Beauty and Charm Course

Week 1, Day 3- Tuesday

(I'm a little behind on this, my apologies.)

Facial Cleansing

This day was spent learning how to cream-clean my face.  Anita says that soap and water cleansing is not enough for your face year-round, so you'll also need to use a cream cleanser as an oil massage to gently clear off dead surface cells.

When cream-cleansing, first you tie your hair back in order to keep it out of "the cream zone". Next, if you have eye makeup or lipstick on, remove them with a bit of cream so that you don't push them back into your pores. Use a generous amount of cream, especially around the nose,  mouth, and back of the neck. Apply cream using gentle upward-outward strokes.

1. Start at the base of the throat and stroke/massage cream up towards jawbone.
2. Next rub cream from chin/upper lip outward along jawbone/cheek area towards ear.
3. Rub cream from nose, under eye area and up towards temples.
3. Stroke up between eyes and out across forhead.

Repeat these steps until face is thorougly cleansed then finish by very gently circling cream under eyes and onto eye lids. Gently pat cream onto eyelids and outer corner of eyes.  Whatever is left on your fingers, rub into your nails.

When you remove the cream from you face you can use:

1. Tissue- wipe with same upward-outward strokes as you used for cleansing
2. Astringent (for oily skin) or skin freshener (dry skin)- Pour a small amount onto a cotton ball, using the same 1-2-3-4 motions as before.
3. Soap and water- using warm water and gently massaging motions. Rinse thorougly.

Now there is a little more to just cream cleansing then just cream. Depending on if you're oily, dry, or normal, you may have to use an astringent or skin freshener, mask, steam bath, or lubricating cream.  I tend to have more normal skin, so all I have to do is use cream once daily and soap and water twice a day. Easy-peasy.

Deep Breathing

The next thing to learn today are some exercises on deep breathing.

First, lay on your back with a book on your abdomen.  Breathe in deeply filling lungs, then exhale, emptying lungs completely. Get a good rhythm going, then stand up (keep good posture) and repeat.  Raise arms out to sides, then grab self in a hug as you inhale deeply. Bend down and breathe all air out in 3 big puffs.  She says that is preferential outside, but since it is below 30 degrees right now, I have been doing this from inside.

Diet

Day 2 of the diet went well. It was New Year's Day so my daily schedule was a little behind because of sleeping in. Nevertheless, I ate everything I was supposed to. Well... minus the suggested red radishes at lunch (yuck!) and roasted veal at dinner. Instead I made roasted chicken breasts. Here was my menu:

Breakfast

Grapefruit

Poached egg

Melba toast

Cottage cheese

Skim milk

Coffee or tea (no sugar)

 

Lunch

Salad plate:

Lettuce cups with lemon juice

Celery

Cucumber slices

Crabmeat

Whole wheat bread

Blueberries

Whole milk

Tea

 

Dinner

Tomato juice

Roast chicken breast

Steamed cabbage

Jacket-cooked potato

Plums

Skim milk

Tea

 

 

Week 1, Day 4- Wednesday

 

 

I'm behind on my blog posts so I'm going to make multiple reports on one entry.

 

 

Facial Troubles

 

On this day, she focused on typical facial troubles and how to take care of them: too oily or dry skin, enlarged pores, blackheads, whiteheads, pimples, wrinkles, ruddy face, face fuzz.  Lucky for me, I don't have too many problems with these things normally.  But on this day I was starting to notice that my face was feeling dry, probably because of the soap washing twice a day. I hoped that it was just temporary though and moved on like normal.  I just didn't rub my face as hard or as long when washing.

 

The Hollywood Slant

 

Anita retells several stories from (old) Hollywood actresses who would either stand on their head or lay with their foot up on the headboad of their bed and pillows under their bottom as a means of getting blood to run to the head. They told her that this was the secret to keeping that flushed looked and refresh their body and mind.  Anita recommends doing this every night after your cream cleansing. Luckily for me, my husband bought an inversion table some months ago and it is for just this sort of thing- to hang upside down.  The first night I got on the inversion table for 10 minutes.  Anita suggests to start at 10 minutes then work your way up to 30 minutes.

 

Diet

 

On this day, as expected, I started having bad sugar cravings.  It really took all of me to keep from eating every sugar thing in sight.  But I did stop myself from doing it and was able to stick to the diet.

 

Breakfast

Orange and grapefruit juice

Conflakes

Whole-wheat toast

Cottage cheese

Skim milk

Tea

 

Lunch

Bouillon

Lunchmeat (substitution for boiled tongue)

Stewed tomatoes

Fresh pear

Skim milk

Tea

 

Dinner

Green salad bowl with lemon juice

Broiled salmon

Steamed brown rice

Steamed carrots

Apple

Skim milk

Tea

 





 

 

Beauty and Charm Course

Week 1, Day 2- Monday

Today is the day that I started the 14-day reducing diet in the book.  Let me repeat again, I HATE DIETING... but this one doesn't seem too bad.  You see, my biggest problem is sweets. Namely soda- cherry Coke or Pepsi.  This diet, as with most diets, doesn't allow sugar except that which is naturally found in fruits.  They say that day 3 or 4 on a diet is usually the hardest.  The first day you're pumped and inspired, the second day you're still pumped, but becoming drained, and by day 3 or 4, the sugar cravings kick in.  You get these sugar cravings because your body is used to having out of whack insulin levels and once you eliminate sugar (mostly) from you diet, your insulin levels are trying to get back to normal.  Usually the first week is the hardest, and I figure if I can get through day 3 and 4, then I'll be okay.

First things first- Anita has some very specific rules:

1. Fruit and fruit juices should be without sugar.
2. Beverages should be without cream and sugar, but you can use saccharine if you have to. (Eew. I'll pass.)
3. Vegetables are to be steamed without using fats or sauces.
4. All meats, fish, and poultry are to be lean and fat-free, boiled, broiled, or roasted.
5. Eat salads or clear soups to start meals.

Additionally, you are to follow these steps:

Every day- Drink 4 to 6 glasses of water, BETWEEN  meals and not during.

In the morning (before breakfast)- Drink a mixture of juice of 1/2 lemon in a half glass of hot water (with a straw).

During the day- Take 1 tsp of cod liver oil, or the equivalent in capsule form.

Before going to bed- Drink 1 cup of warm skim milk with 1/2 tbsp of wheat germ.

She instructs that you cannot skip any of the foods in the menu, buuuut, I'm not about to eat boiled tongue, so I did substitute a few things.

So this day, my first few meals consisted of:

Breakfast

Dried apricots

Poached egg

Whole wheat toast

Cottage cheese

Skim milk

Tea

 

Lunch

Tomato soup

Low-fat lunch meat (a substitution for broiled lamb chop)

Steamed chopped spinach

Banana

Skim milk

Tea

 

Dinner

Bouillon

Baked potato

Crisp lettuce w/ lemon juice dressing

Fresh pear

Skim milk

Tea

(I did skip eating boiled ham because I had eaten so much ham the week before for Christmas, that I just couldn't bear the thought.)

 

 

The whole day's food should have equaled to LESS than 1000 calories. Not too shabby, huh?

 

Now, here comes the part where I admit that I didn't follow my diet/exercise plan to a "T" this day.  The reason: New Year's Eve.  I did have a few high calorie drinks and I did have some "nosh" food, but it was a special occasion and I new that it would not dampen my zeal to stick to my diet the rest of the 2 weeks.  See, that's the thing about dieters- when we cheat once, we feel that we've ruined it all and we might as well give up.  But if you have the attitude that you'll just get right back on the horse and pick up where you left off, then more of us would have greater willpower.  So hate me if you must, but I'm not ashamed.

 

I also didn't do my stretching and exercises before bed because, well, I was a little tipsy.  BUT! I did manage to wash my face and makup off! And I remembered to drink my warm milk and wheat germ before bed.  So at the end of the day, I still did well.

 

As for my beauty course, the second day was focusing on caring for your body, namely how to bathe it properly.  She instructs you to use a nail brush to clean you fingers and toe nails everyday and a bath brush to get to those hard to reach places such as your shoulders and back.  Before getting in the shower/bath, you should apply body oil to any areas that are dry such as elbows, knees, or heels. Then scrub using the body brush with a pure soap or a pumice stone if the skin is very dry.  Rub body oil into your hands, really clean around and between your toes and apply foot powder in the summer. Scrub, scrub, scrub!

 

She also talks about ways to get the most out of a bath and really make it a theuraputic experience. Now, I know how to get the most out of a bath.  There was a time when I would fill the tub with either beautifully scented bubble bath or a mixture of oil and bath salts.  I would lay in there forever it seemed, refilling the hot water, and just drifting away.  After having my son, I forgot all of that, so it's great to get back into doing it again.

 

After bathing, she instructs to towel off briskly in the winter and pat dry in the summer so as to not overheat yourself. Then you can apply cologne, powder, oils, or whatever you like.  I've always sprayed a body mist on myself just after toweling off, while my skin is still damp.  The skin really soaks up the scent and you're smelling beautiful all day long.  On days when I'm getting ready for a show or special occassion, I'll also apply a scented poweder to my arms, shoulders, neck, and breasts to add another touch of sweetness.

 

Last thing that she goes into in this section is another lecture on posture.  I did not do the exercise that she suggests on this day because of the whole stumbling into bed thing, but I did do it the next day, Tuesday.  Basically, you lie on you back with knees bent and "tip" your pelvis forward. Then contract your abdominal muscles to pull stomach down and flatten lower back on floor. She suggests doing this 16 times, eventually working your way to doing it with legs outstretched and then finally, with back against a wall. Soon, your body should be able to unconsciously remember good posture.

 

That was my second day! 

 

xoxo

Cherie