You could get with this or you could get with that – Day 3

Posted: January 22, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Health | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

My headache is gone!  Wooooo Hooooo.  I woke up, took my run, all ready ready to say, “uncle” and brew some organic green tea if my pounding head returned, but I’m happy to say no headache has raised it’s ugly head, hee hee.

However, with the lack of pounding distraction, up popped a new treasure in the form of some lovely cravings.  Sigh.  This might be a harder obstacle for me since no amount of resting or hydrating seem to make a dent in these urges.  Since it’s the beginning, the cravings aren’t really specific, I just want SOMETHING, in a few days, or possibly hours, it will probably get specific like pizza or pie, ummmm pie.  What’s a committed detox-er to do?

Here’s some of the common advice:

1.  take a walk

2.  hydrate

3.  look at a fire (it’s soothing)

4.  write down what you crave

5.  wait five minutes, it could pass.

Here’s what I’m trying:  sit-ups.

I’m not going crazy and doing hundreds but it gives my body a chance to move a little, it makes me slightly uncomfortable in a different way than the craving, and gives me a chance to think about all the sit-ups I’ve done through out my life in an attempt catch-up after previous over-indulgences.

That’s all nice and good but is it working?  So far, yes!

Also, the oil-swishing is serving as a nice new habit instead of my old 3:00 tea and treat.  The lesson here?   Consider embracing a few new distractions while my body and mind are making these transitions…….and be nice and patient to myself, especially this first week.

Hugs and sit-ups,

D

 

 

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On your mark, get set, wait, wait, wait, ok, GO! – Day 1

Posted: January 20, 2014 | Author: | Filed under: Health | Tags: , , , , | 1 Comment

So, I mentioned our family was planning a winter detox, well then I got the flu, then my husband got the flu and here we are a couple weeks later with our kitchen under construction and we are beginning.  Not the best time you say, I suppose not, but we are going with it.  So here I am at the (near) end of day 1 and I’m feeling it folks.  I truly thought I had kicked most of my caffeine dependency during my visit from the flu but my raging headache suggests otherwise or perhaps it’s my body freaking due to lack of copious amounts of sugar.  Whatever the reason, I’m considering getting into my PJs at 5:00.

I share and air all of this because it’s a great opportunity for me to get excited about not feeling so good.  It’s a terrific reminder my body needs this break.  I’ve been partying like a queen, with heavy foods, too much food, too much heavy food, not enough of the good and over my fair share of the not so good.  If you are following my line of thinking I’m impressed, can I blame run on sentences and incoherent thoughts on day 1 detox blahs?  Sure!

Where was I?  Oh yes, embracing the fog, I’ve been caffeinate-ing and sugar-ing my way out of this fog for months but now I have the opportunity to feel it and clear it.

We’re using the Clean program once again to give our bodies a bit of a break.  No fancy tricks or supplements, just a smoothie or juice for breakfast, a lunch from the approved list of foods and a soup or smoothie for dinner.  That felt like I was quoting a commercial but what I continue to appreciate about this program is it’s not about counting calories or being hungry.  You can take this concept to many different levels depending on your goals and needs for detoxing.  Ok,  now I really do sound like a commercial, I give up, I’m off to grab my PJ’s.

Class continued

Posted: February 15, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: blog referrals, Health, Me | Tags: , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Dr. Frank Lipman

This guy not only has a face that that says, “You can trust me. let’s be friends”, his website/blog is incredible!  Dr. Frank Lipman is the quintessential celebrity doc, he’s got books, he’s got supplements, he’s got a cleanse program, but the reason I’m a fan is he’s really relatable.  When he says he was a sweet addict, and it’s still hard for him today, I believe him.  He’s got a whole team of people working his blog, content is refreshed and renewed at a New York pace. It’s rare I tune in and don’t find at least one thing that intrigues me.  He also contributes to Gwyneth Paltrow’s website from time to time and I always bookmark his contributions, I just find him so helpful, it’s a great quality….especially in a doctor!

 

Kimberly Snyder

Kimberly Snyder, C.N.

Now about this lady, she’s a human lightbulb she’s so glow-y.  Kimberly Snyder, C.N is the ultimate celebrity nutritionist.  She too has a book (haven’t read it) she also has a “Signature drink” and I’m not talking the kind Martha Stewart recommends for turning your dinner into a par-tay.  Kimberly is the creator of the Glowing Green Smoothie or GGS, she does a lot of raw, mostly vegan if not entirely, I’m still getting to know her.  The blog is very grass-roots feeling, home-done, makes her feel very accessible in my opinion.  I like some of her tips for fighting the water bloat (cranberry concentrate (note I did not say cranberry cocktail)), super helpful when flying or a certain time of the month.  A lot of Kimberly’s information is contrary to some of the things I’ve read – even things I’ve read by the good Dr. Lipman above, BUT the proof is in the pudding and I’ve been giving her GGS a go and I’m feeling pretty darn good.

High as a kite

Posted: February 11, 2013 | Author: | Filed under: Me, Parenting, Shake | Tags: , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
Fun Dip, aka my kids drug of choice

Fun Dip, aka my kids drug of choice

Ugh, sometimes I really have a hard time with my world.  When did Valentine’s Day become a week long extravaganza riddled with enough sugar to rot all the teeth in my neighborhood?  My children have already received two “Valentine’s” each, Valentine’s Day is still four days away….god help me if these are pre-Valentine’s Day “valentines” or something. I use quotes because these are not homemade cards and hearts with sweet professions of friendship.  These “valentines” are bags filled with drugs candy.  And not just a lollipop, each “valentine” held no less than 5 packages of candy?!

So, my kids are pretty awesome, they know I’m going to “edit” their Valentine’s booty and they don’t put up a fight.  I laid out their treasure trove of cavity inducing sweetness and allowed them each to choose one (the rest will magically disappear).  My elder child went for the Fun Dip and my younger, being the individual he is, grabbed the exact same thing.  Now we have a mid-morning to late afternoon  filled with finishing their own Valentines for friends, and I swear my kids are high.  I’ve got music going as incentive to get out of your seat at any time and help your body burn that sugar, but the look in their eyes is CRAZY, like their brains are vibrating irregularly.

And at the same time, although I’m dripping with disapproval of this unhealthful not to mention wasteful custom, I’m wondering if my kids will feel their homemade cards with sweet sentiments and unique artwork measure up to plastic bags filled with pounds of candy?!  The depths of parenting worry and guilt know no reason!

Now, to try and balance my toxic rant, I give you MY preferred way to get high with your Valentine, aptly named “Aztec Spirit” from Kris Carr’s latest book, I modified a few things, but here it tis:

Serves 2

3 cups nut milk

1/3 cup cacao

1 vanilla bean scraped or 3/4 tsp vanilla extract

2 shots espresso or strong coffee

1 banana

2 TBS maple syrup (or stevia to taste)

3 kale leaves (stems removed)

Pinch of cayenne (optional although Kris says it’s a known aphrodisiac, so Happy Valentine’s Day to YOU)

Blend until smooth.

I feel so CLEAN

Posted: September 17, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Health, Shake, Tips | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Week 1 into our cleanse and holy cow I feel so clean and so happy!  Like dancing on the ceiling happy…and light, I feel light.  This summer I wrote about my tendency to overindulge, especially in sweets and fats….I don’t think I was really overeating my salads if you know what I mean.  An intervention was in order, so my husband and I broke out the Clean cleanse.  We’ve done it before but this round we’re really following all the “extras” laid out in the book including daily meditation, banishing snacks whenever possible, dry brushing, and a nightly dose of olive oil to just name a few.  The basics are for 21 days we do two liquid meals, one at breakfast and one for dinner, lunch is a meal from their list of acceptable foods with the idea being as raw as possible and as organic as possible.

Changing up our food has already yielded huge benefits, we are sleeping better, my husband is so glow-y with his bright eyes – he looks 5 years younger, he says I too am sporting a youthful glow, I’ve mentioned the spike in happiness we are both experiencing – all of these things are wonderful BUT they are not my favorite part of my experience so far.

My favorite part is identifying that food and eating out had become a sort of hobby!

“Let’s grab a bite, have some coffee/tea, take the kids for an ice cream, etc., etc.”

So, during these three weeks (and I’m hoping for longer) we will get out and DO something instead of go out and EAT something.  One caveat, the “detox date”, my husband and I went out for a green juice at one of the few NEW juicing places that have opened after dropping the kids at school.  $15 bucks for two green drinks – DAMN, thank goodness it counts as breakfast.  But it was a really nice break from cleaning the juicer.

Not completely unlike traveling, this cleanse experience has changed up our daily routine, offering some awesome insights.

I should mention that neither my favorite part of the experience, nor all the benefits we are outwardly experiencing thus far are the point of our cleanse.  We are giving our bodies a break so they can clean themselves up and heal as needed……also to break my crack, I mean SUGAR addiction.  Has to be said, just in one week, I feel like the spell has been broken on that front!

What my “bottom” looks like

Posted: August 25, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: blog referrals, Health, Tips | Tags: , , , , | Leave a comment

We can talk about my rounded backside another time, today’s “bottom” refers to a low point.  Anyone familiar with 12 step programs might have heard this term, “hitting bottom” – it typically signifies reaching a point so low that you cannot help acknowledging that a re-evalution of sorts is in order.  Kris Carr once wrote that she had on occasion picked a sugar-laden treat out of her trash can for ONE MORE BITE. She would then thrust her drug of choice back into the trash can and dose heavily with Windex to insure there was not a repeat performance.  I share this because I am a coward and it is a beautiful example of some of the crazy things we do in life.

You may have read my declaration of war on sugar.  After writing that post I somehow spent the next two weeks filling myself with as many sweet treats as possible.  Perhaps because of my guilty Catholic upbringing I feel compelled to share, consider this my confession or my version of binge and purge.

Picture this – a kitchen table, morning light streaming through the window, a big empty Bouchon box, a cup of coffee and me – sitting in a sugar tinged daze, trying to reconcile my breakfast choice.

So, what was in the box you ask?  1 Coconut macaroon, 1 peaches’n creme macaroon, 1 caramel macaroon, 3/4 monkey bread, 1 O’noyoudidn’t (Thomas Keller’s version of an Oreo-like cookie), 1/2 croissant.  Now, before you go judging, keep in mind I have 4 people in my family and I let the other 3 smell everything in the box before I shoved each one into my mouth.

Right now I could let the rationalizations begin to flow, I’m on vacation, it’s my birthday month, we are going to start our detox soon – it’s like Fat Tuesday, it was cold this morning….but truly the fact that this was my BREAKFAST leaves me little wiggle room.  I’m a poster girl for the morning smoothie – typically of the green variety.  Yes, it’s time to bring this party to a close and break out the Windex.

Now about my bottom….. presently it resembles the doughnuts I had last night for dessert.  Booo-ya!

White Lines (Don’t Don’t Do It)

Posted: August 17, 2012 | Author: | Filed under: Health | Tags: , , , | 1 Comment

Grandmaster Flash might have been singing about another white substance, but for me it’s sugar.  I’m a total addict.  After an exceptionally indulgent month I’ve OD’d and need to give my body a break*.

Guess what the recommended daily allowance is for sugar?

ZERO.

That’s right, we have NO need for refined sugar.

What do we need?  Glucose, which our bodies get from fruits and veggies.  Since knowledge is power I’ve become well acquainted with the harmful effects of sugar but it’s still not stopping me from dipping into the cookie jar.

Back when I was a smoker I made a plan to quit – I enlisted the support of a nicotine patch and distraction techniques and I made some life changes, like no alcohol for a year (alcohol was my will-power destroyer).

With my sugar addiction I plan to follow the advice in this article.  However, step one will be to play detective among my food choices, while cigarettes are pretty easy to identify and therefore avoid; sugar hides and can be trickier to thwart.  It disguises itself under different names on labels, it can hide in foods until digestion – I know who you really are white rice, pasta and bread.  Common culprits range from milk (even the nut varieties from the grocery store), to jarred pasta sauce and almost everything that comes from the middle parts of the grocery store.

*If I’m perfectly honest, I plan to further abuse this addiction until our end of summer/fall detox – spoken like a true addict, right?!!

P.S. For you sweet ones who were unaware of sugar’s addictive personality, here’s a little tidbit from Dr. Mark Hyman during an interview concerning sugar:

“One study out of France, presented at the 2007 annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience, showed that when rats (who metabolize sugar much like we do) were given the choice between water sweetened with saccharin and intravenous cocaine, 94% chose the saccharin water. When the water was sweetened with sucrose (sugar), the same preference was observed—the rats overwhelmingly chose the sugar water. When the rats were offered larger doses of cocaine, it did not alter their preference for the saccharin or sugar water. Even rats addicted to cocaine, switched to sweetened water when given the choice. In other words, intense sweetness was more rewarding to the brain than cocaine.”

P.P.S. For more on sugar (and kids) check out Jamie Oliver’s Ted talk.