Catchup post

So here I am in New Zealand, my homeland, and Im just loving being here.  As I type this catchup blog post I am sitting in McDonalds in Tauranga while my sister in law is next door getting a therapeutic hot stone massage.  Yes, I can see the irony of having a completely shite fast food (food??) restaurant (restaurant?!?) right next door to place of healing, and I can also see the irony of sitting inside so-called restaurant while typing a blogpost for a health blog!

However they DO have free wifi, so I am blatantly utilising this while studiously avoiding the enquiring glances of the staff wondering at the size of my nerve to be so obviously taking (wifi) and not giving (purchasing).

I figure I've ingested enough of this processed crap over the years to warrant a little free wifi, so I sit proud.  :-)

I've been home for a week now and its been quite up and down - the first few days I spent on an island out from Auckland catching up with a long lost friend.  This is where I had my first few 'chewable' meals after the juice cleanse.  The first was a lunch at a cafe and we chose a calamari salad which also had a little spicy chorizo in it.  In hindsight, I shouldnt have eaten the chorizo as it was quite heavily processed...... but I did.   The resulting cramping and half hour in the little girls room SHOULD have been enough to put me off eating the huge wagyu aged fillet of beef that my friend cooked us for dinner.  But it wasnt.  Sometimes it takes me a little while to really get it, you know? :-)

After this I was back at Mum's place and a bit more in control of what I ate.  I cut right back and spent a day snacking on nuts and fruit and vegetables with a little good quality cheese in there too.  My stomach and system appreciated this hugely.

I then made the trip down the country to spend the rest of my stay here with my brother, sister in law and their 2 beautiful angel girls.  These guys are super health concious so it is back to green juices, smoothies, carrot/apple/beetroot juices and lots of whole unprocessed foods.  Last night I actually cooked a vegetarian curry of cashew, kumara and chickpea which was pretty good.

I am pleased to say that barring one day, I have started every day with lemon juice in warm water and Im loving that ritual.  As well as the health and digestion benefits this gives, it really sets me up mentally for the day of healthy choices ahead.

I have been having a major health expression over the last few days however - I have a huge headcold and really painful sinuses.  I battled and battled with this on the first day and night, and about 2am after many many mannnny steam inhalations, hot and cold compresses and apple cider vinegar/honey drinks and gargles, I gave in and took a panadol.   It was a battle of conscience but I needed sleep and didnt want to waste my precious time with my nieces and family being ill so sometimes needs must.

I will write more soon but at the moment am just loving being so concious of what goes into my body and am super loving being an aunty to the most divine girls ever.

Thoughts from the plane...

Here I am on the plane and as usual I cant either sleep (its too early) or watch movies (it's a Virgin cheapie flight) so thought I’d do a brain dump post to keep me occupied.

Reflections on the last couple of weeks….

Firstly, I feel amazing.  My skin looks clear, my hair doesn't get greasy after the second day of not washing it, and my eyes are bright.  I’ve definitely lost weight but I don't know how much as Im not really weighing myself.  I did so the other day and was 85kgs but as Im not sure what I really started on I cant compare.  My jeans are fitting nicely and I only have one small muffin top as opposed to an entire bakery….

Im loving how the juicing is making me feel, and also the ease of it.  Knowing I can whip up a juice for breaky that is going to give me a big bang of nutrients and goodness is awesome. 

The next habit I am going to continue with (after the lemon & warm water start to the day habit) is to have at least one green juice each day, and one carrot/apple and beetroot juice each day.

Karl and I have introduced foods now and we are eating meals consisting of steamed veges and a little protein.  Today at a pinch in Brisbane airport we shared a chicken wrap from Red Rooster and it tasted amazing.  The meat was more than likely heavily processed, as was the small amount of cheese and the sauce in it, but we only had a few bites each and overall we are doing great with making wise choices. 

My taste buds have become much more sensitive and I am really tasting my food, which means enjoying it way more too and savouring it in my mouth rather than gutsing it down.

Another thing I have noticed is how much food I ACTUALLY need to feel good and sustain my body – not only sustain it but help it to thrive.  I now know I was eating way too much, and way too much of the wrong stuff.  I always knew this but doing this juice cleanse and getting myself onto this path of education about my food has really opened my eyes.

These next days while I am away from home will be a plethora of choices to make regarding what I consume.  I am going to choose whole foods as much as possible, and organic wherever I can.  I know this is not always going to be possible, and Im not beating myself up for it if I am unable to do so.  

This is a marathon, not a sprint, and this is for life…..  I am so excited and energised by life and so much more present than I have ever been.  A fog has been lifted and I am engaged and in control of my life and I’ve never been happier J

Homeward bound

There's nothing quite like the excitement of packing and anticipating an overseas trip.  And when its back home to spend time with loved ones, its got a special kinda glow.  I am all packed and sorted and just doing a few final hours at work this morning before heading to the airport this afternoon.  The only downer is that my lovely man and kidlets are not coming with me, but at the same time, the distance and solitude always causes life to rush in and fill the void and makes the homecoming so much sweeter, so am looking forward to some time with myself and my family too.

Plane trips for me are notorious for being 'open slather junk fests' where I seem to think that the minute I step into the airport all bets are off and I can just shovel food in without a thought.  

That was the old me though!!! 

Today I have had my green juices and my carrot and apple juices, and I just need to sort out one meal with some protein before my flight.  Not quite sure what that will be as I will be at Brisbane Airport so will have to make some good choices there.  The selection and availability is not huge, but I know there are some cafes with salads so will probably go for one of them.

I also stopped at my lovely friend Lou's organic health food store this morning on the way to work and stocked up on snacks for the plane.  Wanted to give myself a bit of a treat, so have got a packet of organic Beetroot chips, some cacao chocolate covered macadamias and some raw almonds.  Sorted!

Will update more from the airport as I will have quite a bit of downtime there before my flight, so will leave you now with this gorgeous wee darling that I am so hanging out to see.  My lovely 3 year old niece.  Cant get enough of her and looking forward to lots of cuddles and fun very soon.

End of cleanse catchup

Day 10 of the cleanse passed without fanfare.  For me.  Karl had an interesting time of things.  He didnt really grasp the 'ease back into food' concept and instead became overwhelmed with the smell of lamb curry cooking and had 2 big bowls.  Less than 12 hours later he was extremely ill.  Aching joints, shaking, vomiting - it was rather like he had food poisoning.

It was a massive lesson for him (and me, although I was still juicing so didnt feel bad at all) in easing back into food slowly.  So now we are both through the juice cleanse/detox section of the programme and are slowly introducing foods.

Yesterday we had a market stall at an art and craft market about 1.5 hours away from home and so I prepared all my juice for the day on Saturday night and took them with me in flasks and bottles.  This is the first time I have felt tempted to eat something 'off plan' during this whole process.  The smells of freshly popped hot popcorn, fried food and coffee was very strong, but I am happy to say that I resisted all of this.  At the end of the day I ate a small amount of fresh cooked corn on the cob and it was really nice to 'chew' some food.  Here is my 'grazing platter' set up on the back of a seat in our car :-)

Last night Karl steamed lots of vegetables and we had those for dinner - all yummy beans and mushrooms and brocolli.  He also made a chicken broth to go with our youngest daughters dinner and we had our veges floating in this clear broth.  Karl loves spicy food and so used some chilli's from our garden in this and it was super spicy.

Couple of things I noticed yesterday....

Number 1:  Almost immediately after eating the spicy dinner, my little finger started aching HEAPS in the joint where it attaches to my hand.  I have had issues with my little finger for ages now - it seems to be a weak point for me - it is often rashy and achy and something is going on there that I need to get to the bottom of.  Anyway, last night it was so sore that I had to sleep with it stretched right out away from me in case Karl bumped it or I rolled on it.  This morning it was alot better but I still feel tightness when I clench a fist.

Number 2:  I have so much more energy than I used to.  I had no problem at all getting up and leaving the house (yes LEAVING the house) at 3am yesterday morning to head to the markets.  And during the day at the market I usually have all these little energy slumps and feel very tired.  Yesterday - nothing.  Felt amazing all day and I didnt even come home a crash out for a little late afternoon sleep catchup.  Just went to bed and sleep by about 9.30pm and feel fine now on Monday.

So on this Monday I have had my green kale/cos/silverbeet/apple juice for breakfast, and I have a flask of carrot/apple juice for throughout the day.  My plan was to go over to the local mall across the road and buy a salad, so I headed to the food court and went to Subway as a last resort.  I ordered a basic chicken salad, and cringed when they charged me $9.00!  Stupidly I went ahead with the purchase (instead of cancelling it and heading to Woolies and buying a 1/4 chicken and some salad greens).  I got back to my desk and just started to feel really angry.  No wonder we have such a weight problem in this world.  When a chicken salad costs you $9.00 and at the very same place I could have gotten a foot long meatball sub, dripping with cheese and sauce and fatty meat for just $5.00.  Something is very wrong there....

Got back to my desk and ate about half the chicken salad and just didnt feel great.  Maybe it was psychological but I now have a headache and just feel a bit groggy.  The chicken was very processed and not along the lines of the type of chicken that I will choose to eat from now going forward, and there was also some processed cheese in there too.  I dont know what I was thinking really, but it was a good lesson for me in making better choices!

I am heading to New Zealand tomorrow to visit my family and Im in 'last minute' mode for that today.  Getting all my work sorted here, purchasing last minute gifts for the babies in the family, and just tying up loose ends.  All very exciting and cant wait to spend some time with my loved ones.

For now, the focus is on integrating chewable food back into my diet and making great choices.  Its an interesting journey!

Cleanse - Day 9

Today has been a day of working on our business with my lovely man, and we are excited about restructuring things so that the workload is more shared by each of us in all areas of the business.

Both of us are really feeling the effects of the boxing class from 2 nights ago, and so went for a casual walk along the river this morning to loosen up our muscles which helped a little.  Still very sore though.

Today we have had our first 'chewable' meal in 9 days.  For lunch we had salad greens with almonds, mushroom and kiwifruit.  Karl also had about 100gms of baked chicken with spices as he is far worse than me with his body aching and muscle fatigue and just really felt he needed some sustainance and repair building protein.   I hereby give you.... lunch!

I have also eaten 3 kiwifruit today to try to help with my bowel situation.  I am happy to report that all systems are GO on that front.  Thats all I'll say about that.

Tomorrow is Day 10 and meant to be the last day of our juice cleanse.  The next phase is to slowly reintroduce vegetable and fruits and nuts and whole foods over the next few weeks.  I am going to New Zealand to be with my family for 9 days on Tuesday so am going to have to be quite vigilant with what I consume.  Holidaying in my motherland used to mean an all out pig out on all the kiwi food treats that I grew up on.  Nothing was off limits.  This time round will be completely different.  The focus will be on whole, unprocessed choices, with at least 2 juices per day (one of them being a green juice).

I cant wait for this next step on the path and this new challenge.  My brother and sister-in-law live in a beautiful part of the country and are very health conscious so while Im staying with them (for the last 6 days of my stay), making these choices will be very easy.  I have so much to talk to them about with all of this new information I've been learning so I cant wait to get there and just sit and chat to them.

Im also catching up with one of my besties Bay Chick who is on her own health journey too so really looking forward to spending some quality time with her.

Off to our eldest daughter's footy game tonight, then back for the usual ritual of 'friday night footy' on the couch watching NRL.  Its all about the game tonight!

Cleanse - Day 8

Woke this morning with a fuzzy head to my alarm.  I dont usually need my alarm and am one of those people that wakes up about a minute before it every morning, but still sets it every night 'just in case'...

I didnt get enough sleep last night - only closed my eyes around 12.30 and woke at 7.30am.  I know that lack of sleep really affects me and I dont function as well, so this is something I really need to work on.  The problem being that this juice cleanse is giving me so much energy that I am not getting tired at 9pm like I used to when I was filling my body with what can only be described as CRAP.

Today I am in the office till about 3.30pm and then we are heading to a family members place for birthday presents and cake.  Its interesting that Im not even concerned about being tempted by the cake or sweets that may be around.

Now... onto a topic that could very easily be classed by lots as coming from the WTMI bin (WAYYY Too Much Info), as opposed to just the TMI section!  The one thing that I am really struggling with today is... hmmmm.... how to put this in a ladylike way.....  'movement of the bowels'.  I have bad breath and my stomach feels tight and I have only 'gone' twice in the 8 days I have been on this cleanse.  This lack of ladies room visiting is definitely the reason I feel fuzzy today.

I have had a chiropractic adjustment and my chiro did a stomach release technique on me and showed me how to massage my stomach in the correct way to stimulate movement.  I've also had a few cups of herbal laxative tea, so am crossing fingers for a... errr.... 'result', sometime soon.  Thats enough about that!  Just thought I'd put it out there in case any others are doing this and experiencing the same thing.

Onto other things....

I heard a term today that really sums up my goal of nutrition.  I wish to become a 'Locavarian'.  Eating 100% locally bought fruit, veges, meat, nuts, everything.  I want to know my food has come from a local farm or garden, not flown and snap frozen for days/weeks/months in order to bring it to my table in the most visually appealing manner (and the most convenient).  Convenience is something that may be lost for a wee while during the transition and until I find my way to routines and suppliers, but this is definitely my future path.

To start this, Karl has planted us a vegetable garden down the side of our house, and we now have sugar snap peas, beans, tomatoes, squash, cos lettuce and corgettes growing nicely.  This was done about 4 weeks ago so we are seeing massive growth and things are almost ready to eat.

We also visited our local organic butcher last week, and you can read about the massive difference in taste of our filet steaks here.  Apart from hugely different taste, which was actually very strange at first, but then was divine, the meat was like biting through a piece of cake rather than kinda stringy and fleshy like meat I am used to.  It was also great to chat to the butcher and find out exactly where the meat comes from (about 2kms away).

Awareness is growing.  Information is flooding in and my brain is constantly buzzing with so much information.  I have a newfound presence in my life that I am so grateful for, and the love and warmth and change in my world is gorgeous.

Cleanse - Day 7

Really in the swing of this juicing cleanse now and not hungry or wanting to stray off the programme at all, which is great.  Still feeling amazing and full of energy and life in general.  Our daughter is now on Day 3 and she's also finding the same thing.  She has also reported that she is sleeping really well too, which is a big thing for her.

Today was a big day working on our own business today, which has been really productive and both Karl and I are feeling alot more motivated and purposeful.  

We took a break at lunchtime and did a guided relaxation meditation from the Wellness Warrior's Healthtalks - if you havent checked out these Healthtalks I would really encourage you to do so - there is so much positive inspiring video and information over there - Im so addicted!

Anyway, the break at lunch and the meditation was great for keeping our energy levels up and us working 'on purpose'.   Click on the image below if you want a 10 minute way to center yourself and reconnect.

Tonight we did something we've been meaning to do for a while now - we took a boxing class.  Or should I say, it TOOK US!  It was hard, full on, all encompassing and loads of fun!  Not sure Im going to be saying the same thing tomorrow, or the next day, when my body processes this new form of exercise but we'll definitely be going back and are loving this group class.

Off to have our berry smoothie now - we've saved this for tonight as a sweet treat.  Yum!

Cleanse - Day 6

Its starting to get a bit 'samey-samey' for me to start every post with "I feel amazing today" so even though its true, Im gonna start with a cool little piece of inspiration I just saw while trawling facebook this morning....

I love that.  Perhaps its easier for me to say as I am not on any regular medication and never have been - apart from the contraceptive pill for years, before I knew any better.  I also dont beat myself up about this.  I think thats really important.  I made the best choices I could at the time, with the information I had.  Its very easy to judge others for their constant pill popping and choice to listen to their doctors and the medical world, but if you dont know, you dont know right?  Everyone is just making the best decisions based on what they do know.   I think empowerment comes from making informed choices and constantly asking more questions.

This journey for me has been a long time coming.  I dont say all of this sitting on my high horse by any means.  Just this morning I took two Naprogesic tablets for period pain.  This is the only pharmaceutical that still makes an appearance in my life.  I've always had crippling monthly pain with my period and occasionally it got so bad that I would faint and vomit.  This put the scares up me so badly that now I dont let it get to any kind of bad pain, instead I choose to cut this off by taking 2 of these pills which completely nip it in the bud.   It definitely doesnt sit well with me to be doing this, and the journey to resolve this has begun.  Getting adjusted by my chiropractor, along with nutrition (the current journey) is where Im at with this.  I did see a homepath some years ago which helped immensely, so I think this will be my next step on the journey.  Anyway.....  just telling you this to highlight that this is an area I want to resolve.  Not quite sure where that all came from!!!!

Today I am in the office all day.  I had my lemon in warm water this morning first thing, then made the green juices for me, Karl and Kat (our eldest daughter, who has decided to join us on this journey - AWESOME!).  Then made up 3 juices of apple, carrot and beetroot and put them into big flasks for Kat and I to take during our day today.

Drank the juices this morning and then headed over to the mall at lunchtime for 'takeaways'.  Made me giggle that takeaways today means visiting Boost Juice bar and getting their only green juiced veges available, so lunch today was a juice of 2 x green apples, spinach and celery.

Today just flowed so well.  I am so in sync with my life at the moment and every work task Im doing is coming to me easily and things are just working.  I know its from the choices I am making and the spiritual/emotional component being alot more balanced.

Hope you are all having an amazing day also.

xo

Cleanse - Day 5

Feel great today.  Am not tempted at all to eat anything and am finding it really easy to stick to this juicing plan.  Not hungry in the slightest, and as I drink each juice Im focussing on the nutrients buzzing around my body and nourishing my cells and makin em sing!

Starting each day with lemon juice and warm water is great - it really wakes me up and is the first habit (of the 'One new habit per week') that I am definitely going to stick to.

Off on a tangent now....  For the longest time I've wanted to create a peaceful calming environment in our home but as we have had family living with us for the last 18 months or so, it hasnt been entirely possible.  Now that our situation has changed and we have lots more space, our house has developed into our own style again and I am absolutely loving this area in our house which I spend lots and lots of time in.  A candle or two are usually burning, filling the space with that gorgeous coconut/lime scent that I love so much and that just instantly calms me, fresh flowers made an appearance this week after visiting the local market, and they really add to the space ($10 for 10 gerberas - bargain!).  Karl also moved this gorgeous hanging lamp into the area so that I see it all the time, and a couple of other treasures are now around the place too.   Add to this a deep big comfy navy couch, which when curled up on, gives you views of the whole area described above, AND also out through the white shutters on to beautiful trees and across to a river, and I really think I've kicked the biggest goal in my living environment.  I am constantly grateful for this part of the house (although to be honest, the whole house is very cool) and I love spending time here.

Here's a few pics of my little sanctuary within my home.  I just love it....

             

And just cos I do like things that are beautiful, here's a quick snap of my lovely apple, carrot and beetroot juice that I love drinking every mid-morning....  How amazing are these colors?!  

This pic doesnt even do it justice - it blends from a divine deep red color at the bottom through to a lovely pinky orange hue at the top.  Gorgeous gifts from nature.  How could this NOT make me feel amazing :-)

Supermarket visits

Just wanted to show you how utterly different my supermarket trolley looks at the moment.  So fresh and alive and full of vibrant real live food.  No packets or cans or sachets.  SUCH a huge change from just last week...  :-)

Feeling amazing and buzzy today.

Karl and I went for a bike ride around our local area through 5 different beachy areas.  We are so blessed to live in this paradise :-)

            

 

Cleanse - Day 4

Sunday morning, rain is falling.....

LOVE that song :-)

And its very true.  Rain is falling but we feel great.  We went to bed at 2am after watching Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, which if you havent seen it, is the journey of Joe Cross, an Aussie guy who decides to change his lifestyle and conquer his chronic illness by going on a 60 day juice fast.  After 31 days he looks completely different and is off almost all his medication, and by the end of his journey he is completely off it all AND pain free, AND as a wicked byproduct, has lost all the weight he needed to and looks vibrant and full of health.

It was perfect timing for us to watch this as we were both feeling a bit BLAH and so this movie was the kicker we needed to reconfirm our decision to start on this path.  Makes our 10 days cleanse look easy, and Karl even mentioned continuing after we have done the 10 days.  Juicing will definitely be a daily component of my lifestyle now as its an amazing way to get loads of micro nutrients into you and it allows the body to absorb these super easily, as opposed to having to work to break down the fibres if we were to eat the food normally.  

Interesting concept.  Of course we ARE going to start eating/chewing our food again, its not going to be all juice, but definitely something to think about.

Anyway, head over and check this guy out if you are interested - a really good movie and easy to watch with not alot of 'medical' jargon and scientific stuff.  Just living proof, which I love.  Click on the image if you wanna find out more

Today Karl is down to 103.9kgs.  This is the lowest weight he's been for ages.  On New Years Day he was 116 so its amazing to see his weight dropping and even better, to see him doing it really healthily.  He's got a few health issues that we are hoping this new lifestyle will clear up, so thats going to be an easy way for us to monitor the effect of this.  His tummy (where he carries most of his weight) is getting flatter and flatter and he's loving it.

This morning its grey and raining which is unusual for us here on the Sunshine Coast.  I plan to head down to the local market and have a bit of 'Jo' time which Im looking forward to.  More later.

Cleanse - Day 3

Hard day today.

Not juice-wise, but am feeling a bit cranky and irritable, my forehead is bumpy with little zits and I've got a very slight headache.  Trying to just BE and ride it out.

On the up side, my stomach feels flat and in between crankiness, I feel pretty amazing.  Its so weird.  Very up and down today.

We spent the afternoon at our eldest daughters footy match (she plays rugby league) and it was a beautiful sunny day.  I tried to kick myself out of my mood but it didnt help when I sat in a big patch of Hubba Bubba.  My own.

GUTTED.

Havent felt hungry as such at all yet - more so that I want to 'crunch' or 'chew' something.

Dont really feel much like blogging so will leave it here for today.

Cleanse - Day 2

Had a great sleep last night from about 10.30 - 6.45am.  Woke feeling rested and ready for the day's juicing ahead.

Its interesting to notice how my focus is now taken up with thinking about other things, now that I dont have food to think about.  For the next 8 days its all juicing and its all planned out, but its amazing to me to notice how much I would 'plan' for treats like chocolate and biscuits and takeaways.  They really were something I looked forward to in my day, and now that I dont have this (or ANY) food focus for the next 8 days, its strange to feel that big gap and then to fill it with thinking more about things like work and other things that are filling my days.

Today's juicing has been fine - exactly like yesterdays so I wont bore you with more photos of the same stuff, but may take one of the berry smoothie tonight, as it is just divine.  Handful of blueberries, handful of raspberries, a small banana, a teaspoon of cacao powder, teaspoon of honey, and some organic apple juice.  Whizz it all up and it comes out super creamy and full of natural goodness!  Tonight is NRL night in our house, and there are 2 games back to back.  This game-watching ritual is usually accompanied by chips, beers and some kind of takeout food (Why was it that I got to this size again?  Hmmmmmm.... I wonder!) so tonight we are going to save our berry smoothies and have them as our 'treats'.

This morning I had to be super organised with the juicing as we were going to be out all morning, so got up earlier and made our normal breakfast juices for Karl and I, then made us both our 2 mid morning juices and put em in flasks for storage.  Did you know that juices are best consumed right away?  Air, sunlight and heat all affect the juice, breaking down and killing the nutrients, so storing them in an airtight dark vessel is best if you are not gonna drink em right away.  Who knew?  (not me)

For those of you that know me, to say Im not much of a cook is a bit of an understatement.  Luckily (for me, not so much for him!) my man is an ace cook and cooks most of our meals.  I am feeling super inspired to start learning some whole food, unprocessed meals and have just spent some time trawling around various foodie blogs and websites.  One thing about me is that I have a super sweet tooth, so it was only natural that the first recipe I want to try is something to substitute for the chocolate I consume.

Check out this frankly BEAUTIFUL looking Rocky Road made by the equally beautiful Lauren Glucina from Ascenion Kitchen.  This will be my first thing to try in the 'sweet' category once we start on our food journey.  I am also going to start a 'Recipe' section at the side of this blog to store all of these goodies up for future reference.  Imagine! Me!  Who would have ever thought this would be something I would be interested in.  We shall see how things pan out....

Anyway, take a look at this rocky road and click on the picture if you wanna know more about both Lauren herself and how this little piece of paradise is constructed!

And I have also tried Cyndi O'Meara's Healthy Homemade Chocolate first hand (made by Cyndi herself) and I can vouch for the fact that it is just divine.  Here is a link to her recipe with a YouTube video showing exactly how to make it.

Enough of the sweetness!!!!!!!

Cleanse - Day 1

Excitement!  Today the action starts and the new way of life begins.

Woke up this morning with a sense of trepidation and excitement and nervousness and happiness all rolled into one.  The whole house went to bed last night around 10pm which is unusual but it was amazing to get such a good sleep without any small interruptions when others are heading to bed.  Our room is right next to the bathroom, and I am a light sleeper, so without any intention on the parts of the others, I wake up when people are showering or going through their normal routines for heading to bed.

This morning I feel energised and well slept and ready to take this on....!

So today's post is all about photos and what we are doing.  Karl got up this morning and dropped our youngest at school and then went for a chiropractic adjustment, however the timing got stuffed up so instead he went for a walk on the beach.  It was divine to have the house to myself which very rarely happens for me.  I lit my coconut & lime candles and then put on this guided meditation   It is a full body relaxation meditation which goes for about 13 minutes and I actually found it too short, but felt very centred and peaceful afterward.

So this is what we are doing for the next 10 days.....

Started the day with a glass of warm water with half a lemon squeezed into it.

The Green juice consists of lots of leafy green vegetable and one green apple.  We chose to have this for breakfast and looks a little somethin' like this prior to juicing.... 

This was breakfast at approx 9.30am which is a little later than it normally is.  We then had to squeeze in 2 more juices prior to lunch, so had them at 11am and midday.  First was just 4 x carrots and 1 x apple, and the next was the same but with half a beetroot added.  This is my favourite as it is almost like the juices I usually buy if we are out...  So here is 11am and midday....

Lunch is coming up in 10 minutes and I dont feel hungry in the slightest.   For lunch we are going for the green smoothie option which is leafy green veges, an apple, a banana, 1/2 a kiwifruit, 1/2 cup organic apple juice, 1/2 lemon and Stevia and Spirulina if we wish.  

One other aspect of this lifestyle wellness cleanse is the 'Daily Wellness' checklist which keeps us coming back to that place of ourselves that we really want to operate from.  Karl has laminated one of these each for us and they are up in our office with a whiteboard marker to tick each section off.  One of the checklist items is "I will praise at least one person today" and right now I want to praise Karl for how absolutely committed and positive and supportive he is being on this journey.  It is so much easier doing this with him and I am so grateful he is open to this and wants this new lifestyle as much as I do.   Of course I will say this to him personally, but just putting it out there. 

Here's the checklist...

  

Hmmmm.

The green smoothie for lunch was a real challenge to get through - still trying as I type this....  It was nice having something with a little more consistency, but wasnt great tasting and made me actually shudder.  Karl thought his was nice, so its just different tastes.  I dont think Im going to be keen to go back to this one again!

Had the next juice of 4 x carrots and 1 x apple at 3pm, now its coming up to Berry Smoothie time which Im really looking forward to - lets hope its nicer than the lunchtime smoothie!  Berry smoothie has a handful of raspberries, handful of blueberries, banana, honey and some cacao powder in it, so SHOULD be full of sweetness and yummy.  Its scheduled for about 5pm.

Feeling so full and not hungry in the slightest!

Yummm!  Berry smoothie was divine.  Very creamy and chocolatey.  Didnt take any photos though as too keen to get it into me :-)

Now its 7.10pm and Im still not hungry but have one more juice to go to meet the minimum requirement.  Seriously, I feel like I've done nothing but drink juice and smoothies all day.  Which I have.  

This evening I am grateful for having a flexible lifestyle that means I can integrate this new journey alot easier than if I was sitting behind a desk.  

Am just about to head over to The Wellness Couch and listen to a podcast on living with people who do not have your passion, conviction or philosophy.  The Wellness Couch are podcasts by a group of 3 ladies, Cyndi O'Meara from Changing Habits, Changing Lives,   Kim Morrison from Like Chocolate for Women  and Carren Smith who is an author and survivor of the Bali bombings and a recent health convert.  They discuss all sorts of things and are really worth a listen if you are looking for podcasts to inspire you.

As Day 1 comes to a close, I congratulate myself on completing the day with a centred, purposeful and happy energetic attitude.  I feel strong and healthy and on purpose.  

Long may it last!