A month after my 10 Day Transformational Cleanse…

Lots of people have been asking me for a follow up of the 10 day cleanse that I completed a month ago, so here it is in no particular order.

1. My body went back to my late 20s body and has stayed there (lean mass, weight, fat percentage).  Whatever rut I was in (aging, hormonal, out of balance eating) had put some extra fluff on my body that wasn’t budging.  Now, before those that know me say I’m crazier than we already know I am, being as connected to my body as I am can be a blessing and a curse so I feel every shift in my body.  So when I had the extra 5 or 6 pounds that wasn’t going anywhere I felt very uncomfortable in my skin, very out of balance.  I was eating my typical healthy foods but like I tell everyone, if you eat the wrong foods for the phase of life you are in, or out of balance in general, it will eventually show up (in health, weight, hormones, etc).  I have only gained back 1 pound of the weight I lost on the cleanse.

2. I feel so much more balanced in my body!  I feel back in a groove with my eating, my hormones are balanced and it’s much easier to maintain this balance.  I am having amazing workouts, feel very strong and powerful and the aminos are giving me more bang for my buck!

3. It definitely changed my cravings and overall food desires/ratios.  I crave my superfood/ super green drinks every day and feel the difference when I don’t have that burst of alive foods in my body.  I love how sharp my mind is, how focused, energized and creative I continue to be and how I feel optimally supported overall by my food choices.

4. It made me fall deeper in love with the aminos!  WOW I love those pills!!  😉 I was feeling like it was getting much harder for me to maintain my muscle definition as I aged even though my workouts were very intense and varied.  Now my body looks like it did in my late 20s, just with better muscle maturity due to my lifestyle.  I’m bulky by NO means, just lean with definition.  The aminos do SO MUCH MORE than help to maintain weight, they also balance blood sugar, help with brain function, energize and build stamina.  I would highly recommend listening to this from the doctor that created the tablets.  I think almost all of my clients are on these (as a supplement) and loving their results as well:

Click to Listen: http://www.audioacrobat.com/play/WTPQvYQ7

Click to Download: http://audio007.audioacrobat.com/download/audioacrobat-8675-u-1727214-s-4.audio.mp3

5. It has made me gravitate towards lighter foods and very focused on how my body feels during and after my meals and snacks. I eat less and stop when I’m full instead of mindlessly eating as I hurry throughout the day.

I continue to love how this experience changed my body and mind, how it continues to transform my lifestyle and make me healthier (yes, I can always be healthier!!).  I still drink the Power Shake and/or LOVE Supermeal every day, I take 5 to 10 aminos a day depending on what I’m doing and what I have time to eat.  Sometimes my breakfast and snacks consist of the shakes along with the aminos if my day is packed, I’m always focused and energized and able to maintain my busy schedule with these nutrients alone.  I have implemented my “day of fasting” back into my weekly routine, which I’ve done on an off for 2 decades.  I take a day off every week and just drink my shakes and take my pills and I usually look forward to that day because I LOVE how it makes me feel.

I’m getting amazing feedback from others reclaiming their health.  The stories are so inspiring, stop by and read some and let me know when you’re interested in trying this transformation yourself.  I’ll actually be doing an athletic cleanse next, probably in a month or so and I can’t wait!!

http://www.facebook.com/10daytransformationalcleanse

Live…Love…be ALIVE!

 

 

My TRANSFORMATION was a catalyst for growth…

This was my facebook post today:

I think one of my biggest personal challenges is trying to find the balance between my passion for people’s health and creating the environment for them to be responsible for the choices that they make. Sometimes I wonder if my passion is misunderstood or taken the wrong way… But then I realize that this is my issue and not someone else’s. Sometimes I want so desperately for clients or friends to see what their choices are creating, to help them heal their body or make healthy choices in general, but then I must understand that they’re not ready for this and it’s not my responsibility to make them healthy… Which could never happen anyway, The choice must be theirs. To be passionately excited and inspired by those that create health in their life can also have a dark side. I am learning to trust the true intention of my heart is seen by those that desire to see it, and not take personally the choices and projections of others. I live to inspire not by coercion but by the magnetic pull of living passionately, by creating environments for others to maximize their potential and purpose however that looks for them. This is my work and I take full responsibility for my creation…but not yours. 

I love how life gives us many opportunities to continue personal growth and transformation once we’ve set it in motion.  Just because my catalyst was a 10 day cleanse doesn’t mean this wasn’t connected to other areas of emotional, mental and spiritual growth.  I think blogging of my 10 day journey was pretty clear on the experience being spiritual for me.  As the transformation continues I’m being given the opportunity to create space and environments for people to choose their own path in life and not taking personally when they choose dis-ease over health, fat over fit and healthy, tired over vibrant, sleepless over restful, moody over stable.  My passion is so strong, my beliefs so powerful in how I feel about holistic, total, WHOLE, health that when clients, friends, family, kids, choose to abuse or neglect their body and then complain about the results, I desperately want to “fix it”.  I want to yell, “I have the remedy, I know what you need, let me help you!!”, when in fact it’s their journey not mine, and not my burden to carry.  We all have choice, our choices create our reality, and we are always given the power to choose something different if what we are creating isn’t working for us.
So my work, what I take responsibility for, is continuing to focus on my own personal growth and making sure my choices are in alignment with who I am, with what I’m about, and allowing those around me to do the same.  It can be a blessing and curse to want true health and wellbeing so badly for people, I would be one to do grocery shopping and dinner planning for everyone if I could.  I would put everyone on a cleanse so matter what their diet looks like to reboot and rejuvenate their body because we are all bombarded with toxins every day no matter how clean we eat.  I would passionately talk to children about how precious their body’s are, how it’s truly the Temple of God, and how what they put in it matters because one day these children will be adults wanting to maximize their potential and leave a legacy worth leaving, and this can’t be done sick, exhausted, stressed and strung out.
So for today, my personal growth is not to take things personally, not to take on what isn’t mine, live authentically and trust the rest to fall into place.

Live…Love…Be ALIVE!

Follow up to my 10 day cleanse….

It’s Wednesday afternoon and I officially finished my last Power Shake Sunday at 6:30pm. I found myself Monday listening to my body to see how it would respond, if it would become ravenous for foods I don’t normally eat (like french fries- gasp!) or if I was just going to devour everything in my pantry due to 10 days of lack, and neither happened, I really wasn’t hungry at all.  I think in a previous post I talked about having an intimate connection with my body being a blessing and a curse and this is another one of those situations.  I know my body has been transitioning lately, even before the cleanse, and I was using the cleanse to reconnect with my body and really pay attention to what my body needs for optimal nourishment, to maximize my physical, mental and emotional needs at this time in my life.  As I come out of the cleanse I find that I’m catching myself going toward my habitual routines which is now causing pause and allowing me to assess the situation to see if I’m choosing something out of habit, what my thoughts are around the situation, and where I need to relax and allow in order to evolve and grow.  What does this mean?  It means that my thoughts and emotions were all over the place, from “get me some food, I need to eat” to “I need a salad to maintain my results” to “I need more protein to maintain my results” to “I miss cleansing”. “What if I get fat?”, “what if I get to skinny”, “what does it matter if I’m to fat/ to skinny”…. Read these again and you might think I’m schizophrenic, but I think if we all paid attention to our thoughts they are very similar.  For me, I try to converse with the “voices” or “thoughts” that are in alignment with who I am, my personal mission statement, and what I am looking to create rather than the many disempowering, frantic, disorganized, uncaring and unkind thoughts/ voices that like to push their way through and get noticed and fed.  The battle is always in the mind.  A great friend in the most beautifully perfect timing sent me a reminder today saying, “…you win in the mind first and then you win in life.”

So I’m learning, and I really really love to learn!  I love to learn about myself because it helps me be better, it helps me become more sensitive and aware of my surroundings, my environments, of others.  It allows me to maximize my ability to  assist and support others on their journey to creating the life they desire.  Health and nutrition is what I was put on earth to use to leave my legacy, my conduit to personal growth and evolution, my way to support, encourage and create environments for others to maximize their potential, to leave a mark on the universe no matter how small.  All I know is I’m enjoying the ride!

Oh, the beautiful (internal) conversation that can be sparked from a 10 day cleanse…

Live…Love…Be ALIVE!

My amazing 10 day journey, Day 10, Grand Finale!!!

Well, I did it!  With passion, purpose and intention I completed the 10 day transformational cleanse! I found the process to be spiritual, emotional, physical, and mental, everything I’ve been blogging about since the first day.  I’m excited for my accomplishment and deeply thankful for the experience.  I would do this again in a heartbeat!

I’m curious how my body will adjust as I start integrating food back into my routine.  My mind wants a steak but my body has zero desire, I’m still not hungry! ha!  I’ll ease back into eating as I eased into the cleanse, I’ll let my body tell me what it wants.  With the same ease and grace that I allowed this process to flow is the same ease and grace I will find a new rhythm, continuing my new connection to my body and mind and allowing the growth that I’ve put in place to evolve and unfold.

So let’s talk strictly physical for a moment.  I’ve put my emphasis and focus on the mental and spiritual aspect of the cleanse because this was my personal purpose in completing this.  But for those curious of my results, here they are….  I lost a total of 6.6 pounds which is a lot for me, I’m not a big person to begin with.  Don’t get me wrong, I definitely had more “fluff” than usual due to my fun travels this Summer but still nothing out of my normal healthy range.  So I went from 126.6 to 120.o when I weighed this morning (I’m 5’5″).  I lost 1 inch in my waist, 1.5 inches in my hips, 2 inches in my bust, and 1 inch in my thighs. Maybe I was carrying more fluff than I realized!  ha!  Either way, my body clearly shifted during this 10 days! My eyes are so clear, my skin looks amazing, and what I’m personally excited about- my eyelashes grew!!  So silly and small, I know (I’m human!), but it always bugged me my lashes were so short, I had no idea I was going to get longer eyelashes from this but I did!! YAY! Thank you aminos!!!  😉

It’s 9am on day 11 and I’m still not hungry so I’m drinking the Purium L.O.V.E supermeal shake and taking my aminos.  I’ve been
taking the aminos and drinking L.O.V.E for about 7 months so that will continue to be my routine.  My usual routine is L.O.V.E in the morning with my aminos along with Reviv-It-All and Bee Energetic which is a great energetic start for me since I’m usually hitting the ground running first thing in morning.  With a job and 4 kids to take care I’m a busy girl!

If you’re ever considering a cleanse, a total body reset, a deep spiritual practice, a mind-body rejuvenation, I’d love to support you on your journey.  My passion is to assist and support people on their journey to health and wholeness, however that looks for them. I am inspired every day by the men and women that choose to create a thriving, healthy, vibrant, passionate life!

Live…Love…Be ALIVE!

Almost there! Cleansing, Day 9

Wow, what a day!  Let me start with last night….my energy continued to tank as the day progressed.  I’ll say this again, the interesting thing about this cleanse, for me, is that even though my physical energy might be low my mental energy is high and clear!  So I’m able to focus on my clients and their needs, take care of my family, as well as write this blog with ease (but I would never claim to be a writer so take it as it is!).  🙂   As I was getting ready for bed I was trying to figure out why I was so exhausted, why my body was warm for the first time since being on the cleanse, why the sudden shift?  And then it dawned on me!  At my 4pm flex food I had cucumber slices with copious amounts of cayenne pepper  (I love cayenne!).  I know cayenne is detoxifying but wasn’t really focused on that at the time.  It was after that I became so tired I fell asleep on the couch!  I was exhausted! After I realized what I had done, I reconciled myself to bed and knew tomorrow (today) would be another day.  I write about this for education, understanding that everyone is different and will have their own unique experience.

Ok, back to today….I woke up much better and rested, excited for my Qi Gong session at a local studio (Brookhaven Fitness) with Mauro,  a close friend and deeply spiritual being.  He runs the studio with his beautiful wife Rachel and I have known and loved them both for many years.  Anyway….my session was powerful and cleansing, I absolutely loved it and was so excited to incorporate this healing modality into my transformation cleanse.  Throughout the session I could feel the energy shift and move through my body, my intention was to “cleanse and release energies that no longer support my highest and best good”.  It was a deeply moving experience for me and one that I hope to incorporate into my regular routine.  I have been familiar with the benefits of Qi Gong for decades but had only done it a few times, none recent.   Qi Gong is deeply healing and a very powerful way to connect with the body.  I would HIGHLY recommend this, especially during cleansing, for it’s healing benefits.

After my session the best way I can describe myself was “cleansed”, I felt light, clear, grounded.  My energy today has been good, not as high as previous days but definitely not as low as yesterday!  Perhaps nine consecutive days with no food has caught up with me.  Today I found myself craving variety and tired of the redundancy of the cleanse protocol.  These were just thoughts I observed but nothing that I gave energy to, nothing I fed.  I don’t know that I necessarily miss food as much as I miss the rituals around it.  But again, for me it’s important to implement balance and taking a break from eating for 10 days out of the year is necessary for my own personal and spiritual growth.

So this concludes day 9,  one day to go.  I don’t feel I’m limping to the finish line, I’m sprinting with great ease, focus and commitment.  I was talking to a friend today that has been following my blog and said because I’m such a positive person I made this cleanse sound easy and joked that I needed more drama in my posts! Lol! The truth about me is that I approach things with a strong, positive mind and am very focused on my intention.  I write like I talk, I’m sure you’ve picked up I’m not the next Ernest Hemingway, but my heart and passion is to help people see a new perspective, show that there is amazing power in the mind and what you focus on you create.  My focus and intention all along was to have a spiritually cleansing experience, to finish as strong as I started, to allow my body to flow through these days with ease and grace, to release toxins that no longer supported health in my body, to rejuvenate and reset my DNA, and I have accomplished this all.  Its easy to be successful in an action that is in complete alignment with my soul’s passion and purpose.

Live…Love…Be ALIVE!

 

Tired Cleansing Girl, Day 5

Well, today was my big “cleansing” day, I could tell immediately when I woke up that my body was hard at work cleansing and detoxifying!  I was a little more sluggish than usual to get moving but had another busy day of client appointments and kid activities so off to the races I went!  😉

I felt my body needed extra support this morning so I ate half an avocado with my morning aminos to assist with energy needed for daily activities and most importantly, cleansing my body.  I wasn’t hungry, I haven’t been hungry on this cleanse at all, so I ate this because I felt it was needed.  I know my body is cleansing and detoxifying, one of my cleansing symptoms has been extra mucus in my head which is a very normal cleansing reaction and one that I’m very familiar with, not enough to really notice except for the fact that I am hyper focused on how my body is responding through this process. I’m very connected to my body so I feel all these slight nuances.  If I wrote about every little thing I felt you would be bored to tears, maybe more so than you already are! ha!

What I love is that I’m still clear minded and have functional energy to be productive and present for my clients and family.  I definitely didn’t push myself more than what my body wanted to do but I love that I can feel tired without being exhausted and looking for a bed to crawl in!  YAY!   All in all another successful day!

I’m tired so I’m retiring early to honor my body’s request for rest. Good Night, Everyone!

 

Cleansing Queen (ha!), Day 4

“Our inner guidance comes to us through our feelings and body wisdom first — not through intellectual understanding.” ~ Christiane Northrup

Today started with a bang, I was awake and ready for a productive day at 5:45am.  This is earlier than usual but I had a busy, packed day of client meetings and I couldn’t waste time sleeping.  😉

I followed the cleanse protocol exactly today, pulling out my green drink during one of my new client consultations!  Since we were talking about health and how to create a healthy body I thought it was more than appropriate.  😉  There is no value in me if I don’t live what I preach, I’m a huge fan of authenticity.  I had back to back client appointments and was clear minded, focused, and energetic for most of the day.  My energy started to wane this afternoon and now I’m tired!  Of course it’s the end of the day and I’ve been working since 6am, but I’m definitely more tired tonight than I have been since starting the cleanse.  I chose to drink some bone broth as one of my flex foods today and definitely feel the added detox affect.  I still love how clear and focused I feel on this cleanse and how stable my emotions and hormones have been.  I’m really not hungry at all and feel very satisfied with the shakes during the day.  To this point I don’t miss food or feel deprived whatsoever.

This cleanse has sparked some awesome conversations with my kids.  I have an almost 13 year old daughter and 9 year old son.  I love the conversations I’ve had with both of them, but especially my daughter who is very aware and tuned into her body and health.  I’ve talked to them about cleansing, what it means to me, why I’m doing it, and how it affect my mind, body and soul.  They listened with great intent and my daughter asked when she would be old enough to cleanse.  I want her to have a very healthy understanding of her body and how to listen and honor what it says, my son too, but I’m definitely more sensitive to her since she’s a female.  She’s an awesome kid, some say my Mini Me, but I know she’s on her own path and I don’t want to look back and say I didn’t take every opportunity possible to teach and show her what a healthy relationship to the body looks like.  And I didn’t stage this picture, she chose this on her own, I actually got this picture off her Facebook page!

Ok, I’m pooped.  I’m going to snuggle with my kids and go to bed.  All in all I would say I had another success, productive, amazing day!

Spring Cleaning Anyone?

One thing I see often with clients is they don’t understand that their health evolves and changes just like their body, soul and mind does. The foods, thoughts, ideas, beliefs that nourished them in their 20s is quite different than what nourishes in the 30s, 40s, 50s, etc. Understanding that what was beneficial, what “worked” at one time won’t necessarily “work” forever as each person’s health is cumulative of their lifestyle choices over time. I hear countless stories of weight gain, exhaustion, insomnia, inability to lose weight, among the many many others, not understanding that these symptoms are the result of improper eating for their body and lifestyle, hormonal imbalances, mineral deficiencies. The true key is learning to listen to our bodies, to flow with the natural rhythms of life, to understand that you can’t “fix” something with the same mindset that created the issue.

Spring in Ayurveda is known as KAPHA season and CLEANSING is highly recommended to REJUVENATE the body as well as the mind. Traditionally, in many cultures around the world there has been some type of cleansing, specifically in the spring, to help lift the heaviness of winter (physically, emotionally and spiritually). I love to bring in this season of new birth, new life, with a cleanse. All cleanses have physical, emotional and spiritual components to them, a time of shedding the heaviness of extra weight, thoughts, emotions from winter. We all go through seasons in our own life just as the environmental seasons example for us. For everyone in life there is a time of death (Winter) a shedding of the old to create space for the new (Spring). Will you use this time of renewal, of rejuvenation? Will you create space for new growth?

If you’re ready to commit to yourself for a little “Spring cleaning” then I’d love to support and encourage you in your creation of new growth! I have seen beautiful results from a 10 day transformation cleanse with myself and my clients, most expressing to me their excitement over weight loss, elimination of brain fog, mental and emotional clarity, a feeling of a “fresh start“, a “lighter feeling“, energy, stamina, better workouts, heightened senses, hormonal balance.  This is just some of the feedback I’ve received….and experienced myself!  I’ve always been one to promote healthy, organic, balanced cleanses to reduce toxic load in the body.  No matter what you choose as your Spring Cleaning tool you will benefit greatly from making this decision for yourself.  As always, I support each person to find what they connect with, what aligns with who they are, their values and beliefs, and go with that.  We are all unique and what speaks to one might not speak to another, and that’s ok!  If this cleanse sounds like something you’d like to commit to, that aligns with your personal goals, then contact me, I’d love to support you!

No matter your path, I pray you experience a magnificently BEAUTIFUL Spring cleaning!

LIVE…LOVE…BE ALIVE!

How do you love thee, let us count the ways….

I’ve been a student of health and wellness for longer than I’ve been alive. My personal journey began about 20 years ago with my own health challenges as it does with so many people.  My story is uniquely mine, just as your story is uniquely yours.  I have learned that knowing what best nourishes my body, soul and mind is crucial to creating health.  I’ve learned that when I detox my body I detox my mind, there is no separation in these two.  I have learned that my body changes through the seasons and embracing these changes, flowing and dancing with the magnificence of it all is a gift.  I love how each day presents new experiences and new ways for me to know my body more intimately.  Most people I know don’t understand and love their body intimately, I hear it from my clients all day and it’s so sad to hear.  As I believe we are masterfully and Divinely created, there is such amazing joy in being intimately acquainted with such an intricate, complex, superior creation.  So I wonder, do you know yourself intimately?  Have you ever thought of this, of knowing your body, it’s nuances, it’s praises, it’s loathing? Have you ever made connections to the foods you eat and the life you live, the power of your thoughts, the energy of the body, the fires within, and how they are all connected?  How do you express this deep connection within YOU?

Ladies, can you feel me…?

If I based my self confidence, my self worth, on the digits of the scale, I’m pretty sure I would need a steady dose of anti-depressants and standing appointments with my therapist.  Depending on the time of day, time of month, time of year, I would need anywhere from a mild dose to a heavy dose depending on how loud the voices were inside my head.  “You’re a little chunky these days!”  Or, “What are you eating???!! Looks like you need to make some adjustments.   Maybe you should detox…”  And on and on the internal  stories go.  I am no different from the beautiful clients I work with whose negative self talk is so evident, they are amazing mirrors for me to see the truth within myself.  This is a part of my current growth, how society has so warped what is beautiful and what is healthy in the female body.  It’s sad that we are so far removed from celebrating the curves, the amazing ability to carry another life, the femininity that we were created with.  Women are more critical of other women, in my experience, and judge based on the numbers on the scale, on how skinny you are perceived to be.  When I have conversations with my clients, I am having conversations with myself.  We are all uniquely and beautifully made and we each have a choice how we will express this in our bodies.  I have certainly come far from feeling the only thing I had control over was my body so starving it and denying it pleasure were my choices.  I’ve worked hard at creating my balance and continue to work on this within myself.  I’m thankful for these times of reflection that I can choose to create another internal dialogue, one that goes more like, “Thank you, body, for all you do for me!  Thank you for nurturing two lives and producing beautiful healthy children.  Thank you for your strength, for your softness, for your ability to energize me daily.  Thank you for responding to my healthy choices.  You are beautiful, created by God, wonderfully made!”.  I honor my body back with the choices I make that I feel creates health for me and encourage the same for my clients.  I envision a day, soon, that we as women embrace and love the bodies given us, honor ourselves by our speak, choices, and thoughts, and truly live into the unique and beautiful shapes that create the home we live in.