A random update written from an exhausted mind

 Well, the hcg diet was a complete failure for me. I was always hungry and it seemed to actually make my food cravings worse. I already have a hard time controlling my cravings, especially for sugar, but while I was on the diet I felt like an animal. Anything carby or sugary I had to put in my mouth. Now that I'm done with it and back to eating wonderful, wholesome food, I feel absolutely amazing and I've been steadily dropping weight.
 I didn't know what to blame it on, but tonight, one year and four months after giving birth to my second child, I finally started my cycle. Sorry if that's too graphic, but it's a fact of life. Get over it. I think that was probably the major downfall, and since I don't plan on ever being a weight where a diet like that is necessary I will never try it again. Everyone else I know that has tried it has had wonderful success, but for some reason I just couldn't do it. I'm ok with that. I prefer eating mounds of healthy food and working out until my vision goes blurry.
 Ok......so maybe my vision has never gone blurry except for maybe standing up too quickly. But still, I LOVE working out. HARD.  So I have been.
 This morning for breakfast I made coconut flour pancakes. DELISH! And so healthy. All they were was coconut flour, eggs, coconut milk, vanilla, baking soda, and then butter and a tiny bit of maple syrup for topping. My kids gobbled them down and they were so wonderfully fluffy and flavorful. I can't wait to try a chocolate cake with it, but that is going to have to wait until a few more pounds down the road.
 I've got thirteen days before I go see my husband in Wichita Falls, and I am going to work my booty off to look the absolute best I can when I get down there. If I could be into a size seven by the time I step on the plane I would be absolutely ecstatic. If not, oh well. I tried.
 So, I'm not going to post the links to the workouts I've been doing because I bought Mark Lauren's book, "You Are Your Own Gym," and it has been absolutely wonderful. I still check out www.bodyrock.tv every once in a while, though, 'cuz she definitely adds some twists and really kicks it into high gear. She is such a great inspiration.
 Well, this has all been quite random and I'm exhausted, so I'm going to bed. Hopefully next post will actually have a point to it. Goodnight everyone.

Sugaring...and a new realization

So tonight I'm trying sugaring 'cuz I just don't want to shell out $50 bucks every time I want to get waxed. Plus, it hurts like a sunuvagun and it's awkward having someone...you know...down there. So, cheaper, less painful, more private, and it's supposed to last longer than waxing. So I'm giving it a try.
 Here's the link to the video I used to make it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2BLZgIKuXI&NR=1
I burned my first batch, so I've got my second one cooking right now. Hopefully I don't get too distracted and burn this one, too.
  Well, it's definitely not over done. I just tested it on my arm and it's not coming off like it's supposed to. I've read a lot of thing that say it's supposed to be great on legs but more painful (though not as much as waxing) on underarms and bikini area. I suppose it'll probably take a little bit of practice to get my bikini area since I'm doing this on my own. That's the area I'm testing tonight because I just shaved my legs and underarms this morning.
 But can you imagine the jubilation if this actually works?! OMG! Not having to shave anything for SIX WHOLE WEEKS! This is gonna be great.............................................................please work.

 And my new realization. I'm a beauty junkie. I never wanted to admit it 'cuz I didn't want to be one of "those girls." You know, the ones who have to go to the bathroom every ten minutes to check if they have on enough lip gloss or carry a straightener around in their purse for fly aways. Nuh uh. No thank you. Then I realized, if I do things effectively enough, I won't HAVE to take all those breaks and constantly be worried about how I look. What if I trained my hair to not hate me? What if I didn't have to be worried about not having time to shave my legs the day of the pool party? What if I took care of myself and didn't have to worry about which face wash is better for acne just because my body isn't full of acne-producing toxins?
 I've got the hair and skin under control, so here's to my new venture on sugaring. I'll let you all know how it goes. Obviously, there will be no pictures of this test run. ;)

9/11

I know I already posted once, today, but this day deserves a special post.

 Thank you, Lord, for protecting us. Thank you that no matter what happens, the real victory is yours. Thank you for the faithful men and women who have stood by our country through everything. Keep us mindful of what really matters. We, your children, always need to remember that it is a spiritual battle. It's not about politics or religion. It's a battle between love and hate. Help us to always show your true heart through all the deception of the enemy.
 Give special comfort and encouragement to everyone who lost a loved one on 9/11/01. Protect our military and bless our country. Amen.

New challenge needs a new diet

So....I approached this whole hcg diet thing with much skepticism and dubiousness - I hope that's a word - but I have decided that I've worked my butt off, quite literally, and eaten healthy for years, now, and I still have fat deposits all over my body that I want to get rid of. I can't stand almost being in a size seven and still having enormous love handles, a prominent "mommy tummy" as I like to call it, and saggy butt cheeks covering all the nice muscle tone that I've built up. I've tried a lot of different things, nothing harmful, nothing "weird," so I decided to go ahead and try this out.
 My mom has lost a TON on this and I'm not just talking about weight. TWELVE, yes, TWELVE inches off her abs. WOWOW!!! She's lost inches everywhere, but that's my problem area, so that's the information I retained. :)
 Anyway, I have always said I will not discount anything until I've read all the information on it. I'm not one of those people to simply pass off an idea just because of the way it looks or sounds. Ya know, don't judge a book by it's cover.



.............Ok. So I was interrupted, had to go to work, spent the night at my mom's house so here I am back at home, continuing this post and loading. Gross. (mmm...potato chip)
 I don't remember the last time I have eaten so much food at one time. (mmm...donut) According to the way the diet goes, it makes sense, but it makes me so uncomfortable to be eating this type of food and so much of it. I was embarrassed to even buy this crap. (mmm...cheese) Twinkies, coconut cream pie, cookies and peanut butter, pork chops, frozen pizzas, buffalo wings, candy bars, anything with high fat content. (mmm...donut) I am so grossed out right now, but my mom has done this three times already and she's had nothing but success so I figure it can't hurt to try, right? (mmm...cheese)
 I took the shot this morning. I couldn't even feel it. I felt it more afterward, but it didn't really hurt.(mmm...chips and cheese) Just kind of a feeling of being uncomfortable in my butt cheek.
 So I've got one more day of "loading" and then it's on to the low-calorie part of the diet and hopefully not too long before I start seeing some real changes in my body composition. (mmm...donut)
 I can't even really think right now. My body is so concentrated on dealing with this huge influx of food. So I will update all of you when I start to feel normal again.

New challenge for the month

Hey everyone!
 So 2 weeks ago, Monday, I left for California and had an AMAAAZING time helping the poor and homeless. It really opened my eyes to some different situations, broke some political mindsets that I had and my heart for the people. I've found a new passion for helping those who are hopeless and destitute, and I hope that I am always able to help those less fortunate than myself.
 We worked with the Dream Center in LA Tuesday through Friday and did quite a few things. One of my favorites was what they call "Project Prevention." CPS actually works with the DC and lets them know when there is a family that is about to lose their children because of poverty reasons: no bed, not enough food, no hygiene products, etc. So the DC loads up a ton of stuff in their truck and takes it to these families so that they can keep their kids. This does not apply to situations of physical or substance abuse, or anything that would put the children in danger. It is strictly in situations where the parent/guardian is unable to adequately provide. They deliver on a weekly basis and we helped deliver to some families that had been with the DC for a couple years. You might think that after that long they are beyond hope, but I don't think God ever looks at us and says, "Well, you've had enough time. Too bad."
 He's always there, always waiting for us, and that's what we should be to those around us. Completely selfless love to the people, and obedience to God's commands are the things to which I've dedicated my life since going through this experience. Will it inconvenience me, sometimes? Probably. Will I always want to do it? Probably not. But the Bible clearly says, (Jesus)"If you love me you will obey what I have commanded." He didn't say, "Obey me for a little while, and then if you don't get anything out of it, or if you don't see a difference, you can stop."
 So, I've started a new work schedule for the school year and I'm hoping that this will free up some time for me to work with my church to kinda do the same as the DC did for those families, but I'd like to pinpoint the "tent city" that we have in this area. It breaks my heart that these people who have fallen for the conventional financial advice are now unable to rise above it because of the economic crisis of our country. A lot of people would probably say to me, "It's their own fault they're there. Why should I help?" And if you are a fellow Christian, I would challenge you to search your Bible to see if there's any place it says to ignore the poor because they put themselves there. It doesn't even tell poor people that they don't have to help other poor people. It simply says to help the poor.
 Jesus said, "The sin of this world is that they did not believe in me." He didn't say it was immigrating illegally, he didn't say it was doing meth, he didn't say it was being abusive. It's simply that they don't believe that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and NO ONE comes to the Father except through him. That means, all political, racial, and ingrained mindsets aside, there are people that need our help and as Christians it is our command from God to set ourselves aside, pick up our cross and follow him.
 Ok, so now that I've gotten that out, back to the workouts.


I'M SO EXCITED! I get to start my certification for personal training on the fifteenth of this month when my hubby gets paid. WOOOO!!!!!!!!!!
 But while I was in Cali I fell off the exercise bandwagon and I haven't had the initiative to crawl back on. It even stopped for me when I fell off, beckoned for me to pick myself up, and then waited as I refused and sat in my pile of laziness and junk food. lol
 So, September is a BRAND NEW MONTH and I'm following www.bodyrock.tv's challenge of not missing a single day of working out. Phew! That made me tired just writing it. And please understand that this does not count your rest day. Six days of working out followed by an active rest day. That means maybe a short walk, or stretching, or something like that. Don't just sit on your butt and eat oreos all day.
 So today is day two of the challenge, and so far I'm doing pretty darn good. My legs are sore, I've already started to see a difference in my arms, and I've got a TON of energy.
 Plus, I'm getting my videos set up soon. I just have to buy a cord to transfer videos and pictures from my camera to my computer.

 Bodyrock.tv is down right now, so I'll post up the workout later with a description of what I did to tailor it for my own needs.

Coffee enema?

 Really??? I didn't even know such a thing existed. I found out about it a couple of days ago so I'm going to try it today. I also did a salt water flush this morning. I had no time to eat anything before I went to work yesterday (BAD! Do not do this!) and then I went to a drum circle which also happened to be a potluck.
 Well, as my luck would have it, there was a chocolate lignonberry cheesecake there. Holy mother....it was amazing. I may or may not have had a couple pieces.
 I kind of put myself in that bad situation. Don't starve yourself and then binge eat. Please. It's one of the absolute worst things you can do, as far as your diet goes. And by diet I don't mean a special plan that helps you lose weight. ANYTHING you put in your mouth IS your diet.
  So, before I head off to California for a week, here, and am only able to eat what is available to me, I am going to do a pretty intensive detoxification to my system here. Supposedly the salt water flush (found in the Master Cleanse) cleans out your entire digestion tract, and the coffee enema targets the liver and gall bladder not the colon. I guess it stimulates the release of toxins, but I don't really understand how it can not target the colon, as well. I mean, it's warm water up your wazoo, so.................

 Bleh...this salt water makes me feel like I'm gonna puke. I hope it passes quickly.
 I will let you all know how the coffee enema goes.

Holy mother of all that is holy

Sorry it's been awhile. I decided to be naughty this weekend and totally ignore all my nutrition plan and exercise. So yesterday I got back on track with my eating and today I decided to make up for not working out for 3 days with a workout that completely snockered me. Yeah, I dunno if it's a word, but it is, now.
 I want to take a moment and talk about "cheating" or missing a day or not eating perfectly or whatever. My sister said something the other day that totally caught me off guard and gave me a feeling that it was not quite right. I couldn't put my finger on exactly why, but I thought about it for a little while and this is what I came up with.
 She said, "Every food is ok as long as you don't go overboard."
 This is what I've heard my entire life and I've never agreed with it, but I can't put my finger on why I don't agree with it. After all, throughout the New Testament there are verses on how all food has been made clean, and the food you eat has no effect on the things that really matter, that is, the things of the Spirit and heart.
 So I started thinking. And this is the conclusion I've come to. Part of this applies only to Christians, but the food part applies to everyone.
  Just as you are supposed to live a holy life to please Jesus and strive to be like him in every way, you will fall short sometimes because we are humans. We fell out of perfection with Adam and Eve when they sinned and so in every situation we have a decision to make on whether we're going to follow a heart of love, or a heart of selfishness. You're never going to be perfect, even though there is a path of perfection laid out for you to follow, until Christ comes and throws all evil back into the pit of hell.
 This same principle applies to your diet. You're never going to follow it perfectly because you're human and there are things that you will eat sometimes because you have to, sometimes because you simply want to. There is such a thing as perfect nutrition, but you would have to do some major searching as well as finding someone who could coach you and teach you everything you need to know. That doesn't change the fact that we should try our hardest to eat perfectly and get rid of all the junk food in our cupboards. Junk food is never good. It is never ok. You're not going to get fat if you eat a cookie. You're not going to be sent to biggest loser if you eat some hot wings, but if you completely fall off track and begin to fill your life with food that isn't good for you, you will be fat again. It's as simple as that.
 
 I apologize if this is disjointed, but I'm still sweating and shaking from my workout, and I'm pretty sure my brain is running short on blood and oxygen. haha
 So here's the workout and I'll post the link to the tabata timer, again.

http://www.bodyrock.tv/2010/05/29/kiss-my-tight-ass-workout/
http://www.beach-fitness.com/tabata/

Happy workout, everyone.

Let's get back on track

So I've been pretty bad up to this morning with my diet. I've done pretty well with actually working out, but last night at work I was sooooooo hungry and the fried chicken was just sitting there begging to be eaten. I love fried  chicken. Yummy yum yum! So....yeah, 'nuff said.
 So today I woke up, had my fiber shake, had an egg/veggie scramble, a fiber shake for lunch, some raw almonds, and a lettuce salad for dinner along with the fiber shake. I feel so much better when I eat healthy food: light, full of energy, clean. It's a wonderful feeling.
 No workout today. I was too busy getting groceries and we had church tonight, too, so between all that and spending time with the kids and taking care of business I just didn't have time.
 I am hoping to get in a pretty intense lower body workout tomorrow morning. Hopefully I don't get called into work.
 

  As you know by now, I'm headed to the dream center in a couple weeks and there are some dress code rules and such, so I had to go buy some new pants and longer t shirts today. Well, all the pants I tried on were size 9 and they all fit. Some were even a little too big in the waist! That's really saying a lot for me, since I haven't comfortable fit into a size 9 since I was probably 14 or 15. Wow! I can't believe the clothes I'm wearing lately! I finally get to buy all the stuff that looks cute, and I'm actually starting to look and feel so good I can hardly wait to work out again so I can keep seeing this wonderful progress.
  When I really get my body fat down to where I can see some muscle tone in my abs and arms even when I'm not flexing I'd like to go do a water displacement test to see what my body fat percentage is. Body fat calipers are highly unreliable, but the water test is usually kind of expensive. So I dunno. Just being able to see some muscle may just be enough for me! I'm so excited to really know and have proof that getting fit IS possible even after having two kids and living a super duper busy life.
 So there's your encouragement for the day. IT'S POSSIBLE!!!

Happy birthday to me...I decided to kill myself

...With my workout! Calm down, people. I love life!!!!
 So, yes, I'm twenty-three years old today and I'm in better shape than I've ever been. I know, to a lot of you who are older you're thinking, "Oh my gosh. She's still got three-quarters of her life to live and she's talking about being in the best shape ever! K, dummy."

 Well, I recognize that I am very young, but the fact of the matter is, I've lived almost a quarter of my life in a very unhealthy physiological state, and I'm not too happy about that. I could have been getting so much more out of life as far as health goes, and I decided to pshaw the words of my mother and ignore the fact that we need to be conscientious of what we're eating and how active we're being.

 So, as a birthday present to myself I did the hardest workout I think I've ever done. A possible exception would be P90X's plyometrics workout, but it's more than twice as long and the workout I did today worked more parts of my body than just my lower half.
 Once again, I do not consider this site family friendly. I mean, it's not a porn site or anything like that, but there's more than enough cleavage to go around and there is intermittent swearing. So here it is, and once again I hope to have my videos up and running so I can share a family friendly version of these workouts. Of course, it's going to force me to more creative and inventive so as not to plagiarize her WONDERFUL work she's done, but hopefully it will encourage more families to workout together. Here's the link to my birthday workout.


 http://www.bodyrock.tv/2010/06/12/suicidal-sweat-workout/

Please don't be discouraged. There are many ways to simplify these exercises if you're a beginner. It just take a little more thought and remember that you can probably do a lot more than you think you can. PUSH YOURSELF!!!

 And hey, if you wanna send me a birthday present, just leave a comment! That's present enough for me. ;)

Forgot to add my link for workouts and MORE!

Here's the site I've been getting my workouts from.  


 http://www.bodyrock.tv/


NOTE: I don't not consider this a family-friendly site. You may have different opinions, and good for you. This is my opinion and if I had young boys in my house I would make sure my workouts were done away from their eyes that feed their precious minds that are already having a tough enough time maturing properly in today's society.
 When I get my videos done I am hoping to be doing similar workouts for family audiences because it is my opinion that people of ALL ages should exercise their bodies. Babies and toddlers do it naturally because it is an instinct. As they get older and are sedated with tv, computer, and video games, they are weaned from these instincts and then we all wonder why we get fat as we get older.

Zuzana uses a gymboss interval timer, but since I'm cheap and trying to pay off our credit cards so we can live completely debt-free, I use this:

http://www.beach-fitness.com/tabata/

So have fun, start working out and hopefully I can get some before pictures put up here for you all so you don't feel discouraged about starting where you are. Maybe I can find some of right after I had my first daughter and all this madness and mayhem started.

A brief introduction of common sense

 Allow me to take a moment to vent slightly about a lysol commercial I just saw. It's for an in-home automatic soap dispenser, similar to what you would find in a public restroom, but smaller and more decorative for home use. Their rational is that, there are germs all over your soap pump, so why not have something automatic that you don't have to touch? That way, you won't get germs all over your....uh....germy hands that you're about to wash with soap to get all the germs off.
 Ok, if you're not following me by now, I'm a little worried. I'll break it down. Your hands have germs on them, and that's why you're about to wash them. Of course the germs are going to get on the soap pump. It's called cross-contamination. But you're going to put soap on your hands and wash all the germs away and chances are, you aren't going to touch the soap pump again until your hands are germy again and you have to wash them, again. Please, people! This is one of the stupidest, most worthless wastes of money I've ever seen! And yet, so many people are going to think, "Wow! What a great idea!" Derr...........


 Ok, back to health and fitness. I guess that first part could almost pass as a blog on health. lol.

 So the cleanse is going...ok. Yesterday I went to a wedding and had cake. Big no-no. Today we had a bbq fundraiser at my church for our trip to the Dream Center in LA at the end of this month (Wow! August already!), and I was absolutely STARVING so I also cheated a little bit there. Bad. I know I'm going to pay for it, but that doesn't change the fact that what's done is done, and it also does not change my determination to finish this and be a healthier person at the end of it.
 I believe this is another very important point on anyone's journey to better health. Forget about what you've done in the past. It doesn't matter anymore. What matters is what you are going to do RIGHT NOW to make yourself and better, healthier person. It is going to do you absolutely no good whatsoever to wallow in the self-pity of poor choices that you've made. It doesn't matter that you had two, ok maybe three, slices of that decadent chocolate cake that just made your entire brain run with streams of fudgy goodness. What are you going to do about it today? Are you going to get your butt up and do a work out or possibly eat some scrambled eggs with veggies for breakfast, or are you going to moan and whine and say, "Oh! I shouldn't have done that!"
 Of course you shouldn't have. You knew that WHILE you were doing it. But you did. Who cares? Do something today that is going to make you feel better, productive, and healthy tomorrow. Forget about yesterday. Seriously. 
 So that brings me to where I'm at right now. I've drank my fiber shakes, taken my probiotics, I've got my enema water heating on the stove right now...but I still haven't worked out. Annnd...it may or may not be ten o'clock pm. So I really, really don't want to do it, right now. I want to watch S. Darko and go to bed and maybe even have pancakes in the morning.
 But what I want even more than that is to be able to look at myself in the mirror in the morning and smile, and tell myself, "I'm proud of you!"
 I want to go see my husband in October and see his jaw drop and...well...I won't continue that one.
 I want to go buy a pair of size seven jeans, I want amazing abs, and maybe even more than all of that, I want to be able to quit my job as a waitress and go be a personal trainer.
  Which is actually a really good SECOND point you could remember from this particular blog entry. Don't just forget about yesterday. Look forward to tomorrow. Make large goals, but also plan your baby steps to get there. If you don't have baby steps, you're not going to ever reach your goals because they will seem insurmountable and you won't have any direction.
  So that being said, I need to go get ready to work out. I'm glad they're only twelve minutes long. And if you don't believe that can make a difference or that it's just a waste of twelve minutes, stick around for the pictures and I'll show you how wonderful it is to be wrong, sometimes.
 Good night!

Enema update

As promised, I did the enema last night. It wasn't as scary or uncomfortable as I thought it was going to be. I think I should have made the water a little bit warmer, though. I read online instructions (you can find anything online, I swear) and it seemed like it made good sense, so I followed what it said and everything went quite well. I wasn't able to hold it for very long, which I'm told is normal for the first few times. But it seriously made me feel so clean and good afterwards! It's like scrubbing yourself on the inside, getting rid of built up nastiness and junk. I really feel so much better. In fact, I did another one this morning. I went a little too fast, though, and had to go to the bathroom right away. I could barely even hold it for a few seconds. So, while not as effective as the one I did last night, it was still good and gave me a good start for my day.
 So in case you want to try one, here's the link for the instructions I followed.
 http://www.candida-cure-recipes.com/how-to-do-an-enema.html

Pretty sensible, not a lot of frills. Just a very basic start, which I think is good for beginners. As I get more experienced I will start trying the "recipes" I've heard are out there.

Ok, so sorry to make tonight's entry a short one, but I've got church in the morning and I have to be there early to set up our tables for the fund raiser we are doing. Ooo! I can't wait to go to the Dream Center in L.A. at the end of August! It's going to be soooo awesome!

And so it begins...

Well, I'm kinda past the beginning and the beginning of my blog has kind of caught me in a whirlwind of changes for myself.
 As you may have gathered from my last post, I'm kind of ok, a HUGE natural health freak. Thanks to my firstborn daughter who I love more than I can even put into words, I started reading about natural health when she was born because, like every mom, I wanted what was best for my child and this seemed like the best path for us.
  So just in the last year since the birth of my second daughter I've really, truly been getting down to business with it. I kind of toyed with it, ate healthy, exercised occasionally, bought organic when I could, etc., but I've decided to take it to a new level as another little baby step on my way to my PhD.
 So in this last week I have decided to stop shampooing my hair and I've also started a colon cleanse. Let me tell you, natural health is not for the weak of stomach. I know you just read that and went, "Gross! Time to quit this blog."
 But wait! It's just begun. I'm begging you to stick with it just to the end of this entry and maybe I can change your mind.
 Let's start with the no shampooing. I've been reading about it for a while and just never really had the nerve to quit washing my hair. I like my hair. I think my hair is beautiful. I can tell when other people's hair gets greasy and it kind of makes me shy away from them a little bit. If they don't even take time to wash their hair, how dirty could the rest of them be? Shake hands??? I think not.
 So you can imagine my trepidation when I got in the shower and ignored the shampoo bottle for the first time. I could  practically hear it screaming my name. And what about conditioner? I hate combing out my hair already. What on earth am I going to do without conditioner?
 So I got my baking soda paste together and rubbed it pretty thoroughly through my scalp. If that's what I have to clean it with, that puppy is getting SCRUBBED. It didn't foam, it didn't work through my hair easily, it didn't feel like a typical wash, but I had made the decision and I was going to stick with it. So after I rinsed out the baking soda, I rinsed my scalp and hair with apple cider vinegar and water.
 Wow. What an underwhelming sensation it is to know that I was purposefully putting something in my hair that smelled like stinky feet. Blah. I could only hope it didn't smell that way when I got out of the shower. So I let that soak for a little bit to balance out the ph of the baking soda and rinsed. Now my hair was a tangly, snarly mess and I did not even want to think about how I was going to get it combed out. There was a faint smell of apple cider vinegar, but I figured you'd have to bury your nose in my skull to find out and if you're getting that close, you've got something besides a sniff of my hair coming to you. I decided to blow dry it and then detangle it because I knew trying to brush it while it was wet would just cause more snarls. It was surprisingly easier than I thought to comb it out, and it actually felt and looked pretty darn clean. So I've been doing it for almost a week, now. I actually asked one of my friends to smell it the other night to see if I've just become immune to my own stench, but they said it didn't smell like anything, and it doesn't look greasy at all. I know it's only been a week, and according the the internet (and they don't lie on the internet! lolz) it'll be a few more weeks before things get really nasty and I'll want to wear a head scarf everywhere I go. But a short period of grossness followed by a lifetime of wonderfully naturally wavy, bouncy hair....hmm....I think I can put up with that. My apologies to everyone who has to look at me for those few weeks, though.

 Ok...so now that you all know how disgusting my hair is let's move on to the internal cleanse. Right now I'm in the very beginning stages of step one which is a colon cleanse. Since this is my first time doing it I'll probably continue it for approximately four to six weeks. It all depends on what my body feels like.

 That's one thing that I will reiterate to you over and over again. LISTEN TO YOUR OWN BODY!!!

  I am following the protocol in my favorite "diet" book of all time, "The Coconut Diet" by Cheri Calbom. This book has literally changed my life and is a major part of the reason I have decided to walk down the naturopathic career path.
  So, as I said, the first part is the colon cleanse, then I'll be moving on to liver, gall bladder, and kidney cleanses. She promises less cellulite, faded wrinkles, glowing skin and a whole bunch of other stuff, so I'm really curious to see how this is going to affect me. I should probably take a before and after picture, and IF I'm satisfied with the results of the after picture I'll post them for you guys.
 So for the colon cleanse I've done sort of a semi-fast for the first few days. Raw food only and only if I get SUPER hungry. After a week or so, I'll add in more meals of strictly raw food and towards the end I'll start putting light animal proteins back in: eggs, yogurt, raw milk, etc.
 I'm drinking a fiber shake three times a day which....isn't the best or the worst thing in the world. Luckily it goes down fairly easy and the taste disappears in a few seconds. Then there's a herbal cleanse that I take three times a day, and a probiotic morning and night to make sure that the good bacteria remain in my intestinal tract after so much cleaning. The only thing I haven't worked up enough courage for, yet, is the enema. I promised myself I would do one tonight, so I've got water heating and I'm sitting here procrastinating, trying to tell myself it will be ok. I don't even know why I'm so scared. It's just water, and it all comes back out.
 Ok, so I won't go into too much detail about it tomorrow when I post, but I will let you know, noob to noob, if it's something to fear or embrace.
 And, hey, if you've done one before and you're reading this, please feel free to let me know what you like, what you don't like, any special tips or "recipes" you've tried and I'll try them out and let all the readers know what I think.


 'Cuz, you know, it's, like, a blog and I'm, like, narcissistic and stuff.

Hey Everyone!

 This is my first blog post ever, so I'm pretty excited about how this is going to turn out. I'm sure that just starting out things will seem jumbled, unprofessional, and altogether irritating at times. However, as I progress I hope that all you military wives out there will continue coming back to this blog to find advice, support, and encouragement in your daily lives.
 Yes, this is targeted towards military wives, but that doesn't mean that military husbands, or anyone short on time looking to live a healthy lifestyle will be shoo'd away. You are all welcome here, but I figured I'd write from a position with which I am familiar.
 Ok, maybe not VERY familiar. My husband just started tech school on Monday. He is going to be an F-16 crew chief which is pretty much his dream job. Favorite aircraft, and he's been doing mechanical work since he entered the world. lol. So I may not have years of experience as a military wife, but us newbies might have some good ideas, too. You are all welcome to comment, lend your own advice and tips, and even give some words of correction and constructive criticism if you feel it is necessary.
 I AM familiar with being short on time since I have a nearly full time job, two wonderful children, a house to clean, meals to cook, workouts to complete, school to teach (I am beginning home school with my oldest daughter), trips to plan, budgets to work out, church functions, and still find some time to just get away and breathe a little.
 So I hope that the advice, real life examples, and videos that I post here will help you all feel encouraged and lend a hand to finding those few minutes a day to take care of yourselves.
 Starting out, I will mostly be documenting my journey to be as healthy as possible. My ultimate goal is to have a doctorate in naturopathy, but for now I'm doing baby steps to get there. I will be starting my education as a personal trainer next month, so to prepare for that I have lost 20 pounds since May 11th 2010, I am currently on a cleanse regimen, and hopefully when I am finished with the certification process I will look the part.
 I started at 175lbs after giving birth to my second daughter on June 18, 2009. On my 5'8" frame that was well over the healthy range. Growing up in a family where health and weight have always been pretty big issues and having multiple family members with diabetes, I decided enough was enough. I didn't know exactly where to start, so weight loss was slow and discouraging. We didn't have medical insurance, so I had to find my own ways to getting my weight down and making sure I was healthy. I wanted to live a long, happy life with my children without worrying about medications, shots, or medical boosts just to stay alive. A naturally healthy life just gleamed with the promise of being absolutely freeing. Imagine being able to go on a week long camping trip down the beach and not having to bring along insulin, or blood pressure pills. Imagine being able to wake up and go for a swim in the surf without taking a handful of medication, first. I've never had to rely on prescriptions before, but seeing the health of my extended family, that possibility was probably only a few decades down the road. I don't want to be a feeble grandma. I want to be outrunning my grandchildren when I'm seventy. Yes, it is possible to be old AND strong, but in order to reach that level of health I knew I could not put off being healthy any longer. If you are older and you are reading this, IT IS NOT TOO LATE. It is NEVER to late to take charge of your own health. I have read countless testimonials of people who have been cured of diseases that conventional doctors said they would have to live with for the rest of their lives. One of my favorite stories is that of Jordan Rubin. You can find a lot of information about him and he is a wonderfully humble and knowledgeable expert in his field.
 It is a personal belief of mine that we should STRIVE to be independently healthy. Now, I am not so naive or narrow minded that I think doctors, hospitals, and medications are absolutely unnecessary and people just use them as a crutch. I know people who think this way and it really ticks me off. Some people just don't have an option. However, many of us have bought into the medical brainwashing and hold false beliefs as true simply because we haven't been told the truth and we haven't been given an option. I believe that most doctors teach on a standpoint from which they were trained, so I do not blame them for the wrong advice they give, or the harmful medications they prescribe. They are simply doing what they have been taught and believe is right for you. The simple truth is that doctors save lives and I am very grateful for their presence in this world.
 But what if most of those lives didn't NEED saving? What if YOU could be responsible for your own health without the side effects of drugs or the misery of living with heart disease, diabetes, thyroid dysfuntion, and other weight-related health complications? A lot of freeing yourself from those supposedly "incurable" diseases lies in how much initiative YOU are willing take for your own health. If you like having to take pills and rely on someone else for your daily breath, this blog is probably not for you.
 But if you're willing to get up, push yourself for a few minutes each day, and open your mind to an alternative healthy lifestyle, stick around and you'll probably read about some things that will shock you, things with which you may already be familiar, and the motivation and support to start overhauling your lifestyle and celebrating the fullness of life in your healthy body.