The Cleanse

So it's been 9 months since I got married and along with it have been about 15 lbs. If you're married, you know how that goes. Anyway, I got tired of feeling so crappy and having a hard time finding something to wear every day!!! The last straw was when I was asked twice by the same person, the question every woman hates hearing, "Are you pregnant?!" If you've been asked that before and you're not pregnant, you can relate to my reaction of wanting to hide somewhere and never come out. Or maybe it was the way she said it, curiously but with a hint of sarcasm just to make sure I felt bad. Yeah, I caught that. We women are so cruel to eachother, aren't we? Do you agree with me that we generally do not dress to impress our men, but to impress other women?!!! It's like a freaking competition! I'm sorry. I know I went off on a tangent there but I just had to get that off my chest. Thank you.

OK, so today's blog is about how I got tired of being overweight and decided to jumpstart my weight-loss with a product I found at Whole Foods. I did some searching and found the actual website of the creator of the product. Here's the link:

http://www.michaelshealth.com/products.asp?id=131

It advertises for $27.99 on the site but I bought it at Whole Foods for $19.99. It was actually one of the cheapest whole body cleanses I found there. I know Sprouts and Central Market carry it. Even Amazon does. It's a 14 day cleanse. What you do is drink one packet of 4 tablets 3 times a day, pretty much with every meal. I must emphasize that you must, must, must not miss a meal. Otherwise you will go hungry and it will be harder to stay on the cleanse. It happened to me several times. Just ask my hubby. He was baffled at my sudden mood swing one day and my snapping at him for no reason. I was in a bad mood and very close to quitting. But it was my fault for skipping breakfast that day. See what I mean? Skipping a meal, or waiting too long between meals can really mess with you. You gotta eat at your time. It helps even more if you don't eat too late. We all know eating late dinners messes up your metabolism big time. And drink lots and lots of H20! But you should already be doing that!!!! Also, avoid hard core physical activites to conserver energy.

Anyway, so this product targets several things: your liver, intestinal tract, blood stream and circulatory system, and though it doesn't advertise it, I'm sure it gives your kidneys a good cleaning as well.

So my meal plan wasn't too complicated. The product recommended eating a lot of fruits and vegetables high in fiber to promote the cleansing process. Veggies such as asparagus, beetroot, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, celery, cucumber, lettuce, tomato, radish, spinach, etc. are considered fibrous. I personally ate a lot of Romaine lettuce, carrots, lots and lots of broccoli, cucumber, tomatoes (even though I hate them). And well you know, it's easier to eat the sweets, so I did eat more fruit than veggies. I ate a lot of pears, more than any other fruit, just because I love them! I also ate oranges, grapefruits, grapes, bananas, cantaloupe, papaya (good for lots of things), strawberries, even raspberries. For breakfast, I'd switch from smoothies to a simple fruit salad. Lots of water, or coconut milk. Now, the cleanse recommends avoiding all dairy products, which was so hard for me! But fortunately, there are many substitutes for dairy nowawdays. Soy milk would work, but if you want to try something new go for coconut milk. Not the kind in a can to cook with, but the one you actually drink! I found it at Sprouts and bought the vanilla flavored kind. Weird huh? Vanilla flavored coconut milk?! I don't know about you but that works for me. It really makes your smoothies taste sooo good! Once in a while, I'd sneak in a slice of wheat toast with a little bit of peanut butter. For lunch and dinner, I'd pretty much go with a salad. Whatever kind of salad you want as long as you limit the amount of dressing. I couldn't do it without dressing to be honest, but I wouldn't drench my salads. I'd sprinkle enough for flavoring. Once in a while, I'd sneak in a grilled or baked chicken breast. I'd make it very simple and healthy. Fruit for dessert. And that's it!! I pretty much played with that for the 14 days.

What I liked about this cleanse is that it didn't have me running to the bathroom constantly, except to pee every half hour. The effects of drinking lots of H20!! I actually didn't start having heavy bowel movements until 3 days after I started. I could feel a little discomfort about 1 hr after I ate from the pills doing their thing in my intestinal wall. But I noticed it was heavier in the mornings and evenings. Other than that I don't recall any other significant side effects except the fact that I was 10 lbs lighter and rid of 2 inches off my waist!!!! I feel my metabolism has had a major boost. I feel lighter! My clothes fit better!!! Was all that vegetable eating, H20 drinking, fruit devouring worth it?!!! Heck yes!!! And if you decide to do it, I don't think you will be disappointed! At least I hope not!

And I don't plan to stop there. Ten pounds is really nothing compared to all the weight I have yet to lose, and I intend to lose it!!! But I couldn't have done this without my husband, and my Facebook buddies who kept rooting for me!!! Thanks you guys! I couldn't have done it without you!!!

But I also have to give myself some props here. After all, I did do most of the work, hehe. It's part of my "Love Myself" project. You should start one too! I know it doesn't seem like a big deal, but to me it is. A big one. So for the first time, in a long time, I can say:

Griz, I'm sooo proud of you!! You rock!!!!!!!!!!!!


Thank you for coming!

Corazon

So a while back my hubby bought us a coupon from Groupon for this nice, upscale Mexican restaurant downtown. It was our 6-month anniversary gift! Well, time went by and we kept forgetting to redeem the coupon, until we realized it expires this Tuesday. So we decided to go today, without further a due. I'm sort of skeptical about fancy restaurants because I have this image that they're always the type that give you these super tiny servings of food you've never even heard of. But since this was Mexican I figured, "How could you go wrong!" So we gave it the benefit of the doubt and decided we would decide once we tried the food if it was worth it!
So after 15 or 20 minutes driving around the downtown Austin area, we finally found it! The map that came with the coupon was way off. I shall complain to them later, but for now I will share our experience there!
It was wonderful! Not only was the food good, but the service was good as well! I am the type that feels intimidated by places like that so I was hoping this place wasn't like that! And it wasn't at all! It was an old, wooden building that was turned into Corazon at Castle Hill. Definitely not your typical restaurant! I like that. The table setting was so cute too! The seats were leopard and zebra patterns! Unique huh? The appetizer plates were zebra patterns too! Ok, so looking at the menu we realized there were no non-alcoholic beverages! I didn't mind that ;)!
So I ordered a "capirinha" which is this Brazilian drink. I thought it would be sweet because it's made with raw sugar cane liquor but it was a bit bitter. That was due to the lime wedges they throw in there. I wouldn't say it's for those sweet n' fruity alcohol lovers, but I would say that combined with the atmosphere of the restaurant it's very refreshing to the taste buds! I'd have it again!

So for appetizers we ordered thes fried empanadas rellenas de carne! They were good! Now the sauce was interesting! I couldn't pinpoint the ingredients but it definitely had some basil in it and a little cilantro and I'm guessing Mexican crema to sweeten it up a little. It wasn't too spicy, but enough to get your taste buds to feel it! Good flavor!

Now, for the main meal I couldn't decide!! It was between enchiladas de mole or enchiladas suizas...but I finally went for the enchiladas suizas! They were soooo good! It was two enchiladas with beans and rice, but not you're typical Tex-Mex wannabe's! No, they were pretty good! And the chef was not stingy with that chicken let me tell ya! That chicken was sooo good! Yum! I was stuffed by the time I was done!

But then the waiter brought us the DESSERT MENU!!!! Everything had been so good thus far I looked at my husband like we have got to try the desserts!!! So it was between the Mexican flan and the Coconut Cream with caramelized banana on the side and dripped with chocolate sauce! Yeah, that's the one we went for!!! No more than 5 minutes later the waiter brought us our dessert! It was a little small, but it was really good! Not too sweet and not too subtle just enough flavor to satisfy your sweet tooth! I couldn't help but tell my hubby that those chefs back there definitely knew what they were doing!!

You'd think that eating all of this yummy food would have cost a fortune! And it would have had we not bought that coupon to eat $30 worth for $15. You know how much our ticket was at the end of the night?? Only $27!!!!! What a deal! Thank god for Groupon!!

The most enjoyable part of the evening was, of course, sharing it with my wonderful husband. Baby, I love sharing moments like these with you. It makes for unforgettable memories! I had fun! I love you.....

Mi abuelita

I was going through one of my email profiles and ran into some old pictures I didn't even remember I had posted. So I began to feel a bit nostalgic because they were from about 5 years ago when I was still young and innocent hehe...

Well, I came upon a picture of me with my grandmother and suddenly I felt a lump in my throat. She passed away last December. She was my favorite grandmother....You know the one that spoils you like crazy when you visit? The one whose house you don't want to leave? When I heard the news that night, I was devastated. I cried, of course. But like any other time, my "tough chick" attitude kicked in and I felt I had to be strong for my mother and sisters. I quickly moved on. It was easier since this happened in Mexico and only got to see her a few times a year. The last time I saw her was before I got married last May, and I'm glad I did. Somehow I knew that would be the last time.

You see, my grandma was unique! She was such a hard core soccer fan. I loved that about her! She would never miss watching a game. She'd get mad when her team lost and she'd be happy when they won. She was a loyal fan, hehe. After I got married, I was excited for my husband to meet her since they both root for the same team! I dreamt of taking her to the new stadium that was built half an hour away from her "ranchito" and maybe even watching a game with her. I'm sure that would have made her really happy. It would have been so awesome to share that moment with her. But now it's too late.

Seeing this picture has finally let it sink in. She's gone. I didn't get to say goodbye, but neither did my mother. I can't imagine the feeling of losing my own mother and not being able to say goodbye. I don't know if I could manage. I don't know if I could go on with my life. Yeah, as a christian I have hope, but the pain can sometimes drown that hope. Losing my grandmother has taught me to value my mom even more. Not only because you never know what can happen, but because I've seen another side of her. I've seen her vulnerability. Sometimes you see your parents as the wise ones and strong ones. Seeing my mom so heartbroken and sad made me realize that just as I need her, she needs me too. And I plan on being there and enjoying every minute I have with her, because you just never know.

My grandmother holds a special place in my heart. Though it pains me to have lost her, I am positive she is in God's memory, and I know I will see her soon! I can't wait to receive her with open arms!

testing

Well this is a test only...Just trying to figure this stuff out. Pretty excited about keeping up with this. Any suggestions?