Maybe Cleanses Aren't For Me

I am sorry I dropped the ball big time on this follow up!

Back in January I attempted to do a three day smoothie cleanse through Life Bar.  Had I done my due diligence about what to do and what not to do during a cleanse, maybe I would have gotten through it OK.  However, I didn't do my homework, and ended up eating a small, solid food dinner every night.  I am still giving myself a hard time about it!  Last week I was in Life Bar and I admitted that I "failed" the cleanse.  The staff there was very forgiving and told me not to be so hard on myself.  There are two things I did that I probably shouldn't have done which contributed to my misery:

1. Drank caffeine.  I drink one cup of coffee daily, and continued to do so during those three days.
2. Exercised.  I didn't do anything as extreme as hot yoga, but I did swim, and instead I should have rested and reserved my energy.

I told the Life Bar folks that it would be very helpful to give customers some type of pamphlet or brochure on cleanse "rules."  There are healthier parts of the country, like California, where everyone probably already knows the rules and would scoff at that suggestion.  However, Louisville, although slowly getting to a healthier state, still has a lot of learning and growing to do.

Despite it all, I still fully support and appreciate Life Bar and their mission and will continue to be a customer there.

So what else is new?  I am varying my exercise big time - mixing up running, hot yoga, swimming, and circuit training each week.  I will share this circuit exercise with you as I've done it 2-3 times and find it extremely efficient and effective!  This is from a blog called Peanut Butter Runner. 



If you're short on time, but want to squeeze something in, I highly recommend the above.  My cardio of choice has been running every time, but I would like to try it with rowing soon...perhaps tomorrow!

Hope everyone is staying warm.  Each day that passes brings us closer to Spring!

Three Day Smoothie Cleanse

Hey There,

There is a local business in Louisville called Life Bar which sells smoothies and juices.  We're not talking Jamba Juice kind of smoothies with processed and concentrated ingredients...we're talking about the real deal!  They have a few locations including inside of Rainbow Blossom St Matthews and a free-standing location in the Highlands.

They've been offering a New Year's Cleanse in three varieties: all smoothies, smoothies and juices, and all juices.  Given that I hadn't done a cleanse before, I decided to go the smoothie route.  It's six smoothies per day, so one about every 2.5 hours.

Yesterday, Tuesday, Jan 14, was my first day.  I went to Rainbow Blossom, picked up my smoothies, and headed to work.

9 am - Midnight Mint: raw cacao, organic maca powder, peppermint, plant-fusion protein, and almond milk.  At first I thought it was chalky, but I quickly realized that I liked it!

11:30 am - I cannot remember which one I had.  I liked it.

2 pm - Blanking again.  At this point I was not very hungry, but I forced myself to drink the smoothie.

By 3:30 pm I was still very full and I was swimming at my gym which was a little uncomfortable at first.

4:30 pm - Banillamaca Protein: vanilla plant-fusion protein, superfood maca, freshly ground cinnamon, ginger, and almond milk.  My appetite had returned post-workout so it was nice to have this.

7 pm - I am hungry.  I have the Avocado Dream: coconut meat, avocado, coconut water, coconut milk, banana, cinnamon, 100% organic vegetables.  The avocado taste is strong and it's strange to drink it.  I am starting to want solid food.

8:30 pm - my friend is eating pizza in my apartment and I end up having two small pieces.  YES I AM A CHEATER.  I could not help myself.  I was starving, I wanted solid food, and I felt weak.  I felt immediately better after eating real food.

So, I only had five smoothies.  I missed drinking the Yogi: eleuthero, eucommia, maca, goji berries, strawberries, banana, cinnamon, and almond milk.

Today I am going strong, but I am looking forward to 2 pm when I can have my next smoothie.  The thought of solid food is making me really excited.  Honestly, I will probably have more solid food tonight.  I am most hungry at nighttime and going to bed hungry will make for a restless night.  Stay tuned!

Law of Large Numbers

Happy 2014.

This morning I had an epiphany of sorts regarding my friendships and relationships.  Last night I did not sleep very well as I've had a couple of issues on my mind lately, and they woke me up around 4 am.  When I woke up for the second time this morning, I started thinking again about how I get offended easily and take things personally very easily.  It seems as if I am always upset about how someone has treated me, and that's all I can think about!  However, if I stop and reflect on ALL of my interactions with people, they are mostly pleasant.  Therefore, if I think about the Law of Large Numbers in terms of my positive and negative interactions, then they should ultimately average out.  In other words:

Despite negative instances seeming so much more prevalent in my head than positive ones, in the long run, I will probably end up with an equal number of each (hopefully more positive).

Have I had more positive things happen lately? Sure!  I was invited to join four different groups for NYE, I had a good friend send me an email out of the blue, and I had a very pleasant conversation with a coworker yesterday who was eager to talk to me.

I think I realize why the negative experiences seem to affect me so much more: because I am being treated ways in which I would not treat others.  If others are kind to me or generous to me, it seems natural because that's how I want to be every single day.  Granted, I am not perfect.  I have a snarky side that comes out, but we all have our light and our dark, right?

Anyway, I hope that for myself in 2014, I can remember the positive and remember the light, and not let the dark overshadow it.

Sometimes you just have to say goodbye

This post is perhaps a supplement to my prior one about people being in your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.

There are some people in my life, whether you would call them friends or not, who I need to stop communicating with.  Ninety-nine percent of them are guys, and ninety-nine percent of them are guys I've been intimate with.  That may be a little more information than I want to provide, but it's the truth.  They are the black sheep of my cell phone contacts, trying to pull me back in from time to time, only to let me down once more.

I believe there is a strange behavior pattern that occurs once you've been intimate with a guy: if it was a casual intimacy, then they automatically earn the right to treat you like crap whenever they want.  Why do I put up with it?  Habit I suppose.  But tomorrow is the first day of a brand new year, and it's a good time to distance myself from people who bring me down.  I say "distance myself" as opposed to "end the relationship" because I don't want to burn bridges.  I am cautious to burn any bridges for the fear that they may affect my professional life or other relationships.  Besides, this big city is actually a small town, and the world is getting smaller and smaller every day.

I am sitting at home on New Year's Eve, after declining at least four invitations to join people in their festivities.  Why did I do that?  Well, I held out hoping that one of the most recent "black sheep" would invite me to join him in whatever he's doing.  He did not.  I feel sad because at this moment I've let it affect me a lot.  I feel regretful that I did not take charge of my own situation and make my own plans.  I feel foolish that I interpret actions to mean so much more than they actually do.

In the past couple of years I've started being more honest with people and I will pledge to continue to do so in 2014.  By being honest with others about how I feel in negative situations, it usually brings out the truth and provides some relief.  In a culture that has really started to over-share (i.e. Facebook) we usually don't reveal what is going on deep down, and that's the stuff that actually matters.

Happy New Year - hoping to gain more insight and honesty in 2014.

A Reason, A Season, A Lifetime

Hello, readers.

It's been nine months since I've made a post on this blog.  No, I was not busy going through pregnancy or anything else that takes nine months - just taking a nice, long break.

A couple of months ago I was talking to a friend and she told me that people come into our lives for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.  That saying has really stuck with me as over the past several years I've found myself struggling with friendships in one way or another.  She opened my eyes to the fact that I've been trying to keep friends around for a lifetime which is just not possible or realistic.  I can think of several friends who I was close to for a year or two year period, and then we just kind of drifted apart for one reason or another.  Those are the "reason" or "season" people.

I find a lot of comfort in being able to somewhat classify my relationships into one of those three categories as it makes me feel less like a failure.  When friendships faded or friendships failed, it ate me alive.  I would ask myself, "What happened?" "What did I do wrong?" or "Why does s/he not seem to care?"  I didn't (and still don't) understand the actions or attitudes of others.  But now, I know that many of those people were/are not meant to be in my life forever.  And that's OK.

That all said, perhaps it's more important than ever to leave a lasting, positive impression.  Some people are never truly gone - I have people pop back into my life often.  Sometimes we are so quick to lash out irrationally or aggressively and not take responsibility for our words or actions, and once something is done, you can't take it back.  So even though someone may not be in your life forever, that's no excuse to lower your standards of behavior.

Things or possessions can fall under this reason/season/lifetime concept.  I would argue that this blog came into my life for a season - mainly in 2010 and 2011.  My athleticism and confidence levels were at high levels at that point and I wanted to document my journey.  At this point, I don't really have a desire to give the internet details about my workouts or what I purchased at the grocery.  The downfall of doing all of that was that it pushed me into disordered behavior - my workouts and eating took major priority in my life, and many times I was very cocky about it.  I still hold onto a bit of that behavior, and maybe that's just me, but at least I am aware of it.

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas and enjoys the rest of 2013.  It's been a good year!