Cleanse :: Day 5, Happy Spring!

One of the girls had a coke in the office yesterday, and whether it was because I had a sandwich for lunch (when I'm on a pretty-much grain free cleanse) or a cupcake after lunch (um, sugar sugar sugar) - I couldn't stop dreaming about coke.  *drool*

BUT I didn't have it - I didn't succumb! And today, I'm so glad I didn't. Today was not what I'd call awesome. #PoopJuice was on the menu last night again, and whilst it was no repeat of earlier in the week, I felt a little queasy and (very technical term here) yuck.

Pretty low on energy. Pretty blah.

But I had a beautiful day other than energy-wise, that started off with my loved green smoothie (coconut water with chia seeds, vital greens, coconut oil, an orange and handful of spinach) and then I met a friend for a coffee date. She had coffee, I had a peppermint tea. I was going to allow myself plain scrambled eggs for breakky (no milk, no bread, just the way I like 'em, and detox allowed!) and then when my coffee date pal mentioned she'd already eaten, I decided to save my treat out for another time.  I was impressed with myself ;)

The sun was shining at Breakkie, I even got a rainbow on my face! 

I followed it up with a kinesiology session (which I'm hooked on!) and was feeling really great and excited, but then my body spoke up. If you have ever tried kinesiology, you know there is no hiding. Your body speaks. And my body was saying, loud and clear, that my adrenals and thyroid were shouting out in tiredness.

In my transition back into a new job and new timetable, I have been extra careful about not tiring myself out, setting limits, and taking care of myself. I guess excitement still plays a role though, and being so switched on was showing up in my body. Still, it makes me so so glad that I've committed to Angie and the cleanse, because clearly it's just what I need.

I poached my first egg!

On returning home I had a delish bowl of chicken broth, quinoa, steamed greens and a poached egg (my first homemade poached egg) which was technically my breakky dish. God it was good! I had quite a lot of work to do so settled in at the computer, still tired and lethargic, but keeping on. I did have a nap in the afternoon and by the time I woke up it was too close to dinner to have a late lunch. So I snacked on an egg and some seed snaps (oh. my. god. These seed snaps are SO yum!) and pottered. Dinner was meant to be another broth but I was a bit brothed out to be honest, so had a huge salad instead - AMAZING fresh, organic veggies (snowpeas, cabbage, carrots, mushrooms) with garlic, ginger and oil. YUMMO. Heaps of seeds on top and I was a happy camper.

Before I knew it, bed time was calling out and I really listened. Detoxing is one thing, food is another, balancing work/life/play is yet another. So I needed an early night and I had it. 

:)

#Detox Day 4 - the Day of Truth

So yesterday was all about cravings. But then I came home to my amazing Food Connect box. Yay! If you're not au fait with Food Connect, it's an awesome enterprise based on the principles of Community Supported Agriculture. It's delicious, seasonal (& organic/ chemical free) produce that comes from LOCAL farmers living within a short radius of the city. Cool hey!

Now it's friday, how'd we go? Much better.

Well, till lunch.

You want honesty? You’ve got it. 



I had a work meeting/wine tasting with catered-for veggie sandwiches for a new client, and seeing as I wasn’t wine tasting, the least I could do was eat the sandwiches! I had a few triangles, which equalled one sandwich, and the belly was rumbling but I’m not sure if that’s because of the bread (wholemeal, and rye – I tried to go for the better ones) or because of the whole detox thing.

Regardless, a cupcake was thrown in there too – hey, it was the end of the first week of my new job and my boss bought them for us all! So I felt like I had to, but – honestly – it wasn’t a hard decision to make. I enjoyed every mouthful!

I did follow it up with some quinoa bread and toppings *nom nom nom* but now I’m feeling a wee bit bad – I know I need to do this detox because of what I uncovered in Day 1. I WANT TO BE WELL BECAUSE.....

That means no processed stuff. 

But I want to be realistic too, because socialising will be a big part of my life working in publicity. That said, that’s why I’m loving Angie’s detox - it's about choice, making the best available decision, and being so full of wholefoods and delish veggies that I'm not craving sugars. 

Afternoon snack - back on track!

I was expecting cravings - of course! But they haven’t been half as bad as I was anticipating, and I was expecting some vicious sugar and coffee callings! But no. Totally surprised.

I’m not hungry in the slightest – at all, not even 1%. I am not snacking like I normally do. I’m not, on the whole, craving sugar. Ok – so at night I’ve thought about my normal after dinner dessert, but it was probably only on the 2^nd night I really craved it. 

Since then I’ve been totally sated.  I will be interested to see how the symptoms go tomorrow now that I had sugar and bread today. But it’s also somewhat inspiring to not throw in the towel just because of one afternoon’s mishap. Now THAT is living.

x stella

Cleanse :: Day 3

Thursday will now be known as 'craving day'.



Pizza? I’m craving it.

Bread? Give it to me.

Chocolate? I wouldn’t push it away.



It was a day where my colon cleansing magnesium oxide totally, 100% lived up to it’s name. I've nicknamed the drink 'poop juice' and today, I was pooping all day long.

All. Day. Long. Morning and afternoon.



Seriously.



So truth be told I actually haven't been that hungry today, but by the time the evening rolled around, all those half-meals I’d eaten made for a very hungry me. Hence the cravings. D'oh! So lesson learnt - Angie has me on portions and times because they work!



Gee habits are a hard thing to break, and so far the most challenging thing for me has been eating early in the morning. But I'm a green smoothie lover and having that on my way to early morning yoga is the trick. It totally works and by some kind of magic, I'm starting to crave my green juice (now that's a good craving!) when I wake up!



Poop juice is 'magnesium oxide' and can only be taken for a small amount of time (not permanently, unless you want to cause permanent damage!). It basically works to clean out your insides so you have a wee bit of the runs in the morning. I am taking it alternate nights during my first 21 Days and would you believe that the first night I took it, nothing happened? That whole next day I was waiting.. waiting.. and there was a bit of tummy gurgling, but nothing like what happened today.

But oh well, I feel light! And cleansed! And I feel totally at home in my new workplace now. Ahem.



So all in all, Day 3 is going on. Cravings are about but I think they're more mental than physical as the dreaded headaches have not arrived - I guess it's because I'm totally topping up and nourishing and am not hungry, there's no deprivation, so in effect I'm crowding out the sugars/caffeine and it all seems to be working. That Angie sure knows how to do this :)



Anyone else out there making changes for Spring? Come share the love with me!

x stella

Special Day

My first Food Connect box arrived today - so ultra-excited!



Don't forget - tell me what amazing recipes I can make this week with the following goodies and you can win a spot on the upcoming 21 Days of Spring Cleansing eCourse (valued at $75!). Loving the entries so far - you guys make me hungry :)



Nom Nom Nom xx

Seasonal Meal Planning

So I'm a joyous little yogi today, as I'm starting to meal plan for my first box of delicious, local, organic and seasonal fruit & veggie delivery!



My first Food Connect box arrives at the end of this week, with the following goodies:

I am pretty unadventurous (so far!) with my food and obviously I can see a potato, leek and cauliflower soup in there. But what else? I am excited!

Give me your suggestions, to go into the running for a space on the upcoming TwentyOne Days of Spring Cleansing eCourse :)

Email me or leave a comment below!

Love x

Eat Food, Not Too Much, Mostly Plants

I went to see the phenomenal Michael Pollan at the In Conversation With series at the Sydney Opera House this week, and all I can say is WOW. I love this guy.



Anyone who can pack out a full auditorium, speaking about food, in a non-heated but inspiring way has to be doing something amazing.

It's funny - the more I study holistic nutrition and health, the more I find just how heated this area is. People all believe that what they think & do is right. And don't get me wrong, I completely understand how hard it is to look outside the box. We are told by our own government, by our tv's and media that the right way to eat is A, B, C. Yet let's face facts - we're an overweight country, we're addicted to sugar and processed foods, we pop pills left right and centre to 'heal', and there are agendas that want us to believe certain things.



We have lost touch with the truth, and Michael's bringing it back!



Michael Pollan isn't a scientist; he's a journalist and teacher who is generous, down-to-earth & engaging. There's been some wonderful feedback on his talk (you can read some quick tweets! Or a great post here or another here) but it really got me thinking.



I'm studying health, nutrition and naturopathy, and yet I'm a sugar addict. I suffer from depression which often leaves me so tired and depleted that I either a) don't eat, or b) grab takeaway. Neither of these options are healthy, and if I am at least part way educated on this stuff and still fall into these traps, no wonder we're an obese country with a love of processed foods. And no wonder it's so hard to inspire people to believe otherwise.



But in the quest for change, I'm continuing to stay educated and inspired. I've just ordered my first box from Food Connect (yippee!). Have you heard of these guys? Food Connect offers sustainable produce, direct from local farmers. So none of this shipped from overseas stuff - it's organic or chemical free, it's local, sustainable, and money goes to the farmers (& not just 10c in the dollar which many of our supermarkets pass on to them).




From the Food Connect site, "We challenge people to:

• Think about where their food comes from,


• Find out what food quality means to them and


• Consider the impacts of chemical farming on their health and that of the farmers and the natural environment."

Why have I not used Food Connect before? I'll be honest - I looked at the food boxes (I ordered the small mixed seasonal box) and thought, "I'm still going to have to go shopping - it has stuff I don't eat in it, and not everything I do eat."  I mean, who cares if my strawberries are pumped full of herbicides and chemicals, and they were shipped from Italy weeks ago because they're out of season here? I want what I want! Yes, it's true. I'm humbled to admit it aloud! And I know I'm not alone in living an on-demand life of convenience.



But change starts with where we're at, and so today I signed up. I'm actually totally excited to start supporting our local farmers, and to start cooking with new ingredients (which has been a goal of mine for a wee while).   In being part of this scheme, I've also managed to get only what's in season, reduce my carbon footprint, and get to know who is growing my food (and how they're doing ht!). Pretty cool, huh?



So stay tuned to check out some (hopefully) wonderful dishes coming out of Shiny's* Kitchen in the near future.  I'll be posting "what's in the box" here online each week and would LOVE to hear your recipe suggestions.



Love

x