My detox kind of died. I did great yesterday, but last night I caved for a cheeseburger from McDonald’s and a graham cracker with peanut butter. I think Denny’s did me in on this detox because I felt I needed to start over. Either way, I’m glad I did a detox. I feel refreshed. I lost 4 pounds, and I think it rebooted me with my foods. I didn’t realize how much sugar I was eating with the processed foods, even if they were low in calories. So detox or no detox, I’m going back to the basics with my fish, chicken, veggies, and fruit. My “cheat day” on the weekend will be when I allow myself those snacks.
Now a vent, which I don’t normally do but I feel the need to get this out.
I hate going to the gym and seeing people walk at a 2.anything on the treadmill. A 2.whatever is a turtle walk. Seriously, you joined a gym so you did the hard part in making the decision to change, but you can’t lose weight by just walking in. Go in and do the work. If my shirt doesn’t weigh at least 5 pounds with sweat when I leave then I wasted my time. I don’t mean that literally because any exercise is great, but really what is the point if you’re not sweating your butt off? So a tip I learned is to make use of the incline. I used to focus more on speed and how fast I was walking. Now I focus on speed, my incline, and making sure I’m challenging myself to push harder. In an episode of Extreme Makeover Body Edition the trainer, Chris Powell (who is smoking hot, and sadly he is married) said that if you keep the incline at a 0% then the treadmill is doing the work for you. If you up the incline even by 1%, then it is considered the same level as walking outside. In “This is Why You’re Fat and How to Get Skinny Forever,” Jackie Warner suggests doing circuit training by changing the speed and incline randomly. She suggested upping the incline to 12%. I’ve been doing this ever since and as expected I can for sure feel the difference. If you can read a book, a magazine, or play on your phone while you are working out then you are wasting your time. Jackie Warner suggests to do a 20 minute cardio workout. During those 20 minutes, push yourself as hard as you can. You will get a better work out in those 20 minutes than you will doing a turtle walk for 40. It will eliminate the chance of getting bored too thinking you have to spend an hour on the treadmill. So as soon as you enter the gym, please… do work! And that’s what losing weight is. It is hard, butt kicking work and it will feel great after.
The other thing I wanted to mention is in regard to Coca Cola. I forget what I was reading that stated that one of the uses for a Coke is to clean out the toilet. That’s just gross, and I hope that anyone who didn’t know a Coke could be used for toilet cleaning is now wondering what it does to your insides after you drink it. I know I did. So this made me curious. What else can a Coke do? I have a list below that gives examples for Coca Cola uses. To check out the website I found it from go here. Otherwise, the list is as follows:
1. Remove grease stains from clothing and fabric
2. Remove rust; methods include using fabric dipped in Coke, a sponge or even aluminum foil.
3. Remove blood stains from clothing and fabric.
4. Make gooey Coke funnel cakes.
5. Clean oil stains from a garage floor; let the stain soak, hose off.
6. Loosen a rusty bolt; pour on some Coke and wait for the magic to happen.
7. Kill slugs and snails; a small bowl of Coke will attract them, the acid will kill them.
8. Help a lawn become lush and green
9. Prevent an asthma attack! Apparently, the caffeine in two 12oz cans can prevent the onset of an attack.
10. Defrost a frozen windshield. Apply liberally and wait (I may see if this works this winter)
11. Clean burnt pans; let the pan soak in the Coke, then rinse.
12. Descale a kettle using the same method in 11.
13. Neutralize a jellyfish sting.
14. Clean car battery terminals by pouring a small amount of Coke over each one.
15. Cure nausea; let a can of Coke go flat then take a teaspoon of Coke every hour.
16. Also, flat coke can help relieve an upset stomach (aka “the runs”)
17. Make a Mentos & Coke exploding fountain. This one takes a 2-liter bottle of Coke.
18. Get rid of hiccups; gargle with a big mouthful of ice-cold Coke.
19. Shake up a can and pour it over your windshield to remove bugs and other crud.
20. Use the method in 19 for your car bumpers, too.
21. Clean your engine; Coke distributors have been using this technique for decades.
22. Relieve congestion; boil and a can of Coke and drink while hot to clear you up.
23. Make a sweet BBQ sauce. Mix a can of Coke with ketchup and brush over ribs or chicken.
24. Baste a ham roast with Coke as it cooks. The sugars will caramelize; the ham will be moist.
25. Add a can of coke to your pot roast to tenderize it and add extra flavor.
26. Make pretty pennies; soaking old pennies in Coke will remove the tarnish.
27. Make your hair curly; pour flat Coke onto long hair, leave for a few minutes then rinse.
28. Age documents and photos; for that antique look, apply Coke, pat with paper, leave to dry.
29. Clean tile grout; pour onto kitchen floor, leave for a few minutes, wipe up.
30. Mix a can of Coke with a packet of Italian seasoning; cook a tough steak in it.
31. Make better compost; Coke increases the acidity, adds sugars and feeds microorganisms.
32. Dissolve a tooth in it; Use a sealed container, this takes ages. Why would you want to though, unless you’re Hannibal Lecter?
33. Remove gum from hair; dip into a small bowl of Coke, leave a few minutes. Gum will wipe off.
34. Get silky skin; mix a spoonful of Coke with regular lotion and apply liberally.
35. Make low-fat brownies.
36. Pour a little in a cup and set it out an hour before a picnic, away from your site; it will attract wasps and bees so they’re not bugging you and your grub.
37. Remove stains from vitreous china.
38. Got a dirty pool? Add two 2-liter bottles of Coke to clear up the water (it acts as rust remover).
39. Add Coke to your laundry to remove bad smells, especially fish.
40. Remove (or fade) dye from hair by pouring diet Coke over it.
41. Mop a floor with Coke to make it sticky. It’s a movie industry trick to stop actors slipping.
42. Remove marker stains from carpet. Apply Coke, scrub, then clean with soapy water.
43. Clean a toilet; pour around bowl, leave for a while, flush clean.
44. Apply to skin for a deep tan.
45. Supposedly, drinking an 8oz can of Coke every day can prevent kidney stones.
46. Add it to a Sloppy Joe mix.
47. Perk up your Azaleas or Gardenias.
48. Coke and aluminum foil will bring Chrome to a high shine.
49. Strip paint off metal furniture; soak a towel in Coke, sit it on the surface for days. Make sure you keep adding Coke to keep the towel wet.
50. Add it to vodka, rum or bourbon.
51. Drink it straight from the can
Some of these are just gross. Seriously, it removes rust? No thanks to anything that can clean up from an oil spill. I read online recently that Coke has now entered North Korea, not legally though I don’t think. This leaves only one country in the entire world that doesn’t have it. I can’t remember what that country was, but I thought it was a cool factoid.
So anyway, a new week starts tomorrow. My goal for the week is to continue lessons learned from my detox. I will eat no processed food and no sugars besides what is in fruits and veggies Monday through Friday.
