Morning Weight: 13st 8lbs (190 lbs, 86kgs) a loss of 1.5lbs in 4 days. As I wasn’t actually trying to lose weight during this period, I’m delighted. I expect the next week to show a more dramatic weight loss.

9:45am    4 bananas, spinach, water

12 noon    Finished smoothie

2:00pm    Smoked mackerel salad, rose wine and lemonade (out with students for lunch. Impressed myself by not ordering dessert!)

4:00pm    Banana

7:00pm    Chicken, Tilda mushroom rice, tangerine and peach sun tea

Now I’m starting the 7 day detox program and that means a 24 hour water fast. The Raw Divas plan this really well though, because you start the fast after your evening meal and break it with the next evening meal, so you don’t go to bed starving and psychologically it’s easier because you wake up knowing you’re going to eat that night.

I finished eating at 7:30pm so that’s when I’ll break my fast tomorrow night – stay tuned and wish me luck!

Today and tomorrow are transition days between the 3 Day Green Smoothie Challenge and the 7 Day Detox I’m starting on Thursday (or rather, tomorrow night). I’m keeping to two smoothies a day where I can, and just generally eating light and clean.

11:30am     2 mangoes, 25g bunch flat-leaved parsley, 1 banana, water, soaked goji berries. Used water to make up to 1litre. I was a bit dubious about the parsley the first time I used it, but it gives a delicious, fresh taste and now I can’t imagine mangoes any other way!

1:15pm     Finished smoothie

2:45pm     Banana

4:00pm    2 green pears, 1 apple, 1/3 pomegranate, spinach, romaine lettuce, water

5:15pm    Finished smoothie

7:00pm    1 raw cobette (half a corn-on-the-cob)

8:00pm    Chicken, boiled potatoes, steamed vegetables. Tangerine and Peach sun tea (not as intense as Lemon and Ginger)

9:45pm    Grapes

6 squares dark chocolate – had to finish the bar! But it lasted 2 days, which is a result.

I’ve really been loving the last 3 days! I have so much energy, I’m buzzing and the smoothies are absolutely delicious.  As you can see, I celebrated the end of the 3 days with some dark chocolate

I intend to do the Free 7 Day Detox starting on Thursday because the first day is a water fast and I’m meeting some students for lunch on Wednesday. I’ll stick with green smoothies for the next couple of days and that should segue me nicely into the detox.

10:30am  2 apples blended with water, 2 wedges pineapple, 3 inches cucumber, lemon juice, blender packed full of spinach. Made well over 1 litre and I couldn’t eat/drink it all at once.

1:00pm   Finished smoothie from this morning plus 1 banana. I love these smoothies really thick so I can eat them with a spoon lol

1 coffee and .75 litres water so far

3:15pm  1/3 pineapple blended with a little water, 1 large papaya, 6/8 strawberries, 100g blackberries, loads of kale. Mmmmmm

4:30pm  Peach

5:15pm  Finished 2nd smoothie, banana

7:30pm  Portobello mushroom raw – the flavour of these is fabulous.

8:15pm  3 chicken drumsticks, boiled potatoes, steamed veg bag. Lemon & Ginger sun tea (iced). My first attempt at sun tea and I was surprised how strong it was. It’s simply a tea bag placed in cold water and then covered and stood in the sun for as long as you want. Of course it never gets really hot so it’s nicer to drink it iced rather than luke-warm.

4 squares dark chocolate

I woke up around 9 feeling really good. Drank water and meditated and noticed my breathing was clearer. Drank water and coffee until I felt really hungry.

11:30am Made a smoothie with 1/3 Watermelon, 1 papaya, 1 passion fruit, loads of spinach. Poured some in a small glass for my neighbour and offered it to her – she actually went white! After some coaxing though, she tried a  little and loved it! That’s a really big deal because her diet is pretty restricted and she and her husband said they’ve both felt very lethargic for a few weeks. He tried it too and liked it – I might have a couple of converts here

2:15pm  2 wedges pineapple, 3 bananas, few strawbs, blackberries, water, kale, soaked goji berries, flax mix. Made 1 large glass and 1 small so had the second glass an hour later. Gave another taste to my neighbour and they’ve both decided to go for it and have 2 a day!

1 cup of coffee

5:00pm  2 bananas

7:00pm 4 small chicken drumsticks, Tilda rice with beans & chilli

Drank 1.5 litres water during the day – that’s a LOT for me!

So far this isn’t so bad at all – I LOVE the smoothies and I’m not feeling hungry.

It all starts today! The 3 day Green Smoothie Challenge and my first green smoothie – umm,  so what exactly is a green smoothie?

According to Victoria Boutenko who apparently invented the whole concept, green smoothies are blended fruit smoothies (not juices) with added greens. The theory is that fruit alone will cause a big sugar spike as it hits your system but adding greens such as spinach and kale, as well as providing lots of vital nutrients in their own right, also slows down the absorption of fruit sugar (fructose).  The additional fibre from blending the fruit and greens rather than juicing them also contributes to the gradual release of the fructose.

As an aside, on my original raw adventure back in 2000, I used to make a raw “soup” with avocado, tomato, mushroom, sunflower seeds and little gem lettuce, all blended with water. And yes, tomato and avocado are fruit

The plan for the Green Smoothie Challenge is to have at least one, preferably two and even three green smoothies a day as meal replacements. That means they need to be at least 1 litre (2 pints/1 quart) in volume. My plan is to have a green smoothie for breakfast and lunch and have a small cooked meal in the evening, plus drink lots of filtered water.

Although I’m not doing this primarily to lose weight, I do expect to lose some (heck, I’d be pretty disappointed if I didn’t!) so for the record this is my starting point:

Saturday August 15 2009 – Day 1

Morning Weight: 13st 9.5lbs (191.5lbs, 87 kgs)

I got up late (I’m still on summer break) and didn’t get out until around 12:30pm.  I didn’t eat, but went to Asda first and filled a big trolley with nothing but fruit and veg and was amazed it only came to £40.

2pm: Made my first green smoothie with 4 ripe bananas, 2 handfuls of spinach and water. Could have used less water and more spinach but tasted amazing and made 2 big glasses (1 litre total)

Had a passion fruit and a banana about 4pm

6pm: Mango, 2 small oranges, 1 banana, 1 Little Gem lettuce, big handful of spinach. Without water, made just over 1 big glass so not really enough for a meal replacement. Delicious though!

My neighbours saw me drinking a bright green concoction and eventually had to ask! I offered them a taste of the next one I made – funny, they didn’t seem exactly grateful …

8pm: Cold salmon and Tilda mushroom rice

It’s been a beautiful day, I’ve kept busy, feel great – off to bed