Wow…I am on Day…..?

Breakfast: Almond Strawberry smoothie, Dinner: Chicken encrusted with Red Chili Pesto (pg. 315) and Asparagus with roasted garlic, olive oil, and red onions (pg.257-The Blood Sugar Solution cookbook)

So…the #10DayDetox is officially over and I am still on track….I thought that when I finished this detox that I would go back to life as normal, but I have seriously been transformed! I am still eating on plan and have decided to continue on with the advanced plan in Dr. Hyman’s blood sugar solution. I am down another 2 lbs and am just feeling amazing! I was not paid to do this detox nor promised anything for promoting this, however I have to tell you that I am officially the BIGGEST supporter and cheerleader of this eating style. I hesitate to call it a “diet” because so many people associate negative things with a diet…this is more of a way of life for me. I have never in my life had such delicious food that was completely healthy for me. This way of eating has literally changed my entire outlook and my health outlook. I am fully aware of sugar now and really reading the labels of the food items I buy. Even the items that say “no sugar”, when I read the label it says sucralose which is still an artificial sweetener. Did you know that sugar is EIGHT times more addictive than cocaine??? And I promise you, probably 90% of what you currently eat has sugar in it. I have gone back after the detox to re-read through Dr. Hyman’s book and look through his myths that keep people fat and sick. I won’t give the book away because I encourage you to buy it and read it for yourself, but there is serious knowledge dropping going on! Dr. Hyman says, “Your body is fully capable of amazing healing if you give it the chance.” After almost three weeks of changing my eating and my thoughts, I can wholeheartedly agree with that.

I have a few people interested in buying this book when it comes out and am thinking of starting a Facebook group for everyone who wants to do the 10 day detox….there needs to be widespread knowledge and a revolution regarding finding food freedom!

Check out the 10 day detox coming out Feb. 25: http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Sugar-Solution-10-Day-Detox-ebook/dp/B00CO7FIOU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1392338113&sr=8-1&keywords=10+day+detox+diet

The amazing dishes of the 10 Day Detox…

Some of the breakfast smoothies: Almond Strawberry, Ginger and cucumber, Kiwi and chia seed, and Dr. Hyman’s Whole-Foods protein

The Lunch soup options: Creamy Asparagus, Green Goddess Broccoli and Arugula, Creamy Cauliflower with Chicken

Dinner options: Grilled salmon with onion marmalade over greens, Grilled chicken with ratatouille and steamed broccoli, Herb crusted chicken breasts with roasted garlic over asparagus and greens, Asian flavored chicken with steamed broccoli

One of the snack options: Spinach walnut pesto and tahini dipping sauce with mixed veggies…delicious!

There are so many meal options and all of them are delicious! I am excited to try more using his Blood Sugar Solution cookbook http://www.amazon.com/Blood-Sugar-Solution-Cookbook-Ultra-Tasty-ebook/dp/B009V2QZFW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1391961537&sr=8-1&keywords=the+blood+sugar+solution+cookbook

 

The end of the detox…the beginning of a new life

Wow…so the 10 Day Detox is completed and I have to say I am amazed at the results! In 10 days I have lost 11 pounds and 5.5 inches around my waist, hips, thighs, and arms. My inflammation has decreased by 90% and my pain levels have gone down tremendously. I have reduced my arthritis medicines from 4 to 2 and eventually I will be on none! Physically, I look and feel amazing but more so than that; emotionally and mentally I feel strong, empowered, and re-energized. This detox has truly redefined what it means to detox and to harness the power of food for what it was meant to do: nourish and heal our bodies. Whenever I heard the word detox: I thought of quick fixes, drinking disgusting liquids for 7 days straight, depriving myself of all solids, and eating foods that I didn’t like for the sake of ‘cleansing’. Dr. Hyman’s detox, however, was completely different. Dr. Hyman has created an amazing system that combines information and knowledge, great tasting foods, mental strengthening and relaxing techniques, and amazing supplements that all work together to re-start your body’s natural processes. Many times, society blames people for their own addictions to food and/or struggles with weight. In reading his book, Dr. Hyman really breaks down how we are living in a culture filled with addictive foods and that leads to people who struggle with illnesses like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and weight issues. It takes something drastic to break that cycle and I fully believe that this detox is the answer.

Now you all know how I LOVE to cook, however Dr. Hyman’s recipes and final presentations allowed me to feel like a bonafide chef! The recipes were all easy to prep and cook (which as a busy mom working full-time and going to school full-time is ESSENTIAL!). They all tasted simply amazing and with each meal, I could literally feel my body releasing toxins, growing stronger, and changing every day.  I never thought possible to eat so well and enjoy it so much on a ‘detox’! Before, I suffered from insomnia and slept maybe 4-5 hours a night. Now, I sleep 7-8 hours a night and wake up feeling refreshed!

The first few days (days 1-4) were rough as the detox began to eliminate the toxins from my body. I definitely felt like crap: tired, sluggish, lethargic, swollen, and in pain but I pressed on knowing that this temporary discomfort was needed and worth experiencing in order to break through to health. By day 5, I felt a huge difference and began to experience energy like never before. During the detox, I realized I had a dependence on artificial energy drinks which of course contain lots of sugar. As a full time mom, worker, and student I am constantly on the go and rely on 5-hour energy drinks every day. I now realize that I do not need those energy drinks and with the proper food and nutrition, my body is its own source of energy.  I began to wake up early and go to bed at a normal time (10,11pm). Now on the flip side, this forced me to become more organized and stop procrastinating, because my body shuts down at the same time every night. I no longer needed to rely on energy drinks to stay up later when needed. Imagine that!

During the detox we had the honor of also working with The Handel Group. Hildie and Lizzie were two amazing women who walked with us daily and helped me shed many of the negative self-views and thoughts that have plagued my mind throughout this health journey.  Their coaching inspired me to write my dream for myself:

I am a woman who is filled with self love and pride. I am a woman on a mission and enjoying the journey day by day. I am successful and powerful. I am determined, strong, relentless, focused, and limitless. I am full of greatness and inspired. I am growing, changing and loving the new me. I am love. I am light. I am choosing to listen to my inner voice and play in the power of choice. My esteem is soaring. I am a woman who inspires and speaks life to others with illness. I am their role model by standing as a product of my decision to live healthy, live abundantly and, most of all, live FREELY!

You may look at this detox and say that it will be too expensive to follow or too time consuming. It does take time to prepare and get the materials ready, but the time you will put into this detox is time well spent. Most of the time comes from getting ready for the detox and prepping the meals. After that, the time spent is minimal in cooking the meals. Think of all the money you spend on eating out, fast food, medications, and cold/pain remedies…that pales in comparison to what you will save by becoming healthier. Start shopping at farmer’s markets, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, etc. and compare prices for fruits and vegetables. Yes, a burger costs $1 at McDonalds and to make a salad might cost $4 but that goes a long way to your body’s health. Health and longevity has no price tag on it. It is better to take care of your body now than to be forced to take care of it later in more serious circumstances.

I am a true believer of Dr. Hyman’s work, especially this detox and encourage anyone to do it. I will be sharing this information with my wellness group and hopefully starting a 10 day detox with anyone interested. This has become my new way of life and I love it! I am eternally grateful to Tess Masters, The Blender Girl for the opportunity and Dr. Hyman’s staff for their help, encouragement, and direction during this detox.

Buy the book when it is released, you will NOT be disappointed!!!!

You can connect with Dr. Hyman at:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drmarkhyman

Twitter: @markhymanmd

Instagram: @Markhymanmd

Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/104574745188330169196/+MarkHymandoctor/posts

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/markhymanmd/

I will post some of the pictures of the amazing meals I made while on the detox in another post

Until next time….continue to live your life…with a TWIST!

So the 10 day journey begins…

I am so excited to be going on this journey with Dr. Hyman and his team and learning how to detoxify my body with food. I am doing this detox because after struggling for over half of my life with rheumatoid and osteoarthritis, I am tired of being ruled by prescription drugs and the side effects they bring. Many people who do not have a chronic illness can not fathom the idea of being in constant pain 24/7, stiffness, inflammation and constantly smiling on the outside when I am crying on the inside. I am 30 years old and some days I feel as though I am 90 years old. I previously lost a lot of weight (150lbs) but after my rheumatoid relapsed, I was put back on prescription medications and gained some weight back. There are some days where all I can do is cry because of the frustration and helplessness this disease has caused me to feel. I do believe food is the best medicine and am willing to take a step out of my comfort zone to experience what it feels like for my body to be at its optimal operating level. My dream in doing this is to ease my dependence on prescriptions and to stop putting harmful foods and chemicals into my body which I know the 10-Day Detox Diet can do. When you think of a detox, weight loss comes to mind..but I feel like if I focus more on healthy eating and becoming in tune with my body, the weight loss will come. I am SO much more than numbers on a scale and health means more than just weight loss.

During these next 10 days: my goals are to stay consistent with the meals, exercise, water and supplements; increase my knowledge about what is beneficial for my body and what is toxic, and lastly to push myself out of my comfort zone. I’ve always struggled with emotional eating (Haagen Daas anyone?) and being so busy that I take too many shortcuts. There is always an excuse as to why I can’t go the extra mile to choose healthy versus what is convenient (I’m in pain, swollen, tired, too busy, etc.). I have to realize that I am worth it! I am worth the sacrifice and the time! I can not live the life I am meant to live nor fulfill my purpose in life, if I am too sick to live it. This will not be easy but I am up for the challenge and hopefully as you follow me through these next 10 days, you will be inspired to change your life as well!

Major excited about a new opportunity!

Ok…So I am seriously excited and blessed to be chosen by the AMAZING Dr. Mark Hyman to be a beta tester for his new The Blood Sugar Solution 10 day Detox Diet and work with The Handel Group! I will be blogging about my experiences here and hopefully you all will join me for the next 10 days. I wish I had more time to review the materials and to prepare for this detox but at any rate I am going to go into this full speed ahead! I am ready to make a change and to try something new….I’ll check in later to update you on the progress of my prep..until next time!

Here we go again….

I had such high aspirations of becoming a blogger and then….LIFE got in the way…well here we are again…starting over and picking up where I left off!

 

Head shakin’, tongue waggin’, and unnecessary hate-tinis…….

Good day Team Twisted, another day, another twist….I hope this finds you having a great day and a splendiferous week so far….I was trying to think of what topic I could write about next since my head is always filled up with massive, random thoughts until I was at the doctor’s office this morning and my topic fell right into my lap! I was sitting in the waiting room, minding my own business reading a magazine and mind you, it is major early in the morning so I was barely awake. I see two black women come in the office, sign in, and sit down. They glanced at me and I smiled, and they in response, looked me up and down, then glared back at me. Now, I am sure many of you have experienced this one way or the other at some point and I am still baffled to this day as to why women (in my experience particularly black women) hate other women? Now I am not just restricting this to black women as I am sure this spans across nationalities and ethnic groups but either way it makes no sense. Now I am from the north so naturally we do not always speak to other people out in public, but down here in the south people make a point to at least say hi to you when they pass you and I have adopted that mentality. How can a person who does not know who you are have an attitude when they see you? Is it an instant dislike? Do you compare yourself to that person and conclude you are better? It seems like when a woman walks into a group of other women, that’s when the head shakin’, tongue waggin’ begins and what I like to call unnecessary hate-tinis (a martini mixed with a splash of haterade). I don’t see many men acting the way that we do, just women…..now I can’t even front, I have done that before and am a tad bit guilty of drinking my own hate-tini BUT I immediately had to check myself because I did not even know the woman I was gritting on. It was like a subconscious act that boiled up in me without notice. It’s almost like when a woman comes into my vicinity, my random haterade radars go up and I am looking at her clothes, hair style, face, and thinking hmmm….

What that being said, we need to break this issue down and handle it, because all too often I meet women who say,”I don’t have many female friends, just men because I can’t get with most women,”  “I can’t keep females as close friends, just doesn’t work out”, or “Women have too many issues and too much drama and that’s exactly why I don’t mess with them!” We have enough factors weighing against us as women, we don’t need to self destruct from within on top of it! Now I can thankfully say, I have some great friendships and best friends who are women and some friendships are nearing the 20 year mark, but I have experienced (and at one time caused an experience) of woman hating. So, let’s think about some possible reasons why women can’t seem to get along:

• Is it jealously?
• Too much time and focus spent on sowing discord? spreading gossip and judging?
• Do women feel an unspoken competition with each other? seeing who looks better, wears better clothing and has better material possessions?
• Is it because of our own personal insecurities or that we are too emotional?

Or could it be that women don’t hate each other, we just don’t trust each other because we think we know what we’re all up to. Let’s be honest, women can definitely be competitive against each other. We compete for the better career, better man and just better everything. Hate is a very strong word, but women in general, constantly strive for more. Women are brought up to be competitive. It isn’t really their fault…society tells them they should be pretty, be skinny, be popular, be fun, be one of the guys, be girly…there is just too much to name. Being constantly compared to other women breeds resentment and jealousy. Usually maturity sets in and they realize what is important and cease to be petty, now at what age this happens is relative to each person. Whatever the reason or cause, I think that women hating is just a woman thing… I think for some women, its woven into their DNA so much so that they don’t even realize that they are doing it!!

How do you think we as women can band together and start to feel genuinely happy for each other, not afraid or threatened to compliment and encourage each other? One solution I found to be helpful is the minute you start to feel yourself judging another female, find something about her to compliment openly. I guarantee you it will bring a smile from her and she just may return the compliment. Begin to reflect within yourself if there are things about you that you are unhappy with or wish you could change. Once you identify the issue, if any, then set about changing it. There are many things in life that happen to us that we can not change or control, but there are many things that we can control. Start turning those hate on hate relationships to friendships and you will be surprised how many strong relationships can happen as a result. If you feel satisfied and content with yourself, then there is no reason to hate on anyone else.

Stop ripping each other apart and let’s bond together to take over the world! Stick together, fight for each other, and the next time you feel yourself sipping on a hate-tini….put it down and instead pick up a glass of encouragement…you will be surprised at the results!

Until next time Team Twisted…..

LIVE, LAUGH & LOVE…..WITH A TWIST!!

The jagged truth about mortality……

Ecc 8:8 There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.

Matthew 6:34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

James 4:14 Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.

Today I learned that I had lost a dear friend, one who I had just spoken to last week and was planning on seeing when I got back to Jersey this Thanksgiving. He was relatively young, early 40’s and still had plenty of life left to live. Most times, we only think of our mortality and/or morbidity when someone either close to us dies or when we hear about death. Why is that? I have had some deaths in my circle over the years and each time it brings me closer and closer to realizing that tomorrow is indeed not promised. People get very skirmish when speaking about death, not wanting to “talk anything up” or just avoiding that conversation all together. Truth is, I think about death all the time, I think what will happen after I die, what people will say about me, hopefully if my son is still living what kind of legacy he will have and how he will turn out. I have even had dreams where either myself, family members or people that I knew died. Do you ever have dreams like that? Dreams so vivid that even in your deep sleep your body reacts with tears, shortness of breath, and anxiety? Dreams where you wake up with the faint hint of wetness in your eyes and you have to double check that what you just experienced was indeed just a dream? Question is….does that make me morbid? The definition of morbid is: 1. suggesting an unhealthy mental state, 2. suggesting the horror of death and decay, 3. caused by or altered by or manifesting disease or pathology. Hmmmm…so because I am aware of my own mortality and I think about death means I have an unhealthy mental state? That I suggest death and decay on my family and those around me? Why can’t it mean that I am a totality thinker, I think about all aspects of my life and want to be prepared for it, that I am concerned for the well-being of those around me and don’t want to waste moments that can not be retrieved?? Sometimes dreams are just dreams…then again are they? How many of you have a will and a living will in place and update it regularly? How many of you have life insurance and all of your assets and belongings accounted for in the event of an untimely passing?

I think about my dear friend, who was taken from this world so suddenly, who may or may not have had the chance to tell all his loved ones how he felt about them, who may or may not have had a chance to right his wrongs, achieve all his goals, to bless and serve others…what did he think about in those final moments? what visions flashed before his eyes? The jagged truth of mortality ladies and gentleman is that you do not know when your last moment will be and if you have had the chance to do all that you wanted to do. Stop thinking that you can put things off until tomorrow because tomorrow may not come, you could lay your head down tonight and not wake up. You have to think of your mortality in order to live everyday like it’s your last, you have to be morbid to be prepared. Here today…gone tomorrow….I grieve deeply for my friend and I only wish that he had been able to live longer so I could say the things I never said to him. I regret not staying in touch more often and appreciating him for the good friend he was while he was on this earth. Unfortunately, I will have to live with those regrets every day for the rest of my life. The jagged truth sometimes means the jagged end, an abrupt abyss of regrets, missed chances, and what ifs. I will not make that mistake again so anyone reading this post, I want to give you your “flowers” while you are still on this earth. Please know that although we may not talk or see each other often, you are always on my mind and I appreciate whatever impact you have had in my life. The question you need to ask yourself is: do I value my mortality? Do I value it enough to appreciate life and my opportunities? and most importantly, am I prepared to die? Get your financial, legal, and spiritual house in order because the next second, the next moment is a gift. I will leave you with a quote I read in Dark Fever from Karen Marie Moning, “Don’t accuse me of being morbid when I’m merely the product of a culture that buries the bones of the ones they love in pretty, manicured flower gardens so they can keep them nearby and go talk to them whenever they feel troubled or depressed. That’s morbid. Not to mention bizarre. Dogs bury bones, too.”

A friend of mines coined the phrase #TeamTwisted which I love and will begin to use so……until next time Team Twisted….

LOVE & LIVE LOUD with a TWIST!!!      ❤

First slice of the day

Wow…this is my first experience in writing a blog and have absolutely no idea where to begin! I have been told numerous times that I should start a blog and finally I listened, so here goes….feel free to comment, agree/disagree, laugh, cry and just about anything else in response to my posts. I am just here figuring out life and trying to make the most out of every experience and hopefully helping someone out along the way. Courageously twisted is my way of describing the complexities of my life and how I view and react to them. I have been through quite a few challenges (more than I would like to admit!) and always seem to bounce back with a tenacious drive to move forward. Viewing life with a twist means not accepting the status quo, having a different opinion than most people and not being afraid to share it. Stepping outside of the box, taking risks, and being the catalyst for changes that YOU want to happen in your life are all part of living life with a twist. Life is short, every moment is precious, and regret is a waste of energy. So, with that in mind, I will try to post once a day (hmm…well we shall see) and will pledge to always be honest, real, and to the point. Not sure what I hope to gain from this…but writing has always been cathartic for me and I am hoping that by doing this I can figure out this huge bear called life. I see life through a totally different rose tint so I’ve been told, and true to form, I like my life (and my beverages) with a twist. I hope this blog provides me (and you) with an outlet to share and shape what I hold dear and what consumes me. So here’s to the beginning of a beautiful relationship between me and the world….darn I should have started this blog on 11.11.11- would’ve been a great starting point! LOL anyways here goes and hold on my fellow twisted soldiers…..be prepared for the ride of your life!