The Cleanse

I was going to wait until I was done with the cleanse before I posted about it but I'm so happy that I'm half way through I just had to blog about it.

I'm doing what is called the Master Cleanse.  You can find helpful info such as instructions on how to do the cleanse, recipe for the drink and tips on how to get through the cleanse here.  You can find more tips and answers to frequently asked questions and the purpose for these ingredients here.  There are also plenty of books about it.

Basically you mix pure, grade B maple syrup, fresh squeezed lemons/limes and cayenne pepper.  You mix this with water and this juice contains your daily supply of calories/vitamins/minerals (approx. 1500 calories with the basic recipe).  I dilute it even more with water (since the taste is something you need to get used to!!) and drink it throughout the day especially when I am feeling hungry.  Along with the juice, you drink a laxative tea at night and do a salt water flush in the morning to keep the bowels moving and clean them.  And you do all of that for 10 days.

Yes, I was very skeptical.  I saw several friends at school do it usually once in the fall and once in the spring.  I kept telling them that I love to eat too much to abandon food as I know it for 1 day let alone 10 days!  But, for some reason, I felt up for it now.  I am amazed to report that I HAVE in fact been able to go without food as I know it for starting my 6th day today.  I know that 1500 calories a day is less that what I would normally consume so I do feel a bit hungry but not overwhelmingly hungry.  I really am ok with not eating.  It is kind of a relief because I don't have to think about what to eat and what I've already eaten and is it healthy and do I care because I'm craving it....  I feel fine.  I have enough energy to do what I want to do, I'm not dizzy or whoosy or fatigued....any other symptom you can think of having from not eating.  I had a headache on day 2 (Saturday) but it wasn't terrible.  I took a nap and felt better.  

I have been able to step back some and examine my responses to food, try to analyze why I'm craving food, what is going on to prompt it, am I really hungry/does my body need the nutrition or am I just eating for emotional reasons/boredom/fatigue?  My goal is to come out of the cleanse and essentially reset my food habits.  Focus on more veggies and whole grains and keep my calories around 1500 or so since I'm not terribly active.  Then I'll try to maintain that new habit for 6 months and do another cleanse in the spring.    

The salt water flush is incredibly unpleasant and I've only done it twice.  I understand the reason for it and perhaps when I do the cleanse again in 6 months I'll be more brave about it.  I don't know if I will do it again this cleanse though.  Maybe the last day (Sunday) just to make sure things are clean!  The laxative tea is fine, not too overwhelming but effective.  

All in all, I'm feeling pretty darn good.  I don't seem to have the ups and downs in my energy levels since I'm getting my sustenance evenly throughout the day (noted for when I come off the cleanse).  I don't even really miss eating food but I also know that I'll get to eat again next week so that helps.  My sense of smell has gotten better.  I guess if your tastebuds aren't stimulated then you pay more attention to smell?  Just a thought.  I've also lost 5 pounds in 5 days.  Another beneficial side effect. 

Anyway, I'm hoping to make it all the way through Sunday doing this as that would be my 10 days.  People have been known to do it for as long as 40 days!! I don't think I would ever do that.  Another side effect which coincides with Chinese Medicine is you get this white, furry coating on your tongue.  On one web site I read that you should do the cleanse until the white, furry coating is gone from your tongue.  If it isn't gone by Sunday night, I might consider doing the cleanse for 4 more days which would put me at 2 full weeks doing it but I wouldn't go any longer.

I agree.  It sounds totally crazy especially to those of you who have never cleansed.  But, it was the right thing for me to do at the right time.  I'll let you know if I made it to Monday morning or not.

If you want to chat about more of the details, email me.  And if I see you over the weekend, please don't offer me any food!!  

It is FREAKIN' COLD here

Ok, not by northern standards but by Houston standards it is way too cold too soon in the season.  Usually on Halloween night we are still in a sauna.  But not this year.  There is a theory I heard that Hurricane Ike sucked all of the heat out of the gulf and threw us into an early fall.  Early for Houston anyway.  The grass has pretty much gone dormant.  We haven't cut ours for 2 1/2 weeks and it isn't much longer than it was last time it was cut.

According to the Weather Underground, our stats for yesterday had our high at 67 and our low at 40.  Our normal high for this time of year is 78 and our normal low is 55.  Quite a difference.  Oh, and when it was 45 out this morning while O and I waited for the bus, it was also 80% humidity.  Let me tell you, it is 47 right now in my home town of Cheyenne, Wyoming but the humidity is only 36%.  Now tell me which place feels colder!  To me, the humidity makes it feel so much colder.  Now we might be more comparable to Webster, NY where my hubby grew up.  Right now they are looking at 36 with 63% humidity.  Good lord!  I had to turn the heat on yesterday.  And it is only October!  In Houston!  The HEATER!  I'll bet we get snow this winter.  It would certainly be nice to actually see snow here to make the cold worth while.  However, these southerners have no idea how to drive in ice and snow so I am staying home when/if that happens!

Yes, folks, I am officially a wimp.  Let the teasing begin.

Belle

The students were invited to wear their Halloween costumes to dance class yesterday so we were able to do a dry run.  M went as Princess Belle.  There was a lot of crying and complaining as I put her hair up and wrestling around as I put the earrings on.  It was the funniest sight to see this little princess crying her eyes out as she looked at the finished product in the mirror.  I asked, "do you like it?"  She replied, with tears streaming down her face, "I love it, mom."  I was laughing so hard.  I told her that it is painful to be beautiful and she agreed.  You couldn't guess from this picture that just minutes before she was crying her eyes out!

Then when we arrived at dance class, the other two girls were also dressed as princesses!  They were so cute!  Their teacher was wearing a pretty costume too.  What a beautiful ballet troupe they made!

We are headed to Space Center Houston tonight for a JSC party for the kids.  C took the kids last year and they had a ball.  They have different stations where they do different things and hand out trinkets.  There are games and food and lots of fun things going on.  I missed last year because of class.  This year I don't have class until 8 so I can go for about 2 1/2 hours with them before I have to head out.  (I'd just skip class but we are doing a review for our midterm next Tuesday.  Don't want to miss that one!)  O remembers the same party last year at SCH and is looking forward to it.  M is just excited to be Belle again.  I wonder how many tears we'll have today?  Maybe by Friday she'll be used to it and won't cry!  

More photos of tonight's party and Halloween later in the week.

O's first award

O's school has started a new discipline program this year.  It is all about treating others the way you would want to be treated.  The focus is on respect and being a good citizen.  The teachers and staff catch the kids doing good deeds/being good citizens and the kids are recognized for that either in the classroom or even during the daily announcements.  They encourage the kids to do the right thing even when no one is watching.  

Each 9 week quarter every teacher chooses 2 students from their classroom for a Ward Star Character award.  This student exemplifies a respectful, good citizen and Orion was one of the students chosen by his teacher for the first quarter!  I'm beyond proud of him.  Of all the awards he could get this is the one that makes me the proudest.  To know that he is a kind and helpful person and that other people recognize that makes me so proud.  Proud, proud, proud.  I cannot say it enough.

So, we get to  have this sign in our yard until Jan. 8th when we will return it to the school to go to the next quarter's winners.  At that time, O will get a certificate that we can frame.  Did I say I was proud of him?!  

They made it!

They made it safely back to earth.

A healthier addiction

My very first job was for Chick-Fil-A in my home town when I was a sophomore in high school.  The experience was a good one and I earned a $1000 scholarship that helped pay for my first year of community college.  When I moved to Jackson, the closest Chick-Fil-A was a 5 hour drive away in Salt Lake City.  I didn't realize how much I craved the stuff until it wasn't readily available!  Then we moved to Ann Arbor and I had gotten over my need to have Chick-Fil-A.  My darling husband (well, we actually weren't yet married at that time!) searched and found a Chick-Fil-A about an hour away in Toledo, OH.  He surprised me by taking me there for dinner for my 30th birthday! 

Once we moved to Houston we had 3 Chick-Fil-A restaurants within 5 miles of us.  We made it a Saturday night date every week to go eat there because I always wanted to eat there on Sundays.  They are always closed on Sundays for religious and family reasons.  What a great way to grow their following---being unavailable on a weekend day!  Now the kids are addicted as well and I take full responsibility.

Now there is another reason why I am a loyal customer:  Chick-Fil-A has removed all of the trans fats from their menu items.       

Going Green

"Going green" is all the rage these days and it can be really difficult to change our habits.  While I'm glad that the green movement is picking up speed, I hope it becomes a way of life for folks instead of just a fad.  Sometimes it just takes awareness---something that makes you see things in a different light and causes you to think twice about how you do it.

So, in that vein of thinking, here are ideas for enjoying a green Halloween.