Thrive Forward, Day Eight

Today was supposed to begin with a run, but I took one look outside and I knew that wasn't going to happen. It was raining buckets all day. My parents gave me their old treadmill, and I would have used that instead. But I hear Friday morning — my usual weight training morning — is going to be sunny and 60-something. In January!! So I swapped my workout days so I can enjoy the unseasonably awesome weather during an outdoor run tomorrow.

So I had my last Direct Fuel Bite (I'm sure you're tired of hearing about those!) and did some weight stuff. Then I had yet another bowl of Toasted Apple Cinnamon Cereal. Bored yet? Yep, I'm eating lots of leftovers to make the Thrive Forward cleanse cost-effective for me. And even with doing that, I've DOUBLED my grocery budget in a two-week period.

Anyway, I did have a new morning snack! More kale chips! But this time, I had Alive & Radiant Cheezy Chipotle Kale Chips:

I was conned into buying these at Whole Foods when a very nice sample lady offered me a free taste and a coupon. I'm such a sucker for a tasty kale chip and even more of a sucker for a coupon. But the purchase was worth it. These were so good! Definitely the best cheezy kale chip I've had.

Lunch was the MOST AMAZING SALAD!! Yes, it deserves all caps. It's the Farmer's Market Salad from the Thrive Forward website (you can find the recipe in the supplemental materials from lesson two):

This is, hands down, the best salad I've eaten on the cleanse. Brenden's recipes in the Thrive books are great, but I'm finding myself even more drawn to the freebies on the website. This salad was made with baby romaine, chopped pear, beets, carrots, yellow bell pepper, lentil sprouts, chopped hazelnuts, and hemp seeds.

But the dressing was what truly brought the whole thing together. Check this out:

Looks crazy, but here's what it is: Hemp oil, extra virgin olive oil, and lemon juice infused with radish, sweet onion, and pear. You put the veggies and fruit in and let it sit for awhile. The recipe says to let it sit while you prep the salad, but I let it sit and infuse overnight. Best thing ever. The dressing had an amazing sweet onion flavor with a hint of spicy radish (I couldn't really taste the pear).

My afternoon snack was a Kale Calcium Boost Smoothie from Thrive:

This was my first green smoothie on the cleanse. Can you believe I went a full week into a cleanse without a green smoothie? Yea, it sounds kind of wrong. But it just happened that way. Anyway, green smoothie: check.

Dinner was leftover Black Bean Chili Pizza (which you've seen before), and my after-dinner snack was a Banana with Artisana Raw Walnut Butter.

Well, I'm off for another cleansing weekend (with a planned wine cheat on Saturday for my friend's 30th birthday). I'll report back on Sunday night!