Fully Alive…Ready to Smile

posted by erin on Mar 30

Now that I’ve made over my looks, such as they are, I feel the need to do some remodelling inside. The last few weeks have been tough for me. I’ve been really lethargic, irritable (not so ready to smile, if you will), itchy, bloated, did I mention tired? I can barely get out of bed in the morning and I’ve even napped a few times. Say what? Yeah, Erin DOES NOT NAP. Ever! I’m the proverbial Energizer Bunny.

But lately I just feel run down. I saw the signs in January and February already, but ignored them because I was too busy working in our house to take care of them. The problem? Yeast. Now before you go get all “isn’t that a little personal to share with the internet?” on me, let me explain.

Anyone out there heard of candida? Nasty little thing, it is. It grows and grows until you are icky inside and out. We all have it, but we don’t all have the same symptoms. And then there are others of us, like me, who are more prone to overgrowth, have lots of symptoms and know how to read them well. I’ve been dealing with this for a few years, so I’m well aware when it’s getting out of hand…and it is OUT OF HAND!!

I woke up yesterday morning ready to wage war. Kick my body’s a$$. I’ve had it with this. I’m tired of being irritable and overtired. I just want my old healthy self back. I think that is one reason I jumped into my new haircut so readily. I need a change and I figured if I started with the outside, the inside wouldn’t be such a huge leap.

I’m doing what is called a candida cleanse. For those of you who don’t know me or what I’m doing here’s the basic run down. Along with the pills I’m taking to speed up the yeast’s exit, my diet will be as follows: No sugar, no yeast, no preservatives, no alcohol, no vinegars, no molds (mushrooms), no gluten or wheat products, no starches, no fruit (for the first 2 weeks), no pork, limited red meats. So what does that leave? Not a whole heck of a lot : ) Brown rice and brown rice pasta, veggies (to be eaten steamed not raw), chicken, turkey, fish, eggs, and a few things for snacks such as hot air popcorn, brown rice crisps (crackers), Ryevita crisps, balkan yogurt. If I don’t drop at least 5 or 10 pounds I’m going to be ripped! Too bad the first week will leave me too tired to exercise or care.

This is detox, baby. The symptoms I’ll probably go through in the next week or two as the yeast comes out of my body will include: headaches (bad ones), fatigue (so intense you think you are dying), irritability (already out in full force), acne and skin rashes (I guess that just means they’ll get worse)

Here’s a a glimpse of what the first few days (day 2, day 5, day 10) were like when I did this last year.

I’m supposed to rest for the next few days, as it will take all my body’s energy to start the detox. This means I may be a blogging monster (i.e. lots of posting since I won’t be able to lift my tired detoxing butt off this chair). But you are my peeps, right? Through thick and thin…through blogging overload and all that. You’re going to read everything I write and comment because you KNOW it will make me feel better, right? I’m counting on all of you to keep my spirits up. No pressure or anything : )

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I kicked off my cleanse yesterday with this wicked awesome soup.

Creamy Broccoli Soup

• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 2 medium carrots, diced
• 2 green onions, diced
• 1 tbsp Italian dressing (I omitted this and substituted Epicure’s Pasta Seasoning since I can’t have the dressing and used olive oil to saute my veggies)
  
• 2 cans chicken broth
• 2 cans water
• 4 cups broccoli, cut up
  
• 1/2 cup instant rice (I use brown rice on the cleanse, premade and added after)
• 2 cups milk (I substituted Rice Dream)
• cheddar cheese, grated (to be added in each individual bowl…again, not for moi, but it’s the BEST with cheese)
  

In soup pot, saute celery, carrots and green onions in Italian dressing on high heat for 3 or 4 minutes. Add chicken broth, water and broccoli. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add milk and rice (if using brown rice, make ahead of time) and simmer for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and puree in batches in your blender or food processor until desired smoothness is reached. Serve immediately, or reheat for later use. Serve with cheese sprinkled on top for yummy, cheesy goodness.

I served chicken on the side. I just cut up chicken breasts and sauteed them in olive oil along with Epicure’s Pesto Seasoning and Pueblo Bean Dip mix (dry sprinkled on top, not in dip form). My family was so impressed. Nothing that I couldn’t eat, full of flavor, and we were all full. My kids even had 2 helpings of soup!!