After drinking both the saltwater and the senna leaf tea last night I definitely felt the effect today. I was "called" to the washroom much more forcefully with fairly strong internal "messages" from my body. That lasted until the early afternoon. I did increase the amount of cayenne pepper in the lemonade which also seemed to spur things along. I note to everyone thinking about doing this diet, add the cayenne to your drink just before you drink it. The longer the cayenne is in the drink the spicier it gets. The first time I did this I made 6-8 bottles of the lemonade in the morning and then took them to work. By the end of the day the lemonade had gotten so spicy that it was hard to drink. This time I have pre-made the lemonade but added the cayenne only when I am about to drink and it has been much better.
I wasn't really hungry today. It is amazing that after 5 days without eating that you can say that but it is true. I can talk about food and look at food and really want to eat but not because I am hungry but simply because I miss the taste or texture or the social aspect of eating. This diet really does make you aware of how often you eat out of habit or desire and not by necessity. I will find myself in the kitchen out of habit rather than need and that is alarming. I wonder if I would be in better shape (weight-wise) if I simply eliminated the unnecessary snacks. If you can go 5 days without food certainly a few hours is manageable, right?
This morning I weighed in at 94.4kg. I lost 0.6kgs during day 5 for a total of 4.6kgs.
Day 4 was pretty easy. The cravings have passed and I am no longer thinking
about burgers and pizza. That said I did have about an hour where I was
really missing solid food. I just wanted the feeling of chewing on
something. I miss the texture of food!
Admittedly I am a little concerned that I have not been having more bowel
movements. I went online to see if there where any answers there as I recall
spending much more time in the washroom the last time. It appears that I may
need to change a few details. First I need to increase the amount of cayenne
pepper that I add to the lemonade. The pepper is key activating the system
and cutting through the mucous in your system. As I love to eat cheese and
meat it is also not uncommon to have some blockage in your system so I need
to increase the amount of salt water I am drinking and to drink an
additional cup of the laxative tea.
After the second day in a row without a bowel movement I drank a liter of
saltwater and a cup of tea before bed. I almost immediately felt the effect
and have been to the washroom much more frequently today.
I must say that it does get easier to go without eating the longer the diet
lasts. Case in point. Last night I stayed up late to watch the
Japan/Uzbekistan World Cup qualifying soccer game. I love sports and was
delighted by the result but as the game was coming to an end I realized that
I didn't even think to have a snack during the game. This is very unusual
for me. I think that snack food is a great compliment to sports on
television so not even thinking about it speaks volumes.
The scale was a little disappointing today, 95kgs so I lost 0.3kgs yesterday
for a total of 4.0kgs after 4 days. Hopefully the changes that I made to the
recipe and routine will pay dividends.
Day 3 started much better than yesterday. I was feeling very good this
morning although quite hungry when I woke up. After my first lemonade I was
feeling fine. As expected today was all about cravings. I could`t stop
thinking about what I wanted to eat. Most of the things I wanted were bad
for me. I was thinking about pizza, hamburgers and barbecue chicken. We had
to stop at a convenience store (I bought water) and the display case of
fried chicken, sausages and pogos (American dogs) was almost too much to
take.
I should warn you that this diet is hard to complete if you are
married. I was living alone the first time and it was much simpler. There
was not food in the house and I did not go to places where I would be
tempted by food. It is also difficult on my wife as she is uncomfortable
eating in front of me, not to mention my in-laws who are not thrilled with
me not eating and keep offering me something to eat.
I noticed today that my skin seems less oily in the afternoon, especially my
face. My skin feels softer as well. Could be another positive side-effect of
this diet.
All in all the day went much the way I expected, plenty of cravings and
dreams about my favourite foods but nothing that I could not manage. I was a
little disappointed that I did not go to the washroom as much as I had. I
was hoping for the cleansing to be more drastic. I will do another saltwater
flush and drink the herbal tea in hopes of getting it started again.
I weighed in at 95.3kg this morning, I lost another half kilogram. I have
lost a total of 3.7kg in 3 days.
Jonathan
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
＜今日の単語＞
in-law 【名】義理の家族
side-effect 【名】副作用
drastic 【形】大幅な、強烈な
The News of the World upped Boyle's likely earnings on the back of "Britain's Got Talent" to £8 million ($13 million).
On top of a multi-million dollar record deal and share of album sales, Boyle is also set to earn from a Hollywood movie of her rags-to-riches life, a book deal, and millions more from image rights, endorsements and television appearances, the paper said.
In an interview with the News of the World, Cowell said Boyle could be the biggest star he had ever discovered.
"They don't care in America whether she wins a British TV show -- they care about the woman they saw singing on YouTube," a Cowell insider also told the paper. "If anything, £8 million in her first year might be an underestimate."
今後の彼女の動きが楽しみですね。
ショーの厳しい審査員として
また超敏腕ミュージックプロデューサーとして知られる
Simon Cowellの最後のコメント
"They don't care in America whether she wins a British TV show -- they care about the woman they saw singing on YouTube."
Day started a little rough. I had a headache this morning and really had no energy at all. I attributed the headache to dehydration and simply rested all morning. After a couple of bottles of lemonade and plenty of water I was feeling much better. One of the benefits of the headache was that I was not feeling any urge to eat! I felt great in the afternoon. I had a real surge in energy. Not sure if it was the diet or the rest from the morning though. I went for a long skate on my roller blades and worked up a nice sweat. I was a little concerned about exercising with no food in my stomach but it was great.
I went to the washroom about 8 times throughout the day. It is not a pretty experience. After two full days of not eating you really wonder where the waste is coming from.
Day 3 should be better but I expect the cravings to start. The first time I did this I dreamt about all the foods I love all day!
There is one challenge to doing this in Japan. I am now really aware of how much television time is devoted to food. When you haven't eaten in 2 days you really are aware that every show in Japan shows food, people preparing it, people eating it, celebrities visiting restaurants. It almost kills me when I see those close-up shots of food! I am craving gyoza right now after watching a show about the gyoza restaurants in Ikebukuro!
It's OK, only 5 more days to go!
I weighed in at 95.8kgs this morning, I have dropped 3.2kgs in two days!
Day 1 went quite well. I drank the senna leaf tea last night before bed and expected the worse for this morning but nothing unusual occured. I decided to hold off on the salt water flush this morning as it would be impossible to get the train to work without incident. They say that you can expect a visit to the washroom within the hour after consuming the salt water.
I wasn't really expecteing it to be difficult in the morning. It is still new and you are focused so it is quite easy to make it through Day 1. I actually like the taste of the lemonade and don't mind the tea so it wasn't a bad experience. I did go to the washroom about 10 times throughout the day.
I do expect Day 2 and 3 to be much more challenging as the body adjust to not having food in your stomach.
I drank 4 bottles (500ml each) of the lemonade and plenty of water in between. I really found the day quite easy to manage despite not eating anything. I did find that I was quite tired at about 9:30pm and started to feel hungry but after a few sips of lemonade the hunger pangs subsided.
In bed last night I was hit with a terrible muscle cramp in my calf. I tend to get those when I am fatigued or when I am slightly dehydrated. I guess I had better drink more fluids before bed tonight!
This morning 1 weighed in at 97.2kg, a one day loss of 1.8kg.
Last year I had to smile when I read about the “banana diet” craze that swept through Japan. It was so popular that it became difficult to buy bananas in Japan. The year before I think everyone was talking about Billy’s Boot Camp. It seems that there is a new diet fad every year!
I have never really dieted. Growing up I was very active, I played ice hockey, golf and little league baseball every chance I got, and in a small town in Canada that was a lot. I played hockey 4-5 times a week plus practice, and I averaged over 200 rounds of golf a year, 95% of those were walking. Doing that much exercise really afforded me the luxury of eating whatever I wanted so I always thought it was strange to diet.
Sadly, reality hit during University when I stopped playing hockey and summer jobs got in the way of golf. This combined with a slowing metabolism and my habit of eating whatever I fancied lead to me gaining weight slowly but steadily.
One day a couple of years ago I was feeling lethargic, unmotivated and not particularly healthy, so I decided to do something about it. I had heard about “cleansing” and its ability to reenergize you, allow you to think more clearly, improve your concentration and yes even lose some weight. It sounded like the perfect plan, so I did some research, and after deciding that it was something I could benefit from I started the lemonade diet.
The lemonade diet is designed to detoxify and cleanse your system. Despite its name which conjures up drinking ice-cold lemonade on the veranda it is not easy and can be unpleasant at times. For starters you basically only drink lemonade for the duration of the diet. In addition to the lemonade you drink salt-water and senna leaf tea which is a natural laxative as a way to expel toxins and flush your system. You are permitted to have mint tea as an occasional treat but that is it.
The lemonade? This is not your homemade sweetened lemonade or the CC lemon that you get at your local convenience store. The recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of fresh squeezed lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of organic grade-b maple syrup and a pinch of cayenne pepper. These ingredients are added to about 500ml of bottled water. The concoction needs to be free of impurities and chemicals so you cannot use tap water, regular pancake syrup or bottled lemon juice.
I read that each bottle contains about 100 calories. I drank 6-8 bottles per day the first time. I drank bottled water as well, mainly in between the lemonade.
I managed to finish the diet without cheating, lasting 11 days without eating. On the 12th day I drank fresh squeezed orange juice, then moved up to soup on the 13th day and had a beautiful salad on day 13. After that I returned to a diet of regular foods.
I was very pleased with the results and vowed to do it again should I feel the need. Well that time is now here, so I have started the “Master Cleanse” or “Lemonade diet” last night. I thought it might be fun to share my experiences with you this week as I attempt to do it again, though this time I am only planning to diet for 7 days.
I hope you enjoy following along and that perhaps you will try it for yourself.
For the record I weighed 99kgs this morning. (Day 1)
Agreeing and disagreeing should be easy. When you agree you say “I agree” and when you disagree you say “I disagree”. Simple, right? Unfortunately, no. Expressing agreement and disagreement can be a source of real stress in the workplace. To begin with, how you agree and disagree depends a lot on who you are agreeing or disagreeing with. For example, the way you disagree with a client might be very different than the way you disagree with your co-worker. You may feel free to speak directly and passionately to your co-worker, even raising your voice when you feel strongly about something, but feel uncomfortable expressing any kind of disagreement with a client (trust me, telling your client that their idea is the dumbest thing you have ever heard is NOT a good way to do business). Look at this conversation between Joe and his co-worker Kate:
KATE: I think we need to change our whole business strategy. Our current strategy is just not working.
JOE: I couldn’t disagree more! I really feel that we are on the right track. We just need to wait a bit longer and our strategy will pay off.
Joe is speaking with his co-worker so he feels freer to express his opinion strongly. Now look at a similar conversation between Joe and his client Sam:
SAM: I think it’s time to change our strategy. I’m not sure your current strategy is working as well as it should be.
JOE: I understand your concerns but I’m not sure I agree. I think that if we wait a bit longer our strategy will start to yield great results.
In both situations Joe is expressing disagreement, but the way expresses it changes depending on who he is talking to.
Agreement can also be difficult. When two co-workers have presented different ideas it can be stressful to agree with one over the other. Doing so may cause resentment and make it more difficult to work with the co-worker you didn’t side with in the future. Beyond that, sometimes we might agree with only one part of an idea but wish to see some changes or improvements made. That can also be a source of stress as it involves criticism. Look at another conversation Joe has with his co-workers Kate and Hiroshi:
KATE: I think we need to suspend our plans to build the new factory in China.
HIRO: I completely disagree. Our China factory is the beginning of our expansion into the Asian market.
JOE: Hmmm…I’m afraid I agree with Kate. The China factory is important but we just don’t have the money right now.
Joe avoids causing resentment by agreeing with Kate in a soft, respectable way that shows Hiro that he respects his idea but thinks Kate’s is better.
Wow, who would have thought two little words like “agree” and “disagree” could be so difficult to use?! Well fortunately, Western business culture can make life a little easier. To begin with, in a Western business setting workers at all levels are expected to express agreement and disagreement freely and directly. A passionate, strong opinion is not only allowed but it’s expected. This means that as long as you are respectful you don’t run the risk of offending someone by disagreeing or choosing one person’s idea over another. Beyond that, demonstrating a willingness to agree and disagree when appropriate can earn the respect of your co-workers and clients.
To sum up, agreeing and disagreeing can be difficult. But as long as you are able to do it in a respectful, honest way, you can give your opinion freely and make a tangible contribution to your team, client, company, etc. Here are some useful phrases you can use, depending on the situation:
Strong Agreement
I agree with you 100 percent.
I couldn’t agree with you more.
You’re absolutely right.
That’s exactly how I feel.
That’s so true. (casual)
That’s for sure. (casual)
Example
A: I think we need to spend more money on Research and Development.
B: I couldn’t agree with you more. R&D is the most important part of our business.
Slight Agreement
I’m afraid I have to agree with (name).
I suppose you’re right.
You have a point.
I see what you’re saying.
I guess so. (casual)
Example
A: I think we need to spend more money on Research and Development.
B: I suppose you’re right. But I’d still like to spend more money on Marketing.
Strong Disagreement
I completely disagree.
I’d say the exact opposite.
Absolutely not.
No way. (casual)
Example
A: I think we should spend more money on Research and Development.
B: Absolutely not. We are spending too much money on R&D already.
Slight Disagreement
Not necessarily.
That’s not always the case.
I’m not so sure about that.
I’m afraid I disagree.
Example
A: I think we need to spend more money on Research and Development.
B: I’m not so sure about that. I think fully funding the Marketing department might be a better strategy.
Practice
Here are some opinions. Some of them are given during a business meeting. Others are given while you are eating dinner with friends. Practice agreeing and disagreeing with these statements:
At a business meeting with a client
- Smoking in public should be illegal.
- Violence on television contributes to violence in real life.
- High school students shouldn’t be allowed to dye their hair.
- 18 should be the legal drinking age in Japan.
- University should be free for everyone.
At dinner with friends
- Cats are better pets than dogs.
- Women are better at raising children than men.
- Studying grammar is more important than practicing conversation.
- The government spends too much money on the military.
- Autumn/Winter food is the most delicious.
