Apparently one of the side effects of week 2, along with headaches, bad dreams, weight loss, and mucoid plaque, is surges of energy. I haven't noticed any bad dreams, I haven't had a headache since the first week, my weight loss seems to have plateaued after 9lbs (couldn't I just get to 10!?!), and mucoid plaque...well, that's a no. This is the second day though, that I've had an energy surge.
I'm on midnights. This means I work from 11pm-7am and it is my practice to go right to bed as soon as I get home. Usually I sleep wonderfully while on this part of the rotation. If nothing is in my way, I will sleep clear until 4 or 5pm. Yesterday though, I came home and slept for 3hours and my body suddenly decided it was time to get up. Today it let me sleep about 2.5hours. On both days, I fought it for about an hour, doing all of my sure-fire get to sleep tricks, before finally getting out of bed. And it's not just that I can't sleep - I feel frickin' great!!! I want to do somersaults! Generally I keep pretty busy in the evenings though, so I was worried about not getting enough sleep before work again. Sure enough, 7pm came along and I was dead tired. I was able to sleep for just an hour before work, but surprisingly I was absolutely fine and wide awake all night.
Energy surges are, according to Dr. Junger, due to extra energy being liberated from eating less food. He advises that it's only temporary, and eventually my body will allocate the energy properly and balance me out again. (funny thing - when I googled "cleanse energy surge", I got tons of hits on a foaming cleanser called Energy Surge.) I ended up reading a few blogs of people who are doing cleanses and they talked about the elusive energy surge, but none had achieved it. Apparently I'm special.
Anyways, I haven't yet decided if these are annoying or fun. On one hand, who wouldn't want to have to sleep less? You can do more things in a day! On the other hand, I'm constantly worried about crashing at an inopportune time (ie. 3am in the middle of a shift). And another negative is that I'm starving! When I wake up, I'm right in the middle of my 12hour digest/clean - most of which I would usually be sleeping for, so I can't eat anything.
Oh well, apparently it's only temporary....just another twist in my cleansing road.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Week 2 Begins!
One week down and two more to go!
I have definitely seen some changes over the last week. The biggest and most important change, for me, is the weight loss. Since we have started, I've lost 8lbs. I know this is a lot to lose in one week, and I'm guessing that some of it is water weight, but it still feels awesome. My pants are looser, my boyfriend is noticing, and I love stepping on the scale. The next most obvious change (and this is kind of gross) is that I blow my nose very rarely now. Before Clean, I blew my nose several times per day, especially while sitting at work and now I hardly ever need to. My skin also looks awesome, I don't wake up in the middle of the night (or day, depending on my sleep schedule!) anymore, and in general, I feel great.
It hasn't been completely smooth sailing though. The other day I had one of the biggest headaches I've ever had. I'm used to only getting headaches if I'm dehydrated or if I haven't had caffeine, and since I passed the caffeine hump and had been drinking a ton of water, I was surprised by it. I did everything I could think of - I even took some Tylenol, which is against the Clean rules (I already confessed to Nick, and he was ok with it!). Finally I took a warm bath and massaged my temples, and although it wasn't gone completely, I was able to fall asleep.
I also still haven't been battling too much with hunger. This concerns me a little, as apparently many people do while doing Clean, so it makes me think I'm doing something wrong. I'm not used to eating a diet high in good fats though, so I wonder if that's why I'm feeling satisfied for so long. I'm actually loving that I can eat avocado every day. (Right now I am pretty hungry actually, but I'm in the middle of the 12hour digest/self-clean period and should probably be sleeping. My sleep schedule is all messed up though and I only slept for 3hours. I'm going back to bed after I finish this!)
So far, so good and I'm excited to see if anything else changes in the coming week. Week 2 has officially begun!
I have definitely seen some changes over the last week. The biggest and most important change, for me, is the weight loss. Since we have started, I've lost 8lbs. I know this is a lot to lose in one week, and I'm guessing that some of it is water weight, but it still feels awesome. My pants are looser, my boyfriend is noticing, and I love stepping on the scale. The next most obvious change (and this is kind of gross) is that I blow my nose very rarely now. Before Clean, I blew my nose several times per day, especially while sitting at work and now I hardly ever need to. My skin also looks awesome, I don't wake up in the middle of the night (or day, depending on my sleep schedule!) anymore, and in general, I feel great.
It hasn't been completely smooth sailing though. The other day I had one of the biggest headaches I've ever had. I'm used to only getting headaches if I'm dehydrated or if I haven't had caffeine, and since I passed the caffeine hump and had been drinking a ton of water, I was surprised by it. I did everything I could think of - I even took some Tylenol, which is against the Clean rules (I already confessed to Nick, and he was ok with it!). Finally I took a warm bath and massaged my temples, and although it wasn't gone completely, I was able to fall asleep.
I also still haven't been battling too much with hunger. This concerns me a little, as apparently many people do while doing Clean, so it makes me think I'm doing something wrong. I'm not used to eating a diet high in good fats though, so I wonder if that's why I'm feeling satisfied for so long. I'm actually loving that I can eat avocado every day. (Right now I am pretty hungry actually, but I'm in the middle of the 12hour digest/self-clean period and should probably be sleeping. My sleep schedule is all messed up though and I only slept for 3hours. I'm going back to bed after I finish this!)
So far, so good and I'm excited to see if anything else changes in the coming week. Week 2 has officially begun!
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Lukewarm Lemon Water, Please
There are some pretty interesting suggestions of things to do during this cleanse that will help the detox process. Here are two that I checked out the reasoning behind. (Remember when to research things you had to go look in books at a library? Thank goodness for the internet!)
Drink water with lemon: During Clean, we can't have oranges, grapefruit, tomatoes, sweet peppers or strawberries, but lemons, on the other hand, are encouraged to go in our water as well as in our shakes and meals. I assumed these banned foods were because of their acidity, so I didn't understand why lemons were good and the others were bad. Actually, the reason has nothing to do with acidity (and actually lemons have alkalizing effects on the body!) and is for the same reason most of the other food is banned during the cleanse - allergens. Foods can have irritating effects on the body causing headaches, constipation/diarrhea, and even sneezing (I sneeze a lot, we'll see if that changes) due to damage of the intestinal wall. Clearly I'm no doctor, and there is a complete and more full explanation in Dr. Junger's book if you're interested, but that's the basic run-down.
So why are they good? WELL: they help relieve digestive problems, they are a diuretic which helps clear out toxins - this will especially show in the skin, they're high in Vitamin C - and we all know how good that is, they have potassium, calcium, and magnesium, and of course because it makes your water taste better, which can encourage you to drink more of it!
Mystery solved.
Eat a clove of garlic daily: I love garlic. I love the smell of it, I love it when I have garlic breath and I love kissing Nick when he has garlic breath (apparently that's gross to some people!). Raw garlic all on its own though is not so good - especially to just pop in your mouth and chew (I've tried it!). After that experience, I went to buy garlic pills, as it was suggested to use those instead. Well, when I compared the price of the pills to actual raw garlic, there was no contest - I was going to learn to eat the raw cloves.
When garlic is chopped or chewed it produces allicin. Allicin is a super powerful antibiotic that helps stop germs from growing and reproducing, and also prevents weight gain (YES!). Garlic can also reduce cholesterol, help out against allergies, and loosen plaque on artery walls. It's also toxic to cats and dogs (good to know - Kitty will eat anything that's dropped on the kitchen floor.) Actually if you look up the benefits of garlic, the list is incredibly long. It seems it fixes everything, but the kitchen sink (...I don't know if that saying works here...), which is why I'm going to keep at it every day! I have learned that it's easier to chop it up first and immediately swallow it to avoid all that chewing and tasting. Maybe it's something that just has to grow on me and by the end of these 3 weeks I'll be loving it. Give it try!
Info from http://www.disabled-world.com/ and "Clean", by Alejandro Junger
Drink water with lemon: During Clean, we can't have oranges, grapefruit, tomatoes, sweet peppers or strawberries, but lemons, on the other hand, are encouraged to go in our water as well as in our shakes and meals. I assumed these banned foods were because of their acidity, so I didn't understand why lemons were good and the others were bad. Actually, the reason has nothing to do with acidity (and actually lemons have alkalizing effects on the body!) and is for the same reason most of the other food is banned during the cleanse - allergens. Foods can have irritating effects on the body causing headaches, constipation/diarrhea, and even sneezing (I sneeze a lot, we'll see if that changes) due to damage of the intestinal wall. Clearly I'm no doctor, and there is a complete and more full explanation in Dr. Junger's book if you're interested, but that's the basic run-down.
So why are they good? WELL: they help relieve digestive problems, they are a diuretic which helps clear out toxins - this will especially show in the skin, they're high in Vitamin C - and we all know how good that is, they have potassium, calcium, and magnesium, and of course because it makes your water taste better, which can encourage you to drink more of it!
Mystery solved.
Eat a clove of garlic daily: I love garlic. I love the smell of it, I love it when I have garlic breath and I love kissing Nick when he has garlic breath (apparently that's gross to some people!). Raw garlic all on its own though is not so good - especially to just pop in your mouth and chew (I've tried it!). After that experience, I went to buy garlic pills, as it was suggested to use those instead. Well, when I compared the price of the pills to actual raw garlic, there was no contest - I was going to learn to eat the raw cloves.
When garlic is chopped or chewed it produces allicin. Allicin is a super powerful antibiotic that helps stop germs from growing and reproducing, and also prevents weight gain (YES!). Garlic can also reduce cholesterol, help out against allergies, and loosen plaque on artery walls. It's also toxic to cats and dogs (good to know - Kitty will eat anything that's dropped on the kitchen floor.) Actually if you look up the benefits of garlic, the list is incredibly long. It seems it fixes everything, but the kitchen sink (...I don't know if that saying works here...), which is why I'm going to keep at it every day! I have learned that it's easier to chop it up first and immediately swallow it to avoid all that chewing and tasting. Maybe it's something that just has to grow on me and by the end of these 3 weeks I'll be loving it. Give it try!
Info from http://www.disabled-world.com/ and "Clean", by Alejandro Junger
Friday, June 17, 2011
Temptation.....again!
The first time my friends Bridget and Mel and I went to the NKOTB concert, it was at Caesars Casino in Windsor and afterwards we speculated over Big Macs about where Jordan, Jon, and Donnie were and what they were doing. (Funny sidebar: while we were consuming McDonalds downtown at 10pm on Saturday night like a bunch of 13year olds, other friends of ours actually were with the heart-throbs at the casino bar!) So tonight when we went to see them (yes, we went again – although this time it was NKOTBSB), it was decided that McDonalds was part of the concert ritual. It was when I sheepishly asked for “just water” at the drive-thru, when all hell broke loose.
I always wondered how some people were able to do it. How some people could stare a Big Mac or other delicious piece of food in the face and say, “No, thank you.” What goes through my mind is always, “I deserve a treat after this crappy day”, “It’s a special occasion”, “I’ve been eating really well lately so this won’t hurt”, or “I’ve been eating really crappy lately, so what’s something else added on?” It takes a total of 2 seconds for me to talk myself into eating something unhealthy, even if I’d just sworn off treats that morning. It’s even more difficult when everyone else is indulging. Mel and Bridget tried to persuade me today but I stood firm. I’d just consumed my breakfast shake so I wasn’t hungry, I knew that if I broke my cleanse on Day 2 that the rest of it would likely fall apart as well, and I figured Nick would expect me to cave in and go for the fries, so for those reasons and to prove Nick wrong, I said, “No, thank you.” I did it! I turned down McDonalds.
What I realized tonight is that I have begun to take control of what goes into my body. I may have needed a book to tell me what the right things exactly to put in it are, but it’s me that is choosing to do the program and fuel my body with healthy food over unhealthy food. It seems silly to say that I had no control over what I was eating, but it’s true. If it was available and it tasted good, I would have it – no matter how processed it was or how not-hungry I was. Looking back, I felt out of control when it came to my cravings. Self control has never been one of my strong suits, but when it came to food , there was practically none, and I’d started to just accept that as a fact of my life. I hope to get a lot out of doing this cleanse, but if nothing else, I hope to remember that I am in control of what goes into my body. I am in control of making my body work well, look good, and feel good – and if I eat Big Macs, I’m going to get stomach aches and gain weight, so why should I inflict that on myself?
When I saw them eating their delicious hamburgers and talking about their peach and apple pies, I do admit that I questioned my decision. And I am, by no means, saying that I will never have McDonalds again or that I’ve conquered my self control issues with food completely. Just that, in the words of a wise man called, Bob, I am taking “baby steps.”
Oh…and the NKOTBSB concert was awesome. =)
I always wondered how some people were able to do it. How some people could stare a Big Mac or other delicious piece of food in the face and say, “No, thank you.” What goes through my mind is always, “I deserve a treat after this crappy day”, “It’s a special occasion”, “I’ve been eating really well lately so this won’t hurt”, or “I’ve been eating really crappy lately, so what’s something else added on?” It takes a total of 2 seconds for me to talk myself into eating something unhealthy, even if I’d just sworn off treats that morning. It’s even more difficult when everyone else is indulging. Mel and Bridget tried to persuade me today but I stood firm. I’d just consumed my breakfast shake so I wasn’t hungry, I knew that if I broke my cleanse on Day 2 that the rest of it would likely fall apart as well, and I figured Nick would expect me to cave in and go for the fries, so for those reasons and to prove Nick wrong, I said, “No, thank you.” I did it! I turned down McDonalds.
What I realized tonight is that I have begun to take control of what goes into my body. I may have needed a book to tell me what the right things exactly to put in it are, but it’s me that is choosing to do the program and fuel my body with healthy food over unhealthy food. It seems silly to say that I had no control over what I was eating, but it’s true. If it was available and it tasted good, I would have it – no matter how processed it was or how not-hungry I was. Looking back, I felt out of control when it came to my cravings. Self control has never been one of my strong suits, but when it came to food , there was practically none, and I’d started to just accept that as a fact of my life. I hope to get a lot out of doing this cleanse, but if nothing else, I hope to remember that I am in control of what goes into my body. I am in control of making my body work well, look good, and feel good – and if I eat Big Macs, I’m going to get stomach aches and gain weight, so why should I inflict that on myself?
When I saw them eating their delicious hamburgers and talking about their peach and apple pies, I do admit that I questioned my decision. And I am, by no means, saying that I will never have McDonalds again or that I’ve conquered my self control issues with food completely. Just that, in the words of a wise man called, Bob, I am taking “baby steps.”
Oh…and the NKOTBSB concert was awesome. =)
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Bet'cha can't have just one!
So I’m sitting all alone in my office at work right now, staring down a bag of Sour Cream and Onion chips. It’s a small bag, and there’s likely only about 15chips in it. I don’t remember them being here when I worked last, so they’re also likely very fresh. No one is even around to see me eat them…
It’s the eve of the first day of the actual cleanse and I can’t get junk food out of my mind. It doesn’t help that I’m working midnights alone, and inside our office is the junk-food store for the entire building, as well as a free candy jar filled with M&M’s that I’ve been encouraged to eat by the evil temptress that brought them in. I actually just popped in a half piece of sugar-free gum – my usual attempt at curing a sweet craving due to boredom, and immediately realized that gum probably doesn’t fit into the program. The full list of ingredients isn’t even on the package, but it does advise me that it includes, “soy lecithin, and aspartame”. Doh. The good news is that I’m not really craving a pop like I normally would. I made it through a brutal caffeine headache last night and I’ve felt fine since!
Actually I haven’t felt that hungry all day, until now. It’s helping me to realize that much of my food consumption (MUCH!) is done completely out of boredom or as part of a social activity. A common practice for Nick and I is to go out for food after a rehearsal. Last night we hit the grocery store instead and came home to make hummus. I wouldn’t use the words “epic fail” necessarily to describe what we ended up with, but I did mention that it smelled a little like cat pee. Today I made a blueberry smoothie for breakfast with almond milk, mango, protein powder (brown rice protein – that is 3x’s the price of whey!), and some cinnamon – which I thought might spice it up a little. It spiced it up a lot…blech.
Hopefully with some practice (and maybe a little less creativity for a while) I’ll be able to make some really tasty and palatable food and drink. It sure is easy to see how I, and so many others, want to reach for the potato chips instead of something more healthy that needs more preparation, or going without anything at all. It's handy, it's tasty, and it doesn't seem like a bad choice since it comes in a small portion. I can't go throwing away the last few days of clean eating though. Even if no one is around to see, I will know - which makes me sound super honest, but really I just know I'll end up blurting it out to Nick and I'll lose our unspoken bet of who can stay on program the longest. :) All jokes aside, I really don't want chips to be a regular part of my diet anymore.
Lesson learned tonight: If I’m hungry for Sour Cream and Onion chips but not for the cat pee hummus in my lunch, I guess I’m not really that hungry!
It’s the eve of the first day of the actual cleanse and I can’t get junk food out of my mind. It doesn’t help that I’m working midnights alone, and inside our office is the junk-food store for the entire building, as well as a free candy jar filled with M&M’s that I’ve been encouraged to eat by the evil temptress that brought them in. I actually just popped in a half piece of sugar-free gum – my usual attempt at curing a sweet craving due to boredom, and immediately realized that gum probably doesn’t fit into the program. The full list of ingredients isn’t even on the package, but it does advise me that it includes, “soy lecithin, and aspartame”. Doh. The good news is that I’m not really craving a pop like I normally would. I made it through a brutal caffeine headache last night and I’ve felt fine since!
Actually I haven’t felt that hungry all day, until now. It’s helping me to realize that much of my food consumption (MUCH!) is done completely out of boredom or as part of a social activity. A common practice for Nick and I is to go out for food after a rehearsal. Last night we hit the grocery store instead and came home to make hummus. I wouldn’t use the words “epic fail” necessarily to describe what we ended up with, but I did mention that it smelled a little like cat pee. Today I made a blueberry smoothie for breakfast with almond milk, mango, protein powder (brown rice protein – that is 3x’s the price of whey!), and some cinnamon – which I thought might spice it up a little. It spiced it up a lot…blech.
Hopefully with some practice (and maybe a little less creativity for a while) I’ll be able to make some really tasty and palatable food and drink. It sure is easy to see how I, and so many others, want to reach for the potato chips instead of something more healthy that needs more preparation, or going without anything at all. It's handy, it's tasty, and it doesn't seem like a bad choice since it comes in a small portion. I can't go throwing away the last few days of clean eating though. Even if no one is around to see, I will know - which makes me sound super honest, but really I just know I'll end up blurting it out to Nick and I'll lose our unspoken bet of who can stay on program the longest. :) All jokes aside, I really don't want chips to be a regular part of my diet anymore.
Lesson learned tonight: If I’m hungry for Sour Cream and Onion chips but not for the cat pee hummus in my lunch, I guess I’m not really that hungry!
Monday, June 13, 2011
I've decided to follow in Gwyneth Paltrow's footsteps...and since I can't be a movie star or marry the lead singer of Coldplay, I'm going to do the cleanse that she did and told us about on GOOP: Alejandro Junger's "Clean".
Clean is a 21 day program that rids the body of toxins by eating and drinking only whole and organic foods. You have a shake/soup/juice for breakfast and dinner, and a solid meal for lunch. In between you have water, herbal tea, berries, nuts and veggies, if you need to. One of the main fundamentals behind the program is that there is 12hours between your last meal of the day and your first meal of the next day, allowing your body to digest food and then self clean.
Here are some recommended tips while doing the clean:
1)Exercise daily (I'm planning on some easy walks to begin with and some yoga)
2) Meditation (I'm starting with 5minutes when I wake up)
3) Colonics (probably something I won't be doing)
4) Skin Brushing (Nick said buying a brush was dumb when we were at the store last night, but I likely will go back and buy one!)
5) Hot-Cold Treatments (I'll try this - but likely won't go as extreme as I should be)
6) Infrared Sauna (I have the regular sauna at work, which should do the trick)
7) Massage (I've pre-booked for the end of next week)
Laugh (usually not a problem for this girl)
9) Drink Oils before bed (I'm gonna try it, but am a little afraid of them coming right back up).
10) Journal and Log what you eat (I will, at the end of every blog).
11) Record Your Progress. (That's here too!)
Wednesday will be my (and Nick's) first day of the actual cleanse. Right now we're on day 2 of 3 of the elimination round. The Elimination time is in place for people that eat really terribly -basically so they don't go into shock by starting the program right away. It simply consists of clean eating only, but with solid foods as often as you like. I don't eat too terribly, but I do get headaches if I don't have caffeine, so I'm giving myself a couple of days to get through that.
So I may not be able to land Chris Martin and move to London, but I can at least look like Gwyneth! (ok...maybe not even that...but this is still gonna be good!!!)
Clean is a 21 day program that rids the body of toxins by eating and drinking only whole and organic foods. You have a shake/soup/juice for breakfast and dinner, and a solid meal for lunch. In between you have water, herbal tea, berries, nuts and veggies, if you need to. One of the main fundamentals behind the program is that there is 12hours between your last meal of the day and your first meal of the next day, allowing your body to digest food and then self clean.
Here are some recommended tips while doing the clean:
1)Exercise daily (I'm planning on some easy walks to begin with and some yoga)
2) Meditation (I'm starting with 5minutes when I wake up)
3) Colonics (probably something I won't be doing)
4) Skin Brushing (Nick said buying a brush was dumb when we were at the store last night, but I likely will go back and buy one!)
5) Hot-Cold Treatments (I'll try this - but likely won't go as extreme as I should be)
6) Infrared Sauna (I have the regular sauna at work, which should do the trick)
7) Massage (I've pre-booked for the end of next week)
Laugh (usually not a problem for this girl)9) Drink Oils before bed (I'm gonna try it, but am a little afraid of them coming right back up).
10) Journal and Log what you eat (I will, at the end of every blog).
11) Record Your Progress. (That's here too!)
Wednesday will be my (and Nick's) first day of the actual cleanse. Right now we're on day 2 of 3 of the elimination round. The Elimination time is in place for people that eat really terribly -basically so they don't go into shock by starting the program right away. It simply consists of clean eating only, but with solid foods as often as you like. I don't eat too terribly, but I do get headaches if I don't have caffeine, so I'm giving myself a couple of days to get through that.
So I may not be able to land Chris Martin and move to London, but I can at least look like Gwyneth! (ok...maybe not even that...but this is still gonna be good!!!)
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