Endorphins.

Okay, so on a very positive note. I love when you can recognize the difference in your mentality when it comes to exercising almost everyday, and how your mental health decreases when you stop for a few.

I woke up this morning with no vigor to get out of bed. When I did get out of bed, I was sluggish and grumpy. I am not the most cheerful and happy go lucky person you will meet, I am pretty close to being the exact opposite even with exercise and a good mood. However, when I able to exercise, I am able to get out of bed without really needing to push myself, and I am able to have more control over my anger outbursts.

I think that this is amazing. You read about it in magazines but when you can actually feel the difference it's like being amidst your own psychology science experiment! Another reason to keep up with the exercise :)

Cabbage Soup Fail!

I was not able to finish out my diet this week! I know I know, I am admitting defeat to my long-lasting relationship with food. I am not sure how I feel about the whole "diet".
I am going to point out a few reasons as to why I felt I disagreed and admit I was weak and failed to fast for a week!

1. First and Foremost, I only call this a diet because that's what it is postmarked on the internet. I did this for effects of helping myself lose weight (since I hit a plateau) but mainly, I believe that cleansing diets are important for digestive health. I was once told that your body does not allow things to "get stuck" and you do not need cleanses to get healthy. I disagree with that considering valuable organs get clogged with fat and cholesterol all the time, there is no doubt in my mind that digestive organs wont get clogged or have fecal matter stuck in them. I think it's really important to keep up with the health of all your organs and in my mind a cleanse is for the health of your Poop making system!
2. I strongly disagree with the idea of starvation. I know that a lot of people cut calories to lose weight, but your body at resting state requires around 1200 to function without even adding in the extra of exercise. When you cut below that, your body has nothing to keep sustaining itself and it causes you to start storing things as fat, etc. I decided with the lack of serious calories.... I shouldn't exercise like crazy so my body wouldn't get confused and start storing things that it shouldn't as fat! So I lacked exercise which was not helping me out mentally.
3. It's very hard to do this diet when your partner in crime is very dramatic and feels like the lack of foods is causing them to die. Lack of food causes you to be already slightly moody and to have to deal with dramatics of someone constantly saying they are going to faint/have a headache/ can't go on.... not a fun time!
   

That's just my opinion. Overall, I thought it was great, and I also think I was able to to eat a lot of calories even if it was just fruits/vegetables... you just gotta make sure you keep eating. However, it is also supposed to be a mini fast. And like I said, I don't believe that has good effects on your body!

Day #2 of Cabbage Soup Diet!

Well, today is day two. I can eat as many raw, fresh, or cooked (with no additives) vegetables as I want as well as, as much cabbage soup.

I woke up at 10am, and drank my usual 2 cups of coffee with creamer and splenda. After this I chopped up some fresh Cauliflower and I've been munching on it for the past 30 minutes. I thought today would be easier, but I am not a professional at eating a lot of vegetables without additives, but I am also not complaining. Fresh/raw vegetables are great for you. I used to eat them straight out of the garden as a kid. I'm just not used to it today.

I did not focus on the meditation part of this diet yesterday and hope to do more of that today. In an hour or so I will eat my first bowl of cabbage soup.

As for the bathroom diaries, nothing crazy has happened at all, so this either means I eat enough fiber in a day normally or.... I don't know what else! More later.

Okay, So now it is 2:20pm. I haven't been as hungry for food today as I was yesterday but I've also been constantly sipping on my favorite tea, Tazo (Wild Sweet Orange) pictures to the left of this. Yummy! Still no crazy poop stories, which is leading me to believe that when we froze the soup it may have taken some of the qualities from it (The soup was made a week ago but because I had some many appointments and errands I didn't want to have to poop like crazy while I had these) or my digestive health is crazy tolerant of things that are supposed to make you go poo! Hahaha. I've so far eaten one bowl of soup and the cauliflower I mentioned earlier this post. So, I'm doing pretty well. I think I may eat a salad of spinach and cucumbers and peppers just because we bought a mass quantity of fresh vegetables and I don't want them to go to waste. I googled it and you're allowed to have 1 tablespoon oil and one tablespoon vinegar for the entire day. So I could break it up and do teaspoon and a half of each and eat two salads today and two tomorrow?? Oh and for dinner I get to look forward to a baked potato... AND MORE SOUP. Hahaha! The voyage continues.

Day #1 of Cabbage Soup Diet!

Okay, so despite efforts of people telling me the side effects of cabbage soup diet will not be worth it. I decided I am going to go forward with it even if it makes me poop like crazy. I want to focus on the cleansing/fasting effects rather than any of the negatives. I want to train myself to sustain on smaller amounts of food, and I want to feel good. This diet had an emphasis on some breath work which, if anyone has taken yoga, knows is pretty important especially with meditating.

Today the goal is to only eat fruit and cabbage soup. The new diet incorporates protein shakes.

So far I've eaten a fruit salad (which included some yogurt which wasn't part of the diet but it was nonfat/ vanilla and yogurt helps with digestive system so I DON'T SEE A PROBLEM ha!), a pear, 2 cups of coffee, and a bowl of cabbage soup. We'll see how the rest of the day treats me!

Okay, it is 2:45pm. I ate lunch and did some cleaning and read some of my book. Started feeling hungry so I went out to the kitchen munched on a couple strawberries and half a bowl of cabbage soup. I'm starting to feel like I'm wanting other foods other than fruits, so it's getting a little tough for me at this point however I am keeping my eye on the prize. Also, still no crazy pooping action, I am hoping to avoid that altogether since I maintain a pretty healthy fiber diet anyways! We shall see, dinner is in 2 more hours which will probably be another portion of fruit salad and a bowl of soup! Probably add some cayenne pepper this time :)

10:34pm: I ate dinner today which was a bowl of cabbage soup and a bowl of fruit salad. Went shopping, and returned home. I had another bowl of cabbage soup and 2 plums! While watching a movie and relaxing. So far, the only crazyness I've experienced is I've had to pee like a pregnant lady :)

Oh and I did a face mask: So that's my first day. Tomorrow is all veggies. Today I made it by, by eating a lot of soup. I wonder what tomorrow will be like? We shall see!

Cabbage Soup Diet

Okay, My sister introduced me to the Cabbage Soup Diet. I decided I am going to try it out and I think I'll document my experience in here. So here we go. Here is the recipe:

Cabbage Soup Recipe

• 6 large green onions
• 2 green peppers
• 1 or 2 cans of tomatoes (diced or whole)
• 3 Carrots
• 1 Container (10 oz. or so) Mushrooms
• 1 bunch of celery
• half a head of cabbage
• 1 package Lipton soup mix
• 1 or 2 cubes of bouillon (optional)
• 1 48oz can V8 juice (optional)
• Season to taste with salt, pepper, parsley, curry, garlic powder, etc.

Directions:

Slice green onions, put in a pot and start to saute with cooking spray.

Cut green pepper stem end off and cut in half, take the seeds and membrane out. Cut the green-pepper into bite size pieces and add to pot.

Take the outer leafs layers off the cabbage, cut into bite size pieces, add to pot.

Clean carrots, cut into bite size pieces, and add to pot.

Slice mushrooms into thick slices, add to pot.

If you would like a spicy soup, add a small amount of curry or cayenne pepper now.

You can use beef or chicken bouillon cubes for seasonings. These have all the salt and flavors you will need.

Use about 12 cups of water (or 8 cups and the V8 juice), cover and put heat on low. Let soup cook for a long time - two hours works well. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Here is what I need to do for the next 7 days:

Remember: This diet should only be followed for 7 days at a time, with at least two weeks in between.

Day One:
Fruit: Eat all of the fruit you want (except bananas). Eat only your soup and the fruit for the first day. For drinks- unsweetened teas, cranberry juice and water.

Day Two:
Vegetables: Eat until you are stuffed will all fresh, raw or cooked vegetables of your choice. Try to eat leafy green vegetables and stay away from dry beans, peas and corn. Eat all the vegetables you want along with your soup. At dinner, reward yourself with a big baked potato with butter. Do not eat fruit today.

Day Three:
Mix Days One and Two: Eat all the soup, fruits and vegetables you want. No Baked Potato.

Day Four:
Bananas and Skim Milk: Eat as many as eight bananas and drink as many glasses of skim milk as you would like on this day, along with your soup. This day is supposed to lessen your desire for sweets.

Day Five:
Beef And Tomatos: Ten to twenty ounces of beef and up to six fresh tomtoes. Drink at least 6 to 8 glasses of water this day to wash the uric acid from your body. Eat your soup at least once this day. You may eat broiled or baked chicken instead of beef (but absolutely no skin-on chicken). If you prefer, you can substitute broiled fish for the beef one one of the beef days (but not both).

Day Six:
Beef and Vegetables: Eat to your heart's content of beef and vegetables this day. You can even have 2 or 3 steaks if you like, with leafy green vegetables. No Baked Potato. Eat your soup at least once.

Day Seven:
Brown rice, unsweetened fruit juices and vegetables: Again stuff, stuff, stuff yourself. Be sure to eat your soup at least once this day.

Found Here

So, My mom made the soup I took a little cup full to try it out and it tastes pretty good. I read a blog post that someone else also liked the soup, at two bowls and then ended up pooping for an entire night! Ahh. I am going to freeze the soup, because I forgot about multiple appointments I have this week, and some of them would just not be comfortable or wise to be needing to poop during! So, I will start this up the following Saturday & we will mark the adventures here!