yesterday was an interesting day, a bit of a challenge as I went to the green market ( more on that in a moment)

got up nice and early,

had a wonderful conference call with all of the women doing this weeks cleanse - I am so proud of them they are really doing OUTSTANDING things - everything from going cold turkey on 3 cup a day coffee habits to totally revamping their closets - I was so inspired! way to go ladies!!!

after the call I packed a lunch and met a friend in Union Square for a picnic lunch - quinoa with onions , kale , steamed carrots with lemon- ginger tahini sauce and sardines- after lunch we perused the green market and I will admit to being seduced by the chilled homemade apple cider - okay , it is a local and in season fruit so I went with it and shared it with my buddy, DELICIOUS!!!

and that would have been enough but we picked up some dried apples and I had those as well , cut to 30 minutes later and MAN major headache! I had not had anything that sweet for about 5 days ... so not horrible,

had an hour long massage and that was pretty nourishing.

today was an EARLY day , went for a run in the rain and thought to myself "who is this person running in the rain?" but It felt really good and cleansing - I thought as I ran about the symbolism of rain in the movies , literature ,and music as something that "washes things away" I thought of that the Madonna song "Rain" "wash away my sorrow , take away my pain, your love's coming down like rain" not sure what it is but I felt so AMAZING after that run...

now I am up in Albany with my boyfriend and let me tell you when you leave Manhattan it is frightening what they call food - we were pleasantly surprised to find an excellent seafood restaurant - I have managed to stay within my cleanse guidelines ordering fish and vegetables - it was tough not to order a glass of wine and pass on the desserts that people enjoyed all around us , but back at the hotel we were able to get some herbal tea and fresh fruit.

off to bed soon.

many xoxo's,
-Donna

Spring cleaning day 3

woke up at around 6 am and cooked like a fiend! more wild salmon salad , some blueberry sorbet , more vegetables for nori rolls KALE! lemon- ginger tahini sauce, and sweet potato.

feeling very good , a bit sluggish and my attempt at a run in the park turned into a long leisurely walk with push ups, crunches, lunges and stretches, I decided NOT to use my IPOD , I wanted to listen to the birds , cleansing yes...

took a long relaxing sit near the sail boat pond and have to say that I felt as if I was in a Fellini movie - many of those cute Korean couples tying the knot - many with punked out multi colored hair ( the men) and the brides all aglow with red and pink bouquets, there was some weird dude gyrating to trance music and people were actually putting money in his bucket, there was a couple clearly in love and learning the tango , holding each other so close that not a bit of light shone through their silhouette... and of course the children who giddily watched the two Transylvania Folk violinists play feverishly in unison.

I was very happy that I did not bring my IPOD - I would have missed the entire Filliniesque show for sure and what a pity that would have been...

as for my cleansing activity- went to the little nail salon by my house and got a manicure/ pedicure , I interviewed the owner as she painted my toes... she started her business at a very young age and then left it to go back to be a mommy , then once the kids grew she went back to work and the business has continued to thrive ever since.

had a friend over for dinner. now I will clean up the dishes and head to sleep.

Oh, NO TV through meals again! YEAY! very difficult indeed. NO black tea, Dolphin chocolate or black licorice either!

I feel pretty clean , light , refreshed .

a cleanse is ( as Martha says, ) is " A good thing"

tomorrow I do a tele-conference with all of the spring cleansers ( there are 11 of them ) looking forward to hearing all of their news.

xoxo!
-Donna

Spring cleaning day 2

Hello healthy people !

well yesterday went well... did not have any chocolate , black tea or black licorice, instead I opted for some organic apple sauce which did the trick.

I took a 30 minute run in the park - which was beautiful, then did some stretching , crunches and push ups... the weather made it easy as did the fun music in my ipod.

I did not watch T.V. while eating even once - which was a challenge- I just stared at my cat and he looked away occasionally looking at me as if to say " what the hell are you looking at? "

I finished most of the food that I made accept the brown rice, I have a sweet potato in the oven as I write this and am about to steam carrots and make Dikon radish salad for nori rolls, some more kale and of course that YUMMY lemon -ginger tahini dressing.

my cleansing activity yesterday was to go over some old paperwork, today I will do laundry and donate old and unused items to the housing works thrift shop.

I went to whole foods last night after a delicious dinner last night at Souen ( nori roll, maze rice with nori, grilled black bass and some kale, steamed carrots , dikon radish and squash) to pick up some more apple sauce (glass jar) kale, carrots, sweet potato and dikon.

going to hit the park again today, maybe a yoga class ...

many hugs!
xo-Donna

Spring Cleaning !

hello all ! just had a fun spring cleaning class last night - many wonderful people all interested in, umn... "getting clean". the reality is that we all take in so much crap even if we are doing our best to be healthy -

in last nights class we discussed easy techniques to have an easy cleanse. we cooked many delicious cleansing foods that are sure to "detox" the body , we all committed to cutting out the biggest toxic offenders , those include sugar, chemicals, dairy, wheat, iodized salt, any processed foods, eggs, corn, alcohol, coffee, soda pop, and fake sugars.

for one week we will all do our best to love ourselves and give to our bodies only the foods that we wish to actually become a part of our bodies.

last nights dinner menu was simple and yummy ( all organic) :

nori rolls with avocado, alfalfa sprouts, red cabbage and carrots.

steamed kale with lemon- ginger tahini sauce

wild salmon salad with capers

roasted red garnet potatoes

and the yummiest black cherry/ blueberry sorbet with a raw honey ripple!

here is my personal progress report:

I just finished breakfast (after morning water) leftovers - brown rice with greens, carrots, cabbage, that yummy tahini dressing and some salmon salad with sprouts -

I admit to having a tough time NOT turning on the TV , I opted for classical radio and listened to Frank Bruni , the NY times food writer ramble on about some nonsense- I forgot to smell my food! but I did remember to CHEW - which was actually fun because the brown rice really lends itself to the "chew"

I ate PAST a 5 (tough - the food was delicious ...)

so, lunch I am thinking will be leftover sushi rolls , some more of the leftover steamed veg and some sweet potato , maybe some salmon.

I will find it hard today not to have a medallion of Dolphin chocolate or some organic black licorice ( I realize that I do this nearly every day) my black tea habit will not happen today or going forward and I LOVE black tea.

also, after much thought I have altered my Cinco De Mayo plans and will go to Souen for dinner (13th st. off University place) and forgo a crazy margarita Mexican fiesta with my boyfriend luckily he loves kale...

I send hugs,

xoxo-Donna