Confessions...

You can be quite certain, when I'm hiding from this blog, it's because I've temporarily fallen off the wagon! I should be confessing daily, but instead I'm holding out for something positive. Not today...today I'm going to proceed with confessions of human weakness.

It seems my biggest weakness right now is failure to plan. Whenever my schedule picks up (and I know this occurs when my calendar has time slots marked, "talk to James," "shower," and "breathe"), eating doesn't make the cut and I fail to menu plan. This means that meals are impromptu and unfortunately often impulsive. Generally I'm also too tired to fight with my kids over the menu, so I take the easy route...mac and cheese, PB & J, Quesadillas...to name a few of the repeat offenses. These make meal time EASY. No fighting. No stress. No thinking.

But the dark side of that lack of stress and thinking is this trail of guilt that follows me around the house and everywhere I go...it makes me feel like I'm failing at the important things. Contrary to popular belief, I am of the persuasion that guilt is a good thing...it's our moral compass that let's us know when we're headed the wrong direction. I listen to my guilt instead of squelching it and brushing it under the rug. I know these foods are not good for us. I know that nutrition is lacking and fat, gluten, bad carbs, and loads of unnecessary calories are plentiful. My guilt tells me to eat better...and so I shall. I will probably cycle through this several times before getting it right most of the time. But guilt is what will keep me from abandoning it all together. So guilt is my friend.

I have been able to keep up on my Colonix program and this makes me feel good. Atleast not much of this junk is sticking with me! But I need to be giving my freshly cleaned colon some good nutrition to absorb. Did you know that your colon is supposed to absorb nutrition too? Not just your stomach? But we clog it up with so much junk that it often can't do it's job which is why so many Americans are malnourished without even knowing it.

Well, confession is good for the soul. Let's hope it's good for the diet too. Anyone else out there struggling? Leave me a note...I could sure use a support group right about now! lol.

Day 19 -- Christi

I have been a bad blogger...a direct reflection on the kind of dieter I've been!!!! BLAH! I had a great weekend...TONS of fun...but that's exactly the type of schedule and lifestyle that makes dieting difficult. And I COMPLETELY blew it! Ok, I shouldn't say completely. While on a date with my hubby, I did manage to choose a non-fried/battered option at Red Lobster on Thursday night which made me feel HALF decent about my level of dedication. But then I threw caution to the wind and had THREE cheesy biscuits cuz they're my ABSOLUTE FAV! Then on Friday I declined further with some late night chocolate chip cookies, which I made myself! Awful. Then on Saturday I had a piece of Marka's amazing lemon cake. Uuuugh...it was SO worth it! Then Sunday I should have warded off the munchies by having a lunch menu prepared for after church, but instead I fell prey to Sesame chicken and rice because we were all starving and anything I could think of would have taken too long to fix.

BUT, Monday arrived and I was back in the full swing of things and feeling good. I think the key to sticking with this is being able to forgive yourself...that has taken me a long time to learn! I worked out hard Monday morning, juiced, cleansed, had salad for lunch (with a little cheese on it...I will admit). For dinner I was out with a friend so I had hummus and pita bread for dinner. Not sure if that's on the approved list, but it sounded wholesome and yummy.

Here's a picture of Jadon who enjoys my morning juicing routine...he loves eating the carrot pulp after I strain the juice. It's about the consistancy of apple sauce, but it has more carrot than apple. He is totally addicted to it! That makes me SO happy. :) I love this pic...his hair is still all messy from just waking up.


This morning I'm battling the blues. The boys came down with a bug last night and James and I were up about every hour or so cleaning up messes and consoling them. I'm dead-dog tired and have sick kids on THE rare and beautiful, warm sunny February day that I can't take advantage of at all! But I'm hangin' in there and thankful that my office is in the sunniest room of the house so I still soak up some of the sunshine!

Day 14 -- Christi

The Raw Gezpacho I had today for lunch was YUMMY!! The flavors were zesty and well balanced. Mmmm. Very satisfied (especially after chasing it down with some Raw Fudge...hee hee).

My lunch Gezpacho: 5 tomatoes, medium handful of fresh basil, 1 clove garlic, 1/3 c. apple cider vinegar, 2 T. Bragg's Amino Acids, 1/4 t. salt. Blend. Add chopped bell peppers and raw corn straight from the cob.

Day 12 -- Christi

Tried the "Green Lemonade" today and I have to say, not a huge fan! I will be attempting it one more time with a PEELED lemon (the recipe SAID you didn't have to peel it!) and if that doesn't work, then I'm going to be moving on to the next green smoothie recipe. Here's me with my best "It's Yummy" grin, but don't fall for it...I only got down about 4 ounces even after adding honey to take the edge off!!
Other than that, things are going amazingly well. I feel great. I'm running on less than 4 hours of sleep right now, I worked out this morning, but I feel clear headed, awake and energetic. It's really a strange feeling!

Day 11 -- Christi

I am feeling SO GOOD on this diet! There are hunger pangs, I must admit, but I'm learning to actually appreciate them. I had my first good weekend since starting the C...weekends are THE hardest!! But I rocked it out with a salad for lunch each day and just very small and regulated amounts of cooked foods. I've dropped 5 pounds in one week and THAT feels GREAT! I even stayed strong through one of the TOUGHEST situations...we had a church carry-in on Sunday! I brought my own pre-packaged salad so that I wouldn't even have to go through the line. I was afraid if I went expecting to find a great romaine salad, I would find only a ranch-laden iceberg salad and I'd say "oh well" and then end up reasoning that since I'd already failed I might as well make it worth failing for. I know me! I'd talk myself into a little of this or that and before I knew it I'd be justifying a whole plate full of little piles! Too early in the game to be putting my growling tummy in front of a whole smorgasboard of food! Eventually I hope that I'll feel so good that I won't even WANT that stuff. But right now, it's not that easy.

You know what I totally hate though? I hate that skinny people's health problems are generally deemed unrelated to diet. HELLO! Metabolism is like the Devil himself! I truly believe that a large percentage of America's health problems (that I'm not even going to take a stab at) stem from poor diet. It's not always possible to change your dietary approach once you're suffering from a full blown illness, so I can't say that diet is the CURE to all illness, but I CERTAINLY believe it is the cause. I'm glad that I'm finding the motivation to do this earlier rather than later.

Raw Blended Carrot Renew

I thought I'd post a picture of my lunch! It was really yummy! Another recipe from Natalia's book that has been a pleasant surprise! This comprised of carrot juice, avocado, curry, garlic, ginger, and a little salt. It was a little heavy on the curry, but not too bad. I ALMOST didn't put the fresh ginger in it because it sounded like a horrid concoction. But I'm glad I did! The flavors all combined turned out to be really delicious! I highly recommend trying a few dishes that you expect to hate...it's really fun! :)

Day 9 -- Christi

Oh boy, yesterday was NUTS! Too busy to blog! But a strange thing happened! The only thing I ate yesterday was a large salad and some flax crackers...and strangely, I was hungry, but it didn't really bother me! I ate two pieces of sprouted grain toast before bed to calm my aching stomach, but I didn't cave to any crazy cravings, so I'm SUPER excited about that! On top of that achievement, the more I clean out my system, the more alive, aware, and energetic I feel! It's really incredible!

I'm moving up the dosage on the cleanse. It's been really easy so far. If you're looking for a cleanse that doesn't hole you up in your house for 2 days straight making mad dashes for the bathroom, this is definitely a good one for you! Carrying on with life as usual has been easy.

And carry on I must...more tomorrow...

Day 7 -- Christi

Today was my sleep-in day! I got to sleep in till SEVEN FORTY FIVE! Oh, it was amazing!

The C is going well, pretty uneventful. I did remember my tea last night and that resulted in some minor abdominal discomfort this morning, but not pain. All expected stuff. Breakfast was fresh apple cider. For lunch I have to confess, I caved to temptation! I had a sprouted bagel and some organic cheddar instead of my salad and carrot juice that was on the menu. I'm going to have my carrot juice while I fix dinner instead and then have less of my kamut pasta.

All for now...more later!

Day 6 -- Christi

Last night's dinner was super yummy! Whole wheat lasagna with eggplant and zucchini (and it was supposed to have spinach but I ran out of room!)...yum! Ok, I have to admit, I cannot CANNNNNOT do the goat cheese thing, so it was loaded with real cheese. But other than that it was completely wholesome. I was excited to be eating something "approved" and yet satisfying.

As far as the effects of the cleanse go, earlier in the afternoon yesterday I developed a slight headache in my temples. I often get headaches from either bad posture or dehydration but this felt very different. I think it was a detox headache from eating so intensely healthy all day! James shakes his head at me and smirks, "When you eat junk food you feel sick and you say it's from all the bad food you're eating. When you eat healthy and you feel sick you say it's from all the good food you've been eating and you're detoxing." Oh yah, VERY FUNNY. It's not quite as cut and dry as all that! When I eat a lot of salt and I get a dehydration headache, I think the two are related! So sue me! But this was clearly a different type of headache, much more dull and located in a completely different region of my head. I rest my case! My skeptical husband is willing to let me proceed with my insanity as long as I'm not harming myself or others (when he glanced at last night's dinner, I thought MAYBE 'harming others' was being called into question, but we were alright).

This morning Jennifer and I swam instead of using the machines. I use the term "swim" loosely. We took advantage of the natural resistance that water imposes on those who...spend time...in it and hoped that in the process our water-dwelling muscles worked harder than land-dwelling ones? And then we went in the Eucalyptus steam room and then the dry heat room (I KNOW, if you went in after us and noticed a slightly more humid feel, that was us! I'm SORRY!!). I had never been in either one before, so I was kind of enamored. I came home relaxed and rejuvenated and feeling like I'd had a morning at the spa! It was heavenly! I proposed a change in schedule: 2 days a week we work out hard and kick boo-tay. Two other days we "swim" and steam. And on Wednesdays, thank GOD for Wednesdays...we sleep in!

I'm still keeping up with the cleanse except for the night time tea! I keep forgetting the tea!! I need to remember to drink it tonight.

Oh, here's a great recipe! On today's menu Natalia has raw flax crackers, but she doesn't have a recipe for them! They're SO easy if you have a dehydrator! I did these at about 9am this morning and they were ready by 1pm. Perfect!

1/3 c. chopped bell pepper
1/3 c. chopped cilantro
2/3 c. sun dried tomatoes (I just used 2 roma tomatoes instead)
1/4 c. Nama Shoyu (I used Bragg's amino acid instead)
1 clove garlic
1 T. cold pressed olive oil
(I added some Mrs. Dash tomato basil and garlic seasoning for some extra kick)
BLEND and then add 2 cups of whole flax seeds.
Spread on dehydrator sheet and dehydrate at 110 degrees for 4 hours or until crisp. Chew well! Flax seeds need lots of chewing to release their nutritional properties! And you'll need lots of water!

I have long thought that I didn't like cilantro but I've discovered that I really do! Before I added the flax seeds to the mixture this morning, I taste-tested the blended stuff and SERIOUSLY, it was good enough to eat as soup! I loved it! Cilantro is a new fav!

Day 5 -- Christi

Day five is REALLY pretty much Day 1. I had originally planned on starting on Monday but got excited and jumped the gun last week and then floundered my way through a weekend that went from being bad to worse. We had planned to leave town for the weekend but when our plans changed, I was not prepared for the change in menu planning so, I will use the word again: floundered! But nevermind because today I am doing absolutely marvelously!!! I worked out at 6am, I took my Paranil pills, my fiber drink, went grocery shopping and completely cleaned Meijer's out of anything green and leafy with names that I could not pronounce. My refrigerator is stuffed full of goodies in opaque plastic bags! For lunch I made "Ambrosia" which consisted of sliced bell peppers, carrots, apple, and zucchinni topped with ginger, garlic, basil, cilantro, jalapeno, dried cranberries, and walnuts and a dressing called Golden Elixer (lemon juice, nama shoyu, ginger, honey, and oil). It was supposed to have mint as well, but Meijer was out of mint. As you are reading, I'm sure you're feeling the same way I was: hesitant, skeptical, doubtful? I'm not crazy about cilantro or jalapeno and the combination of all these things together sure didn't whet my appetite! But if there's one thing I've learned about the raw diet, it's this: IT WILL SURPRISE YOU! Things that you would never have eaten together before can actually taste quite good. And once again, I was surprised! It wasn't "oh baby give me more" but it was definitely a satisfying lunch. And I wrapped it up with a yummy Larabar for "dessert." Now I'm focusing on drinking plenty of water.

I'm sticking to the Level 4 Detox Menu as closely as I can. So far so good!

May the Farm Be With You...

Day 2 -- Christi

Taking a day off after just starting, not a great idea. However in my defense 1) It's Corban's 5th birthday, 2) We're leaving for the weekend tonight, 3) Because of the upcoming travel, I have let my refrigerator run out of perishables. On Monday I'll grocery shop and hit this thing with a force to be reckoned with.

Day 1 -- Christi

I'm off to a decent start! Pretty excited! I TRIED getting out of my workout this morning, but my friend Jennifer came through for me...and THIS is exactly why we're perfect work out buddies for each other!! When I tried to bail she TM'd back, "NO PAIN NO GAIN! I'll let you off the hook, but I'm going!" And of course, competitive and stubborn girl that I am, I could not back down from the challenge or be outdone. I went. I didn't kick butt, but I didn't crash and burn either, so I'm happy with that.

When I got home, I took my Paranil capsuls and downed some more water, showered during the 15 minute wait, then had my fiber drink which was not nearly as bad as I remember it from last time. It does give you the urge to chew it, but the banana flavor is quite tolerable. For breakfast, I had one of the most amazing Golden Delicious apples I've ever tasted...SO sweet! And a fantastic orange. And a slice of chewy Cinnamon Date Manna Bread with Earth Balance on it. Mmmmmmm! Now that I've broken into grains already, I'm guess I'm done with fruit for the day. I'm working towards eating strictly raw till dinner, but for now I still need something with more substance to hold me over.

I'd like to make a note of my personal goals at the beginning of this journey:

I've previously tried 100% raw and it's entirely too difficult to stick to. So by the end of the year I'd like to be comfortably eating 100% raw for breakfast, snacks, and lunch, but wholesome cooked comfort foods in the evening. This seems like a happy medium.

In the process of all this exercise and diet, I'd like to lose 75 pounds. Yep, that's right. 75. We're gonna have to ROCK HARD.

This is kind of vague, but I'd like to feel better, have more energy, and think more clearly. Not sure how to measure the success of that besides just knowing. I'll keep ya posted.

It's all about the big C

From C to shining C.

a C change.

C ya on the flip side.

...C for yourself!!

Let's Cleanse! It's going to feel GREAT! And let's share what's going on so we have accountability and a steady stream of fresh inspiration, both incoming and outgoing! Share experiences, share recipes, document your daily intake, even document your daily output if you'd like (hey, it's part of cleansing!). I'm excited!!! Let's rock and roll!