Last week, Alex and I told you that we were going to start the Join the Reboot plan. We did the 5 day plan which consisted of juicing and eating fresh veggies, soups and salads. We workout entirely too much to do the juice only fast. It was an interesting week for both of us. We are both already vegetarians so it wasn’t too much of a change, but cutting out dairy was TOUGH! For me, I added in eggs because I started round 2 of *Tony Horton Voice* P90X and I plan on pushing myself to the max for each workout. The first time around I did well. I dropped a few extra lbs and toned up but this time I’m going for it. I’m going to achieve my dream body or die trying… Ok, not literally die, but I am going to give it my all and that includes eating better. I thought the reboot would be the perfect diet jump start.  Here what I did each day.   Shopping Trip My mommy was in town last weekend and accompanied me to the farmer’s market to get all of my veggies. Now, when your buying veggies to juice it can get really expensive really fast. So I only brought $60 with me. Here are all of the veggies I got…. And that wasn’t even all of it. I had 2 boxes of veggies from the farmer’s market in my car. It was serious….

Day 1

Breakfast

• Hot herbal tea
• Three eggs with diced bell peppers, onions and jalapenos

Morning Juice 6 leaves Bok Choy 2 cups Spinach 1/2 Cucumber 2 kiwis 2 Apples 1” Ginger root (1 scoop of Sun warrior protein powder) Snack Peanuts Lunch Green veggie soup, salad and steamed snow peas and green beans. The green veggie soup recipe was from the plan. It was a total miss. It tasted like grass in a bowl. Eh, you can win em all. Pre-workout Snack: Mung beans and Couscous Alex and I took an excursion to the Asian grocery store and got all kinds of goodies.  As we were browsing the aisles I bought some mung beans. They have TONS of protein and looked interesting. I decided to make them with some couscous. Here is the recipe I used. Indian mung beans 1 cup whole dry mung beans 2 teaspoons ghee or a combination of butter and oil 1 teaspoon cumin seeds 1-2 teaspoons turmeric 1/2 teaspoon cayenne 1/2 tablespoon ground coriander 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1 medium onion, finely sliced 1-inch piece of ginger, grated or finely chopped 3-4 jalapenos green chilies, finely chopped 1 large tomato, diced 1 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste fresh ground black pepper 1/4 cup fresh parsley or cilantro, chopped Instructions: Rinse the mung beans under cold running water and place in a bowl. Cover with several inches of cold water and soak for 6 hours or overnight. Drain, rinse, and set aside. Heat the ghee or butter and oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the cumin seeds, and stir and fry for a minute or two. Next add the ground spices, stir for about 15 seconds, and then add the onion, ginger and green chillies to the pan. Fry until the onion wilts and begins to brown. Add the mung beans and and 1 1/2 cups of water to the pot. Bring to a boil, immediately reduce the heat and simmer, partially covered until the beans are just tender, about 20-30 minutes. Add more water if necessary just to keep the beans covered. Now add the tomato, salt and pepper. Simmer for another 15-20 minutes or until the beans are soft and the liquid is mostly absorbed. Taste for seasoning, then stir in the parsley near the end of the cooking time. Serve hot with fresh cooked rice or Indian flatbreads.   Dinner : Tortilla Soup (This is an old picture. I didn’t add cheese on top this week) . Click here for my recipe. I had a ton of leftover tortilla soup from the previous week so I decided to eat that. I topped it with some avocado, instead of cheese. I had some more herbal tea before bed. Workout: I ran 1.5 miles and lifted weights. Overall, it was an awesome day!

 Day 2

Breakfast

• Herbal tea
• Three eggs with diced bell peppers, onions and jalapenos

  Morning Juice V28(This recipe is from the roboot plan) 3 large Red Beets 2 medium Carrots 2 kiwis 4 Plum Tomatoes 4 cups Parsley, leaves and stems, roughly chopped and packed into the measuring cup 6 Red Radishes 1 scoop of Sun Warrior protein powder     This juice was ummm interesting. It stank to high heaven. I had to chug it to drink it. I even brought some to work to give it another try around 10am, but it smelled so bad, that I couldn’t bring myself to do it! As I was pouring it out, my coworker came into the kitchen and exclaimed “OMG what’s that smell?” I was like hmmmm I donno, let’s look for it! Knowing it was that nasty juice I just poured out.   Snack: Peanuts Lunch La Madeline Spinach Salad       Dinner Chipotle salad with no rice, black and pinto beans, pico, corn, guacamole with chipotle lime vinaigrette.   Post-Dinner smoothie I attempted to my a smoothie in my busted blender. It tasted ok, but it was kind of gritty. 1/4 large Pineapple, core removed and roughly cubed 1 cup Blackberries 1 Kiwi Fruit 1 Banana 1/2 Comice Pear 1/2 cup Coconut Water 30 Mint leaves 1 Tbsp. Flax seed oil, optional   I didnt have any issues on day 2 either.

Day 3

Breakfast

• Herbal tea
• Three eggs with  diced bell peppers, onions and jalapenos

Morning Juice 6 leaves Bok Choy 2 cups Spinach 1/2 Cucumber 2 kiwis 2 Apples 1” Ginger root (1 scoop of sun warrior protein powder)   Snack: Peanuts Lunch La madeline spinach salad and gazpacho.     Here is the recipe I used to make my gazpacho Ingredients 1 1/2 pounds vine-ripened tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped Tomato juice 1 cup cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper 1/2 cup chopped red onion 1 small jalapeno, seeded and minced 1 medium garlic clove, minced 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1 lime, juiced 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce 1/2 teaspoon toasted, ground cumin 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 2 tablespoons fresh basil leaves, chiffonade Directions Fill a 6-quart pot halfway full of water, set over high heat and bring to a boil. Make an X with a paring knife on the bottom of the tomatoes. Drop the tomatoes into the boiling water for 15 seconds, remove and transfer to an ice bath and allow to cool until able to handle, approximately 1 minute. Remove and pat dry. Peel, core and seed the tomatoes. When seeding the tomatoes, place the seeds and pulp into a fine mesh strainer set over a bowl in order to catch the juice. Press as much of the juice through as possible and then add enough bottled tomato juice to bring the total to 1 cup. Place the tomatoes and juice into a large mixing bowl. Add the cucumber, bell pepper, red onion, jalapeno, garlic clove, olive oil, lime juice, balsamic vinegar, Worcestershire, cumin, salt and pepper and stir to combine. Transfer 1 1/2 cups of the mixture to a blender and puree for 15 to 20 seconds on high speed. Return the pureed mixture to the bowl and stir to combine. Cover and chill for 2 hours and up to overnight. Serve with chiffonade of basil.   Dinner: Tortilla Soup   Post-Dinner Snack Baked zucchini fries   Here is the Zucchini Fries recipe I used. For Zucchini Fries: 1 cup plain bread crumbs (homemade or storebought) 1/4 cup grated Parmesan or pecorino 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper (scale back to 1/4 teaspoon if you’re adverse to spice) 1/8 teaspoon dried oregano 1/8 teaspoon salt Dash of pepper 2 large eggs, beaten 4-5 zucchini Preheat oven to 425˙F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or spray it with cooking spray. On a plate, mix together the bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, red crushed pepper flakes, oregano, salt and pepper. In a small to medium bowl, beat the two large eggs. Cut the zucchini into batons. One by one, dip the zucchini batons in the beaten eggs and transfer to the plate with the bread crumb mixture, being sure to coat the zucchini thoroughly. Place the bread crumb covered zucchini on the baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes, checking on them after 10 and flipping them to ensure thorough baking. Remove and serve with sauces. Workout P90x – arms and shoulders  

Day 4

On Day 4 I woke up EXTRA hungry. I was trying my best to stick with the plan, but when I get that hungry its no telling what I’ll eat! Breakfast

• Herbal tea

• Three eggs with  diced bell peppers, onions and jalapenos

Morning Juice 6 leaves Bok Choy 2 cups Spinach 1/2 Cucumber 2 kiwis 2 Apples 1” Ginger root (1 scoop of sun warrior protein powder) Snack: Peanuts Lunch: I went to dream cafe and had the “you’re so vegan”. I did cheat a little though *hangs head* I got real cheese on my tofu   I’m so ashamed but I didn’t eat the wheat tortillas!   Dinner: I was still starving and the veggies weren’t looking good to me so I decided to recreate what I had for lunch. Brilliant, I know…. It was basically the exact same thing, except I used eggs instead of tofu. Day 4 kind of sucked from a vegetable intake standpoint…. Workout:  P90x Legs and back

Day 5

I was so excited to almost be done! Breakfast

• Herbal tea
• Three eggs with  diced bell peppers, onions and jalapenos

Morning Juice 6 leaves Bok Choy 2 cups Spinach 1/2 Cucumber 2 kiwis 2 Apples 1” Ginger root (1 scoop of sun warrior protein powder) Snack: Peanuts Lunch Tortilla soup   Dinner Double veggie burger and baked potatoes wedges and steamed veggies. I told y’all I was hungry! Workout: 90x core synergistics The next day I thought I would find my way to some pizza, quesadillas, french fries or something bad, but surprisingly I didnt. I didn’t crave anything bad. I actually unknowingly stuck to the reboot plan this day as well. I think the biggest thing for me was the way I felt. I had so much energy. On day 2, I was at my desk smiling like an idiot because I couldnt remember the last time I felt that good. Overall, the reboot was great! I plan cutting out some more of my bad habits and  doing the reboot again soon. I kind of want to try a juice fast next. I might do the 2 day one just to test it out.