Detox, Day 1, Initial Thoughts

Recently tested to have Hypothyroidism, then through more information found out I may have a gluten sensitivity. By the time the time came around to have tests done, I realized that I had cut out pretty much all of my gluten and therefore the tests would be invalid. I chose not to restart on gluten foods only to test myself. Instead, with my doctors approval I moved to a detox cleanse instead and just decided that the next time (if there ever is one) I feel horrible, we can test then. In the meantime, I am happy to move straight to gluten free eating.

It has been almost a month since I started eating clean and then moving to gluten free as well. I have lost two pounds (though I think it may be a little more, but I do not have a scale in my house). My pants feel so much smoother. My body feels lighter, especially my belly and lower belly. I do not have that rock of sickness feeling in my lower abdomen anymore. I am regular (stop there). I am sleeping at night and mostly peacefully. Still have an occasional feeling of not good sleep. I am exercising cardio at least 3 times a week and yoga 4 times a week. I wake up feeling good and ready to start my day. My allergies are better, except for this last couple days with the change in weather. It has been a bit rough with headaches and such, but I am used to the weather changes killing my allergies.

I have been a bit scared of starting this detox because I don't want to cheat and I definitely do not want to turn into a nightmare. I know the two catalysts for me are not eating and being tired. With those two I get really grumpy and unreasonable.

I was a competitive athlete too, so I have been drilled in to always eat and take care of the body. Body needs fuel and food is that fuel. Do not deprive yourself. Which is why I spent weeks thinking about detox and then talking to my doctor about it. 

I am doing the Tosca Reno Detox because it is one I feel I can do. It feels reasonable and healthy. It is only two days of liquids and then clean eating vegetables and 1 cup of GF brown rice for the next 3 to 7 days.

I bought a bunch of Coconut Waters to get me through the first two days. I will be putting 8oz of coconut water then fill with water for every liquid bottle I drink. I then bought GF rice for days 3-7. I have cleaned out my fridge to include only vegetables. All other food, like chicken are in the freezer for safe keeping. I also have Naked Juice to drink 8oz before bed with my meds and also to help my tummy through the night. I haven't decided if I will mix it with protein powder. I suppose I will decide how I feel. I will allow myself one hot herbal decaf tea at work if and when I strongly feel weak and want to cheat.

I woke up this morning with a bit of trepidation. I went downstairs and fed the kitties (wondering if in the two days of no eating food if I will want to eat the cat food) and then filled up my first liquid bottle. I have a feeling I will never want to drink coconut water ever again after this.

I really want to do well and I hope I can keep my spirits up as well.

Have you done the Tosca Reno Detox? Results? Thoughts?

90% Raw

I have been working on going raw for over a week now. Seems minimal, but I feel pretty good. So far. I did experience a HUGE day of food withdrawal. Sadly it was at work. LOL My poor boss. I lost it before lunch knowing I was going to have to eat my healthy lunch and all I wanted was crap. It was horrible. I was literally nuts for 20 minutes. Him pushing me to eat crap is what helped me choose to eat my healthy lunch. Ironic, huh? About two hours later, I felt the relief of normal again. (well semi-normal)

So far I have struggled the most with making my lunch for work. I have to start making it the night before because I keep hitting snooze til I am running late. Damn. I have to get to sleep earlier. I am trying to leave leftovers in an easy to sort out container that I can just grab and go.

My favorite part is grocery shopping. lol And enjoying my meals once I sit down. I am realizing that I am eating much slower and really tasting my food. I still read while I eat, but I notice I am not wolfing down the food. I find myself knowing ahead of time that I am getting full. I don't need to overeat anymore. I leave the table satisfied with the knowledge I will have a snack in a few hours.

At the end of the day, I reward myself with one oatmeal raisin cookie. They are so good and, of course, all natural.

For example, my food journal looks like this -

Breakfast - 1/2 cup of Muesli with one banana sliced and 1/2 cup of organic milk

Snack - 8oz of Naked Juice Green Machine and 1/4 of a peach sliced (1/4 cup of Raw Protein Powder)

Lunch - half a chicken breast with steamed veggies (broccoli, peppers, carrots)

Snack - cup of decaf coffee and a granola bar (natures path choco)

Dinner - whole wheat tortilla with beans (pinto and black beans), spinach, tomato, avocado

Snack - one oatmeal raisin cookie

Initially I was worried about the cereal I love to eat in the mornings, every morning and honestly, I could live off cereal. Not the good kind either. I am talking Lucky Charms. But who knew I love Muesli!!

Next was the sweets. It has been over a week since I ate anything other than Organic Vanilla Ice Cream, oatmeal raisin cookie and/or a piece of dark chocolate bar. These are my sweets. I have found that fruit is very sweet. Especially if I leave it to ripen. I don't mind it to be soft because it really cures my sweet tooth. I especially love soft, sweet peaches.

Next was my decaf mocha at work. Oh man, I have switched to a latte with honey. Not my favorite, but it does the trick when needed. I just purchased Agave Nectar to take to work and replace the honey. I am also considering taking a half quart of organic milk to take to steam as well. The cafe people are really nice and accommodating.

Next was the exercise. Ugh. Having asthma really makes cardio difficult. I have tried to commit to a minimum of 3xs a week, but my goal is 5xs a week of 30 minutes of cardio. It can be anything. The other day my boyfriend and I walked down to the park (a 10 min walk) and then tossed the football around. Which let me tell you, I thoroughly enjoyed!! I feel a little bad for my boyfriend because as I started to get tired my throwing kinda sucked, but he was a great sport and didn't mind. I would like to pull my bike out of the garage and go on a serious ride, but that hasn't happened yet. A girlfriend and I went camping and we ended up kayaking for 7 miles one day! I offset it all with my yoga 3xs a week.

We made homemade pita bread this past weekend, which I am so enamored with. It made the most wonderful sandwiches with chicken, tomato and spinach!

I made a really awesome homemade spaghetti sauce with 5 tomatoes (peeled skins), 4 cloves of garlic and about 1/4 cup of onion. I then added spicy andoue sausage and poured it all over egg pasta. I had steamed zucchini and squash added to the sauce on my plate (only).

It has been really fun to work with this new type of eating. At times, frustrating as well. We hit Native New Yorker and I had a beer (oh man, it was good) and a burger. I ordered the hamburger (no cheese) with tomato, lettuce and pickles, then took the top of the bun off when it arrived. It was still oh so awesome! I didn't eat any fries either! Amazing, lol.

I joined SparkPeople - again. But I love that I am using the iphone app to record my daily workouts and food intake. I don't like to obsess over food, but I do need to identity what I am eating and when my cravings happen.

The biggest change though is the fact that my lower belly feels SO MUCH LIGHTER. I cannot believe how good it feels to not have all that stuff hanging out inside me. I feel cleansed. I have also had a consistently really bad gassy tummy. I do not have that anymore. What an amazing feeling!

Article:
Found a really fabulous blog that defines the differences between Raw, Clean Eating and Paleo on Even Was Partially Right blog. 

And I really like this article too - Rawlly Rawlly Delicious

Diagnosis: Hypthyrodism

I was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism this past week and realized that many of the dots connected. Finally! I know I shouldn't feel relieved having been diagnosed with a disease, but hey, it's nice to know I can hopefully work on feeling better and not just remain in the dark.

Hypothyrodism - the thyroid gland not producing enough hormone

Symptoms - fatigue (hello?!)
Constipation (just won't talk about this one, mmk?)
sensitivity to cold (all the time)
joint and muscle pain
dry skin (using vanicream)
depression (just thought this was hereditary)
thin, brittle nails (thought this was just dry skin related)


Talking to my doctor, she could put me on medication, but it is so mild at this point neither of us want to go that route until necessary because once I start taking them, I cannot stop. I do not like to be dependent on medications. I just don't.

We agreed to give me up to 30 days to get a diet and exercise plan into action. I have to do the following -
cut out all unprocessed foods (ie: go raw or clean eat)
cardio 3-5xs a week in the morning
continue yoga 3-5xs a week in the evenings

Because of many underlying diseases that stem from this disease she would like to see me eventually go gluten free to help that out as well. Uhm, let's just try to begin the above program first.

I started by buying a couple of cookbooks and sending out a need for good wishes from my family and friends. I then cleaned out my cupboards and fridge. This wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The one thing I worry about is losing my cereal. I LOVE CEREAL! I could eat this all day. I probably could live off it. Not to healthily but I could. The other worry was having the ability to cook often enough at home to allow for variation without a lot of fuss.  I really enjoy cooking, but don't necessarily like to do it every single day. Which is why it has been so hard to diagnose me. I tend to eat really healthy for weeks, then go crap food for a week, then back to healthy. I stay just under the normal thyroid evaluations and usually when I make my doctor appointments it's because I feel crappy and have already switched back to healthy food.

Looking at the diets with hypothyroidism (if you believe them as there is a lot of debate about what is good for thyroidism) they mimic the raw diet as closest. I really like to have recipes to go off of, so that is where I started. (And as my doctor recommended I eat unprocessed it made sense)

I will still be eating lots of protein, in fact it should realistically be the major part of my plate. Followed by lots of vegetables and fruits. I need to cut out all breads and pastas or replace them with all natural made. I have learned very quickly that though there are many foods that profess to be healthy and clean, they are not. I read many a labels while shopping and so many have GUM or weird unpronounceable items in them. These are not clean. This may require I make many of my spreads, dressings, etc at home, but I am willing to take a look at my nearby health food grocery store and see what they have to offer.

The first challenge being cereal, I found that Muesli is wonderfully good and flavorful. I scoop 1/2 cup into a bowl along with either sliced banana or raspberries and blueberries for breakfast. I then have a shake of some kind in a few hours with protein supplement (just purchased Garden of Life Protein from a recommendation of a Vegan friend). For lunch I will need to be crafty because I like to look forward to food while working.

This past week I settled on crock pot of beans where I mixed black beans and pinto beans with half an onion and a few cloves of garlic. I then purchased some awesome whole wheat tortillas to wrap them in with lots of veggies, including sprouts, spinach, tomatoes, avocado. Notice I didn't say cheese? Yep, cheese is very processed. As is milk. I now have organic milk and cut out cheese. I did find a block of unprocessed cheese, but have yet to try it. I will be having to slice and shred my own cheese because only the unprocessed comes in blocks.

That is really the beginning of the process. I am sure I will blog more about this as I find out new tricks and new challenges (like eating out in restaurants)!

May be basic, but it's not easy

Yoga discussion today was based on the phrase, "it may be a basic class, but that doesn't mean it will be easy." I really liked this focus. It has so many meanings. But since I teaching myself to learn to relax and not take myself so seriously, it really takes to heart.

Life in general sometimes feels like it is so basic, boring even, but that doesn't mean it's easy.

OR

Even though it seems like it should be basic, that doesn't mean it's going to be easy. (ie: don't beat up myself)

My boyfriend and I went to this awesome ropes challenge and talk about not being easy. It was basic ropes, swings, climbs, etc. I had an absolutely incredible time. It worked all my muscles and my mind was stretched to it's limit. There were so many times I thought I would give out and fall. Once, I did fall. I was climbing the wall and my feet just went out and down I went. Thankfully, I didn't fall too far, maybe a foot. It didn't feel great getting my harness to grab, but it could have been worse. I used a lot of yoga moves during the course. I used keeping my shoulders over my hips to stay in line with balance. I tried balancing on one foot to minimize the swinging when going from one rope to another. I switched from arms to legs and used my core as much as possible to reduce the amount of tiredness my muscles were feeling. It seemed to work as I had a great time the entire two hours we were there. My favorite part though was definitely the zip lines. There were a few really long ones. I screamed and yelled and hooted and hollered for joy!

It may be basic, but doesn't mean it's easy.

I will be picking up this line to use on a daily basis. I love positive messages and this one takes the cake. It just makes sense.

Heaven help us all

Overall, I am a happy person. I tend to smile and giggle and make jokes. I even laugh at my own jokes. In the past, I have been described as bubbly - which I gotta say isn't the nicest compliment. I even had one manager tell me he wanted to punch me in the face every time he saw me because I was in such a good mood all the time. It's become a side joke with us now.

I really don't see myself as a morning person or an evening person. I am not a huge fan of waking early and I sure as heck do not enjoy staying up. I consider myself a day person, like 10am - 6pm. Those hours suit me just fine, though ten to three are even better. I have even mastered the skill of waking and my mind drifts back to sleep only to wake up again when I am at work. Yes, I do have full conversations with people I cannot remember having.

Lately, I seem to be focusing on what makes me happy. I find that the little things that drive me nuts are what I want to cut out. The list is as follows -

get rid of negative people (or ignore them if possible)
work out/exercise
eat healthier
read a lot
find happy time to do whatever I want
be with my cats, family, bf (not nec in that order)
make my house as resort-like as possible
be outside with nature
get rid of pain
relieve anxiety, pressure to perform

I hunted down a TMJ dentist who I finally found online and sent a random email asking if he would see me when he was in town next. He sent back that he would see me. Come to find out he actually has a practice here. FABU! I am now fitted with a new TMJ mouth splint that I wear full time and at night. After only a few weeks, I am feeling no teeth pain, and less next and shoulder pain.

Check!

I am really doing well with the whole learning to relax thing and I can tell the people I work with appreciate it because now when they come to me and say, Oh man so and so happened, I say, "ok I'll handle it," instead of freakin' the F out. I am learning that I don't have to react at all. Some situations I can just mull over or just let go. Mostly I know now that I don't even have to get emotionally charged. It may concern me. I may have to deal with it, but it doesn't have to upset me.

Check!

I am working out four times a week doing some serious yoga. I sweat like a fiend through the class which I hope means I am doing something. My belly that has so carelessly decided to bulge a bit over my pants still is there, but I am hoping it is working it way to going bye bye. If anything, I am trying.


Eating healthier. Hmm, it is a bit more difficult that I would like to think. I eat fruits and veggies. I drink lots of water, but I also like sweets. And pasta. And bread. And all types of potatoes. I try to mix it up a bit. But boy, it's hard. I recently bought a low glycemic book that tells what I am craving versus what I should actually eat. Good start.

The point is, I seem to be finding the little annoyances in my life and working them out. Literally out of my life. I have never really done that before. I have so much control over my own life, why not focus a little on being happier?

Heaven help us all (especially that guy at work who wants to punch me) if I actually attain more happiness.

Serious book envy

I have a serious problem here folks.

I cannot seem to find enough time to read.

Every book I see, I want to read.

I have even made a list of books I MUST READ RIGHT NOW or I will perish. And I am not exaggerating at all!

In no particular order -

The Buddha in the Attic by Julie Otsuka - I keep hearing really good things about this and it looks to be a quick read.

The Forsaken by Lisa M Stasse

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (on my nook now)

The Girl She Used to Be by David Cristofano (on my nook now) - Flew through Cristofano's other book The Exceptionists - SO GOOD!! Check out my review.

Michael Vey #2 Rise of the Elgen by Richard Paul Evans

Bound To You by Christopher Pike - I really enjoy his books!

When We Were the Kennedy's by Monica Wood

Anything by Tana French - I have never read her before, but man her covers are AWESOME!

Kill You Twice by Chelsea Cain - another series book I have not read any of the series before, sigh

The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas

Temptation by RL Stine - has anyone read this? How truly scary is it?

And of course the continuation of sereis I have read -

The Last Echo by Kimberly Derting- frickin' awesome series

Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum series - I'm on four, I think

Thirst #3 by Christopher Pike



I know the list is longer, but that's about all I can think of as of right now.

Anything you cannot live without reading right now?

I COMPLETELY FORGOT THIS ONE
which is being shipped as we speak
care of my bf

Losing Lila by Sarah Anderson
Lila #2

Review - Ruby by Amanda Burke

Title: Ruby
Ruby #1
Author: Amanda Burke
Publisher: CreateSpace
Publish Date: June 29, 2012

GoodReads
Barnes and Noble Nook book $6
Amazon

Read the First Chapter on Smashwords, here.

Amanda contacted me by email to ask if I would review her book. Since I am very emotionally driven when it comes to books, I have a really hard time accepting review books because I may just not be in the mood to read a certain book. Yes, my inner troll reader is fickle. And apparently has a few personalities as I am constantly saying, "WOW I'll read that one next! No, that one! Wait, that one!"

The book Ruby just seemed right up my alley with a strong female character, Ruby, witches, special powers and maybe, a love story.

Ruby is the daughter of a single father as her mother died years ago. When her father unexpectedly is killed, she follows a letter from her father to go meet her unknown grandmother. Her grandmother turns out to be a witch, as Ruby is a descendent of, is also a witch. Together they embark on a journey to teach Ruby how to hone her skills and possibly, save their world against an old legend. On the way she runs into Blake, a very handsome and rouge warlock.

This was a really nice light read with much entertainment. The writing was exceptional and kept me very involved in the book. Cannot wait to read the next installment! Thank you Amanda for gifting me this book!

Contact me if you are interested in this book, I am happy to pass along the goodness to a fellow reader!

Summary -

During the Salem witch hunts, an evil witch named Natasha Sullivan tricks a demon into confining himself inside an enchanted music box. She casts a spell that foretells that the demon will emerge in an unknown time in future after the birth of a child known as the Lumen Child. This child’s destiny is to bring light to the planet and Natasha knows that if he is killed then darkness will prevail. Natasha’s identical twin Sarah, discovers what her sister has done. Although she cannot break the spell she casts her own prophecy. It states that three witches known as the Triple Enchantresses will be born in the same time as the Lumen Child and they will be his supernatural protectors. The girls are not sisters, yet they will share a common destiny. Ruby is the story of the first witch and how she very nearly dies before discovering her true identity. Having grown up unaware of her powers, she is rescued by her loving grandmother who is also a white witch and taken back to the family estate where she learns everything she can about what her future holds. Ruby is the first in a four book series.