Twenty Ten Thirty: 21DSD: Day14 (2 weeks down, 1 to go!)

Awwww yeah! I've made it through two weeks, and am feeling confident that I will make it through this next and final detox week.

I got in 4 workouts this week - 2 sessions of yoga, and 2 three-mile runs, so that's quite an improvement over the prior week, with my single yoga session as my only workout. I also tried out a handful of new recipes this week, including chicken with artichokes and olives on Day 10 (with great leftovers on day 12 and 13) apple Streusel egg muffins on Day 11.

I got some fun new inspiration in the mail this week (I gifted myself these items via Amazon Prime), including the 21DSD Cookbook, and a Kuhn Rikon Julienne Peeler to make zucchini noodles, aka "zoodles"! I made Zoodles today with my new peeler- and they were awesome! I LOVE pasta, and I've been seeing zucchini and squash noodles all over Pinterest and on various Paleo and healthy eating blogs swearing that the texture is reminiscent of a delicious plate of spaghetti. That piqued my interest since I love pasta, and today I gave it a whirl. It could not have been easier -- used my new Julienne peeler to julienne a bunch of zuchinni into strips, or "noodles", then sauteed them for about 5-7 minutes, topped them with a "homemade" meat sauce (e.g. canned diced tomatoes with some fresh basil, onions, garlic, sea salt and pepper and browned ground beef), and VOILA! A Delicious, and highly nutritious meal!

Zucchini is a variety of summer squash, and summer squash has some amazing health benefits, including linkage to diabetes prevention and insulin regulation, and packed loads of antioxidants, according to the Worlds Healthiest Foods (whfoods.org). You can learn more about this amazing veggie on WHFoods here. The extent of the blood-sugar benefits is just one more reason to love zucchini!

Here's my day 14 run down --

Time Went to Bed Last night: 11 pm. (yep, we get crazy on a Saturday night!)

Time got up this morning: 8:00 am.

How I felt when I woke up (excellent, good, fair, poor): Fair/poor - I think the headache I got after my run yesterday was actually allergy related. It stuck with me through the evening, and I woke up with it today. B picked up some allergy meds for me, and stubborn me, I haven't taken them yet. I probably will start in the morning.

General Mood/Energy throughout the day (excellent, good, fair, poor): Good/ Excellent - My mood was pretty good all day, and my energy levels were pretty terrific - I got a lot of chores completed around the house, played in the kitchen a bit, practiced my saxophone....and got in a workout too! (see directly below)

Exercise (type/duration): Ran 3 miles. Bam! 2 days in a row!

Breakfast: Pumpkin Pancakes from the 21DSD original book. I didn't have the recipe to make the accompanying vanilla bean coconut butter, and without it, these were a bit bland. These pancakes would also be pretty good with maple syrup, which obviously isn't allowed since maple syrup is straight up sugar. I may try them again, but will look into that vanilla bean butter to see if that jazzes it up.

Lunch: Caesar salad (sans croutons) with leftover lemon chicken.

Dinner: Zoodles (recipe here, it could not be easier!) with Parmesan cheese and Marinara sauce from my new 21DSD Cookbook, plus I added ground beef to make it a meaty marinara. So good! B even said "I never need to eat pasta again!" This easy recipe is sure to become a go to and a regular part of the dinnertime rotation in our house. Photos below.

Snack: Apple, homemade kale chips (I'll talk about these tomorrow)

Water Intake: 8 glasses

Zoodles Step 1 - Julienne!