So in case you have not been following this blog closely I'm going to bring you up to date on the crazy cravings. First off, in order to beat the cravings and the power they have over me I started with a 10 day cleanse. Some evidence points to the fact that changing your "gut flora" or the bacteria in your gut from the old, bad bacteria to healthy bacteria will change your cravings. Your preference of one food over another is determined by the bacteria in your gut. You change that and you can change your preference. Doing a 10 day cleanse of either fruits and vegetables using recipes and programs like those on www.rebootwithjoe.com or going with a company that sells good clean products, the result is the same. The bacteria in the gut changes. You are on the way to getting the power back.
So you get rid of the internal, biological reason for your cravings and unhealthy options. You are cleansed from the past. Now what keeps you from going back to those unhealthy choices once the gut is changed? The rest is mental. Part of it is habit, part of it is emotional. Example every afternoon around 2:00 I liked to eat a handful of dark chocolate almonds. We had a good relationship. I didn't abuse the relationship...that often. Usually one handful was enough. And I can probably find scientific evidence to support that this is a healthy snack. The problem is that it's addicting and expected regardless of whether I'm hungry or not. It's something I wanted because it was 2:00. Suddenly chocolate was a part of my every day life and if I'm out of town and didn't think to pack the stupid almonds I'm like a druggie looking for the next fix. Any gas station who might have dark chocolate will do. Anything I have to do just give me the stinking, dark chocolate. THAT is the problem I had with my potentially healthy, little snack. It had power over me. The purpose of this journey is to take the power back. SO no chocolate since I started the cleanse. That's 26 days without any chocolate... not that I'm keeping track.
It was about day 3 of my cleanse that I started thinking about chocolate. Come 2:00 on Monday afternoon, sitting at my desk where I typically have my stash, I thought about my chocolate. It was a habit. Now I don't think about it much anymore. For the first 3 weeks I thought about a cheeseburger with the thought that I could really enjoy a cheeseburger right now. Not that I ate them all the time but occasionally I just really wanted a cheeseburger and my twisted thinking was that "this was my body's way of telling me I need red meat.." Yea, ok. Or it was my GUT bacteria! I noticed last week that it was the first week I had not thought about a cheeseburger with the true desire to eat one. I was at a gas station watching this guy struggle to free the double cheeseburger wrapped in Saran Wrap that he got from under the heat lamp in the gas station and was seriously grossed out. There were absolutely NO nutrients whatsoever in the meal he was about to eat. He was going to be dragging all afternoon from that burger and would likely need a coffee or some form of caffeine by 2pm so he wouldn't fall asleep at the wheel. I used to be that person. I know the drill. Only 2pm was the time to wake up to chocolate! What a vicious cycle and we wonder why we are so tired.
Your body is screaming for nutrients and you are cramming in empty calories and it keeps saying "that's not it" but your gut hasn't been changed so you don't know what you want. Your body can't be heard anymore because your mind is screaming for the food that it's addicted to. The food that you "deserve" because you had a bad day or a good week or a great workout. My relationship with food was keeping me from having a true relationship with my body. From feeding it what it really needed. Depressing right?
Now off to the the really cool part. Monday afternoon around 2:00... when just 3 Mondays earlier I was craving chocolate....I wanted a plate of grilled squash!!! I kid you not! Never in my lifetime have I craved squash. I didn't even like it all that much 3-4 years ago and here I was wishing I had a plate of grilled squash and zucchini. I was floored! Then last night I'm on my way home from a meeting and I think "I need some carrots and hummus when I get home". My body is telling me what it's been wanting to tell me all along. "I will take care of you if you take care of me. Please listen to me. Please give me the nutrients to take care of me and I will fight for you. Listen to me not your mind, not that commercial, not your habits, not your family and not even your doctor half the time (who, mind you, got an hour max of nutrition education in med school). I will tell you what you need if we can just work together."
So if you think you can't get where you want in your journey - consider who and what you are listening to. You don't have a problem, you just love food right? That's what I thought. It's way more complicated than that.
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Sunday, June 22, 2014
So what ARE you eating?
I get that a lot. I have posted before what I'm not eating:
Breakfast is usually a smoothie that I can pack with lots of good stuff. Here's one of my faves:
This recipe serves 2
1 cup coconut milk (unsweetened)
1 cup coconut water
1 carrot
1 green apple
3 cups kale
1 TB each of seeds: chia, hemp and flax
1/2 frozen banana
handful of frozen strawberries (roughly 1.5 cups)
handful of frozen blueberries or pineapple
Some variations include adding a half an avocado (makes it creamy like a milkshake) or instead of 1.5 cups of strawberries I would split that with mango.
This holds me at least 3 hours and usually my workout is first thing in the morning.
Lunchtime and or Dinner favorites:
Sauteed Broccoli with sweet potato fries
Sauteed Broccoli with sliced carrots and hummus (pine nut Sabra version is the best)
For the broccoli I get a large bowl of broccoli (2 cups = excellent source of protein). Rinse then add a little coconut oil to the pan on Medium heat. Add the broccoli, sprinkle with Lawry's and toss around. Add a couple of tablespoons of water then cover with lid. It takes about 5 minutes to turn a darker green so it's cooked but still crunchy. By far the best broccoli on the planet and so easy to make! I sprinkle with sunflower kernels.
For sweet potato fries: Cut the sweet potato into strips and arrange on a baking sheet or baking stone. Spray with coconut oil and sprinkle with Lawrys or a Ms Dash variety. Bake on 350 for about 40 minutes.
Salad with sweet potato fries
Salad with bowl of fruit
Salad with baked sweet potato
Salad usually includes chopped romaine and spinach (can also use baby kale), broccoli slaw, chopped peppers, zucchini, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, strawberries, sunflower kernels, nut blend and some type of vinaigrette with no sugar.
As you can tell a good bit of my menu is limited and I'm working on variety. This week I'm making a Spring Lentil stew that I found on www.rebootwithjoe.com.
My "go to" when I have to get something while out is Panera bread's classic salad (all veggie salad with a really yummy vinaigrette) and cup of black bean or Veggie pesto soup with apple instead of baguette.
Snacks to have on hand: Banana or apple with handful of almonds or Nutrition nuts, veggies and hummus, veggies and avocado dip (slice up a half avocado, mash it a little, add a dash of lime or lemon juice, paprika and sea salt), shake left over from my Purium stash (because it feels so stinking good!). If I have to have decaf coffee I use honey and coconut milk. I find I just end up carrying around a cooler with ice packs for my shake and coconut milk, especially on trips!
So that's a look into my life. I spent the week in Augusta so when I got there the first ting I did was head to the store to get all the things I needed to stay on track while out of town. I did not feel deprived and I didn't feel high maintenance because I had all my stuff. I brought my Magic Bullet knockoff brand to blend my smoothies and it was NO match to my Ninja that I miss terribly but it did the trick. I wanted to keep up with my workouts Monday through Saturday so I found an Anytime Fitness around the corner and they happened to have a free 7 day pass so challenge removed. When you aren't looking to excuse yourself from the things you need to do to better your life, it's amazing how resourceful you can become!
No dairy
No processed foods or artificial sweeteners
No meat, sweets or wheat
For some people if you cut that out there's nothing left for them to eat. That rules out most convenience foods and fast food menu items. And honestly I thought this would be harder but it's really not. So what do I eat? Here are a few of my "go to" meals:
Breakfast is usually a smoothie that I can pack with lots of good stuff. Here's one of my faves:
This recipe serves 21 cup coconut milk (unsweetened)
1 cup coconut water
1 carrot
1 green apple
3 cups kale
1 TB each of seeds: chia, hemp and flax
1/2 frozen banana
handful of frozen strawberries (roughly 1.5 cups)
handful of frozen blueberries or pineapple
Some variations include adding a half an avocado (makes it creamy like a milkshake) or instead of 1.5 cups of strawberries I would split that with mango.
This holds me at least 3 hours and usually my workout is first thing in the morning.
Lunchtime and or Dinner favorites:
Sauteed Broccoli with sweet potato fries
Sauteed Broccoli with sliced carrots and hummus (pine nut Sabra version is the best)
For the broccoli I get a large bowl of broccoli (2 cups = excellent source of protein). Rinse then add a little coconut oil to the pan on Medium heat. Add the broccoli, sprinkle with Lawry's and toss around. Add a couple of tablespoons of water then cover with lid. It takes about 5 minutes to turn a darker green so it's cooked but still crunchy. By far the best broccoli on the planet and so easy to make! I sprinkle with sunflower kernels.
For sweet potato fries: Cut the sweet potato into strips and arrange on a baking sheet or baking stone. Spray with coconut oil and sprinkle with Lawrys or a Ms Dash variety. Bake on 350 for about 40 minutes.
Salad with sweet potato fries
Salad with bowl of fruit
Salad with baked sweet potato
Salad usually includes chopped romaine and spinach (can also use baby kale), broccoli slaw, chopped peppers, zucchini, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, strawberries, sunflower kernels, nut blend and some type of vinaigrette with no sugar.
As you can tell a good bit of my menu is limited and I'm working on variety. This week I'm making a Spring Lentil stew that I found on www.rebootwithjoe.com.
My "go to" when I have to get something while out is Panera bread's classic salad (all veggie salad with a really yummy vinaigrette) and cup of black bean or Veggie pesto soup with apple instead of baguette.
Snacks to have on hand: Banana or apple with handful of almonds or Nutrition nuts, veggies and hummus, veggies and avocado dip (slice up a half avocado, mash it a little, add a dash of lime or lemon juice, paprika and sea salt), shake left over from my Purium stash (because it feels so stinking good!). If I have to have decaf coffee I use honey and coconut milk. I find I just end up carrying around a cooler with ice packs for my shake and coconut milk, especially on trips!
So that's a look into my life. I spent the week in Augusta so when I got there the first ting I did was head to the store to get all the things I needed to stay on track while out of town. I did not feel deprived and I didn't feel high maintenance because I had all my stuff. I brought my Magic Bullet knockoff brand to blend my smoothies and it was NO match to my Ninja that I miss terribly but it did the trick. I wanted to keep up with my workouts Monday through Saturday so I found an Anytime Fitness around the corner and they happened to have a free 7 day pass so challenge removed. When you aren't looking to excuse yourself from the things you need to do to better your life, it's amazing how resourceful you can become!
Friday, June 13, 2014
Living beneath my privilege
So it's my third Friday since starting this journey. I started exactly 2 weeks ago today but it feels like longer. It's hard to believe that just 15 days ago I was living beneath my privilege to this incredible feeling that I have right now. As I look back I realize that the success of where I am at this moment had to start with the right mindset. I did not start this journey for a temporary fix. I started with a goal to reach a place I have never been before. A place where food is not my friend but my nourishment. I am my friend, not my food. Taking care of that friendship is most important and having an emotional tie to food will cause me to ruin the most powerful relationship of all time. It can make or break me. It can cause me to slide right into the funnel of disease and take me from my family long before they and myself are ready.
But what is right? How do we know that what we are doing is the only, true way to take care of our body? I have heard many stories of people who were suffering from diseases that brought them to death's door. They decided to go "crazy" and start eating a plant based diet - going organic and ridding themselves of processed foods and the result? They are still around to tell the story. But that's crazy. No one can live like that. They are hippy freaks. Maybe so but they are in better health that the norm and still around to bounce their grandkid on their knee. The grandkid could care less what we call them.
The last two days I have been amazed at how good I feel for two reasons. One, I worked out like a fiend this week and it's been a while since I have worked out this hard every single day as well as twice on Thursday. Typically when I go from exercising 1-2 days a week to exercising 6 days by Friday morning I'm beat. I'm dragging myself out of bed and allowing myself the day off due to the 2 workouts the day before. This morning? I was up and ready to go. I could feel the power of my plant based meals nourishing my body and giving it strength to do what I wanted it to do. I had read about athletes who eat a plant based diet talk about this at length and now I get it. Two, when I look at my journal of foods today they are all PACKED with nutrients more so than calories. On any given day before this journey, if I had eaten only what I have eaten today I would be starving all day. I can go with fewer calories IF the ones I eat are packed with nutrients.
I listened to one of the athletes tonight and I want to share it with you. His name is Rich Roll and he writes a powerful book called "Finding Ultra" that I read a few months ago. Incredible biography about Rich's recovery from alcoholism and poor health to a vegan ultra endurance athlete. He invites a doctor on the podcast who specializes in Bariatrics working with people to help them lose weight but came to realize the was in just as bad a shape as they were and that the doctors around him knew less that he did about proper nutrition. He started doing his own research on protein diets, carb diets, the Paleo diet and where we are going as a society and who is funding the research we are basing our lives on. It's a GREAT podcast when you have a chance to listen to it. He hits so many points that my head was spinning after listening. I know I will play it several times to make sure I catch them all. If you are confused about where we should be going and have questions about the most popular diets on the market you need to listen to this. Go to this link to listen or go to www.richroll.com click on Podcasts go to page 5 and it's #50 with Dr. Garth Davis.
And if any of this inspires you, stop living beneath your privilege and join me in this journey!
But what is right? How do we know that what we are doing is the only, true way to take care of our body? I have heard many stories of people who were suffering from diseases that brought them to death's door. They decided to go "crazy" and start eating a plant based diet - going organic and ridding themselves of processed foods and the result? They are still around to tell the story. But that's crazy. No one can live like that. They are hippy freaks. Maybe so but they are in better health that the norm and still around to bounce their grandkid on their knee. The grandkid could care less what we call them.
The last two days I have been amazed at how good I feel for two reasons. One, I worked out like a fiend this week and it's been a while since I have worked out this hard every single day as well as twice on Thursday. Typically when I go from exercising 1-2 days a week to exercising 6 days by Friday morning I'm beat. I'm dragging myself out of bed and allowing myself the day off due to the 2 workouts the day before. This morning? I was up and ready to go. I could feel the power of my plant based meals nourishing my body and giving it strength to do what I wanted it to do. I had read about athletes who eat a plant based diet talk about this at length and now I get it. Two, when I look at my journal of foods today they are all PACKED with nutrients more so than calories. On any given day before this journey, if I had eaten only what I have eaten today I would be starving all day. I can go with fewer calories IF the ones I eat are packed with nutrients.
I listened to one of the athletes tonight and I want to share it with you. His name is Rich Roll and he writes a powerful book called "Finding Ultra" that I read a few months ago. Incredible biography about Rich's recovery from alcoholism and poor health to a vegan ultra endurance athlete. He invites a doctor on the podcast who specializes in Bariatrics working with people to help them lose weight but came to realize the was in just as bad a shape as they were and that the doctors around him knew less that he did about proper nutrition. He started doing his own research on protein diets, carb diets, the Paleo diet and where we are going as a society and who is funding the research we are basing our lives on. It's a GREAT podcast when you have a chance to listen to it. He hits so many points that my head was spinning after listening. I know I will play it several times to make sure I catch them all. If you are confused about where we should be going and have questions about the most popular diets on the market you need to listen to this. Go to this link to listen or go to www.richroll.com click on Podcasts go to page 5 and it's #50 with Dr. Garth Davis.
And if any of this inspires you, stop living beneath your privilege and join me in this journey!
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Mommy snuck out to the gym
That's what my son said when I got home yesterday morning from the gym. I had snuck out at 6am to get my work out in before they got up. I was dragging through the first part of the work out then something kicked in. I don't know if it was my body finally saying "ok alright, I get what we are doing now" instead of "what are you doing out of bed at this hour??". Got home, made my superfood smoothie with kale, carrot, strawberries, cherries, banana, avocado and coconut milk and about 15 minutes later I had more energy than I knew what to do with. I seriously considered working in the yard! That NEVER happens!!! Too bad I had to go get my hair cut instead. Oh well, maybe another day...
This morning I did the same thing only today I felt better. The whole day I felt better. I wasn't as hungry or tired as yesterday either. I may be able to say I haven't felt this good in a really long time. I might almost say ..ever! I felt close to this doing the Jack and Jill blog but there again I was eating fruits and veggies and no processed foods. Only this time there are no sweets, meat or wheat. The cravings aren't as strong as they used to be. Don't get me wrong.. I get cravings for a good juicy cheeseburger on occasion but I know it will ruin my feel good and I don't want to ruin my feel good. I don't want to be labeled as a vegan although it would seem that is the direction I am heading. Here is what I'm thinking: if there are questions to the health of a food I want to analyze it before I decide it's ok to have on occasion or all the time. And when I read in the news just this morning that women who eat red meat a lot are at a higher risk for breast cancer.. I gotta say it doesn't make me wanna run out and buy a cheeseburger. So maybe I have found incredible health where I'm at but I feel there is more digging to do. More time that needs to be put behind this experiment to see if I can actually LIVE this way for the rest of my life. I believe the average person can, even those who do not consider themselves disciplined or consistent.
Just sneak out to the gym if need be and do what is necessary to keep the feel good and all is well with the world!
This morning I did the same thing only today I felt better. The whole day I felt better. I wasn't as hungry or tired as yesterday either. I may be able to say I haven't felt this good in a really long time. I might almost say ..ever! I felt close to this doing the Jack and Jill blog but there again I was eating fruits and veggies and no processed foods. Only this time there are no sweets, meat or wheat. The cravings aren't as strong as they used to be. Don't get me wrong.. I get cravings for a good juicy cheeseburger on occasion but I know it will ruin my feel good and I don't want to ruin my feel good. I don't want to be labeled as a vegan although it would seem that is the direction I am heading. Here is what I'm thinking: if there are questions to the health of a food I want to analyze it before I decide it's ok to have on occasion or all the time. And when I read in the news just this morning that women who eat red meat a lot are at a higher risk for breast cancer.. I gotta say it doesn't make me wanna run out and buy a cheeseburger. So maybe I have found incredible health where I'm at but I feel there is more digging to do. More time that needs to be put behind this experiment to see if I can actually LIVE this way for the rest of my life. I believe the average person can, even those who do not consider themselves disciplined or consistent.
Just sneak out to the gym if need be and do what is necessary to keep the feel good and all is well with the world!
Monday, June 9, 2014
10 day results and next steps
The results are in! After 10 days of cleaning out the old bacteria and replacing it with the good stuff, breaking the unhealthy habits and food addictions I got to see what affect this had on my body that I can measure and I was pretty happy about it. I lost 6.2 pounds and 10.5 inches!!! The weight loss with other past customers was more impressive but 10.5 inches??? I'll take it! And this is with no exercise unless you count vigorous house cleaning for 2 hours a couple of times.
So I'm ready to continue my journey to clean eating. Today was the first day after the cleanse. I found that I didn't want to do anything to lose the great, clean feeling I have. It started with a breakfast smoothie filled with kale, coconut milk, coconut water, banana, mango, pineapple, avocado and mint. Yes mint. And you're right, it wasn't the best idea. I was trying to get something similar to a really good Mango Mint smoothie I have had at a coffee house in Montevallo. Whatever. Lunch was veggie soup and dinner was Ruby Tuesday salad bar with lots of veggies and oil and vinegar for dressing. Threw in a purium shake in there between lunch and dinner as my snack just because I love the perk me up.
Kicking up the exercise this week too. I'm working with Serenity Oaks Wellness doing an online bootcamp. Anything to hold me accountable as I believe that is a big part of this journey. And this is a service I would love to provide to others so I look for this to be part of my journey later on. This way I can share with others what Incredible Health looks like and maybe this blog will help share what the journey to get there looks like. It's all very easy to duplicate so far. There are other things I'm also doing to achieve Incredible Health. I'm taking something to actually win the fight our body has on oxidative stress. Oxidative stress is a result of free radical damage. Free radicals are why you keep hearing about antioxidants and why antioxidant sales is now a 45 billion dollar industry. This actually causes my body to make it's own antioxidant enzymes so I'm fighting 1 million free radicals per second every second of the day. Eating antioxidants is not enough and people are realizing that. I've been doing this for almost 2 years now and I attribute this to sleeping better and getting sick less often. I know I'm giving my body an army to help fight anything that comes my way and that's very important to me.
For those of you who are in their 40s and old like me you might be getting knots in your back and wear and tear on the body. Using a foam roller helps me release the tension in the back and leg muscles as well as yoga stretching before bed. I also go see a MFR (myofacial release) therapist every week which helps TREMENDOUSLY with back and neck pain. You can google it to find out if this is something of interest to you. You can also get similar effects from using a ball from the toy store. It has to be hard enough to not deflate when you put pressure on it. Find the knot in your back and put the ball under your back and just let the muscle melt around it. It will hurt at first and will take some time to get used to but when you do - you will be hooked!
So there's my nuggets for the day in celebration to my 10.5 inches lost :) Oh yea, this isn't about weight loss... More this week as we look into other topics like - to eat meat or not to eat meat!
For those of you who are in their 40s and old like me you might be getting knots in your back and wear and tear on the body. Using a foam roller helps me release the tension in the back and leg muscles as well as yoga stretching before bed. I also go see a MFR (myofacial release) therapist every week which helps TREMENDOUSLY with back and neck pain. You can google it to find out if this is something of interest to you. You can also get similar effects from using a ball from the toy store. It has to be hard enough to not deflate when you put pressure on it. Find the knot in your back and put the ball under your back and just let the muscle melt around it. It will hurt at first and will take some time to get used to but when you do - you will be hooked!
So there's my nuggets for the day in celebration to my 10.5 inches lost :) Oh yea, this isn't about weight loss... More this week as we look into other topics like - to eat meat or not to eat meat!
Sunday, June 8, 2014
All cleansed! The completion of 10 days
I have finally finished the 10 day Purium Transformation Cleanse!! It was easier and harder than I thought it would be. All in all, a very positive experience. The easy part was knowing what you were going to eat/drink at what time in the day. Keeping to that schedule was challenging on some days but if I thought ahead it was manageable. Having family in town AND my daughter's birthday party was also challenging but I made it without any hiccups. So I'm very proud of my ability to get it done and not get side tracked in the face of challenges. That positive feedback will serve me in many ways and that was part of what drove me to do this in the face of many obstacles.
Now how do I feel? It's about time I got to that! Well I gotta say I feel great! When my hunger pains come or I feel a little light headed I look at the clock and it's time to eat anyway. The shakes did get better the last couple of days. I wouldn't go so far to say I'm craving it yet.. I guess there's still time. But the shakes make me feel so good! The "clean energy" feeling is awesome. It would be great to have coffee packed with this much goodness and make me feel this great.
So what happens tomorrow? Well, first I have to weigh, measure, take pics and submit everything to the Purium site so I can maybe, hopefully win a trip to one of the wellness resorts. We are crazy enough to really want to go to one of those things.
As for the food, I will continue with the shakes once a day instead of 3 times and I will have a smoothie for breakfast packed with kale, fruit, carrots, apple and coconut milk. And for dinner I get to replace a shake with a meal. I'm going with the rules of: no processed food, no wheat and no dairy. I will continue to research whether I want to do meat on occassion or not. If I do, it will be free range chicken, grass fed meat or fish.
So we are still a work in progress! Look for my posted results tomorrow!
Now how do I feel? It's about time I got to that! Well I gotta say I feel great! When my hunger pains come or I feel a little light headed I look at the clock and it's time to eat anyway. The shakes did get better the last couple of days. I wouldn't go so far to say I'm craving it yet.. I guess there's still time. But the shakes make me feel so good! The "clean energy" feeling is awesome. It would be great to have coffee packed with this much goodness and make me feel this great.
So what happens tomorrow? Well, first I have to weigh, measure, take pics and submit everything to the Purium site so I can maybe, hopefully win a trip to one of the wellness resorts. We are crazy enough to really want to go to one of those things.
As for the food, I will continue with the shakes once a day instead of 3 times and I will have a smoothie for breakfast packed with kale, fruit, carrots, apple and coconut milk. And for dinner I get to replace a shake with a meal. I'm going with the rules of: no processed food, no wheat and no dairy. I will continue to research whether I want to do meat on occassion or not. If I do, it will be free range chicken, grass fed meat or fish.
So we are still a work in progress! Look for my posted results tomorrow!
Wednesday, June 4, 2014
The day of battle
Day 6 on the cleansing transformation
Cravings came in like a flood. Don't know what that's all about. I figured I would have already fought this battle days ago. All I really wanted was my dark chocolate and some Starbucks. Really bad! I was forced to try to figure out why these cravings were coming up. Was it habit or was it anxiety of all that I have going on right now?
My two year old's birthday is this weekend and I did the unthinkable for someone of my expertise. I ORDERED a birthday cake from a grocery store! I used to own my own business making wedding and party cakes. I have made all of my kid's birthday cakes but I knew that with my jobs and family coming to town I was never going to have enough time to make one. I thought it would be no big deal and a true relief but I find that it's KILLING me. So ok the cravings could have a little something to do with that... along with my jobs. So what did I do? I CAVED!
Just kidding, seeing if you were paying attention. Instead I mixed up my um.. super yummy shake and drank it down.. quickly (as always). Surprisingly enough it did the trick. I stopped thinking about the chocolate and coffee. My body was satisfied with the flood of nutrition and it perked me up. That was quite the lesson learned. If you do right by your body the mind follows suit.
3 more days to go. I'm told I'll be a different person on day 10. I believe everything I'm told...
Cravings came in like a flood. Don't know what that's all about. I figured I would have already fought this battle days ago. All I really wanted was my dark chocolate and some Starbucks. Really bad! I was forced to try to figure out why these cravings were coming up. Was it habit or was it anxiety of all that I have going on right now?
My two year old's birthday is this weekend and I did the unthinkable for someone of my expertise. I ORDERED a birthday cake from a grocery store! I used to own my own business making wedding and party cakes. I have made all of my kid's birthday cakes but I knew that with my jobs and family coming to town I was never going to have enough time to make one. I thought it would be no big deal and a true relief but I find that it's KILLING me. So ok the cravings could have a little something to do with that... along with my jobs. So what did I do? I CAVED!
Just kidding, seeing if you were paying attention. Instead I mixed up my um.. super yummy shake and drank it down.. quickly (as always). Surprisingly enough it did the trick. I stopped thinking about the chocolate and coffee. My body was satisfied with the flood of nutrition and it perked me up. That was quite the lesson learned. If you do right by your body the mind follows suit.
3 more days to go. I'm told I'll be a different person on day 10. I believe everything I'm told...
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
Half way cleansed - I can see clearly now
Day 5 is a wrap! Any day now I'm going to crave those shakes.. any day. Although I admit about 30 minutes after drinking one I get a feeling of "clean energy" - the best way to describe it. It's not a jittery kind of energy. It's more like a "30 minutes after waking from a good nap" kind of energy. I like it. It makes the guzzle seem worth it somehow. 4 more days to go...
The cold I thought I was getting has phased out. Hmmm..
So I'm starting to think clearer. I'm already gearing up for the next phase of my journey. What is it going to look like? I'm reminded of the last blog journey Cliff and I went on. It's recorded at www.belikejackandjill.blogspot.com. I looked back over it and remembered how good I felt. The project was to see if the average person could actually eat and train like Jack Lalanne and Jillian Michaels. We took all the rules that they follow and tried to implement them into our lives. The basic rules were these:
No processed foods
No caffeine
Fish almost daily
Occassional free range chicken
No dairy
There were some things I knew Jillian ate that were "processed" but were more like "healthy convenient foods":
Amy's Organic frozen dinners
Ezekiel bread and english muffins
Dark chocolate
Newman's own Newman-Os - Organic oreos (YUM-O)
So the latest contemplation is this: why did I feel so good on that plan? The fact that I was eating more whole foods or the fact that I was eating virtually no processed foods? Probably a little of both. It was the cleanest I had ever eaten and my first time away from dairy. I ended up not missing cheese as much as I thought.
So the first task will be to analyze what is going to work for me long term and what will give me the best feeling, hit all the essentials and determine what those essentials really are. I will start attacking all of the hard questions like: why not meat? why not dairy? we already know why it's more important to eat more fruits and veggies but a lifestyle that is rich in those alone - are they enough to give you Incredible Health?
Stay tuned...
The cold I thought I was getting has phased out. Hmmm..
So I'm starting to think clearer. I'm already gearing up for the next phase of my journey. What is it going to look like? I'm reminded of the last blog journey Cliff and I went on. It's recorded at www.belikejackandjill.blogspot.com. I looked back over it and remembered how good I felt. The project was to see if the average person could actually eat and train like Jack Lalanne and Jillian Michaels. We took all the rules that they follow and tried to implement them into our lives. The basic rules were these:
No processed foods
No caffeine
Fish almost daily
Occassional free range chicken
No dairy
There were some things I knew Jillian ate that were "processed" but were more like "healthy convenient foods":
Amy's Organic frozen dinners
Ezekiel bread and english muffins
Dark chocolate
Newman's own Newman-Os - Organic oreos (YUM-O)
So the latest contemplation is this: why did I feel so good on that plan? The fact that I was eating more whole foods or the fact that I was eating virtually no processed foods? Probably a little of both. It was the cleanest I had ever eaten and my first time away from dairy. I ended up not missing cheese as much as I thought.
So the first task will be to analyze what is going to work for me long term and what will give me the best feeling, hit all the essentials and determine what those essentials really are. I will start attacking all of the hard questions like: why not meat? why not dairy? we already know why it's more important to eat more fruits and veggies but a lifestyle that is rich in those alone - are they enough to give you Incredible Health?
Stay tuned...
Sunday, June 1, 2014
Cleansing the Past
So the past is behind me. You just read it all. If you didn't, go back to the "Past and the purpose". More of the past may trickle out in my future blogs as I continue to fight the urge to move back into my old story. But the truth of the matter is that the past is just my story. It's not my future and it's not what I'm destined to do. It's not my excuse to do or be any less than I am capable of.
So to cleanse mind and body of my past I started a 10 day transformation cleanse from www.puriumcorp.com. A girl I met through my business recommended it. It's a 10 day cleansing process made up of non GMO and organic fruits and vegetables in the form of shakes. I trust her judgement and wanted to detox my body and reset my metabolism and break myself of the food addictions. It was going to either be this system or juicing my own fruits and vegetables. Because I don't love cleaning out the juicer 5 times a day and the produce can get expensive, I decided this approach. Here are the results so far:
Day 1 - I started on a Friday. Made Friday feel like a Monday.
Since I can eat flex foods three times a day (raw fruits and vegetables as well as some cooked vegetables) I get to still experience the crunch of food. Last time I juiced I missed that. It was like I never ate because it was all drinking. I have to admit the shakes were painful to drink. I suffered through them and the fiber drink was a little worse. The night time drink was really good though. I called my friend and asked how I could make it better and she said I could substitute a few ounces of Coconut milk.
I can't say I felt bad at all my first day. I never felt hungry. Whenever the hunger pain would strike I would look at my schedule and it was time to eat or drink anyway. Some of the habits I had would gnaw at me but I had a greater purpose and the craving wasn't stronger than my why. Even went out with friends where there was food AND ice cream and did fine. It helps to not be hungry...
Day 2 - Saturday
The Coconut milk did the trick! The shakes are now drinkable! I understand how the body works and I know that at some point I will be craving this drink although it seems a little hard to imagine right now. Drinking lots of water seems to be key and my body craves it which helps. My energy level was good all day and I didn't really feel any slumps that are typical for a Saturday.
Day 3 - Sunday
I'm feeling really good now. And feeling this way on a Sunday is very noticeable for me. You see, the habits we have had that have been damaging our success is this: Plan the week, make our meals, choose good meals for the week including a salad for lunch and some kind of vegan type dish for dinner and always start the day with a super food smoothie that includes kale, frozen fruit, coconut milk and water along with carrots, apple and all the good for you seeds: chia, hemp and flaxseed. Then when the weekend comes it gets progressively worse. By Sunday I'm feeling the effects of the bad choices and want to go back to bed. THEN comes dinner at church where we have some good choices and some really unhealthy ones. After a mix of both I come home feeling light headed from the sugary sweet dessert and bloated from everything else. But not today - today I feel GREAT! It was a little hard to not eat all the foods I wanted to today but wow the outcome may just be worth it!
And there seems to be a little more clarity in my thinking. More to come as I continue my transformation the next 7 days.
Thanks for tuning in!
So to cleanse mind and body of my past I started a 10 day transformation cleanse from www.puriumcorp.com. A girl I met through my business recommended it. It's a 10 day cleansing process made up of non GMO and organic fruits and vegetables in the form of shakes. I trust her judgement and wanted to detox my body and reset my metabolism and break myself of the food addictions. It was going to either be this system or juicing my own fruits and vegetables. Because I don't love cleaning out the juicer 5 times a day and the produce can get expensive, I decided this approach. Here are the results so far:
Day 1 - I started on a Friday. Made Friday feel like a Monday.
Since I can eat flex foods three times a day (raw fruits and vegetables as well as some cooked vegetables) I get to still experience the crunch of food. Last time I juiced I missed that. It was like I never ate because it was all drinking. I have to admit the shakes were painful to drink. I suffered through them and the fiber drink was a little worse. The night time drink was really good though. I called my friend and asked how I could make it better and she said I could substitute a few ounces of Coconut milk.
I can't say I felt bad at all my first day. I never felt hungry. Whenever the hunger pain would strike I would look at my schedule and it was time to eat or drink anyway. Some of the habits I had would gnaw at me but I had a greater purpose and the craving wasn't stronger than my why. Even went out with friends where there was food AND ice cream and did fine. It helps to not be hungry...
Day 2 - Saturday
The Coconut milk did the trick! The shakes are now drinkable! I understand how the body works and I know that at some point I will be craving this drink although it seems a little hard to imagine right now. Drinking lots of water seems to be key and my body craves it which helps. My energy level was good all day and I didn't really feel any slumps that are typical for a Saturday.
Day 3 - Sunday
I'm feeling really good now. And feeling this way on a Sunday is very noticeable for me. You see, the habits we have had that have been damaging our success is this: Plan the week, make our meals, choose good meals for the week including a salad for lunch and some kind of vegan type dish for dinner and always start the day with a super food smoothie that includes kale, frozen fruit, coconut milk and water along with carrots, apple and all the good for you seeds: chia, hemp and flaxseed. Then when the weekend comes it gets progressively worse. By Sunday I'm feeling the effects of the bad choices and want to go back to bed. THEN comes dinner at church where we have some good choices and some really unhealthy ones. After a mix of both I come home feeling light headed from the sugary sweet dessert and bloated from everything else. But not today - today I feel GREAT! It was a little hard to not eat all the foods I wanted to today but wow the outcome may just be worth it!
And there seems to be a little more clarity in my thinking. More to come as I continue my transformation the next 7 days.
Thanks for tuning in!
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