Update on banana cleanse frenzy and a new detox plan!

The previous detox with the bananas worked VERY well for me. So well in fact that I had to actually cut it short a day. First off, I will say that it was a great cleanse for me for the simple fact that I was able to stay on it! Yay for small victories. Being how I do have emotional ties and issues with food (from past, though still resurface) it is nice to have found something I am able to stick with. I was able to follow through with this cleanse with little to no emotional re-hashing of any kind and kept a positive up beat attitude the whole time. I never felt I was depriving myself  and was always able to set my eye on the prize. That was better nutritional absorption, better digestion and a clean slate to move towards a low fat, less gourmet lifestyle. 


I neither gained or lost any weight due to the high caloric intake which is fine by me. This was not meant for me to lose any weight. That would have just been an added bonus. What I didnt expect however was the INCREDIBLY painful detox I went through with my joints. This was all brand new to me. That was why I had to cut my cleanse short. It became to unbearable to cope with. Work was uncomfortable, sitting was uncomfortable and pardon me if this is to much information but my sex life was uncomfortable. When that is compromised, I am not a happy camper :)


There were two flip sides to the coin. On one side, I loved experiencing the pain in my joints because it made me wonder how much stress and toxins I had hiding deep down there. I wanted to keep going until the pain was gone. I really felt the bursitis leaving me. I actually saw a light at the end of this tunnel with my hip pain. I never thought I could heal this with a simple cleanse but I have hope now. 


On the other side of the coin, I was just in so much pain that it made my everyday life too difficult!


I have this brilliant plan in my head that I am hoping to execute and I am going to lay it out all here. If I can eventually CURE my hip bursitis and run again, then this could be huge! I could try and spread the word to all people suffering from arthritis and other joint problems. 


My plan is to slowly push this 'demon' out of me via a series of detoxes. For one week I will (starting today actually) I go back to my banana smoothie's which will consist of 4 (as opposed to the 5  I was doing) bananas, 1tbls. Maca powder, 1/4 cup water for blending and a handful of ice just to make it chilled... not icy. I will be leaving out the dates this time around I *think*. I may decide to splurge one day and throw one in there but for the most part it will be plain! I also may be throwing a bit of Camu Camu in there to help with my positive moods and to boost my vitamin C intake to help with both fighting off colds AND to help with absorption with my MSM. I am keeping MSM in my diet to assist with a faster recovery time with this bursitis. I am a fan of not just taking supplements to mask problems but to incorporate a healthy diet as well. This is what this is for me. I am cleansing to detox the toxins out of me as well as taking something to assist in the process.


For the week AFTER the banana frenzy I will eat 100% raw per usual BUT try and maintain as low ft of a diet as possible. I am not going to be too hard on me. I feel if I am too hard on myself then thats when bingeing on Raw ice cream's and cakes come in and we dont want that :)  I will just take it easy, maybe making some soups or something. 


The third week I will go BACK to banana frenzy! Starting just a day late (in leu  of Thanksgiving) where I am hoping my body would have recovered and healed itself with more nutrition. Then I can start again with the bananas and cleanse even further. I will continue on like this until I feel I have gotten those toxins OUT of my joints. This could happen sooner or later. Who knows, but I am commited to making this happen for myself. I NEED to repair and heal. 


I have been walking/jogging outside and oh my god do I miss it. I was out yesterday and saw this runner on the other side of the street and  I just about broke down in tears. I thought to myself "I'll get back there". I HAVE to get back there. God I was in stellar shape AND just never felt better in my life. Just lacing up and running! Best time of my life....EVER! I also like the idea of being in my 30's and being in better shape and looking hotter than I did in my 20's! Always an added bonus! :)


So I will blog about my progress and setbacks (hopefully there's none of those) the whole way through. Just bear with me. I am shorter on time now due to me attempting to be a bit more active and working more. Not to mention still making my relationship a priority. Family life and personal life always have to sync up in my opinion!


Cheers!

My Banana frenzy! *cleanse*

Well, today is day three of my week long juice and or smoothie fest! I think I have found a combination that works well for me. Banana's seem to be key for me. I am really trying to move toward a low fat raw lifestyle and cut out some of the amazing raw gourmet dishes I make. As tasty as they are, my body cant handle the additional fat due to me being so sedentary. Hip Bursitis does not allow me to be very active. What I am hoping to do is to move to a high fruit, low fat lifestyle and let my body heal itself. Then I'll be more free to allow some great dishes back in my life. In moderation of course...and still 100% raw!

So for the past three days I have been blending 4 banana's, 2 dates and ice about 5-6 times a day. This is allowing me to feel like I am not depriving myself and giving me nearly 3000 calories a day. Yikes seems like alot and it makes me nervous. But...it is cleansing me. With my diet alone, I detox but this is pretty nuts. My joints hurt in a way I cant even explain. I literally feel like a 90 year old woman. I slouch and limp. My hips are carrying an incredible amount of pain. Not to mention my back and shoulders.

So today is day three in which I am hoping will be about a week stint. I am taking it day to day and am not setting expectations on myself. I am going for as long as I can and for as long as my body feels it is reaping benefits. I am hoping however that my pain does not increase because it is borderline unbearable right now. Sitting is painful. I am hoping it IS in deed detox and not some actual physical problem that requires a bit more looking into.

Right now falling asleep in the bathtub sounds wonderful!
I shall keep things updated regularly with this week!

Cheers!

Day 2 of juice cleanse.

Last night shortly before I settled in for bed I started getting REALLY emotional. I believe this detox is bringing about all sorts of interesting things. I know it seems really fast to be experiencing such emotional side effects from the detox but like I stated in my previous post, I feel I am pushing this detox on my body rather quickly. 

I have been doing to reading on some of my favorite Raw forums about detox and what it can do emotionally. There seems to be a lot of people who suffer pretty extreme emotions while doing some kind of detox program. What's funny is that I was reading these forums a day BEFORE I started and thought to myself  'that seems weird, maybe these people are going through something else because it doesn't seem like a very plausible explanation'. Well I was wrong and now find myself all sorts of down. The last 24 hours I have been doing nothing about doubting pretty much everything. My decision to move back down to California, my relationship (which is damn amazing I might add), my future career moves...everything. When I did my reading on other's stories I noticed they all had a theme. They didn't seem depressed as a whole, they were past feeling that maybe weren't resolved, like relationships. Mine doesn't have anything to do with past relationships of any kind rather more feeling upset about my accomplishments or lack thereof so far.... then wondering where the relationship fits into me getting me, to where I need to be! In a sense I like feeling like this and I feel it's an opportunity for me to really figure some things out and start making a plan. I have communicated all of my 'downs' with my boyfriend so he is always in the loop and we are going to use this to our advantage to create a timeline for us and ourselves (Told you he was great).

Besides the emotional aspect of this juicing, things seem to be going alright. Not good, not bad, just alright. Being away from food is never a great time for me. I love it too much and it is such a staple in my everyday life. It almost seems as if my entire day is planed somehow around food. Making sure I get some good food going for my boyfriend as well as myself. Being how I am raw I do take a good while to prepare my food so between that and cooking al three meals for him, my days is full! I don't mind it though....in fact I love it. 

I have been taking my time in writing this all day and now that it is 7pm, I must say, I am going to prepare myself some raw pasta. We have been in and out of the house nearly all day and I honestly cant deal with the mood swings I have. Someone weird came out while doing this and I don't like them! It's not fair for my boyfriend as well. The poor guy has just been dealing with this monster. 

I am not going to beat myself up about it. I have ALOT of things going on in my life right now... primarily transitional and I take pride in the fact that I at least eat Raw. Eating Raw in itself is a major detoxifying way of life so I will take with me that knowledge and move forward. When my life seems a little more 'stable' I will work on a cleanse I know I can follow through with. If I am not there emotionally I feel I can not 100% benefit from the results. Things have to be lined up!

Thats all for now,

Cheer!

COMING SOON:

• Dry Brushing Progress
• Overall Mood
• MSM 

Day 1 of Juice Cleanse!

I am starting my juice cleanse this morning and I am VERY excited about it. Now there are a number of reasons for wanting to do this but the biggest contributing factor is the side effects I am having with MSM. I recently started taking this supplement and am having a difficult adjustment period. Side effects vary for everyone but for myself, I am experiencing HEAVY bloating, digestive discomfort and water weight gain. I discussed my digestive issues in a previous post and after some thought, I realized it was the new addition of a supplement that was causing my discomfort.

So here we are at day one and I started my morning off with juicing a 1/2 pineapple, 2 cups spinach and 2 pears. The pineapple is a good source of vitamin C which is said to help with MSM absorbing. I take my MSM supplement first thing in the morning so I thought that would be a good juice to start off the day!

As I am writing this I am thinking I am going to go for another juice already! I have never had a really easy time with fast's so it is really going to take ALOT of discipline to get through these next couple days!

I'll continue at the end of my day........


7:20pm

I have had a decent day.  I have only juiced 4 times today and I am not sure what it is, but I am craving more fruits than I am vegetables. Needless to say I never got around to making my second green juice. I was rather busy running around doing some errands so my mind was preoccupied which was nice. Overall though, I feel extremely tired and cranky. I have a pretty big headache coming on so I decided to make no attempt at going to the gym. My energy is simply not there.

I hear so many stories of how people feel amazing after their juices and I think I have yet to get there!? I woke up relatively late today and I am already ready to crawl back into bed with my favorite "Office" box set!  I believe I may be pushing a detox on my body rather quickly. While I was already eating a raw diet, I did just recently incorporate a new supplement (MSM, which helps with detox in and of itself) and a new bathing regimen (Body Brushing, yet ANOTHER form of detoxification). Overall, I feel I am putting my body through a boot camp!

I am hoping that tomorrow brings a slightly easier day thats filled with a little less fatigue, a little less grogginess, and a little less cranky pants.... for my boyfriends sake :)  If my energy levels permit it, I would like to make it to the gym in the morning while I am still refreshed and ready to go.

Til tomorrow!

Cheers!

3 Day Juice Cleanse

It seems every so often (actually not often at all, but enough) that everyones digestive track needs a little attention. While living a raw foods lifestyle in itself can be cleansing, sometime it just isn't enough. This past week I have been exploring more with vegetables I have never used as well as more nuts and seeds and I believe that it could be responsible for some serious bloating and cramps. I consider myself to be incredibly in tune with my body and these past two to three days has not been 'My Normal'.

I am preparing myself today for a 3 day juice feast so I can cleanse, detox and heal my system from it's current problems. There are of course other reasons in which a juice feast seems like a excellent idea. I have recently begun a process called 'BODY BRUSHING' in which it's believed you can remove toxins and improve skin circulation (among other things) by massaging a soft natural bristle brush on your body before showering. I believe these two processes can go hand in hand and in fact they can work together to deepen detoxification results.

My plan for the following 3 days is as follows:

BREAKFAST~ Green Juice of some kind. It might be different every morning. One things is for certain and that will be that it will include spinach. I will require that for my energy source to start off the day as I have no plans on reducing my work out intensity.

SNACK~ Fruit juices of various kinds. I have grown particularly fond of Orange/Pineapple and Strawberry as of late. I tend to drink it after my workouts and I feel great afterwards!

LUNCH~ Green juice with one added fruit.

SNACK~ More fruit juices. I may try and stay away from fruits that are highly acidic

DINNER~ I am sure this will be different each day as by the end of the day I will be going off what my body tells me to do. Could be greens, fruits or both.

I am hoping at the end of these 3 days I will have resolved my tummy issue and I will see a noticeable difference in my skin in certain areas (legs). I am also hoping this detox will push out some toxins that may be hiding in my joints near my hips because my bursitis (which I'll get in to in another post) has been acting up horribly as of late. I will post daily as to how I am doing and feeling (energy wise).

Cheers!

~COMING SOON:

• Brewing Kombucha Tea at home.
• My experiences with MSM

*EDIT*

I am starting my 3 day Juice Feast tomorrow due to having an excess of fresh produce in my house that I don't want to go to waste!