Okey dokey!

Well...we finally have some closure. The house inspection was today. We met up with both the property manager and the insurance adjuster. Going through the cabinets, we found a bracket for an industrial fire extinguisher, as well as extreme heat damage under all the stove burners. Further indication that our house was being used for a catering business, which violated the terms of the lease.

I feel like I am coming out of my post-holiday funk: Finally! SG keeps talking about joining a gym. Believe it or not, after 4 years away, our old gym membership is still "holding", so we may just see if they can cut us a deal for us to reactivate. Gym visits would add a lot of much-needed structure to our days here, while everything gets straightened out.

SG has been feeling "off." I suspect the culprits are the appetizer meatballs leftover from the party. His face is puffed up, and he has bags under his eyes and is sniffling. I have only had one or two, and I am a little off, but not struggling as much as he is. It's time to start tightening things back up again. I can tell there's a definite difference in how we feel: just sluggish and tired. (Of course, some of that might be stress, but food isn't helping!)

We went out to dinner last night, and my Mother-In-Law asked if there was a Paleo cookbook I would recommend. So we dropped off our copy of Practical Paleo for her to look at today: something I am very excited about!

I am also getting ready to look out in the freezer at the meat we brought with us. I need to start cooking- I miss it. I can't keep making the excuse that we are in someone else's kitchen. So it looks like we will be getting back on track as much as possible soon. I can't wait. 

Bye Bye Shampoo

Getting rid of shampoo and using less chemically options has somehow become known as "no poo." As in, "I am going "no poo" starting tomorrow!" This terminology vexes me, but I still find the process intriguing. (Dudes: you may find this process less intriguing. Don't worry, there are lots of other manly sites you can go visit. )

At the very beginning of my Paleo journey, I attempted something like this. Unfortunately, the experiment coincided with a July trip to Italy. The combination of unmanageable hair, jaw-dropping heat and humidity, and travel photos was a tough one, and vanity/comfort finally won out. 

So, fast forward a year or so, and I realize that when I get breakouts, they seem to be around my hairline. Check the shampoo bottle: While I made sure it was paraben, sulfate, and silicone free, I didn't even think to check for "hydrolized wheat gluten".

So I tried looking for shampoos that met all those requirements, and also had some kind of vanilla smell: with no lavender or citrus. Evidently, that sort of shampoo does not exist.

Fine shampoo. To hell with you! I've been trying to get my hair to grow to about waist-length for years, and always managing to get it "almost there". Then I go to the salon and they cut off 2-4 inches of horribly damaged length. It's not like I'm not asking for Crystal Gayle hair length, here, and I realize that years of dyeing and crappy diet and all kinds of other stuff had probably taken their toll. Hmm. Maybe what my hair needs is "less crap".

So the great "No Shampoo Experiment" began.  

My hair is really long, and fairly thick It also tends to frizz quite a bit, if there's any kind of humidity. Since it's long, it has enough weight to it that it stays relatively flat on top, but the ends puff up alarmingly, and I end up with a sort of "Cocker Spaniel" thing going on. While it looked really cute on my childhood doggie, I am not a fan of it on me.

The first time I tried it, I was overjoyed. I'd gone to Crunchy Betty's No Poo tutorial, and familiarized myself with everything. I got a little nubby scalp treatment thing from the beauty supply store, diluted some ACV, mixed up some baking soda solution, and wow! It looked great! Lots of shine...although I was shocked at how much less curl there was. I did miss the shampoo smell, but hey- that's why I have what I lovingly call "granola perfume". 

We also went for a walk in the fog, and my hair didn't frizz: although the ends curled up a little. I wasn't using any lotions or potions on it either.

Then I did it again...and again...and again.

After the third and fourth "again", I wasn't too thrilled with it. I wash my hair twice a week, sometimes three times- My hair was used to that with regular shampoo, so transitioning to "no-poo" on that same schedule wasn't the problem. My scalp didn't itch or go into super oily mode. I was thrilled with the volume and shine. I definitely didn't miss the frizz. There was really only one big drawback: the ends of my hair were starting to feel like sad little brillo pads. I tried adding a little coconut oil, and that just made the ends look all stringy- and they were still dry. Jojoba did the same thing.

So of course, I did my reading. Everyone who does this says there's a learning curve. There were all kinds of solutions to this problem: masks, henna, hot oil treatments,with seemingly only middling results. Typically, people would give up. Chopping all my hair off was beginning to sound like a valid option.  A few things stuck with me though, and I decided to try one of the potions (based on the fact that I had all the ingredients in my fridge.)

And: voila! I have tried this twice, and my hair feels better and better each time. It looks great, too. As I have continued with the experiment, I find that I am not "shedding" as much, which is an exciting development- both for me, and whoever is responsible for the shower drain.

Here's my recipe for success. Keep in mind that this is a lot more feasible if you wash your hair at night, but you could also pre-make this. Amounts are approximate: I don't measure.

Ingredients:

Honey
Water
Full-fat Greek yogurt
Baking soda
Apple cider vinegar

Implements:

Little bowl (optional)
nubby scalp brush
wide tooth comb
boar bristle brush (optional)
flexible plastic bottle with a long conical tip (like a hair color bottle)

empty bottle for vinegar rinse

Instructions:

Brush all tangles out of your hair. Mix 1/4 c. Greek yogurt and 1 tsp. honey- You can use a bowl, I just glop it into my hand. Mix it up, and massage it into the dry parts of your hair.  Throw it into a ponytail, and watch a TV show while it works its magic. You can wrap it in plastic wrap (or a towel) for extra conditioning if you want.

When you are ready to wash your hair, heat water (about 4 c.) until it is warm enough to dissolve baking soda and liquefy honey. Some people thinks that boiling the water first gives you better results: if you do that, wait until it has cooled a little before pouring it everywhere.

While water is heating, measure 2 TB. baking soda into the flexible plastic bottle, and 2 TB ACV and 1 tsp. honey into vinegar rinse bottle.

When water is ready, fill both bottles not quite full: they need some sloshing room, so you can mix the ingredients. Shake to combine.

In the shower, use the pint on the bottle to get baking soda solution close to your scalp. Focus on the roots, mixture will run down the length of your hair. Use nubby brush to really work it in- this also keeps scalp from getting gross. Let it sit for awhile, while you do the innumerable other shower things you have to do. Then rinse thoroughly.

OK: shut eyes, tilt head back, and pour ACV mix over scalp, and onto length of hair. When hair is saturated, comb through with wide tooth comb.  Rinse.

Then do the usual blot dry. I comb it through and use the hair dryer after that

The boar bristle brush is something I use between washings: it redistributes the natural oils from your hair, so they aren't just hanging out by the scalp.

Has anyone tried a version of this?
 

Warpaint

Doesn't she look happy?

I cleaned up the bathroom the other day, and tossed a lot of products that I just plain don't "need" to use anymore. Lots of "mattefying" makeup, potions for rosacea, at least 3 different kinds of cleanser for oily skin.
I am a girly girl- always loved makeup. I am still not one to leave the house without it. Thankfully, this is now a preference, rather than a necessity. Back in the day, I "needed" a layer of green-tinted facial primer, or people would ask if I got a sunburn. Even with all that makeup- I dreaded summer time. I would be "shiny" in an hour, and three hours in, makeup would literally slide off my face. Not having to deal with horrible breakouts and rosacea and super-oily skin are still slightly amazing to me. I will occasionally complain about having a zit- Just one! and then laugh when I realize how ridiculous I sound.

I still have a big stockpile of what I call Beauty Booty and SG calls "junk". I've tried to make better choices- as I worried more about what I put into my body, the stuff I put on my body came under scrutiny too. Lotions and potions- there's a lot of stuff I hate to throw away. Ironically, a lot of it is from places like Lush and The Body Shop. Stores where you would think you don't have to worry about healthy ingredients? You do. Sulfates, petrochemicals (like Vaseline, mineral oil, and paraffin), some preservatives- like parabens...there's a lot of things to keep track of. Sometimes, it feels like it's ridiculous to try to avoid all this, because yes, it's everywhere. And yes, I want to look good and smell like cookies! Is that too much to ask?

Red rhymes with "lead".

Yeah. I am a red lipstick aficionado. I have been wearing the stuff- well, since I was old enough to wear lipstick!  So when I read things like this, and this, regarding the fact that deeply pigmented lipsticks tend to contain significant amounts of lead- I have to wonder- how much lead do I have in my system? What does 25 years of unintentional lead ingestion do to a person? Evidently, many brands have more lead than is "allowable" in a candy bar. Granted, I don't eat a candy bar per day, but lipstick is a daily ritual, at the least. I can see how that would add up.

I've made some pretty major changes: and most of them have had a happy ending. It seemed ridiculous to worry about where my meat comes from, but not to worry about having pieces of acrylic fused to my fingertips with glue. Those long acrylic nails that I ditched? They were expensive. The fumes and chemicals in the salon could not have been good for me. I found a decent substitute- I really like Zoya polish, as it has a lot of sparkly and fun colors, it's formaldehyde and DBP-free, and the polish remover is effective, but not overpowering. And since I upgraded my polish and my diet- my nails seem to have magically gotten ridge free and strong enough to last on their own. Kind of amazing!

So as I have been sorting, I have been reading labels for ingredients. If you want to do the same-
Here's a list of The Dirty Thirty (potentially harmful additives commonly found in makeup and personal hygiene products).  

Another resource I have found to be really helpful is EWG's Skin Deep Cosmetics database. They rate and code products like shampoo and cosmetics on a low/medium/high risk scale, depending on what is on the ingredient list. If you don't want to mess with that, there are a lot of really reputable companies out there- Burt's Bees, Zoya, and Mychelle are some of my favorites.

Call me crazy- I've replaced a lot of things with relatively simple products. Coconut oil is an amazing moisturizer. I put it on my hair as a deep conditioner, around my eyes as an eye cream- I also cook with it. And on a recent camping expedition (yes, I brought it along) I discovered that it can also be used to get a campfire going, even when it's really windy! Baking soda- I use it to exfoliate, and if I really want to do a deep shampoo, I just sprinkle a little on my scalp along with my shampoo- squeaky clean hair. Not to mention all the other household uses it's good for. Anyone else have a crazy, workhorse product like that?

Some things I don't mind going without, or replacing. Other things? My longwear lipstick is something you'd have to pry from my cold dead fingers. (I did check- no lead!) It's all a tradeoff. I am going to level with you though. I've never found a good "hippie deodorant". Ever. If you know of one, please set me straight.

Jumping into the pool

 Beef. it's what's for dinner.

Since I have finally managed to regather the fragile threads of my life and Get back on track, here's a brief synopsis: Between recovering from that liver cleanse and starting a new job (which got busy really fast!) everything in my life went haywire. My life, my hormones, my schedule and habits, all went into a tailspin.

It looks like my body was under so much stress due to cutting out sugar and then the liver cleanse on top of it, that certain vital systems just shut themselves off. Guys, you may want to cover your eyes, but I had a 55 day cycle. So about three weeks of PMS, on top of everything else.  Finally, things have stabilized, I feel much better, my morning temps aren't veering crazily up and down, and I am feeling like my old self again. I am also doing my best to nip the recurring old habits in the bud. When you're stressed and tired and pressed for time and the kitchen is filthy, and you're premenstrual, Cheesecake Factory for dinner sounds like a fantastic solution. And it was the go-to solution, along with any other restaurant, much more often than it should have been.

I am loving most aspects of my new job, and am happy to say that I got a small but important raise yesterday, along with the info that we may be hiring a new person in my territory, which is good, but a little overwhelming. Since my workload doubled the second week I started the job, and seems to be constantly growing, it makes sense.

But yes, back to the whole "pool" thing. In reclaiming my kitchen, I have made a few vows to myself- smaller shopping trips more often, mindful eating (as opposed to chowing in front of the TV or on the run), and tracking everything once again, as it fell out the window while my life was in upheaval. I also want to be able to count on a steady supply of quality grass-fed protein in the freezer, hence, cowpooling. The last go-around, I met up with a bunch of people I didn't know, who were commenters on MDA, and it actually worked out pretty well.  In fact, I feel guilty: we ended up with a grass-fed rib roast (I had requested roasts as part of our share) which would have cost as much as we paid for our entire share, by itself! We didn't realize that until we got home, as it was all flash frozen and doled out in bags. It was a great deal, and a wonderful resource to have access to, as well as a considerable savings. I posted it on Facebook: I have quite a few Primal and Paleo friends who might be interested, but if nobody bites, I'll go back to MDA. Or I think there are even a few websites, although the first one I looked at, cowpool.org, seems to be just for folks in CO.

6,415 and Counting...

My Fitbit needs a name: perhaps Francine?

I survived.
After Day One, the cleanse was relatively painless. I did have sudden nausea on Day Three, and ended up yacking into the kitchen sink. This is unusual behavior for me, as I usually have the sort of stomach described as "iron clad". Love is someone who comes running when they hear you retching uncontrollably from the other end of the house, and makes sure to hold your hair (and jewelry!) back out of the way. Mad Props to SG. 

The good news: my sugar cravings are still happily gone, and while I didn't lose weight, I didn't lose ground either. I was very happy to get on with the regularly scheduled program yesterday morning. I swear, when I saw my morning eggs and chicken 50grams of protein breakfast and took the first bite: I felt crazy strength and happiness flood my body.

If I need any further corroboration to know I am doing the right thing: I remember looking at my tongue on Tuesday night, and it was a horrible grayish shade. A few hours after breakfast on Wednesday, I checked in the mirror again, and it was normal around the edges, but still gray in the middle. My acupuncturist pronounced it "gross." and I concur. After peeking again today, it's back to a much more human-looking all-over pink. Hooray!!!


I should also say that I finally found a "real" doctor, and had my first consult with her. What a positive experience that was! She looked me over, agreed that I needed to keep eating right and working on my weight, gently suggested that I maybe bump up the exercise, but pretty much said I seem "ridiculously healthy." Obviously, she is a genius. ;) She wants me to do more labs, and I explained the situation, so I will have three months for my body to acclimate, then I will retest.

Speaking of genius:   I love my standing workstation. For some reason (probably my dismal steps on the Fitbit) I had a brainwave: maybe I could put my tiny elliptical stepper in front of my workstation? And it works like a charm. I do stop occasionally, and I cannot type while on it, but otherwise, I am happy as a clam, reading MDA and the Hairpin and checking Facebook, while doggedly stepping away.

Detox

I didn't blog yesterday, mainly because my body decided that it was going to stage a coup and do whatever it could to take me out of the game. I drank my detox smoothie and detox tea, took my horrible tincture (which I refer to as ass in a glass but actually tastes horribly bitter and reminds me of EARWAX ew ew ew) and ate mostly veggies dutifully. The food was great: I made a vegetable soup, and was shocked that SG asked if he could have some for his lunch. Of course, he got to supplement it with sausages.   

However, by the end of the day, I felt like I wanted to die.There was a persistent horrible taste in my mouth: an awful mixture of garlic and metal. I also noticed a lot of temperature fluctuation: I would be warm one minute, freezing cold the next. The worst part was a feeling of overwhelming nausea. Nothing sounded good. I tried eating blueberries for dinner, and I choked down about three before I gave up. They were delicious, but my body so obviously did not want me to eat them! I also had a persistent headache, the kind I get that turns into a migraine if I don't intervene. Since I have been cautioned against consuming any caffeine, I waited until the last possible minute before finally giving in and taking half my usual dose of Excedrin. At least I was able to make life bearable. 

I spent most of the evening curled up on the couch drinking water, which was the only thing that sounded good, and watching movies on cable- and was in bed before 10.

The interesting part: I stared reading bits of "Primal Body, Primal Mind" when I was waiting for SG to come to bed, and it was like the chapter was tailor made for me. It talked about how heavily leptin resistant people have a really hard time converting from burning sugar to burning fat as fuel, and that their bodies will make sugar out of bone and muscle tissue in severe cases. Looking at my labs, I cut out all sugar on Jan 1st, have been staying below 30 g. carbs a day since then as well, and have been relatively grain free for two years. My fasting blood sugar was still riiiight at the top of the range on January 4th. That's kind of terrifying. No wonder I have been getting headaches!

So I am just doing my best to be mindful and get through this. It's only for 5 days. And happily, I woke up this morning feeling much better. 1 day down, 4 more to go.