Juices. And foods. (Obviously)

Mmmm. Tastes so good.

This week, in an effort to jumpstart some healthier eating and weight loss, I'm doing a psuedo-cleanse. It's "psuedo" because when I realized I didn't have a single week without work lunches or dinner plans in the foreseeable future, I decided to do a cleanse that involved juices combined with eating 1 sensible meal a day. #MakingItWork  This time around I'm trying a new brand for my juicing, Kaeng Raeng which I learned about through Lauren Conrad's blog. Kaeng Raeng is WAY cheaper than fresh juices, largely because it's powders (all the nutrition is HERE) which you blend into smoothies using fresh fruit, water, ice and/or non-dairy milk. If you're sticking to just cleansing (as opposed to my "psudeo" style) Kaeng Raeng also "allows" raw fruits, veggies and nuts in addition to your 3 smoothies. It's definitely the most friendly cleanse I've ever tried and because you make your own smoothies, you can dump in however much fresh fruit/water/almond milk it takes to enjoy the taste! I've only used strawberries, bananas and water so far and these shakes ain't too shabby. Just sayin'.

So now that I've talked about my 66.666% fruit and powder diet, I thought I'd also share some of the recipes I've been salivating over for the 33.333% of my day that I'm enjoying solid foods. Also, here's hoping that unlike last night's dinner out, tonight I manage to have the willpower to say no to wine!!

Chicken Pasta with Spinach and Artichoke. Pin it HERE, full recipe HERE.

I freaking love spaghetti squash and I LOVE making spaghetti squash "boats" stuffed with tasty ingredients. Click HERE for 9 stuffed squash recipes or Pin it HERE.

Quinoa Quesadillas with black beans and sweet potato. Yum. Pin it HERE, full recipe HERE.

Avocado Pasta. Tastes creamy, but is actually healthy? I'm in!! Pin it HERE, full recipe HERE.

So Juicy.

They should be paying me for this!

You know that moment sometime late-winter when you realize you've been eating so deliciously and drinking so merrily (while wearing bulky clothes and hiding on your couch from the cold) that things have gotten a bit out of control? Well over the weekend I had "that moment" so I said to myself, "Meri put down the waffle fries" and yesterday I began a juice cleanse. For 3 days I consume nothing but freshly pressed, delivered, juice concoctions, drinking 1 juice approximately every 2 hours in addition to lots of water and herbal tea.  Given that this is my 3rd cleanse, I know I can expect to drop a few lbs, de-bloat and genuinely feel “cleaner”. In the past my skin has looked brighter, my energy levels increased and most importantly, I have a renewed focus on healthier living (I need to step away from the mac cheese and kick my own butt a few times a year!)

I get incredibly mixed feedback when I tell people about my cleanse. Some see tremendous health benefits and believe in the power of juicing (I have a co-worker juice buddy right now!) while others think I am bat sh*t crazy. I’m probably somewhere in between :) I can’t speak to the health of it other than confirmation that I am getting a good number of calories and 1,000% of my daily fruits and veggies (pineapple, spinach, kale, beets, carrots, lemons, apples to name a few) but anything that has me cutting out caffeine, alcohol, sugar and salt for 3 days can’t be bad. The truth is, I'm never going to be one of those "naturally healthy" people. I need to focus on what I consume and occasionally reset my habits due to overindulgence. How do you snap out of a foodie-free-for-all? Do you have a healthy tool for getting yourself back on track? Share!!!