The Green Queen

Drastic measures are called for !

*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, and some hand weights. I've heard trampolining, or rebounding is an incredibly easy and efficient form of exercise, low impact which works your whole body - I'm loving that idea! Mark loves it too, and probably just woke the neighbours with 15 minutes of loud bouncing!

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. 

It promises to:

Remove Old, Accumulated Waste from Your Small and Large (Colon) Intestines (which generally means, people in this cleanse lose weight)

Rejuvenate the Digestive System

Reduce Cravings and Food Dependencies (YAY)

Give more mental Clarity and Focus (this will be great too, I'll be really busy over summer)

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.

Hope I didn't ruin your dinner!

Getting married?

I'm so excited about my new project!! I've been working on it for a couple of months, and even though all the details aren't worked out exactly - 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 let me know if anything isn't working, or if you have any suggestions on how to make it even better! I'd appreciate feedback direct to denise@rawbrides.com rather than in the comments section.

Thanks!

No Poo - the final verdict

After 8 months of trialling no-poo (ie. not using conventional shampoo and conditioner), I've decided to stop. For some reason, I could never get a consistent result. Some days it would be great - other days it would be horrible. I've tried baking soda, flax-seed, honey, chamomile tea, apple cider vinegar and lots of other things.

This has actually been a powerful lesson for me. Why do something for 8 months that clearly doesn't work for me? Mostly because I'm a stubborn person and secondly, if I say I'm going to do something, I'll do it even if it causes me problems.

Funnily enough, the last eight months have also been a period of hibernation, of not wanting to be seen and working through some old emotional crap. The transformation is continuing this year, but now I feel like I'm slowly coming out of a cocoon. I'm learning to be more flexible, more kind to myself and willing to grow and change if things aren't working. 

As I've said - raw food is not about the food, no-poo is not about my hair. They are both symbols for my values and ethics, and they have to work for me, and not against me. 

Please don't let me discourage you from trying or continuing with no-poo. Everyone's hair is different and it works beautifully for some people. 

So now I'm trialling some shampoos and conditioners. When I first washed my hair a week ago, it came out great and it's one less stress for me. 

I need some help though. I'm looking for hair products with minimal packaging (or can be bought in really large quantities), great ingredients, beautiful results, and a lovely company ethos. Any suggestions?

I actually feel quite liberated, and I'm just so excited to see how else I can transform and simplify my life. I'm ready to shed everything else that's not working for me!

Are you holding on something you know doesn't serve the vision of the best you? Please share!!

To your best life,

No Poo update

I used to dye my hair red for a couple of years, and then blonde. I would do it at home, and the problem with blonde is that you generally get blonder and blonder, until you are pure platinum blonde.

In December 2007, I decided to stop dying my hair, which took a big adjustment period for me. Having dark roots for a while was not fun, but I wore my hair up a lot.

In August 2008, I discovered "No Poo". It's a really simple concept - Stop using traditional shampoo and conditioner, and instead use natural ingredients, herbs, oils and every day kitchen ingredients.

There is an adjustment period of greasy hair, but your hair generally adjusts. Your hair is just as clean as with conventional shampoo but without the chemicals, wastage of plastic bottles, or the air miles of the products being shipped all over the world. Very cheap too.

I went through a stage a couple of months ago of just trying water, but my hair never adjusted, so I've been experimenting with different concoctions. 

Here's my current regime. It seems to be working quite well, although my hair sometimes looks a little dry so I'll try some other stuff for shininess. Another symptom has been a lot of hair growth, especially around my temples so my hair is a bit wild sometimes!

"Shampoo" or "Not-Poo"

In one plastic jug, put a tablespoon of baking soda

A squirt of honey

One camomile teabag

A bit of boiling water from the kettle and then leave to cool

Take the plastic jug into the shower, and top up the jug so it's a good temperature.. Wet your hair and then pour bits into your scalp and rub gently. Give yourself a gentle head massage, and make sure you get all parts of your head, especially around your ears and the crown of your head.

Rinse out of your hair and rinse out the jug.

"Conditioner"

Put two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar into the rinsed out jug, and fill with water. Pour it over your ends only, and then rinse again.

The baking soda cleans, and the honey and camomile are for soothing my scalp, because sometimes it gets really itchy. It also makes it smell nice, and camomile is a natural lightening agent.

So, if you see me with dirty hair, it's just because I'm lazy, not because I'm doing no poo - I'm also going to challenge myself to wear my hair out more often too.

Try it and let me know your tips......

By the way, here are some of the phrases that have led people to my site in the last week:

poo cheese texel
Are raw foodists a bunch of wankers?
Twlight cast smoking

As of May 2009, I get about 30 visits a day, mostly for 30 or 100 day raw food challenges, 
but it's funny to see how other people find me!

A very cooked long weekend

Well, over the last four days I ate all sorts of things.

At the cinema on Friday (Wolverine), I had Pringles and chocolate buttons, Saturday was a normal rawish food day. Sunday I went to the seaside with some friends, and I had a massive portion of French fries, 5 hot sugared donuts, pasta, sugary sweets. When I got home I had a nice salad, so at least I got some greens. On Monday I had a lot of hummus, bread, cous cous, toffee cheesecake, Eton mess (cream, meringue, strawberries and raspberries). So, lots of sugar and carbs. Not very much salad or fruit.

I definitely could have eaten better food, but it was kinda fun being by the seaside. I was also with friends who encourage me to eat bad food, and they “know me” as someone who likes to pig out. I really need to watch how I eat around them, lovely people that they are!

Friday Mark and I had the amazing facial at Being Content. It was gorgeous. We had the same problem skin – little bumps on the forehead. Mark has more spots than me, but the facialist said we might share a good allergy. She squeezed all the little spots and blackheads I have everywhere. She also told Mark that we need to come back in two months, and then two weeks before wedding. God bless her. Mark loves following rules and it means that he won’t think about the cost so much!

I bought some new skin care products. Even though I’m making my own – sometimes I’m very lazy, so I’ve just been using water on my face. The face wash is from Nude, which smells like jasmine and I got an eye cream. I’m using it sparingly, but it’s good to have an option I don’t feel guilty about.

We also did some exercise – running in the park, abs exercising and yoga. My running is pretty bad. I can only run about half a kilometre, and then about 750m. Mark ran at my pace, but I get a big pain in my right lung (where I had severe pneumonia) and get a horrible taste in my mouth. Hopefully, I’ll get better. I really, REALLY want to wear a bikini in Bali.

 

Going to Brighton was fun – great having some sun on my body, wonderful seeing the ocean too. The cool thing is that I saw one of the famous Banksy art works on the side of a pub. Lovely.