Category Archives: Food

The End Of The Cleanse Tonics (or Time To Start The Transition Back)

Posted on February 6, 2015 | Comments Off

It’s almost the end of the 3rd week of the cleanse! As this post goes up, I have just today left on the 3rd week. Then I go back to a schedule very similar to the first week, which means no more tonics or detox drinks.

I really have not minded the detox drinks at all. The stuff I put into them have pretty much no flavor, so they just taste like the orange juice I put in it. The tonics, on the other hand, have extremely strong flavors. Maybe if I loved those strong flavors, it would have been a bit easier. But I managed to drink all the tonics without having issues by holding my nose (therefore not being able to taste them).

While of course I’m loving the weight that I’ve lost so far, I’m even enjoying the other results I’m getting more. I’m having an easier time falling asleep and I have had more energy in the morning. And I’m experience a mental clarity that I don’t know I’ve ever had before. It’s almost like I had smeared glasses on before and now they are clean. Things just seem so obvious and simple to me now when before I might get overwhelmed by them.

I’ve been able to be more proactive in getting things done including errands and chores I’ve been putting off and scheduling doctor’s appointments that I’ve been worried about. I already have an appointment with a new potential hip surgeon next month and I’m working on meeting with a doctor regarding the new medication for binge eating.

I’m also loving that my groceries have been much cheaper than usual. I think that this is due to the lack of dairy and meat, so the reduced price won’t last forever. But if I reduce the meat/dairy that I bring back into my life (or at least into the thing that I cook at home), I can keep my weekly grocery spending down. But as an example, this week, I spent just over $30 on groceries for the entire week! I used to spend closer to $80!

Plus, my grocery cart looks so nice and colorful now!

I do eat pretty repetitive foods (I guess that would be a food rut), but I’m not bored with them yet. And I did make my hash brown like potatoes with onions the other night. Potatoes are allowed on the cleanse but only in limited amounts. So I’ll probably make this again next week, but I can’t make it again this week.

Now that I’m going to start the transition phase for the next week, I’m planning ahead to what I want to eat when I’m done with the cleanse. I’m going to work really hard to maintain the cleanse plan for next week, but it might be a bit tough.

I will be going to an event on Monday evening where I really can’t bring my own food. I’m hoping to eat an early dinner and maybe I won’t get hungry there. And I’m supposed to start my new temp job next week which will have me at work during dinner time for Tuesday and Thursday. So I can see potential issues coming up for me, but I’m hoping that I’ve learned enough by now that I will be able to get through them with few issues. The event on Monday is a one-time thing and the temp job is supposed to only last 2 or 3 weeks. Then I’m back to my usual schedule.

I’m getting excited to being able to add back in some foods that I’ve missed (like eggs, cheese, and Greek yogurt), but I’m also excited to see how closely I can maintain my plan as it is now since I’m getting such great results!

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Posted in Food, Fun Stuff, Health, Weight Loss

Tagged cleanse, detox, diet, food, weight loss

A Day Of Being Vegan (or What Do I Actually Eat On The Cleanse)

Posted on February 3, 2015 | 1 comment

I’ve had lots of people ask me what exactly I eat (or what I’m allowed to eat) while I’m on this cleanse. While I do share pictures online of some foods that I’m enjoying, I figured I would break it down meal by meal.

This breakdown doesn’t include the tonics or detox drinks I’m having. Those are spread throughout the day. At the phase I’m in now, I have a detox drink when I wake up, a liver tonic between breakfast and lunch, another detox drink 2 hours after lunch, another liver tonic about 90 minutes after my last detox drink, and my bowel tonic about 2 hours after dinner. I mix all the drinks and tonics with orange juice, so that’s something I’m consuming over the course of the day that I’m not including on this meal breakdown.

For breakfast, we are supposed to have fresh fruit of smoothies. While I’m getting much better about being lazy in the kitchen, I don’t want to bother with making a smoothie in the morning. It’s too much effort for what I want. My old breakfast was toast with peanut butter. I’m not a huge breakfast person normally and while I’m being careful on the cleanse, I’m keeping that pattern.

Most days, I just eat a banana for breakfast. After having my detox drink in the morning, I’m pretty full so a banana is perfect. Sometimes I get a little fancier with my fruit.

I really like cantaloupe and strawberries and when I find some good ones, I love to add them to my breakfasts. But lately the selection is pretty bad, so I’m just eating my bananas.

For lunch, it’s supposed to be something that is not cooked (I like this since normally I am preparing lunch between working with clients on the phone or on chat for my box office job). I started out making broccoli slaw salads, but I quickly tired of broccoli slaw. Now, I’m eating either an apple with cashew butter and a little salad or a big salad.

I’m not a big lettuce person (I try and unless it’s got some sort of dairy on it I just don’t love lettuce), so my salads are pretty much tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, avocado, and walnuts. Then I top it with balsamic vinegar (I use good vinegar so I don’t feel the need to add oil). I also eat some dried apricots with my lunch most days. I forgot how much I love them and they add a perfect sweet touch to my lunches.

On days that I work out, I eat a small handful of cashews before going to my workout to add little extra protein and energy. I really need it on my workout days and even though I’m not supposed to snack on this plan, I have to do what allows me to work out and not feel sick and light-headed.

Dinners are a cooked meal. I’m eating a lot of rice and beans bowls. I think of them almost as my own version of Chipotle (which I love!).

Most dinners have sautéed onions, zucchini, and squash. Sometimes I add mushrooms or red peppers to the mix. I just sauté them down in the pan with a tiny spray of Pam (no oil). I cook them until they are pretty brown (I don’t mind them if they are overcooked). Then I put them onto a bowl of brown rice and black beans. Most of the time, I top this with avocado.

Last night, I tried a new dinner (it wasn’t the prettiest thing so I didn’t take photos). Potatoes are allowed on this plan, but when I made a baked potato earlier in the cleanse I didn’t like it. I’m used to using greek yogurt with some spices as a sour cream substitute and I missed that. So last night, I diced up a potato and cooked it in the microwave for about 4 minutes to soften the pieces up. Then I added the almost cooked potato to a pan with an entire sweet onion in it. I cooked it down until the potatoes were nice and browned and the onions were almost caramelized. It was so yummy and reminded me of hash browns!

That’s pretty much my meal breakdown! It’s a little boring and I’m figuring out how I will start adding things back into my diet in about 2 weeks (I think dairy will come first). But as you can see, I’m not starving or just drinking shakes on this plan. It is all “real” food and I’m eating quite a bit to make sure my calories don’t dip too low.

A lot of what I’m eating now will continue to be meals for me. I’m finding out that the amounts that I’m eating are working for me and while I want to add some things back (mainly dairy and eggs), I don’t feel deprived. It’s so funny how this cleanse has changed my mindset on what my body really needs to have each day. Things that I thought I had to keep in my diet (like my toast in the morning so my stomach didn’t get too upset) are no longer important to me.

One of the reasons that people go on this cleanse is to get clarity in their life (weight loss is just a bonus). I’m getting to see the results that this clarity brings to me and it’s really awesome!

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Posted in Food, Fun Stuff, Health, Weight Loss

Tagged cleanse, diet, food, meal planning, recipe

Almost Halfway Through The Cleanse (or Bring On The Tonics And Detox Drinks!)

Posted on January 30, 2015 | 1 comment

The second week of Nykki’s Cleanse is definitely more intense than the first week. When you are not doing the 28 day group cleanse, the cleanse is only 14 days. So the 2nd and 3rd weeks are the “real” cleanse while the 1st and 4th weeks are transition weeks.

Starting on the first day of the 2nd week, I incorporated the tonics into my schedule. There are 2 tonics for the cleanse. A liver tonic that you take in the morning and afternoon and a bowel tonic that you take at night. Both of these can be mixed with either water or juice. Since I was pretty sure that the tonics weren’t going to taste delicious, I chose to mix them with orange juice.

I basically do the tonics as a shot and hold my nose so I don’t taste them. The liver tonic tastes better than the bowel tonic, so I’m grateful that I only have to take the bowel tonic once a day.

To be totally honest, the taste of the tonics are so strong, that I questioned if I could really do them for the full 14 days. But I sucked it up and I’m so glad that I did!

I don’t know if it’s the tonics, the clean eating, or a combination of both; but my skin is looking so much better than it has in a long time! Also, before I started the cleanse, people said that while on it you experience mental clarity. At first, I was a little skeptical about that, but doing this has really cleared by head and allowed me to focus on what I need. A lot of the voices in my head (or the voice of my stomach in my head) are gone. I’m not thinking about what’s for dinner or what treat I can have. I’m focused on the here and now.

If you read that last paragraph and thought that I must be crazy, I don’t blame you. Reading people talk like that before I started this made me think that they must be crazy. But I’m shocked that it’s true!

The tonics are still not my favorite thing to drink, but they’ve become bearable and I’m getting through them.

The next thing that was added to my schedule this week was the detox drink.

This was added in the middle of the week and I drink it once right now first thing in the morning. Again, it can be mixed with water or juice. Since I don’t want it to taste bad, I’m mixing it with juice (I’m getting more sugar in my diet than I’m used to, but it’s “good” sugar and I’m staying in my calorie range).

The first time I drank this, I was super nervous. But it was actually delicious! The psyllium husks have no taste at all and the bentonite either has no taste or the orange juice covers it up nicely!

For right now, I’m only doing the detox drink once a day, but soon it will be upped to twice a day. But I’m not worried about that (at least not yet).

Overall, I’m super happy how week 2 went on the cleanse. I’m not really feeling hungry and most of my cravings are gone. The only craving I really have left is for more protein, but I know that that will be the first thing that I add back into my diet. As far as other foods that I used to eat, I’m now thinking twice about a lot of them. I have lots of food stored in my fridge and freezer that I’m questioning if I want to keep in the house anymore. Like bread for example. I used to eat toast every morning, but now I think I’ll be fine with fruit and eggs. No toast needed. So I might toss out the bread that I have in the freezer. This doesn’t mean that I won’t eat bread again. It just means that I don’t think I need/want to keep it in my house.

But a fridge/freezer clean out hasn’t happened yet. I think I’m going to work on that next week. For now, I’m just so happy that this cleanse came into my life and I chose to take advantage of the opportunity!

Quick Update: Because so many of you contacted me about Nykki’s Cleanse, Nykki decided to do a sale today and tomorrow (so ending on January 31st) for all readers of Finding My Inner Bombshell! Just go to the website, pick your cleanse, and enter the promo code: BOMBSHELL . That will get you $50 off! I hope you guys get the cleanse and have as amazing of an experience as I’ve had so far!

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Posted in Food, Fun Stuff, Health, Weight Loss

Tagged cleanse, craving, detox, food, weight loss

My Fit Foods (or Looking At Some Post Cleanse Options)

Posted on January 29, 2015 | 3 comments

Now that I’m almost half way through the cleanse, I’m starting to think about what I’m going to be eating post-cleanse. While I’m going to do a small splurge, I do want to maintain a healthier lifestyle and keeping the majority of my diet fruits and vegetables.

So when I was invited to My Fit Foods in West Hollywood for a tour and hear more about their plan, I jumped at the chance!

This particular location of My Fit Foods (they have several locations in a couple of different states) is pretty close to my house and I’ve passed it when driving around town probably a few hundred times (I guess I pass it twice a week on average). But this was the first time that I ventured inside.

I was greeted right away by Chelsey who is one of the nutrition coaches at the West Hollywood location. She told me how My Fit Foods was started by a personal trainer who wanted to make sure that his clients were going to see results from the work that they did inside the gym and outside the gym. So he created My Fit Foods to help his clients eat right and get the right balance of nutrients to help them maximize their workouts (and their results!).

My Fit Foods is a meal service that has options for breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. People can pre-order several days worth of food or they can come into the store and buy what they need and want.

Everything that they have is fully cooked (no need to heat it up unless you want your meal to be hot) and they have lots of dietary restrictions that they can accommodate (like gluten-free, dairy free, vegetarian, Paleo, and low-sodium). And the food is good in your fridge for 4-5 days, so you can have several days of meals in your fridge and ready to go.

Chelsey explained that when most people get started at My Fit Foods, they take part in their 21 day challenge. In the 21 day challenge, you get paired up with a nutritional coach like Chelsey and they create a meal plan for you. These plans can be customized to your tastes and dietary restrictions. I got a change to check out some of the 21 day plans, and they look amazing! They have lots of different food options for each meal (all the dinners look super incredible and delicious so I can’t pick a favorite!). During the 21 day challenge, you come into My Fit Foods about twice a week and they have all the foods that you need for the coming days ready for you to take home!

It’s so simple for people to follow! I’ve done a meal delivery service before in college and for the first few days it was awesome. But because the service had so few options, after a few days, my meals were repeating themselves! I quickly got tired of the same few things rotating through. But when I looked at the 21 day challenge menu, while you might get some things twice within the 21 days, there is enough variety available to not repeat things every week!

After customers complete the 21 day challenge, most of them continue to order their foods from My Fit Foods. They can create their own meal plan or have guidance from a nutritional coach. But it is completely customizable and you do not have to order all of your meals from them if you know that there are a few days where you don’t need dinner (for example).

And for people who just need an occasional meal (so you don’t get delivery food that you regret), you can walk right into a My Fit Foods and pick up a single meal. They even have microwaves and tables there so you can eat inside if you don’t want to bring it home (or if you are having it as a lunch and don’t want to eat at work).

Finally, Chelsey showed me some of the supplements that they have available. I’m learning more and more about supplements now that I’m doing the cleanse, and what I think is awesome about the ones at My Fit Foods is that they are packets that contain everything you need (no need to purchase 5 or 6 different bottles).

It was so awesome to get to go into My Fit Foods and sit down with Chelsey to learn all about it. They are definitely going on my list of good and fast choices that I can make if I’m not able to cook for myself. It’s so much better for me to run in there and grab a lunch than for me to get some fast food. And I need to be looking at smarter choices from now on if I want to continue the path that I’m going on. And it looks like My Fit Foods will fit into that plan perfectly!

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Posted in Fitness, Food, Fun Stuff, Health, Weight Loss

Tagged food, health issues, meal planning, meals, weight loss

Having Water At A Wine Bar (or Getting A Temporary Job)

Posted on January 28, 2015 | 1 comment

Continuing my attempts to not become a hermit during the cleanse, I went out to Bottle Rock, one of my favorite wine bars this week.

While everything on the menu is amazing (I love their mac and cheese), because of my limitations on the cleanse, all I could have was water. While staring at the menu drinking my water, I did decide that Bottle Rock will be a place I go to for happy hour soon after my cleanse ends.

My reason for going to Bottle Rock was a good one (not just to drink water). I was meeting my old boss from my last telesales job. He is now working at a new theater company and had something to discuss with me.

It turns out, they need someone to work for a few weeks to help sell tickets for their gala this year. It’s a similar job to what I did for this boss before, but instead of selling show tickets, it would be gala tickets. And I would be the only person doing this, so all the commissions would be mine!

Of course, I said I’d take the job! It should start in a week or two and the job will probably only last a few weeks, but anything for extra money is great right now! And since it’s another commission job, there’s no limit to how much I can make in those few weeks.

And if I do a good job selling gala tickets (which I think I will) there might be another opportunity for me toward the end of spring to work for that theater company again and help them work on their renewals for their ticket holders.

The best thing about this new job is that since I am the only person working and it’s my old boss running things, he’s super cool about my current schedule. I’m probably going to work for him in the evening when I don’t work my current box office job and only on evenings when I don’t go to Orangetheory.

This is exactly what I need right now. While I wish that it was a longer job than a few weeks, anything that I can get right now will help. I feel so grateful that of all the telesales staff that worked at that old job with me, my boss chose me to come and work with him on this campaign. It proves to me that I am a good salesperson and that I will always be able to use this boss as a job reference if needed.

Since it doesn’t start for a few weeks, I’m still looking for other jobs that I can do either while I’m working my box office job or outside of my work and workout hours. I’m going to meet someone who is a friend of a friend who needs some organizing work done in their house. That might turn into something, but they are about an hour drive away from my house, so I have to see if I can devote enough time to it to make a 2 hour commute each time worth it.

I don’t want to get too optimistic and think that my job situation is getting to where I need it to be, because it isn’t. But these are all steps in the right direction and gives me hope that it won’t be long until it all works out.

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Posted in Food, Fun Stuff, Work

Tagged happy hour, job, wine, work

Working Out While Cleansing (or Being Easy On Myself)

Posted on January 26, 2015 | Comments Off

This past week of workouts were the first workouts I did while on the cleanse. Even though I am eating (and I’m working on keeping my calories up), I’m eating significantly less protein than I’m used to.

On normal days, that is a small annoyance but I can deal with it. But on workout days, I’m discovering how important protein is for me.

Going into Monday’s workout, I was pretty nervous. I just tried to focus on my fancy new shoes. Before going to the workout, I decided to take a quick picture of my new shoes along with the 2 pairs that I’ve gone through recently (I’m not sure why I never got rid of my old shoes).

I knew that the workout was going to feel tough to me, even if I was taking it easier than I usually do. So I decided not to focus at all on my heart rate monitor and just pay attention to how my body was feeling. And it was pretty rough. I was tired a lot faster than I’m used to and I got some issues with dizziness when transitioning from seated or laying down exercises to standing ones. But I got through the workout and focused on how to better prepare myself for the next one.

One Wednesday, even though snacks aren’t allowed on the cleanse, I added a snack pre-workout. I need the extra energy and calories to help me get through the intense workouts that I’m doing. And I noticed a difference. I was still tired and a little dizzy from time to time, but it was much less and I recovered a lot quicker.

By Friday, I was finally starting to figure out what my food needs to be like during the cleanse on workout days, so I was doing even better. My heart rate doesn’t get as high as it did before, but I can’t be mad at myself for that. Again, I’m just focusing on getting through my workouts and doing the best that I can for that day.

And I finally got off the waitlist for the Saturday workout! So in my first week of cleansing, I did 4 workouts! I know that’s a little crazy. And Saturday’s workout was possibly one of the toughest ones I’ve ever done. We were all put into groups of 3 and then there was a set workout for our group to get through for the entire class. There were no breaks or switching blocks. We just went from one thing to another for the entire class. I was having some serious trouble completing the workout for the last 10 minutes, but I pushed myself through it and managed to have not only an awesome workout but one of my higher calorie burns (which meant that I had to add some extra food to my lunch and dinner).

It is definitely not easy to workout this hard when my protein levels are so low. There really isn’t a way to increase that too much while I’m cleansing, but I did buy some protein powder that fits into the cleanse rules that I can drink if I need to. I don’t like protein powders because they remind me so much of the RFO Diet, but hopefully I can drink this stuff quickly if I need it and not have to think about it too much.

I’ve currently got myself signed up for another 4 workout week this week. I’m not 100% sure I’ll be able to do Saturday, but I’d rather be signed up for it and then cancel than to be on the waitlist and maybe not get in. Even though things are tough for me, I keep reminding myself that change isn’t easy and this is all for the better. I’m not doing anything that will hurt me and that in less than 3 weeks I can add animal products (and therefore more protein) back into my diet.

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Posted in Fitness, Food, Fun Stuff, Health, Tough Stuff, Weight Loss

Tagged challenge, cleanse, detox, Orangetheory, struggle, workout

Week One On The Cleanse (or Temporarily Vegan)

Posted on January 23, 2015 | 3 comments

Today is the last day of the first week of Nykki’s Cleanse. This first week was all about eating good, healthy, clean foods. The tonics and other cleansing supplements will be starting tomorrow (I’m a little nervous on how my body will react, but super excited too!).

The food plan for each day this week was pretty much the same. And the foods that we can eat each day are the same. Basically, the “allowed” foods are fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, beans, and whole grains like brown rice and quinoa (no processed whole grains like bread allowed). Any meat, dairy, processed foods, salt, and canned foods aren’t allowed.

So basically I’m vegan right now. I’ve gone vegetarian briefly in the past and I know that it’s not right for me. This is the first time that I will be vegan for a decent amount of time (28 days). And while I know that after the cleanse I will add animal products back into my diet (I’m really missing egg whites and greek yogurt right now), I’m intrigued to see how my body reacts with them.

I hate to admit this, but I’m a little boring in my food choices right now. I’m eating very similar things every breakfast, similar things every lunch, and similar things every dinner. But that’s what I’ve gotten used to with bulk cooking and I’m fine with that.

But even though my meals are similar from day-to-day, I’m loving them because by eliminating so many foods from my diet I’ve been spending this past week rediscovering foods that I love. And in some cases, I’m learning how to cook them on my own for the first time!

My meals have been looking pretty beautiful this week.

I’m also rediscovering how much food I really need to eat each day. It’s ok to be hungry sometimes and I have to teach myself that. I’m eating less than I have, and while I have moments of hunger sometimes, I’m not feeling sick or lightheaded really.

I’m also learning how to not snack. Snacking is something that I’ve had issues with in the past. And more recently, I’ve been eating a snack right after work on the days that I workout. Those snacks are usually pretty small and healthy (like a banana), but sometimes I eat more than that. And while it hasn’t affected my workouts, it does affect the total calorie count for my day. I can’t completely eliminate snacking pre-workout (I need the energy and calories especially now when my protein intake is lower than it has been in the past), but I’m trying to limit those snacks. And I’m avoiding snacks altogether on days that I don’t workout. I’m getting enough calories in for the day (even though it’s lower than normal) and I don’t need them.

One of the most helpful things that I’ve found with this cleanse is that Nykki has set up a private FB group for all of us who are doing this 28 day program. We can share how we are feeling and share recipes and ideas with each other. I’ve talked on here in the past about how much I love having a community around me when I’m working on my weight loss, and the FB group has been perfect.

I haven’t technically had any slip ups yet. I did sample about a teaspoon of ice cream at the Local Ice event (my friend who was there guessed that it was less than a teaspoon). But beyond that, I have been following all of the instructions exactly as they were written.

And I’m sure that you are all wondering about my weight loss this week. Yes, I have lost weight. I don’t share specific numbers on here but I will share with you what my goal is. Technically, this is my goal for the national weight loss challenge at Orangetheory, but that is only 2 more weeks than the 28 day cleanse. I want to lose 10% of my weight. There are tons of articles about how losing 10% of your body weight does so much good for you. And I like that goal. And so far, the amount that I have lost on the cleanse makes it seem like that goal will be achieved.

I’m starting week 2 tomorrow. Weeks 2 and 3 are the most intense weeks that include a few detox drinks and tonics. I’ll update you again next Friday to let you know how it goes!

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Posted in Food, Fun Stuff, Health, Weight Loss

Tagged cleanse, cooking, detox, food, weight loss

Local Ice (or My New Valley Ice Cream Spot!)

Posted on January 22, 2015 | 1 comment

I was recently invited to check out Local Ice, a new ice cream shop in Studio City. In full disclosure, a friend of mine from when I used to work at Universal Studios is the PR person there. She invited me as well as other bloggers to come and check out the fabulous offerings that they have (plus, I got to catch up with a friend who I hadn’t seen in years!).

The location is actually pretty awesome, even for a non-Valley person like me. It’s just off of Ventura Blvd. near the Sportsman’s Lodge (which for me means easy to get to from the freeway) and there is tons of free parking in the lot!

When I got there, the first thing I did was say hello to my friend. And since she is the PR person there, I asked her for her recommendations on what I should try. There were so many flavors to try (and the menu changes when the owner gets inspired to make a new flavor).

I ended up trying Caramel Swirl, Pecan Praline, Cookie Monster, Chocolate Marshmallow, and Mmminty Chip (that one was a cream ice). They were seriously all so delicious! There were also regular Italian Ices to try as well as lots of toppings that you could put on your ice cream.

I had to stick with the little tastes for now, but trust me, as soon as I’m done with the cleanse I will be going back and having a small scoop!

I learned at the event how all the ice creams and Italian Ices are actually made on-site! There is a room right next to where customers are where everything is created from scratch. And all of the treats start with an organic dairy base, so some of the treats are completely organic! And everything is super fresh too. As soon as they run low on a flavor, a new one is made. They don’t make a ton and store it in a freezer somewhere.

Local Ice is seriously such a cute little shop! It’s nice and open and bright and the seating area is adorable.

Local Ice also has a super cute little handcart for selling ice cream treats.

It can be used to sell at events, birthday parties, and even just in front of their shop when it gets crowded. If I ever do a big birthday party, I think the idea of having an ice cream cart is super adorable and so much easier to handle than having to serve ice cream yourself. Even to have a birthday gathering at the shop would be super fun!

I got to hear about some really fun ideas that Local Ice will be doing in the near future, but I forgot to ask if I could share them with you all. Your best bet to find out about some of the events that they will be doing soon will be to “like” their Facebook page.

If you are in the Valley (or happen to be in the Valley), I highly recommend going to Local Ice for a sweet treat!

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Posted in Food, Fun Stuff

Tagged food, Los Angeles, tasting

Starting The Year With A Lot Of Transformation (or Who Will I Be By Next Year?)

Posted on January 15, 2015 | 4 comments

I’ve been doing a lot of transformational work in the beginning of this year. I wasn’t expecting this all to happen at the beginning of the year (that’s a little cliché for me), but the timing of it all just happened to all be in January.

The first transformational thing I have been working on is increasing my workout days. This was something that was planned in my goals for 2015. Now I’m just making sure that I’m doing what I set out to do. I’m tracking all my workouts in a simple calendar checklist app, and I’m on pace to meet my monthly goal right now (it’s way too easy to think that I’m on pace to meet my yearly goal).

The only minor setback I’ve encountered is that there are so many people who want to go to Orangetheory now that if I don’t set up my classes over a week in advance, I run the risk of being put on the waitlist! That happened to me for this Saturday. I wanted to add the noon workout to my schedule and asked if I could get in that class when I was working out on Monday. The class was booked and there was only 1 spot left on the waitlist! I’m still on the waitlist now and hopefully I can get into the class. If not, I’ll have to add another workout to next week.

I’m also starting another Orangetheory Weight Loss Challenge this week. It starts on Friday and this time, it’s a national weight loss challenge so there will be people from all the Orangetheorys around the country participating. There is a lot of money for the winners, but I’m just going into it thinking of it as a personal challenge. I looked at how much weight some of the past winners have lost and for me to equal that I would have to lose weight at a very unhealthy rate for me. Some of the winners had lost over 25% of their starting weight! That’s just not realistic for me.

Then, continuing on my cooking trend, I’ve got my 4 week cleanse coming up. I just got the materials for it and while most of it seems very simple for me to do (lots of fruits and veggies), part of the cleanse is to spend the 4 weeks cutting out dairy, meat, and processed food like bread. I can probably cut dairy without missing it at all. But I’ve gotten very used to having peanut butter on toast for breakfasts and having chicken or pork with my dinner. Fortunately, the cleanse comes with a bunch of recipe ideas so I will be taking advantage of those (and posting my favorites on here!).

Then yesterday, I saw a bunch of my friends posting on various social media sites about the Money Love Challenge. I checked it out and within minutes of reading what it is all about, I signed up. It’s a free 21 day challenge (it started yesterday so it’s not too late to sign up) to help get in control of your financial situation.

This is something that I totally need in my life. Every year I say that I’m going to get rid of more and more of my credit card debt. While I’ve brought it down, it’s not nearly as low as I’d like it to be already. And I want to see how much I can bring it down in 2015. Hopefully by doing this challenge, I will be inspired to find ways to accomplish that goal.

This is a lot of change at one time, but all of these things pretty much came organically to me and I chose to do them. I’m excited to see what the next few weeks and months bring to me!

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Posted in Fitness, Food, Fun Stuff, Health, Saving, Tough Stuff, Weight Loss

Tagged cooking, credit card, debt, food, money, transformation, weight loss

Another Bombshell Partnership! (or Doing A Healthy Detox)

Posted on January 13, 2015 | 6 comments

I’m super excited to announce that for the next month, Finding My Inner Bombshell is going to be part of a partnership with Nykki Hardin and Nykki’s Cleanse!

Before I go into what the cleanse is all about, a little backstory.

At Orangetheory, they sometimes have special guests who come in and speak for free on issues that are related to healthy living. They’ve had a couple of different fitness clothing companies and some nutritionists. But they have usually been in the studio either on days that I’m not there or during and after my workout class (and when I’m done working out I usually just want to go home).

Last Wednesday, Nykki was the guest speaker and my workout buddy Sarah convinced me to stay and hear what she had to say. I’m so grateful that Sarah peer-pressured me into staying!

I usually hesitate when I hear the word “cleanse” or “detox”. They usually are things like juice cleanses or similar programs where you don’t eat any normal food. I’ve gone through that with the UCLA RFO program in the past and I don’t want to put myself through that again. I’ve learned that any food changes I make need to be changes that are sustainable and can be something I do for the rest of my life.

And that’s exactly what Nykki’s Cleanse is all about!

Her program is all about eating whole and clean foods (which is something that I’m doing with my bulk cooking). You supplement the whole foods with tonics that are designed to help to rebalance your system and get rid of any toxins. You add the tonics for 14 days to your balanced meals. And afterwards, you continue to eat whole and clean foods (as you really should).

Nykki provides recipes for the balanced meals so you can try new and healthy foods and to help build up your personal recipes that you will continue to make after the cleanse ends. And the program that I’m going to be a part of also includes 1 week before the cleanse doing prep work to prepare for the 14 day cleanse and 1 week after the cleanse to help continue living a balanced lifestyle outside of the cleanse. There is a group about to be a part of this 4 week journey so I will have a community around me (which I love!) and there will also be webinars about various healthy living topics.

I’m going to be starting this 4 week journey on Friday, and similar to how I post weekly recaps about Orangetheory, I’m going to share with you updates each week on what I’ve been doing on the cleanse and how things are going. I’m so excited to start this next month and to get more inspired to eat clean and cook at home more!

It really feels like this came into my life at just the perfect time. I’m now very comfortable cooking in my home and have been spending a lot of time online looking for inspiration for more recipes and how to improve my food choices even more. Now, I have a wonderful coach in Nykki to help guide me through this healthy food world that I’ve just started to explore.

6 Comments

Posted in Celebrations, Food, Fun Stuff, Health, Weight Loss

Tagged cleanse, cooking, detox, food, health issues

Category Archives: Food

The End Of The Cleanse Tonics (or Time To Start The Transition Back)

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A Day Of Being Vegan (or What Do I Actually Eat On The Cleanse)

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Almost Halfway Through The Cleanse (or Bring On The Tonics And Detox Drinks!)

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My Fit Foods (or Looking At Some Post Cleanse Options)

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Having Water At A Wine Bar (or Getting A Temporary Job)

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Working Out While Cleansing (or Being Easy On Myself)

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Week One On The Cleanse (or Temporarily Vegan)

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Local Ice (or My New Valley Ice Cream Spot!)

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Starting The Year With A Lot Of Transformation (or Who Will I Be By Next Year?)

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Another Bombshell Partnership! (or Doing A Healthy Detox)

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