Turning over a new leaf...

Fall is the time for changing leaves and chilly air and all sorts of wonderful goodness. It's my absolute favorite time of the year. I think it's because it gives a needed respite from the Endless Summer that Florida is famous for.

As you know, the hubs and I went on a cruise for our 9th wedding anniversary. While on the cruise we got to have our bodies analyzed for fat content, toxicity and all kinds of equisite goodness. The upshot of the whole thing is that we both need to detox the liver. Me moreso than him since I'm working sans gallbladder which means poor Liver must be working overtime. And the Tonsils are gone so my lymphatic system is taxed, too.

So we did some reasearch and I'm going to detox ye olde liver and colon with products from Dr. Natura while I jack up my raw food intake with some goodness from the Live Green Smoothie Diet website. I'm going to detox for 30 days - which is apropos since November has but 30 days in it. I'll blog my results - both weight and psycho/emotional - and measurements right here. I figure if I can't be an example, at least I can be a warning.

I may even post pictures from time to time of the naked truth - with the naughty bits covered for "decency"s sake. Although I don't think anyone would get "excited" over seeing the Great White Whale.

Since I'm a vintage sewing addict, I'm lifting the picture from VintageTextile.com to accurately chart the changes in my body's shape/measurements.

 I've even disassembled Hildegarde so that at the end of the 30 Day Detox, I can put her back together with my new measurements. Which brings me to a kid funny... After disassembling Hildegarde, The Boy brings her boobs to me, waving them in the air... "Here mommy! Here your BOOBIES!!!! You want boobies?!11!?"

Back to the measurements... As you can see from the picture, the highlighted areas are what's going to be tracked. I've numbered them for ease of tracking.

What I WON'T be tracking?

• Calories
• Fat
• Carbs
• BMI
• Exercise
• Steps
• Anything else that one typically gets anal about when trying to "reduce".

Think of me as the "Anti-Biggest Loser". Which is a WHOLE 'nuther can of worms. I won't get into my opinions on that right now because I don't think there's enough bandwidth in the universe to handle it.

With no further ado, here are the measurements Pre 30 Day Detox:

1.  41.5"/105.5cm
2. 37"/94cm
3. 44"/111.5cm
4. 34"/86cm

And the weight - 167.7 - which I will not be tracking until December 1st. That's right! You heard me. I'm not going to weigh in at all. Not even once a week like I did with Weight Watchers. I want to just get my head in the health game and avoid worrying about "dieting".

One thing I'm really interesting in tracking as well is my exczema. I get some SERIOUSLY bad patches - to the point where my face is completely peeling and bloody AND my scalp peels away in huuuuuuuge swathes. I've been tracking it somewhat since I was a teenager. The patchiness on my face started when I was around 16. I would get it around my mouth (terribly embarassing) and it would flake off and just keep on flaking. I've always been prone to "cradle cap" but over the last few years - and with the sheer quantity of grey hair, it's been getting WORSE. As of yesterday, even WATER made my face hurt. And the urge to scratch... Oh my. I've always been a compulsive scratcher but this is beyond the pale. I did find a recommendation to use coconut oil and turmeric (kunyit) for the scalp. I will say this much... I'm greasy and smell like like pembantu (now there's a catchy song title) but I don't itch and burn. My pillow and towel and pajamas were yellow from the drippy goodness that was virgin organic coconut oil and freshly pulverised kunyit. And my fingernails look like I've been making some kind of tasty Ayam Makassar or something. But I do NOT itch. For the first time in my memory, my scalp does NOT itch. I will admit to washing the ends of my hair in some Pureology stripping shampoo so that I wasn't sooooo drippy and greasy. But I made double sure not to get it anywhere near my scalp. So my biggest hope for the detox period is that my skin clears up and goes back to something that looks less like the "Visitors" (circa 1985).

Because red, patchy, peeling lizard skin is just sooooo chic. Especially when paired with red catsuit and overturned lexan mixing ball in "azure".