Week 3 of UltraMetabolism Detox, or Why Is Everyone Tempting Me With Free Pastries?

In the last 24 hours, on three separate occasions, I have walked away from free buffets of bread, donuts, cinnamon rolls, banana bread, carrot cake and a host of other bakery items. And bacon. All because of my UltraMetabolism detox. It's a good thing that Phase I is only one more week — Jocelyn is becoming a very bitter girl.

I think if I walk away from this detox having learned anything, it will have been to be more conscious about food and my eating habits. Right now especially, depriving myself of so many of my favorite things, I find myself really thinking about what I'm putting in my mouth and how it tastes (sometimes good, sometimes bad). In the future I think that even when I eat something that I shouldn't, I will do it with a conscious knowledge and appreciation for the experience. Hopefully that's a good thing, right?

In the meantime, a few things that I've learned so far about healthy eating and my reactions to it:

Things that I hope I never have to go without again:

• some kind of sweetener (if not sugar, then at least agave nectar or honey)
• butter
• bread
• eggs

Things I hope I never have to eat again:

• Unsweetened soy milk
• Quinoa as a substitute for oatmeal at breakfast

Things, despite expectations, I actually like:

• Plain soy yogurt — although a little runny, it tastes good and works in smoothies
• Gluten-free bread —well, kind-of like
• Quinoa as a substitute for rice at dinner — you can even cook it in your rice cooker, too!
• Kale — my new favorite all-purpose veggie: it adds an interesting texture to my smoothies, and I'm completely addicted to kale chips — who knew? 

Oh yea, although I don't know what it is, I'm pretty sure that one of the things I've given up (gluten, dairy, sugar, eggs, caffeine, peanuts) is responsible for a lot of my sinus congestion. I've gone 2 1/2 weeks without my nasal spray with no issues, which has been unheard of for me for the last six or seven years. I'm anxious to start reintroducing these things (for many reasons!) to see what I might have to give up. With my luck, it'll be gluten or sugar.

All in all, a pretty enlightening experiment so far.

The Gift of Silence

I sit in my living room after having just watched a movie: the television is off and the only sound is of the furnace pushing sweet, warm air into the room.

I think I've mentioned before that before I dumped my TV service, it was almost always on in the house. I turned it on the minute I walked in the door from work and turned it off before I headed upstairs to bed. On weekends, it was on from the time I woke up. Most of my time in front of the television consisted of doing other things as I was watching it, but it was definitely a constant background to my home life.

I have found that even since I've stopped watching television, I often turn on my iPod, which is hooked up to my stereo and speakers, and listen to that throughout the evenings as I read, surf the internet or write. So, still, there is not a lot of silence in my life.

A few years ago, during a particularly hot summer, we were experiencing a lot of blackouts in my neighborhood. As the house got stuffy (some of the outages were lasting six hours or more), I would sit on the deck in my back yard and just listen. Even with some traffic noise coming from the freeway a block away, it was eerily quiet. The normal rumblings of homes in the neighborhood had been silenced completely.

As I sit here now, I am comforted by the relative absence of noise and am reminded that sometimes one really should seek out silence, even though it's not something that's encountered often naturally. In a world where we are bombarded with pings and dings, buzzes and rings, silence give us space. Space to think, space to be inspired, space to breathe.

The next time you've reached your limit, consider heading into another room (or corner if that's all you have), turn off the TV and phone, silence your email alerts and take a few minutes, just breathing in whatever silence you can get.

Creating Your Vision — Streamlined Goal Setting

It's three weeks into 2011 — how are your resolutions holding up so far?

For the last six weeks, everybody has been talking about goals: how to decide what they are, how to make them SMART, how to implement them, how to stay on track. There are a lot of different ways to go about it and I doubt that any one (or seven) way is right — it all depends on what works for you.

I've spent the last month or more researching how others went about creating their goals, and I even half-heartedly tried some of them out myself. I say half-heartedly not because they weren't great systems, but they just didn't seem to be great systems for me. So I've decided to put in my two cents on how to create goals. If anybody is already feeling intimidated by recently set resolutions, this might be the way for you to re-empower yourself to continue on with your goals.

I don't really think of what I do as making "resolutions" and, to a degree, not even traditional goals, but I have developed a system over the last few years that helps me to set myself and my actions in the right direction for the year ahead. Before I started this process, I used to find it difficult to set specific goals because, well, basically, I. WANT. IT. ALL. It probably would have taken me the first half of the year to finish listing and strategizing all the goals I wanted to accomplish.

For me, the key strategy to establishing any kind of goals, intentions or whatever you want to call it is simplicity. The more complicated it gets, the more overwhelmed I get and the less likely I am to follow through on anything. So if any of you are like me, this is what I came up with:

Create Overarching Visions
I figured out what I had to do is come up with one overarching vision in different parts of my life and from there set some intentions on how I would create those visions. So as to not get bogged down with 20 different areas and visions (as I know I could), I limit myself to five. This year, they are:

• Physical and emotional health
• Home
• Financial
• Community/relationship
• Work/travel

These categories can change slightly from year to year, and sometimes not at all. Last year I had a relationship goal as a category of its own (and that worked out well -- not). This year, I combined it with my community goal and added financial, which is something that I have both the need and ability to work on more this year.

Also, to some the last category, work/travel, may seem like they don't belong, but there is a method to my madness. I have an overarching vision to develop my job into one that allows me to do a lot of traveling, so I thought that if I put them together, I would be more likely to to work on things to make that happen.


Main Actions to Reach My Vision
Once again in the name of simplicity, for each life area I've created, I limit myself to three big-picture actions that are going to get me to the goal I've envisioned. For instance, this is what my vision looks like in the "Home" category:

Home - To create a decadently comfortable and inviting environment

• Remove unnecessary clutter
• Finish repair projects
• Get yard in order

And I've done that for all five areas of my life. That's the basic gist of how I create my goals.


Task Lists
It probably seems too simplified for some, and that there are probably some very necessary details left out. The last step is to create detailed action lists, ones that I can check things off as I get things done and get closer to my goals.

To continue with the Home example, I will make a list that includes the different repair projects and yard projects that need to be taken care of. In this particular case, I will probably even categorize them by time of year they'll get done. Let's face it: it's January in Minnesota -- no yard or outdoor projects are getting done for several months.

In the meantime, I can work on indoor repair projects (I need to replace baseboards in three different rooms), and I can also make a list of every room in the house and cross them off as I go through and remove clutter for sale or donation. And again, I do these list for each of my goals.

Flexibility
What works for me about creating and planning my goals like this is that it forces me to really prioritize what's most important to me. And it also allows me to be flexible down the road. Because I haven't bombarded myself with 20 different resolutions, or 50 different actions to complete, I feel freer to create a new or improvised vision down the road of I feel it's warranted (or if I just want to, for that matter).

I know this plan won't work for everybody. Hell, it might not work for most people. But if there are a few of you out there who get intimidated by these complex plans, spreadsheets and arts and crafts projects that others suggest, this might be just what you're looking for. If you have questions, or are trying it out and have insights or suggestions to offer, please let me know.

You've Got to Give (Up) a Little to Get a Little

I'm really trying to embrace this whole "new year, new me" concept as I do every January, and this year I'm helped along by the examples and resources provided for me by my coworkers and the great magazine that I work for. But even after just 20 days of the new year, I'm fascinated by how much I've already given up in search of a better me.

As a rule, I am not somebody who makes sacrifices -- for anything or anybody. That's probably at least part of the reason why I am unmarried and childless (but that's another conversation altogether). So, even in pursuit of a "higher self," giving up one thing is almost unthinkable, and yet I've given up several in the last few weeks.

But then I realized that for everything that I've given up, I have gained at least one -- better -- thing in return, if not more. And I think I'm starting to understand more clearly how you really do need to give up (or just give) something to get something in return. Even relationship experts talk about how, if you're preparing to find a relationship partner, you should make room in closets and dresser drawers to be physically as well as emotionally ready for that person to come along (again, a conversation for a later day).

So I started thinking about what I've given up so far versus what I've gotten back already. This is what I came up with:

• Television service - money and time. Even though this wasn't about money, I figure by the end of the year I'll be over $1100 richer from canceling my service. And I've probably gained a good 30 hours a week of tv-free time at home.
• Sugar and high-fructose corn syrup - breathing through my nose. They say that sugar causes inflammation and I believe it. After the first several days of my detox, I noticed that my sinuses, that are almost always congested, were clearer. I haven't used my nasal spray (usually taken twice a day) in over a week now.
• Caffeine - deeper sleep and a little self-respect. I feel that I've been getting to sleep quicker than I used to and, once asleep, I'm not waking up in the middle of the night as I sometimes did. Also, as somebody who was caffeine-free for over 10 years, I was a little embarrassed at my Day 1 reaction to going caffeine-free again. I'm glad that it was a short-lived and that I'm back on track.
  

I expect that this is a very small list of all the things I will have given up and gained in the next month, six months, year. But it gives me hope and inspiration to create even more positive change. And it makes me fully realize that if I want to create and gain wonderful things in my life, I have to embrace a little more sacrifice of the things that are easy and fun but unproductive.

Phase I of UltraMetabolism Detox

Won't be doing this for the three weeks!

I've just finished the first week of the UltraMetabolism eight-week detox. Technically, the real detox started today -- last week was just getting rid of the most toxic things in my diet: sugar, high-fructose corn syrup, caffeine, hydrogenated oils, packaged foods and alcohol.

The middle of last week had me questioning whether my life was worth living with the above things (complete with severe caffeine withdrawal and olfactory hallucinations), but now comes even more things to eliminate for the next three weeks: dairy, gluten, eggs, pork and red meat. I'm not looking forward to it, but I just keep reminding myself how much this will benefit my system. Also, I'll get the opportunity to discover if any of the things I eat contribute to my rheumatoid arthritis -- that alone would be worth the suffering.

I can tell you that while there are things that I plan to permanently eliminate from my diet (HFCS and hydrogenated oils), there are things that I'm currently on the fence about (caffeine), things that I will probably limit (dairy, alcohol, maybe pork) and things that I'm reintroducing as soon as I can (right now I can't decide between bringing back eggs, gluten or natural sweeteners first).

Dr. Hyman says that most people on this detox plan lose 6-12 pounds during phase one, and if they really listen to how their body reacts and make healthy changes to their diet and lifestyle, will continue to lose weight. That's huge for people who struggle with their weight for a variety of reasons. But that's not really why I'm doing this.

More than anything I want to be educated about the way that I'm eating. Not having ever really worried about my weight, I've always subscribed to the "eat what tastes good" diet. I knew that some of the things I ate were good for me, some weren't and then there were those things that I wasn't sure about either way. But now I want to know for sure. Even if I still choose some unhealthy foods occasionally, I want to do it making an informed decision. That's what Dr. Hyman and his UltraMetabolism prescription is going to do for me.

What I've found most interesting from reading his book is that most of what Dr. Hyman recommends is how I was fed as a child. At first I was surprised. Then I wasn't. The foundation of Hyman's theory is that we need to get back to eating what our bodies were designed to eat and what we did eat before industrialization changed every aspect of our lives. And how would my mother have grown up eating, in the 1930s in the hills of Jamaica, where they grew and raised the majority of their food and the only preservative they knew about was salt? Once again, mother has proven that she knows best!

I'll keep you updated on how the detox goes and, although results are different for everyone, what I learn about common reactions and any interesting recipes or food products that I come across. If you have any specific questions, please let me know.

How to Get the Job You Want

The other day I was asked by a fellow member of the Professional Editors' Network (PEN), a college junior, what I did to get the job I now hold. As a new graduate (and employee), I wouldn't have thought that I have a lot to offer yet in the way of advice, but she said me being a new graduate was what caught her attention. She wanted to know what classes I took beyond Beginning Editing to create a focus on editing that the school didn't naturally have.

I'm not sure that I had a lot to offer this person because, as much as I love editing, that wasn't my focus -- mine was the magazine industry. If there had been a class on how to be the personal assistant to someone in the magazine industry, I probably would have taken it, JUST IN CASE. That's how bad I wanted to be in the industry.

But the more I thought about it, I realized that I do have an interesting story to tell and some advice that just might work for somebody out there. Last spring -- probably March or April -- I decided that I wanted to work for Experience Life magazine and six months later I was offered a full-time position with them. I figure I must have done something right.

So, I've broken it down into three main things to keep in mind when you're trying to get the job that you want:

• Find a way to stand out. This can obviously take many different forms, depending on your industry, the nature of the job and the potential employer that you're working with. I took a pretty direct approach myself:

I attended a health and wellness conference specifically to meet Pilar, the editor in chief. I was armed with my resume and writing samples. At lunch I introduced myself to her and told her that I wanted to work for her someday, and by the end of the day I had left my resume packet with her. Two days later, I went to the EL offices and repeated my words and actions with Craig, the managing editor.

Despite a busy summer with classes, work and an internship somewhere else, I tried to occasionally stay in touch by e-mail just so that Pilar and Craig wouldn't forget about me. Honestly, I kind of dropped the ball on the last part (it was a busy summer!), but in July they offered me the chance to interview for an internship.

• Take advantage of opportunity, regardless of timing. My summer consisted of extra hours and duties at work to cover for a manager on maternity leave, an internship that was first real-life experience into the magazine world,  a class that was the probably the most stressful four credits I ever earned (ironically, for a stress-management class!) and multiple staff changes at the school newspaper where I was the editor. At night I would dream about the first week of August, when my manager would come back to work, my internship would end and I could finally have some time to think again. The last thing I needed was another internship.
  On top of that, the internship that I was interviewing for was for a Web/social media intern. As much as social media and the Internet interest me, I didn't necessarily think that creating a family reunion website on iWeb and playing around on Twitter for six months really made me qualified for the position. But I figured, what the hell, and when I interviewed I was honest about my experience as well as my internse fascination for social media and a natural ability to learn quickly.
   
• If you get the chance, show them all the ways that you can be of use. I kept my internship responsibilities my main focus, but I also listened to conversations going on around me to see where else I could help. When one editor was getting swamped with fact-checking, I offered to stay late whenever I could to help out with that. When my team leader was close to heading out on her maternity leave, I offered to up my hours to help take some of the pressure off the editor that would be assuming her responsibilities.

And, of course, when that editor got a great opportunity at another publication, I jumped at the chance to take over many of her responsibilities immediately, even while I was finishing up the last six weeks of school before graduation.

The second half of 2010 was a long, sleep-deprived blur for me in many ways. And given a choice I might have executed some things differently (then again, maybe not). But in the end, I have a lot of valuable knowledge and experience, a great new job that I love and, I think, a pretty cool story to tell.

Ignite Your Soul

I was trying to decide what my first post on my new blog was going to be: something to start both the blog and the year out right. I saw this in my feed from ItStartsWith.Us and it was just what I was looking for.

If you're anything like me, the thought of an 8-minute YouTube video sends you running. But, trust me, this will keep your attention -- the art is cool, the music is cool and the quotes are inspirational and AMAZING. Check it out:



Hope you enjoyed it. Tons of new and crazy ideas coming your way soon!