Perusing my monthly Yoga Journal Magazine, I came across a Detox system by Flora. This was the instance where the advertising industry had me at the girl making a heart with her hands around the sun and the word balance just screaming at me to take notice! I have been wanting to do a detox month for a while now. I had done a day detox by Dr. Gillian McKeith and that was easy for me. It was an all day process and I was always preparing this or that; trying to force down this or that. I am not sure what struck me about this certain detox system above all the countless others out there. I went on the website and found they had an eating plan that looked easy enough for me to follow. It listed many things I already buy on a weekly basis. All I had to buy was the Flora tea, Udo's 3-6-9 Blend Oil, Udo's Beyond Greens, and some probiotic capsules. Done and done. I started the detox today and came to the conclusion that if I am going to stick with this, I'm going to have to pull out all the stops. I need to blog my way through this! I really need to get down my emotions and my reactions to this detox. After such a glutonous holiday, it is already hard for me and I'm only on Day 1, and half way through to boot!!
A little background on myself...
I have been overweight my entire life. I think I was at my ideal weight when I was 6, but that was the very last time. I realize this is not extraordinary or special in any way whatsoever. I am, though, a healthfood enthusiast. If I could I would spend my entire check at Whole Foods. But being middle class and a little too addicted to "easy" food (not fast food, except for the occassional Panda Express). I work full time and have a part time job at Lush and have 1 daughter. I don't have the luxury of shopping at Whole Foods 100% of the time or the time it takes to get there; a 30-40 minute drive one way without traffice. I have longed to be the glowing portrait of health, but my **issues** (yes I have those too, not special either I know) have thwarted every effort I deep rootedly have to eat only whole nutritional foods. I adore yoga with every fiber of my being. I would eat, sleep and breath yoga if I could. I have threatened to become a teacher, but who would want to take yoga from an obese woman? Because, yes, our fine government has classified me as obese. To be in my "normal" or "ideal" range, I'd have to lose somewhere around 80-100 pounds! THIS I find really hard to believe. Although I never seem to have a clear picture of myself. I saw a picture not to long ago at Thanksgiving dinner (apra po, right?) and I cried for 3 days when I thought about the way I looked. So I also have developed a strange pain in my chest. I'm 33 and I have a pain in my chest. Worried that I might be having a heart attack, I went with my mom holding my hand to see a doctor. They did an EKG to find nothing wrong. Bloodwork showed I had all normal cholestoral levels and no signs of any diabetes or the like. He told me it was just inflammation and to slow down with working out. HUH? This makes NO sense. But the pain persists. The doctor says it's inflammation. So I found yet another reason to do a detox. I am hoping I see some improvement with that pain soon through this detox. I am not aiming to lose weight. I just want my body to return to it's normal functions. I know my kidneys aren't working optimally if I'm experiencing inflammation. So here it goes:
A little background on myself...
I have been overweight my entire life. I think I was at my ideal weight when I was 6, but that was the very last time. I realize this is not extraordinary or special in any way whatsoever. I am, though, a healthfood enthusiast. If I could I would spend my entire check at Whole Foods. But being middle class and a little too addicted to "easy" food (not fast food, except for the occassional Panda Express). I work full time and have a part time job at Lush and have 1 daughter. I don't have the luxury of shopping at Whole Foods 100% of the time or the time it takes to get there; a 30-40 minute drive one way without traffice. I have longed to be the glowing portrait of health, but my **issues** (yes I have those too, not special either I know) have thwarted every effort I deep rootedly have to eat only whole nutritional foods. I adore yoga with every fiber of my being. I would eat, sleep and breath yoga if I could. I have threatened to become a teacher, but who would want to take yoga from an obese woman? Because, yes, our fine government has classified me as obese. To be in my "normal" or "ideal" range, I'd have to lose somewhere around 80-100 pounds! THIS I find really hard to believe. Although I never seem to have a clear picture of myself. I saw a picture not to long ago at Thanksgiving dinner (apra po, right?) and I cried for 3 days when I thought about the way I looked. So I also have developed a strange pain in my chest. I'm 33 and I have a pain in my chest. Worried that I might be having a heart attack, I went with my mom holding my hand to see a doctor. They did an EKG to find nothing wrong. Bloodwork showed I had all normal cholestoral levels and no signs of any diabetes or the like. He told me it was just inflammation and to slow down with working out. HUH? This makes NO sense. But the pain persists. The doctor says it's inflammation. So I found yet another reason to do a detox. I am hoping I see some improvement with that pain soon through this detox. I am not aiming to lose weight. I just want my body to return to it's normal functions. I know my kidneys aren't working optimally if I'm experiencing inflammation. So here it goes:
Day 1
So the first this to do every morning of this detox is to drink a nice tall glass of lemon water. I prefer warm water in the morning, so I made a sort of lemon tea. I do this occassionally already anyway, but it will be good to have to do it every day! Next up is to sip the Flor Essence Herbal Tea. The directions on the bottle say the serving size is 2 oz tea and 2 oz water. The print out detox diet literature from the FlorEssenceTea says 1 oz tea with 1 oz of water. To sip it slowly and swish it around in your mouth before swallowing. I was a little taken aback when I realized it would take 8, yes EIGHT bottles of the Flor Essence tea bottles at a whopping $37.00 a pop to get through the whole 25 days! The tea was good and earthy...something I don't mind at all. Then I was ready to have my breakfast, a "Power" smoothie. The smoothie was easy to make. I like to make smoothies and this was a good recipe. It tasted really good. I have a LARGE amount of blueberries in my freezer, so I plan to use these whenever I can. I sipped it slowly on my way to work because I knew it was going to be a long day with little calories.
I decided to make this detox more than just about what I consumed for my diet. I decided to make this a detox of negative emotions, loud and unnessary noises, TV, superfluous internet usage and anything that may have been making me feel off balance. Facebook has been a lot of drama with me recently, so I decided to limit my exposure to it to once a day instead of the constant checking on every hour on the hour. So I listened to a nice instrumental track on have on my ipod on my way to work and not be bothered by the bad or rude drivers. I set my intention to be happy the minute I woke up.
Around 10am, my face started to feel really warm. I have been drinking coffee everyday for a few months now, so I expected to have the withdrawal from coffee headaches I have had in the past weining myself from coffee. But this was different. My cheeks felt really warm, so I went to the restroom and my face was really really red and splotchy. I quickly thought of the yoga pose Viparita Karani or Legs Up A Wall pose. My mind automatically went to this pose. It was almost as though my body told me what it wanted. Usually this pose is quite simple, for anyone really. But when I went into the conference room (locking all the doors behind me) and laid down, it was quite difficult. I felt very bloated. My face felt like it was tight and full of fluid. I stayed in this position for about 15 minutes and when I came out, the receptionist commented that my face wasn't as red as when I went in there. I felt better, but was HUNGRY! it was about 11am and I realized I could have my snack of an organic apple and raw almonds. I took each bite delibritely, tasting every bite and enjoying the combination of apple and almond. I pulverized each bite and really felt the intention of nurishing my body. It was really a nice snack.
A key element to any detox is to drink a TON of water. I do drink a lot of water most every day anyway, so this is easy. I decided to up my water intake by a third to flush out the remaining caffeine addiction more quickly. It is really easy to drink water today. I have a large glass VOSS bottle that I refill all day at work. I'm on my 3rd refill today and I usually only have 2. The caffeine withdrawal is really bad on the second day, so I'm not looking forward to tomorrow. I am going to hit the hay really early tonight in the hopes that this will help. I have a tissue with some essential oils called Muscle Ache Relief and that seems to keep the nausea away I have experienced detoxing from coffee and tea. A few people at work have commented that I smell really good today. It also helped to keep it close to my face during lunch when everyone is warming up their yummy smelling lunches across from where my office is located.
I have crazy cravings. I really want something anything bad for me! Seriously. I can't help but want french fries and I don't really like them all that much! I'm sory of at the point right now that I could eat anything. Can you believe it? Day 1, half way through and I'm having withdrawals from junk? We just had the holidays and I really was bad. I had everything you could possibly imagine that one has during the holidays. I'm really paying for it now.
Lunch was a really big bowl of Organic Mixed Baby Greens with 1 Tbsp of Udo's Oil (High Lignon) and 1 Brown Free Range Organic Egg (wow that's a mouthfull!). I sort of chopped up the egg so that it could be spread out to the whole salad. I have yet to appreciate the taste of any type of lettuce raw and naked. It was a pretty decent lunch. I'm not really certain how I'll make it to dinner though. It's 2:30 as I'm writing this and I'm already starting to feel hunger paigns. I want to go to the gym and do the Body Flow class. It's a fusion of Yoga, Tai Chi, and Pilates. Since my gym only has 2 yoga classes and they are during the day, I go to this and it's pretty good. If it's all I can get! I like to do my own practice, but feel a bit lost sometimes when I do my own thing. Plus my daughter enjoy going to the gym with me. They have a good kid's club that she has a lot of fun at.
Dinner will be brown rice, steamed veggies and more Udo's oil. I'm really hungry, who am I kidding. I need to get a refill on water. website
I decided to make this detox more than just about what I consumed for my diet. I decided to make this a detox of negative emotions, loud and unnessary noises, TV, superfluous internet usage and anything that may have been making me feel off balance. Facebook has been a lot of drama with me recently, so I decided to limit my exposure to it to once a day instead of the constant checking on every hour on the hour. So I listened to a nice instrumental track on have on my ipod on my way to work and not be bothered by the bad or rude drivers. I set my intention to be happy the minute I woke up.
Around 10am, my face started to feel really warm. I have been drinking coffee everyday for a few months now, so I expected to have the withdrawal from coffee headaches I have had in the past weining myself from coffee. But this was different. My cheeks felt really warm, so I went to the restroom and my face was really really red and splotchy. I quickly thought of the yoga pose Viparita Karani or Legs Up A Wall pose. My mind automatically went to this pose. It was almost as though my body told me what it wanted. Usually this pose is quite simple, for anyone really. But when I went into the conference room (locking all the doors behind me) and laid down, it was quite difficult. I felt very bloated. My face felt like it was tight and full of fluid. I stayed in this position for about 15 minutes and when I came out, the receptionist commented that my face wasn't as red as when I went in there. I felt better, but was HUNGRY! it was about 11am and I realized I could have my snack of an organic apple and raw almonds. I took each bite delibritely, tasting every bite and enjoying the combination of apple and almond. I pulverized each bite and really felt the intention of nurishing my body. It was really a nice snack.
A key element to any detox is to drink a TON of water. I do drink a lot of water most every day anyway, so this is easy. I decided to up my water intake by a third to flush out the remaining caffeine addiction more quickly. It is really easy to drink water today. I have a large glass VOSS bottle that I refill all day at work. I'm on my 3rd refill today and I usually only have 2. The caffeine withdrawal is really bad on the second day, so I'm not looking forward to tomorrow. I am going to hit the hay really early tonight in the hopes that this will help. I have a tissue with some essential oils called Muscle Ache Relief and that seems to keep the nausea away I have experienced detoxing from coffee and tea. A few people at work have commented that I smell really good today. It also helped to keep it close to my face during lunch when everyone is warming up their yummy smelling lunches across from where my office is located.
I have crazy cravings. I really want something anything bad for me! Seriously. I can't help but want french fries and I don't really like them all that much! I'm sory of at the point right now that I could eat anything. Can you believe it? Day 1, half way through and I'm having withdrawals from junk? We just had the holidays and I really was bad. I had everything you could possibly imagine that one has during the holidays. I'm really paying for it now.
Lunch was a really big bowl of Organic Mixed Baby Greens with 1 Tbsp of Udo's Oil (High Lignon) and 1 Brown Free Range Organic Egg (wow that's a mouthfull!). I sort of chopped up the egg so that it could be spread out to the whole salad. I have yet to appreciate the taste of any type of lettuce raw and naked. It was a pretty decent lunch. I'm not really certain how I'll make it to dinner though. It's 2:30 as I'm writing this and I'm already starting to feel hunger paigns. I want to go to the gym and do the Body Flow class. It's a fusion of Yoga, Tai Chi, and Pilates. Since my gym only has 2 yoga classes and they are during the day, I go to this and it's pretty good. If it's all I can get! I like to do my own practice, but feel a bit lost sometimes when I do my own thing. Plus my daughter enjoy going to the gym with me. They have a good kid's club that she has a lot of fun at.
Dinner will be brown rice, steamed veggies and more Udo's oil. I'm really hungry, who am I kidding. I need to get a refill on water. website
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