I posted previously about The Master Cleanse and how it cleans out your body. The question came up, well what do I do next, to not re-toxify my body after cleaning it out.
I'm already a vegetarian and have played with the idea of going all the way vegan. But I'm still not sure if that's a choice for me. But while on the Master Cleanse, I read the book The Raw Food Detox Diet. Now if I don't think I can make it as a vegan, there is no way I'd be able to make it raw. But, I thought I'd give this a read, see what it's about and possibly try to adopt some of the theories, ideas, and practices into my own diet.
After reading the book, on the last day of The Master Cleanse, we went to Costco and bought 115$ worth of fruit and veggies alone. And that's in bulk my friends. Determined to lose weight and adopt some healthier eating practices, I immediately made some of the recipes from the Raw Food Detox Diet. I made a salad dressing, that we were eh, not thrilled with, I made fresh fruit roll-ups (which brings in one of our new toys, the dehydrator.), I made almondaise (that's mayo made with almonds!), and I also made a salad dressing made with avocado, my absolute favorite. We bought carrots, spinach, red bell pepper, romaine lettuce, mushrooms (which I typically don't like, but thought I'd give another chance), celery, cucumber, apples, oranges, plums, cantaloupe, honeydew, kiwis, blackberries, and mangos. To round out the grocery shopping, I headed to whole foods for the hard to find things for some of the recipes, like raw soy sauce. I also picked up some sprouts because they didn't have them at Costco.
Less than a week later, we are down to a couple red bell peppers, celery, and carrots. Most of everything else is gone. I have had some of the best raw salads one can have in the last few days.
I've also made raw bread with carrots, celery, and raisins. Ed really likes it and since we have so many carrots and celery left, I might be making some more soon. To me it tastes like that salad Nanny (my grandmother) use to make us where you shred carrots and add raisins and cover it in Mayo. Just minus the mayo and pressed together to make bread. It's really good and something that we might make often.
I'll keep you guys updated on the fruit and veggie front and let you know how it's going. I am determined to be a healthier person! If you have any suggestions to raw food or generally healthy recipes let me know!
21 April 2011
20 April 2011
the bad...
The reason for starting this blog is to have a place to let our friends and family know what's going on. So for those of you who don't know yet, here's some of the bad that's going on.
Last year Ed's dad, my father-in-law, Rich, was diagnosed with lung cancer. He had surgery to remove a portion of one of his lungs and that was the last we heard of it...until now.
A few weeks ago, while bringing groceries in, he collapsed with a mild stroke. Now I'm not sure of all the details, but he has recovered from that, only to find blood clots in his lungs. On further testing, they also found spots on his liver. After more testing, they found that the spot on his liver is cancer. Although the doctor wasn't sure of the stage at that point in time, we were told that he has six to twelve months.
To get more answers, they took his scans to their normal doctor and after some reviewing, have determined that he has stage 3.5-4 liver cancer and that the diagnosis of six to twelve months is accurate.
This week, both Rich and Karen (my MIL) will travel to the Mayo clinic in hopes of finding out more about Rich's cancer.
Although we live far away, we wish that we could be there in Iowa for Ed's family. They are planning to travel here to Florida to see us, and then sometime later, we will travel to Iowa to be with them. As of right now, we are all trying to stay positive, hope for the best outcome, and we're staying busy in order to deal with the situation as best as we know how.
Last year Ed's dad, my father-in-law, Rich, was diagnosed with lung cancer. He had surgery to remove a portion of one of his lungs and that was the last we heard of it...until now.
A few weeks ago, while bringing groceries in, he collapsed with a mild stroke. Now I'm not sure of all the details, but he has recovered from that, only to find blood clots in his lungs. On further testing, they also found spots on his liver. After more testing, they found that the spot on his liver is cancer. Although the doctor wasn't sure of the stage at that point in time, we were told that he has six to twelve months.
To get more answers, they took his scans to their normal doctor and after some reviewing, have determined that he has stage 3.5-4 liver cancer and that the diagnosis of six to twelve months is accurate.
This week, both Rich and Karen (my MIL) will travel to the Mayo clinic in hopes of finding out more about Rich's cancer.
Although we live far away, we wish that we could be there in Iowa for Ed's family. They are planning to travel here to Florida to see us, and then sometime later, we will travel to Iowa to be with them. As of right now, we are all trying to stay positive, hope for the best outcome, and we're staying busy in order to deal with the situation as best as we know how.
The Master Cleanse
In my efforts to lose weight and get healthy, I have attempted many things and of course failed (as I am still overweight). It's hard to find the motivation to get up and workout. Especially when it's already 90 degrees by 8am. And anyone who has tried to diet will know how hard it is to stay on the diet and still feel satisfied with the foods they eat.
Over the last few years, Ed and I have made some healthy changes in our diet. One, I am now a vegetarian (going on three years). Now that decision was not only for the hopeful healthy gains, but just a just I made. Animals are too cute to eat. In addition, we have, for the most part, stopped eating out. We will occasionally go out, even more so when traveling, but for the most part, we eat from our own kitchen. It's made us feel better and we KNOW what's going into our food. Which gives us piece of mind. Recently we started cutting back on processed foods. We are trying to eat less packaged foods, canned foods, etc.
After those few changes, I have still not seen any change in my weight. I however do FEEL much better, which is a good start. I mean, I understand, calories in and calories out, etc., but when counting my calories, more goes out than in, so I'm getting more and more frustrated. I then made the decision to cut out sugar (as some of you may know). That went well (for about two weeks) until I went home to Mississippi for my sisters wedding. There was no way I could pass up wedding cake.
After returning home, I decided that I needed to do something else. So did some research bought this book, and prepared for The Master Cleanse. I knew when starting that this was not a quick fix, nor was it a way to actually lose weight. In my mind, this was a way to jump start my mind and body and get me back on track for a healthy lifestyle.
What is The Master Cleanse? you might ask. Well in short, it's the lemonade diet. You drink 6-12 glasses of "lemonade" a day, for 10 days. And that's it. Nothing else. The lemonade consists of two tablespoons (or the juice from half a lemon) of freshly squeezed lemon juice, two tablespoons Grade B (very important) Maple Syrup, 8oz. water, and 1/10 tsp of cayenne pepper. Sounds tasty right??? haha, no, it's not. But you get use to it. Throughout the 10 days, you should try to make an "elimination" 3-4 times a day. And that's the gist of it.
Now some of you might be wondering why in the hell anyone would want to do this. You might also be thinking that you couldn't do it because you would feel like utter crap while doing it. I felt great. Of course there were times when i missed solid food and wanted to really sink my teeth into something. But the longer I did The Master Cleanse, the better I felt. I felt lighter, I thought clearer, I was happier. It did pretty good for me. I would almost say I enjoyed doing it. But I won't got that far.
The purpose of The Master Cleanse is to rid your body of built up toxins that you normally don't eliminate, as well as the sludge that has built up in your intestines. After completing the 10 day Cleanse, I feel lighter and cleaner. I feel like much (but maybe not all) of the sludge is out. I also noticed an improvement in my skin, hair and nails. I have never had such long thick fingernails before. It's kind of amazing to me. I also lost 15 pounds in the 10 days on The Master Cleanse. And I know that some of that will come back simply because I am adding food to my body again, but it sure does feel like a good start.
Something else that came up was, "What do I do when I'm done?" "Won't I just put back in all the nasty stuff that I just got out?" So I had to make a plan for what to do next. But I will save that for another post.
The Master Cleanse is not for everyone and I didn't even begin to mention the benefits, but if you are interested, do some research and try it out for yourself. It's only 10 days (or longer if you choose). The foods that you normally eat will still be there when you're done. So give it a try!
Over the last few years, Ed and I have made some healthy changes in our diet. One, I am now a vegetarian (going on three years). Now that decision was not only for the hopeful healthy gains, but just a just I made. Animals are too cute to eat. In addition, we have, for the most part, stopped eating out. We will occasionally go out, even more so when traveling, but for the most part, we eat from our own kitchen. It's made us feel better and we KNOW what's going into our food. Which gives us piece of mind. Recently we started cutting back on processed foods. We are trying to eat less packaged foods, canned foods, etc.
After those few changes, I have still not seen any change in my weight. I however do FEEL much better, which is a good start. I mean, I understand, calories in and calories out, etc., but when counting my calories, more goes out than in, so I'm getting more and more frustrated. I then made the decision to cut out sugar (as some of you may know). That went well (for about two weeks) until I went home to Mississippi for my sisters wedding. There was no way I could pass up wedding cake.
After returning home, I decided that I needed to do something else. So did some research bought this book, and prepared for The Master Cleanse. I knew when starting that this was not a quick fix, nor was it a way to actually lose weight. In my mind, this was a way to jump start my mind and body and get me back on track for a healthy lifestyle.
What is The Master Cleanse? you might ask. Well in short, it's the lemonade diet. You drink 6-12 glasses of "lemonade" a day, for 10 days. And that's it. Nothing else. The lemonade consists of two tablespoons (or the juice from half a lemon) of freshly squeezed lemon juice, two tablespoons Grade B (very important) Maple Syrup, 8oz. water, and 1/10 tsp of cayenne pepper. Sounds tasty right??? haha, no, it's not. But you get use to it. Throughout the 10 days, you should try to make an "elimination" 3-4 times a day. And that's the gist of it.
Now some of you might be wondering why in the hell anyone would want to do this. You might also be thinking that you couldn't do it because you would feel like utter crap while doing it. I felt great. Of course there were times when i missed solid food and wanted to really sink my teeth into something. But the longer I did The Master Cleanse, the better I felt. I felt lighter, I thought clearer, I was happier. It did pretty good for me. I would almost say I enjoyed doing it. But I won't got that far.
The purpose of The Master Cleanse is to rid your body of built up toxins that you normally don't eliminate, as well as the sludge that has built up in your intestines. After completing the 10 day Cleanse, I feel lighter and cleaner. I feel like much (but maybe not all) of the sludge is out. I also noticed an improvement in my skin, hair and nails. I have never had such long thick fingernails before. It's kind of amazing to me. I also lost 15 pounds in the 10 days on The Master Cleanse. And I know that some of that will come back simply because I am adding food to my body again, but it sure does feel like a good start.
Something else that came up was, "What do I do when I'm done?" "Won't I just put back in all the nasty stuff that I just got out?" So I had to make a plan for what to do next. But I will save that for another post.
The Master Cleanse is not for everyone and I didn't even begin to mention the benefits, but if you are interested, do some research and try it out for yourself. It's only 10 days (or longer if you choose). The foods that you normally eat will still be there when you're done. So give it a try!
14 April 2011
Woohoooo new blog!
Yay new blog! So we'll be posting stuff about our boring every day lives here, just to keep our families updated.
So this first post is going to be about our new favorite kitchen toy:
So this first post is going to be about our new favorite kitchen toy:
(you can get your own here)
Yes friends, that is a juicer. We haven't played much with it yet, but we've got lots of plans. We made some fresh apple juice from two apples that smelled and tasted absolutely amazing. I can't wait to juice more fruits and veggies! It also makes pulp out of the rest of the fruit so that you can use it in baked goods or whatever else you want to put it in. Maybe if it's even just compost.
So I'm excited about our new toy!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)