Day 8: Measurement Day

Okay, I was a little nervous when I woke up this morning, knowing this was the big day where I would weigh myself and take my measurements so that I could see if this was working or not. I had a bit of difficulty with the measurements. It is hard to measure yourself. But I'm not comfortable asking for help right now. Maybe later. So I struggled through. The biggest difference was in my butt. I think about 2 inch loss there. Other wise it was either the same or off by 1/2 inch in various places. Hard to know for sure if I was measuring correctly. Was I getting the tape in the exact same spot as the first time? I used a mirror to help me. I'm wondering if there is an easier way for accuracy.

Next was the scale. I actually weighed myself, was so surprised that I did it several times in a row to see if the number was any different. Standing on various parts of the scale to make sure it wasn't a fluke. But it was real. I lost 6.8lbs! In 7 days. I like that. This is doable for me.

So I continue. Had my breakfast shake, went to work out at water aerobics, made my bank deposit and came home. Went and got water (lugging 5 gallon bottles of water counts as more exercise, right?). Then headed to work where I basically watched various TV shows on Hulu while entering receipts and bills in my computer. I did go to the mall to get lunch and pay the phone bills. Bought myself Mongolian BBQ - you pick 5 fresh veggies and one meat, add your own spices and condiments to it and they barbecue it up on a big flat grill. One of my favorite healthy fast food choices. I got chicken, carrots, celery, onions, cabbage, and pineapple for mine, with a small dash of sesame oil, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic and ginger water, and hot peppers. They of course serve it with rice, but I only ate one scoop (1/2 cup) . So a good lunch.

Dinner, I drank my 1/2 chocolate/1/2 vanilla shake while making porkchops, mashed potatoes and fresh veggy tray for the family. I ate a few pieces of celery for my evening snack.

So begins week 2!

Day 7: Cleanse Day

Well, I'm not sure what I expected from this day. I'm hungry. But I made it through. That breakfast shake is going to taste soo good tomorrow!

Couple of things I noticed today. At water aerobics I was lapping the old ladies. I just felt so good in the water and just moved. At the end of the day, while standing for 45 minutes grading student's tests, I realized I wasn't shifting from leg to leg like I usually do. I was able to stand still and test without having to redistribute my weight from leg to leg because they hurt. Which means they didn't hurt! I have had major issues on class nights with just being in such agony when I came home because my feet and legs ached so much. I even invested in an extra large bottle of Valerian to help me with this problem. But I actually felt fine. I wonder if this cleanse will actually help with my leg pain issues. Hmmm....will have to keep an eye on this and see.

Les told me my new hobby is peeing. I feel like it is. Instead of fighting it, I have just succumbed to the fact that I'll have to pee every hour, or sometimes twice in an hour. And keep on drinking that water! It is getting easier. One thing that helps with my bathroom trips is buying Stephen King's book, "Under The Dome", Nice thick novel that will keep my interest for a while. I'm half way through it. And it makes trips to my library...er...bathroom more enjoyable.

Now I really should head to bed and quit thinking about food. Note to self: Do not look at recipe sites on fast days. Stay away from Pinterest.

Oh, one final thing. Hubby and at least two kids have sniffles and flu like symptoms. I'm feeling just fine. Keep those toxic bugs out of me, Isagenix!

Day 6

I think this is all starting to get much easier for me. I planned my day and my meals out in advance. Had cooked chicken and brown rice for dinner the night before, so packed away a plate to bring to work for my lunch. Mixed up a salad in the morning with red wine vinegar on it for dressing (no fats) and also made up some finadene sauce for my rice. Finadene sauce is the only thing that makes me like rice. It consists of soy sauce, lemon juice, chopped onions and chopped hot red peppers. We grow the "boonie" peppers to use for this, but I couldn't find our plant so I added a few dashes of Louisiana hot sauce to the mix. Put it all in a jar and use on rice as a condiment. Yum.

My friend stopped by in the afternoon with some treats from a local coffee shop. She shared an oatmeal craisin cookie with me. It just happened to be my snack time (2pm). I also had 1/4 of her birthday cupcake. As I ate it I told her about "joy" foods. Chanci shared on a recorded conference call about "fuel" food, "joy" food, and "storm" food. There was one other category but I forget what it was. Joy food is food you just love and you want to eat it and savor it. If it no longer gives you joy when eating then stop! This is a concept I can really grasp hold of.

I drank plenty of water because it was such a hot day. Unfortunately I didn't get to drink my evening shake until 9pm when I got home from work. Kids had made spaghetti for dinner and the smell was so enticing! But I resisted even taking a nibble of spaghetti, made my shake and retired to my bedroom to get me out of the kitchen and away from temptation.

The only thing I didn't do yesterday was exercise. I did do a bit of walking, just in paying some bills and doing banking. Parking far from the entrance to the bank. Thankfully the next four days of exercise will be easier with my water aerobics class every morning.

Day 3 without coffee. It is getting easier.

Tomorrow will be my first cleanse day. Should be interesting. I have a lot of work to do at the office so hopefully that will keep me distracted from wanting to eat real food.

Day 5

Today didn't start out so good. We had a maggot emergency. Living in the tropics, this is something we have had to deal with on more than one occasion. Kids had not taken out the garbage for the last two days and dishes hadn't been washed. Result was maggots crawling all over our kitchen and living room floor, first thing this morning.

I wonder, does sweeping and mopping floors while bending down and picking up the stray maggots with a paper towel, for 30 minutes count as my exercise for the day? I sure sweated a lot doing it. The sweat was dripping down my legs and tickling my ankles and made me think maggots were crawling on me! Not fun.

I wasn't planning on going to church (we actually haven't gone for the past two months) but Les came home from his first wedding and had enough of a break that he decided he wanted to go. So I joined him, but he had to leave before it was over to do his next wedding. It was nice to see some old friends, but the sermon, oh my. so disjointed. One of the associate pastors speaking. Oh well.

I'm not really liking the vanilla shakes so this morning I decided to try mixing one scoop of vanilla with one scoop of chocolate. That was quite satisfying. So I did the same for my dinner shake, only added a sprinkle of cinnamon to it as well. Nice. For lunch I had a few slices of cantaloupe and a sandwich made with Oroweat Sandwich thins - 100% whole wheat, flax and fiber (no high fructose corn syrup), 100 calories per sandwich. I had cucumber, tomato, turkey and cheddar cheese and just a little bit of butter so it wasn't dry. Quite tasty. I know I'm supposed to be counting the calories, so I try, but am not being too fanatical. I've dieted enough over the years to have a good estimate of how many calories certain foods are. So I'm sure I was within the acceptable range. I did however feel hungry again by 3pm so boiled myself an egg to eat.

And what if I can't remember if I took my extra accelerator pill then? Hmmm.....the perils of old age. You get forgetful easily.

I have chicken and brown rice cooking for dinner for the family. I plan on putting aside a lunch plate for myself for tomorrow. One more day down and one more to go until my first cleanse day.

Day 4

Today was a total caffeine free day! And no headache. Wow. I honestly didn't think it was possible.

I did end up having to have a nap in the afternoon though.

It was hard to follow the plan exactly today. First of all, it was Saturday. A work day. I had to be at work by 8:30am, class started at 9. I dealt with all the driving lessons, class instruction, testing, phone calls, and other work related issues until 1pm when I finally was able to lock up and go home. Except I couldn't just go home I had to go to the mall to get lunch for my working daughter. I had my shake for breakfast around 8am. Had munched on a 1/4 apple and a handful of mini rice cakes sometime during the morning and by now I was hungry and wanted my lunch shake. But first I had to go to the food court. Note to self: Never go to the food court when you are hungry~!

It took forever to get Stephanie's sandwich from Charlies. And then I decided to pick up some food for Cassie too, since she was at the dive shop with her big sister. So I picked up a 2 choice chinese plate for her - rice, noodles and orange chicken. The smell of the food in the car was so tempting! And then, when I went to get into my car, my pants ripped! My favorite pair too! Big hole in the seat of the pants. I delivered the lunches to the girls and confess to sampling a few bites of noodles and orange chicken from Cassie's plate. Then I hustled myself home to have my lunch shake. It was now 2pm. Definitely off schedule here!

Had a vanilla shake with more of the orange energy mix in it. Hoping it would give me some energy. But then I sat down to read emails on my bed and fell asleep. Woke up about an hour later and realized it was time to get ready to go out for dinner. Tonight was mom's night out with fellow homeschooling moms. I had planned my meals so that I could eat dinner.

The dinner was excellent (barbecued chicken, red rice, and salad). I drank about 5 glasses of water with dinner. Of course we were there for almost 4 hours, good company, good fellowship, and lots of laughter.

Home around 10pm where kids were demanding that I feed them! HUH? I made them each a sandwich and then declared my duties done and went to my room to visit with my hubby and relax.

So Day 4 was done. I do think I ate more than I should have for the day and definitely can see how sticking to a schedule is better to keep yourself on track. But am proud of myself for avoiding that coffee! One baby step at a time they say.

Day 3

Three days down, 27 to go!

Today I changed things up a bit and did my two shakes for breakfast and lunch and then ate dinner with my family (chicken, potatoes and Caesar salad). I did find it much harder to do this. I felt very hungry by 5pm and we typically don't eat dinner until after 6, closer to 7. So I did find myself reaching for snacks more. I ate one of the IsaSnacks while doing my grocery shopping around 4pm. I called these "candies" in one of my other posts and now I know why Chanci says they are not candy! A little chalky, round "horse pill" looking thing. Easy to nibble on though and has a chocolaty/spicy flavor to it. Not inedible. But not something you want to eat more than one or two at a time! I just have to trust what they say about these snacks, that they are nutritiously sound and good for me. That is my mantra as I eat them. This is good for me. This is good for me.

However there are candies! Chocolates to be exact. Isa Delights.I love the Isa Delights. I was given a free box of dark chocolate ones with my kit and I will definitely add these to my next autoship order. As are most women, I'm a chocolate-holic. So "dieting" and depriving myself of chocolate is very stressful. Thanks to Isa Delights I don't have to deprive myself. I allow myself one of these a day and I eat them slowly to savor them and thoroughly enjoy their chocolaty goodness.

I did cheat and step on the scales today. And was pleasantly surprised to see that I have dropped 3 lbs. However, I'm not silly enough to start rejoicing just yet. Two weeks prior to starting this program I had weighed myself and was 2 lbs lighter than I was on the day I started this program. So based on that I have lost the two lbs I had gained in two weeks and lost only one more. I know that my weight can fluctuate a pound or two in any given day. I have learned it is best to weigh yourself the same time each time. Often night time weight is heavier than first thing in the morning. Some diet books recommend you only weigh at night to get your true weight. I tend to like the morning time weight better!

Tomorrow will be another test for me. I have an evening dinner out with friends. So again, will be doing shakes for breakfast and lunch. And since I'm working until 1pm I won't be able to eat lunch until then. Which hopefully will make me not quite as hungry at 6pm when I go out for dinner.

Day 2

First to share a few things I learned yesterday.

#1. It is hard to drink as much water as I should. I estimate I drank about 64 oz of water, maybe a little less. Here is what is written in a recommended PDF file:

How Much Water Is Enough?
So, are you drinking enough water? A non-active person requires half their
body weight in ounces per day. For example, if you weigh 160 lbs, you would need to drink 80 ounces of water per day. For every 25 pounds you exceed your ideal weight, add an extra 8 ounces of water. An active person needs 2/3 of their body weight in ounces per day. So if you weigh 160 lbs, you would now need 106 ounces of water/ day. 

Now without giving away my actual weight (I'm still nervous about sharing too many details) I should be drinking much more than 64 oz. However, drinking what I did yesterday resulted in way more bathroom trips than I was comfortable with. That is my issue. I'm sure I'll eventually deal with it, but right now, I'm not liking that side effect.

#2 This is a big tip that I came up with . If I eat my main meal midday then that means I don't have dinner with my family. I've decided to try this as much as possible to follow the schedule, but some nights I do want to have dinner with my family. So I'll switch out my shake meals on those days. In the meantime for the nights I don't eat with my family, the easiest way to resist temptation and to not feel deprived of the food they are eating is for me to cook something for them that I don't like. So last night I made them a tuna fish casserole. I hate tuna. Made it much easier for me to resist that temptation.

#3 Coffee. This is a big one for me. I know ideally to really follow this schedule and cleanse my body of toxins that prevent me from losing weight, I need to get rid of the caffeine. However, coffee for me is much more than just a caffeine hit. It is part of life. It is what I do in the morning to spend time with my husband. A ritual. Getting up and making coffee and sitting in the morning drinking coffee with Les before we start our day has been something we have done for years. Afternoons we often take a break and reconnect again over coffee. I love to go out with friends and meet in a coffee shop to visit and catch up on life. So how do I give this up??

I have been trying for the past two weeks to cut back. I quit having my afternoon coffee and have only been drinking coffee in the mornings (usually two cups). With the first day of the cleanse I confess to drinking one cup of coffee. Only one cup.

Today, day 2, I poured 2/3 of a cup of coffee in my mug, and then promptly forgot it on the counter when I headed out the door to my water aerobics class. By the time I got back my sweet hubby had dumped my coffee down the drain. He's trying to be helpful. But by 12:30 my entire head felt like it was in a vice grip. I just couldn't stand it anymore, so when hubby made coffee for his afternoon cup, I had one too. The headache quickly subsided. Now I know that what I'm feeling is caffeine withdrawals. And I know I need to work through this. But I also know myself and I think this is the key to success for me. If I cannot think, move or even breathe because of pain in my head, I'm going to look at this program and put all the blame on the program. Which, of course, would be wrong and ultimately self-destructive.

So I will try not to drink coffee. I will try to work through the pain. I will try.

Day 2 is almost over. Time to head home and make dinner for  the family. I had lunch early because my water aerobic class had their monthly birthday potluck this morning. I ate salad, roast chicken, fruit, and only one slice of Gerta's wonderful bread. Considering I usually eat two slices and take home two more to eat during the day, this was a HUGE sacrifice for me. Gerta is from Germany and makes the best homemade German bread. Her pretzels are even more amazing. Thankfully it was the bread she brought today. Oh and I had carrot pate. Talk about a wonderful low calorie food! Grated carrot mixed with lemon juice and sunflower seeds and eaten on a leaf of romaine lettuce. And one tiny piece of Miss Amy's fudge brownies. Just a tiny piece. Again, usually I eat 2-3 pieces of this delicacy! So I survived my first potluck on the cleanse. Considering Guam is the place where fiestas abound (fiesta = FOOD) it is something to be concerned about.

Tonight I have a ladies night out to watch an interesting play at the university. No food involved. I'll bring my water and an Isa-Delight to slowly savor.

Day 1

Official start of my 30 day Isagenix cleanse.

Morning started out with me climbing out of bed at 6:50am to take my 17 year old daughter to work. She opens our dive shop 5 days a week and it's usually a toss up on who drives her there. Guess I lost the toss this morning.

Got back shortly after 7 and went online to find the scheduled plan on what I am supposed to eat and when. Found it, memorized the details and then went downstairs to the kitchen to dig through my box and find the various items I needed. Chocolate shake mix, check. Ionix drink, check. Accelerator pills, check. Mixed up the shake in my blender with three ice cubes and probably a bit more water than I needed.

I have to say that the chocolate shakes are oh so yummy and get two thumbs up from me. That is a big plus so far. If I'm going to have to live off shakes for the next month (well not entirely, but you get my drift) then I had better enjoy them!

I then headed out to water aerobics, my preferred form of exercise. WA is offered 4 days a week, Tuesday thru Friday from 8:30-9:30am at our local pool. Which is 5 minutes from my house now, instead of 45 minutes from our old house. I love the group of ladies, ranging in ages from 35 to 85! We even occasionally get some young 20 year olds. Oh and a few men too. Today's exercises concentrated on our abdomens. I confess I must have drank my chocolate shake a little too fast as I kept burping up chocolate while doing tummy crunches!

Back at home I washed last night's dishes, swept the floor, chatted with Cassie, my 9yo, and consulted the menu plan for the rest of the day. Cut up some celery and cucumber to take to work with me for snacks and then headed to the office to open at 11am.

I had some banking errands to run around noon and so stopped by Froots and picked up a spinach tortilla wrap with chicken and veggies. I'm slowly munching on that for my noonday meal.

I suspect evenings is where I'm going to run into problems. Having a shake while having to cook a meal for my family and not eat it with them will be hard. I may have to switch out my one meal a day a few days a week so that I can eat with my family. And for those days that I have other engagements.

But so far so good.

It's Here!

It's here! My box of Isagenix products with my first 30-day cleanse inside.

My first order of business was to open every container (except the orange energy drink tubes) and make sure all the products pass the "sniff" test. If it doesn't smell good, this body of mine does not want to eat it!

Thankfully all products passed the sniff test. So we are good to go. Official start date is tomorrow, February 22nd.

I debated joining the Isabody challenge, but for now have decided not to do so. I tend to cave in to pressure and after reading the guidelines and rules of the challenge, decided it is not for me. Not at this time anyway. Though I do intend to do my own form of the challenge. My challenge is to make it through the next 30 days and to do so successfully, with measurable results. Speaking of measuring, good thing I found that measuring tape the other day. I need to get that out and take my measurements.

Note the ticker at the top of this blog? It shows my goal weight loss of 110lbs. I'm not going to say what I actually weigh right now. But let's just say that if I do lose 110lbs it may not be the end of my weight loss journey. Ideally for my height I could lose even more. But I will be happy making it to that particular goal.

I do have some challenges ahead of me. Like the mom's night out dinner on Saturday night. I plan on switching out the one meal a day on that day and eating it in the evening instead of as the noon day meal. Since I already committed to this night out and have been looking forward to going I want to be able to have my meal and enjoy it. I did look at the online menu for the restaurant and have already picked out what I think will be the lowest calorie meal they offer. Now see if I can resist the dessert temptation! They have awesome desserts there. Chocolate Wasabi Cheesecake!! I know, sounds strange, but honestly that little bit of wasabi in there just gives it that kick that makes it so good!

So here's to a new me. Starting tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Hunger Pangs

I've been thinking a lot about how you know when you are hungry and how does your body tell you it is time to fuel it? For me hunger pangs can be mild or severe.

I remember when I was a teenager, 15 to be exact, I went through a time when I didn't eat properly at all. I was in love for one. I had just met my future husband (though didn't know he was "the one" at the time) and he attended the senior high school and I was only in junior high. Every lunch hour I would walk over to the high school to meet with him and then walk back to my school. Took my entire lunch hour to do so, and often I was late for my afternoon classes. Eating lunch was just out of the question. I had no time! I also didn't eat breakfast back in those days. I preferred to sleep, rather than get up in time to eat before school, so would always miss breakfast. I ended up getting these severe pains in my stomach that caused me to throw up. I'm sure my parents must have thought I was bulimic or something. I was also at my thinnest during this time. No wonder! Only eating one meal a day, and doing all that walking, definitely did something for my weight. I was in such agony though that eventually the doctors were getting ready to treat me for stomach ulcers. About a week before I was to go in for an x-ray of my stomach I decided to force myself to eat something small every time I had the burning, acid like pain in my stomach and throat. And the pain went away! And I didn't throw up! It was then that I realized I really needed to eat to stop that pain from happening.

Over the years I used this as an excuse to eat all the time. Every time I felt that little "nudge" of discomfort I reached for food. Now 30 years later, I suffer the consequences for my actions. Because I didn't necessarily reach for the right kind of foods.

I believe my body back then was telling me that small meals, many times a day was the best thing for me. However I didn't listen to it properly.

Reading through the Isagneix program I see the recommendation to eat something at least 6 times a day. Now with the 30 day cleanse that will be shakes and supplements and small snacks, and one main meal of the day.

I do worry about that burning pain though. I hate feeling it. Yesterday, after eating my healthy lunch, I found myself feeling hunger pangs while teaching my evening class. I wasn't able to eat anything until 9pm when I got home from work. My husband had made some stir fried vegetables for dinner for the kids and there was plenty for me to eat. But I'm not a fan of cooked veggies. I love salads but slimy bok choy and cabbage and broccoli just don't do it for me. So I made myself some cheese and tomato melts on whole wheat bread. And as I ate them I so enjoyed them. Unfortunately I made 4 slices, intending to share some with my husband but I ended up eating them all! That is my downfall. I did feel satisfied after the first two, but still hungry so ate the third one and it tasted so good that I ate the fourth!

I know my first step is to learn to stop at satisfied.

Each journey starts with a step. As I progress on this journey, pray that I learn to take it one step at a time, going slowly and not trying to rush. It is when I rush things that I tend to fall flat on my face.

Eating Healthy

My healthy lunch.

Straight from Jamaican Grill, one of our favorite restaurants on Guam. Jerk Chicken Chef's salad. Full of good veggies and fruit and grilled Jamaica jerk chicken breast. 

It is hard to eat healthy when you work. I do have a kitchen at my office with fridge and microwave and little hot plate to heat up foods on. But it still means making sure I have healthy foods there for me. Sometimes it is just easier to pick up lunch from a fast food place or local restaurant. 

Salads like this can take me up to an hour to eat. In fact, I've been nibbling on this one for 45 minutes now. 

I'm still waiting on my kit to arrive. Checked the mail this morning only to realize that it's closed for President's day. So no mail today. Hopefully tomorrow there will be something? I'm really trying to get myself motivated for this. Read a few more online Isagenix testimonials. Heard about some from local friends. A chiropractic friend in the states told me they recommend the cleanses for their patients. That is encouraging. 

I need to fill my water bottle and get drinking more water. I know that is one of the toughest things for me to discipline myself to do. Funny thing, I can go all day without drinking any water and not even realize it, or feel thirsty. But if we are OUT of bottled water (which happened last week) on those days all I think about is water and no matter how much I drink I'm never satisfied! What is it about lack of something that causes the desire for it?? 

Of course, we have plenty of water today and I'm not at all desirous of drinking any. Silly me. Better go do it anyway! 

Here's to healthy lunches and lots of water. Drink up!

Baking Day

I have been avoiding baking anything around here for the past two weeks because I personally don't want to eat baked goods, even though I crave snacks ALL the time it seems. But that is hardly fair to my kids. So I decided to pull out my one trusty "healthy" cook book: La Leche League's Whole Foods Cookbook.

Back when I had my first son, Kevin, I was determined to bring him up on healthy foods. So his first birthday cake was made from this cookbook - the Pumpkin Spice cake. Very delicious. My resolve to keep refined sugars away from my son lasted until Easter of his second year (since he was only 3 months old at his first Easter), when Grandma gave him a chocolate bunny. Kevin ended up being the kid who grew up on Mountain Dew and Salt & Vinegar Potato Chips! So much for healthy eating. Now he tells me he eats much healthier. I can only hope so.

Back to my snack baking. I started by making Rice Krispie Treats. Hardly healthy, I know, but it was something quick and easy I could make that used up some rather stale marshmallows in my fridge. And I personally will try to stay away from them.

From the La Leche cookbook I decided to make Peanut Butter Oatmeal bars. Honey was the sugar and only 1/2 cup of butter in the recipe. Oatmeal, whole wheat flour, peanut butter and an egg and some baking soda round out the rest of the ingredients. I did top it with peanut butter, milk and 1 cup of melted semi-sweet chocolate chips, cooked together into a type of icing.

Adam plans on making homemade granola bars sometime today.

So we should be set for snacks for this week.

Still waiting on my box to arrive in the mail. Sometimes living on a tropical island sucks. But then again, it is February 19ths and I'm dressed in a tank top and shorts and all my windows and doors are open downstairs, letting in the cool afternoon breeze from the jungle below.

And my friend is on her way over with her twin boys to play with my two kids. And we are going to talk about Isagenix! She wants to join me on my cleanse......exciting!

Encouraged...with a side order of Yuck.

I stepped on the scales yesterday morning and was pleasantly surprised to see I have lost 3 lbs since I checked a week ago. And I haven't even started my new cleanse program yet! However, since making this decision almost 2 weeks ago, I have been more conscious about what I eat. I have been resisting snacking after dinner. It helps that we moved to a new house that has stairs and the kitchen is downstairs. Once I go upstairs for the evening I don't want to head back down again! So even though my tummy was rumbling and I really really wanted to go look for something to munch on, I just stayed in my room and drank water instead.

This weekend I plan on baking some healthy snacks for the kids. Muffins and oatmeal cookies. I need to go buy applesauce and some other more wholesome sweeteners to use in my baking. I love the two websites Chanci shared with my new support group and will be printing out some recipes to try over the next week.
Here is one of the websites:
http://www.thegraciouspantry.com/

I bought myself some chickpeas to make hummus. I need to buy some wholegrain tortillas to turn into my own tortilla chips. And I need to go look for those organic raw almonds still.

Thanks to Priscilla the rat, I was forced to make brown rice for dinner last night. It was actually very tasty. So I need to buy more of that too.

Now that I mentioned Priscilla, I guess I need to share her story. Adam, my 23 year old, wanted a pet rat. So he conned the kids to catch a baby one for him. There are plenty of rats at our beach office. Phillip, Cassie's friend, was patient enough to catch one. Adam put her in a cage and worked on taming her. He had her eating out of his hands, and willing to be held by him. I was a little freaked out. I mean, this is a wild rat, not some clean pet store rat. But after observing her bath herself in her water dish every day, I saw that she was quite a clean rat after all.

Then Adam had the brilliant idea to clean up our old birdcage and turn that into a rat cage. I had my doubts as I thought there were too many places for her to get out of. But he was determined. He even bought some mesh wire to cover up the areas she might escape from. Finally, last week, he put her in the bird cage. She stayed in it for exactly 12 hours before escaping. Kids tried to catch her but she evaded them.

Well, a week goes by and no sign of the rat. Until I started to smell a funky smell in one corner of our kitchen. I looked all over trying to find the source. Threw out our compost bucket, pulled out the stove and looked under it. Nothing.

Then I went to make rice for dinner last night. Pulled out the bag of white rice and noticed a bunch of gnats fly up, and there was a wet looking stain on the bottom of the bag. And something rather squishy inside the bag that didn't feel like rice.....I admit to not exploring further and just flinging the bag of rice outside into the jungle valley behind our house. And I don't want to tell the kids that I highly suspect Priscilla the rat met her demise in the bag of rice. After all, I had served it to them the night before! YUCK!!!

So brown rice for dinner. That bag had been unopened. And it was actually very delicious and filling. So maybe I can make the switch to brown after all!.

Snacks

As I begin to prepare myself for this journey, I'm reading through the intro pdf file that reccommends what I need to do before starting. Practical things like printing out the progress chart so that I can keep track of the foods/shakes/supplements to take and when to take them.

I've never been a routine type person. One reason I became an unschooler is because I balk at doing things the same way all the time. I like to live each day as an adventure and see what happens. However, I recognize that reality is, we do have to have routines in our lives in order to survive. I run a business that has to be opened at a certain time (though I can determine what that time is). I have appointments I must keep. So I must follow some sort of schedule.

So first thing I need to do is to develop a mindset that will allow me to follow the prescribed outline of eating and drinking and what I will eat and drink at what time. In reveiwing the daily plans I see that I'm allowed to eat/drink something several times a day. I think I counted 6 different "meals".

Today I want to talk about the snacks I'm allowed to eat. The accepted snack list is woefully small. It includes some proprietary foods from Isagenix. Little wafers and "candy" which you are only allowed to eat one at time. Granted they may not taste that lovely so maybe only eating one at a time will be all I will want! I've read some testimonials on these items. Some love them. Some choke them down and comment on strange textures. I pray I can tolerate them.

Then there are the real food snacks. Celery, hard boiled eggs, almonds, cucumbers. At least I enjoy all these foods. But. There is always a "but". Almonds are limited to 6 a day. And not all at one time either! And they are to be raw almonds. Not roasted and salted and full of awesome hickory flavor. Probably why you would only want to eat one at a time. LOL. I know my first stop on this journey will be to the health food store to look for raw almonds.

And I need to drink lots of water. Granted I have always known that water is good for you and that the average person does not drink enough water. I know I don't drink enough water in a day. Part of the reason is I really hate always having to interrupt what I am doing so that I can go to the bathroom! Drinking 8 glasses of water a day will guarantee me at least 8 trips to the bathroom per day. Maybe more. One thing I'll just have to suck up and live with. I'm sure it will make for healthier bladder and kidneys though. Which we all know need to be taken care of as we age.

Tomorrow I'll talk about the cleanse aspect of this all.

Beginnings

I'm about to embark on a new journey. Something I have never attempted before. Well, at least not this particular journey. I've tried similar ones. All have failed. What will make this one any different? I have no idea.

In a few days I will be starting a 30 day cleanse. Not a diet. A cleanse. I have to keep this in mind as I do this or my usual self destructive behavior may take over.

Background: I met Chanci 20+ years ago when I first became interested in homeschooling. Chanci's mom, Debbie, was homeschooling her 3 children, and I was interested in homeschooling my oldest, Kevin. Debbie showed me how easy it was to start, what I would need to do and most importantly of all, gave me the best advice I have ever heard in my many years of homeschooling. She said, "Colleen, you have been homeschooling your children since they were born.". What she meant was that from the moment I had my children I was teaching them (or they were teaching me!). We were learning together actually. And it didn't need to end just because schools existed. Her encouragement helped me make it through the tough times of doubt.

Fast forward to now, I friended Chanci on FB a few years ago. When I saw her post about Isagenix and how great she felt, I sent her a message asking for more info. I then heard more about the products from another friend on island and had a chance to sample them. And then Chanci contacted me again and started to encourage me to try a 30 day cleanse.

I thought about how I have been struggling to lose weight for so many years. I am at my heaviest ever. I have cut back on food, exercised more than I have ever done before. But still I struggle to walk up stairs, and my feet and legs ache every night. Some days I feel like I can't walk at all. Once I sit down at the end of the day, that's it for me! I look at my two youngest children, Cassie and Eric. 9 and 12. They are both so full of beans. I can't keep up with them. And that is not fair to them! I need to be able to move and run and jump with my kids.

So my journey begins. I hope to be able to use this as a journal to keep me on track. Over the next few days I'll be preparing myself mentally for what will come up physically once I start this cleanse. I don't imagine it is going to be pleasant to begin. But I am praying that the end results will be.

Stay tuned....