Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Greater Vancouver realtors are now forced to quit and find new jobs

Mr Shen, a newly minted realtor ri since 2011 had been working for a year without reaching a single sale. He had just quit RE and is training to be an electrician... When interviewed by SingTao, Mr Shen said he had a university degree in business administration. Upon seeing the hot RE market in early 2011, he paid $5000 for a realtor prep-course and obtained his realtor license. Ever since he’s working as a realtor. He’s been busy every weekend showing houses, one client even had him show 10 units.

Monday, September 3, 2012

Diary of a Detox :: Day 7


Today I woke up, set the alarm early hoping to get some stuff done before work - but BAM, it hit me for the first time in a week: that extreme tiredness that I got with adrenal fatigue. So so bone tired. I'd forgotten - oh so quickly - that this was my daily existance for the past 2 years. One week of detox and it was back. I am not surprised, starting a new job is full on, and clearly despite my all intentions, you just work from adrenals and excitement.



And when you've got no reserves, you feel like I did today. But amazingly, it started to lift when I nourished  myself foodwise.



It's such an automatic reaction - I feel tired, I grab food that'll give me a(n immediate) lift. But really, it's not the immediate lift I need, but a sustained nourishment lift. I'm really starting to see this.



Day was pretty on par, work is getting easier, food is still delish and filling, and in regards to ahem, cleansing, I'm still on track with the #PoopJuice. I had another serving of it last night but my body clearly did a lot of cleansing last week and it's been much smoother sailing today :) Except for the tummy gurgles (audible to my buddies in the office!)  it's been pretty ok.



Ahhh, it's nice to be ok :)

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Cleanse :: Day 6 The Weekend wrap


Weekends are proving hard for me.




I was still a little tired when I woke up - I guess throughout the week I've been on go-go-go that I've not thought about having time to nap, sleep or be tired. But now that I have a chance to sleep past 6am, my body calls out for it!





I really napped and slept in this morning, so there was no time to prep my green smoothie before I dashed off to teach yoga. Get this though: after teaching, the only thing I wanted was HOT CHIPS. I could smell them, could taste them, my mouth was drooling.





So if there is ever a lesson to be seen - nourish yourself properly before you head out! 

Wow. What a lesson! I made it home (NOT via the fish & chip shop, despite temptation!) and whipped up a green smoothie in record time. I must have put a bit more coconut oil in than usual because MY GOD it tasted phenomenal! Amazing! So my coconutty green smoothie certainly filled the whole.





I followed it up with my 'official' breakky, of quinoa toast with scrambled eggs, spinach and lemon. DELISH. Seriously, how can you crave hot chips after that?





That is one thing I've totally noticed this week - that I am so FULL that I'm not picking, and when I'm not picking, I'm not generally craving the chips/chocolate/sugar/coke that I've talked about this week. Most of those things make an appearance in my diet but I've always had heaps of fruit (yum, sugary!) in there and salads so kind of thought I was doing ok. 





But then when something like adrenal fatigue hits, like Angie keeps telling me, we need to get my body nourished in every single way it can be. All my meals need to fill me up at this deep level - and when I follow her plan to a T, it totally works. 





I have found that this is a lot more food than I'm used to eating, but when I eat most of it, things fly along. I don't snack - I have no desire to! I notice when I eat early (we're talking 6am smoothies here, breakfast at 830ish!) I am sustained, alert and on the ball.


* * * * * *



I totally wouldn't wish adrenal fatigue on anyone. You are exhausted all the time. And not just, 'I need a wee nap and I'll be fine' exhausted, but total bone-tired cannot get up exhaustion. Not only physically either, but mentally concentration is a challenge and this stuff isn't simply fixed by even a week of sleep. It's sustained nourishment, and I'm so glad I'm on the path :)





Phew, big outcomes in only a week!





I've also been told this week on 3 separate occasions that I'm looking really well - which I love. Am revisiting that awkward moment when people comment on how tired you look all the time but that now you're looking grdat. Yes, awkward.





But good, and it cements why I want to do this! Thanks Angie xo




Keep Calm + KEEP DOING THIS!




Saturday, September 1, 2012

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. 





:)










Friday, August 31, 2012

#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 2nd 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





Wednesday, August 29, 2012

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