Day #21 ! TRU 21-day detox/weight loss program

There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one you in all of time, this expression is unique.  And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium, and it will be lost.  The world will not have it.  It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions.  It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open.

~ Martha Graham, quoted by Agnes de Mille, Martha: The Life and Work of Martha Graham

And so we arrive at the last day of the purification program, and find that it is instead just the beginning.

Tomorrow I'll weigh in, and measure, and of course I will report back.  I'll share another recipe, along with some food for thought, and then I'll go away for a while and see how these new habits translate into my day-to-day routines.

I do feel really good - in better health than I've been in a while, with great mental clarity, physical energy, emotional balance and spiritual vitality.  It is worth the effort, in case you're wondering.  It is worth the shopping, the cooking, the chopping, the blending.  It is even worth skipping happy hour (which it turns out is never that happy, anyway) and dessert and the Chik-Fil-A drive-thru.

Really.  Try it!

Ruth

Ruth A. Cochran, MS, LAPC, NCC
TRU Integrative Health & Wellness

Day #18: TRU 21-day detox/weight loss program

By now, I've missed several days of blogging due to a busy schedule - but have been holding my own nicely on the purification program - a testament to how easy good choices can become, once you start making them: a shake in the morning, berries for a mid-morning snack, a big salad at lunch, another shake (veggie) in the afternoon, and another salad at dinner, sometimes with fish or chicken.

I did my second weigh-in on Saturday - and actually gained a pound....  However, I lost another inch, so after two weeks I am at a net weight loss of 6 lbs and 5 inches.

I can't quite believe that I have three days left to go before I cross the finish line.  What felt like a monumental task, even a slight impossibility, 2.5 weeks ago, seems easy today.  Best of all, I feel great!

Ruth

Ruth A. Cochran, MS, LAPC, NCC
TRU Integrative Health & Wellness

Day #14: TRU 21-day detox/weight loss program

Two weeks in - and one week to go!  Tomorrow is my second weigh-in, so I'll be back online to share the results.

For now, though, I'm sleepy, five days into my six-day work week, and morning will be here very soon.

Good night!

Ruth

Ruth A. Cochran, MS, LAPC, NCC
TRU Integrative Health & Wellness

Day #12: TRU 21-day detox/weight loss program

All is going well on the purification program - and I've realized why I skipped blogging for the second time in 12 days.

It comes down to habits - and mine are changing.

It used to be easy to hop online at night, and skip from watching Hulu to blogging and back again.

But now I'm not watching Hulu at night.  I'm sleeping - a lot earlier than I used to - and tonight I was cooking, to make up for Sunday.

I made a butternut squash soup (which - OOPS - I need to go take off the stove!) and a salad that I discovered last year, and that I love:

Chicken Tarragon Salad

8 oz. diced chicken OR 2 cups garbanzo beans
1 pear, diced
5 large radishes, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
3 tablespoons fresh tarragon OR 1 tablespoon dried tarragon
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1 tablespoon walnut oil
3 cups watercress, rinsed

Mix ingredients together and serve!

~ Recipe adapted from Ultrametabolism, Dr. Mark Hyman

Ruth

Ruth A. Cochran, MS, LAPC, NCC
TRU Integrative Health & Wellness

Day #10: TRU 21-day detox/weight loss program

There are only two mistakes one can make along the road to truth; not going all the way, and not starting.  ~ Buddha

OK, so if you are counting, YES, I missed Day #9.  What happened, you wonder?  Having started down the road to truth, I got a little distracted - the activities of the day overtook me!  I emptied my refrigerator of all the odds and ends of the week, and sliced and diced whatever I could (bell peppers, celery, etc. etc.)  Then I drew up a quick recipe plan for the week, made my shopping list, and went to Whole Foods - after which I came home, unpacked the groceries and did NOT cook (for reasons I won't go into) - and did not wrap up my day until well past my regular bedtime - which has me scrambling a bit now for meals.
However, this week's aspirations are:
Island Butternut Squash Soup
Carrot and Beet Salad
Yams and Steamed Broccoli
Salmon and Wild Rice
and lots of protein shakes, veggies and fruit.  I'll share recipes as the week progresses.

It's getting easier and easier to trust that I won't go hungry, even as a temporary non-lacto non-ovo vegetarian (if there is such a thing) - that I will find food when I need it (and NOT at a drive-thru window!) - and that I will be, quite simply,  happy.
Who could ask for more?
Ruth
Ruth A. Cochran, MS, LAPC, NCC
TRU Integrative Health & Wellness

Day #8: TRU 21-day detox/weight loss program

"There are moments when I glimpse another self swimming as if in a great watery world beneath all the definitions I have been given.  It may be in movement, or meditation, wakefulness, or near sleep, and suddenly a door has opened as if into a vast room.  I discover dimensions in myself I had not known before and yet recognize with some sorrow as if I had been separated from an old friend for too long."
~ Susan Griffin, "Being," The Eros of Everyday Life


I am amazed at the ease with which I've taken up this return to physical health.  For years, I've been postponing a commitment to losing weight and being healthy again.  There were always too many distractions, or too many demands, or too many temptations - in short, an army arrayed against my best intentions.

Now I am sensing a shift back to the health-conscious girl I was, once upon a time.  Believe it or not, I was a vegetarian who wore birkenstocks, lived in North Oakland, and shopped religiously at the Berkeley Bowl!  Fast-forward to the present: it is not as though I'm forcing myself to eat well, or missing the things I can't eat.  I am happy with the many moments of fruits and vegetables that punctuate my days.  I am delighted by the bright splash of an orange or the dense, tangled garden of a salad.  It is satisfying, beyond simple nutrition.  It is enough.

I got some very good news this morning: (without reference to the original numbers) in the first seven days of the cleanse I lost 7 lbs. and 4 inches overall (chest, waist, hips).  Best of all, I still feel great - better every day, in fact!

I also got to experience the cleanse in the Real World for the first time: I went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner with friends, carrying a purse full of bell pepper strips, apple slices, and orange wedges - and hoping against hope for pure guacamole.  I was able to sit in front of a bowl of chips without a single craving - without a thought about how I could maybe, maybe eat just one.  It didn't even occur to me.  I ate some guacamole with my bell pepper strips and then I ordered a salad with fajita veggies on it - and that was it!

Tomorrow, it's back to Whole Foods for re-stocking.  I'm branching out to yams with coconut oil, and who knows what else?  Stay tuned - more recipes to follow!
Ruth
Ruth A. Cochran, MS, LAPC, NCC
TRU Integrative Health & Wellness

Day #7: TRU 21-day detox/weight loss program

Tomorrow, two things happen: (1) I switch from the Standard Process Cleanse capsules to the SP Green capsules; and (2) I do my first weigh-in.

If you want to see some impressive progress on the cleanse, you should check out my colleague Carolyn Tucker's blog over at the Buckhead Patch!  She's an inspiration to me.

Not much to report from today except that it's really important (at least for me) to add flaxseed oil to my breakfast shake.  Today I forgot - and it was the first day I had to manage hunger since I've started the cleanse.

Something else I noticed: the refrigerator is getting empty.  How did I EAT all those vegetables?  Amazing.

Ruth

Ruth A. Cochran, MS, LAPC, NCC
TRU Integrative Health & Wellness