We’ve all been there; we hit times when life’s just not flowing right. You find yourself in a funk. Sometimes caused by exterior factors beyond our control, sometimes caused by things going on within ourselves.
An injury, a breakup, financial stress, a failed project at work or school, derailing from our workout plan or hitting a plateau in our gym training, a drunken weekend of making bad decisions followed by a three day hangover, eating everything in sight and feeling bad about our body, being completely overwhelmed with responsibilities, hitting a period of chronic low energy…the list is endless. And often it’s a combination of a few happening all at once. Life happens.
One of the greatest lessons I’ve had to learn is: “this too shall pass;” how to accept circumstances beyond my control and adapt to handle them while staying positive. Not everything is “fixable” and I had to let go of trying to make everything perfect.
There’s a delicate balance between accepting circumstances and deciding when it’s time to take action to change them. When life’s not flowing, it’s time to go within.
So, over the next 30 days, I’ll be focusing on resetting by body, retraining my mind and rejuvenating my spirit. Here’s how I’m going to do it:
As of two days ago, I started the “Whole 30″ as well as following Shawn Achors “21 Days to Train Your Brain” from his talk, “The Happy Secret to Better Work.” Both are based on forming new patterns by focused behavior for a specific period of time; creating who you want to be from the inside out.
Here’s the detes…
The Whole 30
The Wholes 30 is kind of like Paleo on crack.
Basically, for 30 days you…”strip your diet, cut out all the psychologically unhealthy, hormone-unbalancing, gut-disrupting, inflammatory food groups for a full 30 days. Let your body heal and recover from whatever effects those foods may be causing. Push the “reset” button with your metabolism, systemic inflammation, and the downstream effects of the food choices you’ve been making. Eat real food – meat, seafood, eggs, tons of vegetables, some fruit, and plenty of good fats from fruits, oils, nuts and seeds. Eat foods with very few ingredients, all pronounceable ingredients, or better yet, no ingredients listed at all because they’re totally natural and unprocessed.”
Here’s what NOT to eat during the duration of your Whole30 program:
• Do not consume added sugar of any kind, real or artificial
• Do not consume alcohol
• Do not eat grains
• Do not eat legumes
• Do not eat dairy
• Do not consume carrageenan, MSG or sulfites
• Do not eat white potatoes
• In addition, no Paleo-ifying dessert or junk food choices
• One last and final rule: you are not allowed to step on the scale or take any body measurements for the duration of the program
This is an absolutely awesome 12-minute video on “Ted Talks” from Ted.com, which I highly encourage you to watch….
The premise is: in order to become better at what we do and to become better at who we are, we need to focus on the lens with which the brain sees the world.
We need to change that lens so that we would also be capable of changing reality, our reality. That way, by shifting that focus, we would have a great, unprecedented opportunity to change our happiness, our education and our business. Anything and everything.
He wraps up the talk by asserting that we change our behavior to cause “rippling positivity” over the course of 21 days. This rippling positivity would result in challenging our brain to stop thinking in neutral or negative, as we’ve been programmed to do, to become more positive and receptive…. creating a real revolution. WOW.
Here’s what you do every day for 21 Days:
• Perform act of kindness or send one kind email
• Write down 3 gratitudes
• Meditate
• Exercise
• Journal about one positive thing in the past 24 hours
Sounds pretty awesome, right? I agree.
At minimum, over the next 30 days, I think I’ll feel quiet liberated and very re-energized. If anyone would like to start this challenge with me…let me know.
No, I’m not married and I don’t have kids, and I’m 100% ok with that. I’ve never been one to follow the conventional path.
In fact, my Dad called me this morning to ask what I was doing for my special day, to which I replied “whatever I want it’s my freakin birthday!” His response, “Kristi, you’ve done whatever the heck you want you’re entire life, it’s never needed be your birthday. Your mother has always done exactly what she wanted, and I have always done exactly what I wanted, doing what you want is in your blood.”
True statement.
Am I wallowing in my self-pity of hitting my third decade and fear of what gravity may do? Hell no. I work my butt off to maintain my health and fitness, so that I can say screw you thirty. And heck there’s always botox ;)
I think marriage is an absolutely beautiful thing, and yes I want to create a family one day….that day just is not today. I’m sure one of these years, my biological clock will give me a big shocking kick in the ovaries.
But at the moment I’m focused on me.
Call me selfish? I agree.
I think being selfish is a good thing. Being a happy me, helps me make others happy. Creating a fulfilling, rewarding life I am passionate about (in my opinion) will make me a great wife and mother one day.
I’m freakin excited about the next year. And I can say, without a doubt, this is going to be the best year of my life thus far.
I feel like I’ve finally lazered in my focus on my career. I’ve been going at it with fierceness, that furry makes me feel alive every day. And we are about to launch my first product!
I have a close-knit group of friends and family on the east coast, and cherished friends who have become my family on the west coast.
I have an amazing boyfriend, who in the last 6 months has brought more love, challenge, support, motivation, warmth, acceptance, balance, understanding and laughter to my life then I ever thought possible. I have always been so independent; I could not have imagined what having such a wonderful partner could add to my life.
You are the best birthday present <3
In the last year, I’ve had the privilege to touch people through things like this blog. I can’t express the joy it brings me to get an email or message from someone telling me I’ve affected their outlook on their health and the changes they are making. I am so humbled and grateful for this. It is one of, if not, the most rewarding aspect of my life.
Above all else, I have become a me that I love. Approaching this milestone made me think about the valuable lessons I’ve learned, what makes me tick, and where I want to improve. So today, I’m going to share some lessons, thoughts and meaningless randomness.
It’s a long one. Whatever, it’s my f*cking birthday.
1. Character wise a few words I want to focus on in my year of 30 – resourcefulness, adaptability, resilience, balance, community, giving back, inspire, be inspired, and not taking things personally.
2. Hydration. This has been the single biggest and most influential change I’ve made in the last year. I NEVER drank enough water. It affected my skin, circles under my eyes, my energy level, my weight, my training, everything.
Next to oxygen, water is the most important thing to your body. You body needs water to digest, detoxify, sweat…and just to WORK period.
You should be drinking half your body weight in ounces daily. (If you are exercising, you must increase). Yes, that is “a lot” of water. But, it is doable I promise.
I have a bad habit of forgetting to drink enough water, so I came up with a system that really works – water in/water out/water in.
My “Water” system: I wake up every morning and drink a huge glass of water before even getting out of bed. Then every time I pee throughout the day, I have a “rule” that I have to drink a huge glass of water before getting back to whatever I was doing.
Follow that system and you WILL drink enough water.
3. Hot girls get away with way too much crazy shit. Fella’s if you select your females accordingly to the Vicky Mendoza Diagonal, don’t start whining when your tires get slashed.
4. Be worthy of your advantages. Strive for greatness. I’ve worked with and for the best people on earth at FortuneBuilders.com, and can’t wait to the next year.
6. A Pocketbook? WTF… Everyone makes fun of me calling my handbag/purse my “Pocketbook”(Connecticut thing I guess). Which got me to thinking…where does the word pocketbook come from? It doesn’t even make sense. It’s neither the shape of a book, nor does it fit in your pocket. Hmmm, so I nerdishly googled. And came up with….nothing. Even Wikipedia is like “er ah, see purse”
7. Workout shorts with built in underwear give me instant quada-butt. It’s extremely unattractive and disturbingly uncomfortable. I can’t understand how it’s scientifically possible for them to be comfortable on your ass. Dear LuluLemon – please make a pair of workout shorts with Hanky Panky’s built inside. Please and thank you.
8. Snatch. While I think of snatching as an exercise potentially causing more harm than good, it may be my favorite exercise title…um ever. “Nice Snatch” Haha, sorry I’m a child.
9. Being Vulnerable. One of my biggest struggles as a woman in a man-dominate leader role has been to remain vulnerable. Everyone, men and women, should watch this video.
“Have the courage to be imperfect, the compassion to be kind to yourself first and then others, and strive for connection through authenticity. Fully embrace VULNERABILITY – to be seen – to really seen. What makes you vulnerable, makes you beautiful. You are imperfect and wired for struggled but you are WORTHY of being loved. Be willing to say i love you first, to do something where there are no guarantees, to invest in a relationship that may or may not work out. Let yourself be seen, love with your whole heart, practice gratitude, lean into joy and know YOU are ENOUGH.”
10. I love the underdog. I absolutely love to see someone without every advantage achieve great successes through hard work and pure heart.
11. Dishes should be rinsed immediately. Why the heck do people wait for all the crap to harden?? #petpeeve
12. Water Rich Foods & Going Green
At least 70% of your diet should consist of live/water-rich foods. This allows your body to cleanse itself. Failing to consume water-rich foods means you are clogging your body. Greens are FULL of live digestive enzymes!
Take this challenge – List everything that has passed your lips in the last 24 hours. Then assess how much of it is water-rich. What does it look like?
The average American’s diet is only 15% water rich! That is essentially killing your body.
When you go to eat something, ask yourself a simple question “will this cleanse me, or clog me?”
If you feel like you have trouble planning water-rich foods into your diet, try making a blender full of “Green Blend” in the morning, and drink it throughout the day.
13. Whyyy do men workout in high socks? Someone please explain why dudes wearing high socks with sneakers is cool. Ya ya Cali style. Whatever, you look like a doofis. If your legs are cold, wear pants.
14. I adamantly believe that love like in “The Notebook” exists.
OR, 15. I just want to marry Ryan Gosling. #whiteswag
16. Lululemon is the shit. I don’t care what the hell body type you have, or what gender you are. Your ass will look amazing in LuLulemon pants (Lulu gets you laid). Dear Lulu if you can make a pair of workout shorts with Hanky Panky’s built it so I don’t get quada-butt from those normal underwear built it, i’d love that, please and thank you
17. I played World of Warcraft. Yup a WOWer. And I dominated that shit…was up to level 78 before Catayclism was released. Why’d I stop? I kept having these reoccurring nightmares that I was at a WOW members conference and they kidnapped me to make me their queen. Plus, I forgot what the sun looked like.
18. One of my favorite quotes is “Most of us have two lives. The one we live and the one unlived within us. Between the two is resistance. Resistance is fear. Embrace fear and earn your triumph for nothing of value is free…”
19. A focused mind and heart. With mental strength anything is possible. The unity of physical strength and mental strength will bring your results to new heights. Push yourself to your own physical limits, set goals, and take no prisoners.
Like any muscle, repetition makes the master when it comes to mental strength. The more you “flex” your mental strength muscle, the easier it becomes.
20. TWO BIGGEST FEAR. No…not death. No…not public speaking (love that shit). I’m dreadfully afraid of knocking my front teeth out…specially when doing hang cleans and pull ups. And also, getting attacked by a Shark (specifically in the swimming pool).
21. Being hormonal sucks. We are being totally overly sensitive, emotionally and damn near bat shit crazy. But, it’s kind of like a train wreck you see about to happen and can’t stop it. (warning: handle with caution, may spit fire)
22. Muscle-ups are the HOTTEST exercise to watch ever. So much hip thrusting.
23. Why don’t I set off the metal detectors at aiports? I have huge titanium rods…that could be like a sword or something.
24. I love deadlift days. It’s like the “ice cream truck” of lifting heavy shit.
25. HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training). If one more person jumps on the HIIT/CrossFit bashing bandwagon, I might throw them out the window. Which, by the way, I can because I’m strong enough to (thanks to HIIT). And no, lifting heavy weight does not make you bulky. I am the strongest AND leanest I have EVER been right now.
HIIT just makes sense. Your body was DESIGNED to move. Enter HIIT – it is performance based training that focuses on functional compound movements the body was genetically made to do (jump, run, carry, lift, throw) performed at high intensity.
If you focus on training for performance (like HIIT) the outcome will be fat loss, strength gains, improved balance, coordination and athleticism.
26. Missing a boxjump and hitting my shin was the WORST PAIN EVER. I have a feeling it may rival childbirth (I kid ladies, I kid). But for real, if I’m ever in a fight, I will now kick my attacker directly in the shin…or better yet, hit them with a sharp object in the shin (yes this is stuff I think about).
28. The Crossfit Games. It’s like my Christmas. There is nothing more inspiring for than a day watching and being surrounded by tens of thousands of people who love being healthy and pushing themselves physically. The athleticism, sheer determination, incredible mental strength, and heartwarming sportsmanship with competitors cheering each other on until the last man/woman finishes and community…is what makes this sport great.
29. I have faith in humanity. Despite the evil and craziness we see in the World, I believe people are good. I also think kindness, compassion, and giving are contagious. We can all change the world by changing ourselves and the way we interact with either other. 21 Pictures That Will Restore Your Faith In Humanity
30. Celebrate Your Health With A Challenge. Part of the journey to reaching optimum health is celebrating how great you feel with setting new goals that celebrate your vitality. Get out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself to accomplish something you’ve always wanted to do – climb a mountain, run a marathon.
Years from now when you are sitting on your death bed, don’t look back and say “I wish I had…..” Go out there and do it today. I’ll end it here with this quote…
“Life is not a journey to the grave with intentions of arriving safely in a pretty well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out and loudly proclaiming … WOW! What a ride!”
I got the original recipe for this dish from http://paleomg.com. The first time I made it was for a dinner party, and it was a hit! The sweetness of the dates mixed with the vinegars (balsamic and apple cider), shallots, and rosemary was really delish. AND, It’s incredibly easy to make for how “gourmet” it tastes.
The second round I decided to add in crushed Cashews to give it some crunch and additional texture…and it was BOMB. I also switched the boneless breasts out for breast tenders (requires less prep and cooks quicker). I doubled the below recipe (for lunches for the week), which I’ll have with some arugula. For those of you not looking to cook in bulk, the recipe below is for a 4 person main dish…
Ingredients
3 lbs. chicken breast tenders
2 large shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
5-7 medjool dates, pitted and diced
3 large sprigs of fresh rosemary
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
10 cashews, roasted with sea salt (place in ziplock bag, crush up with back of wooded spoon)
salt and pepper, to taste (be mind
Cooking Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Place chicken in a single layer it large class baking dish
Top chicken with the sliced shallots and dates.
Pull the rosemary off one of the sprigs, toss over the chicken, then place the remaining 2 rosemary sprigs around the chicken.
Now, pour the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and apple cider vinegar over the chicken.
Finish by sprinkling the crushed cashews + topping it off with salt and pepper.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. (I broiled it the last few minutes to get the top browned
I started writing the draft of this Juicing Detox review in “real time” as I was actually doing the detox. I quickly decided that writing the review “during battle” might not be the best idea (unless I planned on titling this post “Give That Dangerous B*itch Her Steak”).
Now that I am a few weeks out of the detox, I have a little bit more perspective (and mental sanity) to give the Juicing a real review.
Days 1 and 2:
The first two days (juice only for three days, no food) are supposed to be when you experience the most negative side effects (headaches, irritability, low energy, extreme hunger, a bad belly, etc).
Let’s start out with the “Good.” Fortunately, I ate really clean before starting the detox so (lucky me) got to skip over the headaches and low energy. I don’t think my body was withdrawing as much as an average person’s would.
My normal pre-juicing diet was a veggie heavy Paleo diet, with the addition of daily Green Blending. Green Blending is pretty much exactly what it implies…green fruits and veggies “smoothified” in a Blender, which I’d drink/eat throughout the day, every day. And the Paleo diet…
And now for the “Bad.” I am Italian, with a very loud inner fat-kid voice. By the first half of day one, I was craving protein (particularly steak) like crazy. By the evening of day 1, I would have eaten an entire cow, I swear. (Sorry vegetarians, not sorry).
Second, has anyone ever realized how many damn food commercials there are on TV?! Like seriously during Saturday Football…Quarter-pounder commercials get more airtime than the Quarterback. Is it really any wonder why America is obese with commercials like this every freaking 2 minutes?!
Ok, deep breaths, deep breaths….I’m not even going to get started on America’s Obesity right now.
Anywho, after about mid-afternoon on both Day 1 and Day 2, I would start to experience extreme lightheadedness; like I had just sucked the helium out of a balloon type lightheadedness. Maybe juicing will be the next whip-its?
For instance, Saturday night (Day 1), I went into the bathroom to take my contacts out of my eyes. I got out the solution, put my contact case on the sink, and opened the right eye container. I saw there was no contact in the case and searched the counter and the floor for several minutes before realizing the contact was in my EYE. Yes, I had forgotten I was taking my contacts OUT. That kind of lightheaded.
On the bright side, I found that if I started to feel lightheaded, I just needed to juice and would feel immediately back to normal (or as normal as I get anyway).
Day 3
Point blank, day three SUCKED for me. While almost everyone else doing the Juice Detox with me (there were a dozen or so of us) felt worlds better by day three, I felt like I had entered the third ring of Hell. My stomach was bloated, I felt really ill, my skin had broken out like a 13 year olds, and my patience was, well, um, non-existent. Mind you, this was a Monday, so I was up bright and early and back at work where being sluggish was NOT an option (our company slogan is “ATTACK 8 days a week”).
Then came lunch time. Let me preface the next paragraph by saying that this 90 Day Challenge at FortuneBuilders was OPTIONAL , only about half of us jumped on the bandwagon. OK now my rant. My irritability was brought to near-Exorcist-head-spinning-around “I will kill you levels” when one of my coworkers (clearly NOT participating in the Juice Detox) brought in take out from Phil’s BBQ. Not only was the scent TORTURE, but this “gentleman” decided it be funny to taunt me by dangling his BBQ chicken right in front of my face.
I seriously contemplated throwing him and his Phil’s BBQ out the third floor window and watching his guts splatter on the ground. But, I withheld my rage and left to work from home instead. 0:) Success is the sweetest revenge.
Lesson: Unfortunately, I found that the majority of people I encountered would rather make it more difficult for me to succeed at this juice detox, than support me in it. I was really disappointed by this actually. It’s hard enough to have the willpower to do something like this, without having people constantly taunting you and teasing you with food.
Days 4 and 5:
Days 4 we added egg whites in and Day 5 added chicken/white fish. It was smooth sailing for me after egg whites.
Overall here was my experience with the different “side effects” of the Juicing Detox…
JUICERS AND FRUITS/VEGGIES: The “sexiest” brand of Juicers is Breville, there are various models available from $150 – $300, which are known to be the easiest to clean and most durable. I opted for the Jack LaLanne’s Ultimate Power Juicer from Costco which costs about $90. If I decide to Juice long term (and this one craps out) I’ll go Breville, but the Jack Lalanne definitely gets the job done. I also bought as much organic as I could reasonably do. I bought organic in bulk when possible (Costco has big bags of organic carrots, cucumbers, etc which are the staple of many juice recipes.) If it wasn’t organic, I made sure to wash it really well. Everything pretty much went into the juicer as is, expect that I peeled lemons, oranges its, and cut the rough ends of veggies such as carrots.
ENERGY AND EXERCISE: I didn’t see a significant change in my energy levels minus the lightheadedness in the evenings on day 1 and day 2. In fact, where most people don’t have the energy to workout at all during the 5 day detox, I did full Crossfit WOD’s four out of the five days (minus my day three where I surely would have beat someone with a barbell if they made a food comment. Really staying home that day was for the good of the public).
SLEEP PATTERNS:
This was the MOST NOTABLE change I experienced from the detox. Starting on Day 1 I got extremely tired at around 10:00pm, to the point where I couldn’t stay awake. The morning of day 2 and EVERY morning after that I woke up between 5:30am and 5:45am (while it was still dark), completely alert (like no way I could have gone back to sleep).
I usually don’t wake up until around 7am. Waking up at 5:45 was actually AWESOME. I live right on Mission Bay and got to watch the sunrise over the water every morning…it was breathtaking. I also got a lot of work and reading done before the city was up.
STOMACH/DIGESTION:
As part of a juice detox, which included drinking phylum husk (fiber) twice a day, it is common to experience diarrhea or constipation. I was definitely the latter, by day three I felt really bloated/uncomfortable…my belly was definitely missing all the nature fiber I usually eat. I also blame this on dehydration. I was admittedly not drinking nearly enough water the first few days.
SKIN COMPLEXION:
I broke out like a teenager going through puberty. It does not take a rocket scientist to assess this was my body releasing toxins through my skin.
WEIGHT LOSS:
A dozen or so of my coworkers did the Juice Detox with at the same time as me. ALL lost between 5 and 15 pounds. Are you ready to hear how many I lost?? Wait for it, wait for it…ZERO.
No that is not a joke, I didn’t lose any weight. In fact on Day 3, where everyone saw the weight start to fall off, I had gained almost two pounds.
What the heck?!
I still don’t really have an answer for this. My only guesses would be 1. I was definitely dehydrated (my own fault) and “backed up” by day three. 2. Right before I started the juice detox I had just start going really hard again at CrossFit after my Achilies injury. My muscle mass was coming back with a vengeance. 3. Who am I kidding? I have no clue and am quiet perturbed that I was the only one who didn’t lose weight. Conclusion: My body is a rebel.
AFTER THE 5 DAY JUICE DETOX:
The weekend after the 5-Day Juice Detox, I headed up to the OC Throwdown CrossFit Competition. At a CrossFit Comp, I was in my glory as there was definitely an abundance of meat (take that as you will).
Here’s what “Finger Food” looks like at such an event:
Needless to say, my steak desires were DEFINITELY met!
But, after 5 days of juicing, you forget what it’s like to feel full. And when I hadn’t felt full, eating a meal and actually feeling full made me nauseous. It also made me realize how uncomfortable it actually is to have a full belly. Blah. And I REALLY missed juicing over the weekend. So, even though I didn’t see the visible weight loss results most did, my body was definitely telling me “keep juicing!”
Since the detox ended, I have been making a full container of Juice every morning (which I store for the afternoon in an airtight Juice Jar). I eat eggs in the morning, and have a juice. Then I juice all day long, with a few snacks (almonds, veggies, cottage cheese, etc), have a normal Paleo dinner, and juice once more in the evening. I feel GREAT, still no weight loss but I’ve been killing my CrossFit Workouts and have seen an increased focus at work.
I’ve also decided to do the 5 day Juice Detox AGAIN starting tomorrow (30 days in). I will be drinking a Salt Wash in the mornings (which I’m told is like pressure washing your GI tract), and drinking 1 – 2 gallons of water EVERY day. I think these two changes will make the detox much more effective. Wish me luck and stayed tuned!
Are You Interested In Doing The 5 Day Juice Detox?
You can do any juicing recipe during the fast, however do EITHER fruit juice OR veggie juice. Do not do fruit AND veggie mixed juice. The only exception to that is apple and lemon in your veggies juices.
If you’re fasting for weight loss, do veggie (preferably greens) over fruit juice as fruit is high in sugar.
The top five nutrient-dense vegetables people looking for weight lose should incorporate are bell peppers, parsley, kale, broccoli and spinach.
The more ingredients you put in one juice the rougher it is on your stomach. Less ingredients is best if you have a sensitive belly.
It is best to juice in real time, if you’re not juicing in real time, you MUST use an air-tight Juice Jar or container. The nutrients start to die within 10 – 15 minutes after hitting air. You can get glass or plastic juice jars at any kitchen store.
MAKE SURE TO DRINK A TON OF WATER, AND TAKE YOUR FIBER SUPPLEMENT/PROBIOTIC.
If you get backed up do a sea salt wash
And EASE back into food after the detox is over.
“Green Flash” Juice Recipe
Here is the recipe for the Green Juice I made that was my favorite….”Green Flash.”
• 2 apples.
• 1/2 cucumber.
• 1/2 lemon (peeled).
• 1/2 cup of kale.
• 1/2 cup of spinach.
• 1/2 cup of broccoli.
• 1/4 bunch of celery.
• 1-inch of ginger.
Salt Wash Instructions
1 to 2 tablespoon of sea salt (not table salt)
1 quart of luke warm water
(add lemon juice to improve taste)
Chug quickly
STAY HOME FOR AN HOUR.
It’s like pressure spraying your colon. Opens the path out for toxins and old impacted food.
Do every morning instead of pysllium husks
If your schedule prevents you from doing it in the mornings do the salt wash at night an hour before bed.
If you have any questions feel free to comment here and I will reply!
Recommend on Facebook
