7 Day Detox - Other Recipes

I fell off on posting my food photos, but I did continue with the 7-Day Food Detox.

Here's another dish that I prepared that I enjoyed (but my son did not - he actually said it was too sweet). It's a sweet and sour stir fry with brown rice. I cooked brown rice with a tablespoon of coconut oil (my new favorite cooking oil), a pre-packaged stir fry mix (broccoli, sweet peppers, carrots), and I added some corn. The vegetables were cooked in tomato sauce, pineapple juice with chunks of pineapple, honey, and a splash of vinegar.

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I thought it taste great, and I will continue to make this dish. For my son, I'm told he needs some meat with this dish - I can do that

7 Day Detox - Day 2

Just wanted to share the Tuna, Sweet Corn and Jacket Potato meal that I just finished and that my son and I are now enjoying.

Here's what I did:

• Baked potatoes in the over
• Mixed 1 can of Tuna (water based) and a 1/2 cup of sweet corn.
• Added 1 tbsp of yogurt

Topped the tuna corn mixture onto a split baked potato, and it tastes delicious!

I think I will be using yogurt instead of mayonnaise from now on in my tuna mixtures. Next time I will add the onions that I forgot to add.

P.S. Just found out about a cable network called Veria Living. Whaaaattttt? I love it. And they have a website too! Check it out: http://www.veria.com/

7 Day Detox - Day 1

I'm taking part in a 7-Day Detox and 3 week Low Carb diet with HangTight with MarcC as part of my aforementioned Quest for Abs (and peace of mind too). I'm actually excited and look forward to seeing some major changes in my body. In addition to embarking in this Quest for Abs, I also have to get rid of any extra fat on my body to help with my back problems. If I drop 10-15 pounds, honestly, I am giddy at the relief that I expect to feel in my lower and middle back.

Anyway, here is what I have done so far today in my Quest for Abs:

• Walking: 4 miles
• Breakfast: Oatmeal
• Snacks: Strawberry yogurt, 2 granola bars w/peanut butter, brown rice cakes, popcorn
• Lunch: Homemade Vegetarian Lentil soup
• Drink: Cranberry water (made from cranberry concentrate)

Although I have listed Chinese Stir Fry with Brown Rice as my dinner, I think I may go with a spinach shake since I had lunch so late.

Also, you'll notice I have a lot of snacks there and it's because I realize I'm a grazer/ muncher. One of the biggest things I was concerned about upon embarking on this journey, is how was I going to replace my comfort food. I love popcorn (especially since I've sworn off the chocolate cake from my son's birthday, and peanut butter ice cream  - and anyone who knows me knows I LOVE peanut butter, plus ice cream, maaaannnnn...). Anyway, I spent the past few days prepping for the detox by increasing my cranberry water intake, ceasing with the red wine (even though there is a glass amount left in the fridge), drinking green tea, but I knew at some point I was going to need a variety of snacks (I guess it's the Gemini in me). I figured popcorn was the way to go, but I had to find the right topping because I know I can't do popcorn with no topping. And after much research and searching for a healthy option that my taste buds would love - coconut oil walked into the building.

I went to GNC and overpaid for 16 oz of coconut oil (this before finding out that my local fruit stand sells 12 oz for $4 after paying 3 times that for 16 oz. Not again!)

Back to the story... I coated the popcorn kernels with a tbsp of coconut oil, popped in the microwave, and then I did something that is going to sound weird but tastes so good. I melted 1 tbsp of coconut oil and 1 tbsp of honey, drizzled it over the popcorn, and then sprinkled the popcorn with cinnamon.

I personally can't taste the cinnamon, but my son did, and he loved it! And so did I. I love the honey flavor on my popcorn - who knew! I am beyond ecstatic that I found a healthy popcorn topping alternative- and that was real hard when I had powdered cheddar staring me in the face as I drizzled the coconut oil/ honey mixture on my popcorn. I was nervous, thought it might taste like crap. I gambled and won!

Stay tuned for other experimental recipes that I will be trying this month.

Protein Treatment for Winter Hair

So people, I thought I would switch things up for a second and see if it would help if I added a mayonnaise based pre-shampoo protein treatment to my hair regimen.  Here is my proposed recipe:

1 egg
2-3 tbsp mayonnaise
1-2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

I will dampen my hair, apply the mixture and let it set for 30 minutes (a perfect excuse to relax in a nice steamy spa bath).  Afterwards I will wash my hair with Shea Moisture's Hibiscus and Coconut Shampoo, and deep condition with Alter Ego for 30 minutes under a hooded bonnet dryer, rinse with clear water, use a homemade herbal rinse (rosemary and lavender), detangle, set on magnetic rollers, and sit under the bonnet dryer.

Side note: I've done the roller set for the past 2 weeks and while it dries and stretches my hair nicely, I've noticed a lot of fairy knot in the front of my hair especially - what's up with that?  I'm hoping some extra conditioning will help... I don't know, well see.

While I like my other pre-shampoo treatments, I figure my hair could use all the moisture it can get.  This recipe doesn't require a lot of ingredients - all of which I already have - and hopefully it won't hurt.  Stay tuned...

... 1 hour later...
that protein treatment did not got as well as I would have hoped.  As a matter of fact, once I shampoo'd and applied my deep conditioner treatment I had LOTS of shedding.  Now I won't completely blame that on the protein treatment, but my hair was feeling quite papyrus-esque!  Here's to hoping the rest of my routine salvages what's gone down already!

To Be Continued!...

Alrighty, so clearly, not all things are for all people and that's all right.  I'm not one of these bloggers who wants to preach what everyone should be doing with their hair.  Heck, if you want to put pigeon shit in your hair to make it grow, go for it! With that being said, I steered a bit from what I'd planned to do - in an effort to not be sitting under a bonnet dryer for two hours) and detangled, sealed with my oil mixture (castor oil, avocado oil, extra virgin olive oil, tea tree, rosemary, and peppermint), and then used a heat protector (IC's Hair Straightening Serum) before using a round bristle brush and my hair dryer on light heat. Now, I've had that pretty costly brush for years, and tried to use it in the past (to not so pretty results), but the stars were aligned for me tonight because it worked out.  You see, in the past couple weeks I've been doing the aforementioned roller set, but I noticed the fairy knots appearing out of no where, which  began to attribute to my roller set (it's the only major change I've made in the past month that I can sort of blame for the knots) so I figured I would try to bristle brush to help stretch the hair at my ends as well.  So it took about an hour, I did it, and I still had my big hair!

Here's a quick look at my hair growth progress from last year and a new photo from today :)

My favorite recipes: Body Buttercream

This winter air has been foe to my skin and hair, so like the hair butter that I make to moisturize mine and my son's hair, I did something similar for our skin.

My son has eczema, so this winter air definitely has the potential to instigate more dry patches.  Up until this time, he'd been using an Aloe and Shea based body butter that I had made specifically for his condition because I felt that the cream that his doctor prescribed was not effective.  My son hadn't had an eczema breakout since he started using what we called "Aloe Butter", that is until the winter air really hit home, so I purchased some products that were good for the skin and decided to adjust the recipe of the Aloe Butter as well as incorporate some oils that I'd used in the Oil Cleansing Method, to make a stronger and more effective product.  Here is my recipe.

• 2 cups raw shea butter
• 1 tbsp castor oil
• 2 tbsp aloe vera jelly
• 1tbsp sweet almond oil
• 10 drops lavender essential oil
• 10 drops geranium essential oil
• 70 drops tea tree essential oil

Mix all of these ingredients together using an electric hand mixer, and you have yourself a strong moisturizer that you can use on your body right after you get out of the shower and pat yourself dry (the standard method for locking in moisture to the skin) as well as a face moisturizer that can also help with acne, hyper-pigmentation and dryness.