Am finally home snug in my yummy house. Cozy next to my heater and kitty, Ashlei. Arctic weather is coming in. Tonight thru Wed will be pretty cold. I so feel for those who's jobs take them out into these elements. Cannot help but be concerned and send out prayers for their safety and well being.
I didn't blog yesterday as I didn't have access to my computer. Had classes all day then spent the night at a retreat where there was plenty of tempting foods. I swear the cookies were calling me by name! A fresh pan of brownies filled the room with a wonderful aroma. But because it was after 7, I knew I wasn't going to eat anything anyways and would see what the morning would bring. After walking into the kitchen this morning, I saw the lovely display of breakfast treats; orange juice, pineapple/orange juice or milk, single servings of cereals - variety of flavors. A bowl full of yogurts on ice. Dozens of pkgs of instant oatmeal. Three types of bagels, two types english muffins, white or wheat bread with a toaster, butter, peanut butter and jelly at the ready. And ALL of last nights leftover SWEETS - cookies, brownies, choc covered pretzels, choc this, choc that.... And the funny thing... as much as I kind of thought I wanted many of those items, I really in my heart didn't. I kept thinking of the sugars or 'glue' from the breads or 'fat' from certain sweets/butter/yogurt - the dairy that isn't good for my system.... And I was actually able to walk over to the fridge and grab my green and fruit juices from the day before. Wow. Pretty proud of myself!
Packed up my things and headed to class while sipping a tall hot tea. Had one green drink. At the seminar I sipped on another green drink and/or water as needed since the building was so dry inside. Wasn't much time to be hungry as we were so busy trying to cram everything in in order to get out before bad weather might hit. At home had a garden salad with peanuts (found another can in the cupboard - hooray for protein!!!). Just finished a lemon water and about to start on another herbal tea. Not much intake today, I know, but I really wasn't that hungry and then again, the salad was kinda huge.
Am concerned about my intestines. Having been on this program for two full weeks now, I've had too many days of painful cramping; soft, sticky, pasty stools and a general feeling of heaviness as though I'm not fully voiding. Did an internet search and came up with:
Eating certain foods in excess is thought to worsen spleen qi deficiency. Offending foods include fried or greasy foods, dairy, raw fruits and vegetables, and cold drinks, all believed to cause "cold" and "dampness" in the body. Dietary treatment of spleen qi deficiency involves eating warm, cooked foods. Ginger tea and cinnamon tea are also warming.
The liver secretes a bright green fluid called bile into the small intestine or it is concentrated and stored in the gallbladder.
Bile plays a role in the emulsification, absorption, and digestion of fat and fat soluble vitamins. It helps to soften stools and is responsible for giving stools their characteristic brown color. Bile helps to alka-linize the contents of the intestines. It is made up of bile salts, cholesterol, phospholipids, bilirubin, and electrolytes.
As bile makes its way through to the small intestine and then to the large intestine via the bile ducts, it progressively changes color from green to yellow to brown, due to the action of bacteria in the large intestine on the bile salts.
Green stool often indicates that food has passed through the intestines faster than normal (called decreased bowel transit time), before it could be changed from green to brown.
Fiber tends to bulk up your stool and acts like glue to keep the stool stuck together, instead of in pieces. If your stool is on the softer side, short of diarrhea (“soft serve,” as some call it), it could be related to lactose intolerance, artificial sweeteners (sorbitol and Splenda), or a reaction to fructose or gluten.
Are you drinking at least 8 glasses of water a day and if not, you should consider increasing your water intake to at least 8 glasses of water a day...that could help decrease the "pasty" consistency of your stool...also, you may consider including "pitted prunes" (4-5 a day) or a serving of raisins each day and of course there's other food sources which contain "fiber"...and yes, oatmeal is one of them which you're already including in your diet. Some other sources are Dark Red Kidney beans, dried black eyed peas, large dried lima beans...stay away from gassy foods as much as possible and include a good tossed salad each day into your diet. Try Extra Virgin Olive Oil mixture with some Balsamic Vinaigrette for you salad dressing (I like Colavita Balsamic Vinegar) as it's has a slight sweet taste and only 6% acidic. And again, the amount of water intake each day is very important not only for the minerals that our body gets from the water, but water is needed not only to help with elimination but it's needed as well to aid in digestion. And one more thing that helps with bowel elimination is "exercise" you will be surprised what just 30 minutes a day of walking will do to help you! A 30 minute walk can be very relaxing to one's mind, great for the heart, and promotes the lymphatic nodes to eliminate toxins from our bodies! Take care and best wishes for better health!
So, after reading all of that (and more), I'm done with the 15 Day Detox. I made it thru day 14 and that's good enough for me. I still have leftover juices in the fridge that will carry me thru tomorrow (yuck), but if I add any chicken or fish to the menu, I'm NOT going to feel bad about it. Will just add my special seasonings like SEA salt and black pepper and am def looking forward to having more healthy proteins!! I'm glad I did this, not overly thrilled about lack of weight loss, but, lol, if I can pass all this BULK in my intestines out, I just might find a few lbs were lost afteral! :o) XOXOXOXO
