Coming Clean
July 15th, 2009 by Cristina Favreau
Taking care of my body these past few years has been put on the bottom of my priorities.
During my 3 pregnancies I diligently avoided prohibited foods, but — and I’m sure I’m not alone — I used the discomforts of pregnancy as an excuse to overindulge in everything else.
Jasmine will be 1 next week, and I’m still carrying around WAY too much baby fat from having 3 kids back-to-back-to-back. More recently, my face has broken out as if I were a teen again. I just feel yucky and ugly all over.
In fact, embarrassment over my physical appearance has spilled into my social life. I come up with excuses to not to be seen in public.
When I have no choice (supper at the in-laws, for example), I’ll agonize over what to wear, cry in front of the mirror, and reminisce about the good old days, when I was beautiful, fit and sexy.
My imagination goes wild, anticipating how friends and family will look at me in disgust, watch me eat and judge my lack of — whatever.
In conversation, I’ll preempt criticism by saying disparaging remarks about myself (you know, before others can say them!).
I could go on, but all this self-disclosure is making me uncomfortable. You get the point. I hate my body, I hate hating my body, but I’m too darn lazy to do anything about it.
I finally just had to drill the reality of the situation into my psyche: I am my business. I am my childrens’ only mother. Neglecting self-care is tantamount to neglecting my business and my children. OUCH! Touché.
Now what?
As much as I’d love to start endurance training again, I just don’t see how I could make it happen right now. What else could I do?
Then it came to me: A good cleanse could help kick things off… a detox of sorts — something I’ve never done before. But I want nothing to do with cleanses involving expensive supplements and powders and crap…
So, on Tuesday I sent out a tweet asking if anyone could recommend an all-natural cleanse. Within minutes, Jenn Givler suggested I take a look at what the Raw Divas site has to offer.
I was all gung-ho about starting the free 7-Day Raw Food Detox Program next week, until I found out detox is forbidden while breastfeeding (toxins get released out of the body in any way it can, including breast milk which baby then drinks — not good).
Jenn highly recommended I try the 3-Day Green Smoothie Challenge. It’s safe for anyone, including breastfeeding moms.
I immediately signed up and, starting Monday, I’ll be drinking tasty, healthy green smoothies, boosting my immunity and giving my insides a much-needed scrub. Heck, my face might even clear up!
If you’re ready to take care of your business by taking care of yourself, will you join me in the Green Smoothie Challenge? Join today to get the preparatory emails. I will be doing this on a monthly basis, which I’ll try to incorporate here, on The Savvy Entrepreneur. If there’s enough interest, I’ll start a monthly support group!
Are you in?
Here’s to your body’s health and the health of your business!
I just wrote a difficult, brutally honest blog post: Coming Clean http://bit.ly/AlsiD
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
RE: @Brainstormist I remember those days! Unfortunately, as the years slip by, and the baby becomes the kid, and then … http://disq.us/12vu
This comment was originally posted on Twitter
Oh my! I'm so glad I've passed the phase you're in! I remember AGONIZING over myself when my children were young! That was almost 30 years ago and I was able to join a spa that had free day care and I went every day. It really helped my physical and mental outlook! Please don't be so hard on yourself – it's hard to feel sexy with 3 little children calling you ma! You are though and you've taken the first step to convince yourself that you are! You (and everyone you know) should be VERY proud of you!! Good job!
I remember those days! Unfortunately, as the years slip by, and the baby becomes the kid, and then becomes the teenage, you lose the excuse. Ten years later you cant say I'm still carrying around some baby fat. It becomes middle age fat and its a daily battle. I'd like to think that I carry my weight better because I'm tall. But the reality is I tilt my head up when someone takes a picture just to make sure you cant see the beginnings of the double chin.
Anyway, I wanted to share something that does actually work. This is not something you should do while breastfeeding. Its like the Atkins diet only slightly modified. Cut your carbs down to 20 grams per day for 21 days. No more than 21 days though. The first 48 hours you will feel like an addict having serious withdrawls. Then you will adjust if you remind yourself that the way you feel is your body burning fat. It does require planning before you start. Learning how to make scrambled eggs in the microwave was a life saver for me.
I have done this once successfully 6 years ago and I have helped many friends through the process, also successfully. It took about five years to put the weight back on so I am doing it again. I'm on day 5 and down 3 lbs. I should lose approx a half a pound a day until the end.
This works for me because I have an extremely busy lifestyle. I have a full time career, I go to school full time at night, I am a part time writer, and I have a family. Making a 21 day commitment is not as difficult as a 1 year commitment to a gym with my hectic lifestyle. I get immediate results and can live with that.
After reading what I just wrote, I realized it sounds like a commercial which made me laugh. I'm not selling diets. haha! Just sharing some options and encouragement.
Hi Cris,
Good luck with this! I don't do cleanses since I take a supplement that gives me 12 servings of fruits/veggies on a daily basis (just dehydrated organics) which does the same thing for me, but more gradually and constant — and I personally find that capsules are a more convenient form for me as I travel a lot (YOU know that! Will be back up in Montreal in Sept!) and caps are easier than smoothies on the road!
You'll love the feel of being 'clean' — I do!
Hugs,
Mary McD
ah so…
… a small gift 4 U 2 enjoy
I just wrote a difficult, brutally honest blog post: Coming Clean http://bit.ly/AlsiDI Thanx Danzr_1 http://bit.ly/2HoG6E http://bit.ly/QioPr R U Day 2010/7/14 BOSTON http://bit.ly/r1AL6 http://bit.ly/ZeuXI
(C) <:-)