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Karen_E's blog

2 days 2 hours ago
I’m feeling good about the detox today. I woke up feeling rested, and had only a slight trace of yesterday’s headache. I decided to stayed home from work today, not because I was still feeling poorly, but because I didn’t get much accomplished yesterday after the onset of the headache. Lesson learned: If you are considering a detox, it’s a good idea to do it when you have some time to deal with any unexpected reactions or when you don’t have a lot of social obligations scheduled. I’m also feeling good about food and not really craving anything. Okay, I ate five dark chocolate chips after...
2 days 20 hours ago
Yesterday I started my dietary detox. I haven’t been super strict so far — yesterday I allowed myself one coconut cookie after dinner and today I accepted the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup my stepson generously  gave me from his candy jar. But today I still had a near migraine-caliber headache that had me resigned to the couch all afternoon and evening. I’m not sure why — I don’t consume enough caffeine that I could be going through a withdrawal. My best guess is that it’s due to the Candida Detox supplement I started taking Friday night. The product contains a variety of anti-fungal and immune...
4 days 19 hours ago
Due to some sinus problems, general sluggishness, and some other minor but increasingly irritating health issues, I have decided to go on a dietary detox. My March issue of Natural Health magazine had a timely article on “The Doable Detox,” which outlines helpful tips for before, during, and after the detox period. The article states that detoxing can be beneficial for anyone who suffers from constipation, bloating, gas, fatigue, breakouts, muscle pain, bad breath, or PMS. Other than the fatigue, I’m doing pretty well in this category of symptoms, but it’s the next paragraph that describes me...
1 week 3 days ago
I was first introduced to Boscia when my mother-in-law, who works at Sephora, handed off a sample of the Willow Bark Breakout Treatment. It’s a lightweight gel that goes on clear — not heavy or sticky like some other acne treatments. I wasn’t familiar with the company so I looked it up and was pleasantly surprised to learn that Boscia products are preservative free and botanically based. They also rate a low 2-4 on the Skin Deep Database. Boscia was created by Fancl Corporation, which is based in Japan. The products contain organically grown jojoba leaf, a powerful antioxidant, and willowherb...
2 weeks 3 days ago
I tried out this avocado-based chocolate mousse recipe tonight when a vegan friend came over for dinner. I got the idea from The Dr. Oz Show, but his version used egg whites. After searching online for several minutes, I was starting to think I wouldn’t be able to find something that was both egg-free and soy-free. Just when I was about to give in and try a tofu-based recipe, I found this one from the Autonomie Project. It’s rich, creamy, and — with just four ingredients — totally easy to make. Ingredients: 4 ripe avocados 1 cup agave nectar 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract 1 cup...
4 weeks 1 day ago
Not surprisingly, life hasn’t really slowed down very much so far this year. Though our home improvement efforts have been relegated to an occasional weekend project, I am busy as ever with new creative endeavors. A few weeks ago, I decided it was time to give kareneisenbraun.com an overhaul. I’m tired of the design and wanted something with more conventional navigation. I also wanted to shift the focus of the site more towards health and wellness, since that is currently the focus of my writing. I’ve been putting a lot of time into the new design, but it’ll probably still be a few weeks...
4 weeks 2 days ago
In The Secret, Rhonda Byrne outlines three basic steps to the law of attraction: Ask, believe, and receive. Sounds pretty simple. First, you have to ask the Universe for what you want. You only have to ask once. She equates the practice to placing an order from the all-encompassing catalog of the Universe. Once you place an order, you don’t have to place it again. It’s just like ordering something from a tangible catalog or off the Internet — once you order, you don’t have to keep ordering until it arrives. You just sit back and wait and eagerly anticipate its arrival. So, as I think of...
7 weeks 1 day ago
Last week, I picked up the borrowed copy of The Secret that I’ve had lying around for nearly a year and still haven’t read. I decided it was time to really start learning how to put the law of attraction to work in my life. That was a few days before Mom mentioned going to the Spiritual Comedy — Andy Dooley’s presentation on metaphysics and visualization — so it definitely seemed like the Universe was trying to tell me something. In The Secret, Rhonda Byrne tells us that in order to attract something into your life, you have to allow yourself to feel as if you already have it. Whatever you...
7 weeks 4 days ago
Though I didn’t make any official New Year’s Resolutions, I  have been looking forward to the new year so that I can get into an actual work routine now that the wedding, home buying, major home renovations, and holidays are behind us. The last half of 2009 was crazy busy for us, and my work days have been pretty unstructured and abnormal for a while. I was putting in my requisite  hours at the part-time job, and then coming home and trying to get as much freelance work accomplished as possible in between the mortgage paperwork, or floor sanding, or unpacking boxes, or holiday preparation. I’...
12 weeks 3 days ago
Aside from carpet in every room (yes, every room — kitchen and bathroom included) and hundreds of nails in every surface (even window frames and door jambs), our new home is filled with the results of some strange decisions. (When my father-in-law first toured it, he said, “You can just tell some old fart lived here and did all this work himself even though he didn’t really know what he was doing.”) Of course we were already aware of many of the home’s oddities when we bought it, but others are revealing themselves to us as we renovate. By now, we have quit asking “why” the former owners did...