July 8th, 2009
I am happy to say that I’m back at it again! My summer training is going very well! Thanks to the encouragement of my brother in law, I have started training body weight exercises with renewed vigor. The momentum that I have gained by rededicating myself to body-weight training has really synergized with my gung fu. I have had improved motivation overall and am feeling great about it.
In terms of results, just this week I finally made it back to doing 6 pull ups in a set. This is the max that I hit last year before falling off the wagon (so to speak). Now I have regained that ground, and am shooting for 10 pull up sets by the end of summer! It’s really encouraging to make gradual progress!
For those of you who might think about starting a training regimen yourself, I know that it can be frustrating or discouraging at the beginning. Personally, I had to mentally overcome my own doubt. When I re-started my pull up training, I could do maybe three in a set. This was better than where I started a year ago (one pull up per set) but for some reason I was very discouraged. Thank goodness that I had some great people around to offer some encouragement, and now I feel like I’m up and running! So if you’re struggling, my advice is to take it one day at a time, one repition at a time. Stick with it, each day, and you’ll improve!
Tags: health, training
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May 11th, 2009
I have to write this, because I wont be able to write anything else until I do. It was 2 weeks ago today that my mother’s mother passed away. This experience has spurred a lot of reflection and contemplation for me. I won’t disclose the details here, because I believe that it can only be expressed person to person, but I’ve had some of my beliefs confirmed in a very real way. This has really deepened my thinking in this area, the area of spirituality. The world’s great religions, and the world’s great spiritual guides have all written about interconnectedness in some way. Personally I believe that we are connected to each other on a spiritual level. I believe that we will comprehend this connection fully at the moment of our death. Until then, it will be part of the great mystery of life that is destined to elude us all.
If you’ve laid under a blanket or a sheet with another human being, and felt them pull the covers away, or even felt the sheets moves as they turn and shift; This is my analogy for spiritual cocnnection. Our physical bodies are seperate, but like the blanket, a single cloth covers us all. When a person close to you pulls away, you really feel it. This feeling can even translate into physical sensations or sense perceptions.
I have believed in a connection of this nature for sometime, and in a way, my grandmother’s passing has confirmed these beliefs.
Tags: death, interconnectedness, reflection, spirit
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April 21st, 2009
It’s master cleanse eve at the Wilkin household! Tomorrow I embark, once again, upon the master cleanse! This time I will have a trusty companion, who will at this time remain anonymous! I just re-read my previous post about eating right, and I’m happy to say that I have maintained my body weight since the last post. I just weighed myself on our new digital scale and I’m coming in at 178.2 pounds. I hope to maintain this weight throughout the cleanse. Looking at my body I can see that there are slight fat reserves, but I cant really imagine that its much more than 5 lbs. I definitely don’t want to see my weight fall below 170, at all. This will be an interesting test of the master cleanse. In my reading of the theory, only ‘waste’ or ‘excess’ tissue should be shed during the cleanse. Now that I know my starting weight, I should be able to gauge that more accurately. When I last did the master cleanse I would guess that I was around 185 pounds and had a little fat to lose. Now the pickens are getting slim!
It is my goal to go for the full 10 days on lemonade, with a 3 day cool-down to return to solid foods. I have the remnants of a cold that gave me some trouble. It’s 90% gone now and I think the cleanse will knock it right out of me 
Here’s to cleansing! Mmmm Senna Tea!
Tags: cleansing, master cleanse
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March 5th, 2009
In my quest for vibrant and dynamic health I have focused intently on learning as much as possible about nutrition and eating. This has led me to change my omnivore diet to a vegan diet. I made the transition between omnivore and vegan slowly over roughly two years. My first goal was simply to start creating meals in which animal protein was not the focus. This led gradually led to more vegetable, legume, rice or grain based meals.
It has also been roughly two years since I began to increase my physical activity through the study of Hung Ga gung fu. Ever since adopting these lifestyle changes, I have watched my body begin to change. At the time that I started to make these changes, I was very sedentary and slowly gaining weight. The trend has now reversed over the last two years, and I have lost roughly 30 lbs. Weight loss was never an intentional goal. It simply came as a result of embracing diet changes and exercise.
Now I am at a point from which I do not want to lose any weight. At my last weighing, 3 weeks ago, I was 177 lbs. So give or take a few pounds, that puts me at 175-180. I do not feel that it would be healthy to lose weight beyond this point. I plan to continue, if not increase the amount and intensity of my exercise routine now that spring has come again. It is the season for re-dedication, transformation and new growth. I am setting forth with these goals in mind. But how should I be sure to avoid further weight loss? Since I have changed my diet and begun to exercise regularly, I have watched the fat burn off and the muscle build. At the same time, I worry that I have created momentum in the direction of losing body mass. My hope is that the body mass that I lose will be only fat and will be replaced with lean muscle. To this end, I will be consulting with a friend studying nutritional science.
In my first conversation with him, he encouraged me to make sure that I am eating enough calories in the day to sustain my activity level. My first assignment in determining this was to keep a food log. For 4 days I jotted notes every time I ate something. This was often as he also recommended eating more and smaller meals throughout the day. It has been a week since I kept the food log, and I still need to send it off to him, but I’m having doubts about my first attempt at eating “more often, smaller meals”. In my first attempt, I feel that I have been eating too often. Nearly every time my stomach becomes empty, I’m finding something else to eat. My occupation is quite conducive to this as I can easily snack while working on the computer.
At the moment I feel that this regimen of nearly continual eating has put a strain on my digestive tract. One of the new sensitivities that I acquired by doing my first master cleanse is sensing the fullness of my body. Once you completely empty yourself, you are able to tell with a more fine grained sensitivity what it is like to be full. I’m not just referring to the stomach, but my lower abdomen where all the food is processed further as well. Aside from feeling fullness, I can more easily see the shape of my gut after losing fat from all over my body. Yesterday I felt that this gut area, the area just under the belly button and between the hips, was quite full. I believe this is where the intestines sit. In the afternoon I almost felt that I was developing a pot belly! Now, I don’t really think that its possible that I could start a pot belly after a week or two of increasing my caloric intake. My theory is instead that the constant flow of food has caused this lower adbominal bloating. To confirm this theory, I’m taking a 1 day liquid diet of tea, fruit smoothie, and lots of orange juice. If at the end of the day the pot belly has said goodbye, I’ll have my answer: too much food too often.
Tags: diet, eating, health, nutrition
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February 21st, 2009
I recently joined the 45-day Yoga Revolution at the Yoga and Healing Center in Scotch Plains, NJ. The idea is to focus on these 45-days and include as much yoga as you can. Each participant chooses their own goal for how many classes they would like to attend on a weekly basis and more importantly, a dedication. The dedication can be anything that you wish, and you will dedicate each practice to whatever it is that you choose. I’ve chosen transformation. I chose Transformation because with the coming spring I feel it is time to grow and move toward our higher goals. Soon, all of nature will be awakening in the Northeast United States. We are connected to this cycle and should honor it with our choices. For this reason, I’m keeping the idea of transformation as rebirth and growth toward my goals.
Those that know me know that my main passion is Hung Ga, a style of Gung Fu. Before finding Hung Ga, I was frequently attending Ashtanga yoga classes at the Yoga and Healing Center. This was almost 2 years ago now. I truly enjoyed the practice of Ashtanga at that time, but found even more enjoyment in gung fu. My wife has continued her yoga practice all through these past two years. She has developed greatly in terms of her own practice as well as a member of the community at the studio. She has attained her 200 hour yoga training certification from the Yoga Alliance and will often teach classes when a substitute is needed. I am impressed and inspired to see her maintaining her dedication to all the positive things that come through Yoga. So when I heard of the 45 day Yoga Revolution, I knew I had to join.
I joined the yoga revolution for several reasons. The first reason being that I think its vitally important to share a mutual interest and love in marriage. There’s something about practicing yoga together that is much more fulfilling that going through it on your own. It’s not something that I can easily put into words, but its there. I think that when we leave, we both feel reconnected in a positive way. I want to maintain and strengthen this bond. This is the primary and most important reason that I’ve joined the yoga revolution.
Another reason that I’ve joined is because I understand that yoga is extremely beneficial to the body in many ways. It is known to regulate the body in terms of blood pressure and stress, and also for flexibility. I’m sure that the movement, stretching, compression, twisting, and inversion all promote a healthy circulation and flow of lymph. All these benefits are gifts that I am striving to give to my body.
Kitty would likely continue her practice in these 45 days whether or not I decided to pick up the practice again, but the stars aligned in such a way that I will be able to attend at least 2 classes with her each week. I’ve already attended the first two, and will attend my third tomorrow morning. I’m already looking forward to it.
Tags: health, marriage, yoga
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February 17th, 2009
It’s been 3 weeks since I started to come off Master Cleanse which I did for 7 days. As with each cleanse I’ve done, the experience offered a new perspective on health and my relationship with food. Since cleansing, my food choices have been vegan with few exceptions. I am pleased with this transition. The cleanse was a good way to mark a new beginning. I could write a whole entry just on the topic of a vegan coming out, and I think I will.
Now I’d like to say a few things about the return to solid foods. First of all, for all you cleansers out there, return to solids slowly! My morning routine includes drinking a large fruit smoothie. Before the cleanse, this was easily 40 ounces or more. The smoothie also varies in consistency and thickness from day to day as I have a varied bunch of ingredients that I include. On my first smoothie day after the cleanse, I drank my first glassful and felt quite full. However I had another ‘glass’ to drink. I use the term ‘glass’ loosely here because they hold more than a pint of liquid; roughly 2.5 cups. So because I felt full I waited 40 minutes or so before drinking the rest of the smoothie. I couldn’t stand to just pour it out. I would have been wasting the most nutritious ‘meal’ that I make all day! Drinking this second portion was against my better judgement, and I felt so sluggish afterward. I felt ‘full’ in a whole new way. I think that my body was not ready to digest or process so much food at one time, even though it was in liquid form. The feeling of sluggishness lasted for an hour or more.
This is one example of the way that common food habits are brought into a new light after the cleansing process. Since the cleanse I have reduced the amount of smoothie that I’ll drink in the morning from 5+ cups to 3.5 cups. I think this is a better balance of both my need for high caloric intake and my body’s digestive comfort zone.
Tags: cleansing, health, master cleanse
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January 29th, 2009
Return Schedule
In Tom Woloshyn’s book, which has been my primary guide to this cleanse, he has two schedules for coming off the cleanse. They are 4 and 3 days in duration. The four day schedule is more gradual and probably more ideal, but I’ve gone with the 3 day plan in order to be back to eating solid food on Saturday which is our first parade for Chinese New Year. Abiding by the schedule, yesterday was a day of oranges, orange juice, and more oranges. Today I am drinking orange juice all day, with the privilege of a vegetable broth for lunch and, oh yes, vegetable soup for dinner!
Anticipating Solid Foods
I can’t describe the excitement and anticipation with which I await fresh steamed vegetables and brown rice for tomorrow’s dinner. Even tonight’s dinner will be amazing: vegetable soup with whole vegetables! I can’t wait to bite into them and feel the texture of the food in my mouth. Not to mention the feeling of fullness that comes from fiber instead of liquid. Today I have the ultimate privilege and honor of drinking a homemade vegetable broth with a few vegetables for lunch. Wow. Here’s one guy that is beside himself with joy.
Mood & Emotion
Yesterday for the vast majority of the day my mood was ebullient. I was having a great time, and so happy to be drinking my orange juice. I have to admit that by the end of the day, I was feeling a bit frustrated and grumpy. I’m not sure exactly how to place this, but I think part of it I will assign to hunger. It seems that I am great about maintaining my ‘food’ intake during the day, but the end of day transition from the office to home is where I lose it. I tend to let myself go a little too long and then I turn a bit sour. But, this was nothing that a few oranges and a little mindfulness couldn’t rememdy. It wasn’t long before I was once again counting my many blessings with gratitude.
I also gave myself a pat on the back for completing 7 days of the master cleanse. The minimum recommended duration is 10 days, and so I have a little bit of remorse for not ‘going the distance’ there. That feeling is compounded a bit by reading the testimonials of the people in the back of the book who were able to run 7 miles a day while on the cleanse. That information really makes me curious about the limits of my own ability to subsist on the cleanse.
But the true and lasting feeling that I have is gratitude that this experience came into my life. I think of this as the 3rd of many cleanses to come. The Master Cleanse, all in all, was a rewarding and pleasant experience. I think that later in the spring I will set my sights on the 10 day goal once more. Perhaps at that time I will document the intensity and type of exercise which I complete each day as well.
I would imagine that exercise would assist in the body’s cleansing activities. I know that physical activity, by elevating heart rate, moving the lymph, increasing respiration and perspiration greatly helps in eliminating toxins from the body. I believe it also eliminates toxic thoughts from the mind.
Yesterday’s Totals
- 6 big glasses half and half OJ
- 2 cups half and half OJ
- 4 oranges
- 1 glass hot water
- 1 cup chamomile mint tea
Tags: cleansing, health, master cleanse
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January 28th, 2009
I have decided to bring my cleanse to an early end. I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and while I would have liked to go 10 days or more, I feel I must come back to solid food in time for the weekend.
Chinese New Year Celebrations
This weekend is the first of several weekends of Chinese New Year celebrations in which my gung fu school will participate. This is a very important time of year because our entire association coordinates to meet up and march through the neighborhoods of New York City bringing the traditional Lion and Dragon to restaurants and merchants in the area. This is a lot of fun and quite rewarding as well. It is also quite strenuous. We are out and about all day, with no regular access to water, food or bathrooms. Of course, we are well taken care of, but there is no guarantee as to when that relief will come. It is an all day effort and this year I will have a much more active role than last year. Because person in the school is part of a team, and beyond that the schools work together as one team to represent the association, I want to be able to give it all I’ve got. If I were to feel weak on account of the cleanse, the extra work would fall to my training brothers. Reflecting on this, I think that the best choice is to move to solid foods by Friday so that I can be fully ready for Saturday and Sunday.
Future Plans
It is my full intention to finish at least a 10 day master cleanse in the coming months. Perhaps I will pursue this in sometime in March.
Tags: cleansing, health, master cleanse
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January 28th, 2009
I write this post on Day 7 on the morning of Day 8. Life has been busy lately.
Day 7 was the first day that I felt any kind of internal discomfort while on the cleanse. On this day, I remember waking with a sense of shall I say, emptiness and sagging, in my gut below my belly button. This feeling continued and slightly intensified into mid afternoon. The sensation itself is hard to describe since I’ve never quite experienced it before. My guess is that I was feeling the effects of a higher concentrations of cayenne pepper in the lemonade. I should note that for most of Day 6 and into Day 7 I was including just under a quarter teaspoon of cayenne pepper per glass of lemonade. Over the previous 5 days I had adapted to the spicyness and became less and less sensitive to it. As I became less sensitive to the taste, I began to add more.
On Day 6 I prepared 4 glasses worth of lemonade, cayenne pepper included, and drank them more than an hour later. This gave the pepper time to steep. It’s flavor really matured in that time. When I took the first sip I got a “Wow” kind of surprise at the spiciness, but it was welcome since I love spicy food and it was a bit of variation in the midst of a mono-diet. I can’t say for certain if the addition cayenne pepper had caused these feelings of discomfort, but my intuition says that it did. It’s my suspicion that the extra amount of pepper that I added to each glass slowly accumulated over a 24-36 hour period to the point. Mind you the recipe calls for a tenth teaspoon of cayenne per glass and I was using 3-4 times that amount. It was delicious.
Initially when this feeling was brewing my attitude was just to go with it and wait it out. I thought that it would surely pass in an hour or so. When it continued into mid afternoon I had become a little discouraged and actually wondered “what if this gets much worse?” I was worried that it might intensify. Happily, it did not. At the suggestion of my wife I drank some hot water and almost immediately started to feel better. I had been feeling cold in the office while wearing multiple layers including an undershirt, dress shirt, sweater, and blazer. Our office can be cold from time to time, but I noticed that no one else was bundled up quite like I was. I think that the chilled water that I included in the lemonade was just enough to push my internal body temperature over the limit and slightly away from equilibrium. The hot water cleared all this up. I drank two roughly 12 ounces mugs of it and felt much improved. I think the water had a double benefit of both warming me up and diluting what may have become a concentration of cayenne in my gut. I was quite relieved to be feeling better, and celebrated by enthusiastically preparing for a night of exercise.
Totals
- 32 oz salt water flush
- 11 glasses of homemade lemonade
- 2 glasses of ~12 ounces hot water
Tags: cleansing, health, master cleanse
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January 28th, 2009
Day 6 has come and gone and so I write this post in retrospect on what would be day 8.
On Day 6 I remember feeling completely at home in the cleanse, even more so than day 5. It was the first day during which all aspects felt familiar. I had the feeling of, is this “too easy”? Previously I had associated hunger, weakness, headaches, and other conditions of discomfort with cleansing. These are some of the symptoms I experienced while on the previous two cleanses that I’ve tried. Oddly I would say that master cleanse was the most restrictive and most extreme yet it has also proven to be the most painless.
On days when I know that I’ll be exercising in the evening I’ve noticed that I drink much more lemonade. This feels like an unconscious compensation for the upcoming exertion.
Totals
- 32 oz salt water flush
- 17 glasses of lemonade
- 1 mug of tea
Tags: cleansing, health, master cleanse
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