This was how my last day of the detox went. Today I woke up and continued my routine of having a smoothie and some tea. I got myself ready and with a full stomach I safely went grocery shopping with no fear over 'overbuying'. I biked back with my groceries and made another smoothie whilst getting some stuff done at home. I had plans to meet a friend later so when the time came, I made a massive juice with celery, carrot, ginger and apple which I drank before leaving.

Whilst out and about me and my friend walked miles and miles exploring the city and I had one berry smoothie at the beginning and one mango/strawberry towards the end before going home. Today I didn't hardly drink enough water or herbal tea like I should have so I felt quite weak at some points and light headed. The good thing about this city is there are so many places to grab juices at any time of day so I sorted that out and I felt a million times better. I regretted not taking my water bottle out with me. Anyway I was so tempted to have a beer or some food, especially walking around gastown but it would have been a terrible idea and so I didn't. I headed home later on and went to bed, excited for breakfast time. I planned to have a small breakfast as to not overwhelm my body, so some eggs, rye bread and avocado.

It's Day 8 and you know what that means! The juice fast is over and I actually made it a whole week I can't believe it!

It's all in the mind and anyone can do it if you believe you can, just like anything else!

Moral of the story- never ever take food for granted, enjoy and savour every taste and smell and eat consciously not just to fill your stomach, but to be aware of the story behind food and what it went through to get to your plate. So thankful 😍

This morning I had some peppermint tea and made s move smoothie with blueberries, melon, ginger etc which was delicious. I drank a good sized glass to get some energy pre yoga class. I was due to teach at Robson St Yoga today and I was worried I wouldn't have the strength but I did. The class went very well.

Later on I headed off on my bike (more exercise I guess) to Kitsilano where I had a meeting. I then decided to bike to Granville Island Public Market which I hadn't been to since last time I was in Canada. It was probably the biggest test of willpower ever considering I was surrounded but smells of freshly baked bread, freshly brewed beer, fresh produce and much much more EVERYWHERE. I did a quick circle and opted to leave before I gave in. Which I was sure I wouldn't, but still. I biked back home and made s delicious fresh ginger, carrot and apple juice before meeting my friend Luke for some thrift shopping.

Later that evening we watched a movie at mine and with the his eating candy and chocolate and me drinking green tea, it was anther sure sign that my willpower was growing strong and hanging in there. It's funny, they say that while detoxing you will most likely crave healthy foods which I actually agree with. Yes the smell of fresh pizza and baked goods are hard to resist but that's as far as it goes for me. Tomorrow I plan to go grocery shopping (after a hefty smoothie in my belly lol) and stock up on healthy whole foods, which I am in charge craving. It's even more hilarious to think that I reached for a jumbo carrot and some hummus from my fridge the other day convincing myself it was okay, when all of a sudden I put it down deciding that I was breaking the rules. It's a carrot for god sakes, you'd swear it was a box of donuts. Anyway it's funny how your mind works and I've noticed a lot of things about myself and my attitude to food over the past week.

I think it's pointless to go on s 7 day detox just to re-tox with unhealthy food. I am going to slowly introduce wholewheat baked bread, eggs, avocados, fresh oily fish etc back into my diet. And even though I'm most of the time vegetarian (like I have to justify it anyway right?), I had been given fresh salmon fillets from my friend Kim which I'm super excited about. Salmon is amazing in your diet and when it comes to health, its mportant to listen to your body, and obviously being aware of the fish is fresh and caught sustainably. Anyway tmro is the last I'll day and I'm excited and proud of myself. I'm going to go grocery shopping to prepare for the Thursday. 😀😀

This morning I made a delicious green superfood smoothie with oranges, ginger, cucumber, kale, spirulina, flax seeds and coconut water. I drank the majority of it over the morning time along with some green tea mixed with fresh ginger and lemon.

Later on I headed to the veggie shop down the street and got some more fruit and veg for the next two days. I went home and conjured up another smoothie this time mixed with almond milk which wasn't the nicest but was a good experiment. I drank all of it nevertheless and then had some tea before I headed out to do some biking.

Today I was feeling better than the past few days and better than I thought I would feel after 5 days with no food. I continued to drink tea and when I finished my trip I had s smoothie by the beach.

Later on, I headed home and drank some more peppermint tea before bed. Two more days, only two more days.

Today I woke up and made a fresh batch of juice with added melon and cucumber (the juiciest) and cabbage. It was delicious. I had a cup of ginger and green tea first thing in the morning and one kits after the juice before I went to work. I also took a flask of juice to work with me which was handy during treatments to sip on and give me energy.

After work, I met a friend for a juice and later on I met another friend for a juice/smoothie which I felt like was cheating but it was full of amazing veggies and even cauliflower which I never had in a smoothie before. Who says you have to meet people only for coffees lol. To be honest I feel like I will know all the best juice places by the end of this cleanse. I didn't say that was a bad thing though.

Overall today I felt a little weak and hungry obviously but after the smoothy and the juice in the afternoon I was full. I ended the evening with ginger/green tea before bed, leaving my fresh juice for tmro morning :)

I notice my senses heightening and I guess that's cos I'm smelling food everywhere and seeing bright colours and hearing people mention food from far distances. That's normal right? Anyway tmro is day 3 the last day of being weak before the energy kicks in! Let's go! :) :)

Today was Day 3 of the detox and I did the same as yesterday by making the container of juice for the day. I mixed a heap of veggies and fruit and had a peppermint tea to go with it in the morning! It was a nice morning so I sat on the balcony and funny enough didn't crave any food. I took a flask to work again and sipped throughout the day :)

I felt pretty good today considering I hadn't eaten in almost 3 days and was flooding my body with nutrients and vitamins. I wasn't tired but I was a tad weak. Whenever I would drink water or herbal tea though I felt fine. It's Saturday evening and I made a fresh flask of juice which I had in one go and later on I had two cups of peppermint tea.

Tmro will be Day 4 and I'm looking forward to exploring more juice options :)

So this morning I made a lovely smoothie which was filling compared to the juice and required less veggies and fruit! I added melon, orange, mint and ginger mixed with coconut water. It was so delicious and it made quite a lot. Later on I had some peppermint tea and then made another veggie smoothie to have before I went out for the day.

It was gross!!

I added celery, carrots, mint and coconut water which turned out to be disgusting. I knocked it back as to not waste the previous veggies but decided to make a hot tea to take with me to the festival.

On my way back from the festival j bought a mixed berry smoothie as a 'treat' to myself for the horrible one I had made and enjoyed it that evening. I also made the decision to cut my 10 day detox/fast down to 7 days which means I finish on Wednesday as opposed to Saturday (the day of my birthday celebrations). Going on a night out after not eating for 10 days isn't wise (as Erin pointed out and set me straight). So a week it is.

You know what this means- Only 3 more days to go 😆

FYI - It took an awful lot of willpower to be surrounded by delicious food truck smells at the festival and ignore it. GO WILLPOWER!

Inspired by the documentary 'Fat, Sick and nearly dead', I set out to try a 10 day juice fast in order to reboot my body and cleanse it from the inside out! Yea a lot of people's first thoughts are that its a diet, a drastic measure to be healthy or whatever else you can think of. But for me this is BY NO MEANS a diet or a way of shedding weight because to be honest I don't need to lose weight. I have healthy lifestyle with plenty of good food and daily exercise but this juice fast is something I want to do for myself. I am blogging about it for myself and for the people who are interested in following my experience with this. I am not looking for nasty comments about it.

Anyway.... With that out of the way... Here was Day 1 for me!

Having purchased tonnes of fruit and veggies from the veggie shop down the street (so handy) yesterday, I was prepared to start my fast today starting with making a massive hug of juice to sip on during the day. I planned to make a different jug of juice every day with different ingredients and sip on water and herbal trade inbetween.

Today I juiced carrots, celery, ginger, oranges, apples, kale and mint which was pretty much. A mix of everything I had. I put it in a jug and set it in the fridge. I had s green tea for breakfast, a few glasses of juice during the day and peppermint tea before work. At work I sipped on tonnes of water and finally finished the jug of juice before bed along with some peppermint tea. Needless to say I anticipated a few wakes in the night for loo runs but hey that's a cleanse for ya.

Tmro I plan to make another jug of juice and repeat the same thing with maybe having a seperate squash/sweet potato/carrot juice for dinner. The funny thing was when I purchased more veggies today the cashier with an astounded look on his face said to me 'I'm assuming this is for smoothies or something' and laughed. I will be their best customer this week.

In terms of how I feel, I feel lighter obviously because I haven't eaten solid foods but a little weak. The first three days are the hardest they say, so let's push on and do this ! I will be finished the detox the wknd of my birthday which is perfect

Over and out x

It was Amy's idea to go to Seattle over Labor Day long weekend and having missed than chance last time I was in Vancouver, I jumped at my second chance. Little did we know we would end up at an international festival and have the best weekend! 

We were invited to stay at a couch hosts apartment while he was out of town and so after arriving from the bus terminal we headed straight to his place. The apartment was right downtown by the space needle which was ideal. We dropped our bags and headed out towards the waterfront and Pike Place where we wandered through the cool markets and queued for 10 minutes for have a coffee from the first ever Starbucks.

Later that night we changed, had some wine and went to Capitol Hill for a night on the town. We started with some Mexican food and a beer before we checked out some of the bars and getting refused for not having our passports. The response from security was ridiculous 'YOU ARE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA'. Yes Sir we'r aware of that, no need to be an asshole about it! So after a massive detour back home to grab our passports, we continued the night out making our way from bar to bar until we lost each other and I ended up making a whole group of friends who I went for a midnight meal with and back to their place to meet their dog. Random nights are the best. 

The next morning with fussy heads we got ourselves ready and had fish and chips for breakfast on our way to my friend Jason's place in the Uni district, who was happy to have us to stay for the second night. Jason and Hannah kindly met us and showed us around the University of Washington and the streets of the Uni district which was awesome. We soon left for downtown to attend the Bumbershoot festival which we had just heard about the day before and spontaneously bought tickets while drinking Alaskan beer. As you do, right? 

At Bumbershoot we got so much free stuff, ate amazing food and got to see Hozier, Kris Orlowski, Ellie Goulding and Brandon Flowers perform on the main stage up close, before ending the night at a massive silent disco at the EMP museum. We danced around to trance/dubstep with headphones on, roaring at a silent DJ on the decks. The moment you took your headphones off it was hilarious. I danced until my feet hurt. 

On our last day we did some shopping in the uni district and came across a Ln Arians shop called 'Earthbound' with locations all around America. It was super super cheap and sold clothes and crafts from Bali and India. Soon after we said or goodbyes and took the bus downtown in time for Amy's bus. I spent the afternoon at the EMP museum learning about Nirvana, Jimmy Hendrix etc and then got to meet up with my old buddy Jeff who took me around the city to see Gasworks Park and The Fremont Troll before taking me to enjoy the best Carribean sandwhich of my life! Such an awesome day! I would go back in a heartbeat.

Thanks to everyone who made it super special and fun! We'll be back 😍

So yesterday I wrote a post about my day shopping and researching cosmetics and body products that vouch to be cruelty free. I shopped at my favourite store LUSH which I ashamedly just started shopping at. - but am addicted for life now! The thing is I never really wear make up unless I go out (and even at that I wear very little especially when travelling), or go to work and so because of my job I decided to buy Jane Iredale 'The skin care make up' Glow time BB Cream which is completely cruelty free and actually treats yours skin as its on. It can last for days and days if you never took it off and still look flawless.

To add to my BB Cream, I threw away all my old make up, even full products, to start again guilt free. I came across ELF (Eyes Face Lips cosmetics) yesterday at Old Navy and today I have tried all the products as I was preparing myself for work.

-After my BB Cream I used three shades of the shimmer ELF eyeshadow ($13) which went on so nice and gave a lovely natural glow. The pallet had so many nice colours to chose from.

-Next I chose the eyebrow kit ($6) which even the cashier yesterday raved about, and I used the gel with the precision brush (included) and the brown brow shadow which filled in my brows so naturally and didn't look like I'd drawn them on like the way a lot of people's end up. lol

I then used the LUSH mascara which comes in a lovely dainty little bottle and is only $18. It was so smooth to put on and wasn't sticky or didn't make my lashes clump together. You can really tell the difference between products with chemicals and ones with only natural ingredients. I loved this mascara more than a lot I have used over the past few years.

Lastly I swept a pink shade of the ELF blush ($10) across the apples of my cheeks and applied the LUSH 'Latte' lip tint which I absolutely love. The lip tint and the eyeshadow a complimented each other with their shimmering autumn tones and the overall look was so natural but very elegant at the same time

I'm not one to 'cake' on the make up, and so applying products to my skin like this without feeling like I have make up on at all, is so refreshing. My skin feels light and the products mixed and matched perfectly together. ELF have brushes and make up setting mist etc available amongst many other products so I am going to go in search of them on my next shopping outing.

Comment below with any questions or let me know what you think if you have used any of their products.

So today whilst putting on my make up for work, I had the urge to throw every inch of my crappy old make up (I never splurge on makeup especially when travelling) and revamp my make up bag with guilt free, cruelty free products. With an idea of some brands in mind, I headed to Sephora where I did some research and then decided to head into Lush which I love. Knowing Lush are independent and not owned by a parent company who test on animals, I felt good paying that few extra dollars to support their efforts and even support charity.

I had purchased some lip tint from them before which I absolutely love and so I decided to purchase some mascara, another shade of lip tint, a face and body mask and at the counter I opted for the 'charity pot' body lotion which meant that all the money goes to the many charities they support. (Makes me love them more). To top it all off, at the counter the lovely girl gave me a few samples of things I'd tried in store, and big samples of I must say!

I was disappointed by the extortionate prices in Sephora and couldn't bring myself to pay $64 for a Naked eyeshadow pallet. Lucky I didn't, because while I was shopping at Old Navy I came across an eye shadow pallet which I hesitantly picked up, assuming it was like all the other brands who test on animals and sell products cheaply. Nevertheless I just had a glance on the back and noticed the brand E.L.F and their three symbols 1- Charity 2-Recyclable 3- No Animal Testing. I couldn't believe it. The prices were amazing and the products looked great and to make things even better the universe provided me with 30% off the prices at the till. The eyeshadow pallet was $13, the eyebrow kit was $5 and the blush pallet was $10. Bargain and supporting a great effort in the fight against animal testing. How relieved was I not to have spent $64 on the earlier pallet.

Currently E.L.F (Eyes Lips Face) is available in 17 countries in many stores but not in the UK and Ireland as far as I can see. But don't fear because you can purchase products online on this website

www.eyeslipsfacecom

(so handy, so affordable and so guilt free)

Apart from make up and body products I did manage to get myself some nice printed chinos for winter, a few nice tops, a pair of moccasin style shoes and an amazing pair of Timberland winter boots almost half price in Winners (North Americas version of TK Maxx). Such a great day shopping and I felt even less guilt because it's my birthday in two weeks.

One last thing before I sign off, I am using Jane Iredale make up right now which I purchase from work at a staff discount and is completely cruelty free and is the best make up I've ever used. It is known as the skincare make up because it treats your skin as its on as opposed to clogging the pores and doesn't look 'cakey' at all. Everything is pure and natural in it and they have so many products on their website. I am using the full coverage BB cream and am due to buy the Compact powder which is pure pigment with no fillers like most make up powders ie. Talcum power etc.very little needs to be used and it leaves your skin looking amazing. It is used after people have cosmetic surgery because it helps to heal the skin at the same time as looking naturally beautiful. If you want to check out Jane Iredale online look here:

Www.Janeiredale.com