Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead - Movie Review

I saw this movie was available on Netflix so I decided to watch it. I heard about it before and am aware of their Mean Green juice that many people drink.

I have been juicing on and off for years now and I enjoy learning about the experiences of others. I have to say that this documentary was seriously inspirational!! I loved every bit of it.

Many people jump into juicing and fasting only to lose weight and going about things that way does not always work out in the end. You have to really be able to commit yourself and focus on the overall health that you will achieve in the end to become truly successful.

The two men who were the main focus in this movie were truly inspirational in that they both in the end enjoyed sharing their success with others and helping others to achieve their goals in regards to their health.

I was really moved by the fact that the truck driver actually called and asked for the help that many people may not think they need. It takes a ton of courage to be able to admit when you need help sometimes, and I am very proud of him for having the strength to pick up the phone. Im sure he feels the same way because it was truly a life altering decision for him to have made.

I was amazed at the amount of weight that these two guys lost in such a short amount of time. To shrink that much, that fast, and in a healthy way, was what changed the minds of everyone around them.

In the beginning of the movie Joe went around asking people how they felt about juice fasting and many people had the usual reaction of 'No way, I could never do that', as was expected. I find it funny how people tend to run away from anything healthy. In my home we eat mostly veggies in every meal. But when we visit the homes of others and they serve dinner there is usually not a single vegetable in sight!

That is very upsetting to me because veggies are normal to me because my dad cooked like a semi vegetarian. It is strange for me to see other people and they hate broccoli. My kids love veggies!

Also in the movie they talked about life expectancy. It saddened me to see people saying that they would not be surprised if they died at 55.

55 is a young age!

Many of the people in my family have lived into their late 80s and late 90s. My grandmother died a few years ago at 96. My great great uncle just died last year at 99. Thats on my dads side.

On my moms side my grandmother lived to be 86 and she had diabetes type 2, I believe.

Some of it is due to genetics but if you live a healthy lifestyle you can live a long full life. You can maintain your youth if you exercise regularly. Its never too late to start.

It is not difficult to incorporate into your lifestyle either. Eat your vegetables raw or very lightly cooked so they still have a bite to them, they should not be mushy. Juice daily. Get some cardio 2-3 times a week. If you keep active while you are young then you will not slow down as much when you are older.

All in all, this movie was amazing and very inspirational. It shows that with dedication it is not very difficult to achieve your goals and it will always pay off in the end.

I truly believe in juicing and fasting and I hope that everyone would at least try it before they write it off.

The world would be a better place. :)

I highly recommend for any and every one to watch this!

My first grey hair!!

Omg the other day when I was putting in my kinky twists I noticed a grey hair.

I am getting OLDDDDD!!!!!

Ok, I'm being a little melodramatic.

I have to say that as soon as I saw this grey strand I immediately freaked out and thought about hair color.
I do not dye my natural hair at all, aside from the occasional henna treatment. But even then I do not let the dye release and therefore not much of the henna deposits into the cuticle.

I wonder how I will handle hair color once it gets to that point. Will I keep it dark? Will I add some highlights? Will I just let the grey develop?

Decisions, decisions...

I plucked it and then it was gone... I wonder when will I receive another visit.

Getting rid of Hormonal Cystic Acne

I am 25 years old and I experience Hormonal Cystic acne. Every month for at least 2 weeks I am battling a series of huge painful blister-like pimples on my face, behind my ears, and on the back of my shoulders.

To be completely honest, I dont really have a huge issue with it, aside from the ones that hurt like hell. But sometimes it can get really annoying to always have these huge under the skin lumps on my face. :/

Not to mention the scars that are left behind.

I usually get these bumps on my chin, temples, behind my ears, and my back. These are not nice places to have dark ugly scarring. Even though I heal better than most sometimes it takes a little longer for the scar to fade.

Therefore I decided to work on my skin. Over the past few months I have been very consistent and I can say that it has helped a ton with clearing up my skin. Although it is not perfect it is getting there and I am happy with it.

What have I been doing?

Salicylic Acid and Vitamins.

Products
Biore Blemish Fighting Ice Cleanser
Acne pads- Any brand- Oxy, Clearasil, Equate
Clinique Moisture surge

Regimen
I wash my face every morning and night with the Biore cleanser. It is really cooling and refreshing but at the same time drying because of the salicylic acid and menthol. I pat dry with a fresh paper towel and then massage in my Clinique Moisturesurge.

When I feel a blemish I do one of two things:
1. I use the acne pads to dry it so that I can squeeze it out.
2. I apply the Biore cleanser to the area and allow to soak in overnight.

Using Salicylic acid in excess can cause the skin to dry out and peel. It is a BHA so it does chemically exfoliate the top layer of the skin. When using this you will need to manually exfoliate as well. I like to use St. Ives Apricot scrub, but if I want something less harsh I will take a hot face towel and steam my face, then use the towel with my cleanser and scrub gently. You will see the skin flaking off into the towel.

Because BHAs exfoliate the top layer of skin it is great to use to help fade acne scaring. I have been consistent with the Salicylic acid for a few months now and I can see that my scarring has significantly reduced.

The vitamins I have been using have made a significant difference in the appearance of my skin. Keeping consistent is the key! Since I have been consistent I have noticed a great reduction in the amount of acne I get due to my hormones.

Last time I was consistent with the vitamins my skin was completely clear of all acne as well as any scarring. It has a natural dewy glow. This is what I would like to achieve again and keep. 

Here are a few pics of my skin today:

I am not wearing any makeup in these pics. No foundation, no concealor, no eye makeup, nothing!
Cant see much, but if I had any acne it would jump out at you. You can see what scarring I do have along the jawline and on the forehead. I have one lone pimple on my temple in the bottom pic.
This is a great improvement from where I was a few months ago.





Much of the time when you are walking down the skin care isle you are sure to see products with Benzyl Peroxide. For me, that stuff is like the plague for my skin. The second it touches down my face breaks out like never before. Therefore I do not use this or any other acne medication currently.


I do want to try a RetinA type of product in the future. This product is not only good for acne but it is also good for maintaining a youthful appearance to the skin.

As with anything it takes time and effort to get and keep your skin the way you want it to be. Clear skin is not something that everyone is blessed with, but regardless of what we look like I believe that we should be comfortable in our own skin. There is always room for improvement, but we should always be happy with who we are first.

I hope you have found this helpful!
Have a great day!

Kinky twists - Protective Style Challenge

I just finished a new set of kinky twists. I did them a little bigger than I usually do mostly because I dont know how long I want to wear them. I am thinking I am going to keep them in for at least a month and take them out in the beginning of March just before my birthday.

I used this kind of hair:

#2 on the bottom and #30 on the top.

This is the typical way I wear my kinky twists. I like the light color on top and dark on the bottom. But right now I am actually thinking I should have went dark all over. Oh well, too late to change it now. :/

My scalp has been a little dry so my reggie while I have these in is going to focus on moisture. 

I plan to rinse the scalp once a week or so and massage castor oil into the scalp at least  2-3 times each week. The rest of the hair I will just spray with my stasoffro or scurl just to keep it moisturized every few days.

I feel like Im the only person that still uses that stuff! lol

But hey! If its not broke dont fix it!

I have been sick for the past week. Hope I feel better in the next few days. :(

HHG!

Keeping Consistent

I have been really good about keeping consistent with taking the vits. I started 2 weeks ago right after I finished my 3 day juice fast.

So far I have noticed that this month the cramping was minimal. My usual hormonal acne was not as bad, even though I did flare up some, and my skin was slightly more oily than before.

I have been over using my salicylic acid face wash to help dry up my acne and fade scars and that has caused my face to become very dry and flakey. To counteract this I have been exfoliating a lot more and moisturizing with my Clinique Moisturesurge.

As with before when I was consistent my skin cleared up completely and that is my goal again this time.

Truthfully I have no huge issues with my acne. However, when the hormones come around the corner I tend to develop these huge cystic pimples under the skin which are very painful and red. That is not something that I want to deal with all the time.

So I have opted to go back to the only thing that has helped me in the past and so far it is helping and I will be happy to reap all of the other benefits. Clear skin and healthy, faster growing hair.