GM Diet/Detox Recap; On to Green Smoothies

My goal was to keep a journal detailing my 7 days on the GM diet, but life (mainly motherhood) doesn't always cooperate. Here is a recap of the rest of my week following this plan.

Day 2: All Veggie day
This day was the worst. My body craved for sugar, any kind of sugar! I kept wanting to sneak in my daughters room to steal some of her leftover Easter Candy. It took every last ounce of will power to stay away from the chocolate.

I don't tend to eat much a day, and normally don't get hungry until the afternoon. Around noon or one, I stared to feel the hunger set it and made a salad. I added tomatoes and an avocado to my greens and for dressing, I used this great stuff I found at Whole Foods called Vegi-Delite. I also made a batch of wonder soup and had a bowl. It was not very tasty, but I put in too much water for my liking, making it taste somewhat bland.

That night for dinner my daughter wanted Subway. Walking in to the shop, I smelled the fresh baked bread and it was pure torture. As I watched my daughter eat her veggie sub w/cheese on the Italian herb bread, I sadly ate my salad. This time I also added some green peppers and cucumbers to my tomato and avocado. For the dressing I had them drizzle a little bit of red wine vinegar.

Next to this Subway shop is a Tutti Fruitti and my daughter talked me into letting her get some desert. She sampled a new flavor that she thought I would like and tried to get me to sample it. Then proceeded to laugh at me after remembering my diet. I had a feeling them that it was going to be a hard week.

Day 3: Fruits & Veggies
I wasn't home much this day, and ended up drinking a lot of iced Black Tea. When I did get a chance to eat, I had a pear, some pineapple, a bowl of the soup and some cuties. I definitely felt better at the end of day 3.

Day 4:Banana and milk day
This was my favorite day. I lived on Banana smoothies all day. I used 2 bananas per smoothie and mixed it with my Light Vanilla Soy Milk and ice.

Day 5: Tomato and Beef day (or in my case, brown rice)
Another good day. The tomatoes were yummy and I had about 4 or 5 of them throughout the day. I also had a bowl of the soup and made some brown rice.

Day 6:Veggie & Beef day (or brown rice)
Today I had another one of my salads and some tomatoes.

Day 7: Fruits, veggies & juice day
I had a PTSA meeting at school that day, and afterwards a few of us went to The Soup Plantation. While it sounded like a good place to go when on a diet, it was extremely hard to stick to the diet. The smells of the soups, pastas and breads were killing me. But I stuck to it and had a big salad w/olive oil & vinegar drizzled on, a baked potato w/veggies as a topping and some fruit. I did cheat a little and had some of their lemon summer salad. The dressing was not GM diet approved, but it tasted awesome!!

At the end of the week, I ended up losing a total of 6 1/2 pounds. Not quite the results I was hoping for, but it's a start. On my two days off of dieting I tried to keep the healthy eating going, but was not all that successful. I had an egg & cheese croissant from Jack in The Box after going to the gym one day & a small Chipotle bean & cheese burrito from Del Taco that night for dinner. The next day I had a pear and some cuties for lunch and a childs size portion of spaghetti for dinner.

During these two days, I started thinking back to the banana and milk day, and how much I enjoyed it. I decided that I wanted to do a Green Smoothie Detox/diet next. My plan is to do 7 days of the GM, take 2 days off then do 7 days of Green Smoothies with 2 days off. Then start all over again.

There are many different variations of the Green Smoothie plan, but essentially you should drink at least one Green Smoothie a day and eat healthy the rest of the day. I have been making one to two big smoothies each day and nibbling on little items here and there.

If you google "Green Smoothie recipes", you will find all sorts of yummy concoctions. I have never been one to follow recipes or directions all that well, so I tend to just throw things in. Some of my experiments are made up of the following:

1)Bananas, vanilla soy milk, flax seed oil, spinach, dried seaweed, frozen berries & plenty of ice.
2)Bananas, kale, chia gel, cacao nubs, peanut butter, vanilla almond milk & plenty of ice.

A few minutes ago, my daughter was pestering me for a smoothie (a bonus to this plan is my daughter is drinking the smoothies with me, getting more veggies in her diet). I made this one with mango, strawberries, kale, cacao nubs, chia gel, gogi berries and plenty of ice. It doesn't look pretty, but tastes pretty good :)

I really enjoy the green smoothie plan, and was considering not even going back to the GM Diet, but I am not losing any weight. In fact I am up 2 pounds. I still have over 60 pounds to go, so I will stick to my plan of flip flopping them until I lose the weight.

Hump Day

While looking for my original "Greedy Bitch Wish List" today, I saw some of my old MySpace blogs and started reminiscing. One of my favorites was the "Hump Day" list.

The Hump Day list was a weekly blog I would do on Wednesdays (duh) that was a place for myself; and others; to let it all hang out. You could bitch, moan & rant about your day. Or you could list what you are looking forward to. Whatever you wanted to talk or list was welcome on Hump Day.

I decided to start this as a mid-week relief hatch. There was another MySpace blogger that had a Friday Fuck List, but sometimes we just didn't want to wait till Friday.

It was very therapeutic until I caught on my Employer was looking at it. Not as much fun when you had to be careful and edit your words...

As today is Hump Day, I figured I would do a list for old times sake. Feel free to join in if you wish :)

1) Hubby has a 7mm bulged disk. Will the back problems never stop? He also has to fly to FL next week to take his 1st PGA checkpoint test. Hopefully the DR's can help him some before then

2) It is starting to get really cold. The mornings are brutal and it makes it hard for my achy bones to get moving in the morning.

3) Speaking of getting moving, my motivation is severely lacking. I have so many thing I need/want to do, but I just can't seem to get myself to do them.

4) The last few days I have ended the day with a nasty headache. Sometimes I wish I could just chop off my head.

5) On the bright side, at least they aren't migraines. The migraines are back, but not as bad as they used to be

6) Finally pulled out the old laptop (Windows) so I could get to my SSDI files & converted them to PDF's so I could view them on my MacBook. Hopefully I can get some of my old DR files from them & forward to my new DR's so I can get some decent help.

While it was fun thinking about old times & hump day lists, I am not sure I will rekindle this list. There are too many things I would like to post, but with so many people active in virtual land these days, its probably best I keep it to myself or a trusted friend.

Thanks for walking down memory lane with me. While you are here, feel free to type out your "Hump Day List"

No Poo and a new hair style

Wed morning I mentioned how greasy my hair got due to applying the vinegar rinse. When I got in the shower that morning I did the baking soda & water cleanse, then did the vinegar rinse (staying away from my scalp this time).

I also read how you shouldn't use hot water, so I cooled it down. Brr..., not fun. I need the heat to warm up my joints and ease some of my pain. But for the sake of having nice hair, I decided I would try & tough it out.

Here is how my hair was looking that evening:


Not to bad, just a little oily. I managed to go with out washing it yesterday & this moring when I woke up, it was needed to be washed, but it wasn't super icky, greasy.

Now for the wrench in my plans. I went to get my hair done today. Of course shampoo was used to wash out the chemicals of the color. Since it has red in it, I do want to go a few days with out "washing" it. So no more updates on this experiment until I let my hair sit a few days.

But, I must say, my hair looks awesome right now:


There is a story to go with my new hair....

Yesterday I was supposed to get it done. I had gone in a salon (J Ferrer in the Valencia Westfield Mall) on Sat afternoon to get a quote on how much it would cost for what I wanted.

I was very specific; lighten it up & get rid of the growth (roots), add some red chunks, trim the ends about an inch/inch & half and add some bangs.

The manager/owner (Jackie) had me talk to a stylist. We looked at color samples and picked what I liked, ect. She did kinda of scare me when she mentioned a weave. But almost all stylists end up trying to do that to me. But she was young & seemed to understand my vision. She then consulted with Jackie about what would be done & Jackie quoted me a price which included a discount special they were running. It was an awesome price & I said lets book it. Well the stylist I talked to couldn't do early hours, which I need. I was booked with some one else, but was told that they would relay our discussion with her.

I show up yesterday morning for my appt. The place is closed, but I understand not everyone is as concerned about being on time like I am. I wait about 10 min & somebody shows up; my stylist. She is clueless to what I wanted. So I had to go over the whole thing again. She starts to seem like she understands, but what she is saying seems to be differing from what I was originally told. Finally I think we are the same page & she goes to mix the color. Guess what, they don't even have the color on hand that was supposed to be used on me. She keeps trying to use some other color, that is no where close to what I want. Finally she calls someone & asks them to buy some & bring it in. So we get started on my weave. As she starts to foil me, I mentioned that I wanted to have some red in my bangs, so I am not sure how that will effect her coloring my hair. She is clueless that I was getting my hair trimmed as well. She then calls her boss to verify that the price they quoted me will cover it all. HELLO!!! I have the appt card w/the quote written on it by Jackie. I am not paying a cent more than I was quoted. And I have already wasted an hour of my time & only have two foils in my hair.

So she washes out the little she did & I was out of there, very upset & disappointed. I call hubby, who then calls the salon. The owner was called by the stylist for him, and all she could say is could she call him back later that day around 3? (It is 11am ish) We never did hear back from them.

I was driving around,feeling very sad & decided to drop by a salon I used to go to years ago, Mirage Hair & Nails . There happened to be a stylist (Nikki) at the front desk when I came in. I told her I was wanting to get a price quote for my hair. As we were talking, she really listened to me. No weave, just lighten my roots. She totally got how I don't like any growth showing. She brought out magazines and had me go through and look for colors I liked. Not only was she listening to me, but she voiced concerns because of the shape my hair was in,and things she could do to help. It cost more than the other salon quoted me, but would have cost me the same as what they tried to charge me with a discount! I booked it then & came in this morning.

Once again, we talked about my hair and its issues. As well as the the problems that could come up with this color. She made sure to use extra conditioner, rinsed the red hair out and did her best to keep it away from my blonde so it wouldn't bleed. She was awesome!!! And my hair turned out better than I have ever had it turn out before. No roots/growth showing. An extreme red. Just what I wanted!!

THANK YOU NIKKI!!! :)

No "Poo" hair, morning 4

I woke up Monday morning and my hair was still looking relatively good. But the urge to clean it was more powerful than to let it be. After all, I have been washing my hair everyday (minus a few sick & lazy days here & there) for years. So I tried the baking soda & water scrub again w/the conditioner scrub.

Slight problem, I have acrylic nails & they are in desperate need of a fill & are starting to lift. As I was massaging my scalp, I didn't quite do as well a job as Sunday. There were some slight patches here & there that felt a little greasy as my hair dried. I also used a bit less water in my mixture & other areas felt a bit dry. Worry & unease started to set it.

Tuesday morning, when I woke up, I decided it was time to try the vinegar rinse & that was all. After all, my hair might be a bit greasy in spots, but it was still looking fairly good:


The vinegar rinse I used was based off a recipe I found here, One Green Generation.

Can I just say UGH!! My hair is super greasy now. Here are some pics from last night


& this morning


After doing some reading though, I found my mistake. I put the vinegar rinse on my scalp. The trick is to just put it on your hair.

One of my biggest concerns would be combing my hair with out using a conditioner. I have super fine, straight hair that tangles easily, as does my daughter. I was pleasantly surprised when I was able to comb my hair with ease yesterday morning. In fact it was just as easy, if not easier than if I had used one of my super expensive conditioner.

I might have had a little set back, but I am going to keep staying the course. Though the urge to go hop in the shower & and scrub my hair with shampoo is very strong this morning. But tomorrow I am getting my hair cut & colored, and I hope this new process will help keep the red in longer. As well as the hope that my hair will be much healthier so it will withstand all the other torture I do to it; the constant coloring & infrequent trims.

No "Poo" hair, day 1

I have been researching hair styles for my little darling for the past few weeks. My SIL is getting married in October, which prompted this. But I also enjoy new & cute hairstyles, and since I do have a girl, I might as well enjoy the hair aspect of it.

What does this have to do with "No Poo" you might ask. Well I stumbled across a few sites that referred to this saying & it made me wonder. After a bit of research, I found out this meant cleaning your hair with out using shampoo.

As someone who has super fine, straight hair that tends to get pretty oily, I was somewhat grossed out. I could never imagine not "washing" my hair. I won't even leave the house in the morning (unless I am dropping off my darling in the valet line @ school) unless I have showered & washed my hair. And normally by the evening, my hair feels greasy & very weighed down.

This morning, I decided to give this no poo thing a shot. There are a few different methods on how to do this. For today's trial run, I combined two of them.

First I mixed a tablespoon of Baking Soda w/some warm water. I slowly poured it to the roots & massaged it in starting from the forehead to the base of my neck. After making sure I had gotten my whole scalp, I rinsed it out.

Then I used my conditioner and did the same, making sure to run it through to the ends. I let that sit in my hair while I finished showering & shaving, then rinsed.

Reading the many blogs & articles out there on this, I was concerned on how my hair would turn out. It warned that it would take a few weeks to get your hair and scalp to acclimate to this & thoroughly cleanse out the "poo" build up. I was sure I would be pulling my hair back & borrowing the darlings headbands. But I must say I am quite happy. My hair is shiny & over five hours later & a nap thrown in, it is still clean & non-greasy.

I am sure I will experiment with the methods I have read about until I find the right way for me. But I have a feeling that the "No Poo" method will be one that I will continue using & most likely transition my darling to. This seems like the perfect hair cleansing way for her & her super sensitive skin.

Here are some pics of my shiny hair taken hours after the washing: