Monday, June 9, 2008

Gaining Insight

(I hope to have some pics up soon - hang in there.)
Had an awesome visit from some good old Hawaii friends this past week. The Norton's came to Aspen - what a treat! They were inspiring....

Within that inspiration, I began to gain some insight, as I cleanse, into some of my PATTERNS of behaving and eating. Patterns are important to recognize, because if we don't change the patterns, we'll continue to get the same results. The hard part, sometimes, can be changing the patterns.
Here's mine:
Quite often in late afternoon - I get tired, sleepy. When I'm sleepy, I "transform" (one of Sikeli's favorite new words, always used in lieu of "change") into Grumpy Dwarf. At these times, I begin to feel overwhelmed,as if I can't get done everything I need to get done. I feel less and less hopeful until something happens to change this negative, downward spiral - which usually is to go to bed. Most often, by morning, I'm renewed and hopeful again. (Usually. Unless someone wet the bed and another had a night terror and another needed a snack during the night, etc:)

I have just learned that when I'm tired and feeling stressed, my BLOOD SUGAR DROPS! When blood sugar drops, I feel hungry. When I feel hungry and tired and stressed ALL AT ONCE, I eat - and I overeat - and I overeat things that are not rejuvenating. I eat things that take all my digestive energies and make the rest of me shutdown and want to sleep even more.

I fell off the cleanse wagon one night - and had Little Caesar's pizza. I paid dearly. I immediately felt sleepy, but it wasn't bed time yet. The rest of the night, that negativity returned that I hadn't felt since beginning the cleanse. I literally saw and felt the polar opposite in mood as it is impacted by nutrition. I was in awe. If nutrition can help me stabilize and maintain a positive outlook and optimistic view, I'm going to do all I can to keep learning about and LIVING nutrition.

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Into the Cleanse

Sai and I started our 30-day c leanse on May 30...I just couldn't wait!
It is so awesome! We are both enjoying the great benefits and feeling the positive effects.
We are sleeping so well and feeling really rested. Which, in turn, allows us to get up early and exercise.
We started preparing for the cleanse 2 weeks before by eliminating any unnecessary foods and adding more nutrients/vitamins/minerals into our daily consumption. From those 2 1/2 weeks ago until now, - Sai has lost 20 lbs and co-workers were the first to notice (after me, of course.)
He was just in shock when he got on the scale!
The awesome part is we know it's not water, because we are increasing our muscle mass and our body fat % is decreasing. It's just all that fatty "food storage" we've been hauling around. When our church leaders encourage us to have a 2 year supply of food - we took them a little too seriously!!!
We want to recognize our "cleanse buddies" as well - Bridgette, who has lost over 20 lbs in 30 days and Jen who is currently doing a 9-day. To the friends beginning this week - WELCOME TO THE CULTURE OF FUN, FIT & FEELING FABULOUS!