (even though it’s not that cold out!)

The beginning of the week started out amazing for me – I went to bed on Sunday and slept from 8pm – 7am – my body was tired and needed to catch up on some serious sleep. Towards the end of the week I had to pull myself back in to focus on the program on a few occasions – I felt very tempted to eat or drink something not in the cleansing diet. I powered through the weekend completely on track and I am proud to say that now the sweets and snacks I crave are mainly of the fruit variety.

I feel rested, rejuvenated and ready to roll!

Week 3 started yesterday – this week we are focusing on Equanimity – the art of meeting life as it meets you; calmly, without drama or fuss!

I am excited to live this week in the state of non-reaction!

Since I have cut a lot of out of my diet for my 40 Days challenge this creation is a breath of fresh air to my dinner menu this past week. It is creamy and thick with tons of lemon and garlic flavor. The avocado does an INCREDIBLE job of making you think there is cream in this dish, its amazing. I honestly can’t get enough of this and it took less than 15 minutes to make!

Ingredients

1 medium sized ripe Avocado, pitted

1/2 lemon juice

2 garlic cloves, to taste

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup basil (optional)

2 tbsp EVOO

2 servings of your choice of pasta (I used Brown Rice Pasta as per my cleansing diet)

Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. Cook your pasta until Al Dente, about 8-10 minutes.

2. While the pasta cooks, combine the garlic, lemon juice, and EVOO into a food processor until smooth. Next add the pitted avocado, basil, and salt. Process until smooth and creamy.

3. When pasta is done cooking, drain and rinse in a strainer and place pasta into a large bowl. Pour on sauce and toss until fully combined. Garnish with lemon zest and black pepper.

I will be making this again and again (and again!) Its my new favorite way to enjoy avocado!

What is YOUR favorite way to enjoy avocado?

Check it out:

Ingredients

6 cups gluten-free oats (old fashioned)

1 cup raw almonds

1 cup raw pumpkin seeds

1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds

3/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup coconut oil, melted to a liquid (or substitute extra virgin olive oil)

3/4 cup macadamia nut butter (or substitute natural peanut butter)

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons honey (or substitute maple syrup)

3/4 cup golden raisins (or any dried fruit you like, optional)

Place two racks in the middle and upper third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, or spray lightly with cooking spray and set aside. In a large bowl, toss together oats, nuts and salt (leave out the raisins, we’ll toss these in after baking). In a medium bowl, gently whisk together the melted coconut oil (or evoo), nut butter and honey. Pour the oil mixture over the oats and nuts and stir well. Make sure that every bit of oats and nuts is covered in some of the oil mixture. Spread the granola mixture onto the two baking sheets from edge to edge.

Bake for 15 minutes and carefully remove the pans from the oven to toss and stir the oats. This will ensure that the mixture cooks and browns evenly. Bake for another 10 minutes. Remove and stir. Repeat until mixture has cooked a total of 30 minutes and the oats are dark and golden. Allow to cool completely before tossing in golden raisins and storing in an airtight container.

Do you have a favorite granola recipe to share?

Anyone watched that movie? It was pretty amazing to watch and I am considering a ReBoot myself once my 40 days is up!

I have committed myself to at least a green juice every day of my program. I have fallen back in love with my green creations and I look forward to enjoying it every day! Today I wanted to share with you the Mean Green Juice recipe(inspired by the movie!) that I have been drinking every day.

Mean Green Juice

6 Kale Leaves
1 Cucumber
4 Celery Stalks
2 Green Apples
1 Lemon

The Juice of Champions, if I do say so myself!

Would you be able to commit to a 5 day ReBoot program of ONLY juicing?

With my new challenge at hand, I am trying to find new ways to enjoy my favorite fruits and vegetables.

The other day I was inspired by Jenna’s cauliflower creation and decided to recreate it to enjoy myself.

I combined equal parts cumin, chili powder, red pepper flakes and garlic salt in a small bowl.

Sliced and dice a large cauliflower, toss with olive oil and sprinkle with spices.

Put into the oven at 400* for 30 minutes, toss occasionally.

Serve & Enjoy!

Charles LOVED this side dish – he said if I made it every single night, that would be fine with him!

What is your favorite way to enjoy cauliflower?

Number of 20 Minute Yoga Videos Completed: 4

Number of 75 Minute Hot Yoga Classes Attended: 3

Number of Green Juices Drank: 5

Number of lbs. Lost: 4

Number of Times Meditated: 13

As you can see, it was a pretty successful week. I practiced yoga every day – watched the 20 minute video online a few more times than I would have liked, but it was a week that started out a little rough so I have to forgive myself for that. I also meditated every day, twice a day, except for Saturday evening – sadly, it was due to the fact that I feel asleep before I did it. I live a craaaaazy life, I know.

I also drank a green juice every day – I am committed to continuing this for the remainder of the 40 Days. I believe this change might have led to my 4 pound weight loss as well.

Overall it was an awesome week. Yoga every day is amazing, I feel different, I feel more toned, I feel strong. Meditation has been a bit of a challenge, but I am working on it and there really is no right or wrong way to do it, so that is good! Cleaning up my eating has been really awesome too – I haven’t had any temptations, I don’t even crave any of the things I am not supposed to be eating. I am craving fruits and vegetables which is incredible to feel.

Week 1 focused on Presence while Week 2 focuses on Vitality.

The important thing here is you must be present to experience vitality. This week we are exploring negative labels and making a conscious effort to remove those thoughts and old behaviors that are holding us back. You can’t let things go if you aren’t present to them.

Our challenge for this week is:

Meditation - 10 minutes in the morning/10 minutes at night

Yoga – AT LEAST 30 minutes a day (preferably hot yoga)

Cleansing Diet – Avoid packaged food

The goal here is to make everyone more aware of the food/drink were are consuming and focus on how it makes us feel. What are the energy blockers? What breaks the connection with yourself and your presence? By cutting out the toxins, we life a more pure life and we can create the awareness to make the connection with our choices.

What are your thoughts on my journey so far?

Our weekend started out with a major test for me – our first night out on the cleansing diet – Charles was lucky enough to score tickets to the Sixers game on Friday night vs. the Atlanta Hawks. His company has a box at the Wells Fargo Center that they give out tickets to games all the time. It is a nice little perk to working there! Great seats with people you know..and the box comes stocked with eats and drinks to enjoy while watching the game.

I wasn’t sure if this was going to be a major temptation for me.

The box was filled with water which I expected. I may or may not have drank 3 of these bad boys during the game.

Hydration is key, right?!

I came to the game super prepared with healthy snacks in my bag of tricks – my favorites being grapes (yes I carry grapes around in my bag for emergencies just like this), and pistachios. These little nuts are my new favorite obsession – but I am only really enjoying them on the weekend – it’s my weekend treat!

Half the fun of going to a game is watching & snacking, right? With my snacks, I didn’t feel left out at all.

I was nervous I was going to give in and have a beer – but I honestly didn’t even have a taste for one. It’s funny how before this challenge, giving up my glass of wine at night sounded like the worst thing in the entire world. But I committed myself to this challenge and this program weeks before it started, so I knew what I was getting myself into. I was prepared mentally to give certain things up and because of that I have been successful this week.

Aside from the game on Friday and the Snowy Saturday, the rest of my weekend was uneventful and I was able to get lots of rest and eat all the right things. It was lovely.

Oh, and the Sixers won!

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What would be the hardest thing for you to give up for 40 days?

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Took Jackson out for a little walk in the morning – he did not enjoy the snow/ice mix on the ground. You can see in the video below that he hates when he sinks into the snow. Silly pup.

Luckily he is cute as ever in the snow – I suppose we will keep him!

And a throwback to a snowstorm in Virginia a few years back, here is my favorite video of Jackson in the snow, where he takes a little tumble!

What is your favorite snow day activity?