"Day Three" & an important list (blank canvas update, too)

Date: 14 June 2010 00:07:58

Thank you for all of the encouraging comments from my last post - The Blank Canvas Project is still underway, however the details are still very fuzzy. I volunteered a week ago Friday, and realized something: whatever I do, I want to utilize my skill set. I felt very foolish answering the phone (which rang approx once every 30-45 minutes), and finished copying/cutting/folding the cards they asked me to make in between phone calls ----in the first hour (was there for over 4 hours) ----and I feel like my time & skills were wasted - yes, they needed someone to answer the phones... but it was unfulfilling for me, because I could have helped in so many other different ways. Which is good to know. Certainly helps me shape this Blank Canvas Project So...Yup. This is Day #3 of the Master Cleanse... I know, I know - it sounds a little far fetched. But so far so good. The lemonade is really good (mmmmm, maple syrup) and I haven't been hungry. There was one day when I was away from home, and didn't calculate the time right: my blood sugar dropped a bit. But as soon as I walked in the door I made another lemonade mixture, and - viola! all better. The Cayenne pepper has really cleared up my sinuses, and it apparently helps clear mucous and heal the digestive tract, too. Oh, and without going into too much detail, the salt water bath has been instrumental in, um, overall health. I'm shooting for ten days. On my kitchen table, there's a huge beautiful bowl of approximately 30 lemons - am going through about 4 lemons per day...need a minimum of six glasses of lemonade/day, up to twelve. So far I've been rushing at the end of the day to get the 6th glass in - so far my body has been feeling really good...not hungry, lighter, and more clear if that makes sense. At the end of the cleanse, I'll take some probiotics to help the digestive system, drink fresh orange juice as recommended, and have some grain... and will try not to overwhelm my body by filling it with too much to digest at once in the future. Since this past August, my eating habits have changed dramatically. Strongly limiting gluten/wheat, eating whole foods in lieu of processed ones, enjoying new foods & exploring new dishes, and can now say it's a joy (not a chore) to cook. In the past two months, I've lost over twenty pounds...and one of the side benefits of doing this cleanse is weight-loss... please don't worry - my goal for this cleanse is healing (not weight loss, although it's a benefit). I took a baseline weight yesterday, and will get on the scale again in about 10 days. After that I'll just get on the scale monthly - same time each month, too. I think that's key. I've never been a big numbers person... but it does good things for my psyche to see the numbers going down. I had gained a few pounds this past fall, which was SO DISCOURAGING... but after my body had some time to replenish nutrients & stuff, the weight started to come off this spring. When I first started working with the holistic food counselor, I thought she was full of *%$#@. However, now that I've gone through the program... I can now say my body is becoming more insulin sensitive, I'm craving greens (GIVE ME KALE!!!), am NOT eating nearly as much sugar - and when I do eat it it's in different more whole/natural forms, and, well, you know what? For my last session a few weeks ago, I made a list of the changes - lemme see... oh yes - here are most of them:

Increased hydration (tea/water consumption)
Changed friendships – shifting from unhealthy ones to good/solid/healthy friendships
Got organized, reduced clutter from life (tangible & intangible)
Moved forward with relocation plans...house is up for sale, am looking into job opportunities, etc.
Using new oils/fats in diet
Bringing lunch to work on regular basis
Skin in better condition
Stabilized blood sugars w/ increased consumption of greens
Now understand why protein is so important to my body!
Better understanding of sugars and how they impact me
Tried variety of natural sugars...agave nectar! stevia! are two favorites....brown rice syrup on icecream - yum.
Cleaned out kitchen of unhealthy foods for me
Restocked kitchen with grains and more whole foods
Got better at meal planning
Improved thought process about when I’m hungry – am making better choices overall
Use of oils on skin & better choices of lotions for skin health
Decreased binge-eating behavior & emotional eating
Preparing/cooking isn’t as scary now – doesn’t need to be so complicated…it's.just.simple.
Increased ability to sleep
Less resistance to food diary and/or meal planning… see the benefit of doing it, and I'm not so defensive now
Improved ability to ask friends for support
Less resistance to exercise (next phase – will become a greater priority! so that's my next project)
Increased understanding of meats (bison, lamb, rabbit) and how they work with my body
Pushed through the most difficult times when I was *so* discouraged
Some weight loss (actual number unknown b/c scale didn’t register...but I have an approximate number)
Analyzed hormones several different ways… all normal (yay!)
Better understanding of acidic & alkaline and how they impact my body system
Increased use/understanding of benefits of incorporating sea weed into my diet
Looking to go from insulin resistance to insulin sensitive...and am certainly headed in that direction
Explored/tried a variety of new foods
Understood that wheat may not be the best for me…AND eating mostly GF (gluten-free) isn’t that difficult.
Increased consumption of breakfast
Increased ability to acknowledge and take action to nurture myself
Increased consumption of better, higher-quality chocolate
Decreased consumption of poor choices in candy bowl @ work/office
Decreased grazing – improved eating more at meals and less snacking in general
Improved digestion overall
Decreased acidic "yucky" stomach…no longer a steady state (now it usually happens when I eat pizza or something with lots of wheat/bread/pasta)
Decreased craving of salt
Better understanding that when I crave salt (or anything for that matter) I now look for the source of that craving – try to meet that nutritional need instead of going for a quick fix
Increased incidence of asking people for help…often they couldn’t or it fell through, but the asking has increased – which has been difficult for me in the past.
Better understanding the idea of “fitting out” and what that means to me
Taste buds have changed
Improved at putting myself and my own needs on the schedule
Now have a better understanding of low/high Glycemic Index foods
Decreased consumption of sugar…and I never thought that would happen!
Chewing is part of the digestive system: smaller, more digestible pieces turn into energy while larger indigestible pieces turn into fat and/or are stored... huge lesson learned.

I won't go into detail, but when I was younger, I learned to eat more & more food to help push food through my digestive system... it was a gradual, immature solution to an ongoing uncomfortable constipation problem. Why did I eat? To help move food through. Why else did I eat? because my stomach was in a CHRONIC yucky/acidic/sour state, so putting food in my stomach made that go away - sometimes - temporarily. Back then, putting more food in my stomach made it feel better. Shoving more food into my mouth (theoretically) helped things move through my digestive system. Now, when I eat and my stomach feels fine... in fact, it feels great! I almost don't know what to do - can hardly believe I lived a life that way for so, so long. And digestion is doing GREAT. In addition to these things, I also lived in a world of black:white - this food will either kill me or it won't (anaphylaxis - tree nuts). I'm still allergic, however eating less processed foods has been very liberating. Less reading-of-labels and more enjoyment of sustenance. Is it any wonder I've had food issues for most of my life?!??!?!??!?!!!!!! thankfully, I am *now* on the road to healing... all sorts of healing.