Shaky Start

Good evening! Hope you all are enjoying your Monday night! My husband is still suffering from some jet-lag (understandably!) so I’ve got some time to myself tonight. I’m skimming through Dancing with the Stars at the moment.

I’ve had a great day getting back on track! It feels really good getting back into good habits– I feel proud of myself when I take care of my body. During my lunch break, I tried out the Physique 57 30-minute Express Workout:

This workout kicked my booty! My muscles were literally SHAKING within 5 minutes. You know a workout’s going to be hardcore when the “warm-up” includes real push ups! This workout was incredibly challenging, which I love. It gives me LOTS of room for improvement! I don’t see myself mastering these moves for a while! But I can absolutely see why it works! Hopefully I’ll be seeing some major improvements in my endurance over the next 30 days. I plan on doing the full 57-minute workout tomorrow, so I’ll let you guys know how that goes– I’m scared!!

After my workout, I walked my still shaking body to the kitchen and made a recovery green smoothie:

This was EXACTLY what my body was craving! And it tasted amazing.

Recovery Smoothie

1 frozen banana
1 cup frozen organic strawberries
1 tablespoon raw almond butter
1 teaspoon maca powder
1 tablespoon Hemp Protein powder
Juice of 1/2 lemon
2-3 cups raw spinach
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 cup water

Blend and enjoy!

That sucker kept me full for HOURS! This will be a regular smoothie in my life from now on.

I ended up meeting up with my husband and our friend, Heidi, at our favorite outdoor restaurant this afternoon, and I enjoyed some fresh air and a large iced green tea. My third tea of the day, and I still ended up getting a detox headache! Ugh. I guess that’s what I get– my body misses the coffee and processed sugar that somehow snuck its way into my life the last couple of weeks. Guess it’s just going to have to get used to my clean eats again!

When we got back home, my husband and I munched on a bag of organic baby carrots:

(We might have shared some with Yasha, too– they’re her favorite!) Between the three of us, we almost polished off the whole bag!

And for dinner, my favorite massive salad:

Photos don’t really do it justice. It’s HUGE! I used a whole bag of organic mixed greens, a whole chopped red pepper, 1 1/2 ounces of raw goat cheese, and some baked beets, all topped with my favorite dressing.

I really love the flavor and texture of baked beets, and they were so easy to make this afternoon:

Baked Beets

2 large beets, cut into 1″ chunks (no need to peel!)
glass baking dish & foil

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Arrange chopped beets in a glass baking dish– no need to grease the pan, and it’s okay if the beets overlap.

Cover the dish with foil, and bake for 30 minutes. Beets are ready when they are fork tender.

Chopping the beets ahead of time make them cook so much faster– which is good for people like me who are impatient.   I typically like my baked beets COLD, so I make these ahead of time, and store them in my fridge until I’m ready to use them. Good thing I have my new glass storage containers!

These are so tender and sweet, they won’t last long in my house!

Did you guys notice that I ate mostly RAW today? With the warmer weather, that’s just what my body’s been craving! I’m also trying to make a point of eating at least 51% raw at EACH meal– but I’ll discuss why tomorrow.

Hope you all have a great night!

Related posts:

1. Mini-Monster
2. Raw 'til Dinner
3. Raw Energy!
4. Detox Day 2
5. Mini-Goal Monday