Workin it

   The rest of Tuesday and into this morning was spent working, working, working.. In fact I didn’t finish until after 3 am! I ended up staying at my friends house in an attempt to get some sleep since I have to work in less than an hour- but I didn’t get much sleep.. and now I’m chug-a-luging on the coffee train in an attempt to be awake and ready for the day. Truth be told, getting my own place requires a need for money and if I have to stay up late to make it- that’s what needs to be done. After meeting up with my friends mom/ new landlord for lunch yesterday- getting my own place is really soaking in. The apartment just needs a cleaning since it has been a little bit since anyone has actually lived there, and a refrigerator- and we are planning for a move in within the next couple weeks. Until then I’m working hard and saving every penny so that I will have enough to get some furniture and basics for the place.
   

Drag your friends

As it turns out, getting to the gym yesterday was much more difficult than I had thought. Luckily when I called Paula to see if she was into it- she jumped on it. We hit the elliptical for a hot minute and sweated it out like champs. We parted ways for showers and snacks before meeting back up to go to Old Navy. To our surprise everything was half off… Who knew? Even after walking around and finding arms full of clothing I only ended up with two shirts, what do you think?

Of course as I walked through I also found these sunglasses ($5! and this rockin hat- $7.50!!!) Sorry for the bad picture..

 The rest of the day was filled with hanging out and food- duh! I’m definitely struggling at times with the lack of sugar in my life.. The gluten isn’t a problem at all, which is weird- but I just want some fruit or frozen banana soft-serve! Instead of giving into the nagging urge I went to basic yoga last night at the studio, came home and talked to the neighbors about another neighbor who gave himself the neighborhood watch tittle and annoys everyone as he sits out in his yard like a creep watching everyone. I crashed out pretty early for some much needed Z’s.

     This morning I woke up at 6:30am naturally, ok maybe with a little help from my furry rug-rats. Yogurt, almond butter, and a vat of coffee later I was slacking off yet again. But this time Paula called me and got me to the gym. We did a HIIT run on the treadmill- which happened to be her first time and she rocked it! She hates the treadmill so getting her on there, and getting her to jog was a great step forward :) I really think my calling is to be a Personal Trainer- 1. because I like to push people to realize their greatness and potential and 2. because I like to yell at people a bit :)

What are your plans for the rest of Tuesday??
   I’m headed to a lunch date with my friends Mom (who’s apartment I’m going to be renting) to talk about the place and details. I’ll probably hit up Target afterwards for some odds and ends- and the rest of the day is up in the air!

  

Protein packed!

Irene is gone and the sun is back- Thankfully there was no damage to my place and we can return to regularly scheduled programming.

I’ve been eating this every morning for breakfast- I miss eating fruit the most during breakfast. Today is day 5 and I’m going strong. On the agenda this morning: yoga/bodyrock combo, gym for some cardio, and hitting up the mall like a teenager to find some clothes- I’m in DIRE need of clothing update. It’s been so long since I’ve gotten anything new- but I’m looking for a little more grown up look. Though I’m not planning on being much of a grown up any time soon!

    

   So here’s the deal- I’m looking for pieces that are versatile, mostly because I don’t have a ton of money and I hate having a lot of stuff. Stuff not only clutters my closet but it makes me crazy. So searching for items that I can pair with my Lulu Lemon Leggings (that I already own, black and grey) Frey boots which can be paired with any color- maybe some ballet flats, and some pieces that I can dress up for a night out or down for everyday. I’m really fashion handicapped so any ideas or pictures would be appreciated!    

Any clothing suggestions?? 

Making the money

    I made it through the first day back at Denny’s- surprisingly it wasn’t so bad. It was pretty slow but steady so for the 4 hours I was there time flew by. Coming back to all of my co-workers, I’m getting asked about how things are and what’s new and where I’m living. I have to say its really nice to be around them all again.. even though its hard to explain over and over again the situation. It was a productive day money wise and because of Hurricane Irene I don’t have to work Sunday.. (Rhode Island like much of the surrounding areas are in in state of emergency) I spent the rest of the afternoon helping and hanging out with a friend- and the day flew by. Before I knew it, it was 8:30pm and I still hadn’t eaten dinner! I headed home and whipped up a Candida friendly bowl of Oat Bran topped with full fat coconut milk and cinnamon. I guess I ate it too fast, or something because my stomach didn’t like it and kind of hurt for the rest of the night (I think its because it wasn’t certified gluten free oats- but it was the fastest thing to eat that was mostly candida friendly) I headed back to my friends house to watch a stand up comedy on Netflix.
   I was passed out as soon as I came home and didn’t wake up until 9 am to pouring rain and wind from good old Hurricane Irene. So far we still have power so we can use the internet and watch movies and such- but most of the people I know in surrounding areas have lost power- so I’ll be grateful :)

Friday finish.

     Melinda and I went for a walk around Carr’s pond last night. It was such a beautiful walk and took us about an hour. What is it about walking in the woods that gets all of the talking flowing? We drove to the grocery store and picked up some stuff for dinner, (rice noodles, with onions, peppers, garlic, broccoli and avocado- on a bed of spinach.) Oh my it was so amazing! We had dinner out on the deck and people watched with her boyfriend and house mate. I glass of sangria would have been nice, haha…
     Speaking of Candida diets…. I’ve noticed an interesting change- my stomach isn’t bloated, I seem less “puffy”. I’m sure it has to do with the lack of sugar and gluten. I can’t even tell you the amount of veggies I’ve eaten in the last few days- I thought I ate a lot of veggies before! Good thing I’m going back to work today so I can afford this diet!
     Off to work :P

Sometimes you just really don’t want to workout..

    But you lace up your shoes and do it anyway right? Right. This morning was one of those mornings. My stomach was feeling a bit wonky and I was feeling a bit ass-draggin.. but I knew I wouldn’t be upset if I did go.. I told myself that I would just go and do 30 mins. Getting out the door was the toughest part! I decided that I would try a HIIT workout that I found somewhere in bloggity-land.. Who knows where it comes from, but it was just the ass kicking I needed :) It looked something like this:

HIIT- 6x6
Warm up 5 mins
6x 1 min sprint/ 1 min recover
6x 30 sec sprint/ 90 sec recover
6x 45 sec sprint/ 90 sec recover
6x 20 sec sprint/ 40 sec recover
Cool down 5 mins

In all honesty I really like this style of workout- mostly because it keeps me busy and the time flys by. I did however modify towards the end- I did 4x 45 sec sprint /90 sec recover and 2x 20 sec sprint/ 40 sec recover, before cooling down leaving my time on the hamster wheel an even 45 mins. From there I did some stretching- along with 5 30 second handstands with slow lower downs, 2 drop backs (yoga style) and some forward folding to round it all out..  Talk about a SWEAT MONSTER!

Day 2 of the anti-candida diet is going well. It still seems very weird not eating any fruit- especially because I went grocery shopping yesterday and grabbed some amazing peaches, grapes, figs and bananas. I think I will be welcoming them back into my diet in 3 weeks with a party :) As far as cutting out gluten- I don’t really think thats going to be much of an issue for me, except when I out and havent had time to prepare or pack meals.. I’m trying to keep some almonds with me incase crazy starvation hits, just to be sure!
    The weekend is here! No drinking for me and work all weekend- but the hurricane is coming here.. so who knows what its going to be like after all. Enjoy yours and stay safe!

Antibiotics, Candida, Probiotics?

    Three reasons I need to see a Natural path instead of my quack doctor. I went to the doctor Tuesday because of supposed tonsillitis, was given antibiotics and NOT a referral to a specialist.. Fast forward 2 days and 4 huge pink pills later- and there was a white film on my tongue.. Of course I FREAKED out.. but after some googling I figured out the culprit.. Candida over growth.. Everything clicked- all of these little symptoms that seemed disconnected are in reality all from the same thing! Of course I discovered this late at night- when there was nothing I could do except sleep on it.
    This morning when I woke up it was the first thing on my mind.. With the wealth of info at my fingertips, I set down a game plan. I have to finish the antibiotics, which makes Candida worse- but also kills the infection in my tonsils. In order to balance out the killing of bad/good bacteria- I bought a probiotic supplement which will be taken mid day, between my doses of antibiotics. With that in the works, the next part is diet. Basically ANY sugar is food for Candida- we don’t want to feed it, we want to kill it. Fruits, gluten, processed foods, etc.. are out- at least for the first stage. The first stage of the diet is going to be 3 weeks.. After stage 1, we can start to introduce foods back into the diet- low sugar fruits (apples, pears, berries) beans and higher carb veggies. Also during this stage you can take anti-fungals to try to kill those bad guys.
    Lets agree that I need to take it one day at a time- it’s a pretty strict and not eating sugar is hard since it’s in everything… but really the hardest part is going to be no fruit. I am positive that I can be strong enough to handle it. With day 1 behind me, I feel confident that even if I’m jumping the gun and I’m not actually suffering from over-growth, it can’t hurt right? Hopefully I will be stronger with this “detox” than with the last one.. LOL.