Loving a Litte Lemon

My husband and I own a trade show exhibit company.  We have owned the company for 11 years.  There is a lot of blood sweat and tears that have gone into Total Displays.  We bought the company with an SBA loan.  The SBA had a claim on everything but that is another story probably for the Total Displays blog someday.  We weathered the crash of the economy and our numbers are stronger every year.

We have a large showroom.  The trade show industry is an interesting animal.  There are people that work out of their homes, their basement, or even their van.  Of course these "companies" have very little overhead.  But the issue is if you want to see product, unless it is portable, you can't!  We felt is was important from a service level to have a showroom where people could see a sampling of what we do and some of the products.  To me it is a touch me, feel me industry.

In 2009 we moved into a larger space to have more showroom and warehouse space (we store a lot of booths for our clients).  While moving in, we were hanging a large overhead in our showroom.  They used a cherry picker/lift to hang it from the ceiling.   During the process, some transmission fluid leaked onto the showroom carpet.  We tried everything to get it out.  Many of the products we used, I felt like I needed to wear a gas mask while using them.  The chemical smells were so horrible!

We are working with a prospect from out of town on an island booth and they came to the showroom.  The stain always bothered me and I felt like we weren't representing ourselves well.  I know, may sound crazy to most.  Sorry - impressions matter!

So what does that have to do with Lemon Essential Oil?

I have read so many times that lemon essential oil was a good stain remover.  I had never really tried it.  So I got out my lemon oil.  I put about 10-12 drops on the spot.  I took a kitchen towel and wet a corner and scrubbed.  I didn't scrub very hard or very long honestly.    I called for Judy and said, "Oh my word!  Look at this."  The stain was gone!  That stain has been here for 6 years.

We were planning on redoing the showroom this summer and we were going to have to throw away that carpet away and replace it.  This is a huge money saver for us.  Let's look at the math.

A 15ml bottle of lemon oil with tax and shipping for a wholesale member is $20.90.  Conservatively there are 250 drops in a 15 ml bottle.  That is a price per drop of: .0836.  I used 12 drops.  

That means it cost me $1.0032 to save a 20 x 20 piece of carpeting in our showroom.  

Absolutely amazing.

I have always said, as a family, we approached the oils with skeptical optimism.  I continue to be amazed by the oils and use them everyday.

Here is where I get my oils.  Young Living Essential Oils

 

Master Cleanse - Day 3 & 4 - HOLY CRAP

Day 3

Really, really, really, feeling weird.  I tried to have a rational conversation with my teenage daughter in the morning.  That is a bit of an oxymoron in it's own right.  Let's just say it did not go well.  At all.  Actually it was horrible.  We both ended up yelling and I started crying and seriously could not stop!!!!!  All day long I was weepy.  I walked out on my choir kids at church on Wednesday night.  I found I was really missing my Mom.  When the Pastor (a long time friend) at church gave me a hug I just about lost it.  When the girls I had walked out on in choir came up to join the confirmation band I hugged them and got all teary eyed.  I am sure there were more.  I WAS A MESS!

I reached out to Isa in my Young Living family.  She has done this cleanse before.  I asked her if this was normal.  Normal is not usually a word that I would use to describe myself but I felt completely out of control.  She explained to me that we carry a lot of our emotional baggage in our liver and that the Master Cleanse was detoxifying your liver!  So all those emotions were being released.  She suggested some great emotional essential oils and a baking soda/epsom salt bath.  I used some Joy, Frankincense and Believe.  I felt better almost immediately.  Of course that wasn't until we got home at about 10:00 p.m. that night.  What a day!

I took the laxative tea late morning and of course it hit, while I was driving my son home.  Really wasn't sure I was going to make it but I did!

While we were at our son's baseball game I had a huge realization.  I said to my husband, "I'm hungry" then I said, "no I'm not hungry, I just WANT  food".  Wow - I said.  I eat, not because I am hungry, but because... because why?  Why do I eat?  Emotional satisfaction, boredom, stress, frustration.  Oh yeah - all those reasons.  None of those are the right reasons!  What a mental breakthrough for me.

Ask yourself, what is your relationship with food.  I have in previous journey's identified my bewitching hour.  This is the period right after I get home from school with the kids.  Usually about 3:30 p.m.  I almost binge eat during that time. Am I really hungry?  Probably not, there is some trigger, an emotional release that the work day is mostly over?  I don't know.  But identifying those triggers have been key for me learning more about my relationship with food.

For some reason yesterday while I was driving, I noticed the skin on my hands.  The top of my hands were wrinkled and I felt like they belonged to a 100 year old.  I have very long fingers and always thought I had beautiful hands.  I was kind of sad to notice the signs of aging in my hands.  How is that for a random thought and observation.  See below for more on this.

Day 4

Oh my....

I woke up this morning and felt absolutely horrible.  Beyond horrible.  I was clammy, nauseous, and shaky.  Of course my family started on the, "you need to eat today", "this diet isn't healthy" routine.  I made a lemonade and drank it on the way to school.  I started feeling better almost immediately.

As I was thinking through the chaos that was yesterday.  I believe I only had 3 cups of the lemonade.  I am sure my blood sugar was way way way way out of whack and that is why I felt so horrible.

I pinged Isa (what a lifesaver she has been through this process). She agreed I needed to drink more and I needed to do a "salt flush".  Here is my recommendation if you decide to try the salt flush in your journey.  DON'T BE FAR FROM THE BATHROOM.  Holy crap!  Literally - Holy Crap.  I have never gone to the bathroom so much.  Of course, I guess, that is what you are supposed to do.  That is a good thing.  You are cleaning everything out.

 I was just about ready to move a table in the bathroom and just work in there.  Seriously crazy stuff.

While at work today, an employee said to me that she thought my skin looked brighter and clearer.  I hadn't noticed but I looked at my hands.  Seriously - they looked better!  Cleaning out your systems, ingesting a lot of clean water all seem to be making a difference.  I actually read a review from someone that thought that their eyes looked bluer when they had completed the 10 days.

Drinking my tea, hoping to sleep through the night.  Stay tuned.

Master Cleanse Days 1 & 2 - True Confessions

I AM BACK!  Did you miss me?

A little background.  I completed my 30 day challenge a while back and felt pretty good.  I was going to continue on with some exercise classes.  I went to two of them and tweaked my back.  Actually did a number on it.  I could barely walk and could not get up and down from a chair.  I should point out, that I am not a young chicken, but you are never too late to start a more healthy lifestyle.  Period.  Next month I will be 54 years young.

I lost 3 weeks of exercise and 3 of the 5 weeks I had paid for.  Ouch - that hurt.  Of course along with that, my eating habits went out the window or maybe I should say they went to restaurants and non-healthy food.  I was eating so much garbage, I felt sluggish, I wasn't sleeping and of course I gained some (not all) of the weight back that I lost.  I felt gross.

I study and read a lot about essential oils because of my use of Young Living oils.  I am always reading and educating myself on their benefits.  I heard about a program called Master Cleanse.  Master Cleanse is a lemonade diet (more details to follow).  I am supporting some systems with essential oils too.  I have done some 3 day juice cleanses in the past and they are pretty easy.  But I sure wasn't sure about this lemonade diet.

I will tell you my protocol, but honestly if you are considering doing this, you really need to get the book, read it and follow it!

If you are interested in the book here is a link to it on Amazon.  I have it on my Kindle.  http://www.amazon.com/Master-Cleanser-Stanley-Burroughs/dp/1607966077/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1431025882&sr=8-1&keywords=master+cleanse  It was all of $3.99 for my Kindle.

If you are uncomfortable or squeamish reading about someone's bodily functions and elimination processes, don't read any further.  The master cleanse is all about detoxifying and cleaning things out!

Protocol

Drink 6-12 cups per day (please read the book and don't just follow what I did)

• 2 Tbps fresh squeezed organic lemon juice
• 2 Tbps Grade B Maple Syrup (honestly I don't know why the grade B - the book lists many options)
• 1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper
• Distilled or Spring Water

Laxative tea - I used Smooth Move Chocolate 1-2 times per day.

Water and herbal tea - DRINK LOTS!  Be sure it is spring or distilled water.  Of course if you are putting oils in your water, use glass!

This is my new favorite water bottle made from recycled glass.

I got mine at Lakewinds.

The first two days were pretty non eventful.  Everyone can survive 2 days of liquid diet.  Things start to get interesting day 3 - so stay tuned.

Day 1

The taste of the lemonade is actually refreshing.  I didn't have cayenne pepper so I used chili powder in the first drink.  I really did not feel that hungry throughout the day.    I have read differing opinions on the water, some say, not hot and others say warm.  I have been using room temperature water.  As recommended by the plan I drank a laxative tea at night.   When I went to bed that night, my stomach was really gurgling.  Oh yeah big time.  About 3 a.m. I was awake and made the mad dash to the bathroom.  Let's just say that the tea worked.

I supplemented with Grapefruit oil rubbed on my abdomen.  Peppermint oil on my abdomen when my stomach was gurgling and Endoflex on my thyroid.  I added grapefruit oil to my water.  Now before someone gets on the "you shouldn't ingest oils" bandwagon.  Let me just say it is a personal choice and it is MY choice.  Nothing you say will convince me that Young Living oils are not safe for ingestion.  I know they are.  Check out www.seedtoseal.com for more information on Young Living quality.  I will be getting my Ocotea this week in my oils shipment and will add that to the routine.

I did have a bit of a headache today.  May have been some withdrawal from all the crap I have been consuming!  A little Peppermint oil and M-Grain oil did the trick.  Poof - headache gone!

Of course I dropped some water weight.  I have read a couple of places that this plan may (there is nothing scientific here folks) actually shrink fat cells in your body.  This is not so much about losing weight as it is about cleaning things up!

I do have to say though at the end of day 1 my stomach felt smaller.  That is a bonus.

Day 2

Again, not really that hungry.  I didn't want to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom so I skipped the tea.  You will find out in the next post that was a mistake.  I am really surprised my energy levels seem good.  I am not terribly tired.

Stay tuned tonight or tomorrow morning for day 3 & 4!