One of my newer clients whom I already consider to be my friend is Sally Blenkey-Tchassova. She is a beautiful woman from England who came to the USA and started up one of the first Spray Tan Salons in NY frequented by some of the biggest celebrities called Brazil Bronze Glow Bat located in Soho (www.brazilbronze.com). She is also a dancer with her own burlesque dance team called the "Pink Chardonnays", as well as a mom and wife, horseback rider and all around amazing woman. Although our backgrounds are very different, our passion for life, fitness, and the pursuit for happiness is the same. Sally told me about a great book she read called "Sexy Crazy Diet" written by a cancer patient named Kris Carr, who researched every possible way to make her body healthier.
"Crazy Sexy Diet comes on the heels of my best-selling cancer survival guidebooks and my acclaimed TLC documentary. Infused with a bit of sass, wit and advice-from-the-trenches style, Crazy Sexy Diet is a beautifully illustrated resource and plant-based diet plan that puts you on the fast track to vibrant health, happiness and a great ass!
Along with help from my posse of experts, I lay out the fundamentals of my Crazy Sexy Diet: a low-glycemic, vegetarian (or better yet, vegan) diet plan that emphasizes balancing the pH of the body with lush whole and raw foods, nourishing organic green drinks, and scrumptious smoothies. Plus, I include the steps of my own 21-day cleanse, and simple but delectable sample recipes." (http://kriscarr.com/products/crazy-sexy-diet/).
Between the holidays approaching at that time, my past eating disorders that still occasionally haunt me, and coming out of a year-long "funk" as I call it, I knew I needed to do something different to cleanse my body and mind and hopefully lose a few pounds...and just feel better about myself. Being a vegan made this 21-day cleanse less extreme for me as it may be for most people, as it is mainly a plant-based diet. As Kris pointed out in her book, her pain and suffering from cancer was worse than restricting herself of the foods/beverages she had known and loved.
Aside from this cleanse being mostly plant based, it also recommends cutting out gluten and alcohol. I've never thought of myself as being sensitive to gluten (the protein found in wheat) but since there are several symptoms of gluten that can be misdiagnosed, I figured I'd try to be more aware of what has gluten in it and I tried to cut back with it. "The gluten in wheat, barley, and rye is not safe for people with celiac disease. Technically, some form of gluten is found in all grains, so it's not really correct to refer to other grains as "gluten-free," but that's what gluten-free customarily means: free of wheat, barley, rye, and their derivatives. (http://celiacdisease.about.com/od/theglutenfreediet/a/GlutenGrainQs.htm)". Some of the symptoms are abdominal pain, gas, bloating and diarrhea, as well as a variety of skin irritations and inflammation.
I've been to dermatologists several times for skin irritations/inflammations over the last 10 years and was told it can be stress-induced or an allergy to "something". I was told to try using Cetaphil (and CVS Brand) facial cleanser and lotion and it has been reduced tremendously! With all of the stress I had been through the last 20 years, I felt at the time this started I was already a pro at dealing with stress, so I doubt it was from that. I've been vegan for about 5 years and always attributed the abdominal bloating and "grumbley feeling" due to the excessive amount of vegetables I eat, but now that I've taken notice to my gluten intake I found that on the days I eliminated wheat products from my diet I didn't feel all of these discomforts.
As much as I hate to admit it, cutting out my wine in the evening was the hardest part for me. Being as hyper and active as I am all day long, I find that wine is the one thing that helps me to finally STOP doing all of the "things" that I feel I should be doing until I am physically exhausted. Drinking wine in the evening allows me to relax and slow down by 9pm at night. I made a deal with myself going into this cleanse that I wouldn't have wine at home but when I was not home I could, which was still a few nights a week. I did cave in at home a couple times.
.jpg)
