Life

Has gotten in the way of this blog! Haha.  I guess that is a good thing.

This past weekend was Halloween.  I was Abby Scuito from NCIS.  Everyone loved it.  I will post pictures soon.

Tomorrow is crazy busy for me.  I am barely going to have time to breathe, let alone get done everything I have to do.  That, and I have to study for the MPRE.  Ugh. 

Trying really hard to stay positive.  I start working out tomorrow.  I am going to do it, even if it kills me.  It is day one of the first round of exercising. My goal is to get up tomorrow morning, before school, and get about an hour and fifteen minutes in.  That means I have to rise and shine at 7 a.m.  Anyone who knows me, knows this will be no small feat.  But I am gonna do my best.  Wish me luck! I will let you know how it goes.

As an aside, my face is almost fully healed! My skin is just super dry and cracked right now.  Once that passes I will be back to normal! :)

Busy, busy day

Yesterday was a bit crazy. 

I counted my calories around 4:30 and realized that I had, in fact, only eaten about 600 calories.  I had been awake since 8:00 a.m.  I decided to make baked chicken to get more calories (and to eat delicious protein).  R taught me how to make baked chicken.  You take a chicken breast (which is, of course, cage free, no steroids, etc.) and you place it in a tin foil boat.  Then you pour BBQ sauce (or Italian dressing or whatever other marinade you would like) over top of the chicken.  Then you close the boat.  Place the boat into a baking dish and place in a preheated (375) oven.  Bake twenty five to thirty minutes and then take them out.  Then enjoy.  T made a salad to go with the chicken.  It was delicious!!  Then my wonderful boyfriend brought me a surprise - PUMPKIN ICE CREAM.  I was so flipping excited I actually jumped up and down.  I love PUMPKIN and I love ICE CREAM.  So the two of them together literally made my night. 

After dinner T and I went to poker.  Poker is held at the lovely Mrs. B's house. Her husband hosts the game and most of our friends get together to play.  I was the dealer this game.  I like to be involved in the game but I am too cheap to pay the buy-in.  Haha. I am fairly good at keeping things straight.

There is some discussion of going to the rally in DC tomorrow.  I am not sure I am going to go.  If any of my friends who couldn't ride out with the big group decide to go, then I might, but right now I still have a paper to write. 

Speaking of the paper, I am going to go write it.  Hopefully it will be fascinating! :)

Papa Johns and Cardio

I did not post yesterday because I had to choose between a blog post and the gym.  I figured, given that my blog is about me being healthier, I should go to the gym.  I did 45 minutes of cardio and thought I was going to die.  I guess that is what happens when you haven't worked out in three weeks!

I built a fort yesterday with the lovely Mrs. B.  Actually a fort was built around us by the funny Mr. D.  It was quite entertaining.  I wanted to make a sign in Rug Rats fashion that said:

I was trying to do that in Rug Rats style.  Not sure I succeeded.  Oh well, maybe the next time I give it a shot it will be better. :)

I ate Papa Johns yesterday.  I had two pieces of cheese pizza.  I shouldn't have, but I did.  I dabbed all of the grease I possibly could off of the pizza.  Then I ate it.  It was delicious!! :) It was a large part of my motivation to go to the gym.  

Yesterday was a good day.  I smiled and laughed a lot, for various different reasons.  I love all of my friends and I had an amazing time with them.  They are wonderful and they helped me have a fantastic day.  I was tired yesterday because I was not able to sleep Tuesday night.  I had to present my closing argument in Jury Ad.  I was so tired but being around the awesomeness that is my friends made it so much better.  They made me laugh and they make me happy. 

Overall yesterday was an awesome day.  The only thing that could have made it better was having R around.  I miss him.  I wish he was able to be around more.  Oh well, I get to see him this weekend!! Yay Halloween. 

Migraine and Sushi

So I started today with a migraine from hell.  I didn't even make it to class.  I stood up and fell over.  I slept until about 1 p.m. to try and get it under control.  I succeeded in dropping it to a headache. 

I went to Roanoke today with my partner for clinic, J.  We went to meet with a client of his.  I can't talk about that.  So I will talk about our drive all over creation to try and find stuff for my Halloween costume.  We ended up at this store called Fantasy Creations (which sounds way sketchier than it really is) and were followed around by some guy.  He kept offering me strange things, like a "really nice wig".  It was awkward turtle.  He did make a useful suggestion though, and that was to go to Hot Topic.  So we did!! And I found exactly what I was looking for!! :)

Then J and I went to one of the best sushi restaurants I have ever been to, Wasabi.  We had SO MUCH food.  I tried to eat healthy today, cause as always that is my goal, so I had sashimi and sushi.  That way I could get in a little of the good and a little of the deliciously bad. I also had green tea ice cream. 

Today was a good day, overall.  I didn't get any cardio in like I was hoping but I did get to walk the puppy.  I am going to try and work cardio into my routine even when the gym is closed.  Not sure how, with my bad knee and all, but I am going to try!!

Anyways, today's post is a touch off topic but I just thought I would share my day.  It was a wonderful day with a wonderful person.  Thank you J for driving me all over creation to finish off my Halloween costume and then going to dinner with me.  I hope you had as much fun as I did!!

Last Day of Master Cleanse and Monday Night Football

I am still covered in hives.  They still itch.  Not much more to say on that front.

Today I got to eat real food.  I cheated a bit and ate ice cream about fifteen minutes ago.  I ate pretty well today but I did not take in as many calories as I should have.  I am counting calories for the sole purpose of ensuring that I get enough of them in a day.  I have a really bad habit of not eating the proper number of calories.  Some days I eat more than I should and others I don't even break 900.  My goal is to get between 1,000 and 1,200 everyday.  When I am exercising I am shooting for between 1,500 and 1,800 calories. 

I got to make something that I love today - grilled asparagus.  I put a little bit of EVOO on the bottom of a pan.  Then I put the washed, and patted dry, asparagus spears in the oil.  I put them over low heat and wait about 90 seconds; then I turn the spears.  I wait another 30 seconds and take them out.  Then I cover them with Himalayan pink salt and pepper.  I eat them like french fries.  They are delicious and crunchy! Yummy yum yum.

I am happy to be done with the master cleanse but I am not looking forward to having to watch what I eat.  For instance, I learned that the cookies in the Brief Stop have around 900 calories A PIECE.  That is just absurd!! That is almost my entire daily caloric intake! Gracious.  No more cookies for me!

This master cleanse has led me to look for healthy recipes of the things that I love to eat.  I have found a few that I am looking forward to trying.  I am not going to be giving up everything I enjoy eating, or that I want to try, but I am going to seriously cut back my sugar intake.

Onto other things.  FOOTBALL.  I love football.  I am a New York Giants fan.  No I was not born in New York and I have never lived in New York.  I am just a Giants fan.  It is just how things are.  Tonight is the Giants versus the Cowboys.  Just ask T, I have been screaming at the TV all night.  This game is actually partly the reason I ate the ice cream.  Two turn overs in the first 3 minutes!  The boys have got to get it together! I don't think we are gonna lose (at least I hope not) but it is frustrating!! I get a little caught up in the game.  R joked that he could hear me yelling from barracks.  His little sister jokes about me and football.  I just love the game.  I watch most of the games, not just the ones where the Giants play.  I just love football.  (Do you think I have said that enough?!).

Alrighty, back to the game.  I hope everyone has a fantastic night.  As an aside, if you read could you please follow?  It would just be nice to know who is reading my blog.  Thanks!! :)

Day Two of Phasing Out

I am still covered in hives.  But I got to eat real food today!! I ate this homemade vegetable soup at the local Greek restaurant.  I go there almost every Sunday with my "host family" - Mr. and Mrs. A.  In order to explain what a "host family" is, I have to explain some other aspects of my life.

My boyfriend is a second classman, or junior, at Virginia Military Institute (VMI).  When he was a Rat, or freshman, he was "adopted" by a "host family" from church.  A host family is basically someone who takes you out to lunch on Sundays, lets you hang out at their house, shower (which is important because as a Rat you shower with 50 to 60 other guys - AT THE SAME TIME), and sleep (also important because you are allowed little to no sleep in barracks (which is what they call the dorms at VMI) when you are a Rat).  Now, our host family is actually family.  Sort of.  See R's dad's sister is married to our host family's son.  R's mom, his aunt (the same sister married to our host family's son) and our host family's daughter all graduated high school together.  Mr. A is the pastor who married R's parents.  So, we are connected through more than just VMI and church.  They have been our host family all three years we have been here.  They are really fabulous people, whom I adore.  They take such good care of us.  So lots of love goes out to Mr. and Mrs. A.

So, now that you know more about my life than you probably ever cared to - I got to eat today!  I also ate a bowl of tomato soup.  Both of these were delicious.  I have noticed, however, that I still lack the desire to eat.  I find that I feel hungry but do not actually want to eat anything.  I got most of my calories today by drinking a Vanilla Chai Tea Protein Smoothie that T and I bought at Wal-Mart last night.  I am looking forward to tomorrow and the prospect of fruit smoothies, grilled asparagus, salads and other live foods.  I am also really looking forward to pumpkin bread, pumpkin butter, pumpkin seeds, and pumpkin pie.  Pumpkin is kind of my new favorite food and that is why I love this time of year. My friend S makes the most amazing pumpkin cup cakes!! I am salivating just thinking about them. :)

Here is a picture of R's barracks that I took at the beginning of this year when I bought a new camera with my tax return!

Doesn't it look a little bit like a prison?

Anyways, I am going to take a benadryl to see if I cannot calm these hives.  Otherwise I am going to start peeling my face off.  Good night!

Post Script:
Today is my mommy's birthday.  She is one of the major reasons I am who I am.  She has always loved me, cared about my life, and been there for me.  She is one my best friends.  She believed in me when I did not believe in myself.  She picked me up when I lacked the strength to get off my knees.  She held me, sheltering me when the storms of life were just to much to bear.  She is my safe place, my guiding light, and an amazing source of love and support.  I don't know what I do without her.  I am so very grateful that she is my mother.  So happy birthday to the most amazing, beautiful woman that I know, and who I am lucky enough to call "mommy".  I love you!!

Day 6

Sadly, I had to quit the master cleanse.  I had another lemonade this morning, and had another bout of hives.  They are bad.  After talking to T, and making my own assessment, I decided it would be in the best interest of my health (and face) to quit for now.  I am going to be trying this again after two rounds of working out.

This means that I am now drinking my orange juice.  I turned day six into day one of phasing out.  It is delicious to drink this orangey goodness.  It is making my stomach hurt.  I do love it though.  More than I thought I could love orange juice.

Anyways, I am going to go get in the bathtub now and try to steam open my pores to see if I can't get rid of some of these hives.  Tomorrow is soups and juice day.  I am more excited then I should be. 

Hives and LSFL

Day 5 has been strange.  I have no appetite what so ever.  Not even to eat actual food.  I am just not hungry.  I am forcing myself to complete six servings because I have to, but I have no desire too.  I am not tired either.  Just lethargic.  Oh well.  I guess it is better than being "eat your face off" hungry.  I am still weak though.  I am getting weaker and weaker with each passing day.

Also, a fantastic new side effect is that I am breaking out.  And I mean EVERYWHERE.  They are all over my face, my arms, my back, and even my legs.  Apparently, this happens.  Truthfully though, as the day has progressed, it has gotten worse and worse. I don't actually think they are regular breakouts anymore, but rather hives.  They are starting to burn too.  They are apparently a "healing episode" and should be gone by tomorrow night. At a minimum they should be clearing up. Yay? I am going to have to wear make-up for a few days.

LSFL (or Law School Football)

Every Friday during the fall there are LSFL games.  This is where the law school provides free beer and law students take out their aggression on each other in a game of two-hand touch.  There have been some pretty severe injuries this year.  Like one girl lost her two front teeth.  Yeah, that serious.  I love it! (No, not her injury).  I love football in general (GO GIANTS), but I especially love playing LSFL.  Because of the cleanse I did not play today.  I didn't want to pass out from the lack of calories.  My team is the Rum Runners.  Every beautiful woman, minus one, in my pictures is on this team.  The minus one is still a beautiful woman! :)  This means my team is amazing.  We drink rum based beverages and run around the field making fools of ourselves.  It's wonderful! The other teams love us so much that they aren't terribly competitive with us.  Take today for instance:

It's the last play of the game.  Our QB throws a hail mary.  The other team picks it off.  The "receiver"     then passes the ball to one of the girls on my team and she runs it into the end zone for a TOUCHDOWN!

It was the only touchdown we got.  So instead of shutting us out, they let us score.  It was nice of them.  It is also exactly why I love LSFL.  Most of the time, if you play for fun, it brings out the best in people.  If you don't play for fun, and like everything else in your life you take it to seriously and suck the fun out, well then it brings out your bad side.  But that's to be expected!

We go to the toilet bowl next.  This is the round where the two worst teams in the league play against each other.  I am planning to bring rum based drinks that look like toilet bowl water.  It should be awesome.

Anyways, I am going to try to sleep through all this crazy burning and itching that is currently located on my face.  I am crossing my fingers that it has at least abated some when I wake up.

Good night all.

High Fructose Corn Syrup

Most of us have seen those commercials about high fructose corn syrup.  The man and woman on a picnic.  The woman eating a cherry (this is purely an assumption based on the color) popsicle.  She kindly offers it to her boo.  He looks shocked and says, "But I thought you loved me!"  And she looks hurt and asks him why he would say that.  He says, "That has high fructose corn syrup in it."  And then the big corporate machine lies to you about high fructose corn syrup.  There is another involving two women at a party and some kind of punch.  And there are more, but I don't remember them all.

They are LIES.  High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is in fact made from corn.  That is why it is in EVERYTHING.  It is cheap and easy to produce.  It is also sweet.  "Everything in moderation" does not apply here.  HFCS is quite possibly the single most processed thing that we put into our bodies.  Our bodies are unable to break it down.  Our bodies spend so much time trying to break it down that it doesn't break down other things. 

Now, I know I am not citing my sources.  Just google it and you will see that I am right (assuming you don't read the corporate websites).  One of things that irks me about HFCS is how the corporations lie about it.  Big corporations don't want to spend the money that it would take to put better ingredients in their products.  Instead they spend millions to convince us that the crap that is already in the product is fine.  They either take a study and make it say what they want it to.  Or they pay someone to say what they want.  They lie.  Big surprise, right? Big business lies to us.  Shocked? You shouldn't be. 

One of my sources is my fabulous roomie, T.  She knows all about it.  She is actually the reason that I stopped eating it.

Our initial conversation went like this:
T-High fructose corn syrup is bad for you.
K-I don't care! It's delicious!
T- It really is terrible for you.  Blah, blah, blah (cause that's all I heard).
K - I won't give up King Syrup! I won't do it!! (I then proceeded to grab my bottle of King Syrup and kiss it, then hug it ferociously and stick my tongue out at T). 
T - Have it your way.  But you could be healthier, AND lose weight if you stopped eating things with HFCS in them.
K - Wait, whaaaaaa?

So yeah, I gave up the King Syrup.  I also gave up any and everything else that has high fructose corn syrup in it.  This includes:

1. Heinz Ketchup
2. Most jucies
3. Most low fat salad dressings
4. Candies
5. Soda (all but the diet kind, which I am trying to give up for an unrelated reason that will be the subject of a different post).

The list could go on but these are the hardest things I have had to change.  I lost six pounds in a week.  I literally did nothing else.  I did not exercise or eat any differently (other than removing the high fructose corn syrup).  I was hooked.  I have not ingested HFCS (minus a few minor occasions for special reasons) in almost a year. 

If you have more interest, and you have a facebook, then join the group "Ban High Fructose Corn Syrup in America."  They have a lot of interesting articles, etc about it. 

This was not much of a rant.  At least not as much as I expected.  The basic gist of the situation is that HFCS is TERRIBLE.  If you only do one thing to try and get healthier in the way that you eat, do this - stop eating HFCS! STOP IT.  RIGHT NOW! I am completely serious. Your body will thank you for it.

Also, this has nothing to do with this post, I am still hungry.  And since I am at work, I am surrounded by delicious looking food.  And people who are eating said delicious looking food.  I want to smash every one of them over the head with something hard.  Although, to be fair, I want to do that to some of them even when I am not fasting.  :)

HHHHHUNGERRRRRR

I am starving.  Not just a little rumble in the tummy either.  I mean full-on, I could eat your face right now, hungry.  And to make matters worse, the brief stop in the law school is making some delicious cookies, scones, and cinnamon rolls. The air is full of the smell of their goodness.  That aroma is like shoving bamboo under my fingernails. Ugh.

Anyway.  The rest of day three was pretty hard.  I spent most of it hungry and tired.  This morning I overslept and am still hungry but have no desire to drink this god-awful concoction.  But I have to.  Double ugh.

Also, no one tells you about the strange noises your body will make as a result of this.  My stomach has been talking to me for about thirty straight minutes.  It would be embarrassing if anyone else was around to hear it.  Thankfully I am all alone at my carrel and therefore my stomach can simply converse with itself and no one is the wiser.

I promised you a rant on high fructose corn syrup.  I have not forgotten.  I will post it later.  But first, breakfast. Ew. I think I just threw up a little.

The Master Cleanse - Step One

If you read my tag line, and my about me, then you know that the point of this blog is to document my journey from where I am now to where I want to be. I am writing about it because I want to keep myself honest.  My blog is going to be about not only my diet but also my exercise and my emotional well-being.  I think all of those things matter in being a healthy person. Also, grammar, punctuation, etc. are not my strong suit.  I know I am a law student, and I worry about these things most of the time, but on here, not so much.  Just be aware.

Now that you have my background spill - here is what I am doing to start that journey:

I am currently doing the master cleanse.  It is also known as the lemonade diet.  You drink nothing but this homemade lemonade concoction.  It's gross.

Recipe:
2 tablespoons fresh, squeeze lemon juice
2 tablespoons organic, grade B maple syrup
1/10 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or more if you can stand it)
10 oz. distilled water

That is all you get to eat or drink (aside from a laxative tea or the salt water flush) for ten days.  Yup, that's right, TEN WHOLE DAYS.  If you want to know more about it, just google it.

I am on day three.  I am doing the master cleanse because I want to rid my body of all the toxins I know it has stored away.  I have eaten like crap most of my life.  This is no offense to my mother, who fed me a very well-balanced diet as a child.  But when I was old enough to choose what I wanted to eat, let's just say I crashed and burned.  I used to sit and eat an entire box of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.  That's right, an entire box!  That gave me not only my daily serving of sodium, but the next day's serving as well.  And that is only the tip of the ice berg.  But we won't get into why my dietary habits were terrible.  Let's just say, they were.  And I am determined to change that.

To be as effective as possible in achieving these goals I want to cleanse my body.  Hence, the master cleanse.

To recap:

Monday was day one.  It was not as bad as I thought.  The lemonade tastes terrible but the tea is quite enjoyable.  I am not really hungry, just craving the things I cannot have (like banana bread, gold fish, apples, etc.).  I don't want to eat them necessarily, I just have this urge to chew on them.  I know this makes me sound like a dog, but it is true.  I want to chew on some food rather than slurp it through a straw.

Tuesday was day two.  It was even easier than day one.  My cravings are less, but still there.  The lemonade is still as bad as ever.  I was feeling weaker but not to an extreme degree.  The laxative tea works, but in a way that I am not willing to openly describe on a public blog.  If you have questions then comment with your e-mail and I will be more than happy to share.

Today is day three.  It is even easier.  The biggest problem is that I have lost my desire to drink the lemonade.  I have to do it though.  Six glasses a day.  I just don't want to.  I guess that this is good practice for when I am going to have work out when I don't want to.  I have to wrap my head around the idea that I have to be my own motivation.

The worst part of this is not being able to go do things with my friends because I don't want to be tempted with food.  Delicious food. Haha, maybe this isn't as easy as I thought!

Welp, I think that is it for this post.  I am going to post about various things as time goes on.  Tomorrow I think I might tackle high fructose corn syrup (as well as a description of day four).  If you know me, even a little, you will know that banning high fructose corn syrup is a crusade of mine.  That stuff is terrible.  Tune in tomorrow for my opinions on the matter!!