Well I can report that both Kerry and I survived our 10 day cleanse of no meat, dairy products and alcohol – sorry Rene, looks like you lost the bet! Not only that but I can also report that I have continued and plan to continue on with the vegetarian diet.

To be honest the hardest part of the program was cutting out dairy products. We used soy milk, which I quite like, and isn’t too bad in tea, and we got a soy substitute for margarine…but there are just so many things that contain milk, cream or cheese that it makes it quite tricky when eating out. We weren’t sure about eggs, since they aren’t dairy products, but guessed we should eliminate them as well. I take my hat of to vegans, it’s a committed lifestyle choice. It was interesting when we went out for lunch or dinner to find how limited the choices are in most restaurants, although living in the Bay Area we are fortunate enough to have specialized restaurants that cater to all diets.

So, moving forward I’m committed to staying vegetarian, I’ll probably eat fish occasionally and reduce my intake of dairy products, keeping with the soy milk, and reduce my intake of vinegar, processed sugar and such like. The funny thing is Kerry is quite happy to continue eating meat, chicken at least, how’s that for a 180 degree about turn. Oh, and there’s one thing we won’t be eliminating and that’s alcohol, we just like our wine way too much for that.

I certainly haven’t felt any ill effects and generally feel in excellent health. I lost 7lbs and an inch or so from my waist. Now Kerry and I will start our new ex cerise regime so we can both continue on getting back into shape.

Kerry recently mentioned she’d joined a local “Intenders Circle”…uh? I hear you ask. I must admit I wasn’t really sure what it was either when she first told me. She explained that it’s a group of people who get together to speak aloud their intentions for themselves, loved ones, friends or the universe, believing in the power of intent to manifest reality. After having seen Tony Robbins recently I’m certainly a believer in the power each of us possesses to change our lives and the world around us, this just seems to take it in perhaps a more spiritual direction. Anyhow, it just so happened that Tony Burroughs, one of the four that founded the “Intenders of The Highest Good” was giving a workshop locally. Kerry was going and so I figured I’d join her, since I’ve developed an interest in experiencing everything I can with an open mind.

The workshop was last Thursday and Friday, from 7:00pm to 11:00ish. There were about a dozen people on the Thursday and 20 or so on the Friday. On Thu I was the only male, but on Friday I was joined by a couple of others.

Tony is an interesting guy to spend a couple of evenings with, very genuine and with some fun stories to share to boot. He has absolute faith in the power of intentions backed by his personal experiences since starting the first intenders circle with 3 friends back in 1994.

Tony’s a spiritual person with first hand experiences of channelling that are weaved into his stories. Whether you believe in such things or not doesn’t make his messages any less relevant, personally I see similarities between what Tony teaches and the teachings of Tony Robbins. One comes at it from a spiritual perspective, the other from a more scientific one, I find both quite intriguing

The intention process is very simple, as copied from Tony’s website (hope you don’t mind Tony):

1. Say your intentions out loud daily.
2. Go to an Intenders Circle once a week.
3. State that, in order for your intentions to manifest, they must serve the Highest and Best Good of the Universe, yourself, and everyone concerned.

And let the laws of manifestation go to work…so be it and so it is! (those in the know will get that one)

It’s day 7 since Kerry and I started our 10 day detox based on what we learnt during the final day at the Tony Robbins UPW event. The program is pretty straight forward:

1. Vital breathing – simple breathing exercises
2. Living waters and live food – plenty of water, fruits & vegetables
3. Aerobic power – moderate exercise sustained over a period of time
4. Maximum nourishment – low sugar, acid, and predominately live foods and quality oils
5. Structural support – get some rest, sun and a massage
6. A directed mind – create joy, reduce stress
7. Eliminate processed fats – but get your essential fatty acids
8. Eliminate animal flesh – enough said
9. Eliminate diary products – cow’s don’t drink milk, why should you
10. Eliminate acid additions – sugar, vinegar, nicotine, alcohol, caffeine & drugs

A number of the guys I work with at Kaboodle are Indian and as I described the diet over lunch last week (most are vegetarian, very handy) they explained it sounded very similar to cleansing diets prescribed by Ayurvedic doctors back home. Strange thing was, just that morning on the way into work I was listening to an interview with Depak Chopra by Tony Robbins and low-and-behold if it wasn’t about, in part, Ayurveda.

Anyhow, so far it’s going well, after having rarely eaten vegetables for the first 35 years of my life I’m now making up for lost time. Once I un-linked being a hardened carnivore from my Identity  I’ve found I quite like vegetables…my mum would be proud! I’ve had no ill effects, a couple of days I’ve had a heavy head but no loss of energy. Kerry and I have been walking for 40 minutes or so in the morning, drinking freshly juiced vegetables and drinking lots of water. I’ve found my skin less dry, I’ve lost 6lbs and an inch off my waist (not that I was particularly overweight, but I had gained a few lbs/inches the last couple of years)…not to shabby.

My bald spot has gone!

As you can see from the before and after pictures my hair has grown back and I no longer have a bald spot on the back of my head, just the usual gray hairs. I guess it was caused by a combination of being in the hospital bed, medication, stress and who knows what else.

I didn’t have to do anything special for it to grow back, other than not get stressed about it and I guess it took about 6 weeks to recover. A friend of mine (who’s a hairdresser) thought it might have been Alopecia, from the way it’s described this certainly seems possible, I’m just glad it’s back to normal.

NOTE: Thanks to Lori for pointing me to info on Telogen Effluvium, seems to be a close match to what I experienced.