Now that I am 5.5 months into my life here in Dubai, I finally am seeing the brighter side of life here... and time is FLYING... FLYING by. I feel I will blink and I will be back home and my time here will be over.
But in the meantime, here are my updates:
-Yes, I FINALLY FINALLY moved into my apt. I didn't realize what an impact it would have, BUT I feel sooooo much better! It's been a BIG time consuming process to furnish an apartment, but then again, I have time and am not trying to make it perfect right away. Just so it is presentable for my parents big arrival later this week (YEA!).
-Work has totally slowed down, which for me personally is good because I feel I have time to breathe and concentrate on other stuff, again, cleaning up and organizing my apt (hehe). For the organization, probably not so good, but eh, I'm salaried :-)
-I FINALLY took advantage of the amenities at my complex... went to the gym, lounged by the pool (which is big enough even for lap swimming! I hope to get to that soon!) and met a tenant that supposedly is going to introduce me to some beginning tennis players, so we'll see.
-The friend that I was staying with taught me how to cook a soup and stir-fry and how to make a lentil dish (dahl), soo.... that is a BIG change for me to be cooking!! Well, I should say "cooking" because it is like .2 dishes.
And finally.....
-I FINALLY took advantage of the amenities at my complex... went to the gym, lounged by the pool (which is big enough even for lap swimming! I hope to get to that soon!) and met a tenant that supposedly is going to introduce me to some beginning tennis players, so we'll see.
-The friend that I was staying with taught me how to cook a soup and stir-fry and how to make a lentil dish (dahl), soo.... that is a BIG change for me to be cooking!! Well, I should say "cooking" because it is like .2 dishes.
And finally.....
-CLEAN: What is CLEAN? Well, during one of my 2309482309428390423 emotional frenzies, I got on a kick about my diet. Yes, a big part of Dubai life is EATING and lots of it, but while I was staying with my friend, who happens to like buffet eating, we went to numerous buffets AND I took the liberty of eating the ample amount of chocolates, sweets, CHEESE (I looooove cheese) she had around the house. Worse thing is.... at night too. Wah wah. Needless to say, I was feeling TOTALLY blah and gross. My good friend Allison (thanks ABG!) told me about this 'detox' program called CLEAN, so I got this book (by Alexander Junger, M.D.), and yes, there are 2309842390423904293084 books out there about detoxes and healthy eating, but I just like the way he communicated (he's a cardiologist) and the program just makes sense. So I got spastic and was going to do the main 3-week program ASAP, but then calmed down and realized that it's best to follow his recommendations ... and that is to do a pre-clean and THEN do the 3-week "detox." So as many people know, eating is very much correlated with psychological and emotional well-being, so KNOWING that I was going to do this pre-detox, I found it okay to be a little Miss Piggy before I started.
So you might think the transition would be hard going from Little Miss Piggy to:
-NO dairy
-NO gluten, breads, carbs
-NO sweets
-NO alcoholic beverages
-NO coffee, caffeinated drinks, soft drinks. Pretty much just water.
-Having a 12-hour gap between your last meal and your first meal
What do you eat then right? Fruits, lots of veggies, fish... umm... more veggies. :-) Interestingly, no bananas, no tomatoes, no eggplant, peppers, oranges, grapes, strawberries, corn, pork beef, sausage, raw meats, soybean products (soy sauce), mayo, peanuts and peanut butter, fruit juices, ketchup, breath mints, blah blah blah.
I think it was so well needed, I just took to it and didn't have such a tough time transitioning. I thought the hardest part was going to be the sweets, but it was actually the dairy (again, have I mentioned that I loooooooooove cheese???). And I don't coffee or caffeinated drinks anyway, and here alcohol is not as accessible as it is at home so that hasn't been an issue, so again, it was mostly the sweets and dairy (almond milk, coconut milk, and rice milk are okay though). So the 1st week I lost almost 3 lbs and the 2nd week I lost almost 3 lbs again. Now I know it sounds like a lot, but this is the weight I gained during these last few months (I think), so I am actually more or less back to my "normal" weight, BUT having no muscle mass says something too. And of course I am expecting to put at least a couple of them back, but hey, I'll take what I can get.
Yes, the weight loss is fine, BUT the BIGGEST difference I have seen is my face has TOTALLY cleared up and.... my mood and energy levels have been totally neutral and even. I just feel calm and relaxed. It made me think how much food affects are mental well-being (which the book talks about), and I feel my "bad eating" contributed to my 2304928340923894038 ups and downs. At home I eat relatively healthy so I guess I never really noticed this before. So this has all been an awakening to me. It has been easier to do this because I'm living on my own now so I don't have to go through the being rude not to accept food that is put in front of you think AND .... I am still in the process of meeting people so I don't have that influence of going out all the time to stuff yourself.
What next? Well, I just completed week 2. This week I am going to introduce a little bit of some 'normal' foods that I have been avoiding because my parents are coming for 5 days and there is NO way I am not going to enjoy Dubai eating life, which is a big part of life here and they will be experiencing it! Then after they leave, I will get back on it... relatively strict until later in the month (in preparation for my birthday! haha), then let loose over that weekend, and then basically start incorporating smart, healthy eating using the "include" foods and "exclude" foods the program suggests. I actually feel so good with this "pre-clean" I am not even sure I want to do the actual 3-week detox! It is basically a shake in the morning, a solid meal for lunch, and a soup in the evening. My other hesitation is I know nothing about cooking and even to make some of the recipes say for the lunch I am overwhelmed.
For more information about the program (I sound like an advert, right?): www.thecleanprogram.com.
So you might think the transition would be hard going from Little Miss Piggy to:
-NO dairy
-NO gluten, breads, carbs
-NO sweets
-NO alcoholic beverages
-NO coffee, caffeinated drinks, soft drinks. Pretty much just water.
-Having a 12-hour gap between your last meal and your first meal
What do you eat then right? Fruits, lots of veggies, fish... umm... more veggies. :-) Interestingly, no bananas, no tomatoes, no eggplant, peppers, oranges, grapes, strawberries, corn, pork beef, sausage, raw meats, soybean products (soy sauce), mayo, peanuts and peanut butter, fruit juices, ketchup, breath mints, blah blah blah.
I think it was so well needed, I just took to it and didn't have such a tough time transitioning. I thought the hardest part was going to be the sweets, but it was actually the dairy (again, have I mentioned that I loooooooooove cheese???). And I don't coffee or caffeinated drinks anyway, and here alcohol is not as accessible as it is at home so that hasn't been an issue, so again, it was mostly the sweets and dairy (almond milk, coconut milk, and rice milk are okay though). So the 1st week I lost almost 3 lbs and the 2nd week I lost almost 3 lbs again. Now I know it sounds like a lot, but this is the weight I gained during these last few months (I think), so I am actually more or less back to my "normal" weight, BUT having no muscle mass says something too. And of course I am expecting to put at least a couple of them back, but hey, I'll take what I can get.
Yes, the weight loss is fine, BUT the BIGGEST difference I have seen is my face has TOTALLY cleared up and.... my mood and energy levels have been totally neutral and even. I just feel calm and relaxed. It made me think how much food affects are mental well-being (which the book talks about), and I feel my "bad eating" contributed to my 2304928340923894038 ups and downs. At home I eat relatively healthy so I guess I never really noticed this before. So this has all been an awakening to me. It has been easier to do this because I'm living on my own now so I don't have to go through the being rude not to accept food that is put in front of you think AND .... I am still in the process of meeting people so I don't have that influence of going out all the time to stuff yourself.
What next? Well, I just completed week 2. This week I am going to introduce a little bit of some 'normal' foods that I have been avoiding because my parents are coming for 5 days and there is NO way I am not going to enjoy Dubai eating life, which is a big part of life here and they will be experiencing it! Then after they leave, I will get back on it... relatively strict until later in the month (in preparation for my birthday! haha), then let loose over that weekend, and then basically start incorporating smart, healthy eating using the "include" foods and "exclude" foods the program suggests. I actually feel so good with this "pre-clean" I am not even sure I want to do the actual 3-week detox! It is basically a shake in the morning, a solid meal for lunch, and a soup in the evening. My other hesitation is I know nothing about cooking and even to make some of the recipes say for the lunch I am overwhelmed.
For more information about the program (I sound like an advert, right?): www.thecleanprogram.com.
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