Tuesday, May 18, 2010

it's only 3 days!

You know, you can do anything for 3 days. Well, almost. But when it comes to getting your dietary act together, if all it takes is 3 days to rid your body of the sugary, chemically laden toxins that you consume on a regular basis - then I'm in!

So...yesterday was day 1. From 8am to 4pm it was a protein drink every 2 hours. Followed in between each protein drink with at least 12 oz of water. At 6pm I enjoyed a HUGE salad and nice piece of mahi mahi cooked with olive oil and lemon (and a little bit of butter). It was delicious! Then nothing else to eat until this morning. In the meantime, I've had a constant headache and was feeling a little weak yesterday, but not bad. I managed my routine in pretty good shape.

Today - I woke up to about 3 cups of cantaloupe - now that's a lot of fruit! At my 10am feeding (ha ha ha) I had 2 cups of strawberries...they were great! But I still have the headache and even the shakes. But I feel like I can still do fine today. The rest of the day is fruit only every 2 hours until 6pm when I get my big salad again and another piece of that yummy fish...I'm looking forward to it.

Tomorrow will be day 3 and the menu is the same as today. I can mix up the fruit some, but the regimen is basically the same as today.

The goal? To flush my body of the toxins and to get myself out of the habit of being so dependent on sugar. Several years ago I had cut sugar out of my diet (refined sugars - you know, the fast and easy sugars) and was working out a bunch. I lost 18 pounds and felt great. I've slowly let the junk back in and I'm paying for it. This 3 day plan is a great way (so I hear) to jump start my good eating habits and to break the sugar cycle.

I made Jeremy his favorite macaroni and cheese last night using Quinona Pasta - it's corn based, no wheat flour. I used Buckwheat flour and his favorite cheese. It went over well, but next time I will use corn starch instead of the flour. It makes it creamier and the Buckwheat flour tends to cause the color to be a little on the brown side. Still, I believe it was a success. He can have that and I don't have to worry about him having a flare up. The eczema seems to be quiet right now, but not gone. I know slowly but surely we will get there.

I wonder if I'll ever get my family on the kind of diet that excludes the junk and fillers that I know cause the headaches, inflammation, irritability and whatnot. I wonder if I'll ever see it. I just have to keep plugging away....

Peace.

Friday, May 14, 2010

time to get serious.....

So, it's settled. I'm going to venture down the road of the 3 day flush. This journey is taking me places that I have only watched other's go down and would think to myself "...I should do that..." and now, I am.

My girlfriend and I (and I'm dragging my daughter with us!) are tracking down the "flush diet" that looks like it will work for us. The goal (you ALWAYS have to have goals): to rid the body of the harsh toxins absorbed through unfavorable eating (red meat, junk food, caffeine, sugars...). We decided that before we start back to our commitment of healthy eating that we needed to rid ourselves of the artificially flavored, refined sugars and unhealthy carbs that we have slipped back into consuming. While I feel that I am more of an overall healthy eater, still the "junk" has slipped back in and I'm not happy with my weight....not to mention the "unknown" damage those foods are doing to my organs and skin and even my brain.

I'm also hoping to embark now on a daily regimen of fresh juicing (again) for my husband. The entire family will benefit from it, but I am hoping that this will be the natural way to keep his blood pressure at a normal rate.

I am eager to get started, but before I do, I will plan out my goals and mediate on my motivation - I will be praying about it this weekend. During the 3 day cleanse, I will be meditating and praying...repenting of my unhealthy eating habits and asking God to bless my actions.

We are making progress with Jeremy's wheat allergy - confirmed by a local chiropractor who uses a scanning process and computer software to determine what "issues" the body is dealing with. We have been implementing 3 new supplements to his daily diet - and trying to keep him off of wheat products. No easy task for an adolescent. It's a slow process - we are seeing improvement in his eczema, however he experienced a serious flare up when I allowed him to eat his favorite macaroni and cheese. It was almost immediate. So he knows now that he has to stay away from it. The doctor was encouraging though and said that once his body is rid of the allergens that he could in fact enjoy mac n cheese on occasion and might not even notice a reaction. We'll see. Like most things in life, and I'm finding with most natural remedies, it just takes time. It makes me think of all of those old movies when the hero got hurt and the old doctor who lived in the woods or something like that, would take in the injured one and put all kinds of herbs and pastes and oils on the wound or have him ingest some weird natural concoction - then the guy would have to sleep for a week. They would wake up and say "where am I?" and be cured. I think there is something to that. The body was designed to be able to heal, naturally. God provided so many healing elements on this earth - there are many, many things that can be treated with rest and simple, natural treatments.

I hope that with the "flush" or "cleanse" if you prefer, that I might lose a couple of pounds but more over, that my body and mind will be rid of the desire to eat things that I know are not good for me...Paul said it best when he said "...all things are permissible, but not all things are beneficial" You know, just because I can eat it, doesn't mean I should.

Peace.