This post and photos may contain Amazon or other affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. If you purchase something through any link, I may receive a small commission at no extra charge to you. All opinions are my own.
How are you feeling? Hopefully you are feeling great, filled with energy and maybe a little “lighter” (could be from all the trips to the bathroom, huh? 🙂 )
The idea of this JUMP START is for you have a fresh beginning to healthy, clean eating. I also wanted you all to become aware and yes ACCOUNTABLE of the amount of processed foods you were eating. By eating as many unprocessed foods as you want and drinking ALL of that water, you get rid of that bloat while maintaining a steady blood sugar level (which helps keep energy levels high.)
Now that you are feeling less bloated and the 3-5 days are over….what do you do now? DO NOT go right back to your regular eating and drinking habits. If you gave up your typical cup (s) of coffee for the past few days, maybe you don’t have the taste for all the sweeteners and creamers? And if you do have the taste for them, gradually start adding them back to your diet. Add small amounts, a little at a time. Remember, this plan was designed to get you INTRODUCED to clean eating, not just for you to eat this way for 3-5 days.
If you felt like 1 gallon of water was too much for you, then cut back. But TRY to get in at least 96 ounces of water each day. Continue to flavor the water if you need to. Also, when you can, try to start your morning off with the warm lemon water. It is so great for flushing out your impurities in your body. Even if you start drinking coffee again, try to only drink one cup and supplement the rest with green tea.
Finally, the reason why I made this JUMP START for 3-5 days and not a definitive 3 OR 5 days, was because I wanted to give you the option of how many days you want to follow it. I didn’t want anyone feeling guilty if they couldn’t follow the plan for all 5 days. Guilt leads to emotional eating which leads to more guilt and you get the picture.
Give yourself a huge round of applause when you finish! Hopefully you learned a little about your own eating habits and can make (even small) changes!
Please leave a comment and let me know how you are feeling once you are finished with the JUMP START. I love creating mini “challenges” and would love to hear your feedback 🙂
Today I am on day 4 and I’m going to try to stick to it. I lost 2 1/2lbs and I actually can see my abs again. The hardest part was the coffee! I drink about 3/4 of a cup in the morning with a little skim milk. I was drinking like 5 or 6 cups a day. As I sit and type this I’m drinking my lemon water and it tastes good. That is something I am going to keep doing. I haven’t been hungry, but to be honest I have been tired. I think I was tired from going through coffee withdrawals, but it gets easier everyday. I really am going to try to keep this going. This weekend I may incorporate a piece of bread, but thats it. Thank you for this, I feel so much better about myself!!
I loved the challenge! Your timing was perfect, as I was just beginning to eat clean anyway; the challenge kept me accountable. I have more energy, and although my mind thinks I crave a sweet treat, if I postpone the impulse for a few minutes, my body has already forgotten the thought.
I used the Challenge to do exactly as you said – to make me aware of all the junk I was eating on a daily basis, and to add more water to my daily life. I have supper out with friends tonight, so I decided I would do 3.5 days on the Challenge, but already I feel more accountable about my diet. I don’t know if I have more energy, but I also have two soul-suckers here running around, so that might have something to do with it. But I definitely have a renewed faith in my ability to eat well, and I’ve gotten the kick in my pants that I need to get my snacking in check and increase my water intake, which is always the big ticket for me to lose weight and be more healthy. For me, we rarely eat processed foods for our meals, but it’s the random snacking that was getting slightly out of control. I never weighed myself at the beginning of the challenge, but I now weigh the same that I did after 48 hours of vicious gastro a month ago, lol. It’s a start!
I’ve gained weight due to emotional eating and my cholesterol has skyrocketed so this challenge came at the right time for me to get in control. I did okay with the food change, giving up my ice cream and protein bars, but I failed in the water intake. I hate drinking water and usually am not a beverage consumer anyway, so this was hard. I lost one pound, feel better about myself and plan to continue. The food choices you offered really help! Now, how do I remember to drink?!
Hi Lea 🙂 You are doing great! Maybe fill up a large water bottle and carry it with you all day to remind you to drink?
I thought this was a great challenge to get me started back on the “right track”. It did make me very mindful of how I “lean” on carbs and dairy for snacking, etc. It forced me to think outside the box. The gallon of water has been really hard, not taste wise, but quantity. Yesterday I was able to do a half gallon. I am going to continue thru tormorrow and then incorporate some of these ideas going forward. Like you said, to reintroduce some things again slowly but perhaps not at the same level, ie: carbs or meat and dairy. Over all I had a headache or two but mostly feel less “heavy” and bloated. The clincher was when my husband looked at me in the kitchen last night and said, “you’re face looks good, it looks more youthful!”. That’s worth the whole thing!
Love hearing that Karen! Great job!!
This was a wonderful way to cut out all of the carbs I normally eat and make a fresh start. I’m not a coffee drinker so the green tea and water was perfect for me. Though I found it hard to drink a gallon a day, I did still manage to consume about 3/4 of that (I’m not much of a drinker either). I lost 3lbs and feel great. In fact, I had some Skim Plus milk in my black tea this morning and felt horrible so back to green tea for me tomorrow! Thanks for a great plan that was easy to follow.
I’m at the end of day 4 with just one more day to go. This experience has been very educational for me. I had already implemented some much healthier habits in my diet over the last month and this was an extension of that effort. I’m totally off coffee now, I’ve discovered a green tea I really like, and I have a new favorite food…plain Greek yogurt with berries. I now see where all the processed foods were hanging out in my diet, and while I know they are not banished forever, I think they’ll be in my diet a lot less then before. I’m also down three pounds, so no complaints there. I am also pretty certain the hot lemon water will be an every morning thing for me. I really enjoy it! In fact, a lot of things I’ve done this week will be a part of my every day. I’m feeling really great! Thanks for doing this!
I LOVE hearing that Christy!! You are doing such an amazing job! 🙂
I’m ready to take the challenge and really appreciate the well-thought-out grocery list. That’s my biggest hurdle. I don’t like to cook, but I would like to feel A LOT better, so I’m going to have to get into cooking again. Lastly, why do we need to eliminate coffee? I’m going to do it, but I love my AM coffee and wonder what the thought behind leaving it in would be?
Great question Kim! There’s nothing bad for you in coffee per se, it’s really what you put into the coffee that makes it unhealthy. Can you drink it black? Or with a splash of unsweeetend almond milk?