Greetings from Birdman

Hey!!  This is Birdman!  I really do exist, hehe.  I’ve been busy lately … but that’s no excuse.  I used to think that I’d do all these things I want to do in life when I’m not so busy.  But life is always busy.  And it doesn’t make sense to wait for a period when you have time, because it won’t come.  Ultimately, you just have to make time for whatever you feel you need most in your life.  And right now, I feel like I need to blog …

Please excuse our first post, lol … happy times!  We’re not always like that.  Sometimes we like to have some fun.  Well we like to have fun all the time, but usually not with the addition of wine (the cheap Sangria in the 4L jugs is our favorite J).  We’re not alcoholics; we’re just crazy.  Crazy about life!  That’s part of the reason why we’re writing this blog.  We want to reflect on our experiences and thoughts, and share them with others.  We strive for self-improvement because we believe making ourselves better will give us the ability to help improve the lives of others.

In general, this blog is about wellness.  Wellness is a broad area.  It includes sevens dimensions: physical, intellectual, emotional, social, spiritual, environmental, and occupational.  Chances are we’ll discuss topics in all these areas.  Really, it’s all about finding happiness in life -- peace and love.

There’s so much to write about!  In time we’ll write about our life philosophies, goals, recipes, yoga, running, biking, Friday breakfasts, cleanses, good books, random funny stuff, and other important things in our lives.

Anyway, moving on to actual stuff about what’s been happening … the cleanse!  I’ve been doing the cleanse with Giggles these past five days.  This is the second cleanse I’ve ever done (the first was also with Giggles in late August).  And it’s going great!  Like Giggles mentioned, we eat just fruits and vegetables for three days, then add grains, nuts, and seeds for the next two days, and then do as many days as we feel like adding proteins back in.  Though by the time you add proteins, you’re basically eating normally again, except maybe without sweets or anything else you decide to give up during the cleanse.

The cleanse is just like the name implies: a cleansing of yourself physically as well as cleansing of other aspects of your life.  The purpose is to give your digestive tract a break so it can clean itself out of all the yuck that builds up over time.  This can result in shedding some pounds.  I started the cleanse weighing 161.5, and by the third day with just fruits and veggies, I had lost 7 pounds (though I tend to fluctuate quite a bit and the scale isn’t the most reliable).  The body is like a vehicle, and a cleanse is like an oil change.  You get all that old crud out and you put in just clean fuel like fruits and veggies.  The digestive system is one of the highest energy using systems in the body.  So when you have a bunch of junk in your system, the body works much harder to digest food and you feel more tired.  Therefore, during a cleanse, you’ll often find yourself feeling more energetic because you’re eating food that’s more easily digestible.

Not only do you find yourself cleansing physically, but also mentally or emotionally.  When you concentrate so much on what you feed yourself, you’ll find yourself beginning to concentrate on other parts of your life as well.  You might realize that you don’t need certain things in your life, such as television, cigarettes, coffee, extra work hours, etc.  And so cleansing can help you refocus your life on all levels.

Giggles and I follow a cleanse based on what is recommended in the book If the Buddha Came to Dinner by Hale Sofia Schatz.  This is one of the greatest books I’ve ever read, and I know Giggles loves it too.  She’s the one who recommended it to me.  I’d go as far as saying that it’s life-changing.  It really makes you think about what you eat.  It’s very inspirational, and I find that it’s much easier to develop good habits when you’re reading a book that talks about all the benefits that come with eating a certain way.  Reading it just makes you feel really good about yourself, as if you’re listening to a motivational tape.  You can learn more about this book or purchase it off Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/If-Buddha-Came-Dinner-Nourish/dp/078686883X

So my first three days of the cleanse with just fruits and vegetables went much better than expected.  I was worried because I’ve been doing one day maintenance cleanses now and then, and it had been difficult to resist grains on many occasions.  However, I think the key this time was that I was mentally prepared, and Giggles and I were doing it together.  I rarely felt really hungry during this time and my energy level stayed nice and high.  The vegetable soup “Full of Life” that Giggles and I made on the first day was absolutely wonderful and helped keep me going.  Though one night I added some water to it when heating it up, and so I added some salt.  Way too much salt!  Aw, it was like salt water soup.  Lesson learned: Don’t do too much at first, because you can always add more later.

Although the first three days went well, I was still ready for some carbs by the fourth day.  I was lifting weights and I realized that I needed more to keep going.  And so I had a piece of Hudson Bay Bread with a good helping of peanut butter.  I appreciated it so much!  I just stared at it for a minute before eating it, thinking of how grateful I am to have grains again and reflecting on the energy it contained.  Mmmm, it was oh so good!  My increased awareness of food continued.  For lunch I had oatmeal and toast.  Normally I’d make two packets of oatmeal and two pieces of toast.  But that day I realized that I only needed one packet of oatmeal and one piece of toast.  I discovered that less is more (like that brand of toilet paper!).  I actually felt more energetic over the next four or five hours than I would feel when eating more.  So if you overeat, then you end up making more work for your digestive system, which will require more energy from your body.  It’s all about finding that balance and really listening to what your body is telling you.

One of the things I reflected on when going through the cleanse is the power of giving up something or adding something to your life.  Focusing so much on one thing can help you change other things.  Like when I gave up meat, I started focusing on my health in general so much more.  I ended up changing my eating habits drastically by taking a few things out of my diet like sweets, milk, and meat; but then I ended up adding so much more like vegetables, soymilk, tofu, and beans, and so overall I become much more open to trying new foods.  And I also started reading a lot of books related to food and health.  So I would encourage anyone to make one goal to focus on for the next week.  Picking one goal is nice because then it makes things more manageable and you’re life is not likely to make a drastic change that would throw you off.

My main focus for the next week or so is dealing with procrastination.  “Procrastination is like masturbation.  At first it feels good; but in the end you’re only screwing yourself” ~ unknown, but very true.  I have severe, level 8 procrastinitis, likely due to an increasing amount of senioritis – just one and a half more semesters until I graduate from college!  But all of my assignments lately have not been started until the night before, and that just plain sucks!  It’s much more stressful and I end up losing a lot of sleep, which throws everything off balance.  So my goal is to get all my work done at least a day ahead of time this next week so that I won’t be forced to stay up late.

I’m glad I’ve finally made my first, real blog post.  That was fun!  Hopefully I’ll be back soon to write more!

Birdman
Love, Listen, Learn, Laugh J