Chicago is an incredible place to live. There are countless restaurants, coffee shops galore, museums, parks, bars, concert halls, boutiques, skyscrapers, millions of people and endless possibilities.
FOOD:
1. Green Smoothies for breakfast and dinner. They include: bananas, green meal (I have no idea what is in this. I just know it is full of funky ingredients that help cleanse your body).
2. Raw foods: Avocados, kale, cucumbers and whatever else you desire given that it is raw.
3. Soaked nuts. According to Karyn, soaking your nuts releases more nutrients, providing your body with more nourishment and quenching your hunger more effectively.
ELIMINATE:
1. Coffee
2. Alcohol
3. And everything else that does not fall on the list above. Eek.
It is going to be a battle of the wills. Fortunately, the three of us are in it together. And nobody wants to be the one who fails, right? Though, I would say that when it comes to the JEN cleanse, there is no such thing as failing. Even if one decides to eat french fries instead of a green smoothie for dinner, it is more about adopting a healthy lifestyle than succeeding at a strict diet.
A cleanse is more than just changing the way you eat. A cleanse is changing the way you live. Of course in this busy city, it is impossible to escape from the chaos. However, as life changes are approaching for the three of us, we will look to eliminate the stress and pressure that accompanies them. We will attempt to make April a stress free month. Your body is only as healthy as your mind and only as satisfied as your heart. Nourishing our lives can be attained by setting aside time to do the things we love.
For me, the best way I detox from stress is by writing. By letting my emotions run freely as words on a page, they are eliminated from my mind and thus aren't left to simmer and weigh me down. Recently, I have filled my life with so much that I have not had the time to write. So in the month of the cleanse, I hope to set aside a solid 30 minute period to write. My April might be a little less exciting than my March, but it will be fulfilling nonetheless.
So...come along as the three of us embark on a journey. A journey that will seek to cleanse our lives so that we can refill them with only the best ingredients!
I love this city. It was a great place to go to college and has been a wonderful place to spend my early, well okay, now mid 20s. But along with all of the great, Chicago is a place full of toxins. Smoke, trash, and exhaust pollute our atmosphere. Fatty foods, sugary beverages and desserts pollute our bodies. And well, the people (ehem, boys) can pollute our lives. Chicago, with all of its hustle and bustle, is an easy place to get filled with toxic waste.
Thus, for the month of April, two friends (J & E) and myself are going on a CLEANSE. We are going on the JEN cleanse (and this is a name I only just came up with 2 seconds ago when I realized that our first initials spell JEN, and it is very fitting!). It will be a month focused on eliminating the toxic waste in our lives.
This cleanse is motivated and inspired by Chicago's own Karyn Calabrese, owner of Karyn's Raw and author of Soak Your Nuts: Cleansing with Karyn.
“If you don't take care of this the most magnificent machine that you will ever be given...where are you going to live?” ― Karyn Calabrese
The JEN Cleanse:
FOOD:
1. Green Smoothies for breakfast and dinner. They include: bananas, green meal (I have no idea what is in this. I just know it is full of funky ingredients that help cleanse your body).
2. Raw foods: Avocados, kale, cucumbers and whatever else you desire given that it is raw.
3. Soaked nuts. According to Karyn, soaking your nuts releases more nutrients, providing your body with more nourishment and quenching your hunger more effectively.
ELIMINATE:
1. Coffee
2. Alcohol
3. And everything else that does not fall on the list above. Eek.
It is going to be a battle of the wills. Fortunately, the three of us are in it together. And nobody wants to be the one who fails, right? Though, I would say that when it comes to the JEN cleanse, there is no such thing as failing. Even if one decides to eat french fries instead of a green smoothie for dinner, it is more about adopting a healthy lifestyle than succeeding at a strict diet.
A cleanse is more than just changing the way you eat. A cleanse is changing the way you live. Of course in this busy city, it is impossible to escape from the chaos. However, as life changes are approaching for the three of us, we will look to eliminate the stress and pressure that accompanies them. We will attempt to make April a stress free month. Your body is only as healthy as your mind and only as satisfied as your heart. Nourishing our lives can be attained by setting aside time to do the things we love.
For me, the best way I detox from stress is by writing. By letting my emotions run freely as words on a page, they are eliminated from my mind and thus aren't left to simmer and weigh me down. Recently, I have filled my life with so much that I have not had the time to write. So in the month of the cleanse, I hope to set aside a solid 30 minute period to write. My April might be a little less exciting than my March, but it will be fulfilling nonetheless.
So...come along as the three of us embark on a journey. A journey that will seek to cleanse our lives so that we can refill them with only the best ingredients!
