It's been a great week of serious hydration. I am happy to say that my skin looks much cleaner and my uneven and brighter. My skin definitely shines a bit more and dehydration wrinkles are minimal.
The best part of this week was the unexpected surprise - my dark spots {pigmentation} got a lot lighter. I wasn't planning on this happening, so I was very excited.
This is my final post about it and I wanted share the details of the process because it was a really fun journey. I didn't "detox" per se or even juice "cleanse", but rather I focused on consuming less caffeine, sea salt, packaged foods and dairy and more fresh raw fruits, veggies, lots of water and green drinks without fully removing everything from my diet cold turkey.
Here is a daily journal, in case you want to try something similar {if you do try something similar, please send me your feelings on it and if you noticed a difference.} No meat. I don't eat meat, so if you normally eat meat, you can add some fresh fish. Wes eats meat but he did a whole week of no meat. Try it. It can be fun for a change.
Day 1
water + lemon
green juice x 2
ran 30 minutes outside
more water + lemon
1 whole avocado {ate with a spoon}
sprouted tofu {uncooked}
avo
brown rice
seaweed
little miso mayo
no added sea salt
fresh young coconut
water + lemon x 2
kale salad
steamed artichoke {vegan dipping sauce}
water in the night
DAY 2
little coffee {kids woke up at 5am}
lemon water
pear, parsley, yellow beet, ginger cucumber juice
1 egg lightly boiled
¾ avocado
tiny tiny bit sea salt {man, i have a hard time w/o this}
lemon water
watermelon juice
raw collard wrap from PEACE PIES
1 dehydrated cookie
castor oil + steam room + whole body exfoliating brush + cold shower rinse
argan oil on face
HUGE kale, butter lettuce sprouted seed and nut salad
glass of wine
lemon water
bed
Day 3
ice water with lemon
green drink {frozen fruit, greens, stevia, citrus, ginger}
½ avocado
cucumber sliced
lemon water + cucumber
gym work out - 30 minutes
lemon water + cucumber
shower + steam room {oiled up my face and body} with hydrating hair mask
more lemon water + cucumber {while in the steam room}
ice cold cold shower
vegetarian sushi roll
kale chips
fruit + handful of sprouted walnuts
fresh homemade almonk milk
raw brussel sprout chop topped with olive oil + toasted hazel nuts + peccorino
lemon water before bed
used the clarisonic on my face, covered it in argan oil
bed
---------------------------------- My Green Drink ----------------------------------
Hydrating Green Smoothie Recipe
1c frozen fruit {I did a mix of mango, pineapple & butternut squash}
½ cucumber
1" piece of fresh ginger
handful of parsley
handful of kale
½ lemon, peeled
1 lime, peeled
1 orange, peeled
1 teaspoon honey
1 dropper stevia
½c - 1c liquid {coconut water or water or almond milk or grapefruit juice}
Blend all of the above in a Vitamix or high speed blender until smooth. Use the least amount of liquid and add more if needed.
-----------------------------------My Brussel Sprout Chop Salad---------------------------------
Brussel Sprout Chop
12 raw brussel sprouts or 1 bag Trader Joes shredded brussel sprouts
2 handfuls chopped hazelnuts, toasted
⅛c olive oil {or barely coated brussel sprouts}
½ lemon, juiced
¼c peccorino cheese, or to taste
sea salt & pepper, to taste
Chop or slice brussel sprouts, very thin. Mix in the olive oil and sea salt. Add lemon and peccorino. Toss and let sit about an hour. Add hazelnuts when ready to serve. It's so tasty.
I created this salad after having something similar out on date night at a restaurant nearby. It was an italian restaurant. This dish is very Italian. If you don't like cheese, you might not like this salad. But it can be made vegan by adding avocado and more nuts or sprouted seeds! A different taste but all together still amazing.
Enjoy!
p.s. my mom made this and used it as a side dish for her lemon talapia fish. she said it paired up really well!
Ellie Heidel
Amazingly beautiful post! I'm drooling over every shot 🙂 🙂 love it Juli!
linda j
i REALLY loved that you gave us the breakdown of your days. it is very helpful. and as always, highly inspiring!
i'm working on the hydration now too. thank you!! x keep the great posts coming!
Juli Novotny
THANKS LINDA AND ELLIE!! You both say the nicest things. I'm glad you're liking it. I honestly haven't felt this good in a long time. I'm so obsessed now with these oil treatments in the steam rooms and also oil all over my face!!! I know people always like looking into people's food diary's, so I figured it would be a good time for one. 😉 Hope you two are WELL!
Paige Loeschner
First time on this site. Love to pictures, and the smoothies look delicious. Great job Juli! Hope to see you on Sunday. For the birthday bash! LOL
Luv,
Paige
Emily
I love that you showed your daily diet and activity and most of all I loved that you didn't take an all or nothing deprivation approach to the week. An all or nothing approach almost always causes a swing Back in an unhealthy direction - or causes one to give up completely if they slip in the wrong direction (such as drinking coffee at 5am - the may see that as ruining the hydration plan and give up completely)
Well done!
Juli Novotny
Emily, ha. Thanks a lot for the comment. Yeah, it wasn't a "cleanse" as much as just a focus for me this week on hydration. If I don't focus, it won't get done. So I tried to be REALISTIC with my approach so that I could always be more hydrated. Make sense? 😉 Thanks again Emily!
Angie
This is so great, thanks for sharing all this:)
Angie
This is so great, thanks for sharing:)
adina
So I have tried juice cleanse and other cleanse and I failed so this week I am just trying to eat good really good kind of like what your doing. I hope to sucessed and not let life issue make me cave and eat bad. thanks for sharing
Gillian
You have the most beautiful skin! These hydration posts have inspired me! I've been coating myself in argan oil, almond oil (under the eyes) and castor oil (which I like best for my tummy).
Juli Novotny
Gilian, no. my skin sucks. i have dark spots after pregnancy. it's been so hard to get rid of. but hydrating for sure helped with those little dehydration wrinkles and a tiny bit with the spots. anyways...thanks though and i'm glad you're inspired. 😉
Juli Novotny
Adina, you can't "Fail" at a cleanse. Even if you mess up, you still have done a lot of good stuff in the process. It's super hard to stick with something like that. But I know how you feel so I just added more water and juicing to my normal diet. Easier way for me to stick with it!!! 😉 Good luck.