I'll be live tweeting from tonight's Columbia University lecture with Steven Berlin Johnson. I'm hoping he can shed some light on exactly where all these media companies think they can provide such great content when they're not hiring people to make it.
I'll post my thoughts here after the talk.
Until then, why not check out a great movie for Earth Day? Disney is releasing "Oceans" today in theaters across the country. Go out and feel small for a moment and take in the beauty of our planet!
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Liz Mayo's Dreams - Jon Hamm in Paris
Here's another short regular series where I will try to recall the wacky dreams I've had. Some will amuse, some will horrify. Be warned!
This might be one of the best dreams I've ever had. I dreamed that was in Paris interviewing Jon Hamm.
Yes, this Jon Hamm.
But for some reason, he had a child, and I was interviewing him for a parenting website. This wasn't that far into the future, either.
This makes me think two things:
1- I am maybe working a little too hard on the job hunt, because I was dreaming about working for a website that I had applied to that day.
2- I just predicted that Jon Hamm is having a kid.
I think I'm going to go for #1 on this one.
This might be one of the best dreams I've ever had. I dreamed that was in Paris interviewing Jon Hamm.
Yes, this Jon Hamm.
But for some reason, he had a child, and I was interviewing him for a parenting website. This wasn't that far into the future, either.
This makes me think two things:
1- I am maybe working a little too hard on the job hunt, because I was dreaming about working for a website that I had applied to that day.
2- I just predicted that Jon Hamm is having a kid.
I think I'm going to go for #1 on this one.
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
The Detox with Liz Mayo: Episode #2 (video)
Enjoy the latest episode of The Detox with Liz Mayo - The Workout. Watch as I sweat my face off and look ridiculous. To be clear, this is not a drug detox - it's a food detox designed to help me lose weight and get in shape. Learn more about me at http://elizabethmayo.net/
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
My Detox Pilot
I just realized I only posted this on Facebook and not on my blog.
Want to watch something funny? Here is the "pilot" for the detox mini-series I was planning on making...before we had some unexpected family emergencies that wrecked my plans. WARNING there are a LOT of chins in this video...chins that I no longer have.
Want to watch something funny? Here is the "pilot" for the detox mini-series I was planning on making...before we had some unexpected family emergencies that wrecked my plans. WARNING there are a LOT of chins in this video...chins that I no longer have.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Conversations At Elizabeth Mayo
This is a new regular post where I relate the random conversations that people will start with me on any given day. It might be my friendly looking face, or it might be that I have "good" timing. Either way, it results in some amazing stories.
Date: Tuesday, March 16th, around 11AM
Location: Al Oerter Recreational Center at Flushing Meadow-Corona Park
I was getting a late morning workout in, and noticed an older-looking woman, with frizzy red hair, glasses and a sherbet-orange shirt, having trouble with the exercise bike. "How do you get this started?" she asked me. I happily showed her how to work the screen. She calmly and happily rode the stationary bike, as though she were riding through the chalk land in "Mary Poppins."
About 15 minutes later, I jumped off the bike to get on the ACE trainer (the one that feels like you're cross country skiing and pushing your legs through taffy). I no longer feel content to burn just 150 calories in 30 minutes - now it's more like 350 in 30 minutes. As usual, there was a line for the machines, so I waited near the electronic scale.
Frizzy sherbet lady decided to weigh herself at this moment. "How do you turn this on?" she asked me. I pointed her towards the power button.
She weighs herself. She sighs. She stares at the numbers a bit longer, then steps off. Turning off the scale, she shakes her hands and walks over to me. After a pause, an adjustment of her glasses and a look like she was searching for the right words, she unloads.
"You know, a few months ago I got a cortisone shot in my hip. But then it got infected so I had to be hospitalized for five weeks. While I was in the hospital, I barely ate a thing and after I got out, I lost over 25 pounds. I was thrilled. I even went out and bought this sexy black dress because I thought it might stay off. You know, I've never been a very small girl. I like to say I'm very Rubenesque, you know?"
"Yes, I know from Rubenesque," I said.
"But it was nice to have that weight off me. I've never really exercised much, but I was always pretty cute and had cute dresses. But wow, to lose 25 lbs in a few weeks was like a jumpstart."
"You probably lost too much muscle in the hospital," I offered.
"Now its a few months later and I've gained back 15 pounds. I just thought I'd come here to work it all back off you know? I spent all that money on a dress and I have to fit into it."
"Well, then it's a good thing you're here. You can do it. Just keep exercising," I said, knowing deep down that her age and her body type were all working against her. But every girl, no matter what the age, needs to hold on to hope that they'll fit into that hot black dress one day.
By then, my machine opened up and we exchanged good lucks.
I am still regularly amazed at what information people will offer up to me on any given day.
Date: Tuesday, March 16th, around 11AM
Location: Al Oerter Recreational Center at Flushing Meadow-Corona Park
I was getting a late morning workout in, and noticed an older-looking woman, with frizzy red hair, glasses and a sherbet-orange shirt, having trouble with the exercise bike. "How do you get this started?" she asked me. I happily showed her how to work the screen. She calmly and happily rode the stationary bike, as though she were riding through the chalk land in "Mary Poppins."
About 15 minutes later, I jumped off the bike to get on the ACE trainer (the one that feels like you're cross country skiing and pushing your legs through taffy). I no longer feel content to burn just 150 calories in 30 minutes - now it's more like 350 in 30 minutes. As usual, there was a line for the machines, so I waited near the electronic scale.
Frizzy sherbet lady decided to weigh herself at this moment. "How do you turn this on?" she asked me. I pointed her towards the power button.
She weighs herself. She sighs. She stares at the numbers a bit longer, then steps off. Turning off the scale, she shakes her hands and walks over to me. After a pause, an adjustment of her glasses and a look like she was searching for the right words, she unloads.
"You know, a few months ago I got a cortisone shot in my hip. But then it got infected so I had to be hospitalized for five weeks. While I was in the hospital, I barely ate a thing and after I got out, I lost over 25 pounds. I was thrilled. I even went out and bought this sexy black dress because I thought it might stay off. You know, I've never been a very small girl. I like to say I'm very Rubenesque, you know?"
"Yes, I know from Rubenesque," I said.
"But it was nice to have that weight off me. I've never really exercised much, but I was always pretty cute and had cute dresses. But wow, to lose 25 lbs in a few weeks was like a jumpstart."
"You probably lost too much muscle in the hospital," I offered.
"Now its a few months later and I've gained back 15 pounds. I just thought I'd come here to work it all back off you know? I spent all that money on a dress and I have to fit into it."
"Well, then it's a good thing you're here. You can do it. Just keep exercising," I said, knowing deep down that her age and her body type were all working against her. But every girl, no matter what the age, needs to hold on to hope that they'll fit into that hot black dress one day.
By then, my machine opened up and we exchanged good lucks.
I am still regularly amazed at what information people will offer up to me on any given day.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Detox Recap: Fiber, Family Emergencies and a Freakout-Free 30th
A HA! You thought that maybe since I haven't been blogging recently that I fell off the detox horse. Well, you'd be wrong.
Friday Feb. 26th, 2010, marked a month of being on the detox. Now nearly March 17th, and I'm still going.
Here's a quick recap of where I've been for the last month and a half:
* I left one freelance job to start another.
* My father-in-law was hospitalized for a serious infection, requiring an emergency trip to Miami. All is fine now.
* My father was hospitalized for a few days here in the city. All is fine now.
* I finally hit the big 3oth birthday.
For old Liz, just one of these things within a month would have been enough to send me straight to the combination Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins to concoct a donut sundae with 7 different ice cream flavors and bacon on top. But all four of these things happened within four weeks while I was trying to make a drastic lifestyle change. It could have been a recipe for disaster.
But it wasn't. Thanks to supportive friends and an awesome husband, I've stuck to the detox and have reaped the results. In almost two months, I've lost 21 lbs, 3" off my waist and 1" off my hips. My closet is now full of clothes that are getting too big for me...or rather, I'm getting too small for. My husband shrieks "ooo, girl you getting skinny" every time he hugs me. My grocery trips are now reserved for frozen fruit and vegetable purchases...not Tostitos and ice cream (can you tell what my downfall is?). I take at least 15 vitamins and supplements a day and I exercise as close to 7 days a week as I can. All in all, it's been a huge change from my old lifestyle and an even bigger success.
There have been "transgressions" - but those were planned in advance and under control. But I have to say, I've had no slips, no binges and no regret. I can look at something and say I want it...in the way I would want Clive Owen...but not actually go through with shoving it in my face hole. Though I have to be honest - there was one time when I was going to stay with my dad in the hospital and I wanted some chocolate munchkins in a bad way. Thankfully, Jean, Teresa, Katie, Robin and Alex ("the group) reminded me of the work I'd done. Munchkins avoided.
As happy as I am, this is just the beginning. I'm going to be doing this "detox" for the rest of my life.
Why am I still calling it a detox? The term is not descriptive of the diet; I can eat just about everything (including all the fiber you could dream of) except the big no-no's like alcohol, caffeine, dairy, wheat/gluten, sugar, salt and unsanctioned (meaning not organic and hormone-free) meat.
I'm calling it a detox because this process is detoxing me from 29 years of unhealthy living. If it took me this long to get to the point I was at, it's going to take a VERY long time to get this lifestyle change to become second nature. And I'm OK with that.
In the blogs to come, I'll continue to talk about the detox, and point you to some interesting obesity/diet/detox articles that I come across. As a journalist with some knack for spotting trends, I can tell you that I think we're on the cusp of some big diet and detox stories -- the biggest being that people are finally going to get fed up and do exactly what I just did, en masse.
Going forward, I'll probably also talk a lot more about my exercise efforts (I haven't jogged since high school, but I'm doing it now) and trends in that world, too.
And hey, look at that. I turned 30 in the middle of all this. The big motivator to make this huge change ended up being ushered in quietly - exactly how I wanted it. The next 10 years are going to be healthy and awesome.
Thanks to everyone who read this blog and supported me. It's helped IMMENSELY. If anyone thinks they can make this change without help, they're crazier than Rielle Hunter. It's much appreciated.
Friday Feb. 26th, 2010, marked a month of being on the detox. Now nearly March 17th, and I'm still going.
Here's a quick recap of where I've been for the last month and a half:
* I left one freelance job to start another.
* My father-in-law was hospitalized for a serious infection, requiring an emergency trip to Miami. All is fine now.
* My father was hospitalized for a few days here in the city. All is fine now.
* I finally hit the big 3oth birthday.
For old Liz, just one of these things within a month would have been enough to send me straight to the combination Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins to concoct a donut sundae with 7 different ice cream flavors and bacon on top. But all four of these things happened within four weeks while I was trying to make a drastic lifestyle change. It could have been a recipe for disaster.
But it wasn't. Thanks to supportive friends and an awesome husband, I've stuck to the detox and have reaped the results. In almost two months, I've lost 21 lbs, 3" off my waist and 1" off my hips. My closet is now full of clothes that are getting too big for me...or rather, I'm getting too small for. My husband shrieks "ooo, girl you getting skinny" every time he hugs me. My grocery trips are now reserved for frozen fruit and vegetable purchases...not Tostitos and ice cream (can you tell what my downfall is?). I take at least 15 vitamins and supplements a day and I exercise as close to 7 days a week as I can. All in all, it's been a huge change from my old lifestyle and an even bigger success.
There have been "transgressions" - but those were planned in advance and under control. But I have to say, I've had no slips, no binges and no regret. I can look at something and say I want it...in the way I would want Clive Owen...but not actually go through with shoving it in my face hole. Though I have to be honest - there was one time when I was going to stay with my dad in the hospital and I wanted some chocolate munchkins in a bad way. Thankfully, Jean, Teresa, Katie, Robin and Alex ("the group) reminded me of the work I'd done. Munchkins avoided.
As happy as I am, this is just the beginning. I'm going to be doing this "detox" for the rest of my life.
Why am I still calling it a detox? The term is not descriptive of the diet; I can eat just about everything (including all the fiber you could dream of) except the big no-no's like alcohol, caffeine, dairy, wheat/gluten, sugar, salt and unsanctioned (meaning not organic and hormone-free) meat.
I'm calling it a detox because this process is detoxing me from 29 years of unhealthy living. If it took me this long to get to the point I was at, it's going to take a VERY long time to get this lifestyle change to become second nature. And I'm OK with that.
In the blogs to come, I'll continue to talk about the detox, and point you to some interesting obesity/diet/detox articles that I come across. As a journalist with some knack for spotting trends, I can tell you that I think we're on the cusp of some big diet and detox stories -- the biggest being that people are finally going to get fed up and do exactly what I just did, en masse.
Going forward, I'll probably also talk a lot more about my exercise efforts (I haven't jogged since high school, but I'm doing it now) and trends in that world, too.
And hey, look at that. I turned 30 in the middle of all this. The big motivator to make this huge change ended up being ushered in quietly - exactly how I wanted it. The next 10 years are going to be healthy and awesome.
Thanks to everyone who read this blog and supported me. It's helped IMMENSELY. If anyone thinks they can make this change without help, they're crazier than Rielle Hunter. It's much appreciated.
Friday, February 05, 2010
Day 3-7 recap
This one is going to be relatively short, as I don't have a ton of time.
The rest of the detox week went really well. I woke up with energy for the first time in my life. I was doing yoga every day for 45 minutes, and my refrigerator overflowed with vegetables I would have never purchased ever in my life.
On day 7, I developed a cold. At first I thought it might have been part of the detox, but now I'm realizing it's just a full-on virus. Blerg. I have to say I was tempted to start eating the comfort foods that I would have eaten when I was sick...crackers (gluten-free), juice, hard candies, etc. I was also very tempted to take all the cold and flu medication I had in my cabinet, but I resisted. I knew I would have been flying from the chemicals, and my symptoms weren't bad enough to undo all the hard work I'd done so far.
And then this morning, we got a call that a close family member is in the hospital many states away.
So hopefully you'll hear some more from me over the next few days, but if not you know that it's because of a family emergency.
One thing I did learn from this? You don't have to give up your lifestyle habits just because things get in the way of your plan. I'm still staying away from sugar and I'm still sticking to the detox box regardless of what is going on. And if I have to pack all my hippie powders and vitamins and take them wherever we travel, so be it!
More to come. Until then, love, luck and sugar-free lollipops to all.
The rest of the detox week went really well. I woke up with energy for the first time in my life. I was doing yoga every day for 45 minutes, and my refrigerator overflowed with vegetables I would have never purchased ever in my life.
On day 7, I developed a cold. At first I thought it might have been part of the detox, but now I'm realizing it's just a full-on virus. Blerg. I have to say I was tempted to start eating the comfort foods that I would have eaten when I was sick...crackers (gluten-free), juice, hard candies, etc. I was also very tempted to take all the cold and flu medication I had in my cabinet, but I resisted. I knew I would have been flying from the chemicals, and my symptoms weren't bad enough to undo all the hard work I'd done so far.
And then this morning, we got a call that a close family member is in the hospital many states away.
So hopefully you'll hear some more from me over the next few days, but if not you know that it's because of a family emergency.
One thing I did learn from this? You don't have to give up your lifestyle habits just because things get in the way of your plan. I'm still staying away from sugar and I'm still sticking to the detox box regardless of what is going on. And if I have to pack all my hippie powders and vitamins and take them wherever we travel, so be it!
More to come. Until then, love, luck and sugar-free lollipops to all.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Why They Tell You Not To Watch TV On a Detox
Because this is all you see.
OK maybe you don't see some of those things on TV. But the sheer amount of food ads on these days is mindboggling. Would I have noticed this before the detox? Not likely. Am I going to stop buying into this empty marketing and unhealthy eating? Sure am.
OK maybe you don't see some of those things on TV. But the sheer amount of food ads on these days is mindboggling. Would I have noticed this before the detox? Not likely. Am I going to stop buying into this empty marketing and unhealthy eating? Sure am.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Day 2 recap
Well, this day was neither good or bad, but I did finally try vegetable juice. Let's just say, it was a non-starter.
The day started off well. I got up around 7am and got to writing right away. I did laundry in the freezing cold and listened to some more of Pandora's Spa Music Channel. But then I got tired. Really tired. Couldn't move from the couch tired.
I tried to get off my butt and use the Jack Lalaane juicer for the first time. The setup was a breeze, but clearly I pulled too many veggies because the juice ended up filling three small glasses.
The recipe from the detox box only said this: carrots, beets, celery, leafy greens, parsley, cilantro, ginger. It didn't give amounts. So I guessed, and guessed in very wrong amounts. I put in WAY too much celery and cilantro. Once I was ready to drink the stuff, that was the first time I thought "what the hell am I doing?" It was awful. Beyond awful. Vegetable juice already tastes heinous without some tomato but to have that pinchy, tangy aftertaste from the parsley and cilantro was just a slap in the face. At least I know for next time.
Ialso spent part of the day reading Dr. Hyman's blog posts on The Huffington Post. What he says just rings unmistakably true to me. From the gluten allergy to his work in Haiti - he is just awesome. Thank god for dr. hyman because I would not be making these changes now if he wasn't doing his work.
I'm also trying to pretend that I'm not coated in jetfuel every day, thanks to my good friends at LaGuardia airport. Lately, they've been flying so low to the house that I have to look out the window to see if it's going to land on my front yard. I get points for trying, right? Even though I'm trying to get all the toxins out of my life (even getting non-toxic dish soap) I can't help but be bothered every time I hear those jet engines.
Hey, at least I haven't given up yet.
The day started off well. I got up around 7am and got to writing right away. I did laundry in the freezing cold and listened to some more of Pandora's Spa Music Channel. But then I got tired. Really tired. Couldn't move from the couch tired.
I tried to get off my butt and use the Jack Lalaane juicer for the first time. The setup was a breeze, but clearly I pulled too many veggies because the juice ended up filling three small glasses.
The recipe from the detox box only said this: carrots, beets, celery, leafy greens, parsley, cilantro, ginger. It didn't give amounts. So I guessed, and guessed in very wrong amounts. I put in WAY too much celery and cilantro. Once I was ready to drink the stuff, that was the first time I thought "what the hell am I doing?" It was awful. Beyond awful. Vegetable juice already tastes heinous without some tomato but to have that pinchy, tangy aftertaste from the parsley and cilantro was just a slap in the face. At least I know for next time.
Ialso spent part of the day reading Dr. Hyman's blog posts on The Huffington Post. What he says just rings unmistakably true to me. From the gluten allergy to his work in Haiti - he is just awesome. Thank god for dr. hyman because I would not be making these changes now if he wasn't doing his work.
I'm also trying to pretend that I'm not coated in jetfuel every day, thanks to my good friends at LaGuardia airport. Lately, they've been flying so low to the house that I have to look out the window to see if it's going to land on my front yard. I get points for trying, right? Even though I'm trying to get all the toxins out of my life (even getting non-toxic dish soap) I can't help but be bothered every time I hear those jet engines.
Hey, at least I haven't given up yet.
Testing out Twitterfeed.com
Let's see if this sucker really does blast my blog post out to Twitter and Facebook!
Friday, January 29, 2010
Detox: Day 1 recap
Wow...day 1 done and it flew by! Amazing how easy this whole program is...well, relatively easy. There are a few things I'm having a really hard time with, namely getting down the psyllium fiber and the buffered ascorbic acid. They taste awful and have triggered the gag reflex more than once. I've decided to change up my method a bit...instead of 8 oz of water with 2 teaspoons at a time, I'm going to go for 4 oz of water and one teaspoon. The fiber in particular turns super nasty and gelatinous within a matter of minutes, so 3 minutes after it's mixed it looks like brown floating snot. Exactly - gross.
One thing I'm worried about is the lack of trips to the loo. Sure there's a lot of liquid going through me, but there isn't much of anything else if you know what i mean. This makes me nervous for the rest of the weekend!
I've also revised the length of time I'll be on this detox. I'm going to shoot for 3 weeks, since this detox has the option to go this long. But if I get really fed up and desperate for an orange slice I'm going to make it two weeks. I'm not giving up early but the limited foods on this diet are starting to get a little unnerving.
More coming soon!
One thing I'm worried about is the lack of trips to the loo. Sure there's a lot of liquid going through me, but there isn't much of anything else if you know what i mean. This makes me nervous for the rest of the weekend!
I've also revised the length of time I'll be on this detox. I'm going to shoot for 3 weeks, since this detox has the option to go this long. But if I get really fed up and desperate for an orange slice I'm going to make it two weeks. I'm not giving up early but the limited foods on this diet are starting to get a little unnerving.
More coming soon!
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Why Detox? The Story of a Convoluted Breakup
Today is the first day of the rest of my life. I say that not in a cliche or insincere way, but a very literal and personally explosive way. I've decided to do a detox. Not a Master Cleanse crazy detox, but a healthy and reasonable detox.
When I tell this to people, there are two questions I get right off the bat.
1- Which detox are you doing?
That one is easy. I'm doing Dr. Mark Hyman's Detox Box (click on the image to buy it from Amazon). Dr. Hyman was the former co-medical director at the Canyon Ranch in Lenox, MA, a place I've dreamed of visiting for years. It's the gold standard of health spas. If you are willing to fork over the $5,000 fee for a week, you'll be treated to regular massages, yoga classes, hikes and the healthiest meal plan of your life. Sounds dreamy, right?
Without getting too boring, this detox box focuses around resetting the flora and fauna in your gut and eliminating any possible allergens. Though the meal plan is limited, I am able to eat lots of fruits and veggies and even a little bit of fish. This is by no means a starvation plan. It's a "learn how to eat normally" plan.
2- Why in the world would you go on a detox?
This answer gets complicated. Three parts more complicated.
First it comes down to this: I'm a food slut.
There was no price too low or no food too nasty for me to say no to infiltrating my body. What? I can order two everything bagels with scallion cream cheese for the price of one? Sure! That 1 lb bag of peanut butter M&Ms wants to be eaten all in one day or, nay, one sitting? Go on and jump down my throat, boys!
That is how I ended up seriously overweight.
Not TLC special programming overweight, but I'm at a weight that I never thought I'd see again. I said again because I've been on this weight roller coaster my whole life. The last time I went to Weight Watchers and lost more than 40 lbs. with my awesome, sexy husband, I promised that I would never see that weight again. As of last week, I was within 15 lbs of it.
I now weigh ..... AHA! Caught you. You didn't think I would let that slip this early, would you?
So that's a large part of it. This detox, I'm hoping, will help me lose a little bit of weight while I learn to eat how humans are meant to eat--nothing from a box, nothing coated in sugar and certainly nothing that can be ordered by phone or internet.
Here's the next part. I am nearing the age of motivation: the big 3-0. Blerg. The age when health problems become nearly irreversible. And both sides of my family have every disease you've ever heard of related to unhealthy living: heart disease, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, gout. You name it, and my fat butt has the potential to get it.
Plus, there's the sociological pressure of 30. I can hear it now. "Oh, quit your whining. 30 isn't bad at all." That's where you'd be wrong.
Though my circumstances are better than most, I'm approaching 30 in a body and in a life I'm not happy with. I'm overweight (have i made that clear yet?), I don't have a full-time job (though I'm always looking! check me out at elizabethmayo.net) and I'm still living under my parents' roof...technically (more on that in another post).
I am completely grateful for everything I have; my wonderful husband, my flexible and understanding freelance jobs and my incredibly understanding parents that have supported me through a lot. But I am not in control of my destiny right now, and I hate that with a bile-y vengeance.
I think the detox will help me with all of that. My brain says, if I can get control over the one thing that I haven't had control over for my entire life, then maybe everything else will fall into place. I've come up with worse logic for dumber stuff in the past. Maybe if I sleep for two weeks straight, I'll stay UP for two weeks straight!
Here's the last part. You may remember my gluten epiphany.
Over the last 6 months, the connection between anything made with wheat and my obliterated immune system had been proven beyond a doubt. It took a 2-week elimination diet to figure it out. If I eat gluten now, I get serious side effects ranging from mud butt to nearly instant congestion. After so many years in our relationship, my body decided to break up with gluten.
It was my first breakup with a food, and my brain had no control over what my body demanded. Sure, I'd decided not to date certain shellfish foods and any item I had a "consistency issue" with (bananas, avocado for a while, any unidentifiable meat) was off the table. But gluten was the one who comforted me when I was sad, celebrated with me when I was happy and fought on my side in every argument.
Gluten was my true love.
Or so I thought, until it beat me up every time I ate it.
Once I eliminated the glutes from my life, I thought Hey, this is it! I'm going to lose a ton of weight! Not so fast. My weight didn't budge. This was not the best breakup of all time, where I would get skinny and be ready for the next food obsession that came my way.
I assumed I had to have other food allergies. The detox diet was the best idea I could come up with to figure out exactly which ones. Plus, paying for an allergist on my health plan is simply not an option!
If I haven't bored you to tears (or at least dried your eyesockets out with all the screen staring you've done to read this post), I hope you'll come along on the ride with me. I'll be writing regularly about this, and I hope to be posting some video blogs as well just to break things up. Aside from wanting to lose weight, be healthier and get my life back on track, I'm hoping that my detox experience will inspire others to do whatever they really need to do to change their lives for the better.
VIVA LA BODY REVOLUTION!
When I tell this to people, there are two questions I get right off the bat.
1- Which detox are you doing?
That one is easy. I'm doing Dr. Mark Hyman's Detox Box (click on the image to buy it from Amazon). Dr. Hyman was the former co-medical director at the Canyon Ranch in Lenox, MA, a place I've dreamed of visiting for years. It's the gold standard of health spas. If you are willing to fork over the $5,000 fee for a week, you'll be treated to regular massages, yoga classes, hikes and the healthiest meal plan of your life. Sounds dreamy, right?Without getting too boring, this detox box focuses around resetting the flora and fauna in your gut and eliminating any possible allergens. Though the meal plan is limited, I am able to eat lots of fruits and veggies and even a little bit of fish. This is by no means a starvation plan. It's a "learn how to eat normally" plan.
2- Why in the world would you go on a detox?
This answer gets complicated. Three parts more complicated.
First it comes down to this: I'm a food slut.
There was no price too low or no food too nasty for me to say no to infiltrating my body. What? I can order two everything bagels with scallion cream cheese for the price of one? Sure! That 1 lb bag of peanut butter M&Ms wants to be eaten all in one day or, nay, one sitting? Go on and jump down my throat, boys!
That is how I ended up seriously overweight.
Not TLC special programming overweight, but I'm at a weight that I never thought I'd see again. I said again because I've been on this weight roller coaster my whole life. The last time I went to Weight Watchers and lost more than 40 lbs. with my awesome, sexy husband, I promised that I would never see that weight again. As of last week, I was within 15 lbs of it.
I now weigh ..... AHA! Caught you. You didn't think I would let that slip this early, would you?
So that's a large part of it. This detox, I'm hoping, will help me lose a little bit of weight while I learn to eat how humans are meant to eat--nothing from a box, nothing coated in sugar and certainly nothing that can be ordered by phone or internet.
Here's the next part. I am nearing the age of motivation: the big 3-0. Blerg. The age when health problems become nearly irreversible. And both sides of my family have every disease you've ever heard of related to unhealthy living: heart disease, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, gout. You name it, and my fat butt has the potential to get it.
Plus, there's the sociological pressure of 30. I can hear it now. "Oh, quit your whining. 30 isn't bad at all." That's where you'd be wrong.
Though my circumstances are better than most, I'm approaching 30 in a body and in a life I'm not happy with. I'm overweight (have i made that clear yet?), I don't have a full-time job (though I'm always looking! check me out at elizabethmayo.net) and I'm still living under my parents' roof...technically (more on that in another post).
I am completely grateful for everything I have; my wonderful husband, my flexible and understanding freelance jobs and my incredibly understanding parents that have supported me through a lot. But I am not in control of my destiny right now, and I hate that with a bile-y vengeance.
I think the detox will help me with all of that. My brain says, if I can get control over the one thing that I haven't had control over for my entire life, then maybe everything else will fall into place. I've come up with worse logic for dumber stuff in the past. Maybe if I sleep for two weeks straight, I'll stay UP for two weeks straight!
Here's the last part. You may remember my gluten epiphany.
Over the last 6 months, the connection between anything made with wheat and my obliterated immune system had been proven beyond a doubt. It took a 2-week elimination diet to figure it out. If I eat gluten now, I get serious side effects ranging from mud butt to nearly instant congestion. After so many years in our relationship, my body decided to break up with gluten.
It was my first breakup with a food, and my brain had no control over what my body demanded. Sure, I'd decided not to date certain shellfish foods and any item I had a "consistency issue" with (bananas, avocado for a while, any unidentifiable meat) was off the table. But gluten was the one who comforted me when I was sad, celebrated with me when I was happy and fought on my side in every argument.
Gluten was my true love.
Or so I thought, until it beat me up every time I ate it.
Once I eliminated the glutes from my life, I thought Hey, this is it! I'm going to lose a ton of weight! Not so fast. My weight didn't budge. This was not the best breakup of all time, where I would get skinny and be ready for the next food obsession that came my way.
I assumed I had to have other food allergies. The detox diet was the best idea I could come up with to figure out exactly which ones. Plus, paying for an allergist on my health plan is simply not an option!
If I haven't bored you to tears (or at least dried your eyesockets out with all the screen staring you've done to read this post), I hope you'll come along on the ride with me. I'll be writing regularly about this, and I hope to be posting some video blogs as well just to break things up. Aside from wanting to lose weight, be healthier and get my life back on track, I'm hoping that my detox experience will inspire others to do whatever they really need to do to change their lives for the better.
VIVA LA BODY REVOLUTION!
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