brown rice and bok coy - Day 4

Day 4 of the Detox! After battling intense cravings for everything in the world last night and locking myself in my room for a half hour while my roommate cooked bacon this morning, I found that I have come to really enjoy the taste of the food I'm eating. It started to hit me this morning with my apple berry porridge, but I really came around at lunch time after brown rice and bok choy.











You’re probably wondering how something like brown rice and bok choy could manage to make me stop fanticizing about bacon, hamburgers, English muffins, and cheese (those seem to be the big food fantasies lately). It’s a change in my state of mind. I have to say, I credit some of my newfound detox success to Christina. While chatting about what we have been eating, I mentioned that I did not feel much different. She asked what I meant. And I replied that I had been hoping to feel some kind of change. To which she curtly replied, “Come on Michelle, you know all that Buddhist, open your eyes and see the world a new way stuff is crap, right?” I meekly agreed and wandered back to my desk determined to be more dedicated to my detox. Because I don’t think its crap! I think something as simple as the things you put in your body CAN make you open your eyes and see the world a new way! The change really didn’t hit me though till I waited to last possible minute of starvation before I heated up my brown rice with pine nuts and sunflower seeds and my steamed bok choy with a soy ginger dressing. As I savored my lunch and chewed slowly and thought about each bite I started to realize how good I felt. How satisfying the greenness of the bok choy is. How the rice with the crunchy pine nuts and a little of the soy dressing seemed pretty much gourmet. And I remembered that after my breakfast this morning (which I ate after the bacon smell had dissipated from the kitchen) really made my tummy happy, like it was smiling. All the food I have eaten this week seems to just sit in my tummy unobtrusively, like nature intended. I don’t feel stuffed, and my tummy is never upset. Yesterday, I felt really awake and alert. Although I woke up sluggish today, my mind now feels really clear and calm. So I guess maybe my detox is making me open my mind up and see things a new way!!

Peace, love, happiness, and detox!

nacho cheese is comfy... but not healthy

I recently purchased a book... twice on Amazon. (One made it to an unidentified person living in a sweet little townhouse I lived in 4 years ago, and one which made it to the townhouse I currently reside in.) I have dedicated the last month of my life to reading, re-reading, and worshipping this book. I even had to forgo the book I was suppose to be reading for my book club - that I half ass take part in. (I also did not finish the first book - which I had suggested that we read, but that is neither here nor there.) The book that I wanted so badly that I purchased it twice is Super Cleanse: Detox Your Body for Long Lasting Health and Beauty by Adina Niemerow. If that title doesn't grab you immediately than maybe the best looking tomato you have ever seen in your life will...



Well the title was enough to get me! I want long lasting health! And Beauty! I like both those things! So that is why I dedicated myself to this book. After examining my calendar I selected a week that I think I could pull off a 5 day detox. I then selected the easiest detox in the book (no need to jump into the deep end if you don't know how to swim, you know what I mean?). I successfully recruited my friend, her boyfriend, and my boyfriend (kinda) to enjoy the wonders of detox with me.

After an intense amount of planning and an even more intense amount of shopping (detoxing is expensive!), we began the process this past Sunday. The first day was great. It was like a food party! Christina and I made a giant chopped salad, quinoa, and a veggie pate while the boys criticized and analyized the rules of the detox. "Are doritos included?" The food was surprisingly good! All organic veggies, fruits, and grains. No processed foods, no meat, no dairy, no sugar. Dinner was veggie sushi rolls and homemade miso soup! I actually started to think I might be eating more on this detox than I regularly do. I spent the better part of an hour on Monday worrying that I was gaining weight.

Well now it’s Tuesday and I’m starving. I’ve had a fruit smoothie, some quinoa and veggie pate, and a small chopped salad. But I’m determined from here on out to make my portions smaller, not rely on the grains so much and eat more of the veggie dishes because Christina said she lost 2 pounds and I feel like I’ve gained 2 pounds! How is that even possible!?

I truly believed I would feel some miraculous difference by doing this, but I haven’t yet and I’m a little sad. I think if I stick out though something has to feel different! I mean I cut a lot of bad stuff out of my diet! My body has to be somewhat happy not just hungry, right? Well tonight is raw falafels and cucumber salad… yum. 3 more days to go. I’ll let you know when I feel my mind blowing miraculous mental clarity and stuff… or maybe that’s just on the juice cleanses? I hope not… I don’t think I have the willpower to do that. But I feel like this is a good little adventure. I think I’m getting more in touch with my body and I feel healthier!

Peace, love, happiness, and detox!

P.S. Nacho cheese is comfy references my drunken adventure the Friday before the detox… lets just say I went out with a bang (even though the book does not recommend doing so and that you should ease into a detox). But the massive amount of Mexican food I ate and my drunk rants amount nacho cheese only further proved to myself that I needed to detox!

Technology

First it was myspace,then facebook,then blogging, then Twitter, and now all of them (except myspace - that sh*t is dinosaur). Technology is taking over my life!! I use to think it was a bad thing. That people would forget how to communicate to one another in real life. In person to person situations. But maybe all these sites are a way to express yourself in a way that sometimes you can't do in a person to person situation. And all these social networking sites acutally ARE a great way to network! I'm beginning to warm up to the idea that maybe we really are a generation of texting, typing, twittering... and maybe that isn't such a bad thing! And with this revelation I have decided that I am opening up my blog to general blogging! I will still blog about fun and adventerous things to do in LA, but with the current economic state I find myself doing less and less no matter how cheap it is. So look forward to more random blogs!

peace, love, and happiness!