Lisa’s Quest for Fitness

So after all this time, I finally did it…I signed up for Belly Dance classes at a studio very close to my studio. I saw their ad sometime last summer and went to visit the studio which was quite well done. It isn’t a huge place, but I love their Greek columns inside and their textured sandy colored walls with blue color roofing. I remember watching a bit of a class last year because I wanted to rent out their space and just loved it. It has taken me a while to go in and sign up because the times never fell on the days where I could actually go, plus I wanted to keep my teaching schedule open so that I could fill students in those places. They offer their classes in 10 week intervals and then start over again…so I figured that since the first class starts next week and my Tuesday nights are technically the free-er nights, I would go and check out this class. (There is more where this came from … )

Yes….for the first time in a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG ass time (must be over a year or so!!), I finally made use of my membership and actually WENT to the gym. Let me tell you, I found many excuses NOT to go today but had to force myself. I decided last night that I really need to use my membership or just cut it short for once and for all. Because I get a really good rate (student rate even though I am no longer a student), it is REALLY hard for me to want cut my membership, but is it really worth it anyways if I don’t go? That is extra money I don’t need to waste, cheap rates or not! (There is more where this came from … )

Can you believe…about 2 years ago, I gave up chocolate-more like, I decided that I would try and see how long I could go without chocolate and this is how long it has been!!! I do miss it, especially around the holidays or the time of the month…but I don’t actually crave it. Long ago I remember trying a chocolate bar that was made entirely of Carob…and it sucked. Of course it sucked because I was eating the REAL thing….since my chocolate ban, I haven’t even thought of carob chocolate as a substitute-until I saw a show by Rachel Ray (annoying cook on Food Network) where she made some cookies for dogs with carob….so I looked up some info and here is what I found: (There is more where this came from … )

Ok, so the last 4 days weren’t all that bad which is a good thing this time around. I did notice that on this detox, I found the herbal laxatives to be a bit stronger than normal. You are supposed to take 2 of those along with your 2 cleanse herbs and other herbs too, but I learned early on to NEVER do that unless I wanted to be sitting on a toilet anywhere I went. The past few detoxes have had me only take 1 lax at breakfast and 1 at dinner with no major problems. I decided this time around to take the lax’s in twos only when I knew the evening would be quiet or I didn’t have to be anywhere early the next morning. The thing with the laxatives (and I am SURE you wanted to read all about that) is that they don’t affect you right away…with me, it is usually the next morning when I take my number #2 right away.Then, about 20 mins later I have to go again-and maybe 10 mins later just a bit more. (There is more where this came from … )

Wow the days sure have gone by FAST! The detox so far has been pretty good to say the least and I have been doing well to always bring along carrots, water, a piece of fruit (but I sure miss the tropical stuff) and nuts with me whenever I go out. I made some new discoveries in the past few days though….you CAN have pistachio nuts as part of your 80% diet…many nuts are limited but I was thrilled to read that!! The only danger with those nuts is that you can eat a whole bag and then end up wanting to drink a fountain of water! I also discovered that if you put apple sauce (the natural stuff you can find in baby food jars) in your oatmeal with cinnamon-it tastes like the inside of an apple pie!! (There is more where this came from … )

So far it has been pretty easy to do the detox this time around-what a difference it makes to eat food that doesn’t bloat you, make you feel sick or thirsty!! That is why I like eating right, detox or not…but it sure is nice to go off track and enjoy all those forbidden fruits!! hahah I have made sure to have an apple every day as part of my 1 fruit-along with nuts for snacking and carrots. The first day I did the detox, I came up with a GREAT recipe-easy, healthy and yummy tasting!! Chickpea salad-I love chickpeas but don’t eat them often enough so I created a yummy salad of it with red peppers, cucumbers and spices…SO good. I liked it that much that I took a picture! You will have to see it soon when I upload.

Dinners have been good-asparagus (great sale on at Superstore for them and they are so nice and fresh!!!) with tomatos, peas and any other green that is interesting. My mom made up a great stirfry with bok choy and chicken but cooked in sesame (or was it ginger) oil….So good!! I guess when you have small options, you like EVERYTHING! Today I had a good lunch with barley and salmon in ginger sauce which is SOOOOOOOOOO good….(notice how I say that alot! haha)-it goes really well with barley and veggies and I love eating it.

Surprisingly I haven’t been craving any sugar at all which is good because that tends to be my downfall…then again, I ate everything I could possibly enjoy and think of so I wouldn’t cheat-and so far, it has been just fine!!!

Ok-I know most of you don’t care about the fact that I am doing a detox so let’s just say that I am recording my daily entries here for my own purposes to help keep track. I went back and checked out my very first detox that I started recording on here back 2 years ago and checked all the other times I have done them as well. It is funny to note that my first detox I recorded down was in September 2005 with my 2nd one being recorded in March or 2006. Scroll ahead to 2007 and my 3rd detox was done in March with my 4th following that same year of September. (There is more where this came from … )

And so it is overrrrrrrrrrr and hooray! Actually not really hooray because I didn’t suffer at all during this round, ok there were some times that I just wanted a frozen dinner or have some pineapples, but honestly it went really well. I feel much better than I did when I got back from Toronto and now I am back to normal as well-no bloats or gas! lol Even on my first official day off from my detox yesterday, I had a good healthy dinner that Russ and I cooked up-we got butter chicken sauce (ok maybe not totally healthy but the ingredients were pretty natural) from a jar, cooked up brown rice and threw in some frozen veggies. We each had a nice bowl of rice with butter chicken and corn/peas/carrots and it was good-although butter chicken sauce should really go with basmati rice since it is more neutral and not so grainy tasting. (There is more where this came from … )

Ok I feel like a pro with this whole detox thing now, I basically am that used to it that I don’t even need to look at the food charts to know what I am not allowed and allowed to eat!! I decided that it was time to do a detox in order to gear up for a hectic year of dealing with kids and being busy. I think my last detox was sometime after my birthday in February so this is pretty fitting to do another one-the max I do is about 2 times a year or just once depending on how I feel. (There is more where this came from … )

Ok, I dunno if this is really healthy or not but this has got to be the BEST tasting sherbert/yogurt I have EVER tasted. I have tried various forms of sherbert before and they always come off with a very sugary flavor and an odd taste and texture. Of course for yogurt, NOTHING beats Yogen Fruz so whatever you get at the store just doesn’t top up. Not long ago I tried some of the Delmonte Peach and Mango Sherbert with Pineapple Yogurt ice cream and it was to DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE for…and potentially to DIIIIIIIIIIET for too! lol It had the best flavoring without tasting overly sweet or artificial-everything blends in so nicely because I find that anything with mango comes off very strong, but this was entirely different.

They have another flavor out that is Raspberry and Pomegranate but honestly, it tastes like all the other sherberts. The one I like is so creamy and smooth and feels very light…I think it is even really low in fat (like 2.5 grams per cup and believe me you can FILL a cup!!).

Try it out…it is a bit pricey but the absolute BEST combination out there!!! I found mine at Sobeys-not many other places carry them!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.