28 Day Action Plan - Day One - Cleanse and Simplify

I've taken the pledge to do the Whole Living 28 Day Challenge and today is day one, cleanse and simplify.

Yesterday was prep day so I got cleaned out by kitchen cabinets and did some grocery shopping for the challenge this week.

This week's tasks include eating 5 small meals a day of detoxing foods, eating less foods which often cause allergies, like wheat and dairy, avoiding caffeine, alcohol and sugar and simplifying life by spending less time on TV and the Internet.

Since my husband is gluten intolerant, we pretty much avoid wheat products anyway, instead using other grains like rice, quinoa, millet and gluten free oats. If you're doing the challenge, there are lots of gluten free recipes on the Whole Living Website too. We don't eat a lot of dairy either but we do use milk in our coffee (which I cut down to one cup this morning).

Today, one part of the challenge is to slow down and eat mindfully and savor food. Living more mindfully is good for digestion and stress both. It feels great to take a deep breath, slow down and enjoy a meal or a walk.

This morning, I actually got out of bed 45 minutes early so I could do my qigong self healing workout. I go to a tai chi class once a week and always promise myself I'll do a work out during the day but the day gets away and I don't do it. I thought if I could force myself to get up early and do it, then I'd feel more energetic and balanced all day.

For my qigong work out I used Qi Gong for Health and Healing: A Complete Training Course to Unleash the Power of Your Life-Force Energy by Lee Holden. This program was a little expensive but I there are 5 DVD's and 5 CD's of workouts, meditations and other great tools. I put the CD's on my Ipod and listen to them daily.

I started my day with a green smoothie made with:
Calli tea,
1/2 banana
1/2 cup blueberries
1/3 cup yogurt
2 cups spinach
1 tablespoon of flax seeds
1 tablespoon of chia seeds
a handful of walnuts
1/2 tsp of cinnamon

For dinner tonight, we're trying the Millet Bowl with Black Beans and Rice. I love black beans and keep cans of them around to add to various dishes I make.

My goal, as usual too, is to drink more water. I can manage to get about 4 eight oz cups down but it's difficult to get 8 of them. Monday is my yoga class too so lots to work on.

If you're doing the 28 day challenge, I'd love to hear from you!

28 Day Action Challenge - Prep Day - Check out my Kitchen

 Tomorrow starts the 28 Day Action Challenge put on by Whole Living Magazine. Today is a freebie prep day before beginning the challenge. Since week one is about gentle detoxing through food choices, it's a good time to check out your kitchen to get ready for the challenge and shop for ingredients for the recipes. There is a nice listing of ingredients on the challenge website to take to the store with you.

Today I am also going to check out the dos and don't of detoxing and other pre-challenge information. Recipes for the week can be found on the website or in the January/February issue of Whole Living Magazine.

There is a list of foods to avoid during the challenge which may prove difficult, but I'm determined. I love, love, love, my first cup of coffee in the morning. I used to weight it down with about 1/4 cup Coffee Mate mocha mix until it dawned on me that each tablespoon has 35 calories! That's when I started putting the one tbs of coffee mate and the rest was 2% milk and stevia for sweetening.

The challenge also says to drink 8 glasses of water every day and for me, that's difficult too. I drink my green smoothie and green tea already and drinking 8 glasses of water would leave me running to the bathroom even more than I do now-lol. I did manage to drink 5 glasses yesterday though.

I read recently that those who start their day with a glass of water eat less calories through the day than those who don't so that's a pretty good reason to get your first glass of water when you wake up in the morning.

Around New Years every year, I try and check for outdated food, get rid if processed and packaged foods (part of the 28 day challenge) organize cooking ingredients and generally make preparing meals and snacks easier for the coming month or so.

We updated our kitchen a couple of years ago and I found packages of things that were 2 years out of date hanging around, taking up space! Now I try and at least rotate ingredients and search my cabinets before going shopping to avoid buying things I already have on hand.

I see Green Smoothies are on the list of detox foods this week. I bought my Vitamix about 7 months ago and love it! We've been drinking green smoothies daily for that time and feel much healthier for getting our daily fruits and veggies. I figured over the holidays that even if we were eating fudge and cookies, at least we were also getting our greens!


Check out what Vitamix has to say about adding raw foods to your diet. If you decide to order, through this link you can get free shipping.

So, today is cleaning out cabinets and shopping for ingredients and tomorrow starts the 28 day Action Challenge

I'm Doing the Whole Living 28 Day Action Challenge

Rather than making New Year's Resolutions, I set goals for self improvement. I first read about the Whole Living 28 Day Action Challenge in Whole Living Magazine and it seems like January 1 is a perfect time to start this program, although you could do it anytime.

I've decided to commit to every step of this self-improvement program and blog about my progress-both successes and failures.

Holidays are always a hard time to keep up with eating right, exercising and getting enough sleep and this year was harder than ever for me because we had company over much of November, then I went to visit relatives and then Christmas happened. All that led to about 8 pounds of extra weight, not enough exercise and me feeling like a lump!


The worst part is how all this has affected my attitude toward life. I've been feeling unmotivated, tired and out of sorts. The 28 Day Challenge website offers great information on diet and exercise, recipes, and healthy living tips. You can sign up for daily tips to be emailed to you.

The 28 Day Action Challenge promises to help me detox my body and organize my life, lose a little weight, and work on some healthier habits. It seems like just what I need to get myself back on the road to healthy living.

Each day of the challenge, you take a pledge to do the challenge for that day. Today's is to commit to change your life by taking the 28 day challenge.

The 28 Day Action Challenge begins on Monday with detoxing and there are steps to take over the weekend to get ready. This morning, I got ready for detoxing by starting with a cup of hot water and lemon juice and cutting back my coffee to one cup. I also committed to drinking 8 glasses of water today.

I also plan to give my dogs a nice long walk and eat smaller, more frequent meals through the day.

The Whole Living Action Plan website also offers lots of recipes and articles on meditation, spirituality, fitness, food and nutrition and much, much more.

If you decide to try this challenge for yourself, I'd love to hear from you. Stay tuned because throughout the challenge, I'll share tips, books and articles on Healthy Living which have helped me and, I hope, will help you too.