Discussion Board

i am still using the Biolage products since I have a big bottle of them, both the shampoo, the conditioner and the spray on one. It was on the approved list and I do like them.

My hair is so dry all I usually do is wash the chlorine out of it if it gets wet...but I need it cut shorter, takes way too long to dry now. I guess this diet is healthy cause my ponytail has grown about 4 inches again in 6 months! Starting to bother me. My daughter is a hairdresser so when I fly out tomorrow, sometime in the next two weeks she will cut it. Already told her NO i am not having you color it, I earned everyone of these grey hairs!!!!

well, about an hour after my WO shower and vinegar hair rinse, my skin feels soft. It's hard to describe, but it feels good.

I was surprised by how greasy my hair was, when I poured on the diluted vinegar. As soon as I poured the vinegar water, my fingers were coated with an oily greasy substance, but it rinsed off readily. We'll see if my head itches tomorrow. It was also a little strange not having that surfactant sensation of slipperiness under my hand as I washed. It felt like my hands were sort of catching on my skin. And I was a little stickier after drying off, which may have been me not drying thoroughly...but that's gone now.

tomorrow and the next day will tell.

Today's eating was 100% compliant with my "no added oils for the rest of 2009" commitment.

B: 7 grain cereal with banana and maple syrup
L: samosa wraps in corn tortillas
D: baba ganoush with veggie sticks. I loooove baba ganoush! it is so rich and doesn't need the tahini to make it creamy and luscious.
S: half a can of black beans w/garlic powder and 1 tsp of vinegar to season them

I'll post tomorrow about how/what my skin feels like after a little bit of time passes...

going to bed.

blessings,Heidi

FINISHING STRONG! THERE ARE 95 DAYS LEFT IN 2009...OIL-FREE DAYS!
Okay, this morning my hair is soft, shiny not greasy looking at all. There is an itchy spot on my scalp that...itches...once in awhile. My face feels dry. Otherwise my skin feels really good. I smell good, neutral. No odor, no sweet lovely perfumey aroma.

Today's going to be a day out and about, from 10 am until 8 pm, so I'll have to pack lunch and dinner. I want a big salad today for sure, so after dropping off kids at school and before reporting in to work, I will get the veggies for that salad chopped up and put it in a gallon ziploc. Make some 321 dressing (I tried that with 3 as the vinegar, and it's too tangy that way, so I'll do the honey=3, vinegar=2, mustard=1) I also have some boiled potatoes in the fridge, will take them along. I want to practice that gravy recipe, so I'll put some together and take that along too. That'll be dinner:

D: big salad and boiled potatoes w/vegan fat free gravy

Now, yesterday I made some baba ganoush and controlled myself, eating only half the batch and saving the rest for another time. I might have to bring that along for lunch...maybe. I also have a serving left of the quinoa and red lentil stew, and some linguine noodles cooked. That might do for lunch, and I'll save the baba ganoush for my day off (tomorrow)

L: quinoa and red lentil stew over linguine noodles; grape tomatoes so I can share with my client who doesn't eat enough veggies BY FAR.

and Breakfast was a big bowl of oatmeal, half Irish cut oats, half cinnamon sugar Quaker instant (last packet. yay. I won't buy it again. too expensive, and sorta salty)

This uses up all the food I've cooked for last week, and sets me up for making big batches of food tomorrow, AND I have all the spices and mixes and powders AND some recipes, for Indian dishes. I'm excited to try several recipes and have lots left over for the week. Indian food is so good, but so oily in restuarants...I want to make it without all the added fat.

ooh. Exercise. I will go for a walk today. Don't start work until 10, should finish the meal prep for the day inside of 20 min, which makes it possible to walk from 9:00 to 10:00 in the foothills yay!

and there will be activity with helping clients put their flyers on doorknobs, up and down stairs, etc.

blessings, all a y'all

Hi Heidi - I'm so glad that you are in on the Finishing Strong - 100 days left. The countdown for that seems to be going so fast. Also, I think that you'll be very surprised with the no soap/no deodorant. I definitely feel and smell cleaner. Also, the shower is so much cleaner, now that tells me something! I think that the no shampoo/ no conditioner will take longer. Are you using baking soda too - you only mentioned the apple cider vinegar. I'm pretty amazed by this whole experiment.
Keep it up - you are doing great! Take care, LauraA

Hi Laura

Just vinegar, and my hair is shiny and soft, with lots of body. My hair is short and thick and fine, so washing it always leaves it flat and I have been putting gel in it to give it that "Messy cute" look. But I noticed my hair had natural "lift" and texture without the gel...without the spikey feel and flakes of the gel, too! huh. I may try baking soda for my underwear area, as that is the only part of me that feels like it needs it. My deodorant was alcohol, but since I have today off I'm not deodorizing and we'll see how I smell by the end of the day. I'm astounded by my non-odorous-ness.

Heidi

LET'S FINISH STRONG! 94 OIL-FREE DAYS LEFT IN 2009!

Well, I did it. A 10 hour work day, eating two meals away from home, and I stayed completely on plan. Taking food with was a necessary element of my success and since Mondays are long days, it is how I will do from now on.

The vegan gravyis SO delicious!

I am making a huge triple batch of it for Thanksgiving and letting everyone have some, who wants some I'm making it for potatoes here at home, for my kids to eat! absolutely delish! Nutritional yeast is a wonder food! LOL

today...well, then...woke up at 3 a.m. with a cough. I've been fighting this head cold that's going around, and when a little dry coughing woke me, I decided to just get up and not lay there tossing and turning. I was asleep by 9:30 last night anyway, so it isn't the end of the world to get 5.5 hours of sleep one night, eh?

My plan was to practice a few Indian dishes since it's my day off. Now, however, I think I will just make a big pot of soup and use Indian spices in it. The soup will be a strong weapon in my battle. I've also gotten out the "big guns"...that is, I'm taking garlic. Fresh, minced, by the spoonful, whenever I think about it (frequently)...I gonna smell something awful, but I know the garlic will put an end to this stupid crap. It works for me every time. And, I'm drinking an herbal tea with echinacea in it, and taking AirBorne along with heaps of Vitamin C.

phooey. My day off and I get to spend it fighting a disease. ugh! Man, how can it possibly be that I'm feeling like CRAP again? sheesh! I'm so tired of it!

So

B: a piece of fruit or two
L: clean out fridge soup
D: clean out fridge soup
S: clean out fridge soup; garlic LOL

exercise: sleep.

Awww..I hope you feel better and get some rest.

LET'S FINISH STRONG! 93 FAT-FREE, OIL-FREE DAYS LEFT IN 2009!

WOOT! I lost three more pounds for a total of 8 in three weeks. YAH!

still fighting the head cold, but garlic is my wonder-drug-of-choice for a reason. That is, it works for me, and my chest is not tighter, and though there are sniffles, they are moderate. The usual course of a cold is that, on the third day you're worse than the second day, but I'm already getting better. Tomorrow it will be gone. A two week cold, reduced to four days. Seriously. Garlic is wonderful stuff! Thankfully I fell back asleep when I woke at 2:00...slept until my alarm went off for a change! Still, if I could afford it, I would TOTALLY call in sick today.

Today's plan:

B: oatmeal w/raisins, cinnamon, apple, syrup
L: veggie soup and a baked sweet potato
D: Veggie soup and a big salad w/321 dressing. Starch...maybe some rice. I need to cook a big pot of brown rice anyway. somehow I didn't put potatoes in the soup!

I've been wanting to play with the 321 dressing, using soy sauce instead of vinegar, and throwing ginger in there and something with hot heat like chili pepper flakes. Ooh, I have tamarind paste in the house, too. I could make something with an Indian flare.

exercise yesterday? nope. Monday was a wonderful day of activity and energy. yesterday was a "nurse the headcold" day which means resting, which is what I did. And today there might be a little bit of activity with work, but I'm going to beg out of taking the guys out for their Dominos doorknob job...not in the rain, not with this cold.

ah, well. The exercise will come, if my body will quit getting physically weird on me. The eating continues On Plan If I have a head cold or joint aches for the rest of my life, I'm going to eat this way, so...

blessings,
Heidi

Hey Heidi, so good to find you here. I went to the thread you mentioned and read the first five "pages." I'll have to finish it later. (It is a very looooong thread for being only eleven days old!) Wow! lots of interest!

Well, what I want to say here is number one: "HI" and number two: I wanted to say that I have found garlic to be very cleansing too. Since getting sick in April of 2009, I bought some good organic garlic cloves and have put them in carrot juice, garden salads and soups. At first, I would get very sick from it but then realized that I was in detox so I backed off and didn't eat (or juice) as much garlic. Now, my body can handle what I think is a normal amount of garlic without any ill effects. I like the taste and love the healthy benefits. The only dissappointing factor is that so many in society complain (usually family) or avoid (usually strangers and friends) garlic lovers.

I want to add that I find megadoses of vitamin C (5,000 units per day) has the same effect upon a cold that garlic has, i.e. they both cut a two week cold down to only a few days. BUT, I found that with C, you have to take the megadoses at the first sign of getting sick.

So thanks again for welcoming me to the forum and the soap and poo thread. Once I finish reading the whole thing, I plan to say hi to the readers, but for today I need to finalize my decision about which air purifier to purchase. I've got three "runner ups" and then, a new friend suggested "negative ion" units. I don't know anything about negative ions but am willing to research, so that's what I have to do today. I'm excited to finally get to order an air purifier!

I'll be back to the forum....looking for you! Have a great day and I do hope you continue to feel better...

Take care,
selah*

Hi Selah

thanks for dropping by! I mega dose with Vitamin C, too but didn't catch it in time...it really hit me fast. However, I can say that eating garlic is keeping this baby tame. I'll be done with it before the week is out. Already my cough is nothing. I can feel it improving after every "dose".

*****

Today's eating turned out different than I had planned, but 100% on plan, and zero added fats or oils.

B: veggie soup/stew
L: veggie soup over a baked sweet potato
D: spaghetti squash w/Bush's vegetarian baked beans
S: baba ganoush and veggie stix (I'm so glad I didn't snarf the baba ganoush on Monday! *slurp*)

and I'm going to have seconds on the spaghetti squash and baked beans and watch Biggest Loswer on HULU.

No exercise, but I am bursting with energy. IF it wasn't close to bedtime, I'd be vacuuming the ceiling or something! ha! However, even though I have a lot of energy, I know I'll sleep well. It's amazing how good I feel, and everything is just so normal. Energy like a champ, yet I'll sleep like a log, no doubt.

This flu is really strange. No matter how we try to ward it off, it gets us! Sorry to hear you have it too. Mine is on day 15!! For some reason it doesn't want to let me go. I tell it to "please release me let me go, for i don't love you anymore and i never did!!! so get the heck out of me you stinking parasite!!!" lol Sure, it starts out as a nice loving song and then my real feelings come out.
Hope your week is going well!

wow bunsofaluminum,
You are so encouraging to me. I can't wait to feel so good. I'm glad you had a good day. I'm going to go eat some garlic now and go to bed. I know I'll feel better soon and then spend more time sharing.

I notice you and others keep track of what you eat on your journal. That is a neat idea. I think I'll start tracking that and my supplements on my journal. I keep a handwritten journal but it gets so messy. One thing I like about keying in text is it's clarity.

I thought of this forum today when I showered because I used my regular soap, Dr Bronners castile soap. I barely notice my need for deoderant anymore. Over the months of being sick and doing every kind of detox process I could think of and that my body would allow, and of course getting rid of chemical soaps, i have noticed among other things that I don't have a strong odor anymore. I don't need all those soaps, shampoos, deoderants and lotions. Thanks so much for leading me to that thread.

This is a great forum for sick people! With all of the ideas and encouragement, they won't be sick for long. I better go now...

Take care,
selah*
p.s. I'm out of C right now so am drinking echinacea tincture in water. I get paid tomorrow so I can replenish the vitamin/mineral supplement stash! What do you think of echinacea as a cold/flu prevention?

Ok I just went through your journal I saw pancakes one day for breakfast do you have the recipe. I am getting sick of oats everyday. I need a change Sounds like you like Indian food I have never tried it. What's with the vinegar shampoo. If you miss half the post that see saw back and forth they get confusing. I just remembered Letha's recipe list I will have to go and check some of those. Well we both have just about the same of weight to lose so I will try to finish the year the best that I can. Keep in touch. I have to start going to bed earlier it's almost one here. Bye Paula

Hi Heidi - Have you rewashed your hair yet with anything but water? We both washed on Sunday, and now it is Thursday. Mine still seems ok - I am amazed. We are going out to dinner in Savannah tonight (my son and his wife are visiting from Australia) so I may need to wash with diluted BS, then rinse with diluted ACV after my bike ride this morning. I'm trying to decide. I guess that i could try WO, then let it dry, and if it looks bad try again adding SB and ACV. That may be too much trouble, so I may go ahead and do the BS and ACV. It looks ok now, though! I'm amazed. Take care, LauraA

It has been studied many times and found worthless for preventing a cold or even minimizing it's effects. Jeff will have the studies done on it, I.m sure.
f1jim