from across the Atlantic…

Alright…so I am back on track and following Dr Joshi’s regimen once again!

If you have been following my blog since forever ago, you’ll remember that I started my first round of Joshi’s detox just before I became pregnant with Nell.  If you’re interested in catching up and finding out what this detox is all about, you can always read all my detox postings by clicking on the "detox" link under the title of this posting.

To sum it up…from August 1st until October 8th of last year, I lost 16 kilos…thats 35 pounds!  And I did that by just changing my eating habits, almost NO exercise what-so-ever!  I stopped this manner of eating (I can’t call it detox really because a detox has a start and a finish…) when I found out I was pregnant, mainly to reintroduce dairy for Nell’s sake!

In a nutshell, this lifestyle means that I’m only allowed to eat chicken and fish, no diary (except for natual, probiotic yogurt), no sugar, no caffiene, and no wheat or gluten.  It sounds very restrictive, but it is extremely easy and I swear I feel better after just a few days of being on the "program" again!  The only thing is that you have to give up all your store bought sauces, etc.  I was really startled when I started this last year and actually started reading the labels on things…there is sugar in EVERYTHING sold at the grocery store!!!

So far Lars and I have been doing Joshi since Tuesday of last week and I’m already feeling 100% better and am watching the numbers drop on the scale every single morning!  Definitely check out this book if you’re interested in taking charge of your life and just feeling better about what you’re putting in your body!  I saw changes in my waistline, my skin, my hair, energy levels and my attitude!  And I’m looking forward to reeping the benefits of the diet all over again…this time I’m making it my permanent lifestyle…GO JOSHI!

Good morning!  Not exactly sure what day it is…they all seem to run together, but 99% sure its Thursday or Friday.  Since I’m up about every 3 hours, the days just seem to blend into one.  Not too bad, but I feel like I’ve lost my overview of whats going on outside of baby-land! 

Here is a link to some shots of Nell with her eyes open…requested by her bestemor, of course!  The past couple of days I have noticed such a change in Nell.  She is so much bigger and stronger it seems.  Her awake times are much more active and interactive and she just doesn’t seem as fragile as she was when we first had her at the hospital and brought her home.  She’s "talking" a lot more and tends to "tell" us all about it right before feeds.  Last night Lars gave her the pacifier to tie her over until I could get ready to bf, and she was chomping down on it like crazy and grunting like a mad-woman!  I tend to talk back to her when she does this and pretend that we’re having a conversation.  Lars says it sounds like we’ve got a tiger in the house…its pretty funny!  Another thing I’ve got to try to capture on the video camera…I’ve got a list going!

Yesterday, I started the first phase of going back into my detox program…a little sooner than I had planned, but it might be just what Nell needs.  Nell has been extremely gassy ever since we brought her home from the hospital, and after some feeds has so much discomfort that she’s up for 4-5 hours at a time.  Not crying (she hardly cries at all, I swear I’ve only heard her wail once or twice since she was born!  Lucky me!), but moaning and grunting and pulling her legs up to her chest.  She seems to like to be shifted from an upright position on my shoulder (so the gas can pass straight through) to a laying down position in my arms.  Its hard to hold her for that long, and to be awake for that long when this happens in the middle of the night…but really the only thing I can do is try to make her comfortable.  So I’ve decided that I’m going to cut out dairy 100% and see what kind of effect that has on Nell’s belly.

Here are a couple (1, 2) of fabulous dairy sensitivity websites that I got from Jacqui whose son had a dairy sensitivity while he was bf-ing.  I already know most of the basics from my detox that I did pre-baby, but I thought these sites were really informative too.  Apparently I should know within a week if my dairy elemination will ease up the pressure in Nell’s stomach.  I’ll keep you posted on how it goes…hopefully this does the trick!

So I never really did a follow up on detoxing since my "last day" was the same day that my parents were here….and things were so hectic with their departure and getting back to work.

I wanted to take time to fill you in today…and to share just how much the initial detox and this book literally changed my life!  Others have seen just how much its affected me too, and I have since referred the book (as a starting point) to three other people who are now reading it…Hubby is even on board too!

As you can see on my blog, I started the 21 day detox (that Joshi recommends in his book) on the 1st of August.  At this point I cut out all wheat/gluten, sugars, red meat, alcohol, all liquids but water, fruit (other than banana), and dairy (other than probiotic yogurt).

I stuck with this for 3 weeks and lost 5,3 kilos (11.7 lbs)…keep in mind, this was with like absolute minimal exercise.  I mean like walking to and from the bus, and thats it.

I have since reintroduced fruit, but have kept off all the other foods that I listed above…and now in total, I have gone down 13,7 kilos (30.2 pounds)!  Can you even stand it!?!  I mean I had the weight to lose in the first place, but I am just so surprised (and pleased) at just how efficient this diet is!  It makes me wonder why in the world its not more popular, and why I’d never heard of it before!

To help me monitor things, each day I track everything I eat (and at what time) to see if I dabble in something that upsets my stomach…and so far so good.  But I’m definitely staying off gluten and dairy as I had some rice cakes with some dinkle in them and got a little if-fy in my stomach…so I am just leaving that stuff out and keeping on with what obviously seems to be working for me.

And I wouldn’t call what I’m doing detoxing, anymore…I ended that after the three weeks.  Its more of a new way of life.  And I felt like the detoxing was a little heavy in the end anyway (with liver cleansing tonics, etc), but was very interesting and obviously got me started on the right track.  Now I just think of myself as being intolerant to gluten and dairy…I read the ingredients on EVERYTHING…and now I just stick to stuff with all natural ingredients (not too many preservatives) and foods that I know my stomach can handle.

I so wish that I would have tried something like this before!  It almost makes me a little sick to think of just how bad those foods (that I have eliminated from my diet) were for me if they were just building up and storing in my body! 

Thanks to my fantastic results in regard to weight loss, elevated energy levels, clearer complexion, and higher motivation…I am definitely going to keep up with this new way of eating and life in general!

Tonight there was a huge tofu breakthrough at our place!

I was making tofu chili as Hubby came through the door…and after he saw what I was making for dinner, my relatively food-conservative husband informed me that he "didn’t eat tofu" and would just eat around it.  To give you the history…Lars has had had tofu 1 time…when I made it in a stir-fry recipe…and even I admit, that recipe I used wasn’t any good.  So for him…tofu was out!

So we sat down to the table after I spooned him up a bowl full of chili…and we started to chow down.

After bowl number 1, Lars actually refilled his bowl…TWICE!  Three servings of tofu chili for the handsome Hubby who "doesn’t eat tofu!"  I was soooo tickled, and Lars admitted that he totally loved the chili.  So that was FUN!  Now I can branch out and use some other tofu recipes and he won’t be so skeptical…I hope.  I’ve been wanting to make tofu-loaf for awhile, but thought that might be too scary!

Here’s the recipe…definitely one to try! 

Tofu Chili (4 servings)
Ingredients
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 14 oz package of firm or extra firm tofu, crumbled
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp chili powder (I used 1,5 since I used hot chili powder)
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
1 14 oz can tomato sauce
1 14 oz cans whole or diced tomatoes, with liquid
1 14 oz can kidney beans
1 14 oz can brown or black beans
3 tbsp sugar (I didn’t add this)

Prep
In a large pot, sautee the tofu in the vegetable oil over medium high heat for about 5 minutes.  Add the onions, garlic, chili powder, salt and pepper, cayenne and cumin.  Cook until the veggies are just barely tender, about 5 minutes.
Add the tomato sauce, whole or diced tomatoes, beans and sugar.  Bring to a slow simmer.  Cover and allow to simmer for at least 45 minutes.
Enjoy!

Serve with natural yogurt to cut the spice…or just to add a "sour cream" touch to the chili.  If it was on my "program" I’d also serve corn bread with the chili…

As you can see…I’ve posted a couple of times about tofu lately…and this is a result of my detox/new diet.  I’ll fill you in on all of that later!

I’m settled in for the evening…baking my own tofu!  YUM…it smells soooo good!  Check back later for picture of my homemade wonder…

Here’s how to do it:
To press tofu some recipes call for tofu to be drained and pressed.  Pressing out excess liquid gives the tofu a firmer texture and allows it to absorb more flavors.  Drain the packing liquid, then place the block of tofu on a plate lined with (lots) of paper towels.  Cover the tofu with more paper towels and top with a weight, such as a cast-iron skillet, a water-filled saucepan, or an unopened heavy can.  Let sit for 15 minutes or up to overnight for a very firm texture.  When pressing tofu for more than 30 minutes, do so in the refrigerator.
Easy baked tofu mix 1/4 cup of tamari (gluten free, japanese soy sauce…less salt than regular), 1 tablespoon of water, and 1/8 teaspoon of garlic powder in a ziplock bag.  Press 1 cake of extra-firm tofu (1 lb), then cut in half through the side to make 2 slabs, each about 1/2" thick.  Add to marinade and refrigerate up to 5 days, if desired.  Bake at 350F for 30 minutes, turning over once halfway through.

I let mine press for 24 hours…then let it mariade until the entire marinade was soaked up…about a day and a half. 

Got to run…my timer just went off!

Recipe and tofu info, courtesy of my favorite cook book (from big bro) Brilliant Food Tips and Cooking Tricks by David Joachim.

A note post-tofu-ing…YUM!  DEFINITELY work this recipe into your "menu" at home!  Its worth it…and equally as good cold, as warm!

I hate to brag, but a couple nights ago I made the best pizza I’ve ever tasted.  And the best part is that it fits right into my detox menu…so I’m on cloud 9!  You have GOT to try this recipe.

I bought a mix of gluten, egg and dairy free flour…so I made the crust from that.  It called for yeast…but Joshi wants me non-yeastie…so I just dropped it.  I like a thin and crisp crust anyway. 

Then I made a spinach pesto for the sauce…SUPER easy, SUPER yummy.  Just mix-master 2 cups of rinsed spinach, a handfull of roasted pine nuts, 2 heads of garlic (they roast in the oven, so they end up mild), a dash of fresh lemon juice and/or zest, and drizze EVOO (thank you Rachael Ray) through the mix until its your desired thickness.  Threw it on my crust…

Then I sliced up and grilled the following veggies until just before they were cooked through…sweet potato (skin ON!), squash, chantrelle mushrooms, garlic, onion, and yellow pepper.  Tossed them on my crust and sauce…

Then I drizzled the whole thing with a dash of EVOO and threw it in the oven for 15 minutes until the crust was done.

Served up each slice with alfalfa sprouts (uncooked), and I swear each bite was better than the last…

This is a recipe that I will definitely be making again…and making for friends!

Check it out…it was so just so pretty!

Well, today starts my 2nd week of detoxing!

The results so far…fabulous, fabulous and fabulous!
energy…up like you wouldn’t even believe
weight…down more than I expected
skin…clear and rosy

The things that I wanted to improve on most, I’ve already seen drastic changes in…after just 1 week!  And the best part of it is that I’m really enjoying the alterations I’ve been making in my diet, and its so rewarding and motivating to see change almost immediately.

Theres a couple of other changes that I’ve noticed as well.  The first being that I seem to have a much stronger/more sensitive sense of smell.  I think this is due to the fact that I don’t use much spice on my food anymore…and also because I’m not eating as many preservatives as were in my diet before. 

My skin is already much clearer than it was, and my skin tone has changed.  I am much rosier in my face and limbs…just a hint more color than I had.  I felt like I had become so peaked in my face lately.  So I’m loving the newfound color in my cheeks. 

This last one might sound strange, but I have also noticed that my eyes are much more vivid and "alive" looking…the whites of my eyes appear even whiter than they were, and I have a real sparkle in my eye.  Lars even made a comment about it last night while we were out walking…and a girl always loves getting a compliment on her eyes!

As I’ve been reading about what week 2 will entail, I see that its fairly similar to what I’ve been working on in week 1.  But this isn’t really any surprise.  Joshi has enforced that it takes 3 weeks to form a pattern (hence why the detox is 3 weeks), so its clear that small changes will work best on this program.  So in week 2 I will work a little more on mental and physical exercises, but in regard to food its relatively the same.  I’ve also set my own personal goals for week….I plan to work on my posture and breathing (these are soooo related), exercising more, and working on portion control.

I’ve also started reading ahead in Joshi’s Holistic Life Plan (the follow up to the 21 day detox that I’m on) and am extremely interested in going over to all nautural face and body care.  I’m going to start researching where to buy products to make my own facewash and moisturizer.  The book breaks you down into 3 skin types and then lists ingredients based on what type of skin and bodily characteristics you have.  I’m really looking forward to that, but think I’ll have to special order some things from England, as I’m not sure if (or where) I can get ahold of them here.  So that will be fun!

Other than marking my 2nd week of detoxing, not a lot going on.  Rain (again) today!  I just hope that its getting it all out its system before my company arrives from Seattle!  I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed!

Happy Thursday!

Good morning!  Today it looks like its going to be a beautiful Tuesday! 

And I’m feeling great today, after a super cozy evening with Hubby last night!

First, Lars and I had the most fantastic dinner…steamed salmon, boiled beets, and a huge spinach salad with fennel, celery, carrots, almonds, tomatoes.  I’ve noticed the past couple of days (since detoxing) that I don’t need to spice my food at all.  Everything has sooooo much flavor just on its own!  And I’ve always been a huge fan of beets (even if I’m not crazy about beet juice)…I told Lars that I remember eating beets as a kid, and that Kristian and I used to rub the beets on our lips to make them pink with "natural" lipstick!  Ha, ha!

Post dinner, we went for a long and relaxing walk in Drøbak!  We had tons to get done around the house, but we both just wanted some fresh air!  Lars loves to walk in the harbor and check out all the boats.  We saw some long distance sailers, and that got us dreaming about around the world sailing again…this has been an ongoing discussion/dream of ours!  For those of you who don’t know…Lars is a sailor through and through!  He sailed from Norway the the Caribbean years ago, and I’ve long dreamt of us taking the same route that he took so many long ago.  Who knows, maybe someday!

Anyway, its was a beautiful evening all-around.  The clouds were threatening to drop some rain on us, and it was super windy…but the wind was warm and it just felt like a blustery summer night!  We had such a fantastic time…and the evening just reinforced how much we love living in Drøbak!  Its such a cozy little spot!

After our walk, we headed home and crashed on the sofa together.  Lars got a new sports/fishing magazine in the mail and, as you can see under "currently reading", I’m flipping the pages of the best book called Eat Pray Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert!  I’m only like 7 mini-chapters into the book and I absolutely love it!  Her voice comes through so strong, and in a sense when I’m reading I feel like I’m having a converstation with a close friend!  I laugh outloud when I read it…and I end up reading interesting tid-bits to Lars too.  I’ve actually had it in my night table drawer for like a year, and just haven’t really even glanced at it before now.  My mom kept telling me I should read it, in fact she’s the one who bought it for me!  So I’m looking forward to finishing it and then comparing notes when she gets here!

And that was my Monday in a little more than a nutshell!

Happy Tuesday to you all!

Another gloomy Monday!  Yuck, its just pouring outside…and super grey!  Makes Mondays even harder to get through!  This picture sooooooo helps me through my day though!  How funny is she?

I was really hoping to go for a long walk tonight, or maybe even join Lars on the golf course after work…but I don’t think that either of us will be venturing outside in this weather!  Another thunder storm last night, and probably lightening somewhere too…but I didn’t see it.  We’ve had so many storms!  Last night there was a piece on the news about it, and about how many people have been getting struck by lightening!  Scary!  The forecast is calling for pretty crummy weather all week and then some clearing for the weekend though, so we’ll see!

Other than the weather report, not too much going on….

Bought some shelve/drawers at IKEA (that I blogged about before) and tried putting them in yesterday…to no avail.  The pantry that we have ended up being 7mm too wide!  Talk about small irritations!  So Lars is going to mount something on the side of the pantry so we can mount the shelves in there.  So I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it will work out.  Meanwhile, my food from the pantry is all over the kitchen counter and kitchen table!  What a disaster!  So much for getting things ready for our visitors…it currently looks worse than when we started!  Ha, ha!  I’ve always been that kind of cleaner though, if I’m going to clean than I need to tear everything out and really clean!

So no real plans for this week.  Just taking it easy and working on some odds and ends.  Thursday will be my 1 week marker of my detox…the beginning of week 2!  I haven’t even read about whats going to happen in week 2 yet…guess I’d better get on that!  Its going great though.  I am starting not to really miss anything in the way of food, and I feel much more motivated in every day stuff…I think just from knowing that I’m doing something new.  So all in all…and 4 days into it, I’m definitely on Team Joshi!

So, to start things off…detoxing is going fantastic!  After the mid-morning gloominess of Friday, I’ve been totally, 100%, on the ball.  I feel just great…energy overload and 0 bloating!  Like I mentioned before, a lot of this could also be mental (since I know I’m trying something new) but I don’t care, I feel great and super motivated!

My last trip to the super, I really tried to take in an "impression" of the grocery store…and after reading Joshi’s book and reflecting on things, I was SHOCKED to see how much processed foods are availble…the majority of foods in the super are processed!  And everything is made for convenience…meaning its even more refined. 

The past couple of nights I’ve been making gluten free, dairy free, Joshi recipe, dinners…and Lars loves them too.  He actually commented on how nice it was to have fresher dinners…that everything tastes so much more…and with much less salt.  So thats good that he’s enjoying the food too.  One of my favorite new things is fennel…something that I never tried using before in my cooking since I don’t like black liquorice.  Surprise, fennel doesn’t taste like liquorice at all!  I’ve totally been missing out all these years!  So fennel is definitely in my kitchen to stay! 

I juiced Lars some apple juice this morning and he was super impressed.  I juiced myself some beets and was pretty split on what I think.  The juice was sweet at first taste, and then seriously bitter in the after taste.  So I’ll have to try that again another day.  I’m kind of jealous when I’m juicing fruit for Lars though…I am 100% off fruit (except bananas) and I’m finding myself seriously craving sugar, in any form!  Thats been the hardest thing since my first day of almost psycho-coffee-longing…I really find myself wanting fruit.  So I’ve treated myself to a cup of tea with honey when I get desperate (to satisfy my sugar craving), and I’m trying to keep that down to just once a day.

Other than my detoxing…was up at 0830 this morning and got to work on cleaning the kitchen.  I’m the type of person that uses something (like a salad spinner) and then I just throw it back into the pantry…anywhere.  So my dishes and appliances don’t really have a permanent home in any particular pantry.  Soooooooooo, things tend to pile up and then fall out when you open the pantry!  Decided to get organzied, so I’ve pulled everything out and have started organazing.  Took a trip to IKEA (mid-cleaning) to get some drawer/shelves to put in the pantry.  Our pantry is so deep that I put things in there and forget that they’re there!  The drawers will be awesome because then I can just pull it out to see what I’ve got in the depths of my food pantry!  Putting them in tomorrow and I’m really looking forward to it.

Well, I’m off to make some hummus…yum!

I can’t even believe that its August already!  Time feels like it is just flying!

I hope that all of your august’s will hold just as much excitement as mine will!  Bring on the summer fun!

As for detoxing…these first couple of days are rough.  I am so exhausted that its hard to even explain!  I feel like I can hardly see straight, my eyes just want to close.  Its a strange sensation.  And yesterday (day 1) I got a headache about 1300 and had it until I climbed into bed at 220.  So that is interesting, and I hope it will go over soon.

Joshi explains that I will get headaches due to the caffiene "withdrawls", and that I’ll be tired since I’m not consuming any sugars…which will get my body burning fat instead of sugar that I consume.  So I guess these things are normal…but very uncomfortable at the moment.  I have a lot going on at work today, with end of month closing, and I just feel like I’m too tired to keep my game-face on.  I was actually tempted to sleep through my lunch break today…so I called Andrea and asked her to join me for lunch…to keep me up and at ‘em! 

I’m fairly certain that this will go over by the time the weekend is over…and thinking about how strangely my body is reacting to me cutting out some things is pretty creepy too.  If this is a result of me drinking coffee and eating sugar, than eeeeeeeeeeew!  What an awful effect those things were having on my bod!

I’ll keep you posted, but I’m currently detoxing, day 2.

Today kicks of day 1 of my 21 days of detox-mania!

As Dr Joshi recommends, I started off this morning with a hot cup of water with a slice of lemon.  Very refreshing, but I’m going to have to start using 1/2 a cup of boiled and half a cup of cold filtered water.  I only use about 40 minutes getting ready in the morning…so I found it a little difficult to have time to down a boiling hot glass of water and then eat breakfast afterward.

I know its all psychological…but I am seriously missing myself some coffee today!  And I’m not even a huge coffee addict.  Lately though, I had gotten in the habit of taking a travel mug with me every morning, and even a thermos with MORE on mornings when I was really tired.  So…at the moment I’m sipping tea and hoping that will help.  I was super tired this am on the ride in with Lars.  Not sure if its because I slept bad or because my mind kept drinking to coffee!  ha, ha!  Let the mind games begin!

I was pleasantly pleased with breakfast today though…I bought gluten and dairy free cornflakes (all the musli/granoloas had sugar in them) and sliced up a banana and topped it all off with rice milk.  And I have to say, subbing rice milk for dairy couldn’t have gone over any better…its like my tongue didn’t even notice!

So yeah…1st day, halfway through…and its going pretty well.

So tomorrow I am kicking off a 21 day holistic detox…following Nish Joshi’s "21 day plan to a healthier slimmer you - for life"!  Check it out on amazon or at his website.

I’ve been reading the book and now feel like I have everything in place to give it a go.  I’ve just been feeling so sluggish, my skins been bad…and I feel like Lars and I just don’t eat enough fresh veggies on a daily basis.  The really nice thing is that as I read through his detox guide, I see that its not radically different than the way that we already eat today. 

So I bought a juicer, its a monster (I already love it!)…and just downed about 12 carrots!  Ha, ha!  It takes quite a bit of veggie to get one-itty-bitty glass of juice!  Its going to be a lot of fun experimenting though…and even more fun grossing Hubby out with the concoctions that I brew up!  I’m 99,9% sure that he will not be sampling any of my delicious beverages!

So now I’m whipping up a recipe from the program, to take with me for lunch tomorrow.  And again, its not too far off from something I would make on any any-’ol-day basis.  Spicy wild rice…made up of a carrot, celery, a leek, brown rice, chicken stock, cumin and cinnamon.  Sounds good!  So I’m making up a batch to last me a couple of days, so I won’t have to think about lunch for a few days.  And tomorrow evening we’re going to be dining on baked chicken with root vegetables…yum!  Beats alot of the junkie dinners that we’ve been having lately! 

The big kicks from my diet during this 21 day period will be all acid forming foods, which include:
alcohol (won’t miss it…I rarely drink)
all fruits (except banana…how much do you think I’ll hate bananas after 21 days!!)
ALL dairy products (except bio yogurt…never eat much dairy anyway)
ALL gluten producs (breads, wheats, pastas)
red meat (no problem)
shell fish (no problem)
coffee and caffiene (will be hard for the first couple of days)
ALL sugars (this will be hard, and there are a lot of hidden sugars in foods)

Phew…sounds like a lot…and a lot of those things are hidden in my daily processed foods…so it will be interesting to see what I can do to give them the boot!  Going to mean making all my own food for lunch and dinner…which doesn’t sound too hard, but at the same time some evenings I don’t get home until 1900…

But like Joshi says in the book, 3 weeks is just not a very long time to commit yourself to something…it really should be possible to stick to 3 weeks!  So here I go…

I’m super excited and will give an update from time to time to keep you posted on how its going!