Kaeng Raeng...Crazy Cleansing Fun...(oh, and some work/school stuff, too)

• As I have mentioned previously, I have been focusing on balance and that has included health. I planned on completing a cleanse that I had heard about on Alicia Silverstone’s website (www.thekindlife.com) called Kaeng Raeng. My biggest motivation to do a cleanse has been due to getting pretty sick in January and wanting to clear out all of those nasty toxins. Kaeng Raeng is a vegan cleanse that allows you to maintain a raw vegan diet while cleansing, no crazy fasts. I took the test that they offer online and I chose the six day veteran cleanse. I started it last Saturday and I must say it was a challenge, but definitely worth it. One of my dirty little secrets is that I am a coffee connoisseur (okay, not so secret) and the first three days without my regular dosage was quite a test. You are allowed to have black coffee or tea, but I simply cannot bring myself to drink black coffee. Thus, I lived on green tea all week. My planning was perhaps not the best because I had several important midterms this week in addition to regular class work and my brain was definitely fuzzy at times. After I broke the three day barrier I felt tons better and my skin felt amazing! So, the basic routine is a shake in the morning, afternoon, and evening. It consists of vitamins, amino acids, probiotics, non GMO soy protein, and a full serving of fruit. It also contains no additives or processed ingredients. Best of all, it does not disrupt normal life. I was able to effectively manage work and school, even if I was a bit tired. It is about 24 - 32 ounces of liquid per shake, so you are definitely pretty hydrated and ultimately required a few extra bathroom pitstops throughout the day! I also kept up my daily work out regimen, which is not typical of cleansing from what I have heard. I did lose some weight on it and it is also indicated as a kick start to weight loss. I’ll be excited to see the benefits now that I have completed it. Anyway, they suggest cleansing once a month. I think that might be a bit of overkill, but I am going to try to incorporate it in once every three months or so. It’s definitely worth it!
• In addition, this week I have officially started the last class to complete my 23 credit hour schedule. It makes for quite a juggling process to manage it all. It is sort of surreal that graduation is now only two months away, even though I will be continuing on with my studies. This is probably the busiest I have ever been, but I believe it is times likes these that we build mastery by learning from challenging situations. As I mentioned in my previous blog, work has been a little crazy with the auditors visiting and evaluating our standard of practice. However, we have such a great team and I truly work for the most amazing CEO, thus I know that regardless of the outcome of the audit, we will make the necessary corrections and move ahead. Also, we are now hiring another counselor, so I have put an add in the paper and we will start interviews soon. The interviewing process is always incredibly vital because of the cohesion of our team. We definitely have a collective vision at NCADD, therefore if we bring the wrong element into the mix, it can often be catastrophic to morale. However, I do enjoy the process of interviewing and it is also a sign of our progress and growth as an agency.