Cleansing

My husband and I felt very guilty for all that we ate over the Thanksgiving holiday.  My sister-in-law and her family came to stay with us and she is a very good cook and baker!  She brought her bread machine and made us some of the best cinnamon rolls, french bread and crescent rolls.   Not to mention the pies, cookies, and other wonderful snacks we had available.  It was a carb lover’s paradise.   I couldn’t stop eating all of it and I was loving every minute of it!

I’ve tried lately (in the past month) to start back on the exercise and eating healthy train and it was going fairly good until the past few weeks.  I started going down hill and ended it on a bad note with way too much over the weekend.  After thanksgiving we had a party to go to on Saturday night and they were serving some really great food, none of which was low-fat.  I had more than my share.

Sunday morning we woke up and my husband told me he it was time for us to do the Master Cleanse.  If you are not familiar with this cleanse it is basically to clean our your system of all the toxins and to make you healthier.  Many people do this once a year or maybe every two years.   You spend a few days drinking only purified water with fresh lemon juice squeezed into it,  a few tablespoons of maple syrup and a little cayenne pepper.  It actually tastes pretty good.   They sell “kits” but you do not need one.  We just bought all the ingredients at the grocery store and made it ourselves, it is very easy.

I’ve read about it in the past and my husband has been researching it a lot lately.  I did try it once about 10 years ago and was only able to get through one day.  However, at that time I was doing it alone and it was hard to stick to it by myself.   I think my husband and I doing it together will make a significant difference.  We’ll see.

We are on day one of the “lemonade” portion, we did the “ease-in” method so Sunday and Monday we ate only soup and salad.  No bread, dairy, or meat.  Only vegetables, fruits, nuts and beans.

We feel really good so far today.  I am not craving anything and I am not hungry surprisingly.  We’ll see how it goes (it’s still early), but we will be drinking only the “lemonade” for 4 days and then we ease back into normal eating with the soup and salad only for 2 days.  I hope this is going to jump-start us back into a healthier lifestyle.  I used to eat very healthy, but I’ve gotten out of that in the past few years.   I want to focus on it again and help both of us become healthier, for good! 

It is a lot like fasting and other people who have done it say your mind becomes clearer and you have a lot more energy.  I am looking forward to that!  I also won’t mind if I lose a few pounds so I can fit into the rest of the clothes in my closet.  🙂

Why Can’t Staying Fit Be Easier?

I am a fairly healthy person, and I am thankful for that.  However, as I get older I notice that it is harder and harder for me to maintain my weight.  I’m noticing more and more cellulite showing up.  Ugh. 

My mother once told me that with each decade of your life, it is that much harder to lose weight.  She was right. I am 39 years old and if I do what I did 10 years ago to try and lose some weight, nothing happens now.  In fact, the weight is increasing faster.  Yikes.

I do love to run, but I find myself putting it off or just not doing it some days.  I can always find something else to do besides exercise.  Always.

It’s not only the exercise though.  It’s what I eat.  To a lot of people I probably would be considered a healthy eater.  However, I LOVE carbs.  In fact, if I could live off a diet of cereal, toast, bagels, chips, and pasta I would be set.  These foods do NOT help you lose weight, trust me.  I’ve tried the carb lovers diet and it’s not pretty.  Now, I don’t eat a lot of processed foods or unhealthy carbs, but I eat way too many of them.  I may eat Grape Nuts and whole wheat bread, but when that is your main source of food, there is a problem.

I know I need to eat more fruits and vegetables.  I sometimes only eat one or maybe two servings.  That’s sad and not good for me.  But when there is toast I would rather have that than fruit.  I have to consciously make the decision to eat fruit or it would never happen.  I do not crave it, unfortunately.

I figured the best way to create a goal and stick to it, is to put it in writing.  Not just in my journal for me to see though because I’ve tried that and I’m not good and keeping myself accountable.  I need external help there.   I decided I needed to put my goals on my blog so that I can always reference them and I know other people had read them.  I think (hope) this will encourage me to stick to the plan.  It’s worth a try, that’s for sure.

Here are my goals:

1. Eat less carbs daily.  If I have cereal,  I will have some fruit with it instead of toast or more carbs.
2. Eat 6-8 servings of fruit and veggies daily – That will leave less room for carbs and be much better for me.
3. Work out 5 days a week – I can pick which 5, but it has to be 5 days.  No excuses.  20 minute minimum and it can be any type of exercise I want it to be.
4. Drink more water – I mainly drink water, but I do not drink enough.  I need to work towards 8 glasses a day and not just with meals.
5. Rest – sleep at least 7-8 hours a night, and keep Sunday as a day of rest and relaxation to prepare me for the week.
6. Increase the amount of natural foods I eat- I will work in a lot more vegetables and fruit, but also more whole grains, beans, etc.

Those are my main goals, and it starts today.  I will check in and give you my progress each week.  If you are working on some of these same goals, please let me know.  We can do it together!