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Day.21 | Clean Gut Cleanse | Final Day

Wow! I absolutely cannot believe that I am already done. The first week was definitely the hardest, but pushing through has made all of the difference.

I honestly think I could go for a few more weeks and that my body could probably do with so more cleansing, but I will take it a piece at a time.

Now to be clear, when I say DONE, this is done with Phase 1. Phase 2 is the process of slowly re-introducing foods back one at a time, and seeing if/how my body reacts upon re-introduction. Also, this is also when the daily supplements should end. I say SHOULD, because typically, you go the full 21 days taking the daily sets of supplements, which I did not do. Around day 15, a weird thing happened after taking my morning supplements. I started having frequent pulsating in the back, right lower side of my abdomen/side, seemingly where I believe my liver is at.

I obviously did my DuckDuckGo anatomy and symptom check *chuckle*. And I honestly think it boils down to the fact that I do not take ANY medications, no pills or anything, like that ever. And then jumping into taking 15 capsules a day with the cleanse just had my liver working extra hard. Needless to say, I took zero chances and stopped taking the supplements immediately. The next day the pulsing stopped and has not returned since. I took only 6 of the supplements two more days afterwards and it has not returned. I am considering that during this next 7-14 days of me re-introducing foods, I will do only 7 supplements daily to keep up the vitamins and probiotics (which is what they are). Plus, I hate to waste such good resources that also cost me quite a few dollars.

Another beautiful thing, is that there were some very tasty recipes that are super healthy and easy on the digestion that I will indeed be adding to my cooking order. I am putting together my own recipe book of things I have invented, plus things I found and love, and others I found and have made my own over the years. I absolutely love the idea of being able to pass down a recipe book to my children and hopefully grandchildren someday.

In other news, like the fatty I am, I have already planned out which delectable foods I will re-introduce over these weeks:

  1. Potatoes (more like fries, there are some loaded fries I have been craving!)
  2. Wheat (I will be making our pizza dough and pizzas this week! Will also try some cream of wheat)
  3. Sugar (We will most likely go and grab some ice-cream this weekend
  4. Cabbage family veggies (some roasted cauliflower and cabbage).
  5. Fruits (I have only been able to eat berries for 3 weeks, so I will start with an extreme one; pineapple, then honeydew, then more basic oranges and apples)
  6. Other grains (not really in a huge rush to get back to rice, but quinoa and farrow will be firsts)

I do not do dairy, coffee, meat, candy, soda already – so those will not be re-introduced. Considering possibly seeing how a swig or two of beer will effect me, but I was never a big drinker, so I am in no rush to try that out.

What I am excited to get back to, is a more consistent work out schedule. I never jumped back on when I stopped earlier in the process, and have only gone running a few times in the past 2 weeks. I know I need to get back to being more physical because I honestly do not like how and where I lost weight. I am already very slim and knew I would lose some weight, but my body tends to go overboard. This is not a humble brag – I am thin enough to where losing too much weight I begin looking sickly and that is never the goal nor a look I aspire to. I like my weight more on the healthier side and feel my best when I have a bit more in the glutes and thighs regions. So, these last 3 months of the year, I am looking to build back up more muscle since I have slimmed down pretty much to bare bones jones. I am also going to keep a similar schedules for most of the week, trying to keep to a salad in the evenings, heaviest meal mid-day, and doing much more shakes. I will flop back and forth between morning teas and the daily lemon water as well.

So, will I do this cleanse again? Absolutely! I will be much more prepared and know which recipes pair best with what and how long they take if I am in a hurry and just need to eat. But, I think my next thing will be a fast – I am thinking one in November and one in December. It was a great journey, I pushed myself to just get through it, and I am glad to be emerging from the other side. I am still waking up much more rested, my body is still pushing out toxins in the form of skin blemishes, which I welcome! I would rather them be on my skin leaving the body, then unknown causing havoc inside the body.

So, here is to another awesome week ahead and honestly a bit of celebratory goodies, while maintaining a lot of the same regimen moving forward.

~Mai

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Day.11 | Clean Gut Cleanse

Today was a really good day and a great end to the 2nd week of homeschooling.

My daughter let me know yesterday that she wanted to go running. So we woke up early this morning and drove to the Bay to run alongside the water. Afterwards, we stopped to find a few items I had been searching for at another health food store in the area. SCORE! I found the garbanzo miso, so I am officially looking forward to trying another new recipe or two soon.

She had a playdate/learning pod meeting in the afternoon for this week. The letter is “S” and the overall theme is: Science. We whipped out the microscope this week, and her two friends got to check it out for the first time. She loves it even more because she has a white lab coat complete with goggles and a name badge that we put on moreso for the fun of it. I also want to ensure that she begins with safety even if she does not fully understand it and we do not do experiments needing such hefty safety precautions… yet.

I am still sleeping really well, had a great eating day and even tried a new recipe that was absolutely delicious. I tried the rice-free sushi, which I will definitely be having again really soon. I think next time, instead of stuffing the filling into hallowed out cucumber pieces, I will not mix the nori into it – instead, matchstick the cucumbers and wrap into the nori like the hand rolls. But it was delishious and I also made more acorn squash fries.

Breakfast and dinner were my tried and trues, just had to make more faux ranch dressing, to which I think I figured out the perfect consistency to mimic the real thing.

Halfway point of phase 1 complete and looking forward to the 2nd half. Back on my working out as well, so I am looking forward to seeing other more noticeable results as well.

~Mai

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Clean Gut Cleanse | Day.10

I chose to take a few days off from writing to truly focus on my tasks at hand (meeting with Publisher, updating my book, planning her homeschooling, staying on top of my health). Plus two back to back birthdays among several other things. But I have not stopped, I have not faltered, I have been going strong with my cleanse and I am happy to say, we have reached double-digits! Just 11 more days left of the initial phase of ridding the body of nonsense, while repairing & replenishing the good stuff via supplements, clean eating, and removal of excess.

I have done quite a few repeat meals, and several of them have been pretty boring if I do say so myself.. But I have always maintained the lemon water, to break my fasting, shake breakfast, entree and/or soup for lunch, and a salad for dinner. There is a fish recipe that I tried and it did not come out well. It was a mix between the thick cut cod not being done enough, not enough flavor, and the flaxmeal seasoning blend not sticking to it. Those acorn squash fries were FIRE though, and I will be doing those more frequently. They are just pretty hard to cut, especially with my hand/wrist issues.

I have made the tomato soup again and it is still just as delicious as ever. I am pretty much sticking to my chocolate blueberry shake with added hemp protein for my morning shake. None of the others really compare. I will say, I used up the last of the cashew butter ($12 for a 3 inch high jar), and opted to try the sunflower seed butter ($8 for the same size jar, possibly slightly bigger). I really hope it is just as good because these shakes are so good. I also tried something I had never done before, I cooked the salmon tonight with mustard (stone ground), and I will absolutely be doing this many more times. The rest of the salmon piece will be used for my rice-free sushi recipe tomorrow which I will definitely send pictures of because I am excited for it. The mixture will be placed in hallowed out cucumbers! Just need to find some sushi ginger without sugar, I have only seed the sugar brands so far.

I have not started back exercising, but my daughter has been asking to go running today, so I think tomorrow we will go ahead and jump back into getting active. Although I was/am not aiming to lose weight, I can already see a small change in my waist. My mommy fupa has lost a bit of its puff and that, I can appreciate. So this next half of phase 1, I am looking to flatten the curve even more, possibly force those buried abs from their hiding place. Even if not, the fact that I am doing what my body needs and getting healthy from the inside out I am excited about and looking forward to seeing just how good I will feel.

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Clean Gut Cleanse | Day.4

Today was a much better day than yesterday, thank goodness! I only had a few small stomach cramps that lasted about 15-20 minutes earlier this afternoon, which has been long gone. I did have a couple dizzy spells when I tried to get up too quickly, it was actually a good reminder that it was time to make dinner. We had a play date with the 1 other non-familial quarantine/pandemic families that have a green light to our home. My daughter had an absolute blast and she finally got a break from all the boys. She is only 1 of 2 girl cousins their age in the area, and there are only 2 more in general from both me and my fiance’s siblings. So I definitely had a busy one, but I had the energy to get through it. I am actually pretty tired right now after the day, cleaning, and working on my other projects, but it still does not hold a candle to yesterday’s fatigue. With all the hustle and bustle of a play date and the other meeting this evening, I did not get the opportunity to take pictures of my meals! But I did have the following:

Breakfast: Creamy blueberry shake. It was ok, but I definitely like all the others I made earlier this week way better. I think the cashew butter pairs very well with the cacao, hemp protein, and blueberries in addition to the kale – versus just the kale and blueberries alone. I think I will go back to the shake from yesterday, but just keep the chia seed gel from today’s recipe.

Lunch: I made a garlicky frittata, with 2 cups of kale and 2 cups of spinach, garlic, and shallots. When I have made this recipe in the past, I add vegan Parmesan cheese into it a few other seasonings, and I eat it with this awesome hot sauce. I also generally have paired it with some tater tots and whatever fruit I felt like that day. So, this was definitely a more plain version, but it was OK this time around.

Dinner: I had a pretty plain salad, one that I did not get from the book, but I ensured the elements are ones that I could have. I made my own basic tahini based dressing (sugar free stone ground mustard, organic tahini (just 2 ingredients), fresh lemon juice, organic tamari), raw unsalted pumpkin seeds, organic green leaf lettuce, 1 boiled egg, cucumber, and I know there is something else I am forgetting.

At this time, I am indeed still having urges to eat sugary foods, potatoes, making my bread and pizza, as well as cake. I really hope the urges die down fast and in a hurry! I have not noticed many positive changes to my skin, hair, nails, stomach line, and strength- but I expect those will come after another week or so, especially once I get back to my 100 squats & 100 calf raises daily along with my running regimen. What I can absolutely say is that I actually wake up these days feeling rested. Even yesterday when I was fatigued, I felt like I got enough rest… if that makes sense. Maybe it is the difference between physical and mental rest?

Cheers to another new day tomorrow and an awesome weekend planned.

~Mai

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HomeSchool | Day.1

Have a few wrinkles to iron out, such as… waking up early. But when we did finally get to it, WE had a blast. The new items we received from her birthday yesterday absolutely helped and I am so thankful to have community.

Letter of the week: A! We wrote A’s all over about 5 pages, we made clay A’s, and she traced A’s.

Theme of the day: Ants. We made egg carton ants that we cut, painted, added googly eyes, and antennae with legs. We watched an 8 minute online video about Ants and talked about them. She learned how to spell “ant,” as well as sound out the letters of the word.

She practiced writing her name several times and we watched a LeapFrog video on Netflix about the sounds of the letters (The Letter Factory, I believe). She practiced tracing shapes as well as words in a follow-along book her Aunt got her.

We read 4 stories today and built magnet houses for her Moana, Ninja Turle, and Trolls figurines.

Then just before bed, I played the new steel tongue drum she got from her birthday, and she danced an original contemporary/interpretive dance. It was amazing, and the hubby got it on camera.

Today was a success and I am looking forward to tomorrow being the same 🙂

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The last bite

As usual, prior to a big cleanse, I like to make some of my favorite things. Well, Monday starts a cleanse, so I decided I would make some indulgent pizza for dinner.

4 of my nephews were supposed to be coming over and were unable to make it, so I had actual dairy cheese in the home and figured since my fiance and daughter are not allergic, I would have them get the full experience today.

I learned after the last pizza dough make that when I add the yeast – it is best not to add it to HOT water, rather, let it cool down to warm. Well, the dough came out beautifully and rose to perfection.

I also decided to lightly oil the parchment and season it with some garlic salt and dried basil.

My daughter’s pizza was first. She has a tomato allergy and did not care for the pesto sauce last time. She just wanted cheese, (vegan) applewood sausage, and a huge pile of olives.

My fiance’s got the dairy cheese as well, sauce, sauteed onions, bell peppers, and mushrooms. He also had olives, garlic, and Italian seasoning & (vegan) Italian sausage.

I used vegan mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses, sauce, (vegan) Italian sausage, sauteed onions and bell peppers, olives, Italian seasoning and garlic.

I must say they came out really tasty and I am very full. As tasty as it was, I am indeed looking forward to my cleanse. Will share another post on that this weekend.

What are your favorite toppings?

~Mai

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Entangled in preparation

Something I notice about myself, I a very slow to pull the trigger. I like to marinate on things for a long time, I like to make sure all of the details are just right.

Something I notice about my daughter (and parenting in general), there really is no wiggle room for this. My daughter is at that great toddler age where her interests are vast and her attention is fleeting. You know the time where you finally get into listening to the same song 8 times a day, just created a new dance routine and all of the sudden it’s “no, no, no, no, not that one,” *face palm.*

Yes, those are the times in which we are engaged.

Well, I may have found a great way to a happy medium. She begins her more pointed homeschooling on Monday. I wrote out a very loose themed calendar, with 4 potential themes a month/a theme each week, loosely related to the time of year and the three letters of the month. I say loosely because for instance, last month we were working on her letter “K” and this month, our first focus letter is “A” and whenever I ask her to write an “A”, the page typically looks like the doodles of a white supremacist child doodling on their page during their first propaganda lesson… KKK AK KKK AK

So, I have that calendar prepped as a back up of sorts. As a lead Preschool Teacher and Kindergarten Instructor, I was required to plan the month (or at least 1-2 weeks) in advance. Sometimes it worked out perfectly, other times, a week would go by before any of the topics piqued the attention of the children. It is actually kind of counter-intuitive to what I learned about early childhood education, as we were taught to create lessons geared towards a child’s interest. How do you plan a month in advance when that age group drop best friends and favorite toys just about daily. Granted it is really not possible to do that with 12-20 three-year-old children in your class anyway, but that is another story altogether. I just know that based on how she is feeling that day, certain activities will be more favorable to her.

So, I am gathering free resources from as many different organizations and businesses as I can while this CV still has the world gripped in its net, to create her lesson plans for the future. Free scholarly articles, subscriptions, content, books, etc. I actually have more actual lesson plans/ideas for her middle school aged learning, than I do for her start on Monday.

Because she is only four, where I live she is technically starting 2 years early, so I am starting her out very slowly so we can be all the way into a groove by the time we are required to be fully immersed in the process, legally anyways.

I am excited to see how Monday’s 1.5 hours of schooling goes and where her interests and imagination takes us. These are the last days…

~Mai

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I did a thing…

I tried making yellow curry for the first time tonight. I figured I had all the ingredients I needed at home already, and I did 🙂

It came out… OK… but I know that for me, I need 3 experimental tries before I perfect a recipe to my liking, no matter if it is one that I made up or one that I found online to expand my repertoire. The first try is to taste what it was designed (or thought) to taste like. Next attempt is to make minor adjustments to cook time & ingredients. The 3rd is to ensure that what I learned from the first two attempts stuck and I can replicate moving forward quicker, better, and catered to my family’s pallets and restrictions.

What I learned from the recipe I briefly reviewed to make this dish:

  1. Yay me for having all the ingredients on deck!
  2. If I double or triple the liquid/stock of the recipe, I MUST at least add 75% more of ALL other ingredients *face palm* Did I multiple the liquid by 2.5 and only barely add a few more shakes of the seasonings and curry just before I added? Possibly.
  3. Next time only add double coconut, only about 25% more veggie broth to keep it rich & more of that awesome coconut tang and the end of the bite.
  4. Instead of using 1.5 cans of the organic coconut milk – add a whole can of coconut creme and half a can of the coconut milk (or a bit more) to thicken the consistency, and again, that tang.
  5. Instead of cooking the veggies most of the way prior (boiled the potatoes and carrots), cook them half to 25% and let them simmer in the curry longer and on a lower temp to REALLY soak up all of the flavor.
  6. Add half of the bamboo shoots – the small can was deceiving, but I like a better balance of the veggies in the dish and prefer the most broccoli since it soaks up the flavors magnificently and is my daughter’s favorite veggie.
  7. I could afford to go a bit sweeter and spicy, I think my daughter can handle a bit more heat.
  8. Flavor was about a 4.6 because it was just waaaaaay too subdued, but I could tell when done right that third time, will be a staple this winter.

By the third time, I will also revert back to using brown rice as well – or find a great vegan naan recipe.

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20|20

I just skimmed through a few of my old blogs and it warmed my heart to review the state I was in back when I first began this blog. It is a beautiful thing when you can look back and chart your growth, current and possibly continued struggles from that point in time, but also the success.

Since that initial blog post of me introducing myself, I have basically done all those things and more. It has been quite the thing to keep positive and forward moving with everything this year has birthed. The CV, fires from the Amazon, Australia, Hawaii, and all over California. Locust plagues. A shift in the focus of sex-trafficking, the racial climate (that has been in existence since the founding colonizers took over this land, but people are just now talking about it and its real effects all of the sudden), & holding people and businesses accountable for general NGAF. Dual storms over Texas. Coin shortages. Clorox wipes being wiped off the planet during the time we all need them most. Folks grabbing up all of the toilet paper, baby wipes, bread, and pasta. Many people loosing their jobs and businesses. An election with two candidates with supporters on each side hurling insults and seeming “evidence” of the other candidate having historical ties of various “ist” and “ism” communities. This is about 1/8 of everything that has and is being disrupted right now.

I am doing the very best that I can do to stay focused and doing exactly what I need to do to stay aligned with this forward momentum. I am looking forward to birthing a few of these projects I am working on mentally & in my lab, out into the universe. One hint, several of these have to do with writing ;).

I start another cleanse next week and I look forward to continuing on into our THIRD YEAR of the CHALLENGE page’s monthly exercises. I have also added some weekly cardio, that I plan on turning up this week as well. Looking to pair a cleaning of my internal (fasting/cleanse), physical (upping the CHALLENGE ante), & mental (writing, KonMarie the home, set up home office), for maximum results in them individually, collectively and beyond.

Also, our early start home schooling! 2 years early according to the state I live in, but I think a super slow start, early, makes sense with how my child engages with her world. I am surely looking forward to more art, lesson plans, scaffolding, mini-projects, science and math.

This is reading a bit like a check list of accomplishments, current events, and current projects – but after reviewing my posts from 2 years ago, being able to look back at something like this is very heart warming. And I always, always, think about the fact – that if you do not write your own story, others will. And it is IMPOSSIBLE to write another person’s story FOR them, no matter how well or long you have know them.

Most folks in your life, you simply have a few pictures of moments you recall of them. Others that may have been in your life for longer or more deeply, they may have a commercial or two. Some more inner circle – family, loved ones, siblings, parents, spouses, may have an episode. The only person that can do justice of retelling your motion picture, with behind the scenes footage, biography accuracy, and direct quotes is you. So every word, every click, every utterance via lips or fingertip – is me documenting my journey. It is about time we all told our stories, while we are living them to maintain the accuracy and passion of it all.

So here is to an explosive month and the synergy manifested from each of my concurrent focus areas!

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Push Up Challenge: Day.3

Success!

So far here are the totals for this month:

Squats: 95  | Push ups / Arm Raises: 6!

*So, my fiance just told me that I have not been doing real push ups!  My arms are bowed too wide & not closer to my chest.. I am stunned, because that means that I cannot do a real push up *sigh* 

Well, here is to trying to learn the basics again.  Learning something new every day.

>Respectfully submitted<<     ~Mai

Challenge Calendar_Day3

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I’ll be back soon!

Housekeeping, Gender reveals, travels, & much more.  Working on a master plan and will fill in the details shortly 🙂

~Bests

~Mai

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Interesting reads today

https://gmofreeusa.org/food-testing/frito-lay-sunchips/

Careful what you put in your mouths. 😨

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#Igot5onit99 | DAY 99 COMPLETE!!!

IM DONE! IM DONE! IM DONE!

Such an amazing feeling that I completed this, three months of shutting down excuses and just doing it.  Listening to my body those 5 times when I just was not able to do it those days.

Awwww, it just feels so amazing.

Also finally got in touch with a woman I’d met on my travels to Meritah (Africa) and we had a long, amazing, and long-overdue catching up session.  Hopefully, we will get to link up later this year in person as well. 

Well, nothing like a warm shower to “consummate” the closing of this challenge.

Next challenge to begin in: 35 days!

2018 = 5 million!!!

Second half of challenge totals:

  • 840 each of: 
    • push ups
    • squats
    • calf raises
    • (seconds) holding plank
    • (seconds) holding yoga pose
  • 330 minutes stretching
  • 210 minutes deep breathing

TOTALS!

  • 1482 push-ups
  • 1480 squats & 620 seconds holding seated squat
  • 390 plank rotations
  • 1080 seconds holding forearm plank
  • 1260+ seconds holding yoga pose (Tittibhasana)
  • 1100 calf raises
  • 425 minutes of deep breathing
  • 380 minutes of stretching

>>Respectfully submitted & Always thankful<<    ~Mai