Nah–just kidding, but this new schedule has taken some adjustment, and is great because it is forcing me to be much more organized and efficient.  I need that.  My biggest downfall is my utter lack of organization, especially in my home office and my schedule. 

I am now doing at least two workouts a day, sometimes three, although the third one is just a short wind sprint session that only takes me about 15 to 20 minutes to complete.  Plus I am eating literally seven times a day–small meals yes, but think how hard it is for anyone who is busy to even fit in three squares a day!

You know, I thought I worked out really hard and pushed myself.  Maybe compared to most I did.  I want so badly to gain some beautiful muscle and I was really lifting hard to try to achieve that.  But I have learned in the past few weeks that I was wrong.  I was nowhere near pushing myself to the extent that I need to achieve my goals.  The training that Rob and Shannon set forth for us is truly world-class.  I have seen similar workouts extolled by the elite superstars of the NFL, like Jerry Rice, who is legendary for his work ethic, and Matt Leinart, who works out so hard that he has a bucket nearby so he can throw up and keep right on training!  (And I thought he was a wussy pretty boy–guess I misjudged!)

So far, a bucket has been unnecessary, thank goodness.  But I do have to say that my leg workout last week was the hardest one I have ever been through in my life.  Gone are the heavy weights with nice rest between sets.  Oh no, I am no longer pushing 500-lb leg presses for 8-10 reps and then recovering before doing it again.  Now it’s supersets of at least two exercises, done with no rest at all in between, so it becomes 6 to 8 exercises back to back that pushes every muscle fiber to its limit of endurance.  The leg press has become 30 reps with about 200 pounds, which I would have scoffed at before.  Hmmm….do 30 reps of that, jump to another leg exercise like deadlifts, and then back to the leg press for 4 rounds with no rest at all, and 200 pounds feels like a thousand! 

The cardio is not the powder puff sessions of endless, mindless pedaling on an elliptical machine.  No, it is intense intervals that are really high-rep leg workouts in disguise, building extreme muscular endurance while sending the heart rate through the roof and sweat dripping all over the place.  I said I wanted a bigger butt and legs.  Well, be careful what you wish for!  I am definitely heading in that direction and it hurts!

To ahcieve a goal you have never attained, you must do things you have never done.   I am definitely pushing my boundaries way out beyond my comfort zone.  It’s hard.  I am hurting.  I am sore.  I also have aggravated all those lovely old horseback riding injuries that had been lying dormant and not giving me much trouble.  My right lower back, hip, and especially knee have been screaming at me for a week.  Walking on my right leg has been literally difficult for nearly a week, but I gutted out every single rep of my workout schedule.  We get two days off on the weekends, and I have never been so glad to have a chance to heal! 

I finally was able to see my A.R.T. practitioner extraordinaire Dr. Renick, my massage therapist Shelly Daugherty and my naturopath Richard Weiler today.  Today was all about getting Christy fixed!  These people are all incredible professionals who truly support me and care deeply about my well-being, and also my success in attaining my goal.  No goal is ever achieved in a vacuum and I couldn’t make it right now without these fabulous people.  I love you all!!!

My diet–wow that’s a crazy subject.   I have been forced to make a decision to depart from some of the principles that have guided my nutrition for the past two years.  Anyone else would look at the diet they have me on, and think it was the healthiest diet they have ever seen.  But my perspective is different.  I am only eating fish, but I don’t even like doing that.  But so far, I have not found any raw vegan protein sources that truly mimic the effects of the fish, except for the Sun Warrior.  I am substituting seitan and tempeh for some of my meals, and they are great (although not raw), but they are higher in sodium and carbs, so I don’t think I will be able to eat them closer to a show. 

There are many fabulous protein sources in the raw food world, but most have a very high fat content.  For every day, that is just fine–the fats are necessary and healthy.   But doing what I am doing is not the real world.  For example, you all know I am very lean, usually hovering around 8 to 10 percent body fat on my every day diet, eating as much and whatever I want.  But for stage, Rob wants me to shed 10 pounds of bodyfat and gain a significant amount of muscle.  Stage is NOT real life!  So temporarily, I am going to trust their expertise and do what it takes to achieve my goal.  All my other foods I am eating raw.  For example, where they say oatmeal, I am eating sprouted raw oat groats.  All my sweet potatoes, veggies, etc are raw.   So as a percentage, I am still very high raw in my diet, and so far it is working pretty well.

I took measurements last week, and my waist has already come down over an inch!  Wow!  all others were about the same, so that means no muscle is being lost.  I am going to try to measure every week to see how things change.  Also, I will be taking progress pics.  I will share some of those, also.

It’s funny.  We get one ‘cheat meal’ every week, where for one meal we can have whatever we want–within reason.  This really helps jump start the metabolism and replenishes a lot of the lost glycogen depleted during the week’s workouts.   But I wasn’t craving pizza or cake like I used to.  No, I wanted more than anything—–a green smoothie!  Some fruit!  And Spirulina pie!  I ended up eating Amy’s burgers on awesome Ezekiel buns (those are fabulous–give them a try!), slathered in organic BBQ sauce, grapeseed Vegenaise and my homemade guacamole.  And I made a delectable white chocolate macadamia cheezecake for dessert, from my birthday cake recipe.  I thought I would literally eat at least half the cheezecake, but I was only able to eat about 1/4 of it.  I savored every bite, though!

Another cool thing I did this week was straighten my hair!  Shannon wants me to straighten it for stage, and I have never been able to do it and get it to look half decent before.  With some advice from some friends, I tried it last week for a costume party Michael and I were attending, where we were pirates and I wanted to wear a skull rag and that wouldn’t work with my big hair.  I loved it!  It turned out beautiful and was so easy to maintain, once the initial time-consuming work was done.  It takes me a good two hours to get it straight.  Hopefully, that will lessen with experience.  I also discovered I can just put a nice curl on the ends and end up with a great style.  The front isn’t cut right, though.  It’s probably just too short.  I am going to see my stylist Sept 8th, and we are going to work on it.

Here’s a pic of the new ‘do!

Arrrrgh, mateys! Swashbuckling pirates are we!

 Time to head to bed.  I have AM cardio so I am definitely improving on my bedtime habits.  Left to my own devices I will stay up half the night.  But this workout schedule will change that in a hurry!

Be Defiant!  Find out how far you can go if you defy pain and fatigue!

Christy

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Anyway, we had tried a new type of fish, and he turned up his little pink nose at it, and started screaming incessantly.  And his favorite trick is to climb up on my pillow and walk around in my hair.  That is a BIG pet peeve of mine–I cannot STAND for my hair to be caught or pulled.  I can’t even lay my head on it–it has to be out from under me or I go nuts.   HOW does he know this?????  I think for the first time in my life, I really got angry with him.  I dumped him off the bed several times.  But then I felt horrible for hurting his feelings, and I couldn’t go back to sleep even without his relentless crying and walking in my hair.  Spoiled, spoiled, spoiled.

So yesterday, I was worthless.  I slept half the afternoon.  My eyes were burning and my head felt dizzy and detached.  I did manage to get some important real estate stuff done, but thank God I didn’t have to go see anyone.  I wouldn’t have made it.  The only thing I did outside the house, was head to the Kroger to get some tuna for Juke, to stop the howling.  Once he got that, all was quiet in the Seguin household again.  Furry little fiend.

More about the fabulous Bombshell Camp.  I stayed in the Casa Del Bombshell, which is a beach house just north of Daytona Beach, FL, that the Deys own and make available at a wonderful price to the girls staying at the camp.  It was like a big slumber party!  So funny to have all these women in one house who are all on these extreme diets and workouts.  I was so impressed by the caliber of the women.  I wondered before I went if most of the campers would be little young bimbos, but that was not the case at ALL!  The ladies were mostly in their 30’s, and there was only one a little older than me.  One girl was 21, but she was so fun and mature that she fit right in with all of us.  And the ladies were all professional career women—nurses, pharmaceutical reps, technological software reps, retail merchandising pros, etc—and most have at least one child.  They are really wonderful examples of living a healthy lifestyle and juggling the crazy competition preparation with career, family, etc.

Friday night we had an orientation that lasted for a couple of hours, followed by a Cardio Boot Camp session.  They took us outside and made us do all this on the sidewalk of a busy street.  Of course, all the guys going by in cars were hooting and hollering at all the sweaty hot ladies.  At first I felt silly, but once the workout got going, it was so intense it wouldn’t have mattered where I was.  I could only focus on getting through the exercises.  I was proud of one thing–at one point, they had us do short sprints.  Now that is my specialty!  I kicked butt on that.  But I have always been fortunate to be blessed with great speed.  Very few times in my life have I lost a race.   I felt great after those.

Saturday—WOW!  We started at 8am.  Imagine working one body part as hard as you can for about 45 minutes, nonstop in a circuit-style.  Now multiply that by SIX!   Yes, we did six really intense workouts in one day.   We did get some rest in between, and had a couple longer breaks where they lectured us on contest preparation, how to present ourselves, etc.  We also did a LOT of work on posing for stage.  That is so much more involved than most would imagine.  And standing for l-o-o-o-o-n-g periods of time with all your muscles flexed, in an unnatural pose with your back cranked around hurts really bad after a while.  Especially the lower back, and of course the feet.  We have to wear five-inch clear ‘hooker heels’.   I am used to heels and mine are pretty comfortable, but after a while, there’s no such thing as comfortable five-inch heels!

We finished up mid-afternoon and had some time to go shopping or do what we wanted.  Nobody shopped at all!  We were all back at Casa Del Bombshell crashed out on our beds!  We stayed there until time to go to dinner.  Shannon hosted us at her beautiful home with a ‘cheat’ meal.  Yes, I ate pizza–regular pizza, not raw, although I did stick to veggie pizza with no meat.   I know, Bad Christy.  But here’s why.  First of all, it was part of the camp and I felt like refusing the food they provided us would have been really rude.  Plus one cheat meal a week when on such a strict diet is very important.  The body plateaus, and the cheat meal kick-starts your metabolism.   My body responds really well to cheat meals.  On my former diet, I used to eat a pizza and a small grocery-store birthday cake for my cheat meal.  Notice I did not say ‘part of’ the pizza and cake–I ate the whole thing!  No kidding–it always grossed Michael out.    And then I would drop a couple of pounds of bodyfat two days later.  Never failed.  And it happened this time too!  I could totally tell yesterday that I had lost at least an inch on my waist and was much leaner.  Especially after those workouts!

For my cheat meals going forward, I will probably make a raw pie or cake or something.   Definitely Spirulina Pie!  Or maybe my decadent Goji Chocolate Bliss.   I know I won’t be able to have much fruit on my diet either, so I will probably go in for some fruit.  Yum.

Sunday we did a really brutal cardio session.  Their idea of cardio is not spending an hour on the treadmill or elliptical going at a moderate pace like you see everyone in the gyms doing.  It is intense intervals that build muscular endurance and send the heart rate through the roof.  Fortunately, that is how I have always felt too, so I was well-prepared for the sessions and many of the exercises were things I had already been doing.  Didn’t make it any easier!  But at least I knew what to do.

The Cardio Bombshells! L-R--Me, Debra Plennert and Angela Firkins.

Then we had another posing session, and a mock figure show.  We acted like we were really on stage, and we did the callouts, lineups, individual poses, everything.   I feel that my posing is really, really horrible, and I made great progress in just two days.  Their methods are different than what I had been taught before, and really are simpler.  I will have to practice, practice, practice.  This is definitely a weak spot in my repertoire.  And that is not good!  What a shame to work so hard to develop an excellent physique, and then not be able to showcase it properly on stage.  That would indeed be tragic.  They pay such attention to minute details as well.  I love it.  Every little advantage counts when you are standing amongst 30 other incredibly fit and beautiful women!

Then we wrapped up camp and said goodbyes.  Michael wanted me to get a chart of the waterways in that area, so I had to go all the way into Daytona to find a marina.  It was really nice!   I will probably be going back for more sessions, possibly private training, so we thought it would be a lot of fun to take Soul Mate and stay on her in the marina.  

Then I packed up my two HUGE coolers full of food, and headed for home.  Easy drive–it’s interstate all the way.  But it was long, and when I had to stop for gas, getting my stiff body out of the car was a challenge.   Funny how driving totally stiffens you up, especially when you are already sore.

So that was my amazing, wonderful experience.  I have never had a trainer before, so this is just a thrill for me.   I was making so many mistakes, and would never have thought of the things I was taught this weekend on my own.  Shannon is a judge, so her inside knowledge is invaluable.  I am looking forward to competing, possibly this fall.  We will see how my progress goes.

I received my first month of workouts today.  Definitely intense, but certainly doable.  I plan to give 110% and really dig deep to make every one of them count.  I will start tomorrow.  Shannon insisted I take two days off from working out at all, and boy has that been hard.  I am absolutely itching to get back in the gym and put my newfound knowledge to work!  NOT working out is hard for me.  I need my workouts. 

Blessings, love and light to you all.  I will keep you abreast of how this is going.  I am really excited and eager for this journey.   We will see to what destinations it leads me.

Be Defiant!

Christy

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I just got back in from visiting my parents in Georgia today, amid the worst winter storm we have seen here in balmy South Carolina in a long time.  My mother had to have a preventive measure done to help protect her heart.  She had an ICD installed, which is a combo defibrillator/pacemaker.   As most of you know, she suffered a massive heart attack 3 years ago, and is a walking miracle today.  She is doing so well, but the doctors felt her heart had weakened and wanted to install the ICD as a pre-emptive strike if she were to experience an arrythmia.   Her energy is so good and she just works out in the garden and on the farm as much as she wants to, so it’s hard to believe that she is operating on only 30% of her heart capacity.   Hopefully the electrical stimulation from the device will jump-start some of the inactive tissue.

I took a few days to go stay with my parents and help them out, and to be there for the surgery.  The doctors kept saying that it was ‘nothing’ and very simple procedure, but with my mom’s miraculous history and delicate health, there is no such thing as a simple procedure!  The incision was bigger than we thought and it certainly isn’t just ‘nothing’.  The anesthesia was just local but it still really knocked her for a loop.  She was still really groggy and out of it until the evening.  And she slept a lot the last couple of days, but she needed it so that was great!

I had the opportunity to prepare food for us to eat for the entire weekend, so I loved that!  When I arrived on Thursday evening, I immediately took over the kitchen and made lots of delicious food.  All raw vegan Living Cuisine, of course.  I brought my entire kitchen over to Georgia with me.    I made Mom’s favorite Broccoli Salad, Sweet Potato Soup, Avocado Salad Dressing, a yummy Apple Cobbler, and the hit of the weekend—Living Ice Cream made from coconut, cashews and bananas.  The ice cream turned out incredibly awesome!  Mom tasted it Thursday night, and at first I wasn’t sure of the reaction because she really rolled her eyes, but she turned to me and said that it was delicious and that the coconut and banana was right up her alley!  I was so excited that she loved it!

I got even more excited the next day.  My father and I came back home mid-afternoon after the surgery on Friday, because he still needed to check on the cows and put out hay on one of the farms.  We hadn’t had lunch, and much to my surprise he tried the Sweet Potato Soup and really liked it!  And then we had the Apple Cobbler topped with the ice cream for dessert, and Daddy went wild over that.  He just kept raving.  And when Mom came home, she did too.  I had to make a second batch of the ice cream!

I was so happy that they really loved the Living Foods.  That’s an awfully tough audience to please. I still don’t know if I can get them to actually make some for themselves, but I am working on it.   But I told them, I was raised with my mom’s delicious down-home cooking, and I loved it too.  However, that diet is the reason we have had the health struggles that we have.  I like good food, and I don’t make bad-tasting food!   I have the same cravings and struggles as anyone else.  I have to fight it too.  Defying cravings is part of my life, just like anyone else’s.   The best way I have found to fight cravings is with awesomely-delicious Living Foods that are so satisfying that it’s fairly easy to overcome the cravings.

That ice cream would certainly go a long way toward helping overcome a craving.  And the best part is, there is no dairy, sugar, or harmful ingredients in this ice cream.  I used the recipe from Everyday Raw by Matthew Kenney, except I just made it plain vanilla, with no additional flavors.  I definitely want to try making chocolate ice cream now.  I have never been much of an ice cream person at all, but one I have always loved is Rocky Road, so that is next on my agenda as well.  The nut cream and young Thai coconut meat creams up and freezes to almost exactly the same texture as dairy ice cream.  That was what amazed my father, and he kept commenting about that.  It’s not as pure of a white color, though.  It’s a bit off-white because of the nuts.   But if it had chocolate or other flavorings, the color wouldn’t matter at all.

On the last batch of ice cream, I split a bit off and added spirulina and cacao powder to it.  Yum!  You know I had to get in my spirulina fix!  I didn’t even offer it to my parents.  I don’t want to completely freak them out and deep green ice cream might just push them over the edge–haha!   And the other success I had was how much my father loves my green smoothies.  He was really raving about those too.  And Mom even liked the one I made this morning.  I am chipping away!!!

As you know, my parents don’t have any internet access, so I couldn’t post while I was there.  I really miss not having the internet, but honestly it was nice to have a true break, away from all things work-related, and to truly enjoy spending the precious time with my parents.  I don’t know how much time we have left together, so I want to make the most of it while I can.  It’s such a different life on the farm, slower-paced and calmer.  The animals require a lot of care, and we had some excitement when a couple of calves broke through a fence and escaped, but otherwise, it’s a really nice tranquil retreat.  I really want to simplify my life, and spending a few calm days just reinforced that with me.

I am getting excited about my competition!  It’s only about a month away, now.  I did get a workout on Saturday, just bodyweight interval exercises, but I worked hard and really got a good sweat going.  I did the ‘variety of pushups’ workout I like so much, interspersed with cardio leg exercises like jump squats, jump lunges, step ups, one-legged squats, etc.  It felt good to move around.  The weather was so bad with constant pouring rain, so I couldn’t get outside and shoot some hoop, ride the horses, or do anything in the garden.   I don’t like being cooped up inside when I am there, when there is so much to do and enjoy.

But I am glad to be back home.  I missed Michael and Jukebox very much.  And I am so grateful that my mother is doing so well.  She is a blessing, an inspiration, a miracle, and a testament to the power of nutrition.

Blessings to you all.  Please take the time to tell the ones you love how much you love them.  Things can happen so fast, and our loved ones can be taken away from us in an instant.  Treasure the moments you spend with them, and truly be there in the moment for them.   And above all, be grateful for the loved ones in your life, and for the love and joy they bring you. 

Be Defiant!

Christy

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Ingredients:

Flesh of 1 Young Thai Coconut

1 cup Young Thai Coconut Water

3 Tablespoons Spirulina

2 Tablespoons Raw Carob

2 Tablespoons Coconut Butter (optional)

1 tsp Blue Green Algae

6 dates

1 Tablespoon Yacon syrup (optional)

pinch of Celtic salt (optional)

Blend all ingredients until smooth and thick. The Blue-Green Algae lends a nice subtle saltiness that beautifully balances the sweetness of the dates and syrup, plus adds even more awesome superfood nutrition. Use a little more salt to your taste if you wish. If the mixture is too thin, you can toss in a handful of cashews and blend, if you don’t mind having nuts in the recipe. Refrigerate until thickened and pudding-y. Try to control yourself!

Variations:

For a high-protein muscle-building treat, substitute Chocolate Sun Warrior Protein for the carob.

Leave out the Blue Green Algae.

Add a tablespoon of maca, mesquite or lucuma powder.

Be Defiant!

Christy

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You can see my Macadamia/White Chocolate/Strawberry Cheezecake on the right, and the regular cake on the left.   I even had decidedly non-health-nut people coming up to me commenting on it.  One said ‘It’s bad when the healthy food tastes better than the unhealthy food.’  I LOVED that!  Hahahahaha! 

I did manage to get in a great leg workout yesterday before getting ready for the party, and I am so sore today!  My rear end is hurting!  I hope that means it is GROWING–in a good way!    We did deep, rear-to-the-ground Smith Machine squats followed by walking lunges and then lying hamstring curls.  That is a serious booty workout.

We spent several hours out on our boat today, and I got to soak up some rays.  Thank God!   I have been feeling so sun-deprived.  I needed the Vitamin D for sure.  It was nice–72 degrees.  A bit breezy but I still broke out the bikini and laid out on the bow of the boat.  The water was 45 degrees, so no swimming, though!  I love where I live—February 8th and we are out on the lake.  Too cool.

I made two Spirulina pies for a client tonight, and it triggered my addiction badly.  Since I couldn’t eat their pies, I made some pudding to feed my addiction and scarfed that up.  Yum!

Be Defiant!

Christy

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I took a few baby steps today. I taught my first living foods class. It was a blessing and a wonderful experience. For some reason, my pecans and dates just refused to process in my food processor when I was trying to show how to make Living Cinnamon Rolls, so I started out right off the bat with a big screw-up.  Those darn pecans!  But it was OK.  The recipe got across and I didn’t panic or anything, so it was OK.  It was much better after that.  I had so much fun.  I thoroughly enjoyed myself.

I really enjoyed sharing raw and living foods with the people who attended the class. Most had no idea what to expect and the feedback I received was so positive. I challenged the class with Spirulina Pie for dessert. Most had never seen a deep green dessert made out of seaweed before, but it was a huge hit! I was really impressed with everyone’s willingness to try something new, strange and different.  You all know my addiction.  Fortunately, there was some left, so I cleaned up the pan after class!

There’s so much more I wanted to say, but I would have been talking for 16 more hours. There is so much to cover. I truly hope that the information I was able to present touched someone’s life today. I prayed before the class that my words would be divinely inspired and would be exactly what someone needed to hear, and that I would be guided to speak to what the needs of the people were who so graciously gave their time to attend my class. I just hope to be the tool used to spread the word of vibrant health through raw foods to those who are suffering, sick, or just plain not as healthy as they want to be.

Hopefully some of my dear friends from the class will be reading this, and to you I say “Thank you from the bottom of my heart. It meant the world to me that you would take your valuable time to attend my class, and I hope you truly received something of great value.”

And I want to give a special thank you to Denise Draime, my dear dear friend and partner in the Living Well Cafe. She just went out of her way to help and was so fantastic. Denise is one of the kindest and most wonderful people I have ever met. I am blessed to have her in my life.

Let’s see, we feasted on: Mexican Hot Chocolate, Spicy Lime Cilantro Soup, My Awesome World-Famous Guacamole, Spicy Tortilla Chips, Mild Lime Tortilla Chips, Chile Rellenos with Nacho Cheeze and Mole Sauce, Taco Wrappers with Sour Cream and Mexican Spicy Cheeze, and last but not least: the Spirulina Pie, and Living Cinnamon Rolls with Cashew Creme Frosting. And you call this a diet?  Huh…..I don’t think so!!  This is heaven!

It occurred to me today that most of the girls I will be competing against who are on the standard bodybuilder diet would probably have eaten plain chicken breast, plain steamed veggies, egg whites, protein shake, dry turkey, etc etc. All this plain, bland food. I used to do that. And you just get so sick of it and the cravings for ‘bad’ foods are brutal. So while they are suffering, I am feasting and yet my progress toward my competition condition is exactly where I want to be. Hmmmm………methinks me likes this method much better!

My next class will be on February 12th at 7PM. I am going to teach a special Valentine’s Class of Decadent Desserts, with a red and chocolate theme. And those who attend will be able to recreate the desserts for a fabulous Valentine’s dinner with their sweetheart. I will post details on the Defiant Events page very shortly.

________________________________

I did manage to work out today. It was leg day. I am still pretty wiped from the detoxing. I was much better yesterday and today, but I could really tell my strength wasn’t up to normal. Plus I worked really hard the last couple of days preparing for the class, so I didn’t get nearly as much sleep as I should have.

Michael did great today. He went very heavy and worked hard. I am so proud of him!

Leg Workout:

• Warmup on recumbent bike
• Cybex Leg press machine, 3 sets, 150 lbs for 20 reps, 210 lbs for 15 reps two times
• Stiff-legged Deadlifts, 3 sets of 12, 95 lbs
• Smith machine lunges, 3 sets at 110 lbs, 15, 12, and 10 reps each leg.  These kicked my rear today!
• Hamstring curl machine, 3 sets, first at 40 lbs each leg, dropped to 30 for next two sets
• Isolateral leg extensions, 3 sets of 12 with 50 lbs each leg

Yeah, I know.  A wussy workout with wussy weights.  But that’s OK.  It’s a lot better than completely wussing out with no workout at all!  I followed up with an awesome papaya/banana/spinach Sun Warrior protein shake and felt pretty good.  This workout was a baby step for sure, but baby steps lead to miracles!

I did do a chest/tricep workout yesterday, too.  Mostly pushups and flyes.  I was surprisingly strong on my flyes, working up to 25-lb dumbbells pretty easily.   I didn’t feel all that great but it helped to work out.   You know, if I didn’t have my goals–my revolutions!–in place, there’s no way I would have worked out this week.  I would have totally given myself a free pass and rested.  That’s why goals are so important!   Eyes on the prize!

My new theme song:  When I arrive, I, I’ll bring the fire, Make you come alive, I will take you higher, What is this, forgot, I must now remind you, Let it RAWk!  Let it RAWk!  Let it RAWk!

Be Defiant!

Christy

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Any of you who know me personally know that I eat like a horse, a hungry horse.  And when I get up in the morning, I am at about the same hunger level as a bear waking up from hibernation.   Do NOT get between me and the kitchen when I wake up!  So fasting is a big scary deal to me, like it is to most people.  Plus I am trying to gain muscle, not release weight (except for some bodyfat for my upcoming competitions), so I don’t need it from that perspective.  But digestion is the BIGGEST energy drain on your body.  It is the hardest process for your body to do, and when your body gets a break from it, then it has the opportunity to attack other issues that are dragging you down—like stored toxins, viruses, bacteria, parasites, and of course–that pesky bodyfat.  It also allows the body the energy to heal as well.  Eventually, I would like to work up to a 3 day fast, and then maybe a 7 day.  The people who have done it report incredible energy, feelings of euphoria and amazing health improvements.  But I won’t attempt that until after my competition days are done.

Today was not as tough as I thought it might be.  In reality, it’s not that bad.  You eat your last meal before 6:00 pm and then don’t eat again before bedtime, maybe just some water.  Then you don’t eat again until after 6 pm the next day.  So really, you are asleep for the first part of the fast, so that’s totally normal everyday protocol.   And in reality, all you’re doing is skipping two meals–breakfast and lunch.   How many of us have gotten busy and completely forgotten to eat all day?  See, not that hard is it?  During the fast, drink lots of water.  Most people interpret thirst as hunger anyway.  And an interesting observation on the Raw Divas website is that what we feel as ‘hunger’ is actually headaches, stomach aches, irritation, and other symptoms of toxicity.  This is very common for those who suffer from chronic toxicity, blood sugar and blood pressure disorders.   Or we are driven to eat by emotional triggers or ingrained habits, such as: time of day, stress, needing comfort, being around other people eating, smelling food, nervousness, a ‘reward’ for some type of behavior, etc.

In the not-so-distant past, I had major blood sugar issues, and would ’crash’ terribly.  My husband learned quickly that when I said I ”HAD” to eat, right then, that he better stop the car.  I would get violently ill and upset.  It’s a horrible feeling.  I know many of you know exactly what I am talking about.   That’s why I was on the Atkins-type diet for so long—that was what ‘they’ told me to do.  The doctors, books, media, etc.  They all said it was about sugar, to eat all protein and avoid fruits.  Well, I can tell you for sure that is not correct.   Now that I eat all the fruit I want and avoid the processed foods, all dairy, cooked foods, and animal products, I don’t have any blood sugar issues at all, and haven’t crashed in almost two years. 

My husband was absolutely amazed that I could go an entire day without food, and nobody got hurt and no property was destroyed in the process!  I did a similar fast a few months ago, and it was harder than this one.  My first one, I did get a headache and felt tired.  That is classic detox.  When the body is expelling toxins, the toxins go out kicking and screaming.   Plus, the body does such a nice job of sequestering the toxins to attempt to mitigate the damage, that the immune system doesn’t know they are there.  So when they are released, the immune system leaps into massive action, thinking there is a NEW threat to the body.  This often results in flu-like symptoms as the main way the body releases toxins is by secreting and excreting mucus, as well as through the kidneys, liver, colon, and skin.  Detox is not fun.  But today, I didn’t have any problems at all.  No headache, no coughing or phlegm.  And I even did a hard and heavy shoulder workout beforeI ate, and had plenty of strength and stamina.   Whoo-hoo!  That means I have made quite a bit of health progress over the past couple of years.  It will still take time to completely undo 38 years of eating crappy, but it will happen.  Actually, it’s amazing how fast our bodies repair the damage we so cruelly inflict upon them.

I kept myself busy doing computer work and taking care of last-minute details for a real estate closing I have tomorrow.  Keeping your mind off food is key.  But then I had my nails done this afternoon, and when I told my nail tech what I was doing, we ended up having a salon-wide discussion of fasting, raw foods, and what foods are good.  Since they are Korean, I love to learn about delicious foods that are not common here in the states.  And I had a wonderful opportunity to share the delights of living foods with them.  So all that talking about food for an hour did make me feel hungry, but I just drank a liter of water with the juice of half a lemon squeezed into it, and was fine.  Then I went to the gym, and Michael and I worked shoulders and abs.  I did great and actually felt very energetic. 

After the workout, I made us a great big green smoothie of pineapple, papaya, and kale.  I have to admit, I couldn’t wait for that smoothie!  It’s not good to break a fast with heavy food that is hard to digest, so a green smoothie is ideal.   And that was plenty filling to me.  I did start feeling hungry a little while ago, so I juiced a grapefruit and drank the juice–straight, with no honey or stevia.  That amazed me too.  I used to be so addicted to sugar that there was no way I could eat a grapefruit without soaking it in sugar.  Tonight, the straight juice tasted delicious to me and I didn’t need to add anything to it.  I swear it astounds me how much my tastes have changed, and it’s all for the better.  I enjoy food so much more now.

The rest of the detox isn’t much different from how I eat anyway.  There is just a lot less fat and I have to limit nuts, avocados and coconut.  Uh-oh.  That’s a really tough one for me.   I had already cut way back on nuts, but I usually have avocados every day, and I make my spirulina pies and puddings with young Thai coconuts.  Hmmm…guess it will be spirulina and bananas for now.  But you know, it’s only seven days out of my life, and there are many benefits to be had.  The world will not run out of avocados and coconuts.  They will still be there in a week and I can eat as many as I want.  They aren’t bad at all!  It’s just that on the detox ANY dietary fat is strictly limited.  I will let you know how it goes!

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Shoulder Workout, with Abs:

• Warm up on treadmill for 5 min
• Overhead press on Hammer machine, 1 warmup set, & 3 working sets of 40-50-60 lbs each arm for 12, 10 & 8 reps respectively
• Smith machine front press, super slow eccentric to a very deep position, pause for 1 second and then explode up.   Wow, that really kicked my rear end.   Michael spotted me so I could finish the last few reps.  These were heavy, so I was doing 6 to 8 reps, at about 75 lbs. for 3 sets.  My delts were burning!
• Lateral raise machine
• Cable lateral raises
• Front dumbbell raises, 15 lb bells, 3 sets
• Hammer Ab machine, 15 reps, 3 sets
• Bench Ab extensions, 3 sets of 15
• Bicycles, slow pace for 30 reps, 3 sets

And then I got to go guzzle my smoothie!  It was well-earned. 

I encourage you to try the seven day detox.  Yes, it can be intimidating, but change always is.  You won’t know until you try.  I didn’t think I could for my entire life, and it turned out not to be as hard as I thought.  And you won’t know your own strength until you test it and come out on the other side.  Beverly Sills said, “You may be disappointed if you fail, but you are doomed if you don’t try.”   Very wise words.

Defy your fears.  Defy the nasty toxins and chemicals that build up in your body.  Show them who’s boss and kick them out! 

Be Defiant!

Christy

My husband’s mother, Sarah, is coming in tomorrow night to stay with us through Christmas.  I am so excited!  Yes, it’s unusual, but I love my mother in law.  She is the sweetest, kindest, most generous person you could ever hope to meet.  We are planning to go over to my family’s farm in Georgia for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.   We have our main dinner on Christmas Eve and then open the family gifts.   Then my sister and her family will go home, so my niece and nephew can wait for ‘Santa Claus’ to deliver his gifts for Christmas morning.   We will all go down to her house on Christmas Day to see what ‘Santa’ brought, and then have a nice Christmas luncheon!

I wish all of you a very Merry Christmas.  Good luck on the final preparations for the big holiday.  Remember to slow down and enjoy this holiday time.  Don’t stress too much.  It will all get done, and it’s all good.  If you put love into everything you do, others will feel the love and it will return to you many times over.  As I was making my dishes tonight I kept that in mind, and tried to put lots of love into each dish, because I love making delicious food to share with my dear friends and family.  And I want the energy to be positive and powerful to nourish body and soul.

I have been making delicious food all evening.  I didn’t really plan it this way, but almost everything I made was green.  I made my world-rocking guacamole (see Defiant Recipes), Spicy Lime Cilantro Soup (one of my all-time favorites by Alissa Cohen), and Spirulina Pie.  I hope Sarah likes all my green things!   

I also made a batch of awesome Sun Warrior Protein Bars, and I wanted to share the recipe with you.  They are high protein, but certainly not low-carb.  They have plenty of energy in them, from the huge amount of superfoods, and can easily substitute as a light meal.   You will need a dehydrator for this.  I highly recommend the Excalibur dehydrator. 

Sun Warrior Goji Bars

• 1 cup dried Black Mission Figs, soaked until soft, reserve soak water
• 1 cup dried Regular Figs, soaked until soft
• 1/2 cup Sun Warrior Natural Flavored Protein
• 1/4 cup Raw Maca Powder
• 2 Tbl Sun Warrior Activated Barley
• 2 cups raw almonds, soaked and drained
• 1 cup raw pumpkin seeds
• 1 cup Goji Berries, soaked for no more than 15 minutes
• Juice from 1/2 large lemon
• 3/4 cup raw honey
• 2 tsp vanilla  
• 1 tsp Celtic Salt–may add more to your taste
• 1/4 cup soak water from figs

De-stem figs.  Process figs in food processor until smooth and creamy.   Transfer to very large mixing bowl.  Process almonds and pumpkin seeds until coarsely ground.  Pour into mixing bowl with figs.  Add protein, maca, barley, lemon juice, and honey.  Mix vanilla and Celtic Salt with the 1/4 cup date soak water and pour into bowl.  With a wooden, or other strong spoon, mix all ingredients together until uniformly distributed.  This will take some muscle.  See you’re building muscle already!

Add 3/4 of the goji berries and stir to evenly incorporate.  Line a small cookie sheet pan (that will fit in your dehydrator) with wax paper or parchment paper.  Spread the mixture evenly, to the same depth as the sides of the cookie sheet, being sure to get into the corners.  This may take more than one pan.  Alternatively, just form into a large rectangular shape about 1/2 inch thick on a Teflex sheet.  Sprinkle the remaining goji berries on top and gently press into the dough with your palms. 

Dehydrate for a few hours until you can cut into bars.   Spread the bars out a bit on Teflex sheets so air can circulate around them and continue to dehydrate for a few hours longer, checking that they don’t become too dry.  Enjoy!

You can play around with this recipe too.   Add raw cacao nibs, use vanilla or chocolate Sun Warrior protein instead, use different nuts, add cinnamon or other spices–it’s up to you and your taste buds!

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I hope you enjoy this recipe, which I just came up with tonight because I wanted to have healthy snack food around the house for the next few days.  Please let me know how it turns out for you.  The maca, seeds, gojis and nuts have lots of protein as well, so these are quite high in protein.  Since I literally just created them tonight, I have no idea of the actual nutritional content.  But if you always use raw, whole foods, nature gives you exactly the correct ratios of nutrients to nourish your body to optimal health.  Don’t worry about percentages!  

Defy all those commercial protein bars filled with all sorts of artificial ingredients and inferior proteins.  Make your own and be healthier!  Everybody wants to look good on the outside, but if you don’t look good on the inside too, then all is for naught!

Be Defiant!

Lots of Holiday Love,

Christy