I thought a lot about this, this morning, while walking the dog. It led me to realize that transitions, for me, are the hardest things in life.
I say that because my own personal learning curve, throughout most of my life, has been fairly anxiety producing, as well as slowwww (it seems to me, anyway), despite the fact that people who observe me think I pick things up fairly quickly. If they only knew. lol.
I am not patient with the process, not at all. I want to know everything there is to know, about new things, in the first week, usually! Failing that, at least in the first month. :)
This seems to bleed over into most things, including exercise. I found exercise in my early 20's, and quickly realizing that it had numerous mental benefits, I began to explore many ways to get my "fix". I became a certified aerobics instructor (which was difficult for someone with no background in regular physical fitness). I next explored a more formal version of dance aerobics, (jazz), then step aerobics, which transgressed to running, which transgressed to rollerblading, and finally, I found hiking, which has remained my hands-down favorite thing to do. :)
Where am I going with all this?
Well, in all of these ventures, the one thing I found to be true, was the transitioning process. With much hindsight, I have begun to realize that this was actually the hardest part to all of the things I have tried as "new" things, throughout my life. Taking baby steps, for me, is the ONLY way to do anything different or new. I have found that as a consistent theme in my various and sundry creations, and conversations with musicians over the years, has only verified it in the process of making music, as well.
With that in mind, I realized today, while walking, that I have approached fasting with this in mind (albeit subconsciously). I have broken up the process in my mind, to phase 1, phase 2, and phase 3.
Phase 1: I allow myself any type of fluid (even pulp), to include dairy, (for a couple reasons, one medical and one practical, which I will expound upon, later), to include supplements, to include caffeine, to include smoothies, to include soup pulp, some small portions of liquid sweets, etc. etc.
Phase 2: Preparing sufficiently to begin phasing out dairy 3-4 times a week (but not hot soup pulp or essiac), and definitely phasing out caffeine (unless absolutely necessary in the form of green tea and mate), and most sweeteners (except royal jelly and bee pollen).
Phase 3: Straight juicing (to include teas, fruit, supergreens, etc.)
Who knows how long this will take, but I think it may take some going back and forth, between phases, for some weeks. After all, I think I probably quit smoking no less then 6-10 times, before it "stuck" as a new habit. I think fasting (weaning away from food), is probably just as potent in the withdrawal process as many other addictions, and I believe that it takes just as much mental/emotional/physical preparation.
So...........this is week 2, and I definitely feel more on top of things then I did last week, at this time. I have essiac made (and in the refrigerator), I have lots of herb tea blends, and a light therapy box, coming in the mail. I did use the thumper the other night, and made space and time to stretch today, which is ever so helpful. And now I am off to purchase some vegetables for soup broth and juicing.
A small aside: I am beginning to wonder (based on my dreams/sleep quality, of the last couple of nights) if the Sunfoods Cacao is NOT raw, like the reviews from various raw food chef's, have noted. My dreams are usually not quite that vivid, unless caffeine is involved (I have found out that heating cacao, changes the Thomabromines to Caffeine). It could also be, however, the lack of calories. This often happens to me in response to calorie reduction. Just in case it's the cacao, though, I am going to be ordering some from Essential Living Foods and giving it a test try, see if anything changes.
I will be reviewing my findings on Cacao, Dairy, and Raw/Pasteurized almonds, in a new post, so stay tuned!
For now, this is Rara Avis signing out from The House of Found Goods.
I say that because my own personal learning curve, throughout most of my life, has been fairly anxiety producing, as well as slowwww (it seems to me, anyway), despite the fact that people who observe me think I pick things up fairly quickly. If they only knew. lol.
I am not patient with the process, not at all. I want to know everything there is to know, about new things, in the first week, usually! Failing that, at least in the first month. :)
This seems to bleed over into most things, including exercise. I found exercise in my early 20's, and quickly realizing that it had numerous mental benefits, I began to explore many ways to get my "fix". I became a certified aerobics instructor (which was difficult for someone with no background in regular physical fitness). I next explored a more formal version of dance aerobics, (jazz), then step aerobics, which transgressed to running, which transgressed to rollerblading, and finally, I found hiking, which has remained my hands-down favorite thing to do. :)
Where am I going with all this?
Well, in all of these ventures, the one thing I found to be true, was the transitioning process. With much hindsight, I have begun to realize that this was actually the hardest part to all of the things I have tried as "new" things, throughout my life. Taking baby steps, for me, is the ONLY way to do anything different or new. I have found that as a consistent theme in my various and sundry creations, and conversations with musicians over the years, has only verified it in the process of making music, as well.
With that in mind, I realized today, while walking, that I have approached fasting with this in mind (albeit subconsciously). I have broken up the process in my mind, to phase 1, phase 2, and phase 3.
Phase 1: I allow myself any type of fluid (even pulp), to include dairy, (for a couple reasons, one medical and one practical, which I will expound upon, later), to include supplements, to include caffeine, to include smoothies, to include soup pulp, some small portions of liquid sweets, etc. etc.
Phase 2: Preparing sufficiently to begin phasing out dairy 3-4 times a week (but not hot soup pulp or essiac), and definitely phasing out caffeine (unless absolutely necessary in the form of green tea and mate), and most sweeteners (except royal jelly and bee pollen).
Phase 3: Straight juicing (to include teas, fruit, supergreens, etc.)
Who knows how long this will take, but I think it may take some going back and forth, between phases, for some weeks. After all, I think I probably quit smoking no less then 6-10 times, before it "stuck" as a new habit. I think fasting (weaning away from food), is probably just as potent in the withdrawal process as many other addictions, and I believe that it takes just as much mental/emotional/physical preparation.
So...........this is week 2, and I definitely feel more on top of things then I did last week, at this time. I have essiac made (and in the refrigerator), I have lots of herb tea blends, and a light therapy box, coming in the mail. I did use the thumper the other night, and made space and time to stretch today, which is ever so helpful. And now I am off to purchase some vegetables for soup broth and juicing.
A small aside: I am beginning to wonder (based on my dreams/sleep quality, of the last couple of nights) if the Sunfoods Cacao is NOT raw, like the reviews from various raw food chef's, have noted. My dreams are usually not quite that vivid, unless caffeine is involved (I have found out that heating cacao, changes the Thomabromines to Caffeine). It could also be, however, the lack of calories. This often happens to me in response to calorie reduction. Just in case it's the cacao, though, I am going to be ordering some from Essential Living Foods and giving it a test try, see if anything changes.
I will be reviewing my findings on Cacao, Dairy, and Raw/Pasteurized almonds, in a new post, so stay tuned!
For now, this is Rara Avis signing out from The House of Found Goods.
1 comment:
interesting that you taught aerobics! I like your plan to transition, and how you saw the correlation about your difficulties with the process of transitioning. it can be hard to deal with.
I've never tried ELF's cacao...looking forward to how you like it. and that dream of yours...wow!
Post a Comment