26 October 2011

...wake up at the same time every day?

I first want to say that this very blog entry is the start not only of my return to the blog world but also committing to a new blog post at least once every month. 

If you don't have a blog, you are probably thinking that once a month is not that often. But let me tell you non-blogger, it takes a lot of freaking time. First, you have to know what you're writing about and make sure it's a. worth your time and b. worth your friends' time. Then, if you are blogging about anything of substance, you have to research. This is the real killer but also the most important. Next, you have to make sure it's written with a logical thought process, grammatically correct and every word is spelled properly. This makes it sound like I'm voluntarily submitting myself to school without getting any grades or diploma but oh well. It's enjoyable. 

If you do blog, you probably understand how easy it is to waste copious amounts of time.

The point here is that I have decided from here on, I will be doing a 30 day challenge every month for the rest of my life. It's overwhelming to think of all the changes that could be made in my life. However, I find that if I think about only one major change for the month then let it become a habit, it's much more bearable. 

Enter bad news. Remember how I just said a few paragraphs earlier that research is sooooo important? Well it is. I was about to tell you that it takes 21 days to form a habit so that's another great reason for doing 30 day challenges. I decided to research it so I could put a link backing up my argument but much to my surprise, I was wrong. 

"Everyone knows that it takes 28 days to develop a new habit, or perhaps 21, or 18, depending on who you ask; anyway, the point is that it's a specific number, which makes it sound scientific and thus indisputably true. We probably owe this particular example of pop-psychology wisdom to Maxwell Maltz, the plastic surgeon who wrote the 60s bestseller Psycho-Cybernetics. He claimed to have observed that amputees took an average of only 21 days to adjust to the loss of a limb. Therefore, he reasoned – deploying the copper-bottomed logic we've come to expect from self-help – the same must be true of all big changes. And therefore it must take 21 days to change a habit, maybe, perhaps!This is, of course, poppycock and horsefeathers, as a new study by the University College London psychologist Phillippa Lally and her colleagues helps confirm. On average, her subjects, who were trying to learn new habits such as eating fruit daily or going jogging, took a depressing 66 days before reporting that the behaviour had become unchangingly automatic. Individuals ranged widely – some took 18 days, others 245 – and some habits, unsurprisingly, were harder than others to make stick: one especially silly implication of the 28- or 21-day rule is that it may be just as easy to start eating a few more apples as to start finding five hours a week to study Chinese. (Another myth undermined by the study is the idea that when forming a new habit, you can't miss a day or all is lost: missing a day made no difference. Indeed, believing this myth may be actively unhelpful, making it harder to restart once you fall off the wagon.)" -Oliver Burkeman | The Guardian

A link to Lally's research: here.
And her webpage: here.

Since every 30 day challenge isn't necessarily trying to break bad habits, I'm going to continue as planned. That's not to say I won't be readjusting later if need be :) Despite the research from earlier, I would like to highlight a website that I find extremely helpful:



It's free to join and I've used it for a year now. This is how it works: you enter your goal, they email you every day with a little inspirational quote and ask "did you meet your goal today?" Then you click yes or no and it tracks your progress each day. The thing about this site though is that they make you do 21 consecutive days before you complete your goal. If you mess up, it kicks you back to 0. They don't mess around over at Habit Forge. Like I said, I've used this for a year now and I am just now about to win at this game. The good thing about kicking you to 0 if you miss a day is that you will probably take longer to fill up your success bubbles, thus making you closer to the 66 day average. Also, the research shows that missing a day isn't detrimental to achieving the overall goal, so don't feel bad.

Now that I have written a bazillion more paragraphs than I intended, let me tell you the current 30 day challenge and whence it came. I was doing my daily stumbles on stumbleupon. (I'm going to have to pause here to say that stumbleupon is one of the biggest black holes of wasting my time but also very rewarding. I have found some great things, including Habit Forge incidentally.) So back to stumbling. I came across this article: How to Become an Early Riser.

Also on his website I found these great articles: The Importance of Self Discipline and 30 days to success. I strongly suggest you read all three, unless you are already an early riser. In that case, congrats. I was at one point a successful early riser but I no longer have anywhere to be in the morning. I would not call myself a "night owl" either though. I am a champion of sleeping. I can sleep 12 hours every night even without doing anything taxing all day; I LOVE SLEEP! But I can be real with myself and admit that I am wasting time and sleeping my life away. Starting tomorrow until December 1, I will be waking up at 0700 every day. Then I will get back on and write alllll about it. 


21 March 2011

the grain saga continues

It seems that beans have large amounts of lectins. The book Food Poisoning by Anthony T. Tu documents cases of one hundred percent mortality rates in cases where rats were fed black or kidney beans. But according to this book, 100% removal is possible using heat. 5 hours of heating at 80 degrees C (176 F) inactivated 90% of toxins and raising to 100 degrees C ( 212 F) for 20 minutes "abolished hemagglutinin activity completely."

In "cereal grains" (oats, barley, rice, rye, sorghum and wheat) lectins are contained in the germ. They are heat stable (not destroyed by cooking) and can survive the digestive process. It's important to note that this book states that the lectins in rice are heat labile (can be removed with heat). This next bit was far too important to paraphrase since it answers such a key question in my grain biology hunt.

"Based on evidence available in the 1950's, Jaffe proposed that a possible explanation for the toxic action of lectins, resistant to gastric and intestinal digestion, is that they combine with cells lining the intestinal wall, causing lesions and nonspecific interference with the absorption of nutrients. Since then several groups of researchers have produced direct evidence to substantiate the fact that bean lectins interact specifically with intestinal epithelium cells, damage, and even kill them both in vivo and in vitro."

This is the scientific backing I needed in order to believe that lectins: a. exist b. are actually harmful. (That quote was riddled with source references but since I gave you the link I didn't type them all out. Go look at them all yourself if you need further convincing). This still begs the question, "Why is no one concerned about lectins in raw vegetables!?" And as I read on, JACKPOT!

"The concentration of toxic bean PHA in blood is higher than that of nontoxic tomato agglutinin. Up to 10% of bean lectin was detected in blood vs 0.1% of the tomato lectin. The latter, taken up at a lower level of the intestinal villi by endocytosis than PHA, is retained in the liver and detoxified. The former can act on various organs of the body, carried by blood circulation." 

So I feel like progress has been made. More questions remain.
1. If cooking beans removes all toxins, why cut them out completely?
2. How much is your liver designed to process? 
3. What foods are above the "liver limit"?

( I also just noticed the actual speck check feature blogger provides. No excuse people, no excuse.)  

20 March 2011

the truth behind grain

During my Whole30 experience, Cliff has been asking a lot of questions about the scientific reason behind the Paleo diet. I am of course also interested not only for the obvious reason that I want to continue eating in this manner but also that I don't think you should do something without reason.

So here is my soapbox: if you lack purpose for an action then don't do it. Be excited about your life and the things you are involved in.  Do what makes you happy and do the best possible job you can at it. From the coolest president ever: 
"Whatever you are, be a good one."
Abraham Lincoln

Moving on, why does the paleo diet cut out grain?
(Please keep in mind I am not a nutritionist nor do I have any formal education in the following subject. Here is interesting information but please take it with the knowledge that again: I am a design student NOT a nutrition expert). 

According to this article, "avoiding grains", it's because grains contain the following bad guys in the food realm:

1. Phytates-part of the "antinutrient" group. The claim is that the phytates gang up on "calcium, magnesium, iron, copper and zinc" which are also hypothetically the nutrients the grain would provide to the body. It then acts as a bouncer to your digestive track. Not only does it deny access but it can storm through and kick out other nutrients already in the club. They are also said to hinder protein digestion. 

2. Lectins. These little d-bags are the reason peanuts, legumes and soy beans are cut from both Paleo and Whole30. These are said to wreck the microvilli. If you don't remember that from way back in 7th grade biology, then here is a little microvilli background:

They are described as "hair-like" structures that line the surface of the small intestine (for our purposes). I guess they are also in your ear but that is irrelevant for the discussion of protein absorption. They exist to increase surface area of the small intestine and therefore help with digestion. If you really want to get in depth, google image search for it. I tried to put a picture but people are really strangely strict with their microvillus copyrights. Watch out! Someone might use your biology diagram to learn! 

3. Gluten. The article states that in animal studies, gluten has irritated the digestive track every time. 

So I googled for hours and hours looking for scientific studies to fact check that article. While I'm putting my personal rants into blog form, let's pause on this topic for a second. If you have a blog and you are displaying information as correct you BETTER be fact checking it. If it's controversial, put that out there! Also, while we're on this, SPELL CHECK too! It's 2011. Most programs even underline misspelled words with red lines. Come on.

The findings:

1. Phytates. Incorrect. According to "Food Phytates" by N. R. Reddy and Shridhar K. Sathe, phytates will mostly be harmful to cases in third world countries where people are living off grain. In these cases, the phytates become a problem because they are consumed in much larger amounts with grain being the main nutrition source. 

In addition, red meats contain tons of iron which is making it subject for investigation as a carcinogen. In this case, phytates are possibly beneficial for removing some of the excess iron. Further research is being done to find the benefits of phytates.

Last to debunk: Paleo and Whole30 cut out peanuts, soy and legumes for the reasons above. But according to research of phytic acid by percent in certain foods, pumpkin and squash both contain 4% with soybeans only at 1.55%. (There are many more examples like that one).

2. Lectins. I think there is some substance here but it's been a challenge to dig up some hard facts. It's even harder to find specific applicable information. I'm going to keep looking and update this post further later but here is what I've got for now.

It seems pretty well agreed upon that lectins can be pretty resistant to removal (soaking, boiling, even stomach acid). It appears that the "avoiding grains" article was spot on with their assessment that lectins damage the small intestine through the microvilli and inhibit proper digestion and absorption. 


According to Dr. Laura Power, "Lectins can also disrupt carbohydrate absorption and metabolism. Lectins can reduce intestinal glucose uptake by 50%." (Read on here.) Another big problem for me is that in this research the following foods are listed that contain damaging lectins: coconut, bananas, celery, strawberries, salmon, and the list goes on. Clearly these are all paleo endorsed foods. This seems contradictory to me. 


One more little wrench to throw in the mix: "The irony of this is that high-lectin diets are also high-fiber and whole-grain diets, which contain more nutrients needed for better health. High-fiber diets have been associated with low incidence of bowel cancer, ischaemic heart disease, and diabetes." (Also from Dr. Power's information.)


Clearly, I have more research to sort through.

15 March 2011

Whole30-Halfway point.

I gave the blog I facelift. In the process, I deleted the existing comments on accident. My apologies, I promise I wasn't upset with the comments and removing them out of spite. I also added some ways to follow if you're interested.

Well I am on day 16 of Whole30 today, which is a little over my halfway point. For those of you familiar with the conquest, I have updates for you. (If you need a little background-check back 2 posts or so.)

In summary, it's going great. I've had one difficult night when we met a friend for dinner in LA but otherwise it's been smooth sailing and much less difficult than I first anticipated.

First up: some of my better meals for the week and in general my routines. This information is not to try to look awesome because as far as meals go, I'm not the best blog you could be watching to plan your meals. But it does provide you a little insight into how to start your own Whole30 quest. There are some much more creative people with better culinary ideas than "your humble correspondent." But I am a busy, poor college kid so maybe you can relate to that a little more. Also, I have a solid amount of resources here to provide you the opportunity to be one of those energetic chefs if you so choose.

Breakfasts: In general, the fastest possible because maximum sleep is of utmost importance in my book.
I tend to roll with the banana/Sunbutter combo or 2-3 eggs sunny side up with hot sauce. I have also found unsalted almond butter at the Trader Joe's here which is equally as delicious. (I almost cried in Trader Joe's when I realized my little perfect lifestyle from Fort Collins is about to be gone and replaced with the sadness of the Mojave wasteland.)

Recipes for this week: "Fauxjacks"Scotch EggsEggs with sauce

Lunch: During weekdays, I don't get a lunch break. So I pack items that can be eaten on the fly. I've basically always just thrown in apples, oranges, kiwis and a bag of assorted nuts which I buy in bulk so I can mix and match later. Sometimes if I'm lucky, I'll have leftovers that are microwaveable. I'm going to try to plan for that a lot more this week. Cliff and I scored big time this week finding some great dinner/next day leftovers which are about to be mentioned in the dinner section.

Dinner: This is the easiest yet hardest meal of the day. Easiest because you have home court advantage with all kitchen supplies at the ready. Hardest because after a long day the last thing you want to do is come home and spend time cooking before you can feed your exhausted, ravenous self. My main goal is to find something easy. This to me means I can either throw it in the food processor and then eat OR it can sit on the stove or in the oven while I multitask by accomplishing other necessary household things, like washing the endless dish pile. The best of the week: Sweet Potato Hash, any meat at all with amazing bbq sauce, chicken and celery with mock peanut sauce, King Salmon cooked in olive oil with lemon, dill, and finely sliced carrots. I'll post this separate recipe later. Note: My peanut sauce was only 1/4 clove crushed garlic and missing the coconut aminos because I couldn't find it. I was perfectly happy. Also, all of these are great for next day lunches.

Coming up for dinner: Me finding an orange glaze sauce for meat, Lamb Kabobs with veal insteadchili

Questions? I will now answer some common questions you might be having, if I miss a question feel free to ask and I'd love to answer.

1: How are you feeling?
Great. I've also been making a point to get 8 hours of sleep per night and work out at least 4 days a week so it's honestly hard to attribute energy levels to diet habits alone but if you dig around the Whole30 site you'll see that they strongly promote all 3 areas to be in good health. I've been making it through 8am classes without any urge to nod off as well as skipping that 2pm afternoon crash I dealt with previously.

2. Are you having a ton of cravings?
Nope. Day 2/3 ish I was really wanting some sugar cookies or Peanut Butter Tagalongs but Girl Scout cookies aren't really a fair craving standard. Who DOESN'T want some Girl Scout cookie deliciousness?? It was a little bit of a sad transition to go from caramel syrup in my morning latte to strait espresso but it's normal now. It's really just become a thought of "No, I'm not eating that because it has high fructose corn syrup" rather than feeling restricted and taunted.

3. Have you noticed a difference in your size?
Yep. Within the first week, my clothes fit looser. It's not that I lost fat or toned up immediately but that my body isn't bloated. (Which makes sense especially for cutting out salt.) I will post later if I eat some salt and blow up like a balloon :) A lovely little friend of mine also halfway done reports the same results and bought jeans a size smaller already.

4. Do your taste buds actually adapt to love stupid, boring celery?
Affirmative. I can verify this based on true events from last night. I made the aforementioned delicious "peanut" sauce and I was completely satisfied. Cliff tried it and said it was pretty bland. I made him his own batch with peanut butter instead of almond butter and added some soy sauce. He also threw in a few cashews or something trying to be creative haha. This new sauce was acceptable to him and I was perfectly happy with my paleo sauce. I can also drink coffee with just a splash of coconut milk and be satisfied. Mind you, it's not my favorite but I don't gag anymore like day 1.

5. What about your hair and skin?
This will also be something I'll update well after the fact since it's just too early to tell. But I am watching it and I will post later.

11 March 2011

the verdict on no shampoo

Should you actually quit using shampoo?

Maybe.

I hate to start my first verdict out with a maybe but I can't stand behind a definite yes or no; my hand is forced. 
I will stand behind the idea that most people are shampooing too frequently. I will also say that I think it would be beneficial to take a shampoo hiatus and let your body relax a bit. From then on, shampoo only once or twice a week. If you have curly, dry hair then try no shampoo. Here is what I found to be a good process to accomplish it effectively with a little rhyme and reason to explain.
 Note: If you are a hair product junkie; you have a choice. Lay off the products or keep using shampoo as you are. This comes strait from the stylist's lips.

1. I'd recommend finding a time it's acceptable to look borderline non-hygienic and go as long as you can without shampooing. I've read brushing your hair with a bristle brush helps distribute oils to the ends, which I tried, and I didn't notice a big difference one way or the other. If you have curly hair (like me) I'd also advise straitening it pre sans shampoo lifestyle. It's easier to keep the tangles out as well as style without looking embarrassingly disgusting. At this point, invest in some dry shampoo or use cornstarch (harder to rub out). Wait it out.

2. When you finally crack and need to wash it there are a few options. Some people say they rinsed often with only water (all methods assume you really rub your scalp down). I found this to be horrible. My hair was oily, frizzy, and overall nasty. Second choice-use only conditioner. This is what I have been doing for the last few weeks with great success. It's not AS lightweight and lustrous as using shampoo but it's pretty damn close. Third option-baking soda and apple cider vinegar. Mix the baking soda to a paste, rub on your scalp, let sit a few minutes, wash out. Then dilute the cider vinegar, pour through your hair, let it sit, wash out. I did this as my first wash before I was warned that this will strip the living beejeesis out of your color (luckily mine was already faded).  If you don't color or only highlight-go for it.

Keep repeating steps 1 and 2 over and over until a. you find what works best for you or b. you hate your hair and yourself and just want to use shampoo like a normal person.

Personally, I am going to use only conditioner for a few months, cut the hair product input and see how it goes. When I got my hair colored last week, Bre shampooed it and much to the contrary of other people's experiences all was well. My scalp didn't freak out, I didn't get crazy dandruff. So, if I find a time where I need to use alot of product and shampoo to wash it out, so be it. But as is, I'm pretty satisfied to not have greasy hair the next morning after I shower.

28 February 2011

Kickin it off-Whole30 Style!


I officially started my 30 day countdown today. If you aren't one of the fortunate people that have heard me ramble on and on about how cool the Whole30 program is then I behoove you to click this link before you go any further:


For those of you who have heard the rambles, I will proceed to share my findings with you. My meals today consisted of:
Breakfast: Two strait espresso shots. (blkasasdhf) Banana with Sunbutter. You can buy that stuff at King Soop's (Kroger for you Texas friends). A little note-get the organic kind, not natural. Make sure to read the ingredients.
Lunch: Almonds (make sure to check for not salted). And again, banana with Sunbutter. (I swear to God I'm going to end up eating bananas every day. They are too convenient: cheap and easy to transport...)
Dinner: Lettuce wrapped burgers with tomato and onion. 
Dessert: "Mango Cream" I went with the almonds and raspberry addition. 

So, I have read that your taste buds adjust to natural sugars and you appreciate real food more. I really hope so because a lettuce burger with no condiments was pretty blah. Shmaw. Other than that, it's not too bad. I feel glad that I am taking care of my body. Also, I have already noticed a paradigm shift. As I finished the rest of my groceries before starting the Whole30, I noticed ingredients exponentially more and to be quite honest-I don't want to keep eating crappy, empty food. I've really been inspired to change; my entire perspective of food is different and I truly do want to eat good quality meals. I also want to try Crossfit but that is for a future Faith and Cliff that have money. 

So here are the goods: 

I want to highlight the most useful links on my page in my opinion. And I want to point out what they are called for easy reference. I feel like half the battle with healthy meals is: 
1. Not eating boring, gross meals. 
2. Coming up with ideas for said meals. 

Without further ado:

Useful Blog #1
This lady is not only hilarious but has a plethora of tested recipe links. Her blog is to the left under "Blogs of Interest" and titled "The Clothes Make the Girl" You can get to her recipes right from her home page by clicking the "Dino-Chow" button. But here is the direct link for now:

#2
Also under "Blogs of Interest", "The Nap Clan." This is a mom who did the Whole30 and posted great recipe ideas by week. This is also fantastic because she posts recipes to other pages, which can lead you on a great stumble of a recipe treasure hunt. 

#3
"Everyday Paleo" under "Links" to the left. From what I gather, this lady wrote a book about it and now has this website as well. It's not a strait up recipe list but she also does have good, practical advice as well.

#4
"Paleo Recipes", also under Links. (Another recipe heavy page). This page also outlines specifics of the Paleo diet, which is nice. But keep in mind-the Whole30 is not the EXACT same as Paleo. Some recipes may be Paleo certified but a no-no-no in the Whole30 club. (Watch out for salt). 

It's important to note that just because I highlighted these 4 blogs doesn't mean you can skip the others posted. That would be sad choice for you because they are great. They were cool enough to get posted on the home screen so I promise it's worth AT LEAST some skim action. Also, if you have some other great sites please share them. I would love nothing more than to read more information and post it so others can too. 

If you are interested in the quest for no shampoo, read on. If you don't give a crap, that's all the rest of the blog consists of so don't waste your time. 


Week 2 with no shampoo. 
I can officially give shampoo the big middle finger. (Suck it shampoo!)

Here is how I arrived at such a conclusion; I used the baking soda/cider wash technique Saturday morning. It's currently Monday night and my hair has looked fine all day. Tomorrow might be a hat day but I'm trying to test the waters to see how the oil production adjustments are faring. I blow dried and flat ironed my hair Saturday and it wasn't frizzy, didn't smell, and looked just as clean as if I'd used shampoo. That was enough convincing for me. 

It should be mentioned that I still have that weird I forgot to wash out all the conditioner feeling and I think that contributes a lot to my hair being ...pliable and staying where I move it more than usual. It also does tangle a bit easier so I make sure to brush it out with a normal brush then a boar bristle to help distribute oil. 

Still brainstorming ideas for the next adventure so seriously, if you have something that's worth doing then share it. And I really do emphasize the seriously. 






25 February 2011

The Ongoing No-Shampoo Challenge

day 6 without shampoo



Quick update | Since last post, I washed my hair with conditioner and lemon juice (got the idea from the book Curly Girl). Check it out on Amazon if you're curious.  My hair has been following my normal greasy cycle since I began on Sunday, until yesterday. Here is how it went downhill.

When I reached the typical too dirty/time to wash point last night, I decided to just use water since I read that it's good to let the natural oils reach the end of your hair. (Using only water is also theoretically supposed to help your body realize how much to adjust its oil productions.) I made sure to rub my scalp pretty well in an attempt to remove as much dirty crap as possible. But it was just so oily still on the whole top half of my head. At this point in the shower I thought to myself, "crap, I've reached the unsatisfactory point." Shmaw.

Post shower, after soaking up the excess water, the ends of my hair felt both dry and frizzy but at the same time oily. (WTF.) The best way I can try to convey the texture would be to say, "picture the way your hair feels when you don't quite rinse all the conditioner out." I wouldn't call it dirty and greasy but it definitely feels heavier and looks dull (it doesn't smell). I tried to put a bit of olive oil to help frizz problem and it just made the ends worse. My goal was the wait to do the baking soda wash until the oil production had balanced itself out pretty well but I'm caving and using it tonight.

Next order of business | 3 more days until staring the Whole30. I have been doing loads of research to find out specifically what they deem worthy of ingesting. Also, I wanted to make sure I had plenty of recipe and meal ideas so I don't end up eating a banana for every meal. This is beneficial to all of you because I have posted the best resource findings to date on the blogski. Please comment if you have other great sources of information; I'd love to read it then post it for anyone else on the home page.

Finally | As if all of these ridiculous things aren't enough to keep me occupied for awhile, I'm beginning to brainstorm for the next topics to tackle. Things I have found so far: people who try to reduce their global impact by 90% in one year (crazy and interesting), an awesome budgeting site (no one likes wasting money), and I'm considering doing a product review for something such as P90X or Rosetta Stone (600$ is alot to waste if it's a POS).

So I am issuing an official call for entries meeting the following criteria:
1. Something you would like to do or at the very least would be interested in reading.
2. Can have measurable progress or a defined outcome (for the most part).
3. Isn't stupid/lame.

21 February 2011

The quick and dirty of "No Shampoo"

First, I want to quickly explain my reason for starting a whole blog (it's a big step.) There are things I wanted to try but really felt too nervous to do without further detail. For example, with the no shampoo undertaking, I wanted to know: was your hair REALLY dirty on day 3, or 4, or 5?? Did people still want to be your friend on week 2...? If this is you, I offer you the opportunity to live vicariously through me.

For those of you wondering, why bother? Here are a few links:

Trial run:
A mom with her explanation and results

No-Shampoo "Revolution"

A little biology background.

Here is the link to the research mentioned in the above article:
WARNING! Very science-y.

And last but certainly not least:
The stumble which started it all.

If you can't get on board with the "shampoo=chemicals -> bad" philosophy, that's fine. I'm pickin' up what you're puttin' down; it sounds like hippie mumbo jumbo. But maybe you can get on board with not fading your hair color nearly as quickly or never paying for shampoo again. Sure it's not free rent or any spectacular large amount but if your body doesn't need it, why not use that money elsewhere? And just to throw it in-it's less plastic to recycle (or throw away for a lot of people) and less chemicals for our water treatment plants to process. (There will absolutely be posts later about our water usage in America by the way.) Small impacts, but worth mentioning if we are pointing out positive aspects. You can come up with your own cons, like that it's weird for one.

But for those of you wondering how the process is actually going thus far, here is the update.

Day 2 of no shampoo.


It's fine. In all honesty, it seems just the same as if I had washed my hair with shampoo yesterday instead of baking soda. I'm still not sure if the goal is to ween off the baking soda too, so I guess that is an area to research further. I did use hair spray and coconut oil to style a bit today as well. I'm sure styling product build up is bad with a no shampoo lifestyle so I should probably cut that later as well, too bad I just stocked up last month. Boo.

And a little sneak peek for the next segment:

Whole 30 information-read!!!

I am starting February 28 along with Shannon. Josh will be joining us at some point, exciting! And thank you to Leyna for the introduction :) Props, props, props-props all around. If you feel inspired after reading up on it, join with us! 30 days of being awesome and a non tub of lard! I'm excited. Get excited!

20 February 2011

A very brief introduction

Lately, I have had a more than usual interest in learning new things and pursuing my interests. Reading stories from people online who have tried some of these things was probably the most inspiring, so I have decided to join your ranks and inform others. From now on, I will be experimenting in areas outside of my knowledge and posting the progress along the way. Since all of these things are new to me, please share any experience or wisdom you deem helpful.

Without further ado, Adventure #1.
Should you quit using shampoo?

Oh no, whoa! That's too disgusting, what a dirty hippie! While I already do hold off on washing my hair as much as possible to keep it healthy and make my color last; let it be said that if you call me a hippie I will hate you for life. (...It was hard to think of something internet-appropriate here. Are you allowed to threaten people from your blog...?)

Before you judge me as disgusting, google "no shampoo" for yourself and read a few articles. From doing this myself, I found the new things to try for my first adventure of becoming more awesome. They include shampoo substitutions as: just water, baking soda + water, conditioner with lemon juice and cornstarch in between washing. (If you know me, you know my love for baby powder to postpone showers on greasy hair.) Apparently corn starch is more natural, so whatever, I'll give it a try.

Results from day 1, post gym shower. I tried out the baking soda first. Apparently an apple cider vinegar rinse afterwards helps balance pH and I had it at home anyway so I splashed that on too. I think I missed a few spots with the baking soda-water mixture because I still have some heavy feeling areas but oh well. Also, I don't know if the no shampoo people support using leave in conditioners or hair products but I am still using mine for now. My hair doesn't smell like vinegar and most of it's dried in non-greasy form.

I'll be doing this for as long as it's not a complete trainwreck and doing more adventures on the side. Coming up- the Whole30 or Paleo diet, should you do it or does it suck? I'm starting February 28 and we shall see.