Day 8 & Epiphanies....
Peace.
Today marks Day 8 of my annual 21 day cleanse. It’s going fast. Not fast in the terms that time is flying, but all the detoxing and fast symptoms that usual take the entire fast to kick in kicked in almost instantly. Let me lay out the parameters….
1. The only nourishment taken in is in liquid form.
2. No dairy products
3. Sun Salutations
4. Tumeric/coriander/triphala fibroid treatment
5. Continue to exercise
6. Daily Pranayamas
7. Meditation
8. Master cleanse for a week.
So far so good. The results are interesting. Normally I’m not hungry after Day 3, but I am ravenous. It might be because my cycle is due any day now. And every woman knows that her appetite sky rockets before her cycle. A friend of mine once said she was hungry enough to eat one of her children! I expect this hunger to disappear when my period does.
I’m being supper orderly with the juices and supplements. The goal is to get protein, simple carbs and a bit of oil. In the morning I make a smoothie with protein. That should allay my hunger and it does… some. When I have a smoothie that doesn’t contain protein for breakfast, then I am hungrier throughout the day until I have one. So I have my protein beverage in the morning. Then I make a fruit a veggie beverage to bring with me to work and drink that along with water (3-20 oz glasses of water a day). And whatever I want that’s a beverage for dinner. I will heat up V8 and sprinkle some nutritional yeast on top of it. I really like that for some reason. And I get oil from, dates, peanut butter, EVOO and coconut oil/butter. Just a little bit for a shiny coat.
I supplement with a prenatal vitamin, folate, and B complex. I’m juicing a lot of beets so I’m not adding the iron supplement because you KNOW I am chronically iron deficient. I am also taking a combo of 1 teaspoon coriander, 1 teaspoon turmeric and 1 capsule triphala twice a day. It’s an Ayurvedic remedy for fibroids. The combo is supposed to shrink the tumors. Since I don’t have access to an ultrasound, I am measuring the circumference of my pelvis where they are located. They are big enough to feel. With any of the fibroid remedies they advise a clean diet free from soy. What’s cleaner than fasting?
The protein I am using is called “Garden of Life’s Raw Meal.” It’s a raw vegan organic protein source that doesn’t have lactose, preservatives, sweeteners, soy or GMO’s. It also claims to have enzymes and probiotics. This is what I’m using as a dairy substitute. That and nutritional yeast. It is really hard to drink using the serving suggestions. Too thick with a cloying sweetness. The way I rectify that is by adding more water than suggested. Up to 3x as much. I need the entire scoops amount of protein, so I can’t cut it there but I can vary the fluid so it works for me.
My tongue is VERY coated. So much in fact that I can feel it. No matter how much I drink, it won’t go away. It’s not peeling off either. Tongue scraping is like putting a bandaid on a hemorrhage. I’m brushing/scraping several times a day because you will collect bacterial plaques when you don’t eat in places like the depth and heights of your cheek. It can be really nasty. But I need to see this so I know how proceed.
Yes my tongue is that large. I can lick the bottom of my chin, too....
I have noticed for awhile that the right side of my body is stiff. Running is my regular form of exercise and it can add to stiffness. So I decided to do daily Sun Salutations. SS stretches the spine back and forth. And for just a few poses, it really gets the blood flowing. It gives me a better wake up than coffee. Seriously. It’s just about where to do them. My home is not really set up for privately exercise. I’m self conscious because I can be uncoordinated and the current stiffness. Simply put, I want to be by myself when I work out. So where as the best time to get the SS in is in the morning, it may be midday before I get enough privacy. Right now, I do them when I get to work. But I only work 4 days a week. The off days the SS happen at off times. I’m up to 6 now. Don’t sleep. These SS are not easy to do. You will SHVITZ. At some point I plan on adding Moon salutations.
I will admit I’m not being super consistent with the Pranayamas. Pranayamas are focused breathing. Most people breath shallow. And if it is keeping you alive so be it. But the Pranayama’s claim to fame is that by taking in the lungs full capacity it will improve your life. Breathing to improve your life? Well…. The first and last thing you do on your own is breathe. So that’s significant right there. The first place blood goes when it leaves the heart is too the brain. So it stands to reason if you can increase the amount and quality of the blood that is in the lungs, than you can improve the amount and quality of blood flowing to the brain…. And the rest of the body so I’m giving it a try. What’s the worst that can happen?
The meditation is sporadic too. I admit I just flat out forget to do it. Meditation requires that you get to a meditative space for an allotted amount of time. I’m western busy. That means busy all the damn time for no reason. It’s hard… really hard…. To carve out meditation space. I’ve done it twice this week.
I have been worried about exercise. I don’t want to put these hard workouts without food to cover it. I will get dizzy and have floaters. Even worse, I could come down with the shakes. I almost did yesterday. So I have been drinking “datorade” before and after strenuous activity. Dates blended with water yields a creamy drink to fuel my workouts. It seems to be working. And benefits of dates include…. relief from constipation, intestinal disorders, heart problems, anemia, sexual dysfunction, diarrhea, abdominal cancer, and many other conditions. Dates are rich in several vitamins, minerals and fiber too. These delicious fruits contain oil, calcium, sulfur, iron, potassium, phosphorous, manganese, copper and magnesium which are all beneficial for health.
Do you know what’s crazy? I haven’t eaten anything in a week, yet I’m still pooping! I’m not expecting to poop when I go to the restroom, but it comes on out. I took a diet tea early in the week to push out any remaining smutz in my intestines. But its effects should be long gone. I do the diet tea periodically to make sure my intestines don’t forget how to do their job. But not so much I get addicted to them.
Since I started on 2/24/14, I want to end with the Master Cleanse. It’s scheduled to begin 3/9/14 or maybe earlier. The weekend of the 15th I plan to do a liver flush and then come slowly to solid raw food. I should be back to normal by the Asiatic New Year!
The clear thoughts of fasting have brought epiphanies…. I look at my body and never see the body I want. My skin could be clearer. I could be thinner. My hair longer. I could fix this, adjust that and so on… And where I will never stop striving to improve myself, I have come to point of body acceptance. I’m a big girl and I accept it. I work out, eat better than most, (seriously, I eat way less in quantity of food that I see thin people eat) do all the things that I am supposed to do to be thin and thinness doesn’t come. It probably won’t. And I’m cool with that, because even though I am not thin… I am healthy. Healthiness should always be the goal. And why am I looking to be thinner? For a man? No… I have a man. To fit into clothes? I make my own clothes. For other people? I don’t’ give a fuck about other people like that. So some where down the line I drank the Kool Aid and allowed myself to feel inferior because I am not thin.
I reject that.
Peace
Today marks Day 8 of my annual 21 day cleanse. It’s going fast. Not fast in the terms that time is flying, but all the detoxing and fast symptoms that usual take the entire fast to kick in kicked in almost instantly. Let me lay out the parameters….
1. The only nourishment taken in is in liquid form.
2. No dairy products
3. Sun Salutations
4. Tumeric/coriander/triphala fibroid treatment
5. Continue to exercise
6. Daily Pranayamas
7. Meditation
8. Master cleanse for a week.
So far so good. The results are interesting. Normally I’m not hungry after Day 3, but I am ravenous. It might be because my cycle is due any day now. And every woman knows that her appetite sky rockets before her cycle. A friend of mine once said she was hungry enough to eat one of her children! I expect this hunger to disappear when my period does.
I’m being supper orderly with the juices and supplements. The goal is to get protein, simple carbs and a bit of oil. In the morning I make a smoothie with protein. That should allay my hunger and it does… some. When I have a smoothie that doesn’t contain protein for breakfast, then I am hungrier throughout the day until I have one. So I have my protein beverage in the morning. Then I make a fruit a veggie beverage to bring with me to work and drink that along with water (3-20 oz glasses of water a day). And whatever I want that’s a beverage for dinner. I will heat up V8 and sprinkle some nutritional yeast on top of it. I really like that for some reason. And I get oil from, dates, peanut butter, EVOO and coconut oil/butter. Just a little bit for a shiny coat.
I supplement with a prenatal vitamin, folate, and B complex. I’m juicing a lot of beets so I’m not adding the iron supplement because you KNOW I am chronically iron deficient. I am also taking a combo of 1 teaspoon coriander, 1 teaspoon turmeric and 1 capsule triphala twice a day. It’s an Ayurvedic remedy for fibroids. The combo is supposed to shrink the tumors. Since I don’t have access to an ultrasound, I am measuring the circumference of my pelvis where they are located. They are big enough to feel. With any of the fibroid remedies they advise a clean diet free from soy. What’s cleaner than fasting?
The protein I am using is called “Garden of Life’s Raw Meal.” It’s a raw vegan organic protein source that doesn’t have lactose, preservatives, sweeteners, soy or GMO’s. It also claims to have enzymes and probiotics. This is what I’m using as a dairy substitute. That and nutritional yeast. It is really hard to drink using the serving suggestions. Too thick with a cloying sweetness. The way I rectify that is by adding more water than suggested. Up to 3x as much. I need the entire scoops amount of protein, so I can’t cut it there but I can vary the fluid so it works for me.
My tongue is VERY coated. So much in fact that I can feel it. No matter how much I drink, it won’t go away. It’s not peeling off either. Tongue scraping is like putting a bandaid on a hemorrhage. I’m brushing/scraping several times a day because you will collect bacterial plaques when you don’t eat in places like the depth and heights of your cheek. It can be really nasty. But I need to see this so I know how proceed.
Yes my tongue is that large. I can lick the bottom of my chin, too....
I have noticed for awhile that the right side of my body is stiff. Running is my regular form of exercise and it can add to stiffness. So I decided to do daily Sun Salutations. SS stretches the spine back and forth. And for just a few poses, it really gets the blood flowing. It gives me a better wake up than coffee. Seriously. It’s just about where to do them. My home is not really set up for privately exercise. I’m self conscious because I can be uncoordinated and the current stiffness. Simply put, I want to be by myself when I work out. So where as the best time to get the SS in is in the morning, it may be midday before I get enough privacy. Right now, I do them when I get to work. But I only work 4 days a week. The off days the SS happen at off times. I’m up to 6 now. Don’t sleep. These SS are not easy to do. You will SHVITZ. At some point I plan on adding Moon salutations.
I will admit I’m not being super consistent with the Pranayamas. Pranayamas are focused breathing. Most people breath shallow. And if it is keeping you alive so be it. But the Pranayama’s claim to fame is that by taking in the lungs full capacity it will improve your life. Breathing to improve your life? Well…. The first and last thing you do on your own is breathe. So that’s significant right there. The first place blood goes when it leaves the heart is too the brain. So it stands to reason if you can increase the amount and quality of the blood that is in the lungs, than you can improve the amount and quality of blood flowing to the brain…. And the rest of the body so I’m giving it a try. What’s the worst that can happen?
The meditation is sporadic too. I admit I just flat out forget to do it. Meditation requires that you get to a meditative space for an allotted amount of time. I’m western busy. That means busy all the damn time for no reason. It’s hard… really hard…. To carve out meditation space. I’ve done it twice this week.
I have been worried about exercise. I don’t want to put these hard workouts without food to cover it. I will get dizzy and have floaters. Even worse, I could come down with the shakes. I almost did yesterday. So I have been drinking “datorade” before and after strenuous activity. Dates blended with water yields a creamy drink to fuel my workouts. It seems to be working. And benefits of dates include…. relief from constipation, intestinal disorders, heart problems, anemia, sexual dysfunction, diarrhea, abdominal cancer, and many other conditions. Dates are rich in several vitamins, minerals and fiber too. These delicious fruits contain oil, calcium, sulfur, iron, potassium, phosphorous, manganese, copper and magnesium which are all beneficial for health.
Do you know what’s crazy? I haven’t eaten anything in a week, yet I’m still pooping! I’m not expecting to poop when I go to the restroom, but it comes on out. I took a diet tea early in the week to push out any remaining smutz in my intestines. But its effects should be long gone. I do the diet tea periodically to make sure my intestines don’t forget how to do their job. But not so much I get addicted to them.
Since I started on 2/24/14, I want to end with the Master Cleanse. It’s scheduled to begin 3/9/14 or maybe earlier. The weekend of the 15th I plan to do a liver flush and then come slowly to solid raw food. I should be back to normal by the Asiatic New Year!
The clear thoughts of fasting have brought epiphanies…. I look at my body and never see the body I want. My skin could be clearer. I could be thinner. My hair longer. I could fix this, adjust that and so on… And where I will never stop striving to improve myself, I have come to point of body acceptance. I’m a big girl and I accept it. I work out, eat better than most, (seriously, I eat way less in quantity of food that I see thin people eat) do all the things that I am supposed to do to be thin and thinness doesn’t come. It probably won’t. And I’m cool with that, because even though I am not thin… I am healthy. Healthiness should always be the goal. And why am I looking to be thinner? For a man? No… I have a man. To fit into clothes? I make my own clothes. For other people? I don’t’ give a fuck about other people like that. So some where down the line I drank the Kool Aid and allowed myself to feel inferior because I am not thin.
I reject that.
Peace
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