Recap: Let me tell you a story (to distract you from the fact you haven't heard from me days 3-6). Years ago I'd packed on 25 kg, onto a body that was used to being just 55kg. Simple math total = 80kg. That is a hefty amount on a 5ft 6 and a half inch frame. I describe myself from those times as a little buffalo - no body dysmorphia here, I was.
I've never had negative issues with food, or body image. In my family, with the way the ladies of the house cooked, you became a connoisseur of food easily. My mother has the golden touch.. a very sophisticated palate that allows for little tweaks to turn something supreme. We didn't gorge of course, we simply ate well, always. We didn't really talk about our bodies all that much either.
No sob story here to bore you, promise. The basic gist: I had forgotten myself to such an extent that I hadn't even noticed the portions on my plate had doubled. It took nothing to convince me that a midnight prata or three was fine twice a week, and that two bowls of chicken rice every time was OK too. I wasn't sad, binge eating because I was smacked as a kid, revenge eating - nothing like it. I enjoyed every morsel. But I'd simply become so entrenched in my then domesticity, I'd relaxed to the point of clearly, putty.
When I decided to lose the weight, (yes, it's absolutely a decision) despite reading widely and with a keen interest in nutrition and natural health, I really didn't help myself much. I didn't know enough. All the self help out there was in the form of a fad diet, and while the internet was already well on it's way the information out there was scanty at best and hard to verify. So I muddled through it, cutting carbs by half, throwing dairy and sugar right out the door and drinking green tea copiously.
Yes, I lost the pounds. It was a long process of awareness, and rather basic imagery-imagine buffalo, dammit. And it worked. But why am I telling you? In this detox process I've come to re-calibrate my understanding and value of food, to devalue the things that I used to consider essential to my nutrition, and to take a bit of step back from it all and consider what I'm really gaining: a huge wave of awareness, both physical and mental, and a massive bolt of cutting edge information and guidance from The Nutrition Clinic, and Pooja, who is both thoughtful and pragmatic.
Day 3 of Detox in the City was all about recovery. I felt like my body had really been "through" something and I was coming out of it. I was floored by the fact that it had craved the carb sugars and caffeine I'd put into it on a daily basis. I was even more startled at how badly my body was behaving! Pooja didn't make anything big of the headache part, so as not to "make it happen". Believe me, I have an active imagination, but nothing could have prepared me for that 24 hour ache which would not go away.
I'd decided to start Day 3 with a yoga session, but very honestly I was exhausted. I just needed to rest, and take in the previous days. One of the things we had discussed before I embarked on this journey, was the fact that a detox is a personal journey that allows for one to take time out for self. This became so apparent on this day. I stayed in, then spent some time with my mum, and in the evening went for dear friend's wedding. The 10-course Chinese dinner through which, surprisingly, I didn't have to wade my way through like a bomb detector, was both delicious and MSG free.
Feeling like Barry (but minus the coif) when he sings "I Made It Through the Rain" I had my mum over to lunch on Day 4, knowing that this 65-year old beauty wasn't about to find comfort in vegetables and rice with a small side of protein, as the detox dictates. I fashioned nasi lemak instead (plus vegetables) using a mix of brown and white rice, lactose free skim milk, ginger and garlic. With all the usual accompaniments in place: otak, chicken, egg, I stuck to the intoxicating rice, a little chicken and some vegetables. My 65-year old diva was suffice to say, content. That was where my fibre adventure began.
As the detox specifies, half an hour prior to your afternoon and evening meals, fibre is a must. Again feeling like Barry (see above description) I got real enthusiastic and went from 2 teaspoons, to half a packet. Suffice to say, this was a HUGE mistake.
The thing about fibre is this. Don't believe what your GP, magazines and websites cluelessly repeat without knowing what fibre is, and how it works. Most of us are sadly lacking in fibre intake in ways we don't even know. But simply buying a huge packet of bran and stuffing it down your gob, isn't going to help. Fibre has to be introduced into the diet gradually. This is the word nary a qualified soul even bothers to use, for no one really knows how it actually affects the gut.
First of all, there are two kinds of fibre - soluble and insoluble. Insoluble is "roughage" so your brans and wheetabix and mueslis, seeds, wholewheat products, dark green leafy vegetables. And soluble forms a gel when mixed with water so psyllium husk, oat/oat bran, beans and peas, nuts, barley and flaxseed. Both are undigested by the body and both perform different tasks.
Insoluble fibre: moves bulk through the intestines, and controls and balances its PH (acidity). It removes toxic waste and helps you avoid a date with colon cancer because a non acidic gut means there is nowhere for microbes to produce cancerous substances.
Soluble fibre: binds with fatty acids, slows down how fast your stomach empties so sugars are released slowly into the blood stream - its gel like form grabs the fat and sugar right out of your stomach. This is perfect for preventing glucose spikes after you eat, and removes the sugar slumps we feel at 11am and 4pm during the day. The bonus: stable sugar levels means the body stores way less fat.
So, basically, you need both, every day.
But more than anything my mind is blown by the research into fibre and proof, that moves well beyond just the joys of erm, smooth passage: pre menopausal women eating just 30 grams of fibre a day - higher than the 12-18 grams recommended in Singapore BTW - have shown results halving the risk of breast cancer. HALVING. Let that point stick, please.
How? fibre has shown impressive results in binding to excessive amounts of the female hormone estrogen, and drawing it out of the body. Taking this into account, fibre may also alleviate other problems related to too much estrogen circulating in the body - endometriosis, uterine fibroids, and polycystic ovary disease.
And how come there's so much estrogen imbalance in women today? One source - the environment. A substance found in plastics for example, called BPA, has been seen to up the levels of estrogen. Some pesticides too. And we all know, meat comes to us chock full of added hormones.
Fibre is also shown to have dramatic results on heart disease, to soothe inflammation in the body - a major reasoning behind some of the world's worst diseases from heart failure to cancer. And it acts on cholesterol in two different ways - preventing the entry of cholesterol from the gut into the bloodstream, and by forming a gel in the digestive tract that binds with bile, which also contains cholesterol, and then, passes it out of the body.
With all of this information in my head from the lovely Pooja - I thought, why not increase the fibre today. Do I need to describe how I felt? I was so, um, compacted, my organs hurt. Upon consultation with Pooja she reminded me, that psyllium increase by EIGHT to TEN times in water. Oops? Obviously, I had more psyllium than water in my system. Did I say gradual increase? I did.
Needless to say, I loaded on the water a little, and eventually, at the end of the day, I felt normal again.
Hey, blame it on that bloody Barry M for being Mr Sunshine.
Anita
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