The 2 Day Cleanse

Have you ever done a cleanse?  One that involves drinking juice for all your meals in order to flush the toxins out of your body?  Last month I tried a two day juice cleanse for the first time.  Now I've done cleanses before, but of the pill kind, in which you take a certain botanical pill prior to eating in the morning and a few during the day, etc.

But this juice cleanse is so different.  It actually feels as though it works!  I must admit the first day was very difficult. Even for someone like me that eats clean every day with a cheat meal once in a while, it was hard.  I started the day with a drink called Purify from Love Grace Foods.  Although I eat my greens at least 3 times a day, this purely green drink was hard to get down on day one.  With a blend of celery, chard, spinach and cucumber in coconut water, it's definitely a shock to the system.

But the goal is to cleanse, so I carried on.  Throughout the day, I spaced out the juice feedings about 2-1/2 to 3 hours, making sure that the last juice drink was at least 2 hours prior to bedtime. Just like with food, it is best not to eat right before going to sleep.  Since I typically eat 6 times per day, about 3 hours apart, I was used to this system.

I have to admit, the Ginger Bomb was my favorite drink the first day, although the Probiotic Smoothie came in a close second.  Like a thick shake full of pure goodness, the smoothie hit the spot.

Throughout this first day, I was like a ping pong ball, going back and forth between feeling great and having migraines.  One has to be aware of the fact that this is a glycemic index roller coaster.  The body's insulin levels will go up and down.  At one moment I felt energized and the next I was very tired.  Since it is only for two days, it is not that much of a big deal.  Even though I wanted to avoid taking in anything that first day but juice, I had to resort to a few Advils in the evening due to a migraine.  Since I do work on the computer all day, it is possible my work caused the migraine.

Another thing I noticed during the day is how quickly my body began to flush out the toxins.  Using the ladies room became more frequent as the day went on.  Since I have competed in bodybuilding in the past, I was familiar with this feeling of flushing out.  That is when I knew the cleanse was working.

The second day I woke up not hungry at all.  This time, the Purify was not that difficult to get down, but I definitely was looking forward to that Ginger Bomb.  I don't know what it is with me and ginger...I just cannot get enough of it!  For the rest of the second day, I wasn't as hungry as I was the first day and the headaches weren't an issue.  I did feel as though I had to brush my teeth in the middle of the day and I'm not sure if that's because of the natural sugar from the fruit in some of the juices.

One of the juices I had on the second day was called Longevity.  It had a substance called Shilajit in it as well as lemon, cayenne pepper, agave and pink himalayan sea salt.  This is a great detoxifying salt, which is a reason we use it in our Home Sweet Home Bath Salts.  I have to say this was my favorite juice of the second day after the Ginger Bomb.

By the end of the second day, I am not going to lie but I did want to eat whole food.  However, I felt really great.  My body felt clean and completely balanced.  Most Americans do not eat a balanced diet to achieve optimal health.  Even as bodybuilders, we do not balance our foods and although we look great, our insides are not healthy.  A great tool to check out on PHresh Greens website are the pH charts.  Take control of your health today with the plethora of information out there to help you!

Welcome Spring!

For a moment there, I thought Spring was never going to show its refreshing face.  Each day it became warmer was a tease when the next day dropped in temperature!  But yet we still had hope.

Grow Your Own Food on only 3 Square Feet!

Being able to grab hold of the earth and plant new beginnings helps one to reconnect to the earth and get in touch with our own minds.  Even weeding is like meditation for me.  So you can imagine how excited I was to put those gloves on and sit on my foam pad to shovel and pull and plant away!

Inexpensive Grow Light

The anxiousness for Spring all began this year with prepping the broccoli indoors a few weeks ago.  I used the typical peat pots with seed starter soil and kept them moist, making sure this year to get a grow light to help them along.  Within days, they started to sprout.  I then decided to delve into trying to grow as much food as we possibly can.

A friend suggested this blog which has great tips from Mavis, who is trying to feed her family for One Hundred Dollars a Month.  Such a plethora of information!  Then I read another great blog about using egg shells as the pots.  Since we eat so many eggs, this would be simple enough and also save money.  However, I failed to complete one major step putting the hole in the bottom of the shell.  Therefore, I think that the seeds may have actually drowned.  But have no fear, the ideas kept coming!

What about using the egg carton as the plant containers?  This would be perfect to start the spinach.  I placed the top half of the carton under the planters with an egg shell under each "pod" to capture any water overflow and it has been working great!  One thing to keep in mind is to be sure that the planter is level or not every "pod" will get sufficient water.

the Spinach is starting to Sprout!

The next step is waiting until I can transplant this nourishment to the ground outside.  Looks like I will have to go onto the next project while we wait!

My Little Organic Heaven

The opportunity to have a little patch of Earth in which to grow my own herbs and food is so rewarding.  Over the past few months, I have added various herbs to the garden, including sage, thyme, sweet mint, spearmint, lemon balm, basil and even stevia!  As these new herbs grow stronger, the matured rosemary and lavender continues to increase in size, creating a wonderful blend of fragrances as I walk down the path in My Little Organic Heaven.  And the bees and butterflies are as happy as can be.

Yin Yang Healing Garden aka My Little Organic Garden

At first, my gardening began as a way to use various herbs to benefit our health via nutrition.  But as I delved more and more into aromatherapy, I found that herbs have topical benefits as well.  I realized that not only does My Little Organic Heaven provide a connection to Nature, but is also a step in preserving our environment while creating products for the well-being of others.

Herbs to Enhance Your Body and Mind

Purposely, whenever I create in2itionSKIN products, I hand craft just enough in order to test myself prior to releasing for others.  Therefore, I was lucky enough to have some extra Lavender Martini Tea Soak on hand.  After a week of working nonstop on the computer, the migraines were continuous for a few days.  A warm bath with lavender was the perfect remedy to relieve the tension. 

Lavender Martini Tea Soak by in2itionSKIN

One of the greatest properties of lavender is its ability to help treat headaches and migraines as it is sometimes considered one of the "soothing herbs".  When the Lavender Martini Tea Soak is allowed to steep in the warm bath, it releases other antiseptic and astringent benefits for the skin.  It is such a great treat for easing stress while balancing oil production on the skin.

I must say after only 15 minutes in the bath, the migraine started to filter away.  Now convinced that tea is not only for drinking, I hand crafted Tea Soaks that can be shared with all who wish for an enhanced existence.

  

Striving to indulge in Sustainable Practices

As an architect and simple human, I often wonder to myself what more can I do to help the world by being green.  It seems sometimes that enough is not enough.  The amount of time that is spent learning about all the new technologies and ways to green the planet takes time away from actually doing the work.  There are endless groups on LinkedIn and other sites that have constant updates and discussions that it makes it almost impossible to read about every new aspect of sustainability.  So what is one to do?

Lately, Nick and I have taken further steps to green our home at the exterior (the interior is a whole other blog).  We first started by planting indigenous shrubs and trees at the perimeter of the house in order to absorb groundwater so the sump pumps do not run constantly.  Next, we purchased a rain barrel and composting bin.  I must say I enjoy taking our new puppy Cleo out to fill up the watering can and then come back inside to water the houseplants.  She enjoys it and going back and forth a few times to the other side of the house tires her out so that later on, mommy can get some real work done!

The composting bin is a bit more complicated for me.  I have to admit that I did not do enough research on how to make compost and that is on the list of things to do.  We have to make sure we add “turn the compost bin” to our daily or weekly tasks and we simply just haven’t.  I’m sure that’s because we haven’t written it on the “daily task board”.

The highest priced items of our future endeavors is re-roofing with PV roof tiles and re-siding the house.  Hopefully, by that time, we will be able to ascertain which product(s) to use.  There are so many choices with new products coming out every few months!

So I can only surmise it is fair to say that ANYTHING a person does to help green the community is a step in the right direction.  Perhaps we can all start changing the way we do things and collectively we can make a large impact on our earth and consequently be here a little longer J