Down a 1/2 pound from yesterday. I did not work out on day 4. Down a total of 7 1/2 pounds.
Juicing Observation on Day 4:
I experienced for the first time in my life what it feels like to eat because my body needs nutrition versus to eat because I am hungry. Until yesterday I didn't even know there was a difference.
Friday evening our family left the house to run errands. I knew that while we were gone I would miss one juicing but thought I could hold out until we got home. As 7:45pm rolled around I could feel my body changing. It's hard to explain the feeling. I didn't feel hunger pains or the need to eat. I just knew that I needed some nutrition.
Within 15 minutes I felt my energy drop. Worse of all, a headache was setting in. Luckily, we were near a Cub Foods. I was able to get my hands on some pure coconut juice. Within minutes of drinking it my headache started to subside and I started to feel better.
Through out this process I never felt hunger pains nor did I have the need to eat food. My brain was sending me a signal for nutrition. So this is how my body is suppose to function? Who knew?
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Friday, May 10, 2013
Day 4
Lost another pound. After 3 full days of juicing I have lost a total of 7 pounds.
Juicing Observation on day 3:
On the evening of day 3 I attended an event with Kong and Ayden. Yummy finger foods were set up on neat little trays across two tables. Holding Ayden's sketch book for her so that she could help herself to some food I noticed that I did not have the need to eat. I stood next to the food while talking with other guests. Never once did the food cross my mind even though it was directly in my line of vision.
Big deal, right? For me it is.
Last week I was at another event and of course there was food. I was in the company of some really amazing people doing really important work yet all I could think about was eating. I was greeting a friend and offered her some food to which she said, "Oh, thanks but I already ate." It dawned on me that never in my life had I ever voluntarily turned down food. Not even if I was full or had just eaten. (Maybe part culture, part growing up poor...more to come in tomorrow's reflection.)
I look back at my life and realize that if ever food was present, I was compelled, not matter what, to eat. Regardless of how engaged I was in conversation or how amazing the event, food was always on the back of my mind. For all of my adult life, food had been my obsession.
Before I went vegan, I was one of those people that could not get into my car without stopping to buy something to eat (Yes, even if I had just inhaled a meal). It would take every ounce of will power not to pull into a drive through. Once we went vegan the compulsion eased but it never went away 100%. I would acknowledge the compulsion, then convince myself to resist. It is important for me to admit that after I overcame the learning curve of vegan cooking, that's when the weight started to creep back slowly. That's because I never broke the cycle of addiction. (Note: you can gain weight even if you are eating healthy foods that are whole and organic).
I don't know when I started eating to eat. I eat not because I am hungry but because I love, love, love the taste of food. This is probably the reason why I developed in such an awesome cook. I don't love food the way normal people love things like puppies or cats. I love food in a way that consumes me to my core.
This cleanse has cleared my mind. It is allowing me to see things for what they really are. I can feel sad, ashamed and keep it all to myself or I can acknowledge it, learn from it, and move on. I don't wish to be skinny or beautiful. What I do wish for, once I am through juicing, is to be able to say on a regular basis, "Oh, thank you but I already ate." Last night was the first time I didn't think twice about food. I am hopeful.
Juicing Observation on day 3:
On the evening of day 3 I attended an event with Kong and Ayden. Yummy finger foods were set up on neat little trays across two tables. Holding Ayden's sketch book for her so that she could help herself to some food I noticed that I did not have the need to eat. I stood next to the food while talking with other guests. Never once did the food cross my mind even though it was directly in my line of vision.
Big deal, right? For me it is.
Last week I was at another event and of course there was food. I was in the company of some really amazing people doing really important work yet all I could think about was eating. I was greeting a friend and offered her some food to which she said, "Oh, thanks but I already ate." It dawned on me that never in my life had I ever voluntarily turned down food. Not even if I was full or had just eaten. (Maybe part culture, part growing up poor...more to come in tomorrow's reflection.)
I look back at my life and realize that if ever food was present, I was compelled, not matter what, to eat. Regardless of how engaged I was in conversation or how amazing the event, food was always on the back of my mind. For all of my adult life, food had been my obsession.
Before I went vegan, I was one of those people that could not get into my car without stopping to buy something to eat (Yes, even if I had just inhaled a meal). It would take every ounce of will power not to pull into a drive through. Once we went vegan the compulsion eased but it never went away 100%. I would acknowledge the compulsion, then convince myself to resist. It is important for me to admit that after I overcame the learning curve of vegan cooking, that's when the weight started to creep back slowly. That's because I never broke the cycle of addiction. (Note: you can gain weight even if you are eating healthy foods that are whole and organic).
I don't know when I started eating to eat. I eat not because I am hungry but because I love, love, love the taste of food. This is probably the reason why I developed in such an awesome cook. I don't love food the way normal people love things like puppies or cats. I love food in a way that consumes me to my core.
This cleanse has cleared my mind. It is allowing me to see things for what they really are. I can feel sad, ashamed and keep it all to myself or I can acknowledge it, learn from it, and move on. I don't wish to be skinny or beautiful. What I do wish for, once I am through juicing, is to be able to say on a regular basis, "Oh, thank you but I already ate." Last night was the first time I didn't think twice about food. I am hopeful.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Day 3
I had a minor melt down yesterday. I was supper crabby towards Kong last night. I wasn't feeling hungry, just everything he did bothered me. Not sure what happened.
I lost 2 more pounds. In two days I have lost a total of 6 pounds. I am certain this is not a sustainable rate. That said I feel great, have not had cravings, and have a ton of energy.
I have been asked by a lot of people why I am doing this. Compared to most people I eat a healthy diet and I exercise. It may help if people understood my history.
I developed an autoimmune disease affecting my kidneys when I was just 16. With kidney disease you feel absolutely normal until you go into failure so for many years I lived as if I had no issue.
When I was 29 I became pregnant with Ayden. Though I had no complications with my first pregnancy, my second one was a different story. I was pre-eclamptic, Ayden had issues with her heart, and I delivered prematurely. After the delivery the doctors told me I would go into kidney failure within six months.
I was put on high dosages of perdinsone (steriod), cellcept, and a whole host of other drugs that made me toxic. I became very ill and when I almost lost hope, through God's grace, I found my way to natural healing. I started acupuncture, homeopathic remedies and changed my diet (cut out red meats and processed foods). I started to get better. After two year of natural healing my kidney disease went into remission. A rare case as only 20% of people with my condition go into remission. The doctors attributed it to their medicine but I knew better. I was on to something.
Fast forward 8 years later. I am nearly medication free but I am over weight (clinically obese really) despite a vegan diet and regular exercise. I have a resting heart beat of 45 beats per minute. Based on my physical appearance this was an early sign of heart disease. After putting me through a number of heart tests and making me run on a treadmill, they determined they were wrong. It seemed the low heart beat was a sign of a healthy heart. A medical anomaly really.
So what's the problem? If I am healthy, why am I so grossly over weight?
For many years I asked the question of when I would return to my normal self. I just knew and felt like things had been forever changed in my cells after the medication. Then I met a natural path doctor who confirmed what I had been thinking and explained to me why this is. Ah yes, the universe was finally lining everything up for me.
First and foremost, a diet of meat and white rice for the majority of my child hood was probably what wrecked havoc on my body. Although my family cooked traditional Hmong food, I rarely ate vegetables or fruits. Add on years of working in my family's restaurant drinking coke as my only source of fluid intake and eating high sodium, high MSG food and presto, you have a body that is so thrown out of wack that it no longer knows how to regulate itself.
It's no wonder that I can hit the gym for an hour, practice martial arts for an hour, play tennis for 1.5 hours, and bike 10 miles in a day and still only maintain my weight. It's no wonder that I cut out meats, dairy and processed foods and only lose 20 pounds to come down from being obese to greatly over weight. So what to do? Heal my body at the cellular level. Infuse my body with a concentration of plant nutrients so that my cells heal. Re-teach my body how to do what it is suppose to do.
So far, in the days that I have been juicing, I have noticed that I sweat profusely when I work out. This is a big deal. I rarely broke a sweat for the first 30 years of my life. I kid you not. Your skin is the largest organ you have. If it doesn't function normally, you can't excrete the toxins you build up inside your body.
I don't expect that after the cleanse I will be "cured". I know that this is a life style change. No going back to eating meats, foods high in fat and calories, or foods that are processed. No dairy, no sugar, no glutens. If I want to live life to its fullest I will need to rethink how I look at food.
Resources/Documentaries that helped me move to this way of thinking:
Forks Over Knives
Super Size Me
Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead
Food Inc
Hungry for Change
My MD brother-in-law and sister-in-law (who also went vegan and started juicing) Their story is amazing.
I lost 2 more pounds. In two days I have lost a total of 6 pounds. I am certain this is not a sustainable rate. That said I feel great, have not had cravings, and have a ton of energy.
I have been asked by a lot of people why I am doing this. Compared to most people I eat a healthy diet and I exercise. It may help if people understood my history.
I developed an autoimmune disease affecting my kidneys when I was just 16. With kidney disease you feel absolutely normal until you go into failure so for many years I lived as if I had no issue.
When I was 29 I became pregnant with Ayden. Though I had no complications with my first pregnancy, my second one was a different story. I was pre-eclamptic, Ayden had issues with her heart, and I delivered prematurely. After the delivery the doctors told me I would go into kidney failure within six months.
I was put on high dosages of perdinsone (steriod), cellcept, and a whole host of other drugs that made me toxic. I became very ill and when I almost lost hope, through God's grace, I found my way to natural healing. I started acupuncture, homeopathic remedies and changed my diet (cut out red meats and processed foods). I started to get better. After two year of natural healing my kidney disease went into remission. A rare case as only 20% of people with my condition go into remission. The doctors attributed it to their medicine but I knew better. I was on to something.
Fast forward 8 years later. I am nearly medication free but I am over weight (clinically obese really) despite a vegan diet and regular exercise. I have a resting heart beat of 45 beats per minute. Based on my physical appearance this was an early sign of heart disease. After putting me through a number of heart tests and making me run on a treadmill, they determined they were wrong. It seemed the low heart beat was a sign of a healthy heart. A medical anomaly really.
So what's the problem? If I am healthy, why am I so grossly over weight?
For many years I asked the question of when I would return to my normal self. I just knew and felt like things had been forever changed in my cells after the medication. Then I met a natural path doctor who confirmed what I had been thinking and explained to me why this is. Ah yes, the universe was finally lining everything up for me.
First and foremost, a diet of meat and white rice for the majority of my child hood was probably what wrecked havoc on my body. Although my family cooked traditional Hmong food, I rarely ate vegetables or fruits. Add on years of working in my family's restaurant drinking coke as my only source of fluid intake and eating high sodium, high MSG food and presto, you have a body that is so thrown out of wack that it no longer knows how to regulate itself.
It's no wonder that I can hit the gym for an hour, practice martial arts for an hour, play tennis for 1.5 hours, and bike 10 miles in a day and still only maintain my weight. It's no wonder that I cut out meats, dairy and processed foods and only lose 20 pounds to come down from being obese to greatly over weight. So what to do? Heal my body at the cellular level. Infuse my body with a concentration of plant nutrients so that my cells heal. Re-teach my body how to do what it is suppose to do.
So far, in the days that I have been juicing, I have noticed that I sweat profusely when I work out. This is a big deal. I rarely broke a sweat for the first 30 years of my life. I kid you not. Your skin is the largest organ you have. If it doesn't function normally, you can't excrete the toxins you build up inside your body.
I don't expect that after the cleanse I will be "cured". I know that this is a life style change. No going back to eating meats, foods high in fat and calories, or foods that are processed. No dairy, no sugar, no glutens. If I want to live life to its fullest I will need to rethink how I look at food.
Resources/Documentaries that helped me move to this way of thinking:
Forks Over Knives
Super Size Me
Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead
Food Inc
Hungry for Change
My MD brother-in-law and sister-in-law (who also went vegan and started juicing) Their story is amazing.
Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Day 2
Today is day 2 of my juicing journey. I am feeling great.
I have lost 4 pounds in just one day. I only had one small set back last night. I made a green juice that I didn't like. After drinking it, just smelling the lingering odor of the pulped veggies made me sick. I quickly remedied it by juicing a known yummy combination and that did the trick.
I learned today that though I love, love, love eating cucumbers, I hate them juiced. I'll have to find another green recipe. I also learned that to go about this whole juicing journey the right way, I need to incorporate a few other things.
Recommended
I have lost 4 pounds in just one day. I only had one small set back last night. I made a green juice that I didn't like. After drinking it, just smelling the lingering odor of the pulped veggies made me sick. I quickly remedied it by juicing a known yummy combination and that did the trick.
I learned today that though I love, love, love eating cucumbers, I hate them juiced. I'll have to find another green recipe. I also learned that to go about this whole juicing journey the right way, I need to incorporate a few other things.
Recommended
- Drink 4 to 6 juices a day about, 16 to 20oz each at meal times
- Drink at least 64oz water a day
- Before the am meal/juice drink a hot cup of water with lemon cut up in it
- Before bed a cup of hot herbal tea/stevia optional
- No coffee,sodas,tea,sports drinks, milk etc, only herbal tea and coconut water are allowed
- Make sure the juices are 80%veg and 20% fruits
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
Day 1
I get it, life happens and routines disrupted but boy, why is getting back on track so difficult?
2012 was an amazing year. Our entire family had adopted a vegan life style, Kong and I both lost a considerable amount of weight, Taylor's allergies were completely eliminated and Ayden, well, she's the picture of health. So then, what happened in 2013?
In February we lost a member of our family to breast cancer. Kong's brother lost the love if his life. With that loss came a disruption to our routine. To support our family we have spent nearly every weekend for the last 3 months with them as they navigate through this difficult time. We have no regrets of the time spent together or the love and support gained. What we have learned is:
1. Love people as much as you can. That love is never wasted.
2. Let people know everyday how much you love them.
3. Forgive often, laugh loud and embrace long.
4. Life is short. Cherish it.
The most important lesson is the gift that my sister-in-law gave us before she passed. She was healthy, fit and doctor and yet she turned to a holistic approach to healing. In addition to a whole host of other natural approaches to her life (acupuncture, energy healing, organic eating, etc...), she had also turned to juicing, specifically Gerson Therapy. If we want to truly heal and not just medicate our symptoms we need to return to the most natural and raw way of living. That is the only sure way we can guard against illness, diseases and sickness.
In just the past three months I have gained 13 pounds, my joints are tender and sore again, my uric acid levels elevated, and my rheumtory arthritis in my hands is creeping back. I feel heavy, irritated and bloated all the time. I am not sleeping well at night. I rigorously exercise every day but I know the problem is my food intake.
I am taking my sister-in-law's advice to heart and today I start my 30 day juicing journey. My goal is to purely juice for 30 days. After the 30 days I plan to return to a vegan life style. Today I start my journey. Today, I choose life.
DAY 1
I am feeling optimistic. It is 12:10pm and my apple/orange/pineapple/chia seed juice is still keeping me full. I feel better than yesterday. Good start to day 1.
2012 was an amazing year. Our entire family had adopted a vegan life style, Kong and I both lost a considerable amount of weight, Taylor's allergies were completely eliminated and Ayden, well, she's the picture of health. So then, what happened in 2013?
In February we lost a member of our family to breast cancer. Kong's brother lost the love if his life. With that loss came a disruption to our routine. To support our family we have spent nearly every weekend for the last 3 months with them as they navigate through this difficult time. We have no regrets of the time spent together or the love and support gained. What we have learned is:
1. Love people as much as you can. That love is never wasted.
2. Let people know everyday how much you love them.
3. Forgive often, laugh loud and embrace long.
4. Life is short. Cherish it.
The most important lesson is the gift that my sister-in-law gave us before she passed. She was healthy, fit and doctor and yet she turned to a holistic approach to healing. In addition to a whole host of other natural approaches to her life (acupuncture, energy healing, organic eating, etc...), she had also turned to juicing, specifically Gerson Therapy. If we want to truly heal and not just medicate our symptoms we need to return to the most natural and raw way of living. That is the only sure way we can guard against illness, diseases and sickness.
In just the past three months I have gained 13 pounds, my joints are tender and sore again, my uric acid levels elevated, and my rheumtory arthritis in my hands is creeping back. I feel heavy, irritated and bloated all the time. I am not sleeping well at night. I rigorously exercise every day but I know the problem is my food intake.
I am taking my sister-in-law's advice to heart and today I start my 30 day juicing journey. My goal is to purely juice for 30 days. After the 30 days I plan to return to a vegan life style. Today I start my journey. Today, I choose life.
DAY 1
I am feeling optimistic. It is 12:10pm and my apple/orange/pineapple/chia seed juice is still keeping me full. I feel better than yesterday. Good start to day 1.
Monday, March 18, 2013
For a Year I Thought I Was Gay
Well, the other night I was laying with Taylor when we started talking about boys. I told Taylor that if she wanted to date a boy I would be okay with it. I even offered to take them to a movie. Her response, she is not interested in the guys she knows in that way. I thought to myself, what if she's not interested in the boys because she doesn't like boys? The rest of our conversation:
Me: Are you attracted to boys?
Taylor: Yes? (with some hesitation)
Me: Are you attracted to girls?
Taylor: Well, I notice when girls are pretty.
Me: Do you think you might be gay?
Taylor: No, I'm pretty sure I am not. I like boys but for a year I thought I was homosexual.
Taylor told me that for the entire year of 5th grade she thought she was gay. She said that she noticed all of her friends were girls, she only hung out with girls and she really liked her girl friends. She thought maybe this was what it meant to be gay. She realized she wasn't when she finally met a boy that she liked. The feelings were different.
A whole year and she never told me she was feeling confused about this? I wasn't sure what to make of it.
After she told me all of this we laughed, I called her a dork, then told her that even if she were gay I would love her none the less. She gave me a big hug and I laid with her until we both fell asleep.
Wednesday, February 20, 2013
Lost Ritual Found
When did my chubby baby turn into this beautiful big girl?
Tonight, as we laid together in her bed, she poured out her heart. We talked about her disappointment in herself, her struggles, the stress she feels but most importantly, that she is not living up to her father and my expectation.
Her tears broke my heart. I had no idea how much hurt she was feeling inside. In the process of trying to make her strong and confident, I forgot to tell her that it is okay to feel weak and vulnerable. Not knowing all the answers, and not doing all the right things is normal for someone her age. I think I forgot that making mistakes and learning from those mistakes is part of growing up.
I will remember to manage my expectations, allow her to make mistakes and learn from them, and reminder her often how much I love her. I will also lay with my girls as often as I can. I will never get this time back. I will treasure these moments. Never again will I let the magic of the calm night and the opportunity to listen pass me by.
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