Dear readers,
spring is finally arriving and I am ready to get rid of all the accumulated weight - inside and out - that I have piled up over the last couple of months. I sensed that when you are in physically or mentally extreme situations your body can sense what makes it run at an even lower pace and warns you. This has happened to me in terms of my eating and drinking habits. When I ate too much or was munching on snack foods my mind would slow down and I got disturbed from working on my tasks. Plus, I felt that I was thinking constantly about food which made me really wonder what I did wrong in terms of my eating habits.
In search for the answer to my question I became a big advocate of Cyndi O'Meara who dedicated her life to nutrition and well-being on a basis of science and common-sense. I am gonna tell you more about her books and the Healthy Living Program & Club in upcoming posts. She contributed the meal plans to an e-book by Kim Morrison & Fleur Whelligan called Like Chocolate for Women, which is basically an 28 day program for female self-care. It includes decluttering, aroma therapy, and meal planning. The first 5 days consisted of a detox phase that was so easy to handle that even I could do it. In fact, I got inspired to do a little self-experiment: At each night of the detox I added a food group that I was concerned of causing some of my most prevalent symptoms: fatigue, flatulence, increased mucus, and skin problems. Those foods on my black list were: 1. wheat/gluten products, 2. dairy/cow products, 3. processed foods (e.g. peanut butter), 4. chocolates/sweets.
I printed out the pages of the e-book and had it bound in a stationary to make it look neat.
The basic detox consisted of juicing or blending raw fruits & vegetables as well as mixing in eggs, flax-seed oil, barley powder, and drinking herbal teas and water. Sticking to only these foods/drinks made me feel very at ease and surprisingly satisfied. I did not even crave any sweets like I usually do!
However, I am a true coffee addict and the first couple of days my mind was loaded with images of hot steamy delicious coffee cups! I am off coffee for more than a week now and I haven't started again, yet, which is a big miracle to me. Needless to say I did not need to test my coffee addiction as it is one of my most apparent vices!
I experienced the biggest side-effects with wheat and dairy, which is a very prevalent phenomenon in our Western society. I could actually feel those nasty symptoms mentioned above reoccurring after eating white bread and even after having natural plain organic yogurt. I guess this is because we grew up eating these foods (mostly in a processed form) every single day and after decades of doing so our bodies just have had enough. Plus, I am a blood type O and according to Dr. Peter D'Adamo I should stick to a hunter & gatherer diet full of: fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, eggs, and meat while avoiding grains and milk products. Well, there's much debate as to whether Peter D'Adamo is just a charlatan or a real scientist but in my case the reactions of my moaning gastric system provided a confirmation of his claims. Chocolate did not cause me any problems as long as I ate dark chocolate with no or little added milk but, in general, eating any kind of sweets made me wanna crave more sweets and other foods which lead to an abrupt ending of my personalized detox phase (that was extended anyway lasting for an entire week due to my vast experimenting).
I must say that even though I did a lot of "cheating" at night holding my little food group self-study, I did feel weaker than usual. I went to a lot of ballet classes, too, and I guess to keep energy levels up I just need to include meat/fish, nuts (best directly from the shell) and whole grains into my diet. However, I definitely learned that less is more and that I never want to get back to my old ways (which were: counteracting sugar-lows with coffee boosters) that made me addicted to sweets and coffee. This eating regime was a burden to my body and I am determined to change this state of affairs, especially after experiencing the unpleasant relapse following the sugar trial. I do struggle with self-discipline in all kinds of areas in life and that is why this journey is going to become a long ongoing tough task but I just keep telling myself that there is no going back!!
Meanwhile, I gather as much information on health (NOT weight loss) as possible, preferably from the Australian nutritionist Cyndi O'Meara. For those of you interested in her knowledge, you can visit her web-page: http://www.changinghabits.com.au. There's plenty to find out, even without spending a single dollar, simply by reading through the news archive, following her on facebook, or subscribing to the newsletter!
A great free detox program is available on Gwyneth Paltrow's awesome blog Goop. This woman is in the middle of everything, she is a true achiever and it is fun following her sophisticated weekly blog entries. She does detox regularly, so she posted her detox regime made up by the LA detox specialist Alejandro Junger. For each recipe you can download a printable version. Enjoy guys!
This video below is a little thank you for everyone who kept following me through my busy times:
I am as silly as always but I hope you get what I meant to say anyhow! Much love from your gypsy, blk that is ;) xx
Do you use the spring for detox or fasting? This was my first try, I would love to learn about your experiences and maybe get some more good advices!
