On the 5th day of detox...

I'm feeling the effects. The good, the bad and the ugly. I'll tell you about the good and the bad but spare you the ugly.

The good:
- I've lost 6 lbs so far! I can tell that my face looks thinner and I am less puffy everywhere.
- I've learned some tasty and super healthy new recipes.
- I feel more energetic
- I have more mental clarity and focus, I find myself able to get a lot more done during the day
- My appetite has decreased considerably
- My cravings for sweets and salt have gone way down (I still crave cheese but I think that's my soul talking)

The bad:
I've experienced every negative side effect you can imagine from this diet. Most of them started to dwindle by day 5.
- headaches
- skin rashes
- having to pee every 30 seconds
- nausea
- temperature fluctuations
- intense cravings
- having to eat some nasty stuff

Up until today, the good seemed to outweigh the bad but I can feel the scales beginning to tip and I am happy to be moving into the next phase of the detox.

Day 5 went like this:

- Wake up: 7:00, glass of room temp lemon water

- Mug of herbal tea: 7:15
- Smoothie made with almond milk, frozen mangoes, raspberries and blueberries and protein and greens powder: 8:00

- Coconut Water: 11:30

- Asian Pear: 1:00
- Beet, Apple, Carrot Lemon Juice 5:00
- Cucumber Avocado Soup: 7:30

The beet juice was AWESOME! I don't usually love beets (I am learning to like them) but this juice was sweet and sour and just plain tasty. If you have a juicer, you really should try it. The SOUP on the other hand was basically inedible. Maybe I did something wrong or maybe my lime was too old but the soup was really bitter and incredibly sour and salty. Not a great combo. I love limes and can drink lime juice straight but this tasted like thick, salty lime juice. No thanks.

Here is the recipe for the juice:
- 1 large or 2 medium beets, peeled and cut into wedges (if the core is really tough and fibrous, discard it or it can make your juicer cranky)
- 1 lemon, zest and pith removed (I juiced mine with a citrus squeezer right into the glass)
- 2 large carrots
- 1 large apple, cut into wedges
- 1" piece of ginger

Juice everything into a class and stir well, then drink up!