28 Day Detox - Starting Gate

Day One

I am doing a 4-week detox. The last time I did this (October of 2008), I lost 17 pounds in 4 weeks without counting calories or exercising like a crazy woman.  It is a diet of fresh and healthy foods - organic when not too expensive plausible, and high in fiber.  It is devoid of refined sugar, wheat, chemical processing and saturated fats.  It requests that I follow a mind detox as well; focusing on mindfulness and spiritual awareness, and reducing stress.  It gives reason to why I should avoid toxic substances in detergents, make-up, perfumes and air, and reminds me to move my body.  It teaches about the whole system of the body and how it works together... which foods help which organs, how to tell when you are toxic and which organs to concentrate on longer.  The last time I did this, the weight stayed off almost 2 years.  But I gained it all back over the course of last Winter, and I didn't take the time to stop myself.  Life has been very hard the past year, and it is exactly when I SHOULD have been paying more attention to what my body was saying and less to the wanderings of my mind.  But spiral down via chocolate, I did (and I don't even LOVE chocolate).  Now I am going to work on this 28 day detox, and I am pretty certain that it will last longer than 28 days to get my body into shape this time.  It is hard for me to loose weight the "normal" way - exercise and counting calories ... but this way works the way my body works, so the weight loss will be good.  More than doing this for weight loss, I am doing this for health gain.  I feel sluggish, my mind feels slow, I feel grumpy and irritable and the fact that my clothes are tight makes me more self-conscious.  I am not going to buy new clothes to help me gain confidence.  Not this time.  I am going to get my head back in the game.  I didn't think I'd ever gain those pounds back, and I probably wouldn't have if I hadn't succumbed to the stress.  I am back on the mindful living bandwagon; resolved to stay, and excited for the results!

 Last August:  17 pound weight loss maintained for 22 months - I went back to my normal-ish diet, and felt good so I hadn't tried to loose the 10 - 15  pounds I still could have lost

4th of July weekend.  Yes!  I was able to walk on stilts, but that didn't make me feel better when I saw this picture!

Princess E's new room

Eliana loves Extreme Home Makeover, and asked for an "extreme room makeover" for her 7th birthday.  I was more than happy to oblige. In fact she may have changed her mind just before the big day, and I still went through with it.  The room isn't completely finished yet, but here is a sneak peek:

Her room is full of love....

And history...

The purple doll was my grandmother's

Personality...

and things she enjoys....

I will finish up the final details and show the whole room soon!

Believe

One of my parenting strategies (especially with my teens) is to tell them that they create the world around them.  My mantra to them for years has been "You are going to be right about whatever you focus on, so why not focus on things that make you happy?"  Well, as a whole, humans have a hard time focusing on what is good.  We see it on tv, in self-help books, in prayer.... We watch others be successful on The Biggest Loser or The Apprentice, and wish we had some of that gumption while secretly knowing we could never do that.  While we read a self-help book we hope (but doubt) that we will be able to follow it's guidelines.    While we pray, we wonder if we are holy/repent enough to receive. 

What we need to do is BELIEVE that good will happen.   Whether a person is religious or not, they were not put on this Earth for the purpose of having a horrible life.  We are meant to enjoy this experience.  We manifest what we want to happen by focusing on the powerful things in our life, and we get to control what has power.  If we give power to bad things, we are allowing them to have power.  Even a small amount of nagging doubt/fear/pain (or that "secret knowing" that we could never cut it) is still ultimately in control, or it wouldn't be enough to derail the fantastic dreams we have.

I recently read that any wish we have is just a small dot in the center of a large circle of the fullness of possibility that exists in that wish.  Our God of Infinitely More.

So, from now on,
As I pray, I will pray as though it is already being realized.
As I read, I will read books focused on creating beauty love and comfort in my life as though it is already there.
As I think, I will think of things as though they already are.
As I plan, I will imagine that it already is.
Because, I BELIEVE they soon will be.