Eating Hawaii One Culture at a Time Hawaii food blog

I ran into this food stand outside of Home Depot (Costco, Iwilei (Oahu), HI); overall the Italian Beef was very good. I would throttle back the salt on the giardiniera and maybe lighten up on the oil. My guess is the salt it is meant to flavor the beef. The ingredients were fresh, peppers were the perfect heat and the turn around was lightening fast. It was about $6.00 and worth it. Make sure you gey it “wet”. I would give it a an 8 out of 10. While in line another customer stated this stand had the best dog on the island, so next time I will give it a whirl, enjoy, mahalo gozaimas!

We were kindfully invited to our neighbor’s family Super Bowl party. Although these pictures don’t provide much… I was busy consuming mass quantities and couldn’t afford the grease on my camera, sorry . The real magic of the meal was how everyone chipped in to prepare, manage during the game AND clean up. We had some VERY ono Poki! There were people constantly askiing if we needed anything to drink or eat and very nice. It’s parties like this that remind me why my wife wanted to move back home. It’s for the “aloha”.

If you’re lucky enough to have Aloha with friends and EVEN new friends please remember those that have never had or don’t have. People around the world have traditions that practice living without so they can empathize more easily. I’m not suggesting you become a loner to understand the value of friendship. I am suggesting that we once in a while invite an unfamiliar guest to a family or friend function so they can enjoy the experience and you’ll be glad as you enjoy their happiness. Mahalo to the family that invited us into their ohana and shared memories with us.

I’m a little late on this because during Days 5-9, except for minor bouts of nausea, I was out and about, enjoying the holidays with my hubby and girls.  I had enough energy and control to not eat anything.  I was fantasizing about eating again and actually missed the act of eating.  I was bored with drinking lemonade : )

On day 10, I left the fast because I had to go back to work and needed food to fuel my brain.  Master Cleanse is much easier when you relax.  Going back to work = stress so I needed to depart the Master Cleanse train.   I enjoyed the day having fresh OJ and I splurged and had a sandwich.  My stomach must of shrunk because that was pretty much my meal for the whole day.  I also would eat Marcona almonds when I had a craving for salt.  I also drank bottled water and Vitamin water to help with the sugar intake.  Feels good not to want anything.  It was like being able to breathe without having to smell. (Hope that makes sense!)

Today is day 11 and I still don’t feel like eating.  I now know that eating for me is a form of entertainment too.  Doing it is fun for me.  Trying new foods, cooking new foods…all of it is very enjoyable.  Man, I need a new habit so I don’t gain back the 10  lbs I’ve lost.  I plan to stabilize this weight by calorie and carb restriction along with introducing myself back weight lifting and light P90X (is that an oxymoron?).  Plan to lose 10-15 more pounds of unhealthiness that I am carrying around.

Welcome back food but you need to wait your turn because I’m not hungry…Yay!

This is the part you struggle for ….yay!  It occurred the same time for me, on the third day.  It was a day that when I woke up, I didn’t have headache, any hunger pains and didn’t feel like I had to lie down on the couch to recover.  I read that the first two days is like experiencing a detox, basically a withdrawal from all the food.  It’s very uncomfortable and a time when you question yourself and wonder why you do this.  I know it was going to be hard so it was easier this time around to stick to it.  I was able to cook some homemade chili for my daughter and toss some fresh wahoo tuna salad for my hubby.  I watched the kids eat macaroni and cheese, fresh papaya, longan, pizza, sauteed fish and homemade fries.   I went grocery shopping at Mercado De La Raza , Tamashiro market and Down to Earth.   I watched my husband eat a homemade vegetable grape leaf smothered in sour cream along with homemade baklava from Kafe Europa.   I salivated over the guy who was in front of me at the cashier line at Times after he told me how to make a great dip out of ranch dip, canned clams, some tabasco and worcheshire.  I haven’t had that in ages!!!  Yum!   The will is a powerful thing.

I am barely drinking 24 oz of lemonade a day along with my tea at night.  I need to try to drink more to dehydrate myself.  Also tried the salt water flush today and it was too tough for me.  I could only stomach 1/2 a quart of salt water and wanted to throw up after each gulp.  Oh well, not all of it works for everyone and this is the one that will not work for me.

Now that I am approaching day 5, I feel like I can make it to Day 10, which is 4 more days since my last cleanse.  I will take it day by day though – the moment I don’t feel well, I will return to my normal realm of eating.  I do plan to pursue a limited calorie intake.  Don’t laugh but I plan to eat one Yu Gae Jung meal with brown rice and vegetables and make it last a whole day with just water.  I will minimize the carb intake (rice).    I don’t know how many calories  the meal is but I’m sure it is below my allowed intake of 2000 calories so I should be able to continue to lose weight slowly.  I am looking forward to doing this while enjoying my favorite meal.    The results are exciting – I’ve lost 6 pounds (probably half water) but with my continued calorie restriction, I hope to lose much more.

Here I go again.  I am attempting to do the Master Cleanse during the holiday season.  Last Christmas I was mildly successful, not having solids for about 6 days until my body finally gave out.  Found out that I wasn’t drinking enough liquid or calories to get through the day.  Hated the taste of the cayenne pepper you are supposed to add to the lemonade.   I was also working full time, in and out of the office and driving throughout Las Vegas, cooking for my children and not getting much sleep from my 2 year old.  These things that can help derail you from your goal but I did get enough out of it to realize that this was a good thing for me to do.

This year I know what I need to do that will better my chances to last at least 10 days on this cleanse.  It isn’t an easy feat but I know it will be good for me.  We just moved from Vegas 7 weeks ago and went through a time of tremendous stress and change.  We still feel like we are just stepping off a roller coaster.  I am learning a new job, got my smallest potty trained, unpacked about 70 boxes, shipped a car after driving from Vegas to Long Beach, put two cats through quarantine, etc. etc.  My hubby and I are A-type personalities but this has pushed us to our limit.  I feel my metabolism has taken a huge hit as my lifestyle is moving towards a healthier one with our eating and exercise/lifting habits but without any evident results.

Last year, day 1 was really really difficult.  I was working from home and used to preparing my own meals.  I would find myself getting up to get something to eat and realizing that yes, I’m not supposed to eat anything.  I would reach for food without thinking.  I noticed how many food commercials were on TV.  I started to realize how much our lives revolve around food.  Yes, we all have to eat but many people in the world do not get to eat when they want to.  I started to feel how much it hurt to be hungry.  It made me appreciate having access to food.  I suffered for about 2 days and then on day 3, all of my hunger pains and cravings were gone.  It was the weirdest feeling of euphoria.  I conquered it and I was okay.  I had a lot of energy from not using it to process food.  It was enlightening.

As time went on to day 6, as I mention before, I felt I was getting sick.  I believe I only got 300-400 calories a day when you are supposed to triple that.  It is also very dry in Vegas so I got slightly dehydrated.  After discussing it with my husband, I decided it was time to come back to the land of food.  I had OJ and Lipton chicken noodle soup.  You are supposed to have vegetable soup and juices but I wasn’t prepared and I was starving for anything.  Everything tasted so good.  For a while, I didn’t have any cravings so it felt great to “reboot” my digestive system.

So here we go.  Day 1 – not as hard as last year.  Not too many hunger pains and not one time where I find myself grabbing food without thinking.  Maybe my body remembers what I did last year.  Maybe I’m much more in control since I know what to expect.  Whatever it is, I am still happy.  I am taking cayenne pepper capsules instead of ingesting it orally.  I still don’t like the maple syrup so when it runs out I’m switching to agave which I heard is a good alternative.  I’ve only had three full bottles today and will soon have a cup of tea.  Maybe not enough calories but we’ll see.  I’m not much of a drinker of liquids anyway.  Endured being around Pizza hut pepperoni pizza, sauteed garlic and shimp, miso soup, grilled cheese sandwich that my hubby and kids had.  Already miss eating food.  LOL  I had a moment of slight nausea and then it went away.  Right now it’s 10pm … I’m okay and looking forward to tomorrow.