This is random

Hey guys I know it's been a while, lol and I just wanted to say I'm doing some reading and really trying to find balance right now. I'm reading a book right now by Jillian micheals called master your metabolism. This really is an awesome book I highly recommend it if you are wanting to take on a healthier  lifestyle. I was skeptical because I didn't know Jillian micheals was informed and proactive about what is happening in our food industry right now. I just wanted to give you guys a little excerpt from the book, because she said this so well.

           "“You need to be an active participant here. You need to take responsibility and understand that Uncle Sam is not looking out for you. Big food companies are not on your side. Just because pesticides are legal, just because the USDA says hormones in beef are totally safe, just because your boss says you need to be married to your job 24-7—that doesn’t make it so. You cannot bury your head in the sand anymore. The faux foods and chemicals and stress are messing with you on a genetic level, altering your hormones to an unrecognizable degree, poisoning your body and killing our planet one evil dollar at a time. This is not just about your waistline—this is about saving ourselves.”

Excerpt From: Jillian Michaels & Mariska van Aalst. “Master Your Metabolism.” Three Rivers Press, 2009. iBooks. 

This material may be protected by copyright.

Check out this book on the iBookstore: https://itunes.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewBook?id=421025711

You go girl! 

Thanks aunt k! Planning a book review when I'm done.

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Well I know it has been a f eew days, I am going to try and do a blog. Everyday, or at least every other day starting now. I have been immersed I'm my readings, and am learning a lot of cool things. Something funny happened over the weekend, I had a family dinner and decided to cheat on my diet a  little, well a lot, I had the most fantastic meal shepards pie and my  Noni's Mac n cheese. I couldn't say no those were my favorite foods, my Noni is a spectacular cook! Well when I got home I started to break out in a rash on my hands and ears, plus I was having stomach pain. The stomach pain was understandable I hadn't eaten cooked dairy and wheat and all the good stuff in 3 months. But the rash? What was that all about I decided to look it up. Well I found out after being on raw fruits and veggies for so long. My body has became a fine tuned machine and didn't recognize that as food I guess. And immediately started detoxing the cooked food. Well that wasn't fun at all. Lol I probably should have take it easier than I did. But anyways I'm back on track  and all is well, I do believe it is important to let yourself enjoy your Noni's comfort foods, that is what makes memory's after all. You don't want to feel deprived in this or you have more of a chance of failing, just remember 1 day at a time. 

I have also been wanting to say don't feel like it won't work because your family will never go for that. It is possible, my family eats a cooked meal every night, prepared by yours truly. It is hard at first but trust me it gets easier. I just prepare what I'm going to eat at the same time. We all still sit down together. If you want to change their diets I suggest little changes at a time, unless they are all on board but still take it easy.

Here is a pic of my wheatgrass. 

Gee whiz. 40+ lbs and counting!

Wow well today marks over 40 lbs down! That is one of my kids! The funny thing is I stopped trying to loose weight a while ago lol and just focused on my health and the weight is still coming off. It has slowed down, which is good, that tells me that hopefully in another 10 lbs it will stop coming off. I don't want to loose too much weight. I eat a crazy amount of fruit and stuff so hopefully everything will stabilize. One downfall of loosing all that weight it clothes, none of my clothes fit anymore! But I'm ok with that I see a shopping trip in my future! 

Evernote if you guys just want to change your lifestyle for health reasons, go for it. The weight was just one perk for me, health is my real reward! And don't worry , thinking you can't do this because you will loose weight. I have heard testimonies about people who were underweight who gained to there perfect weight. It's like our bodies know how much it should weigh at a state of premium health, and whether your body has to lose or gain it will find its balance.

The truth is America is a starving country, and it really makes me sad. We eat nothing but empty calorie, so nutritionally we are starved. Even if people would simply shop the perimeter of the grocery store and leave all the middle isles alone, and leave McDonald's to the clown we would see tremendous results. You see when you go to McDonald's or or Burger King you aren't buying food, you are buying a feeling, because you are not absorbing nutrition from that so you might as well not. Every bite you ingest is used to rebuild the cells in your body, so in theory you really are what you eat. Do you want to be chemical garbage or packed with vitamins and minerals your body can use to keep your body running like a well oiled machine. Every bite you take can be an investment in your health, that's the way I look at it anyway.

I also urge you guys to ink about organic and buying organic. There are absolutely no chemicals in USDA organic food! My husband made a good point lat night, isn't it sad that we label the pure stuff (ie organic) but not the harmful stuff ( ie GMO, Corn syrup, chemicals). I know organic is expensive but if you can't afford it at least buy greens and apples organic. Those are staples in this diet, and you really don't want to buy waxed apples they can be over a year old. If you do buy organic I am posting a recipe for a veggie and fruit wash below just spray and rinse well! 

Veggie wash ( it is a great all purpose cleaner as well) 

2 tbs vinegar

1tbs baking soda

1 tbs liquid soap ( I use dr bronners) 

Fill rest of spray bottle with warm water 

Summer time!

I just love summer time, mostly because it is a break from the rigamarole of nursing school. You guys will be excited to know that I just bought two new books, the china study, and the 80/10/10 diet. So I can't wait to read them and tell you guys what I learn. They are both nutrition books btw. So I have been staying raw and vegan, I feel amazing! I have eaten some seafood but that was just one meal and it didn't affect me badly in any way! I have been eating a ton of fruit like bananas and such.

Speaking of I wanted to revise something I may have said, I may have said to cut out the fruit if you are wanting to loose weight. I have done some more research and I have come to the conclusion, don't limit yourselves! You see god intends not to harm you but love you, I have never heard of anyone having a heart attack from eating to many bananas. I have been eating a ton of fruit and my weight is continually dropping I even feel my muscles starting to get some tone in my abs. I don't fit in any of my clothes anymore so i got down my box of clothes from before I got pregnant with Craigie and I am swimming in those too! But I will say the ONLY sugar I get is from fruit, and a very occasional bit of honey, there is no refined sugar or any sugar at all in my diet except for what is in the fruit I eat, and let me tell you my diet is mainly fruit! I do get a healthy amount of veggies in too, don't forget about those guys! This is definnately a lifestyle of abundance, I don't have to limit my self of gods delicious treasures! I do limit fats to no more that 10 percent of my daily intake ( avocados, nuts, and seeds).

I can not tell you how much my life has changed and how good I feel since I made this change.

I challenge anyone reading this blog to go just 3 days raw vegan!  I am curious to se how it affects others!

Here is my delicious lunch smoothie recipe

1 mango

1peach

1 orange

1 handful spinach 

A few cashews

A dash of almond milk

1/2 -1 banana 

1 cup ice 

.........and yes I drink the whole thing!

Here is some food for thought.

So have you ever thought to yourself, hmm I wonder what Adam and Eve did with out dawn or herbal essence? Well we all know that they didn't exactly have a Walmart between the fig and apple tree. So what do I think they did? Well I believe that god has so graciously given us everything we need to endure like on this earth.I have struggled over the years with problem skin, psoriasis on my scalp, and frizzy hair you name it. I have always been searching on the shelf for an answer, I just cleaned out all of the products I had bought over the years, and I had garbage bags full, yikes! I finally prayed for healing of my body ( ie weight issues, skin, energy ect.) and it was on that day that I just decided I'm going to start juicing that he has began to answer those prayers! You see a lot of our problems are healed internally through nutrition, the way god intended. I know what your saying though what about soap what about shampoo? Well the exotic oils like olive oil, avocado oil, and my favorite coconut oil all extra virgin of course is my answer, that and a man named dr. Bronners, who actually made a soap out of those oils, called dr bronners Castile soap. Yep that's right those are the only products other than a fluoride free toothpaste, which you can make your own out of all natural ingredients just comment off you want the recipe. So I will go through all my regiments I use below. I am still a work I progress, but my skin has never been so glowing and my scalp condition is completely gone. You must remember though I am on a raw food diet so I am getting extremely good nutrition, that is what is healing my skin, everything else is just for removing the days dirt. Another side point would be, if you elide to totally change your diet like I did, expect to detox. Detox symptoms can include breakouts, phlegm, smelling bad, ect., things have to get worse before they get better. 

Face- I cleanse with coconut oil usually sometimes if I'm feeling kinda dry I will use olive oil. I use it just like I would a cleanser. I remove it with a wash rag and warm water. I only do this every other day!  It will penetrate the pores and remove all the dirt, and it won't make your skiing super oily, trust me I have oily skin, it really balances me out. My skin feels so much healthier, and it is continually clearing up. That is all you have to do, no moisturizing nothing. I will rinse my face with water in the am And pm before bed. 

Skin- when I shower I have a bottle of evoo in there and I wash with that. It really does clean the dirt of me and makes my skin feel amazing. My stretch marks are adding as well.

Hair- I don't was it everyday number one, maybe just a rinse. If it is dry I will first add some oil to it while it is wet. Then I will let it sit and I will wash it out with dr bronners. Once a week I will rinse my hair with apple cider vinegar, it makes it really shiny, but I don't get it on my scalp, it is too sensitive.

If anyone has any questions feel free to ask! 

Getting creative and saving money!

So I have been sticking to a raw vegan diet since the fast, and I love it! I did try to have some chicken breast But it really upset my stomach. I was never really a big meat eater anyways, so it really isn't a big deal for me to skip out on the meat I don't miss it. Dairy hasn't  been a problem either, I have been making my own homemade almond milk, yummy I will show you how below. I haven't tried. Eggs yet but I will eventually try one once in a while, maybe I'm not big on eggs either. Wow I never realized how easy it would be to omit theses things from my life! I have also taken out all gluten as well I did try a piece of sprouted grain bread the other day. It was good, but my body wasn't used to the heaviness of it so I didn't eat for the rest of the day. I love the raw lifestyle because when I'm hungry I eat when I'm not I don't. Instead of having calories counted or diets regimented, I just eat and when I want to loose weight I cut down on nuts and seeds, and oils and lessen the avocados and bananas. Other than that I eat whatever as long as its raw, fruits or veggies. I do add in some garbanzos every once in a while, but I soak them for s day and cook them slow and on a low low heat like low in the crockpot. Then I take them out store in a big glass jar add a few here and there.

Here is a pic of my last nights dinner raw spaghetti with zucchini noodles mmm..

 

 The trick  with eating raw is that the things you eat can't reach a temperature of above 118 degrees. It starts killing vital nutrient and enzymes after this point. I ended up getting a cheap dehydrator and I love it I have made raw sweet potatoe  chips and dried strawberries. So I want to show you guys how I made my own almond milk, almond butter, and walnut butter.

Almond milk (raw)

This is how I store it.

1 cup unroasted unsalted almonds

4 cups water

You can add things like honey, agave, or an organic sugar melted in hot water

Also you can vanilla bean or vanilla extract. 

All you have to do is put it all (except the sweetner) in the blender depending on how good your blender it it can take 2 -5 minutes blending time. When it is done blending strain the cheese clothe or a nut milk bag ( you can get a health food store or online, I use cheese clothe because I have it but when I'm out I will be buying a nut milk bag). I save the finely ground almond pieces and use them as flour in almond cookies and pie crusts. After you have your strained milk add your sweetener. Let it refrigerate over night and enjoy. 

Nut butter 

For almond butter you can use a blender or a masticating juicer if you have the attachment. I used my juicer, all you do is get the nuts extremely finely ground up, raw nuts don't have a lot of oils in them so you will have to add your own into the ground nuts, I used coconut oil, and honey for a little sweetness. You will have to play with the oil in the recipe ( I use around one tablespoon)  because not all nuts are created equal. But as for the honey about 1 tablespoon to a cup of nuts. 

Night guys! Oh and I'm changing the name of my blog!

What a day I had yesterday

So yesterday morning I woke up to having no Internet, later to find that the reason I had no Internet was that my sons hamster got loose and chewed through the Internet cord. You will all be happy to know that after tearing apart one house and taking a trip to daytona, I found the hamster ( captain hammy) and my Internet is restored! 

So I know that I missed telling you guys about my 1st day off the fast, so here it goes. You should plan on eating mainly juice on the second day an about three bits will fill you up, and listen to your body if you start to feel stomach pain u should stop eating and drink some water, and wait a while before finishing. I would not advise eating meat on the  first day keep it strictly raw fruits and veggies. I also wanted to tell you guys that you shouldn't stop juice in just because your fast is over you should still incorporate juice into your daily diet the benefits are amazing! I always start my day with a nice big juice in place of breakfast.  

More to come tonight.....