Thrive Forward, Day One

Today marked the beginning of my Thrive Forward cleanse. It's basically a no-sugar, no-booze, no-gluten, no-coffee, no-professed food, totally whole foods-based vegan detox. Very similar to the Crazy Sexy Diet that I did last year and three years ago, but this program — based on Vega founder/Ironman triathlete Brenden Brazier's Thrive books — has more of a focus on boosting athleticism.

My only real resolution this year is to run the St. Jude Half-marathon. Right now, I max out at six miles, so I need to double my running ability, and I think Brenden's program is the perfect way to kick-start my training. If you want to sign up for free Thrive Forward video lessons, it's not too late! Sign up and cleanse with me!

The free online program is all you need to get started, but I'm a super nerd. So I've been reading all three of Brenden's books — Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life, Thrive Fitness (his workout book), and Thrive Foods (his cookbook) — in preparation. All three books have recipes, and Thrive Fitness has a great weight training program that I'll be supplementing with my running.

But enough with the words. I have lots of food pics to show you from day one! This morning, I woke up at 6 a.m. for an hour run. But first, I popped a Direct Fuel Bite from Thrive. It's basically like a homemade Luna Bar made with coconut oil, dates, and lemon:

I'm used to eating sugary energy bars before my runs, so I did get a little hungry close to the end of my run. I think I'll try making some of Brenden's homemade energy gels for my next run. After the run, I replenished my electrolytes with a Lemon-Lime Recovery Drink from Thrive (the electrolytes come from the dulse in the recipe):

Then about 30 minutes later, I had a liquid breakfast, which Brenden recommends after a longer run. An hour is a long run for me, so I had this Neopolitan Smoothie from the Thrive Forward e-book (free when you sign up!). It's almond milk, bananas, strawberries, cacao powder, and Vega Natural powder:

I wouldn't typically be a fan of switching out my solid food breakfast for a liquid one, but this diet includes LOTS of snacks, including a mid-morning snack. Around 10:30 a.m., I had these Crunchy Plantain Strips (with sea salt and cinnamon) and Black-eyed Pea Cayenne Salsa (both from Thrive):

By the way, I ate the whole plantain, but I only showed a few slices here because it made a prettier picture.

Lunch everyday is supposed to be a salad, so I had Brenden's Avocado Cayenne Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette:

This had mixed greens, avocado, nori, nutritional yeast, cayenne, and a homemade balsamic dressing that's made with vinegar, hemp oil, and garlic.

My afternoon snack was a chocolate Vega Whole Food Energy Bar because I'm a fangirl and I want to buy all of Brenden's stuff. But he actually includes plenty of recipes for making your own in his books.

Dinner was a Cheesy Broccoli Bowl with Quinoa from Thrive Foods:

The sauce was amazing — tahini, nutritional yeast, coconut oil, miso paste. Cheesy and delicious.

I even get an after-dinner snack! I rarely eat after dinner, but why not? I'm eating smaller meals on the cleanse, so I get to eat more often. For my evening snack, I had a handful of Raw Pumpkin Seeds:

Well, that's what I ate today. I'll have a weekend cleanse recap on Sunday night.