My Reset Journal: Days 1-4

Day one wasn't too bad. Waking up in the morning and not having my cup (or two) of sugar flavored with some coffee was probably the single hardest thing that I have had to do in a very long time. That and the fact that I had to drink water first thing in the morning! Ughhh... I did have a decent breakfast and that too was a first for me. Usually, I drink my coffee and then skip anything else until maybe lunch time. 

My first days lunch. A beautifully tasteful salad.

Another difficult thing about the Reset is drinking the Alkalinize. Oh, man is it gross. I take it as a shot, then chase it with a bite or two of fruit and follow it up with a more distilled water. 

Looks tasty, huh?!? Don't lie, you know you think I am crazy and I am beginning to agree!

Day Two was worse than yesterday. I have had a headache all day. I have felt so very tired and almost as if I have the flu (and who knows maybe I actually do and the timing is just perfect, but I doubt it). Along with being tired I have experienced body aches, dizziness and some moments of being light headed. 

Sounds bad, I know but when you cram tons of sugar into your body along with caffeine on a daily basis and this is your main source of your body's energy or fuel this side effect of withdraw is to be expected. This is my body going through shock, in my opinion and I am sure that it is going to pass but let me tell you, I can not wait for this to a be over! I don't know what I was thinking by doing this but I do know that I cant stop now, I have to finish!

I didn't like breakfast today so I ate very little and all morning I was dragging along but with lunch, for the first time ever, I felt a rush of pure energy come through my body after I ate it. Don't get me wrong, I was still tired and running a marathon or even walking as little as a blcok seemed like an unrealistic task but I totally felt that slowness change and felt more alert. It gave me insight to what the next few days may bring. I am hopeful. 

Dinner was fabulous tonight! I really needed to enjoy something about this Reset and the meal brought all kinds of tasteful enjoyment! Thank you, thank you, than you Beachbody for this tasty treat!!! 

Day two's dinner was low sodium back beans with short grain organic brown rice and fresh corn. It may not look like a whole lot of food but I only put half of the beans and rice onto my plate but I ended up eating every last bite of what was approved for my meal! (I was that hungry and it was that good!) The portions are surprisingly generous but then the Reset claims to be a no starvation "diet" and since the only time I have left the table being hungry is when I choose to not eat what was on the meal plan this morning for breakfast I am a believer.

Day twos dinner was black bean and rice with fresh corn on a baked corn tortilla and a side of fresh avocado. (Part of my lunch consisted of chicken. I opted to not have the chicen and relaced it with baked Tempeh.)

Day Three was not as bad for me in the morning as day one and two were. Don't get me wrong, I still wanted my morning cup of coffee, the first place that I looked was to the counter where my coffee pot once sat, I moved it the day before I began the cleanse for this exact reason. 

The headache that took over my day yesterday has faded into a dull ache. I am hoping that it will be fully gone tomorrow. I don't feel as "foggy" n the head either, which is nice but the fact that I ate crackers may have had something to do with my boost...? They were whole wheat crackers but the ingredients was not fully natural, so it is possible.

Lunch today was two, yes two yummy salads. As I was eating and enjoying my lunch I was agreeing that this "diet" is not a starvation diet. My lunch was large and I ate every bite because I knew that my dinner would be a smaller one.

Dinner was this delicious Tempeh and vegetable roll. (My loving husband made them for me.) Like I said, delicious! However, my meal only included one roll ,which did not fill me up. The dinner plan had miso soup and a great sounding cucumber salad but as I was at the grocery store and my husband was making this roll we failed to communicate that the last of my cucumber was being used. I really cant complain because look what he made for me! So you know why I didn't have my salad but as the soup goes I can not find miso paste anywhere and trust me, I have tried. I did call one of our local Sushi restaurants and they do carry it but I don't feel comfortable getting it through them. I don't know whats in it as far as ingredients go. So I have decided to just skip the miso soup, although I do plan on making it sometime, just to see what it tastes like. So far all of the meals/recipes end up tasting great. Unfortunately, the food is not hitting the spot for me. I still feel like I am needing something more, even when I have finished such a big meal like today's lunch.

Truth be told, my self talk is completely negitive today. I am kicking myself in the ass for even attempting this damn cleanse. Like, seriously, what was I thinking? Here's the thing, I go to a women's group at my church once a week and this week we talked about complaining and looking at the good in situations. So while I am not happy with my (stupid) choice to do the reset I am trying to keep reminding myself of the positives that are associated with it.

1. I have tasted some great food and I now have the recipes!

2. {TMI ALERT!!!-- you've been warned!--} I am actually going poop! For someone with an under active thyroid this is huge and so are my movements--- ewhhh.... just kidding but I am able to have movements and that's without taking anything (other than what is provided for me in the reset package) to help me go! Wanna know how I found out that I have hypothyroidism? No.. then skip the remainder of number two. Yes? Then read on my friends, read on...I could go as long as a month, yes, a whole month without going "number two". Finally, I went to a specialist and had several X Rays done over the course of a two week period. I had to initially swallow these capsules that had "markers" in them. Through an X Ray you could see the markers and after about four days they settled deep into my intestines and then stopped moving through my body altogether.  After two weeks of having no progress and a stack of X Ray images that continued to look identical to the previous ones a long list of labs were ordered and that is how I found out. Needless to say, "poopage" is a celebratory event for me.

3. I have decided to be a vegetarian again. I am not missing meat at all, which isn't a shock since it wasn't a big part of my life to begin with.  However, it'll be my way and not through some restrictive diet even though I am restricting meat but that is my choice and not some fad diet that I am trying out. I'll eat eggs, if I am in the mood and I will eat cheese, ice cream and yogurt as well.

4. I have drank almost three gallons of water in three days! That may be more than I have drank in a whole month. Not kidding.

5. I have always been fairly healthy, besides the soda, candy and small coffee/caffeine addiction, but I have earned that it is important to take the time to make whole foods and not the quick fixes. Sure, I may make a box of Hamburger Helper for my family and once in a blue moon but I realize now that making healthy choices is important not only for me but for my family.

Tonight's thought..Thank you God for allowing me to make such a horrid choice in money spending and as a past time for my next three weeks. I am actually learning many good things from this experience!

Day threes lunch was a Nori roll with oven baked Tempeh and veggie. 

Day four has been the best so far. Yes, I still woke up longing for the soothing warmth of my sweet and savory Pikes Pace Roast but I had little time to waste over missing what I couldn't have, so I focused on what I could! 

Oh yeh, I almost forgot. I am also getting better at my meal preparations. I do just fine at timing everything so that I can eat with my family but tonight I cooked my dinner and prepared all of tomorrows meals with the exception of breakfast and I did it while cooking and not burning everyone's dinner. Not bad if I do say so myself. I think that having the food all ready and easily accessible will really help me flow through the day verses tripping over the hurdles that I have set up all over the place. We shall see.

Lunch was hearty and huge and dinner was just as rewarding. I found that I could have certain "approved" snacks and so I have allowed myself to have some whole wheat crackers which are like a piece of salty heaven. I really like the food (but I really miss my crutches) and I love the simple recipes, I know that they will stay with me probably forever. I can see myself now, sitting at the table with my hands warming on my favorite mug that is filled to the rim with the most amazing drink that I can think of-- coffee, all while I write my meal plan out for the week. I'll be happily drinking my "cup of joe" as I look back on this dreadful twenty-one days and I will smile at the "remember whens" but I will indeed hold on and use the recipes over and over again. 

Day fours dinner consisted of stir-fried veggies, Quinoa (which I like even more than rice) and a cucumber salad.

Wordless Wednesday

She IS Viable

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Literacy

Today was my third session with my literacy student at GiGi's Playhouse. My student, "K", is a sixteen year young, beautiful girl who yes, rocks an extra chromosome and in the first session I had with her, I knew she had more to offer me than I had to offer her. I feel so blessed to have this opportunity and to have her as my student. Truthfully however, K and her mother are really the one's who are doing the teaching and I am grateful for that as well!

Anyway...

Shortly before I began teaching literacy to K, I put a "lesson plan" together that would hopefully get us through the eight week course. Last week I really worked K with a life-like lesson so this week I decided to give her a break and really bring something fun to the table. Beans.

I decided to test this lesson out on Jasmine and Kiliegh. I wanted to see if they would think it was an interesting activity and I was hoping that in the end, they would also find it a fun lesson as well!

The "magical" beans (aka Mexican Jumping Beans) were slow to start jumping but once they began the girls had a blast with them. I went over my lesson plan and asked the same questions from them that I would from K and once the girls realized that the beans had a living "creature" inside they almost took to them like they would a new pet! Needless to say, I was reassured that this was a good idea and the girls spent the next hour racing their beans.

Speaking of literacy...,

I finally finished Vada's first literacy book! As wonderful as this idea is, I can not claim it as my own, not entirety anyway. I tweaked it to my liking but took it from some other amazing mothers who, like me, believes there is no such thing as "too soon" when it comes to education and our children.

The first step was buying the board books. The one below, First Words, is the first completed set that I have made for Vada. However, I have purchased two other books by Bright Baby, First Colors and First Animals, which will eventually be turned into a learning set as First Words has been.

I took the matching concept one step further by making word only duplicates to match with. My hopes are that these books will last through a whole lot of learning lessons for Vada.

So far, Vada digs the books and she is really getting the idea of what I am asking her to do.

She makes me proud. 

Very proud.

  Like most people that I know, Vada enjoys being successful and our cheers seems to only motivate her even more and her determination motivate me. So, we do a lot of cheering and celebrating in this house. 

We do a lot of singing songs of praises, silly dances and high fives too! 

The Beginning of the End

Tomorrow is the day. 

Day one.

The beginning of the end.

What am I talking about? Beachbodys Ultimate Reset. 

I am taking the plunge and diving into my new me, starting tomorrow. 

You may be wondering what the Ultimate Reset is. The Ultimate Reset is a gentle, no starvation, total body cleanse. I have been guaranteed that in three weeks the Ultimate Reset will restore my body to its optimal "factory settings". I should look, feel and be healthier than I am now.  

I decided to do the Ultimate Reset because I have been working out a lot and I want to feel good inside as well as on the outside. I have terrible skin. My face is like a teenager going through "the change", which is really embarrassing, considering i'm in my thirties! I have Hypothyroidism, which wont change but I am hoping to find a source of new energy through resetting my inner workings. I have a couple of horrible habits. I like sweets and I'm not talking a chocolate here and there, i'm talking fruity candies of almost any kind and in large amounts. In fact, I cant remember a day that I didn't eat some sort of candy, which probably says a lot for my skin problems! Another unhealthy "vice" of mine is soda.Actually, soda pop is about the only thing that I do drink. I know, I know, I am terrible. Anyway, I drink mostly diet soda but I really prefer the "diesel" and I like the browns (aka Coke, Pepsi, Dr.Pepper), which usually means caffeine! I also like me some coffee in the mornings and since plain coffee tastes like crap I have mine with a ton of sugar in it! Most people who see me prepare a cup of coffee for myself often comment about me adding some coffee to my sugar. Yep, I am that bad. I am also a carb addict, i'm working through that one but pretzels and goldfish crackers are hard ones for me to resist.

With this reset I am hoping to break free from my unhealthy eating habits and find new healthier life, meal and snack choices. 

Currently, I do eat some meat. I will eat chicken on occasion if it is raised without animal byproducts, antibiotics or hormones. However, I can't remember the last time I actually did eat chicken. I have also ate ground turkey or turkey burgers. On Easter I had a turkey burger and I think it was actually the last time that I ate meat other than the eggs that I used to make the homemade bread that's sitting on my counter. (I consider eggs to be meat.) I don't mind bacon, if it's burnt to a crisp and on a BLT and I don't and wont eat any red meat. I like some kinds of fish and I love mot kinds of sushi and rolls. I like cheese and other than ice cream, its my main source of calcium. I don't and wont drink any milk-- not in my cereal and not in my coffee, never--yuck. I don't mind yogurt but I only like one kind (Dannon Light and Fit). Sometimes, I may like cottage cheese but I really have to be in the mood for it. I don't like pudding but I {heart} ice cream, especially from Whitey's (wink, wink) and I don't care for chocolate but I don't dislike it either! 

As far as fruits and vegetables, well, I love fruits and almost every vegetable that there is. I was a vegetarian starting when I was around twelve or thirteen years old (by my own choice) and since then I have gone back and forth between a full vegetarian and eating some meats on rare occasions. In general I don't think that I could be or even want to be a vegan. There are too many things that have hidden animal byproducts in them and being a Vegan (IMHO) takes too much time, effort and money but I am going back to being a vegetarian and i'm starting with the Ultimate Reset. 

Week one of the Ultimate Reset helps those who do eat meat wean off of it. The meat that they allow is meat that I don't like, other than eggs, so i'm practically a vegetarian again from day one, which is fine. By week two ill be off of eggs and for the next two weeks my diet will be that of a pure vegan. I can have no pop, no sugar, no candy/gum, nothing with preservatives or additives in it. Only Fresh. Raw. Vegetables, fruits and grains. It should be an interesting journey and to be truthful I am both nervous and excited. I am hoping that I come out on the other end feeling rejuvenated and strengthened both inside and out! I hope that I can say so long to pop, candy and coffee and hello to a vegetarian life style, again. 

My fridge is stocked with week ones menu approved foods. I have some light prep work to do tonight but other than that, I am ready to begin. So please, wish me strength and will power. I have a feeling that I am going to need it at least for fighting through the cravings of sweets and caffeine!

*** If you are interested in learning more about the Ultimate Reset or any of Beachbody's products then Annie is your gal. Annie is a team Beachbody Coach and she will give answers to all of your questions and she will motivate your socks off! ***

Ambidextrous

This last week I have been feeding Vada about half of her meals and then handing over the utensils and letting her feed the remaining portions to herself. 

She has been doing great! 

In fact, she has been doing equally great with both hands, which leaves us wondering if she is going to be a "lefty" or a "righty". For now, we are telling everyone that she is ambidextrous!

Wordless Wednesday: Model Material

Reset

Curious? 

 You should be!