Day 19: Galaxy Nails (and juice cleanse thoughts)

Yay, my husband gets home tonight and tomorrow is Thanksgiving! I'm excited! It's my first year cooking for a bunch of people... a bunch of guys actually, haha. Everything will be vegan except the turkey. It's my first time cooking a turkey on my own and I won't even be eating it, haha. I will post up my menu and such on Friday...maybe you'll want to try some of there recipes for Christmas or, heck, just a random Tuesday.

I do have a nail post but I didn't do a Friday Foodie post last week because I wanted to wait until today to talk about my juice cleanse.  I did one week of only produce, juicing (with a juicer) and blending (with a blender). Only fruits/veggies, water and coconut water. I also took a multivitamin or vitamin B some days.  Then the past 5 days I started adding food back in but slowly and still doing a lot of juicing/blending. So here are my final thoughts:

• I went from 148lbs to 142lbs but after the eating am now around 144lbs. I would like to stay around 145lbs so I'm working on that!  A lot of the weightloss is temporary but if you work hard, you can keep some of it off. Back in August when I did a 4 day just  juice (no blending) fast, I lost 8lbs and kept off 5 of those pounds.
• My stomach has never been so flat! You know when you first wake up in the morning and are like "Damn, I wish my stomach always looked this good!" but then you go eat breakfast because you're hungry and bam, that stomach is no longer the same. Well, I wake up that way and pretty much stay feeling like that all day!!  This is assuming I keep my portion control in check, eat mainly plant based etc but it is do-able and feels wonderful. 
• I only went to the gym twice the first week but did a lot of walking every day. Week two I have been at the gym every day and working hard. My energy level were only low day 5-7 where I struggled because I think my blood sugar was low (I had run out of bananas and was mainly juicing. I think my body missed the smoothies. Once I had them again, I felt great). 
• Day 1-3 is the hardest. So if you are doing a cleanse, I recommend aiming for 5-7 days so that you can really reach that "euphoric" stage. Day 4 is where I started to feel so clear, aware, light and just overall really good.
• Drink lots of water to ward of headaches! The only day I didn't, I went to bed feeling pretty awful.
• You can do just juice but I will say it's harder. When you juice, it goes through your system very quickly which is great for cleansing but there's no fiber so you feel hungry again very quickly! Blending gives you fiber and helps you feel more full. I really enjoyed doing the combo of both and plan on doing that again in the future. My juicer can't do avocado or banana either so it was nice to be able to use those in the blender.
• My skin did break out a bit which is expected as you are basically flushing your system of toxins... and many exit through your skin! But I only got one pimple, which is pretty much gone, and otherwise my skin feels wonderful.
• My nails look healthier! 
• Since Day 2 I have had so much energy. I am tired around 10pm, sleep well and then am up around 7:30am feeling totally refreshed!  I had cut out coffee during the week a while ago and was missing it but now I'm really not. I just have a cup or two of decaf on weekends (not during the cleanse!) and a regular cup much more rarely.  So I don't feel dependent on caffeine at all.
• The cleanse really really awakens your taste buds.  I found I mainly craved produce after the first few days (first few days I just wanted junk) and some carbs.  I stopped craving sugar completely  which feels great! The stuff I have eaten, I have been very in tune to. I find the more natural stuff tastes good, very vibrant, where as the not so natural tastes rather bland. Interesting, right?
• I look forward to my next cleanse, probably at the end of January. I think I will do 1 week juicing/blending again although it would be nice to do two weeks one day! 
• I really encourage everyone to try this (safely). Watch the documentary Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead! Also, check our jointhereboot.com. They have juice cleanses that include also eating the produce which for first timers will be easier. 

Okay, on to the nails.

31 Nail Challenge

I LOVE this manicure. I can say that right? haha I am just so happy with how it turned out! I definitely prefer it to my last galaxy manicure.  Lots of pictures!

 I started with a black base and then sponged on NYC "Skintight Denim Creme", Sinful Colors "Hottie", Sinful Colors "Snow Me White", Sinful Colors "24/7", L.A. Colors Disco Brights yellow and Pure Ice "Spitfire". I used a small dotting tool and "Snow Me White" for the larger stars. Then I did a coat of a holo glitter franken which is simlar to China Glaze "Fairy Dust".  It's a lot of polish but it was actually quite easy to do!