Any other Zumba fans?

[Anita Latte]

The video I am posting here demonstrates what Mom used to do that contributed to her knee stress.

 

Let's look at two students. As you watch the video, watch the male dressed all in black (sleeveless shirt) seen to the right of the instructor and the female on the front row on the left side of the instructor and close to the mirrors.

 

Actually, let's look at their feet. We can see the problem in the first 16 counts that follows the introduction. The choreography goes like this:

 

single, single, double

single, single, double

travel for four counts that way

travel for four counts back.

 

The man in black always has his toes pointing in opposite directions. The woman on the far left will change the direction her toes point based on which direction she is traveling. Her toes point in the direction that she travels. There's a bit of twist happening in the movement, BUT, in general...the man dressed in black has what I think of as a lazy foot because the foot isn't pointing in the direction that the body is moving. His right foot is worse than his left.

 

 

What ends up happening here is that the hip is being brought to face more toward the direction that you are traveling...but the lazy foot has a toe that is pointing in the opposite direction, away from the direction that the hip is facing. When you do this while traveling, the way that your weight shifts stresses the knee joint, because the muscles aren't engaged properly to support the joint. Instead of just moving back and forth...your knee is rocking side to side within the joint as your weight shifts. It's not meant to do this. If you are really "into" the movement...like the bouncy, cheerful, energetic instructor? then you are causing MAJOR stress on your knee as you travel.

 

Zumba does this two step movement in cumbia, salsa, reggaeton, merengue and too many other rhythms to mention. Any time you travel and have a lazy foot/toe that isn't pointing in the direction you travel...then you are stressing your knee.

 

Mom had one lazy foot. She did fine with one but not the other. This is the movement that she didn't realize she was doing. Again, it's really hard to interpret your own form and to know whether or not you really do something until you are really doing it.

Edited February 16, 2013 by Anita Latte

[burm]

As Gloria Estefan says, "the rhythms gonna get ya." I want to dance the way I did for years - putting my body and soul into it. I know which movements are especially hard on me, but......

 

Of course I had to dance along with your videos. I so long to be back at the club. :(

[burm]

How often are they offering zumba on Princess?

[Anita Latte]

The last thing I want to talk about with regards to knee pain...

 

Again. The knee is a hinge joint. It is intended to move in one direction...however, the cushioning between the upper leg bones and lower leg bones will allow that joint to move side to side, like in the following photo:

 

 

So you can compress this joint side to side through your movement.

 

You need to have your toes pointing in the same direction as your hips.

 

The girl that we see in the photo to the right of the instructor (she has orange accents on her white shoes) is stressing HER left knee. Her hips are facing forward toward the camera...but her toe is turned inward. If you draw a line up from her ankle joint (use the laces of her shoes as a guide)...the line goes far to the outside of the knee joint. The knee isn't directly above the ankle. Therefore, the outside of the knee is compressed. Compare that to the instructor who has her knee stacked over her ankle because her toe is facing the same way as her hip.

 

 

Similarly...in this advertisement, the pose on the far right has her toes pointing inward in the same way...but if you draw a line up from HER ankle...it goes to the INSIDE of the knee joint:

 

 

The question is WHY? Is it from poor muscle balance? Poor balance in general? Poor foot support? Improper insoles? Improper shoes? Without being the person, it's impossible to know. But all these things can factor into body alignment.

 

And I can't stress enough how important body alignment is. I went into this little report today, partly because DH and DS are doing their own computer marathon (they are gamers)...and partly because I care a lot. I had many students with knee issues, including full replacements...hip replacements...and more. So I was always very concerned with proper form and learned what I could so that I could see and correct poor form because I wanted to support my students efforts toward health and fitness.

 

So Burm, you posted while I was writing this...

 

You can be back in the club, but I think that you need to really understand how to move your body in proper form so that you don't do any more damage. :)

 

Time for our walk! Vitamin D time! There's actually some sun out today. Yay!

[burm]

Zumba on a ship must be wild and dangerous. :) It is bad enough when one person cannot keep up with the rapid movements, but I would think that on a ship, more than half of the people would never have done zumba before - and the floor would be packed.

 

Several years ago we were at a ballroom dance event when a lady in very high spike heels doing a line dance for the first time, spun, leaped........and landed on my instep. I was out of commission for the rest of the night and limped for days.:rolleyes:

[Member123]

Anita, that was an incredible amount of work that you did! Thank you for the reminders and thank you for sharing.

 

I am in the midst of planning next week's exercise routines. I have to admit that I am having some soreness in my quads (mainly) and my triceps. I stirred risotto this evening (absolutely fabulous with bone broth by the way) and I sure felt the stirring motion in my triceps! Yeah! Really; it's a good sore.

 

So, both oars in the water.... watching diet and planning next week's exercise. This week was 3x regular Zumba, 1x Zumba Toning, and 2x strength training. I get a gold star! :D

[MJC]

Zumba on a ship must be wild and dangerous. :) It is bad enough when one person cannot keep up with the rapid movements, but I would think that on a ship, more than half of the people would never have done zumba before - and the floor would be packed.

 

 

Hi Burm!

On our latest Princess cruise we had Zumba every sea day. The instructors were part of the Cruise Director’s staff, so I would think that if and when you have Zumba would be very c.d. dependent. They were excellent teachers. They repeated the same fairly simple routines all through the cruise, which normally would be boring but with so many newcomers it was actually a good choice. We even did "Moves Like Jagger" in the nightclub one night. It was fun!

 

Like you I thought the class would be full of beginners and dilettantes, but in fact there were plenty of experienced people in my class. I would say, however, be brave and stay toward the front. Find the people in proper workout clothes and hang with them. You will get a better workout that way and stay out of trouble with the people who don’t know where they’re going.

 

As for the motion of the ship, I didn't find it too distracting after the first day. I do low impact, so I don't know how it would affect the jumpers, maybe Pam can comment on that? It was a little weird the first time, but once I got my sea legs I didn't think about it so much. I had more trouble walking in my heels at dinner time than in Zumba.

 

A lot of folks came the first day to check it out, but fairly quickly there were maybe 1/3 as many people, most of whom were there to exercise. What was so funny to me was how many men came to sit in the chairs and just watch, like it was a show. Most of them could have used the exercise, IMO. J

[MJC]

Anita, thanks for all the excellent info on knees. I see so much bad form in class, and in some of the videos you posted. Technique is SO important for preventing injury. As a dance teacher it was my job to point these things out to my students, that's the whole point of the training. So many Zumba teachers, and other gym instructors, do not address these issues in class, it's like a buyer beware approach and I think it's crazy.

 

I was fortunate to have learned proper latin motion doing ballroom dance before I started Zumba. Bent knees should always track over the toes, no matter what direction you are traveling in. Hips should rock side-to-side, and not twist forward and back. It may LOOK that way because the upper body is moving in opposition to the hips, but your hips should not be twisting and your knees should definitely NOT be inside your feet and your toes should NOT be pointing towards each other. Oy vey.

 

As for injuries, I can easily develop chronic patellar tendonitis so I always wear these straps, similar to the ones Anita posted:

 

http://www.rei.com/product/704434/pro-tec-athletics-patellar-tendon-strap?cm_mmc=cse_froogle-_-pla-_-product-_-704434&mr:referralID=a9813faf-79d8-11e2-b779-001b2166c62d

 

They pull the kneecap up into place and give you a little more "room" in the joint. That can keep your knees from swelling during exercise because all the fluids can travel more easily through the joint. If you have swelling in the knee, a knee brace that works through compression can actually be very painful.

 

I also think that anyone who is doing Zumba 3-4 times a week is an ATHLETE, and as such we will injure ourselves occasionally. Therefore, we need to have a sports therapist or sports medicine doctor on our team. There is a big difference between an injury that will heal itself, and one that needs intervention. With knees it can be hard to tell which is which, and an expert opinion is worthwhile.

[burm]

Hi Burm!

On our latest Princess cruise we had Zumba every sea day. The instructors were part of the Cruise Director’s staff, so I would think that if and when you have Zumba would be very c.d. dependent. They were excellent teachers. They repeated the same fairly simple routines all through the cruise, which normally would be boring but with so many newcomers it was actually a good choice. We even did "Moves Like Jagger" in the nightclub one night. It was fun!

 

Like you I thought the class would be full of beginners and dilettantes, but in fact there were plenty of experienced people in my class. I would say, however, be brave and stay toward the front. Find the people in proper workout clothes and hang with them. You will get a better workout that way and stay out of trouble with the people who don’t know where they’re going.

 

As for the motion of the ship, I didn't find it too distracting after the first day. I do low impact, so I don't know how it would affect the jumpers, maybe Pam can comment on that? It was a little weird the first time, but once I got my sea legs I didn't think about it so much. I had more trouble walking in my heels at dinner time than in Zumba.

 

A lot of folks came the first day to check it out, but fairly quickly there were maybe 1/3 as many people, most of whom were there to exercise. What was so funny to me was how many men came to sit in the chairs and just watch, like it was a show. Most of them could have used the exercise, IMO. J

 

Ack! My long post disappeared. This one will be much shorter.

 

Thank you for the info. Even if I can't last the entire class, I hope to do a bit. Although I am generally disappointed in my Musique shoes, they should be perfect for giving a bit more stability on a moving ship.

 

Did they offer daily ballroom at a different time from zumba- hopefully before or with time in between to shower? LOL I would be so disappointed if they held the classes at the same time in different parts of the ship. With a good knee I would be happy to dance all day- zumba, ballroom, linedance, country.....I love them all.

[Member123]

Margaret, I could just sit and talk with you for hours!

 

The weirdest thing about Zumba on the ship was the aspect of "spectator sport" involved. I was constantly amazed at the number of men, and women, who got to the venue early so they could grab their drink of choice and get a good seat to watch! Really? I have enough trouble sitting there and watching the dancing in the atrium area... and that is definitely more spectator than an exercise class! The minute I hear the Latin rhythm I just want to join in... but I understand how some people just love the music and may have some mobility or balance issues that don't allow them to participate. Fun to be had for all, I guess.

 

The movement of the ship was definitely something that I had to contend with. We did Zumba in two different venues: the most challenging one was in front of the pool... if you can imagine. Wind blowing hair all around; pool water sloshing on the pool deck at times. It only took one class and the Zumba instructor stopped any move where you would go around in a circle without both feet in action. You know? None of that hopping on one leg and pumping a fist into the air, that's for sure.

 

The other challenging thing about the class was, indeed, the footwear of other people. There were some ladies who tried to do Zumba in flip flops! Some in wedge sandals! There definitely seemed to be a lack of understanding that Zumba is an EXERCISE CLASS and not (just) a DANCE PARTY. You are so right in your assessment to get to the front of the class because doing a cumbia or salsa in flip flops... beyond challenging to know where the person next to you would end up.

 

I think that the Zumba offering on the ships is going to settle down and become integrated with the fitness centers onboard. When that happens, I think that you'll see much less of the spectators and the people coming to class who aren't really wearing proper clothing and footwear. JMHO.

 

As far as timing of the classes. Our classes were determined solely by the cruise director. They were held at 10:30am and at 4:30pm. I tell you! Talk about interfering with other activities on board, including the Elite Cocktail Hour. That was how much Zumba meant to me though. I loved having it onboard so much that I gave up some cocktail sips just to be there! LOL. And I think I doubled the number of showers I took during the week. And for the first time EVER, I didn't bring enough exercise clothing!

 

I have always been drawn to music and dance, but I had a strict childhood upbringing where dance movement was frowned upon. In fact, I wasn't allowed to go to dances in high school because of the suggestive nature of the dance movements in the late 60's. Can you imagine how difficult it has been for me to get my head wrapped around a shoulder shimmy? I had a funny moment with a Hispanic lady in Zumba. She can shoulder shimmy! OMG. She's fantastic! I asked her what suggestion she could give to an "uptight white girl" to get those shoulders to shimmy! And booty circles? OMG! :eek:

 

I admit that when I do those moves, I'm actually picturing the muscle movement rather than the dance move... if I'm making any sense? I picture doing an abdominal crunch, an oblique crunch, etc., which does give me a bit of muscle awareness... but I don't think it really makes me look like I'm dancing. All I know is that it's doing great things for my waistline... and that's the point for me anyway.

[burm]

I have always been drawn to music and dance, but I had a strict childhood upbringing where dance movement was frowned upon. In fact, I wasn't allowed to go to dances in high school because of the suggestive nature of the dance movements in the late 60's. Can you imagine how difficult it has been for me to get my head wrapped around a shoulder shimmy? I had a funny moment with a Hispanic lady in Zumba. She can shoulder shimmy! OMG. She's fantastic! I asked her what suggestion she could give to an "uptight white girl" to get those shoulders to shimmy! And booty circles? OMG! :eek:

 

 

I am guessing you don't tango. LOL It is difficult for a shy woman to dance with some strange man's thigh tucked between her legs. Oh, but I love the music. Unfortunately, tango is not DH's thing.

 

What is everyone's favourite zumba tune? I like the muscle flexing bit we used to do to "I'm Sexy and I know it" when they say "I work out." For some reason, I just got a kick out of it. Otherwise I wish they would stick to 100% latin.

 

Before we went to Brazil last year, I had the instructor learn "Caipirinha" especially for me.

 

[burm]

I just got yelled at for dancing along to zumba videos while DH is working in the room below. lol Well, maybe not yelled at, but severely frowned at. :)

 

While my knee is bad I have to fudge the footwork a lot and concentrate mainly on arm movements. :(

[Anita Latte]

Oooo...I love what you said, Margaret, about "buyer beware" related to Zumba. Unfortunately, it's true. I don't think it's necessarily limited to Zumba, but Zumba is a huge offender. Unlike a more typical dance class, where there is instruction and then the teach walks around and looks at the student's form to correct it...most Zumba instructors need to keep moving in order for the class to keep moving. Some have perfected the art of what the instructor's call "leading without dancing"...but this is rare. And when instructor's do stop their own dancing, I don't usually see them checking form...I see them egging on the class, like "show what you got"...

 

I'm becoming more and more sensitive to form because I have talked to so many people that have said Zumba was bad for their knees. This always distresses me because I think to myself that there is no reason for Zumba to be bad for the knees if you have proper form and keep it low impact. Zumba really can be more fun than other forms of exercise, and the ladies that usually complain of their knees really need to be doing some form of exercise, but aren't...and it upsets me that they get this impression that isn't necessarily accurate...but unfortunately, I know a lot of instructor's out there that regularly lead with poor form...and if a person isn't motivated and doesn't have much interest in body mechanics...well...*sigh*

 

I spent so much refreshing my own memory here because DH is having knee issues and I want him to do Zumba with me...and I want to be on the look out for his form and make sure that he doesn't do anything to make his knee worse as he tries to figure out what the heck move I'm trying to get him to do! He has never taken group x classes and so even step touch kind of moves are new to him...and as weird as it sounds...you can twist your body around in weird ways when you are doing things that are so new to your body.

 

Burm...Sexy and I Know It is not technically a Zumba song. There was never a routine created and released by the Zumba office. It was just so popular and fun that many instructors made routines to it or copied/tweaked routines they say posted on YouTube. Zumba IS branching out from the Latin that formed it's basis...it is going into Indian, African, Russian, etc etc rhythms. Latin is still the bulk of the offerings though. They called one rhythm Kuduro on my latest release...one song was Pop...and all the others were Latin.

 

I'd love to hear what are other people's fav Zumba songs. Every time I look at survey answers online, the songs aren't truly Zumba songs but are popular songs (Top 40 for either the US or Latin Charts) and routines made up by instructors but not the Zumba Office.

 

Burm, are you going to pursue some expert advice on your knee? You say "while it's bad"...but it seems to me that unless you are doing something specifically to "make it good" and understand WHAT happened to bring you to this state, it will always be bad. I like what you said Margaret about having a sports therapist of sports medicine doctor on our team.

[burm]

Burm, are you going to pursue some expert advice on your knee? You say "while it's bad"...but it seems to me that unless you are doing something specifically to "make it good" and understand WHAT happened to bring you to this state, it will always be bad. I like what you said Margaret about having a sports therapist of sports medicine doctor on our team.

 

 

I plan to have the knee x-rayed tomorrow, so we will see where we take it from there.

 

Zumba did not cause my knee problems but exacerbate them. We were ballroom dancers for over 20 years, so a lot of those movements that you have said are "no,no's" are totally unnatural to us. Dance training certainly carries over from one style to another, even though the styles are vastly different.

 

My favourite zumba instructor is a professionally trained Cuban dance choreographer. We are so fortunate to have someone with her talent and training here. She left her career to follow her man and her talents will never be fully put to use in a city the size of ours. Such a shame, but she does make lots of women here very happy.

[MJC]

Did they offer daily ballroom at a different time from zumba- hopefully before or with time in between to shower? LOL I would be so disappointed if they held the classes at the same time in different parts of the ship. With a good knee I would be happy to dance all day- zumba, ballroom, linedance, country.....I love them all.

 

 

We had Zumba at 9:30, and then the line dancing was always in the afternoon, usually around 1:30 or 2:00. Ballroom was usually around 3:30 or 4:00. Zumba and line dancing were held in one of the big theaters. You could dance on the apron (the front part of the stage that could go down to make a wooden dance floor) or in the carpeted lanes. I went to one line dancing class and it was soooo slow that I gave up. I never tried the ballroom classes because I thought they would be too basic for me (I used to teach Bronze level). We had fewer ballroom couples than I have ever seen on a ship, even the much smaller ships we've been on. We saw fewer than five couples who knew how to dance when we would go to the bar where the combo played before dinner.

 

As for shimmies, well Pam at least you're small in the girls area. I get a lot of motion in the ocean that can be hard to look at. :) It helps to think of shimmies as coming from the scapula, and think about the back and not the front, in spite of all the nonsense going on up there.

[MJC]

My favorite songs from Zumba class are:

 

Rolling in the Deep - we do a very intense arm and rib isolation to this that gives me a burn every time.

 

Contestame el Telefono - I love the choreo to this song, and the mix of lyrical and hip hop sections.

 

Waka Waka (This Time for Africa) - I've done six different routines to this song in different classes, and I've loved every one. There's something about the rythym of this song that just makes me happy to dance to it.

 

Anything cha cha - I love to cha cha! As far as I know, none of these are actual Zumba songs. I don't always know the difference if they're in Spanish.

 

Anita I hope you don't think I was singling out Zumba teachers for my comments about tecnique and feedback -- I think you understood that my comments were in the context of what we were talking about. And you are SO right about Zumba being ok for bad knees if done with proper form and low impact. I'm a perfect example, after all. In fact my knees are doing better than ever because my overall fitness has improved, and therefore it's allowed me to up my weight training to support my knees. Win win.

 

Just have to share -- this week I broke into the 160's -- yay -- and I'm officially a size 12. :D

[Anita Latte]

I guess it's a misnomer to classify a song as a Zumba song or not. Technically, if it's used in a Zumba class...then it's a Zumba song, KWIM? But not all songs used in Zumba classes have been produced on CDs to give to the instructors.

 

Margaret, all the songs you listed are very popular to use in Zumba classes but Zumba didn't give them to any instructor.

 

I did Rolling in the Deep for the first time in a class I went to in December and OMG...it was a killer. I've never been able to see the appeal to using that song prior to experiencing it in class.

 

I haven't heard the Contestame el Telefono before, but I LOVE it.

 

Waka Waka is a classic...

 

Burm, I'm glad you are getting you knee checked out. Let us know how that goes!

[fergusonvt]

I'm going to wear my new fitbit to Zumba tonight. I'm really interested to see the steps it reads when I'm done. Has anyone worn one?

 

Sent from my LePanII using Tapatalk 2

[Anita Latte]

Haven't worn a Fitbit...but I've worn the GoZone Pedometer. Not sure how Fitbit tracks info, but my GoZone tells me how many steps I've done and how many minutes I spent above 135 SPM. Tell us what you learn!

[burm]

One of our teachers does Waka Waka at every one of her classes too. Her face always lights up when she dances to it. :)

 

We have five different zumba teachers at our club. I love this because each has her own style and her own favourite songs. They are all from different Latin American countries.

We had a Canada girl who I did not like quite as much because her songs seemed to be more hip hoppy, but that was ok too for only once a week. All good.

[Anita Latte]

We LOVE us some salsa in my house. LOVE IT. We can eat it on many many different things. I have three problems with store bought salsa...first, my selection has been DRASTICALLY reduced since moving from Texas to Georgia...second, store bought salsa is pretty high in sodium...third, really yummy salsa is pretty expensive.

 

I have found a great salsa recipe. I found it online.

 

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/01/restaurant-style-salsa/

 

Here's what I did differently...

 

For canned tomatoes, I used 2 15-oz cans of Muir Glen brand fire roasted chopped tomatoes with no salt added and 1 15-oz can of Muir Glen brand chopped tomatoes with no salt added. I also added more salt since I used no salt added tomatoes. I omitted the sugar and cumin.

 

DH's comments about the salsa were, "Wow, it's so fresh." Which I thought was accurate, because I totally agreed...and unexpected, because I used canned tomatoes. I expected the salsa to be more like jarred salsa because of the canned tomatoes, but the addition of all the fresh ingredients really makes this a fresh and wonderful salsa.

 

Next time, I will add more jalapeno, since my canned tomatoes didn't have any added chilies.

 

For another time, I might use only fire roasted tomatoes, roast the jalapenos, and even caramelize the onions before adding those for more fire roasted flavor.

 

I just think this is a great base recipe. It makes a HUGE batch. This is definitely one of those recipes where you can just add what you want to taste in the food processor so that you can make a smaller batch. It only lasted 2 days in my house...and it was just as fresh tasting the next day.

 

This was definitely cheaper than a similar quality salsa. This turns out NOTHING like Pace or other similar brand...that has a very cooked type of consistency. Even though the tomatoes are canned, this salsa isn't like jarred salsa, it really is more like what you would expect to get in a restaurant. I LOVE it. I'm going to keep playing with this recipe.

[fergusonvt]

Haven't worn a Fitbit...but I've worn the GoZone Pedometer. Not sure how Fitbit tracks info, but my GoZone tells me how many steps I've done and how many minutes I spent above 135 SPM. Tell us what you learn!

 

So it read a little over 5,000 steps and 512 calories for my class last night which is probably pretty accurate. The instructor last night did a bunch of ab and arm work without steps so we'll see how much it reads at tonight's class with a much more aerobic instructor.

 

Sent from my LePanII using Tapatalk 2

[fergusonvt]

One of our teachers does Waka Waka at every one of her classes too. Her face always lights up when she dances to it. :)

 

We have five different zumba teachers at our club. I love this because each has her own style and her own favourite songs. They are all from different Latin American countries.

We had a Canada girl who I did not like quite as much because her songs seemed to be more hip hoppy, but that was ok too for only once a week. All good.

 

We have 4 different instructors right now. The Saturday morning girl is my least favorite for a couple reasons. 1 she hasn't changed her music since September and 2 the way she instructs, she is right in your face and moves all over the classroom. I dislike being the center of attention and this method turns me off completely. I will probably stop going to her class soon as long as I get 3-4 nights in during the week.

 

Sent from my LePanII using Tapatalk 2

[Anita Latte]

I think that I have mentioned the Fat Flush Diet many times. In general, there is a 2-week "boot camp" where you are supposed to remove all dairy, soy, grains, caffeine, alcohol, etc. The idea is that you completely eliminate the most common foods that may cause an allergen-like response while at the same time you are attempting to break the reliance on certain carbs (which actually have addictive characteristics because of your body's chemical response when you eat them.) After eating a very restrictive diet for 2 weeks, you reintroduce foods in a very specific order and monitor your body's response.

 

Basically, you have to eat a LOT of veggies...because there isn't much else that you can eat. LOL. Supposed to have 2 eggs daily, 2 4-oz servings of a high quality, lean protein, 2 1-T servings of either olive or flaxseed oil, and 2 servings of fruit. You can eat all the veggies you want. And if you take advantage of that...then actually, you end up eating a tremendous amount of food.

 

In addition, you are supposed to drink lemon water first thing in the morning. There is a horrid drink called a "long life cocktail" that you are supposed to drink...and you are supposed to drink an enormous amount of "cran-water" which is solution of 1 part 100% cranberry juice to 7 parts pure water. The consumption of this is evenly spaced throughout the day.

 

So what the heck does a normal person eat?

 

I'll share the basic plan for DH and myself. Just this once. In detail. If you aren't interested, you can ignore the rest of this post. Suffice to say...I'm very hopeful that this strict and clean eating will be a big help in kicking starting a return to better eating.

 

Breakfast...think eggs Florentine.

 

Sauteed greens: (In oil enough to keep the pan from being sticky, 1-3 cloves garlic, 3 cups mixed greens (we did spinach, collard, and turnip), 1/2-1 cup mixed fresh herbs (we did parsley and cilantro), splash of apple cider vinegar. Heat the pan, add the garlic. Stir garlic until you smell it. Add all the GREENS. Saute to desired wilty-ness. Remove from heat. Dress with apple cider vinegar and fold in fresh herbs.

 

Top with 2 poached eggs. The poached eggs were surprisingly easy. I followed Alton Brown's recipe here:

 

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/poached-egg-tips-recipe/index.html

 

Top with salsa and chopped green onions.

 

The greens are enough to serve 2. Greens always look huge until you cook them...then it is a much more reasonable serving.

 

Mid-Morning Snack...Fruit. (We are doing mixed berries. Whatever is on sale, currently strawberries and blueberries)

 

Lunch...Roasted Chicken, with a HUGE salad dressed with 1T olive oil, apple cider vinegar and fresh squeezed lemon, and cooked broccoli. The salad is Romaine, Spinach, Cilantro, Parsley, Red Cabbage, Red Radishes, Green Onion, and Cucumber.

 

Snack...Mixed cut veggies. DH and I have been doing this for YEARS. Ever since we did Chris Imbo's recommended diet plan back in January 1998. Veggies were, again, the only calories that we COULD eat when we needed to add calories to our day to enough calories. We thought that the crunch of the veggies would help us get off chips in our lunches. A mix keeps it interesting. We do 1 carrot, celery, green bell pepper, colored bell pepper, radish, and cucumbers. It's a pretty thing.

 

Snack...Fruit. Now I made something of a mistake here. I prepped fruit for DH to take to work. I was thinking about saving the fruit for an after dinner dessert...we'll see what happens. Today is an orange.

 

Dinner...I have to figure this out exactly. I'll be dealing with this today. The plan is a veggie soup with a bone broth base, the protein, and a stir fry of mixed veggies which will definitely include Daikon Radish. Weird to pick that out...BUT sulfur foods are high on my priority at this time.

 

Other things that can be included...

 

Whey protein...which is why I was thinking about saving the fruit serving for dessert. I was thinking of using frozen fruit in a smoothie. I still might.

 

Dandelion Root Tea and/or any other herbal tea...dandelion root tea is said to be a major support for liver function/healing which is absolutely necessary when you are trying to lose fat. Your liver is where fat is metabolized so you really need to help it. ALSO...since it is likely that you are releasing toxins into your body when you lose fat (fat is the preferred storage location for the toxins that your body just can't deal with at times), you really need to do all you can to support liver function so that it can process the toxins.

 

This is why you want to drink lots of water...and specifically the cran-water.

This is why you kick off the day with lemon water.

This is why you eat 2 eggs daily.

This is why greens, cilantro, parsley, asparagus, sulfur rich foods, onions, garlic, whey, nutritional yeast (I don't know how to use that), dandelion root tea, asparagus, celery, etc and other liver healing/supportive foods are recommended daily.

 

This can be a very fun program. Like taking a limited wardrobe on vacation...it can be very freeing to just concentrate on eating certain things and figuring out how to eat them in a way that is appealing.

 

Like I said to Mom...I'm not a big greens fan. Mom didn't cook with greens often (that I can remember) except spinach...but not the kale, collards, turnip, mustard, etc etc. But because we DID do spinach...and one of the few ways I like cooked spinach is with eggs...I can beef up that cooked spinach with other greens, add the herbs I like and actually enjoy eating my greens.

 

We will likely be doing this plan for longer than 2 weeks.

 

I'm having to do an antibiotic run this week. We will be following the plan as best we can with a few exceptions (DH is still drinking a big travel mug of coffee this week...I haven't decided about my latte). After my antibiotics, and after 7 days of this, we will have satisfied the requirements to do the 24-hour detox. The 3 days following focus on replenishing your natural flora with fermented food...this is something I am eager to do following the antibiotics (you are supposed to always have a course of probiotics following antibiotics)...and we may do this for longer than the 3 days. We'll see how much fermented food would be okay under the Fat Flush Plan (like sauerkraut)...which I plan to make myself this week (I'm very excited!).

 

After that, we'll do the plan some more...maybe without caffeine and more strictly...and then we'll move on, depending on how things are going.

 

The last time we did this...both DH and I myself experienced great results. We lost a lot of water weight...and we actually make a good dent in our waist line (Dh more than I, of course...males :rolleyes:). We were SO hydrated. I mean, between all the cran-water, lemon water, and water-laden foods...how could you NOT be hydrated? We'll be playing it by ear and just doing the best we can.

 

I actually would prefer to stick with a modified, and sustainable version of the Fat Flush Plan for longer...almost easing ourselves into it...and then doing it full out for 2 weeks before returning to our modified version again. It's such a restrictive plan...it can be very difficult to stick with...partly because it requires so much prep work to deal with all these veggies!

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@Anita. So your post gave me something to research! Yeah! You know how funny I think that is, right?!? (BTW: how do you know I didn't sneak kale into your chocolate brownies like those sneaky mothers who sneak kale into their daughter's chocolate brownies? Oh, right. You didn't get a bunch of sweets growing up, did you? You make me laugh.) So, nutritional yeast! I found out that it's a supplement that vegans use to assist with their B12 needs which is probably why the Fat Flush Lady lists it as a good ingredient for your diet during this intense veggie eating. I did find a blog that looks like it has a bunch of recipes that might be tasty... or, in any event, might get your creativity flowing on how you could incorporate this nutritional yeast ingredient. For those who are reading and don't care to get any further information, nutritional yeast is (in broad strokes) a type of yeast that doesn't have frothy or "gassy" capabilities so (no) you can't substitute brewer's yeast or baking yeast in the recipes and come up with the same results... to do that would be a hot mess, bitter, and inedible. Nutritional yeast is supposed to taste cheesy, nutty, etc. and provides dishes with mouth feel that is akin to an animal protein. Anyway, here's the blog: http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/2011/10/what-the-heck-is-nutritional-yeast.html

 

Also, the BEST poached egg/greens breakfast item I ever ate was in Puerto Vallarta at the chef's house. Remember? I know how tasty that dish is! When the poached egg yolk runs all over the greens, it has almost the same affect as the hollandaise sauce... so I know that's a mighty tasty dish.

 

@Margaret. Shaking and shimmying my scapula! OMG. This is the instruction that I absolutely needed. As Anita will affirm, I am a very literal person. I am one of those black/white and rarely see the shades of gray people. So, when someone tells me to do a SHOULDER shimmy, I'm going to try to move my shoulders... which, to me, is more like the rotator cuff. You, also, sent me on a massive anatomical research. If you can imagine, what I always ended up doing is rotating my shoulder and, no matter how fast I tried to move, I always ended up just looking like I was rotating my shoulder.. rather than doing a shimmy. So, EVEN THOUGH, Anita tried to tell me to pretend that there were spiders on my chest that I had to get off without using my hands... I still just didn't GET IT!. I simply tried to get those spiders off by rotating my shoulders! A side effect of rotating my shoulders is that I also tighten up my muscles around the scapula area (those are probably my pectoral muscles, right?). Anyway, the minute that I loosened up that area of my chest and also loosened up the muscles in my upper back, by golly the area started shimmying all over the place! Wow. So now I know the body dynamics to achieve that movement... I'll practice. THANK YOU.

 

I am having massive work done around the house. Yesterday the handyman was here and stayed, literally, all day. He's back today to put the finishing touches on the work. I hope that he's finished before I need to leave for my Tuesday Zumba! My schedule is somewhat up in the air because I'm tied to this event... we'll see. Today I'm also expecting to receive new shoes! I ordered two new Ryka models and will let everyone know what I think of them.

 

Here's to everyone accomplishing their goals and having a wonderful day. Thank you to all who post such helpful bits of information. :D