So, I started the whole New Years get-well kick in March of 2010, then again in December 2010. In January 2011 it has fully kicked in. I'm officially starting to feel great and ready to face a new year in a new way! As I'm on a slow approach to my forties, and my personal health has declined (due to my lack of healthy habits), I thought it was high time to feel better. I know, I know; I'm young compared to some of my old fart friends, but I was getting stiff, gaining weight, generally feeling ill, tired and super run-down. Given my years of advocacy for mental health and feeling a sense of well being, I decided to step it up a notch for myself... into full body awareness and self-care.
I will not bore you with all the details of how great I'm feeling but.... Sure, at times I'm still achy and dealing with chronic back pain from that old sledding accident, but I've lost 7 lbs (which is enough weight loss for me); I don't have insomnia anymore; my nervous energy has nearly disappeared; my allergies have decreased; I don't drink any caffeine (a miracle) and most importantly I feel a strange, new calm, blissful sense of well-being...
So here's what has worked for me in these experiments... Oh, and these are just MY experiments, and they work for me, and may not work for you... I want you to have wellness and happiness, so try your own!
THE MASTER CLEANSE
WHAT: The Master Cleanse... 10 days of detox... you suffer, and I mean, I suffered for 10 days, on only drinking a lemon juice concoction (no solid food). Yup, no solid food for 10 days.
MY BENEFIT: Clear glowing skin, big weight loss (some people lose 20 lbs, I lost 7 lbs, but I'm already small), really improved digestion, general feeling of wellness and detox, total reduction in all my physical complaints, increased energy, and a strange existential connection to something greater than myself, including a real faith in my body's resilience. Once all the detox symptoms passed, I felt like I was floating, literally.
MY SIDE EFFECTS: ***This detox is not for diabetics and one must consult with a holistic nutritionist/doctor if you have any health problems***. In the first few days, I wanted to die. I was in so much pain from sugar and caffeine withdrawal. I had detox symptoms: weakness, overwhelming food cravings and pain drove me to near madness. Then, by day 7, I was so bored, because I couldn't cope with life without food. I had an epiphany that my life revolved around eating. The boredom almost killed me (but it was just a detox symptom). Coming off the cleanse, I realized that I had no idea how to eat properly and had to relearn to treat my body well.
CHECK IT OUT: http://therawfoodsite.com/mastercleanse.htm,
http://www.rawfoodexplained.com/introduction-to-fasting/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1mK7TclJrs
BIKRAM YOGA
WHAT: 3-5 days per week of Bikram Yoga... not just any yoga... 700 calorie burning (per class), heart pumping, back aligning, hot ass, I mean HOT, yoga. If you like dripping in sweat and jumping around with yogis in bathing suits like I do-- you'll be in heaven. Yum!
MY BENEFIT: I have more energy, more strength and flexibility than I have had in years! I have better breathing, clearer sinuses, improved self-confidence and increased feelings of calm and well being.
MY SIDE EFFECTS: The classes are very difficult and the heat is stifling. Afterwards, I have muscle soreness, and dehydration when I'm not drinking (half my body weight in ounces) in water. I get so impatient with drinking that much water.
CHECK IT OUT: http://www.bikramyoga.com/
HEALTHY EATING
WHAT: Changing my eating habits...this is still an experiment in progress... but it includes seriously reduced carbohydrates, no white bread (unless I make it with organic flours), no sugar, absolutely no soy, no soy bullshit processed crap (like tofu chicken-yikes!), using only cold pressed coconut oil and ghee (clarified) butter (no processed margarine crap)... basically no processed crap food and BUYING LOCAL. I started with my local corner store. Corner stores are all over Los Angeles, run by little Mom and Pop families (the one near my house is run by an Armenian family and it's just a bit bigger than my living room). They buy local produce and they know their farmer, although not necessarily organic, I like that I know who I'm buying from and they know who they're buying from. I will blog in more detail about nutrition in another future post and my new organic, non-GMO obsession.
MY BENEFIT: Less gastrointestinal issues, reduced food allergies, a feeling of connection with what I eat, a sense of trust that I am doing the right thing for my health and maybe the planet, access to vitamins from my food and not from processed supplements, of course, more energy and no food comas or sugar crashes after I eat.
MY SIDE EFFECTS: It's tedious to become properly educated about food (and supplements). It's frustrating and overwhelming to break old habits. It's been daunting to fly in the face of mainstream industry and overcome the urge for easy access, mass produced food. The peer pressure from friends, and others, who wonder why I'm not eating refined sugar, or why I refuse that piece of crappy, highly processed, cake they are offering me. I've recently been insultingly called a "rabbit" by a friend who just couldn't understand the true benefits of eating better and eating a large proportion of almost raw vegetables. If I'm a happier and healthier person, then the world is a better place; one person at a time.
GET EDUCATED: http://www.amazon.com/Prescription-Nutritional-Healing-3rd/dp/1583330771
GET EDUCATED: http://www.westonaprice.org/
BUY LOCAL: http://greenlagirl.com/locavoring-in-a-box-organic-csas-in-los-angeles/
MEDITATION
WHAT: Meditation and Mindfulness...everyday, whether it's 5 minutes, or 2 hours, I sit on my meditation cushion, or I attend a meditation class, or I listen to an audio meditation, or I'm sitting in traffic practicing mindfulness, or I'm walking, or doing the dishes; calmness is available to me (I'm learning).
MY BENEFIT: An increased sense of calm and reduced anxiety in the face of stress, a deeper connection to myself and something greater than myself (a feeling of interconnectedness), a spiritual/existential awareness, increased intuition and awareness of my thinking process, lower blood pressure and just generally feeling like a nicer, less impatient, less bitchy person.
MY SIDE EFFECTS: I mean, who has time to sit around!? Literally, sitting there doing "nothing," especially listening to my own whack thoughts, can be and has been kind of overwhelming, frustrating, tedious and sometimes pretty boring. The time factor has been my usual excuse... then I heard an interview with Richard Gere, who also seems to be an urban granola hippie like I'm discovering about myself, and he explained that he meditates, ritually, without interruption, everyday, regardless of his schedule or film stress or anything. He seems pretty busy, so I figured, I had no excuse.
http://www.againstthestream.org/
http://www.deerparkmonastery.org/
OTHER STUFF WORTH MENTIONING
Lastly, I've added high quality pure Omega 3 by Nordic Naturals (http://www.nordicnaturals.com/), Chocolate Superfood by Amazing Grass ( http://www.amazinggrass.com/chocolategreensuperfood.html), Probiotics by Innate Response (http://www.innateresponse.com/ ) and decent quality B Complex with METHYLACOBALAMIN B12 and and occasional use of Bach Rescue Remedy (http://www.bachflower.com/index.html ) when I'm stressed out... all of it has helped, a lot.
In total, this is my current experimental recipe for feeling physically and emotionally great in 2011! It's working so far.
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