Wedding Bouquet Made With Handmade Flowers

I love these flowers! What a great idea :)
Wedding Bouquet Made With Handmade Flowers

Day Seven of "Detox 4 Women"

Alright – I can actually say that I’m kind of finding the detox to be a little easier. In the mornings I’m eating Coconut Milk yogurt (which is super tasty) and a Larabar (equally as tasty). That way I’m getting in some non-dairy calcium and fruit. Then for lunch I have a baked potato with a salad (but I’m going to admit that I really am not wanting a salad for lunch.) Actually, I’m kinda really getting sick of salads!!! Then for dinner I have some cooked veggies with a fish and some fruit or coconut milk ice cream for dessert.

Tonight we’re going to P.F. Changs for dinner and (with some help from Weight Watchers as well), I’ve pre-planned my meal that will take a slight break from the detox in order to eat chicken and brown rice, but it will still keep my calories and fat within the context of healthy eating.

Updates, I’m still dairy-free, bad grain-free on weekdays, and caffeine-free; although my hormones are still a bit screwy from my outpatient surgery and so I’m tired, craving cookies and sweets, and sick of veggies. So we’ll see how long this detox will last this week!!!

Thanks for the support guys/gals!!!

Days Three-Six of "Detox 4 Women"

Confession time – I admit that Valentine’s weekend may have not been the best weekend to detox! And by admitting that, I’m admitting to you that I didn’t do much detoxing this weekend. Actually, I did keep clean of caffeine!!! That’s all I can say though….

I got up this morning and did the body brushing from the detox & ate pretty well, if I do say so myself. My husband and I agree that we’re going to try to maintain a vegetarian lifestyle during the week and save our indulgences for the weekend. It’s really hard for us to maintain a work-out schedule though! Hopefully we can get a routine together soon, because we both feel so much better when working out!

We also went to a natural grocery store and bought things to keep the dairy detox going – such as Coconut Milk, coconut milk yogurt, goat’s milk ice cream and goat’s milk cheese. We also bought wheat grass for our dog – and he loves it! Mind you, he’d love anything that didn’t resemble dog food! We also bought some Larabar’s – which are surprisingly delicious!!! I ate one with my yogurt this morning and it was a very filling breakfast.

Bottom line - am I disappointed in myself that I couldn’t keep the detox going – yes – but I also came to the realization that I need to love myself for how I look now and stop beating myself up so much! I’m in my normal BMI and am pretty healthy as I am. Anything I do is just going to improve my muscles and energy level.

I hope you all had a great Valentine’s Day!!!

Day Two of “Detox 4 Women”

Day Two of "Detox 4 Women" - I need bread! I woke up this morning with the shakes and I thought I was going to pass out… what a way to start the day! I went to the kitchen and kept thinking “I can’t eat another vegetable, I can’t eat another vegetable”…and grabbed the first thing I could eat (a banana) and the rest of last nights dark chocolate bar. I followed them up with chugging a 16.9 oz bottle of water. It did the trick, but on the way to work I kept gagging at the thought of drinking the carrot juice because I need FOOD! …. So after the shaky feeling started to come back while at work (even after drinking another bottle of water), I went against my better judgment and bought myself an egg & turkey sausage sandwich (NO CHEESE) on whole grain bread– but I only ate 1 slice of the whole grain bread with all the egg and turkey sausage. Ah. I feel so much better!!!!

So then I let my stomach settle, kept drinking my water so that I could take my Probiotic supplements and vitamins. Do I feel guilty that I haven’t had a vegetable yet, including no juice and it’s almost lunchtime – yes – but I also know I have a salmon and steamed broccoli for lunch, and I’ll try… TRY to drink ½ a bottle of carrot juice for my mid-day snack. Hopefully I didn’t sabotage the detox with the bread, turkey sausage & banana…. But I’m still getting the hang of it. I think my body reallllllly needs whole grain bread though.

So I ate my salmon and steamed broccoli, and some pieces of a 60% dark chocolate bar that my boss gave me for Valentine’s Day… and I feel SO guilty!!! This is Day Two and I’ve already cheated a couple times. Where is my will power?!?!? Then I discovered that I've been HAD!!! It wasn't 60% dark chocolate bar, it was a 60% dc shell... meaning the insides were gooey and delicious - but very, VERY against the detox. I basically ate my ENTIRE day of fat in one bar... great.

I’m planning on eating a big salad for dinner (maybe with some chicken to keep me from getting the shakes again the morning…) and I definitely am aiming to do Yoga tonight!!! Tomorrow I’m heading to the grocery store to pick up some coconut milk products, and some ‘living grain’ breads so that I can keep with the detox, but without the shakes :)

** Please note: My husband is trying this detox with me - and although he hasn't been drinking vegetable juice because we haven't had time to juice yet, he's done much better on the detox than me. He also has a sinus infection, and therefore no appetite, but still!!! ***

Day One of “Detox 4 Women”

Day 1 of “Detox 4 Women” – I’m tired! I’ve only been at this for four hours and I just want to crawl under the desk and go to bed. Too much to do today though, so I won’t be in bed until I get home tonight! I was supposed to wake up this morning and do yoga, body brushing, and drink 1 liter of water. I woke up late, drank 1 bottle of 16.9 fl oz of water, and didn’t have time to juice this morning so I stopped at the grocery store and bought an Odwalla 100% Pure Pressed Carrot Juice. Let me tell you it’s hard for someone who isn’t 100% into eating vegetables to drink 100% Pure Pressed Carrot Juice! My gag reflex was in full effect upon the first couple sips, but right now I’m ½ way through the 15.2 fl oz and I switched to herbal tea until I could wake up enough to finish the juice!

Maybe Day 1 didn’t start off that great, as I need to work out, body brush, and drink another bottle of water at some point this morning, and finish the other ½ of my carrot juice! But hey, I AM drinking carrot juice instead of eating a bagel, and drinking herbal tea instead of coffee…. So that’s a start, right??? Also, I made myself a big salad for lunch with spinach, grated zucchini and carrots, mushrooms, cucumbers, tomatoes, quinoa, onions, and olive oil. I know that I will be STARVING after that though. I wish I would have grabbed a baked potato or soup – that would have really curbed my appetite this afternoon. Hindsight!

Tonight I had salmon with spinich salad, a salad, and a couple pieces of my dark chocolate bar – yes! I didn't squeeze in yoga tonight because by the time I got out of class I had such a headache, from no coffee and bread I'm sure, and I was exhausted! I came home and went straight to bed.

All-in-all, I'd say Day 1 was a success!

“Detox 4 Women” lifestyle by Natalia Rose

Hello my few blog viewers! Today I started the “Detox 4 Women” lifestyle by Natalia Rose who also wrote the “Raw Food Detox Diet.” From the reviews that I read, they are very similar though – with the goal being to detox my body from yeast (yellow-light starches and sugars) by eating organic-all natural raw foods like vegetables and low-sugar fruits, and fish, eggs, and natural grains like millet, quinoa, and buckwheat. Yes, I can also have wine and dark chocolate.

Why, do you ask? (As many people have asked!) I’ve always wanted to be healthy – and while I’m a healthier version of the person I was a couple years ago, I’m not where near the healthiest version of myself that I can be. I’ll also admit, I’m a person who holds stress/anxiety in my body, and as a result I feel bloated, tired, no energy, etc. Since I’m sick of feeling that way, there’s yet another reason to detox. I can control my diet and fitness, and resolve the physical symptoms that I’ve been feeling. And there’s no better reason to start now!

So for the next four weeks I’m going to document the detox… hopefully after week one I’ll start feeling the results!!!

Hello friends - I am recovering from an outpatient surgery I had yesterday and I needed a little sunshine through my bloating and dull pain. I thought that I'd share a picture that I borrowed from A CUP OF JO's blog, because it made me smile! I wish there were small flower shops like this by me! Can't you just smell them right now!?!?



Things having been going well for me in 2010, my husband and I are knocking things off our to-do list, and I have been accomplishing things on mine as well. One thing that I'm still dying to do is utilize my new, used camera to take amazing photographs like those taken off my husband and I at our engagement shoot and wedding day. There are so many things to learn, it's almost overwhelming! I know that I have an eye for photography, or at least I'd like to think so, but I feel more comfortable capturing nature stills rather than people. I'd like to break through that barrier in 2010 and truly becoming comfortable behind a camera... here are some photos that I've taken over the years, please let me know what you think!