Guest Post by Emma BathieAs the end of 2011 draws to a close, I want to drop the bright, happy, shiny face for a moment and ‘fess up. 2011 was the worst emotional rollercoaster I’ve ever been on, and boy am I glad it’s coming to an end!
As I sit here though, knowing I’ve turned my corner, drawn my line in the sand, and am completely ready to embrace the wonder and magic of a new year, even I’m kind of amazed that I got through this last one without pills, Prozac or piling on the pounds.
A guest blog post from Brenda R. Coleman
Prior to starting my health coaching practice, I was a cubicle professional. I sat in a cubicle for 8-12 hours a day. Every day was Groundhog Day, nothing to look forward to other than leaving or the occasional happy hour. However, once a month, the “cubicle village crier” would come around and announce the following “Food in the Conference Room”. Conversations would begin amongst co-workers that barely spoke to each other. Answers to questions like “Who held the meeting?” or “Was it a client meeting?” determined whether or not it was worth making the trip to the main conference room. A “client meeting” ALWAYS meant an upgrade in conference room food (which, to me, meant kick ass dessert tray). Eventually, this became old. The lemon squares I loved so much became “too sweet”. The ham sandwiches became bland. When this occurred I had two options: 1) Grab a different dessert or sandwich and try to become excited about the free food (which isn’t quite free, but I will save that discussion for another post) OR 2) Choose a new strategy to surviving “cubicle-life” and realize that there is more to life than free food in the conference room. I chose Option 2.
Continue reading "Because There Is More to Life Than The Free Food In The Conference Room" »
*WARNING* This post contains pictures you might find embarrassing, unpleasant or gross. Feel free to click away now to this picture of a cute cat!
After a truly shocking non-raw month, I've vowed to spend this next one taking care of myself (and fitting into that damned wedding dress!).
I'm starting a herbal colon cleanse! A friend, let's call her "Jess" just finished it, and the pictures of her... ahem...eliminations impressed me so much I've been showing people on my mobile phone! (Pictures at the very end of the post)
Why a colon cleanse?
In the past month, I've eaten all sorts of stuff that has made me feel terrible. Pizza, chinese food, bags and bags of crisps, ice-cream, etc etc. My body feels clogged and bloated. I want to kickstart a detox to have a summer of good food and exercise.
You might be thinking - "well, that's not bad.... I eat pizza all the time, and it doesn't affect me".
YAY for you! The problem is that I can't stop with one slice of pizza, one handful of crisps, one bowl of ice-cream. If I could, then I wouldn't even mention it, let along write on a blog! I have a junk food addiction, and so have to treat myself like a junkie.
I wrote in a previous post that I've had some emotional and physical upheavals. It's also really made me face how much I use junk food to numb myself. I'm committed to a life of health and self nourishment and I want to do everything I can to help me on that path.
I also bought a mini trampoline
Back to the cleanse. After my experiment with the month-long Ejuva Intestinal Cleanse, I figured I needed something shorter, but also has good results. The Blessed Herbs cleanse is only 9 days, so I think that might be easier for me. It's also cheaper than Ejuva, and I'm doing it with another friend, so we got a small discount for buying two.
I'm thinking - SWEET! Also, "Jess" said her skin was amazing, and she felt great afterwards. So anyway the pictures....after a couple of days, people report a sea-weed like substance being eliminated. I've come across these pictures before but didn't believe them until someone I knew did it.
Can you believe it? Seriously - what is that stuff? Apparently it's old waste and toxins that have built up for ages, called mucoid plaque. Gross, GROSS! Definitely a case of better out than in!"Jess" is really skinny already and has been a vegan for years, so I really wonder what's lurking in my colon - let's find out, shall we?! I promise to post a small diary and the results for all to share and delight in! Will start next week sometime.
It promises to:
I'm so excited about my new project!! I've been working on it for a couple of months, and I really want to share it with my Green Queen readers.
So, introducing.......
Raw Brides is a site for women who are engaged and worrying about losing weight and wearing the wedding dress of their dreams. We all know that raw food is the easiest, best and most natural diet on the planet, so I want the opportunity to share that information with other women!
Every bride wants to look special for her big day, but the wedding only represents the start of a journey into a "happily ever after". No matter how great your relationship and other parts of your life, it can really feel like you are missing a piece of the puzzle if you don't look and feel how you imagine your greatest self to be. You want to go into your new life with the confidence and inner beauty that true health can bring.
People think that the motivation for the wedding is enough in itself, but sometimes the pressure to "get skinny" for a big event can backfire, and cause some women to go the other way and put on weight. For a bride, that can be devastating. I was off track for a bit with raw, and I was seriously worried that I would end up BIGGER than I was before!
I've definitely had success over the past year going raw, so I'm taking all my challenges, successes and failures and creating resources, coaching programmes and ebooks for women to help them create the wedding dress body of their dreams for every day of their lives.
So, please check out my new baby, and good luck if you've just gotten engaged!
Thanks!
The last three weeks have been incredibly challenging, with some really unexpected circumstances. Forgive me for the vague terms, I'm not going to share specifics, but it's nothing life threatening.
While I've actually been strangely unemotional about this upheaval, what's telling is my diet. All that stuff that I thought was sorted, has been sorely tested with emotions come into play!
Each time I've had to face the problem(s), I've reacted in a very robotic way - and then I've CHOWED DOWN. When the first news hit, I found myself at a local pizza joint ordering a large margharita and a tub of Ben & Jerry's which I then ate at the bus-stop..... with a plastic fork. I then had pizza AGAIN for dinner.
The next time I had to face reality, I "found myself" at the local Chinese for some stirfry and prawn crackers. This morning was another tough wake-up call, so I ordered in Thai for lunch, even though I wasn't all that hungry.
If I find myself thinking about how "hard" or "unfair" my life is right now...... well, I'll just pick up some crisps at the train station and all is well... for about 30 minutes.
The result of all this takeaway junk is that I'm feeling lethargic, have spots all over my face and I've very quickly gained a couple of kgs. The way I look and feel feeds another cycle of self pity, which is easy to solve with mind numbing junk food. Look at my eyes. So dull and lifeless.
Bad circumstances are not permanent, and I know that. This month has really shown me how much I stuff my emotions in food, and it's probably a positive experience because my years of bodily abuse has been magnified to show me how pointless and destructive it really is. The weird thing is that it's not just bad news that makes me do this. I've noticed that really good news sometimes has the same effect. Like the happiness is too much for me to bear, so I'll numb it with some MSG.
I'm being really gentle with myself over the next couple of weeks. I'm still making sure I have a juice or a smoothie every day and I'll try not to obsess over the food, or the extra weight.
