Day 1

February 14, 2011
Happy Valentine’s Day! This is my first day (in a very long time) to show some self love.

Morning

I have never been an early riser. I’ve been known to hit the snooze button for well over an hour and often get up at 8 or soon after, crash around and then speed to work arriving a little after nine. Not cool…especially at a new job. It’s usually because I have wine the night before and don’t go to bed until midnight and then can’t fall asleep until God knows when. So, then I’m basically dragging the whole day only to do it all over again. (Just to be clear I don’t drink every night, but I do enjoy vino way too often.) So, today when I woke up at 6:00 a.m., I was happily surprised! I started with a cup of hot water with lemon (I used a quarter of one) and a dash of cayenne, as instructed. Next, I settled down to write my “morning pages” (see The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron –she rocks!). I won’t go into too much detail because you should check out her work, but morning pages are 3 full stream-of-consciousness pages to be completed first thing each morning, even if it’s just “I can’t think of anything to write” over and over. It helps clear out the cobwebs to make way for fun, creative stuff to flow. I’ve done these off and on for about 10 years and every time I do them consistently, wonderful, serendipitous things happen to me. Why I ever got lax with these is beyond me…oh wait…no it’s not…it was probably the whole wine/no sleep thing…Sigh…As I began to write I looked at the dark brown drapes covering the bedroom windows and thought I should let some sunlight in. Those of you who get up at 6:00 a.m. are now laughing at me (as you should be)! That’s what I did when I pulled back the curtains to darkness (it is February after all). I can’t remember the last time I was up that early. Normally when I awake, the sun is in full swing. :)

Then I did (a long) 10 minutes of meditation. Kris’s advice to start simply by counting each breath from 1-10 and then over again until the timer goes off is helpful, but it still felt like longer than 10 minutes and I struggle with true abdominal breathing…using my chest too much. But I know I’ll get better with practice.

Next it was time to face my old friend, the neti pot. If you don’t know what one is you should do some research, especially if you have sinus/allergy problems (which I have been saddled with since childhood). It’s been used in the Far East for centuries (the West is always so slow and reluctant to try anything other than popping a pill…). I use a ¼ tsp of sea salt in a cup of lukewarm, distilled water. After securing my hair in a ponytail, I pour half of a cup in the pot, lean my head over the sink sideways, left nostril down, right one up and go for it. Of course I do the other side next (just like exercise) and then blow and blow. Creates a beautiful picture, huh? If you’ve never done it, give it a shot…if for nothing else, to experience the strange sensation. :)

After completing the sinus cleansing, I made a beet, apple juice in my fancy, schmancy juicer (beets are good for the liver and God knows mine needs all the help it can get!). I’ve made this one many times before and really enjoy it. It’s actually quite a beautiful drink! Sometimes I pour it into a wine glass. :) I sipped on that while getting ready. Then right before leaving for work I made the green juice that is the staple of the Crazy Sexy Diet. The recipe is supposed to make 32 ounces…mine was more like 40. Not sure what happened there…this is Texas…maybe all the veggies are just bigger here. So, on the drive to work I drank that and finished up about 24 ounces for breakfast (saving the rest for the afternoon).

Because I’m a coffee and tea drinker, I’m not quitting caffeine cold turkey. I did that once in college and the headache was a whole new kind of hell. Best to wean oneself off of it… So, when I got to work, I had a cup of Chai tea.

I felt really good all morning…much more energy than I usually have. I started to get a little hungry around 10:00 so I had a mixture of almonds and walnuts (raw), about 8-10 total.

Lunch

Lunch (around 12:15) was a glorious salad that I prepared yesterday – tons of veggies with spinach and romaine lettuce and flaxseeds, with pepper and balsamic vinegar/olive oil dressing to top it off. I also had a little quinoa/chickpea prepared dish from Whole Foods. It was mixed with zucchini, green onions and parsley and flavored with something so yummy (need to replicate it at home)!

Snacks

At 3:15 I had an afternoon snack of 16 ounces of green juice. I thought I would be smart and add a packet of a Superfood powder (primarily composed of wheatgrass)…probably should’ve just used a couple of teaspoons…wow! The juice turned forest green and was so thick! But I made a commitment to myself and I’ve let myself down way too many times in the past, so I drank it. All of it! When I got to the bottom there was still quite a bit of the powder, so I poured some water in with it (you’re supposed to mix it with juice, for which, the reasoning became incredibly obvious after a few sips). I only managed a little bit of this mixture. Live and learn, right?

A couple of hours later I was still hungry so I had some celery sticks (cut in half and then into 2-3 inch pieces) dipped in hummus. Hummus might be sent from heaven! I only need a small amount to keep me content. One thing that’s already becoming apparent (and technically I already knew this from other detoxes/fasts) is that hunger pains aren’t always really about hunger…discomfort at not being fed more fat maybe but not hunger as in starvation/you’re in danger kind of hunger. I doubt many employed Americas have experienced that. It makes me realize how much we take our abundant food supply for granted and how I can’t even begin to imagine what truly starving is like…and for that, I am eternally grateful. I once heard Angelina Jolie say something to the effect of feeling guilty or gluttonous after visiting starving children so she actually started eating quite a bit less…enough to be healthy but she stopped being over-indulgent (which definitely shows on her frame). I think I understand now.

Dinner

My boyfriend took me to dinner for Valentine’s Day and being the open-minded guy that he is, he willingly took me to a vegetarian place. We had an amazing appetizer – spinach, artichoke dip with vegan cheese. I did cheat and have a couple of very small pieces of bread as that’s all the dip was served with, until I realized I could just eat it with my fork (thick and yummy). For dinner I ordered a sandwich with avocado, cucumber, tomato, romaine and mayo (not sure if it was vegan) on quinoa spelt bread. So delish! It came with corn chips, of which I indulged a few in the afore-mentioned dip. Water with lime for a drink and all-in-all pretty proud of myself! It wasn’t a perfect cleanse-type meal, but pretty close. It was a nice night with my man, who, by the way, bought me two beautiful bouquets of flowers. Batting eyelashes now…

After my beau left, I fixed my salad for tomorrow, got ready for bed and meditated another 10 minutes before going to bed. I managed to get to bed by 10:30…pretty good for V-day.