Happy Blogiversary!

Happy blogiversary! I can't believe we are at 100 posts? I appreciate our friendships & keeping connected through this blog. With each post, I learn more about each of you. I feel so lucky to to be connected to such a great group of friends. Love you & miss you all!

Coming Clean-VOGUE

I read this article on the airplane the other day & thought I'd share it with all of you. I put *** around the section regarding aging but, I found the whole article to be very informative & well written.

http://www.vogue.com/feature/2010/03/coming-clean/

With juice fasts and detox diets more popular than ever, Bronwyn Garrity examines their claims in search of the pure truth.

Until recently, shunning food while lunching with friends would have been considered odd, if not blatantly eating-disordered. Now, thanks to Gwyneth Paltrow, Donna Karan, and a cultural fixation on environmental toxins, the green-juice power lunch has become fashionable—as long as it’s in the name of “detoxification.”

The urge to cleanse stems from the theory that the body hasn’t adapted to modern life—with its refined sugars and flours, its cocktails and Starbucks lattes, not to mention pesticides, heavy metals, and other gunk we unknowingly imbibe. Juice fasting (with little or no additional food) is believed to rest the digestive system, recharge the organs, and accelerate (sometimes with the help of laxatives) elimination. The goal: a purified body, one free of the toxic buildup blamed for inflammation and chronic conditions such as eczema, asthma, depression, irritable-bowel syndrome, arthritis, heart disease, and even cancer. (Weight loss is just a delightful side effect—further evidence of toxicity shed.)

Though the health claims are unproved, booming sales of detox products suggest people aren’t waiting for clinical studies. With Paltrow’s help, Clean, by Alejandro Junger, M.D., hit the New York Times best-seller list last summer, and his $350 kits (a bevy of all-natural products designed to restore balance and get the bowels moving) sell by the thousands each month. For those short on time, delivery companies like Blueprint Cleanse in New York City and the Red Carpet Cleanses in Los Angeles make juice cleansing and detoxing easier than ever.

Though satisfied cleansers say that they’ve never been so pure (or so thin), doctors’ reactions to news of the growing market range from skepticism to alarm. “What frightens me is that because [the products] don’t go through the FDA, they not only have never bothered to demonstrate efficacy but they really don’t test for safety,” says Michael Gershon, M.D., a Columbia University professor who has spent his career researching all things related to the digestive system.

Gershon warns that overuse of laxatives, even all-natural movers like senna, can over time damage crucial nerve cells and in extreme cases result in a bowel that stops functioning and requires surgery. An equal risk may come from attempting to purify your system by pushing too much fluid through your gut and disrupting the balance of electrolyte salts, which can cause diarrhea and dehydration.

Here is where the science stands on a few other common cleansing claims:

You’ll rid your body of a lifetime of toxic chemicals. . . .
It turns out your body is amazingly adept at dealing with foreign substances. “If you eat something the body interprets as toxic,” Gershon says, “the liver gets rid of it. If it’s water-soluble, the kidney pumps it out.” Furthermore, toxins the body can’t quickly eject on its own (like heavy metals and PCBs) reside not in the colon but in fatty tissues like the brain—meaning all the juice and laxatives in every health-food store on the planet won’t flush them out.

You’ll drop two dress sizes. . . .
Detox cleansers boast spectacular weight loss in just a few days or weeks. Yet quickly shedding pounds may actually be a sign your body is burning muscle, not fat. Without enough protein, the body turns to muscle for fuel after about three days, which can make weight loss appear more dramatic because of muscle’s bulk. Making matters worse for cleansers who are really dieters, losing muscle mass will slow your metabolism; a return to solid food is a return to your original weight . . . and then some.

***You’ll look ten years younger***
The upside of pumping gallons of water and vitamin-rich juice into your system—and eliminating stressors like sugar, caffeine, and alcohol—is that it will plump skin, resulting in the celebrated cleansing glow, says Joseph Greco, M.D., assistant clinical professor of dermatology at UCLA. The downside is that the boost may be short-lived. And over time, a low-calorie cleanse (coupled with laxative use) can rob your body of hydration and nutrition, resulting in volume loss in the skin and the very thing cleansers are trying to avoid: wrinkles.

You’ll experience euphoria. . . .
Some detoxers describe feelings of intense joy on the more spartan diets, such as the Master Cleanse. But according to Emeran Mayer, M.D., director of the UCLA Center for Neurovisceral Sciences & Women’s Health, all animals have endorphin systems to ease trauma. That euphoria may actually be a sign the body thinks it’s starving and is trying to prevent suffering. “Animals that have stopped eating are ready to die,” he says.

Your brain fog will lift without coffee. . . .
Oxygenated blood pushes into the brain through capillaries so narrow they admit only one red blood cell at a time. Eating too much fat and sugar clogs capillaries, resulting in lethargy and forgetfulness. Vitamin-rich juices may increase blood flow to the brain, helping to explain why people report feeling more alert. But you don’t need to starve to feel quick-witted: Recent studies have found that just eating more whole fruits and veggies and eliminating junk foods may trigger brain cell growth in a few months.

You’ll cure chronic diseases. . . .
Perhaps the most outlandish claim—that you can reverse diseases—is the one that has the most science behind it. Studies suggests that heart-disease patients who eat more vegetables and fruit may begin to lower high cholesterol and blood glucose levels in a little more than a month. The catch: You can’t go back to your old ways after three weeks of clean living or the benefits will be lost.

Image & Article from VOGUE

Miss Congeniality

So, I haven’t posted this month because I couldn’t decide what to write or how I felt about aging. It has really been something I think about every night and when I read all of our posts.

Aging is something that I’ve never grasped. I had to “grow up” at a very young age because of life circumstances and unfortunately, I looked like a grown up at a very young age. I am now dealing with a daughter who looks 18 at age 12. Thankfully, I kept her mental age at 12 as well but I am now responsible for impressing my ideology about aging upon her.

Though I do secretly adore when she tells me how young I am and how pretty I am compared to the other parents of her friends and when strangers remark that we could be sisters, it also starts up my reflections on the long road it took to get where we are now and the fact that I have a very little one to raise in her very big (and admirable) footsteps. You can see in my photo just how incredible she is.

I wash my face, I brush my teeth, I eat pretty well. I have no health problems and I am not overweight. I drink too much caffeine and wine, I have 13 year old stretch marks and I unsuccessfully tried to dye my hair red and it’s now a lovely shade of white zinfandel. I try to exercise, but I suck at it. I stay up too late and I get up too early.

But, I have two children who I can’t wait to wake up every morning just to hear them say “Hi, Momma” and I love spending time with my baby boy and hearing all of the wonderful details about my daughter's day at Middle School. And, finally, after all these years I have a husband who adores me and tells me so. So, I’ll keep washing my face, and doing what I do because the only part of aging that matters to me is keeping the smile on my face.

No Beauty in Perfection

Yesterday, I came across an interview on Gretchen Rubin's Happiness Project blog of Lori Gottlieb who wrote a book titled MARRY HIM.  Ms. Rubin occasionally posts short interviews with people that she finds have an interesting take on happiness.  I like to follow her posts and there was a portion of her latest interview that really hit home and reinforced a little life lesson that I recently learned.  While researching for her book, Ms. Gottlieb interviewed Susan Page, a well known relationship expert.  Here is what she had to say:

She told me that she'd always envisioned herself marrying a highly educated professional, but she ended up marrying a potter. And it was through her husband’s work as a potter that Page came up with an analogy she finds relevant to relationships.


“In America,” she said, “when a potter makes a pot, they put a glaze on it and put it in the kiln and know exactly what it’s supposed to look like when it comes out. When the Japanese make a pot, they put it in a wood- fire kiln that could be any temperature, and when they take the pot out, it’s not always exactly like they thought it was supposed to look like. And they say, ‘Oh, wow, this is what the fire did to the pot and it’s gorgeous!’ They believe that there’s no beauty in perfection.

“So instead of knowing what the person across from you is supposed to be like, ask yourself the pot question, ‘What is it, and is it beautiful?’ rather than thinking, ‘It’s not this and it should look like this.’ The question you have to ask is, ‘Do I like it?’ instead of ‘How does it compare to what I thought I wanted?’ People can surprise you.”

The first two years of my relationship with "B" were filled with "supposed to be" questions and assumptions.  Looking back, I am amazed he stayed with me despite my monthly relationship dissections and my nagging need for "better communication".  I constantly compared our relationship to our friends' relationships and to what was "normal" by society's standards.  And I wasn't very happy at all.  About 6 months ago, we had made the decision to move in together and I needed to make the ultimate relationship dissection and decide if this was the right move for my daughter and me.  I knew that I needed to stop looking outward (comparing myself to others, asking friend's advice or following a "plan") and just follow my heart.  I realized that the reason "B" and I were so right for each other was because we weren't "typical" people, so why should I expect us to have a typical relationship that follows a typical trajectory.  I decided to let go of all my expections and just live in the moment with this man that I love deeply and purely and who loves me the same way.  I couldn't be happier with where we are now.  The "supposed to be" questions occasionaly pop up but I am able to push them aside and just "BE".

You can find the whole interview here:
The Happiness Project: "Marriage is about...Tea, Doctor's Appointments, Trivia and Quirks"  

Derailed by a Bacon Doughnut

Two whirlwind weeks in a row!

I just returned from a very romantic train trip from Seattle to Los Angeles.  I flew in to Seattle with my boyfriend and flew out of Los Angeles with my fiance.  Whoo hoo choo choo!  However, during my celebrations I have lost sight of pretty much everything I have been working on this month.  I am getting back on track as of today. 

Also, congratulations to Shelly for finishing her Master Cleanse.  I really don't think I could do it although I would like to try.  It has been a hard enough battle trying to give up my nightcap every night, so to give up not only that but also food for almost 2 weeks is beyond impressive.   

Alright, time to head back to my center...

Running Away with the wind in my face....

My go-to "Jolt of Happiness" song. Thinking it is also a very fitting blog theme song.