THE CLEANSE IS OVER!!

Ok, so the cleanse is over.  Well, almost over.  It's 10pm on Day 10 so I'm almost there!  Today, someone made the comment to me that tomororw I can go back to eating again!  I laughed and said I hadn't stopped eating!!  I'm not sure there's going to be a lot that I change now that the cleanse is over.  My body has been detoxed and I can't even begin to explain how good I feel!!  I've been drinking the Spark some.  There's a little caffiene in it, but it gives me the kick I need to keep on rollin'!!  Not to mention that it TASTES SOOOOO GOOOOOODDD!!!!  I'm a Mango-Strawberry fan, myself!!  I'm working on trying to find the right niche for me when it comes to the meal replacement shakes.  The chocolate tastes good.  The first night I had it, I blended frozen strawberries in it.  I also purchased the blender bottles.  Can you saw AWWWWESOME!?!  So, I'll let those who are doing the cleanse with me (mom and Anastasiya) comment on what they experienced.  I'm also anxious to see how my friend, Laura, and her mom do!!  Laura was very skeptical, but we explained that Advocare has a 100% guarantee or your money back.  So, I'm not expecting her to show up on my door anytime because THIS STUFF WORKS!!!!! 

A surprising day 7!

Ok, so I'm still feeling grrrreat!!!  I only have 3 days left on the cleanse and then I'll hop on the MNS Max for the rest of days 11-24 challenge!  But, today I decided to humor myself and hop on the scale.  Now, my initial weigh-in was in the morning, before breakfast, when I'm at my lightest.  On day 7, AFTER lunch, I hopped on the scale and had my secretary get down to read the scale.  We did this FOUR times.  There was no way! But, it was right! I was already down over 3lbs in 7 days!!!.........

And the cleanse begins...

So, I've taken all my measurements, weighted in, and started my cleanse.  I drink the fiber drink, take the herbal cleanse pills, the probiotics, and the Omegaplex.  Of the two flavors, I chose Peaches &Cream over Citrus.  I have a very sensitive stomach and it was the less potent of the two.  I mix it with 8oz of Orange Juice (extra pulp...I love pulp!), mix it around, and drink it in 2-3 gulps.  Just tastes like creamy, peach orange juice to me so it's pretty good.  My mom and sister-in-law, Anastasiya, are taking the citrus flavor.  I tried it...and I feel sorry for anyone drinking that one!  Suprisingly to me, my mom and Anastasiya both really liked it!  So, to each their own...I'll keep my peaches!  The citrus gels up much faster and gets thicker by the minute.  Mom was eating hers with a spoon.  So far so good, though.  The hardest thing for me to give up was ranch dressing...and it's probably for the best.  I ate pretty healthy to begin with.  It's weird, because now I have cravings for "healthy" foods.  I've craved salads, which I use to eat anyhow.  I've switched for vinagrettes.  My favorites are Wild Maine Blueberry, Light Raspberry & Walnut, and Sundried Tomato.  I'm loving my new foods.  I can't even explain the difference.  It's amazing.  I feel great after I eat, which has never been the case for me.  Anyone who knows me, knows that I eat everything on my plate...and more.  My body metabolizes it, so it's' not like I'm overweight; however, I eat WAY too much and always feel heavy and bloated.  I started taking the MNS Max 3 for a week before the cleanse.  I had to briefly stop for the 10 days of cleansing.  Anyhow, I had NO idea what it was going to do to me.  We were eating at Red Lobster for Valentines Day.  I had only been on the vitamin pack for 5 days and had been feeling incredible.  I was craving a salad so I ordered one as my entree.  I ordered an appetizer because I didn't think that my salad would be enough.  It had a few pieces of shrimp on it and some stuffed mushrooms.  Craig and I split it, so I didn't have very much of it.  And all of a sudden.....it hit me.  Literally...I was FULL!  I thought something was wrong and asked the waitress to box up my salad.  I told Craig that was the first time I can remember leaving a restaurant and feeling that good!  Same thing Saturday, went to the Children's Museum and was starving.  I just ordered a turkey sandwhich and only ate half of it...took the other half home!  What was wrong with me?!  Then I realized, it was the appetite control in the MNS vitamins!  Keep in mind, NONE of Advocare are diet pills.  The natural vitamins and minerals I was taking were helping to curb my appetite, amongst other things! But, the most important thing was how incredible I was feeling!!  But, I'm off of those during this cleanse, but am excited to hit day 11 when I can start taking them again!!

The herbal cleanse...

Ok, so I'm about to start the herbal cleanse with Advocare.  I signed up to become a distributor to recieve the instant 20% discount.  With the products that I purchased, I only paid $30 to get the membership, which is a one-time fee of $79.  After the first year, it's an annual fee of $50.00.  So, it's just like Sam's Club.  You pay an annual fee to by items at a lower cost.  Anyhow, I decided to purge myself (and my kitchen) of all the junk.  And by junk, I mean white pastas, bleached flours, enriched foods, and anything with high fructose curn syrup.  I made a trip to Whole Foods in Carmel and was amazed at what I found.  I could buy "good" and "healthy" foods for about the same price as I was paying for the food loaded with all sorts of unhealthy ingredients.  So, I loaded up on all sorts of stuff.  Healthy ketchup, free of high fructose corn syrup, lots of gluten free pastas, chips, and snacks.  All healthy, all natural, and all gluten free.  Research gluten, it's an awful substance that is in wheat.  Not the wheat that farmers grew 50 years ago, but the wheat regulated by the government that the farmes grow now.  It's incredibly over processed, and we all know processed foods aren't healthy.  Anyhow, I even pressed my own almond butter from plain almonds.  So, after an incredibly  sucessful trip to Whole Foods, I shall start my cleanse. 

Operation U2....Salt Lake City Day 7

I am currently aboard a Boeing 737 to Indy (after connecting in Denver). Once again, I was gone just long enough to become acclimated to the time change. There are have some major storms and tornadoes hit the midwest lately. The plane is currently bounching us around right now and has been for awhile. Chicago delayed flights for over 2 hours due to the weather. I'm so thrilled to have to fly through that junk. Anyhow, I was lucky enough to catch a plane with WI-FI and took the opportunity to blog using my Galaxy Tab and keyboard. Such a convenient little gadet. Anyhow, this has been a trip beyond my imagination (minus being so sick and doped the entire time). However, I have a little 3 year old at home who has been axiously awaiting my arrival! I know he's been through a lot emotionally, as I have never left him for more than 24 hours. This trip was 7 days....7 days of not holding my baby...not cuddling up iin his bed. I missed that, but I must admit, I never cried after I left. I can't say the same for Brady. He had a meltdown on the phone with me last night. He wanted me home. Overall, he did really well and I'm very fortuante to have so much family to help out with him. Currently, he's sitting in his speech class at Western Primary...and I was thankful that my dad could take him. We've skyped a bunch..he loves that. His attention span is small..but that's ok. He told all sorts of funny stuff and I couldn't do anything but smile. My favorite was as soon as he got on one day, he looked mad and said "MOM! YOU FORGOT MY TOOTH BRUSH!! MAW MAW HAD TO BRUSH THEM WITH A RAG!" I laughed so hard...he's just too cute. Anyhow, I will, Lord willing, be home tonight. This is the first time I've traveled in probably 6 years that I haven't had laundry service of sorts. Usually we're at the house in California and we obviously have a laundry room. So, I packed poorly. I did ok, but the weather is what threw me off. We leave Indiana weather of almost 80 and fly to Denver, where it's raining and 40....fly to SLC where it's 50 and raining. As we were ready to take off for Indy, the pilot came on and said it was 79 in Indy. GET ME HOME! I know it's stormy though...but I'm ready for warm! I added our chemicals to the pool before I left...so I'm anxious to see how much the sun has warmed it!

Operation U2....Salt Lake City Day 6

In the words of the great Bono, "what time is it??" Yeah, yeah....corny. We all know the answer. SHOWTIME! Got up and at breakfast at the...yup, hotel again. Today I did the All American Breakfast...so good. I took pictures of my food to share with everyone. Yes, this is one of those times I would've been given a dollar I'm sure the people know I had to have lived in a cornfield. But it's all good. I've been doing a lot of reading, something I don't get to do much at home. I love reading...non-fiction. Love it. I mainly like reading biographies. I enjoy learning about how other people live. I guess I'm somewhat intrigued. Anyhow, today was a relaxing day. We ate lucnh and took off again for the stadium to park the car and lightrail it back. Soundcheck was going on by the sound guys. Everyone was scurrying around trying to put the finishing touches on what was bound to be another brillant masterpiece by U2. We road the lightrail back and, yup, failed to suceed in doing it right...again. #1 thing to do in Denver carries over to SLC. Anyhow, made it back to the hotel in time to basically change clothes and go back down to catch the lightrail back for the VIP party. It was neat...they had a TON of fancy looking, and even more importantly, DELICIOUS food! We go VIP laminate and a U2 blanket. It was in the pressbox of Rice-Eccles Stadium. We stayed up there for 2 hours and thorougly enjoyed the company of those sitting around us. I sat down and faced the field (where all the pressbox people sit) and watched The Fray from there. I never knew what the inside of one of those looked like! We made it to our seats and watched the magic of U2 unfold before our eyes. This was my 5th show and each one is better than the one before! It's something you could never imagine, but would have to experience it yourself. Such an uplifting and spiritually cleansing moment. After the concert, we were back to hotel in no time and packed. I made friends on this trip that I will keep in contact with...and taking that home is priceless. So, for now, it's bed and an early connecting flight!

Operation U2....Salt Lake City Day 5

Ok, so it's day 7, so bare with me while I journey back two days ago and try to remember what happened. It's pre-show day...so we knew we wanted to check out the stage progress and see if we could get a glimpse of soundcheck. And I said a glimpse. You always get an earfull of soundcheck because it's loud. Fortunately, we could see through the gates to the stage (thanks Utah, for a small football stadium) and wanted to see if we could see anything fun. Well, they were still erecting the stage when we got there and their sound crew was doing soundcheck this time. Nonetheless, it was fun and we did the ever so important, dry run of the Utah public transporation. They, too, have a lightrail system. There's only two trains verses Denver's 6 I believe. So, if we got on the wrong one, we knew which one was the correct one by processs of elimination. We ate breakfast at the Hotel and lounged around. I did payroll and read my newest of books (Chelsea Handler's new release) and mom worked. We ate lunch and then made our way to the home of the Utes for the soundcheck. We drove the rental there instead of yet attempting the transit system. On the day of the show, since we had VIP parking, we were going to take our rental in early and park it, then transit back to the hotel, then transit back for the actual show and drive home. I'm sure that sounded just as confusing and uninteresting as it was when it actually occured. Regardless, they were still building the stage, more importantly, the needle of the spaceship. It was neat to see the crane at work. 150 feet high to the top. So, no soundcheck today. We made our way back to the Hotel and ate dinner. Notice a trend of eating at the Hotel? Usually we're dying to get out of the Hotel...but this is one Hotel I could eat at for every meal of my life. They have it all...and I mean all. You should see Sunday Brunch. Anyhow, like I said, the food is it's own blog to come. We went to their mall. Due to the usually nice weather, a lot of them are outdoor malls, which only makes sense....expect for when I go. It was raining...and I only expected it. It's like how Denver only has 65 days without sunshine for the year...and I managed to see 4 of them. So, the shopping center was neat, but it was nice to get out and walk around. Parking is weird...you have to get it validated and then it's free...I think. Atleast we didn't pay. I shop at the Markland Mall (only when necessary, mind you) and it's a far cry from anything like this. I wish I had a dollar for everyone person who look at me on this trip with the intent on asking "do you live in a cornfield??" But little would they know, the joke's on them because I do..and I'm proud of it. I don't always know how the ritzy life works (like the bellman at the Hotel) but I enjoy the experience of the, for me, unusal. I'v learned a lot of what not to do, so I'll blog that soon. Anyhow, it was a slow day which I needed. This sinus infection had to have been paired with the worst bronchitis ever. This dry weather was making me cough even worse and each day I had at least 1 crazy coughing episode where I literally busted the blood vessels in my eyes, went without oxygen (which I'll probably feel the effects of later in life), and made any trace of eyeliner run to my chin due to the tears. I wasn't able to do my daily workouts due to being sick, but I definitely got an amazing core workout with all of the coughing. My obliques and my neck were actaully sore from all of the straining. I'm hoping once I hit the humid Indiana air, one of two things will happen. I'll either get slammed with the allergies (which is the culprit of my demise in the first place) or the nice, sticky, humid air will serve as a rejuvenation and put some moisture back in my throat. I hope it's the latter of the two. I need to workout and feel better. I went through two entire boxes of kleenex, not to mention a role of toilet paper specially set aside for blowing my nose.