My Ephedrine Experience

I think I have fallen for every diet scheme on the market - past and present. Each one promising things 'they' know we want......and we never successfully accomplish any real lifestyle changes, we only get more desperate to lose weight.

The things we won't do......

I've tried the Atkins Diet. The creator of this world changing fad, Robert C. Atkins, died of his own diet so to speak.  Doctors claim he died of an infection unrelated to diet.....called a heart attack. In case you require more proof (and good for you) - you can start here.
I remember (as a child) watching an aquaintance of our family open up a little box of what looked like chocolate toffees. I remember thinking they looked delicious (I was already fully indoctrinated into the love of candy).....

....and then I found out it was a diet cube of some sort and it was supposed to help a person lose weight. I still find it both humorous and sad that they called this little square diet wonder 'AYDS.'

I remember looking at the woman who was using them every day and thinking, '....but there's nothing wrong with her....why is she talking like this?' This may have been the start of my confusion about the idea of weight but I can't be certain.

I remember feeling amazed that women were so concerned about this whole weight issue thing. They all looked so great in my book. I guess over time we learn what we believe we are supposed to do...and be...and say...and even think.....

When we fall for try the latest diets, we run the risk of harming ourselves in more ways than one. Our bodies suffer, but the constant 'failures' depress a spirit and slows real progress. Our minds learn to hate ourselves and we lose that va-va-va-voom because we are always seeking out that thing that is wrong with us.

I've also tried the cabbage soup diet and learned to loathe cabbage in a very short time. The 'don't eat anything' diet works for a few days until one is so light headed that standing becomes an issue. I don't recommend it.

The 'all liquid' diet would be great if we liquefied the right ingredients, but an all liquid diet of soda or beer or air doesn't do much but saturate us with yeasts and sugars....and the overall functions of our bodies begin to fail us.

The 'good morning cigarette and soda combo' diet was a bust for me too. I would be food and nutrition free all day long, and as soon as the moon came out - I ate every carb in sight. It was like being a werewolf who survived on bread products. As we know, the consequences of this are not good.

The powders, the liquid supplements bought from the bottom shelf of the health food store/gym down the street.......all helped me lose a very small amount of weight, but never enough to really matter (to me and my super high expectations that could probably never be met anyway). The weight always came back and always brought a friendly pound or two to stay awhile.

The worst diet I have ever tried had to be the ephedrine diet. I was in a desperate place when this gem came into my world. The things we won't do.....

I was working with a great group of people - and we decided to have a weight loss contest. There were some of us who had more weight to lose than others, so instead of making the contest about pounds lost, we made it percentage of weight lost. I was determined to win - and I always saw myself as having the most weight on my frame.

I silently congratulated myself on a soon to be win because I was certain I had discovered the real method to losing weight.

I had discovered EPHEDRINE.

This sh** is scary stuff! I was young, stupid ignorant (without knowledge or experience) and willing to try anything to ensure success this time. I was also only 24 years old.

The sad irony is that while I was about to attempt this new and dangerous diet, I never thought of consequences. Why? Well, I already mentioned my youth....my ignorance...I hadn't heard of this diet pill, and I was never comfortable enough to talk to anyone abut my weight or how to get rid of it. Everyone always said, 'Eat less.' No one ever told me that it wasn't about eating less, it is about eating better - and combining the foods that work for you (not soda, chips, etc).

The world lost the line of where real food ends and garbage begins. We seem to have it backwards.

No one ever told me I was in need of adjusting the 'balance' of my life - that it wasn't only about the weight I carried, that it  was also about fighting my inner demons and working through the things I had been trying to avoid my whole life.

So, at the age of 24 I entered this weight loss contest - another definite sign to me that I was in need of some fat loss. I was really ready this time! I had ordered 2 bottles of ephedrine online and anxiously awaited the first day.

We weighed in and although I gratefully can't recall my weight at the time, I remember being 'happy' that the number was higher, because ephedrine promised me amazing results.

Ephedrine delivered as promised! The weight started falling off of me. To ensure I lost even more weight, I stopped eating. I never admitted to being the smartest cookie in the jar, but I seem to be the bravest.

Weeks later, with the weigh in coming up - I was certain I would take home the cash prize and accolades for weight lost. I felt thinner! The scale was saying so too.

One night, about a week before the final weigh in - I was sitting at home watching TV when my heart starting pounding in a way I had never felt. I hadn't done anything different that day - and the feeling was enough to concern me immediately. Was I having a heart attack? It wasn't a panic attack (although I sort of felt like panicking at that point) - it was an irregular heartbeat and fear became a very real thing to me in that moment.

The feeling passed within half of a minute, but I was worried enough by now that I needed to
know what it was. A doctor's appointment, and my not disclosing the ephedrine use rendered me no answers from the medical community.

The feeling in my chest would return when I was asleep, waking me up. I would sleep with my phone close by in case I needed to call someone for help and couldn't get up. The next issue was I started to have trouble sleeping and I always seemed to have a headache. Migraines started and things became a haze of illnesses. I was losing weight rapidly - so for me at the time, it was sadly worth it.

Remember: I was 24 years old.

I often felt like I was dizzy....vertigo followed and I always wanted to puke. Still, being beautiful and skinny was more important. How sad is that? Somewhere along the way I took in the wrong information about how to go about things - and how I looked at the world.

When you walk down a hallway and you feel so jittery that you actually think to yourself that you won't make it to the end of that hallway - it's time for change.

The funniest thing about the situation? I never connected the health related issues I started having with the ephedrine at first. There was nothing on the subject at the time - so research wasn't something I was doing either. I wanted fast, effective weight loss like the advertisements told me I would get. I got that - at what long term cost I probably won't ever know.

The final weigh in day came, and I lost. The ladies who had been working out, eating right and not taking diet pills won by a landslide. They were already fatless creatures who were gorgeous and smiling all of the time - and I wondered how they could have won. Then I remembered - it was percentage of weight lost, not pounds. I had lost 15 pounds - a miracle in my world - but the percentages were on their side.

So I didn't win the challenge and I went on to quit the ephedrine and recover completely. All of the shakes, heart irregularities, headaches, nausea and dizziness went away after awhile.

I learned a valuable lesson - don't be a dumba** and not do your homework on things that could seriously do harm.

I was at the point in my life when I still believed in the wonders of that chocolatey little box of 'AYDS' - and I wanted my own weight loss successes. The ironic thing? The woman who I had seen with this diet supplement so many years before never went on to lose any significant amount of weight either. She continued to fluctuate her entire life as well - so perhaps, for me, she wasn't the best example of how to successfully lose weight - and that's OK. My fault for taking that route and buying the myths for so long - we all choose - perhaps I just wanted to be like her. There's always that.

So I was actually grateful when I heard that ephedrine is illegal;

From CBC News: Health Canada confirmed it's against the law to sell ephedrine products without proper labelling and without drug identification numbers. And when Marketplace contacted Health Canada, they said they were investigating several different ephedrine products. 
                  
They refused to talk to us on camera about those investigations. Still, it leaves people wondering why we were able to find so many violations.                    Health Canada's response? They just don't have the manpower to police the problem.

These days, I always follow the money. If it is too good to be true, it just might be. Who benefits financially? Do your homework, find those with experience. I never fully trust those selling the latest and greatest diet fad - the science behind each one matters more than the fancy colorful ads of veiny body builders and bikini clad stick insects.

Know what you are getting into - and the potential consequences of each.

Health is far more important.....and we're already beautiful.

Ephedrine. Now you know.

Rock your day!

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A Strong Immune System - Stay Healthy

In our busy lives we tend to neglect our diet the most out of all things. It is the one thing we believe can suffer without doing harm. Fast food quickly replaces nutritionally dense foods and the end result is always the same. Dis-ease.

One of the best ways to avoid illness is to ensure our immune systems are up to the challenge of maintaining wellness. Our bodies produce something called 'glutathione' - and without it we could find ourselves in a heap of trouble.

According to Jimmy Gutman, the man who wrote ' GSH - Your Body's Most Powerful Protector', glutathione works like a kind of flypaper (this is how I understand things....) - it adheres bad toxins to itself to clean them out of our systems.

Free radicals, including mercury actually stick to this glutathione and then it is recycled by the body. If our body becomes overloaded with toxins and we can't produce enough of what we need to clean them out, the system is too bogged down to continue and we lose the best defence we have against free radicals. The next step will be a trip to the doctor and the label of some sort of chronic disease. Let's avoid that!

We can increase our body's defences by increasing the production of glutathione. So how do we accomplish this?

1.> Eat sulphur rich foods - onions, garlic, broccoli, kale.
2.> Move your body - get plenty of exercise and water.
3.> Supplement what you can't get - N-acetyl-cysteine NAC, Alpha Lipoic Acid, Selenium, Vitamin C & E
4. Explore 'Milk Thistle.'

There you have it - the wonderful world of glutathione! If we give our body's the tools they need to run at peak performance, they will. We have a far greater chance of successfully bettering our wellness. Avoid the dis-ease labels and keep the immune system functioning.

An ounce of prevention really is worth a pound of cure.

My Inevitable Return To The Blog

I realize how long it has been since I have posted. Life happens and my old, now disconnected computer that ran XP has been retired. Equipped with a brand new spankin' Windows 8 system, I have returned! I do like the new windows operating system - it took a day or two to get used to it, but it sure beat Vista!

Get ready.....

The blog is going to be developing quickly from now on. This is my intention. I have projects flying around in my head I have been waiting to get to that can no longer wait.

Do it or don't do it. It's time for me.

A daily post is what you are all in store for and that's just for starters! I have been offline awhile.....but that's all about to change. I have so many articles, ideas, projects I have done, recipes I have tried and folks I have learned from - and I want to share them all with you.

I'm also toying with the idea of establishing a magazine. I have wanted to do this for years. I'm not sure what held me back, but these days I think differently. I have watched a very inspirational friend of mine develop her own pinup magazine (Lush Kittens) and I'd love to get involved in my own venture. You never know what I come up with.

Between the forum, the website, the blog, my Facebook Fan Page and my soon to be online Etsy shop, I have been a determined gal!

All good things in time......I'm workin' on it......stay tuned!

Two Years Tobacco Free Today!

We hear the expression, "If I can do it, anyone can do it" all the time. I say it to this day and just like I would have done somewhere back in time, folks just refuse to believe you.

I was the type of gal who did what she wanted to. No regrets. I also decided (back when I was 19 years old) that cigarettes were the coolest thing I could get my hands on. I used excuses ('everyone is doing it') and things of that nature to allow myself to keep ingesting this poison. Looking back - woah.

The day I started smoking was the day my Grandfather passed away. I blame no one for my starting, it's not like I hadn't wanted to anyway. Once I decided to smoke, knowing how stubborn a person I was then, no one could have convinced me to stop - I'm sure they tried.

I smoked for many reasons - all of which were ridiculous....but they were my own reasons. None justified what I was doing to myself and 20 years would go by before I figured it out. I call this 20 year stretch my 'brain on pause' years.

I had tried many, many, many times to quit. I always snuck around, bummed off of friends who felt bad for me and then I would lie to others about it because I figured no one could detect the smell so how would they know?!

When our daughter was born, I did quit temporarily. It wasn't long until I was back on the smokin' saddle and feeling crappy all over again.

More years went by. No quit. I saw the new cigarette laws come in and learned to ignore the warning labels on them. Those disgusting photographs on smoke packs were just there for shock value. I justified it - and I thought I loved it. I think I loved having something to do - something that was always accessible and only mine.

At work all of my breaks went to this time consuming habit. I reasoned I would never get a break if I didn't smoke during mine. There was always a good excuse.

The day I actually quit - it was the strangest thing. I had tried so many times in the past - mostly for others. I had made every excuse I could possibly make to snag a smoke whenever I wanted to. Control myself? Will power? I didn't want to be responsible for this bad choice - yet here I was.

Hubby and I made a choice on February 14th - the day of love - to quit hurting our lungs, our lives and each other with this habit.. The next day, we woke up and never touched another cigarette again. I never even thought about it much. No cravings - no freaking out. Nothing. I had done it!

To me, it was the oddest 'quit' I had ever had up until that point. Attempting to explain it to anyone feels restricted - I can't seem to nail down the words I need to describe the feeling. Elated. Confused. Determined. Done. Those words definitely describe it.

Now, many people say that I quit 'cold turkey' and in a sense that's true.....but they didn't see the millions of justifications, excuses, bargaining moments and times that I had quit only to start again. I explained this to a friend once and she said, 'All of those moments led you to the right one - they were the tools you needed to succeed.'

I agree, but want to add this; I always had the tools....but now.....those tools I used changed. We all 'find the way' in life at varying stages of our own, but when I quit that amazing February day, I didn't realize I had finally decided to use the ultimate tool for success.

Myself. My thoughts. My choice. I was finally using my stubbornness to my advantage!

I changed the way I thought of cigarettes. I believe this had been happening in my subconscious for a long time - everything begins as a thought.

Decide what you want and accomplish it for yourself. You may be in awe at first...keep moving forward....by then you'll realize....you can do anything. 

Thyroid

Explained By Wikipedia: The thyroid gland or simply, the thyroid is one of the largest endocrine glands. The thyroid gland is found in the neck, below the thyroid cartilage (which forms the laryngeal prominence, or "Adam's apple"). The isthmus (the bridge between the two lobes of the thyroid) is located inferior to the cricoid cartilage.

The thyroid gland controls how quickly the body uses energy, makes proteins, and controls how sensitive the body is to other hormones. It participates in these processes by producing thyroid hormones, the principal ones being triiodothyronine (T3) andthyroxine which can sometimes be referred to as tetraiodothyronine (T4). These hormones regulate the rate of metabolism and affect the growth and rate of function of many other systems in the body. T3 and T4 are synthesized from both iodine andtyrosine. The thyroid also produces calcitonin, which plays a role in calcium homeostasis.

Thanks, Wikipedia!

That is a lot of information about one small gland - but thyroid issues are no laughing matter. If you suffer from thyroid trouble, you know what I'm saying is true. The one thing I have learned about the thyroid is that it requires quality protein intake. Above and beyond that, I had little information, but I wanted it.

If you are looking for ways to help repair or stimulate your thyroid, these suggestions may help;
(from: 'Eating Away Illness' by Paulette Millis)

Kelp powder
Dulce (and other sea vegetables)
Lugol's Iodine
L'Tyrosine
Selenium
Zinc
B Vitamins
Protein Supplements

Awareness is always the first major way to change. If you think you may have a thyroid problem, you can do this self check at home.

Food Experiment #1: Processed Cheese Stick Terror!!

When cheese sticks first hit the scene, I was very into trying them. Once I did, I was in love. If you've had one, you probably really enjoyed them too. Maybe not.

These little cheese injected tubes of......what the heck are they anyway? Breaded cheese? How do they stay together? Anyway....it has been years since I've laid a finger on one of these bad boys, but the other day an opportunity arose.


I was cleaning out a freezer and stuck way at the back was a small bag containing 5 frozen cheese sticks.

As I've mentioned, I used to love these so it is no wonder how they managed to find their way there.

They were a little freezer burnt, and I was about to toss them out, but instead thought of an excellent experiment! I believe the instructions are to deep fry them - something I wasn't about to do - when a pile of questions arose. I shrugged them off - we weren't eating these - and into the oven they went.

What? They're not made for the oven? I realize that but what happened to them next was enough to turn any cheese stick lover green.

We checked the oven after about 15 minutes. This is what we saw;

Not exactly as pictured above is it? Pale, disgusting looking puffballs of........of....well we still don't know what that stuff really is!

3 of these little...things....contain over 500 mg of sodium, 14g of fat and 25 mg of cholesterol. If that glistening sheen on the overcooked...(is that cheese?)...part of the treat is edible at this point I'd be surprised.

Our dogs wouldn't eat these. Literally. Trashed!

Are You Thinking 'Sick?'

There are those that exist in the world that 'think sick.' I must admit my own role of guilt in this mentality because I'm certain I used to think the same way.

'Sick thinkers' are always ready and willing to let others know 'they've been better.'

I suppose the reason I would do something so intrusive to others was because I needed to let others know I needed something. 

I needed changes in my life in a major way I just never knew how to begin such an enormous undertaking.

Over time, others offered suggestions, ideas and tips - all of which were haughtily dismissed as I reached for the next bag of potato chips. I wasn't ready. I continued to talk sick.

These days, I am very aware of the words that I say. I make every attempt not to put myself down (facts are facts regarding my cooking abilities and I continue to work on that). I 'think before I speak' - another lesson brought to you by the parents who I believed didn't know as much as I did back then......drat. 

Karma circles me like a vulture sometimes, but the important lessons are what I hang in there for.

I don't just stop my lips from speaking the words while I still think them - I don't even think them. If a negative thought or criticism creeps in (and it is usually about me) I sweep it out of my mind and quickly replace it with the opposite thought. Literally.

So if I catch myself thinking, "Oh I'm not feeling good today," I stop and think - my body may not be feeling good, and I may need to rest today - but in my mind and spirit I continue to thrive - and things will catch up....a reset or re-balance is often all we need.

Moms everywhere believe that there is a necessary mentality that they can do it all. Sixteen children and she hasn't left the house in 12 years - she doesn't need a day off! I assure you - she does......or at least she will when we find her rocking, twitching and talking to herself in the corner at midnight. We all need a break. Without one, this is how we spend years in illness we can't explain. Moms count too!

If we think something long enough, it becomes. Think sick and you'll start to feel sick! Find ways to avoid 'thinking sick' and you'll start to notice a big difference in your entire life. It all starts in the mind with the way we think. Negative or positive - these thoughts bring these things into our lives.

Sick of being sick? Try practicing the positive thinking position of life. It is going to amaze you!