Day 7--Mental Clarity Day

As I was driving home from a new baby visit, I realized that my mental clarity was really good. I felt good driving and not "foggy" as I sometimes feel when I'm tired. It was glorious! I also have a lot more energy today and noticed that my cheek bones were coming back into sight. :)

I FINALLY made it to the gym this morning for the first time since I started this cleanse. The workout was right up my alley with rowing, box jumps, and burpees.  I attempted to do this workout "prescribed" (Crossfit's way of doing a workout without any modifications). My rowing was ridiculously slow and I biffed it once on the box jumps, but I completed the workout and tried to keep as steady of a pace as I could. It felt good to move again, even if it was much slower. 

Our meals for the day were pretty standard, except I invented another NEW recipe! So exciting! 

Here's what we ate:

Breakfast: cottage cheese, "real" oatmeal, egg whites, veggies

Lunch: Cottage cheese, salad, left over chili, green beans, tomatoes

Dinner: Shredded Chicken, squash, green beans, fruit

Snacks & Supplements: Fresh Fruit blended with UltraClear, AdvaClear, UltraFlora, Green Tea, Pomegranate Juice + Colon Cleanse

NEW Recipe! Buffalo Chicken Salad

1 cup cooked chicken, shredded

3T Plain Greek Yogurt

1tsp Frank's Red Hot Sauce or Buffalo Sauce

1 stalk celery, diced (optional)

Mix all ingredients together and enjoy! I cannot believe how good this tasted. I've never used plain yogurt in place of mayo before and I will certainly keep trying new creations with the yogurt. If you are eating grains, some Gluten Free Sweet Potato chips would be a great dipping tool with this salad. Or you could roll it up in a piece of Romaine lettuce with veggies for a healthy wrap. 

If you are interested in doing a Metagencis cleanse through our office, talk to Dr. Wes or Dr. Jason at your next appointment and they will get you going! Waukee Wellness: (515) 978-6661

Day 6 is AMAZING!

This morning I woke up feeling good. It's now 7:30pm and I FEEL AMAZING!! There could be a lot of things contributing to this:

• Great church service with my guys and my brother's family
• Seeing my parents for a little bit
• Eating really well and skipping the church brunch that we typically eat (it's so good but probably not-so-healthy)
• Taking A THREE HOUR NAP on a rainy Sunday (this is a big part I'm sure)
• Making a really healthy dinner with Wes--our recipe is below 
• The colon cleanse supplement finally started working

Wes & Katie's *Secret Chili

2# Ground Turkey

1# Chicken & Turkey Andoille Sausage (watch for ones that are low in fat)

2 Large Cans of Tomato Sauce

8oz Low Sodium Chicken Broth (we used Pacific Organic)

2 medium sweet potatoes

2T Chili Powder

Cook the meats separately. Once the turkey sausage is completely cooked, run through the food processor for a few seconds. While the meat is cooking, dice the sweet potatoes pretty small. Boil these for a few minutes until they are cooked through. In a large stock pot, add everything together. Bring to a boil and immediately turn the heat down to low. Enjoy!   (This served two adults, two boys, and we had four containers left for lunches this week.) 

*The secret is that we didn't tell the boys what was in the chili since they don't love andouille sausage or sweet potatoes. They LOVED this chili, even though they thought it had hot dogs in it. :) 

Bonus Picture: Me after a massage with Kendra! I LOVE her scalp therapy and it instantly made my headache much better! Looks like birds nested in my hair though. :) 

Cleanse Day 2

Day Two Plan

Breakfast: Cottage Cheese, tomatoes, and chicken for me; Grilled Turkey Burger & rice for Dr. Wes

Lunch: Tuna + Avocado + Dill pickles + Tomatoes= Tuna Salad (VERY good!), carrots, apples

Dinner: Lemon Chicken & Veggie Bake 

Snacks: UltraClear Shakes 

Supplements: UltraClear, UltraFlora, AdvaClear, Green Tea, Natural Calm at designated times of the day

Exercise: Dr. Wes made it to 5:30 Crossfit so I have NO excuses, but I still have a bit of a headache so I skipped today. I'll try to go for a walk in the evening. 

I had a can of Zevia Cherry Cola for my caffeine--so good! I also drank some Passion Fruit Iced Tea (herbal/no caffeine) in addition to my water. 

I also had an impromptu massage with Kendra today. It was so wonderful to take a nap (I even snored!) and have her work on my head because of the headache today. Darn caffeine cravings! 

Day 1 Review: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly

Day one was tough. One of the hardest things I've ever done. I'll give you the good, the bad, and the ugly about my day and the other staff members' days too. Complete honesty. If you have questions for me or the staff, leave us a comment below! 

The Good

• I survived. (See The Ugly section)
• I really enjoyed everything I drank all day. Fruit juice, Very Berry UltraClear, Chocolate UltraMeal, Chicken Broth, herbal teas.
• I've already lost of a lot water weight--many trips to the bathroom. A good reminder to have sympathy for all of the pregnant women I work with!
• No excessive bathroom trips for the reasons I had in my head that a cleanse would entail--if you know what I mean. 
• Being without solid food makes me really aware of putting completely nutritious things back in. I haven't had any normal cravings today (except an afternoon tea) and I am so excited to be motivated to keep going! 

The Bad

• I didn't chew anything. That is really a weird thing to miss.
• I was pretty tired in the morning and was in bed early. 
• I drank so much liquid first thing in the morning that I felt nauseous. 

The Ugly

• I got a migraine. Not even a little "I-can-still-function" headache. This one took me down. It's nice being married to Dr. Wes because he was the first one to say, "Eat something. It's not worth it to feel this terrible." I attribute this to my caffeine problem. I typically have four or more servings of Iced Tea and Zevia soda throughout the day, so I was hurting. CONFESSION: I ate something at 9pm. I had gone over 24 hours without food, so I did my best to imitate an UltraMeal shake with real food. I ate a half-serving of cottage cheese and half of a banana. I almost instantly felt a little better, and it allowed me to be able to fall asleep. **IF YOU DO A CLEANSE THAT RESTRICTS CAFFEINE (as it should), START WEANING OFF CAFFEINE IN ADVANCE!** The directions told me this but I really thought I'd be ok. 

Staff Update: Dr. Wes was surprisingly chipper all day. He was hungry and a bit tired, but he did great. I think two of us had headaches (caffeine related), and two others had to end the day early by just going to bed. We all felt hungry throughout the day.  Otherwise, it's going really well with the office staff. 

If you are interested in doing a Metagencis cleanse through our office, talk to Dr. Wes or Dr. Jason at your next appointment and they will get you going! 

Liver Cleanse, Day 1

We're stocked and ready to go!

Did you know that we are one of the only cultures that doesn't routinely participate in some type of body cleanse or fast? Throughout history people have found various ways and reasons to help their body reset itself to a healthy state.

Our culture continues to pile in the processed junk day after day after day...without ever allowing the body to cleanse and reset itself.

We've decided to go through a liver cleanse over the next few weeks and wanted to share our experience with you. I don't think we'll get the symptoms and results like a short term cleanse would. We aren't the type of people that need that immediate change. We're perfectly fine with healthy long term changes for our bodies--how ever long that might take.

Day 1 Plan--Liquid Diet ONLY

Morning Routine: Pomegranate juice & Natural Calm; UltraClear, Supplements

Throughout the day: Juices, Chicken Broth, and UltraMeal by Metagenics

Evening Routine: Green Tea, Supplements, UltraClear

I've never done a day without solids, so I'm a bit concerned about what will happen. My biggest fear is getting a headache or being dizzy while I'm watching kids after school. I also drink a lot of caffeine during the day and have cut a lot out, but only having one serving makes me nervous! I'm also hosting a Norwex party that night and don't want to be a crazy-lady either. My biggest excitement is being able to drink some fruit juice. I consider juice to be a "junk food" and it will be fun to try some different flavors too.

If you are interested in doing a Metagencis cleanse through our office, talk to Dr. Wes or Dr. Jason at your next appointment and they will get you going! 

Healthy Staff, Healthy Patients (Fall 2013)

I'm back! After a much-needed break from blogging, I've decided that it's time to start sharing more healthy info with our patients again. However, this time it isn't about something I know--it's cleanse time at the office.  

 Our staff will be doing a Metagenics 10-day cleanse starting on Tuesday, October 1. For 10 days, we are eliminating and re-introducing certain foods into our diet. As the wellness coordinator for the office, I thought I would share my experience with the cleanse day-by-day. This cleanse is meant to clean out the liver and reset our bodies to a healthier state. I'm a bit nervous--I've never really done a serious cleanse with food elimination and supplementing. And I'm nervous about the product called Colonix. It's one of the supplements we will be taking. Colonix doesn't sound like a feel-good product. 

Disclaimer: This is no where near my weight.
You'll have to check the board at the office to
track my progress!

We invite you to follow our staff through our journey. Want to see first hand how healthy we are? Stop by the office and check out the board with our detailed goals, action steps, Waist Hip Ratio, Body Fat %, and our weights. YES you read that right, our weights. 

I am anxious to get started, but more anxious about seeing, feeling, and living the results. I need a good kick-in-the-rear and excited to see what my results will be! 

--Katie

If you are interested in doing a Metagencis cleanse through our office, talk to Dr. Wes or Dr. Jason at your next appointment and they will get you going! 

I'd like to learn about...

We spend a lot of time researching, reading, listening, sharing, and discussing all of the latest in health care news. I tend to gravitate towards topics that directly impact me and my family like nutrition, mammograms, and preventing illness. 

The latest topics on my research list are:

• Cleanses. We are the only modern culture that doesn't routinely cleanse our bodies, the sickest culture, and the culture with the most toxic bodies. Whenever I try to find information or reviews about cleanses, I find a lot about weight loss and water loss, but not much about the actual cleansing of the body. 
• Alkaline and Acidity in our bodies/pH Testing. We started learning about this at SuperConference in September, but need to learn more about the implementation of it for our family. Look for more about this after the first of the year in our office!
• Mammograms. My mother is a breast cancer survivor so this is a topic that is so important to me personally. I don't think mammograms are entirely safe, but I'm researching my options to find which is the safest and most reliable. 

What's Dr. Wes learning about? He is spending time in San Antonio with the creators of 8 Weeks to Wellness learning the latest information about nutrition, exercise, spinal care, and relaxation. We can't wait to share what he learned with you!

Any ideas for us? We'd love to hear from you!

--Katie