Lemonade Diet and Going Vegan

My chances for getting health insurance are slim, so I'm taking chargeof my own health by doing the master cleanse lemonade diet. I'm currently on day ten of a fast thatwill last until my tongue turns pink, 30 days, or I cave - whatevercomes first.

I'm not at all hungry today. Lemonade is a terrific appetite suppressant and I'm feeling just fine energetically and mentally. They say by day ten I should be having mental clarity, and I'm kind of still waiting for improvement because I've been feeling more focused and clear in my thinking all along.

The cleanse removes toxins from the system, and pushes the re-set button on life so that we can make drastic life changes. For me, the big change will be going from vegetarianism to veganism . . . plus gluten free.

Recently I read an illuminating book about wheat - call "Wheat Belly" by Dr. William Davis. What an eye-opener. He's helped hundreds of his patients morph into gluten-less diets and they've lost weight and had other impressive health benefits. I have to try it!

Going vegan has been a long-time goal of mine. Every time I got close I'd fall back into the egg and cheese eating vegetarian diet, and I'm determined at this time to give those up. Well, I already gave them up to do the master cleanse lemonade diet. After ten days I'm sure all food addictions have been broken. Now I just need to be strong and truly change my eating habits and learn a new way of cooking - all vegan! I'll be incorporating a lot of raw foods along the way.

Diet, Weight, and Exercise ... All That

My diet is not going well. I have taken off and put back on the same five pounds since the middle of September. I think the reason is that I bought a new aerobics video, the four mile version of Walk Away the Pounds, and due to using that a lot, I've been developing muscles. I may feel better, but I'm not losing weight. I'm certain if I keep trying, eventually I will.

I'm considering switching to the Atkins diet plan for a while (low carbs). I've been doing a low-calorie plan since last summer and lost 30 pounds... at one time was down 35 pounds. Well, its time to cut the carbs!

Diet Success

The diet continues. I've been eating too much this week but last Monday I had a good weigh-in - down 5.5 pounds. That came after weeks of being on a plateau with my weight going up and down by a few pounds. My total lost is now 35 pounds. I'm so relieved to be losing weight. I'm glad I turned it around when I did.

The Dieting is Working

Diet news: I've now lost 30 pounds and passed my second short term goal. My third goal is to be at 196 pounds which I should be able to do by sometime in December. My long term goal is 145 pounds and I hope to get there sometime in the next year.

Diet, Blogger Hoodie, and Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk

Since my diet started on June 2 I've lost 25 pounds. I'm still going strong with that effort! Unfortunately I've got another 75 pounds to lose, but knowing I've done it once sure encourages me to know I can do it three more times!

I had a nice surprise yesterday when I went to my blogger pro account - I found out they cancelled the payment part of the service (though I still get all the pro goodies) and they offered me a free hooded sweatshirt in gratitude for my monetary support of their service! YAY! I am so thrilled and awaiting my blogger.com hoodie with not-so-mild anticipation. Just in time for winter!

Hey, it will look good on me too considering I'm losing so much weight. :)

We had a great vacation to Santa Cruz and the SF Bay Area in August. We saw almost all our family members and spent two days having fun on the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk. The kids loved it. Did you know you can take a virtual rollercoaster ride at their website? We went on the Giant Dipper three times. It was wonderful.

And by the way, the safety bar on the roller coaster was so tight on me I theorized that if I hadn't lost so much weight just before going there, I wouldn't have been able to ride. And that would have been so sad....

Life, Money, and the Atkins Diet

Sorry I've neglected this weblog! Here's stuff I've been doing lately:

1. web maintenance work - a lot of it
2. enjoying my kids more now that my daughter's out of school
3. a new diet and exercise program
4. rearranging the house to put all my clutter in the back bedroom
5. enjoying our new used car and taking a few out of town trips

After a tight-money month, Keith and I sat down together yesterday to look at July's budget. We talked about where to cut corners. There won't be room for any extras but we'll get all our bills paid this time. Last month we didn't due to what we spent to take that car out of the car lot. Now we have to catch up...

The good news is that we're going to have plenty of money for food (we always have that, at least)... and for me, food will be on the Atkins diet plan. This drastic measure will be taken because I dieted on a conventional plan all of June and didn't lose even one pound - a real disappointment. I've come to the conclusion that my body's addicted to carbohydrates and must be weaned off them. I'm starting Atkins induction on July 1 and am reading the book now:



The book is well-written and easy to understand with short chapters. I'm enjoying it...

What I've learned so far is that I've been eating so many carbohydrates, my body is running on them and not burning off stored fat. The stored fat comes from eating too many carbs too... because the liver converts carbs into fat if there's too many. The solution is to slow down to 20 grams of carbs daily until the addiction is broken, then add a few more into the diet. Yes, the body does need some carbs, but not in the great quantity we have in the typical American diet. This is a main reason why obesity has become an epidemic in this country.