Life&Style

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Grapefruit-cleanse yourself into loving your bag of skin

By Stephanie Trembath, Public
Relations Manager

his time of year welcomes
| the seasoned shopper with

open arms among brilliantly
coloured spring dresses and flimsy
footwear that only Cleopatra
would admire. Spring fashion is
the most tempting for many and
the least warranted, as warmer
weather hardly calls for more
than beachwear and flip-flops.
Falling into line with the rest of
the superficial femmes, I find flaw
in every item I own each summer
and wander Robson Street with my
face plastered to store windows.
Thankfully, I was recently inspired
by a local yoga instructor to wear
my “big bag of skin” this spring,
and opted to spend my well-earned
funds on supplies for a revitalizing
grapefruit cleanse.

Grapefruit, sweet, sour, and
extremely fragrant, is loaded with
vitamin C, antioxidants, and pectin;
an extremely soluble fibre. Pectin
assists in cleansing the colon,
ridding the body of waste, and
preventing kidney stones, which
is why grapefruit is the main
ingredient in many cleanses. Rather
than spend money on tropical tops,
I opted to take 20 dollars and invest
in a box of juicy pink grapefruits
to detox my bod and reset my
metabolism. The grapefruit cleanse
is a less rigorous way to detoxify
the colon and liver, and prevent the
formation of kidney stones. The
fibre in grapefruit helps to flush the

system of wastes and ridding the
body of toxins.

Cleansing has been around for
centuries, rids the body of toxins
and waste, and bring organs back to
their optimal function. Nutritional
experts claim that cleanses should
be done at least twice a year to
reset the body’s digestive system
and curb cravings. There are many
different ways to detox, but the
most important part is finding
one that is practical and suits your
lifestyle. I have tried many different
cleanses and quickly discovered
that juice cleanses or “fasting” is
not practical for my active lifestyle.
Fasting is meant to rest the organs
and stimulate only the liver in
releasing all the toxins and waste
from the body, however, eating
small amounts of healthy foods has
proved a great way to detoxify the
body without starving yourself.

To start the grapefruit cleanse
simply eat one grapefruit a day.
One grapefruit contains two grams
of fibre. I eat half a grapefruit for
breakfast and save the other half
for a mid-afternoon snack. Drink
250 ml of unsweetened grapefruit
juice with every meal between four
and five times a day. Before bed,
add 1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil
to your last cup of grapefruit juice.
The olive oil helps to soften and
accumulate toxins in the digestive
tract, and allows the fibres to scrape
the colon clean! During the detox,
be sure to eliminate all processed
foods. Stick to a diet of raw or
steamed vegetables, fish, chicken

breast, plain oatmeal, and plain rice.
Essentially, you want to eliminate
all processed foods and sugar to
assist the cleansing process and
allow your organs to rest rather
than work on digestion.

This cleanse should be
practised for at least seven to 12
days. It takes exactly one week to
detoxify the body of toxins, but it
takes at least two weeks to break
unhealthy eating habits and reset
your body’s metabolism. During
your cleanse, take contrasting hot
and cold showers to help enhance
circulation, which have a positive
effect in the detoxification process
as it builds up the immune system
and flushes metabolic wastes.
Practising yoga, swimming, or
other moderate exercises also
help, as light exercise will build
up muscle tissues and build better,
healthier habits to be maintained
even after you’re done cleansing. A
few things to remember while you
are practising your detox:

 

 

Writing for the in-between

By Larissa Huang, Contributor

hen people asked me
what my hobbies were, |
said writing. Conceivably,

the more conscientious went on to
ask if I was writing for a magazine
or journal. I wasn’t. I wrote for
myself, usually squirrelled up in

a lawn chair barraged by more
aromas than my partners in the
olfactory office could handle, or
alternatively, at the local coffee
shop, gnawing on inedibles because
I read somewhere that it helps the
brain do something or the other.

“So you don’t write for
anything?”

It’s remarkable how many
feelings this careless rhetorical riled
up within me. I decided to bust
open my padlocked closet door.
Aye, it was about time I came out as
a writer.

I found myself a tacky (believe
me, I know tacky) booklet of

12

Canadian writing contest listings
and commenced churning out
pieces. Every envelope I licked
closed was seen off with a jaunty
victory walk to the post box.

On more than one occasion, I
cackled giddily to myself, thinking
how I was in for it big time.

But as the commitment became
routine, I began to care less about
accolades and remuneration. My
pieces became more personal.

In fleshing out my best, worst,
and most unsettling experiences,
I interwove my poetry and

prose with intimate and often
hilarious nuances that probed my
boundaries. It was therapeutic,
guileless, and traumatic. The bulk
of the trauma can be accredited
to the fact that there are strict and
intolerant deadlines for submission.
Combined with confusing SASE
(your Self Addressed, Stamped
Envelope for notification of
results) instructions and unclear
requirements (750 words total for

three submissions or for each?) the
writing contest game can be a royal
headache. Albeit a headache made
worthwhile by the thoroughly
rewarding moments in between.
However (there’s always a
“however” in life—didn’t your
mother tell you?), school has a way
of putting a damper on the things
you enjoy. Come exam season,
that stack of papers and other
miscellany balanced precariously
on the corner of your desk likes to
disorganize itself and cause you
disproportional panic. If you have
ajob like me, your boss will start
asking you to take more shifts. After
all, your co-workers have exams
too, and you'll feel rude declining,
perhaps the reason he asks you in
the first place. Your healthy eating
resolution will take a backseat
along with your gym regimen and
perhaps your dog. And when it all
culminates in a mad scramble for
those notes you know you made
two weeks ago on the morning of

Grapefruit is not sour, it is bitter
sweet.

You do not need caffeine in the
morning to wake you up—that’s
what the contrasting cold showers
are for.

Plug your nose; vegetables taste
better.

Always add more water to oatmeal,
otherwise it tastes like paste.

You will thank yourself later—
roughly 14 days later exactly.

Not only will you feel healthier

and rejuvenated, but you will be
inspired to eat more nutritiously
and save money by not splurging
on fast food or summer clothes. Just
think about your “big bag of skin;”
you only get one for the rest of your
life. Eat healthy and exercise so it
fits! Happy cleansing!

 

the exam, you become helplessly
reacquainted with your loyal chum
Stress.

And after the blissful week
or two after your exams are over,
you find yourself caught up in
the beginnings of another round
of the college life. It’s a not-so-
delicate cycle of relaxation, stress,
and intermittent motivation.
Surely there must be something of
more value than a degree amidst
the headache, neckache (typing
for eight hours, anyone?), and
inevitable butt-ache (sitting for
eight hours while typing, anyone?)
associated with college. For me,
it’s those shining moments of
satisfaction in between. It’s in the
rush I feel when I receive a personal
letter from an author I respect with
my very bones; it’s in the ache |
nurse when I mail something that
may as well be my flesh and blood
far away; it’s in the meticulous
placing of each colon. And here I
am, seeking it out at The Other Press.