Winter Days of Fruitrition 1/7 -Healing Journey Day 63

Journal:
Every time. It honestly happens every time. Whenever I eat too late, and eat cooked foods in the evening, I wake up the next day with pain in my stomach. You’d think I would learn. Anyways…

So if you were paying attention to the title of this blog post, you’ll notice that I jumped from the second day of summer days to a day of the winter days. Why would I switch weeks for a day? Because I had a delivery of 11 persimmons in my Organic Box, and planned on them coming unripe so they would have a week to ripen. Well, they came completely gooey and ripe so I couldn’t leave them for a week before using them without losing them. So I had to put in a high persimmon consumption day out of the winter week in order to use them. Thankfully, Freelee’s guide is easy to follow so it’s not too hard to just pick a day and go. So that’s what I did.

So this morning, I needed to have soaked dates in order to make Datorade. However, I did not have it done and of course, my hungry stomach led me back to the fridge to look for any quick foods I had, which ended up being some cooked foods again. My weakness is the morning and the late evening. It’s time to assess and plan! Fail to plan, plan to fail. There’s a lot of truth to that statement.

I waited a couple hours for the food to digest (and the dates to soak) before I made my Datorade. I put in a little less water than last time and it definitely helped with the flavour. However, I could tell in my gut almost instantly that this was not going to be the greatest. If you’re going to have cooked foods, it’s best to eat them at the end of the day because they digest slower than quick-moving fruits.

After finishing the Datorade, I went to town to pick up a few groceries. As I was out, I noticed I started feeling a little off, actually something like what I would assume low blood sugar would feel like though I’ve never been diagnosed with it. I ended up going to the gym and grabbing a Red Sunrise from Booster Juice. Almost instantly it helped and I felt much better. I’m really not sure what to think of this…

After I got home, I made a large salad using a head of iceberg lettuce, 5 bananas (sliced), and some dates chopped up. Honestly friends, though this salad was super simple and did not have any dressing, it was the BEST thing I’ve eaten in a very long time; so fresh and sweet. It was so delicious and amazing. I cannot recommend it more!!

Later in the evening, instead of going after the fruit I know I should have been eating, I let my craving for cooked food take me over and made some low fat, cooked, vegan food. It’s amazing how addicted you get to cooked food, truly. You don’t think things can control you until you literally live through it. It boggles my mind…

For a late night snack, I pulled the fruit back out. I managed to eat 3 persimmons that were ooey, gooey and sweet. However, I was pretty full with a growly stomach as things started combining in bad ways. People, there is a reason that food combining rules exist, and I completely blew them today. Learn from my mistakes…

I did watch the documentary, Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead today. I had watched it before, but it’s always good to review. It’s such a powerful testimony of what food can do for our bodies in the way of healing. To give our bodies a break and feed ourselves on a cellular level is crucial. I will never regret my juicing days because I know they helped my body. In fact, I felt some of my best on my juicing days and feel like it would be an awesome idea to juice every so often. I highly recommend it.

I also watched the documentary, The Drop Box. Wow… it broke my heart. I believe that God gives life as a gift and it breaks my heart to see so many babies easily “abandoned.” I have the utmost respect for Pastor Lee and what he does. I pray that he always gets the help he needs.

Review of Symptoms:
-Stomach not good from cooked foods
-Acne is bad.
-Energy was decent, but a low blood sugar dip might have occurred….
-Hair is GREASY at the roots and I’m not liking it!

Weight at the end of the day = 169 lbs (same as the past three days)

Total Calories = 2502 (78% carbs, 11% fat, 11% protein)

All Fruit Day – Healing Journey Day 36

Journal:
I’m still shocked at how little of a difference the food I ate yesterday made in my weight. I’m really figuring out that the more raw fruits and vegetables we eat, the better it is for our bodies. Honestly, if you need to get healthier and lose some weight, start swapping out cooked meals for raw meals and eat as little cooked food as possible. I promise it will work.

I slept in again today and it felt great. Unfortunately, I did not make it in time for church so I watched a church service from home. My stomach felt so heavy when I woke up this morning, but of course, I knew it was because of the cooked food from yesterday, so it wasn’t really a surprise.

I didn’t eat until 2:00 pm today. I’m not meaning to do intermittent fasting, but it just seems to be happening. I’m not complaining as it does mean that I’ve learned that a hunger feeling is ok and normal. But… I should be so lazy.

So for my first “meal”, I had a smoothie made from frozen bananas and frozen strawberries. It was pretty good and came out more of a sorbet consistency.

Later, I made another smoothie with bananas, blueberry juice and strawberries. It was good as well but again, came out as a sorbet consistency.

Because these smoothies were very low calories, it didn’t take long for me to get hungry again. So then I decided to snack on ten deglet noor dates.

I didn’t do much for the rest of the night; mostly some work on the computer. I was super hungry still, so I made another banana and strawberry smoothie. However, I never was satisfied. My fruit supply is low which means I desperately need to go buy some fruit tomorrow. And then on Monday, I get to have salads for supper! I have been doing my research to find some dressings made only out of fruits and veggies so I’m looking forward to that! The variety is about to increase!

Review of Symptoms:
-Digestion is good.
-Acne still bad.
-Muscles are so sore after yesterday’s workout (need to eat more).
-Very hungry on few calories.
-“Your poo smells like roses.” This is a sarcastic phrase I’ve heard since a child. However, I have learned that the more pure the food is that you eat, the less smell there is. There is a difference when you eat cooked foods.

Weight at the end of the day = 170.4 lbs (down 1.8 lbs from yesterday)

Total Calories = 1047 (93% carbs, 3% fat, 4% protein… need to eat more)

Mono-Juice Feasting – Healing Journey Day 11

Journal:
I did not feel 100% this morning. I felt kind of like I was dehydrated and possibly on a “toxic overload”? It felt like things wanted to come out (felt a little nauseated) but alas everything stayed put. What I have noticed though is that when I have little spurts of not feeling good like that, it honestly does my body good to just not consume anything or to just simply have some water. I’m really beginning to understand that humans treat everything with food and sometimes our bodies simply need time to deal with whatever is ailing us and not have to worry about dealing with and spending more energy digesting food. I have definitely learned this: Do not be afraid of the feeling of hunger.

So what was today’s juice of choice? Grape. Now, I wasn’t really looking forward to grape. I like grapes and when I’m not juice feasting, I love grape juice. But I am going to be honest that I am really not looking forward to my juices anymore. The thought of veggies, nuts, breads, pretty much anything else seems better than another day of juice. Thankfully, I only have two days of juice feasting left and both of those days are slightly different than what I’ve had so far. Stay tuned to find out why! In the mean time, here is my juice for today:

I made it through the school day fairly well though the feeling of dehydration never left 100%. It at least wasn’t bad enough to interfere with anything.

After school, I had enough energy to go out to a closing scrapbook store to check out their sales with a few friends, to the dog park with my dog and my housemates, and then to the gym to do a 30-minute spinning session. I was planning to do more than that at the gym, but it was getting really late by the time I had done everything else and I decided that since work still comes early in the morning, I should go home and get some rest. Hopefully tomorrow I can do some more before cardio.

Towards the end of the day (or rather even half way through), I was getting really sick of drinking juice. In fact, I can tell my taste buds are changing because the juice gets sweeter and sweeter every day. I have never had a diabetic test done where you have to drink the super sweet liquid, but I can imagine that I’m getting just as sick of this as people do of that. It’s so sweet. Anything un-sweet sounds so good right now.

Once again, I ended the day only drinking 2L of juice with water on the side.

Review of Symptoms:
-Tongue not as white. I’m truly loving it!
-Elimination is little but I haven’t had any “food” so it is to be expected.
-Felt really good until the very end of the day when I had an overwhelming “hot flash” through my chest area a few times. It wasn’t the same as the heartburn/acid reflux feeling but literally like heat went through my body at one time in that one area. It was weird.
-Energy was great.
-Acne was… so-so. I really hope it’s just taking its time to clear up.

Weight at the end of the day = 177 lbs (down a total of 11.8 lbs since the beginning)

Total Calories = approx. 1230 (99% carbs, 0% fat, 1% protein)

Vegan Journey Update

Ok. I have LOVED seeing everyone’s vegan success posts! I fully believe in a vegan lifestyle and have taken much backlash for it. I began my vegan journey in June/July 2015. I had a week’s transition where I was battling cravings for cheese. Who knew I’d hit severe withdrawal over a food.

At first, I was leaning towards a more RawTill4 version, but found also that I had addictions to cooked lunches. So then it was more of a raw breakfast with cooked meals afterwards.

I did alright until the fall when I started teaching again and began buying a lot more pre-made vegan foods and trying more vegan junk foods.

Prior to all of this, I had won a fitness competition at my lowest weight of 129 lbs (I believe… my husband seems to remember a different number in the 120 lbs range). I won free coaching for two months and did fairly well continuing to stick with an extremely low carb, higher protein and moderate fat meal plan but my results stalled and as I started avoiding meals just so I didn’t have to keep eating the same things, my results started to reverse.

I found a group on FB with a coach that designed his own workout plans and diet. Many people have seen results on his plans, so I decided to enter this challenge as well. About half way through, I was tired of being tired. I was tired of being unhappy with my food. I was tired of always restricting. And when I finally asked the coach why I was no longer losing weight, he told me to cut my calories down even more. I think I thought about it for two days before deciding that I’m not doing this anymore and I’m going to “intuitive eat”.

Now, my intuitive eating was not a binging session. I don’t think I’ve ever binged. But I did start eating whatever foods I wanted with no regards to macro counting. Obviously this included more cheese for my cheese addiction. Needless to say, I started gaining weight.

After awhile, I started being so unhappy because I knew something was wrong and that there had to be something better for our bodies than this. With my dissatisfaction, and being vegetarian for many years before entering the bodybuilding/fitness world, I started looking at being vegan. I researched for days, watched YouTube videos by the hour. I finally had found what made sense to me. Hence my journey began in June/July 2015.

Though I’ve enjoyed the success stories, I’ve always wondered what was going wrong. When I first switched to vegan, my weight slowly kept creeping up until I hit my all-time high over Christmas at 196 lbs. Sure, it’s easy to say you shouldn’t worry about the weight, but from winning my competition at 129 lbs to gaining up to 196 lbs, I’m sure you can understand the mental troubles this can give you, especially when your husband thinks your current diet is to blame.

Deep in my heart, I knew this was the right way to eat so I didn’t give up. Sure, I indulged a little in junk over Christmas Break since we went on vacation to Colorado, but I never quit being vegan, and at home I have been cooking more than before and eating as much whole, plant-based foods as possible.

Since Christmas, I just wanted to see the scale move down into the 180s. That’s not a huge fat loss, but enough for some confirmation. Since Christmas, I have found my all-time best routine. I get up at 4 am, go to the gym, do my workout fasted: usually 1 to 1 1/2 hours of weights and 30 minutes of cardio, come home, eat breakfast because I’m usually starving after the gym, take care of my dogs, get stuff ready for my husband, get myself ready for work, go to work (elementary teacher), come home or stay at work after and do what needs to be done. It honestly gives me so much energy for the day. Yes, physically I have felt a difference for sure! No more coffee, never tired except for at night, no stomach issues, etc.

Yesterday in the gym, while doing lateral raises, I thought I noticed a slight difference in my chest/shoulder area. My shoulder muscles are starting to show again like they used to (though there is still fat covering them that needs to go). Then when I was doing shrugs, I noticed the top half of my stomach area (chest down to “love handles”) is actually slim (I carry all my fat in my bottom part of my stomach). For once, I could see/vision myself athletically fit and not stare at myself with criticism. However, I will say that until this point, the scale had barely moved (though I do not check everyday).

This morning, and yes, I know the scale isn’t everything, but what I saw was confirmed. I am back on the 180s side at 189! 7 1/2 months of keeping faith that this is the right way, and I’m finally starting to see results and not just feel them. I am so happy!

I just wanted to share my story for anyone else who may get frustrated that their weight is not coming off. Being active and eating whole foods is honestly the best way to go. You will feel the results first, and that’s what counts. The physical results will come later. I haven’t had a blood test done yet to make sure all of my levels are ok, but that is on my to-do list. All I know is I feel great, my strength and endurance have actually increased in the gym, and I will never eat/live another way again!

Looking at the World Blindly

This world is one of deceit. This world is unfortunately filled with fakeness. This world cannot be taken for face value.

When I think about growing up, I think of food. Food is a huge part of life that nobody can deny. Without food, life eventually stops. There are family foods that nobody can recreate. There are traditional foods associated with different ceremonies and celebrations. There are comfort foods that are there for you when life goes downhill. And there are “healthy” foods that we are all told we need.

I used to be a dairy-aholic. In my family, the more cheese the better. Take a block of cheese out of the fridge, tear a chunk off, put it back and be merrily on your way. That was my upbringing. A pound of bacon for breakfast? You bet! I was oblivious to the truth.

As I grew up and got to where I am now, I have realized how blind I really was.

When we listen to the things people have told us without investigating for ourselves, we are leaving our entire lives in their hands. When we watch dairy commercials that promote the goodness of dairy and yet never look into the fact that some of the biggest dairy drinkers have the worst arthritis, we may end up the same way. The way dairy is designed causes inflammation in our bodies. The extra calcium actually leaches calcium from our bones, not into it. Milk cows have drastically cut their lives down because of the constant pregnation, something we fight to stop in third world countries because of the deaths and complications it has caused human women. Baby bulls are sent to slaughter because they are worthless in the dairy industry and treated as such from the moment they are born. Calves are pulled from their mothers within 24 hours of birth so as not to drink all of the milk that can be sold to humans. The dairy industry is disgusting.

And yet it’s not just the dairy industry. So much of what we are told is a lie. The media skews what it wants us to see. The meat industry will not let you into their slaughterhouses to see the abuse. The scientific studies are often revokable and untrue. Industries pay off publishers to post results that they want people to see. Our world is treacherous and ruthless.

So my question to you is this: Are you going to keep believing everything that you see? Everything that people tell you to believe? Or are you going to find out for yourself?

Brutal Reality

I came across a picture not that long ago that clearly struck me as truth in a reality-awakening sense. This was the picture:

Yes, this is a strong picture. No, it is not something we would want to look at. But the very controversy of these pictures explains the reality that most people don’t understand.

Growing up, I knew I hated seal clubbing. It’s a brutal, beat-them-until-they-die way of getting some seal skin to make clothing for humans. It’s terrible. Imagine yourself, as the picture portrays, being beaten to death so you can be skinned and worn. It’s so unnecessary. We have so many clothing options and yet people prefer to pay a high price for brutality. Useless.

Growing up, I also knew I didn’t like trophy hunting. Trophy hunting is where the animal isn’t killed for its meat, but simply for its skin, a picture, and a trophy. Imagine if we were hunted for a trophy. Our lives a waste just to end up on somebody’s wall. A father or mother torn apart from their family, their friends, their herd just so you can kill them, stuff them, and put them up for your pleasure. Awful.

Growing up, it made me sick to think about bullfighting. What humans enjoy watching animals be injured, suffer and be killed for fun? It’s such a brutal, painful, slow death I could never stand the thought of it. And people enjoy this!! It used to make me so mad as a kid. So as the picture describes, imagine that everyone came to watch you die a slow and painful death. And just when you were on the brink of barely having a reason to live anymore, confused as to why these people would cause you so much harm, they finish you off. The last moments of the animal’s life was the cruelest it could have ever imagined. And humans enjoy this. Disgusting.

The one thing I didn’t connect growing up was the very fact of wearing fur. Of course fur is beautiful… it’s gorgeous! But it isn’t ours. And yes, you may think that the animal is killed for other reasons and then the skin has to be used, but that’s not how it is. Most of the animals who are trapped for their skins aren’t even dead when they are skinned. Meaning they are fully conscious of the skin being ripped of their very bodies all so you can wear something “fashionable”. I know there were some natives (in history) who used to scalp people. Go ask them how that turned out. The thing is, you won’t be able to because they’re dead. Just as humans can’t live without their skin, neither can animals. Instead, humans don’t care about the animals and gladly wear their bodies, their brutal death around. Terrible.

The thing is, humanity has become so blind. And though it’s not entirely our fault, a large portion of it is. The meat industry, dairy industry, egg industry, fish industry, fashion industry and entertainment industries have caused us to think so blindly. They regularly lie and hide things they don’t want you to know. But it’s on our part to do the research, to investigate what really happens. The Internet is huge. Documentaries are everywhere. What excuse do you have?

From now on, before you make the choice to buy (or not buy) animal products, do your research. I can honestly tell you the safest bet is to avoid all animal products. By avoiding all of them, you can ensure you are not contributing to the cruelty. If you already have these products, it’s up to you to decide what to do. The damage has been done and you can’t take it back. But you can decide who your future dollars are going to fund. It comes down to one simple choice: Will you pay for the cruelty to continue, or will you pay for the humane choices to thrive? Every dollar being avoided towards cruelty is another step in showing those industries we don’t want their services anymore. What will your decision be?

Adventist Health Wake-Up Call

Something to think about in the new year:

I took a few minutes this morning to peruse the December 2015 Adventist World and the January 2016 Outlook (Adventist Publication from Mid-America). Between the two publications, there were 3 articles expressing the same topic, the topic of health.

Adventists are KNOWN for their health message. Ellen White expresses the importance of taking care of our bodies to truly do what we are meant to do for Christ. She expresses the best benefits being from a plant-based diet, but how many of us actually follow that advice?

Since I’ve embarked on my own vegan journey, I’ve watched so many documentaries and so many times Loma Linda is listed – the Adventists are listed – for living longer than any other North American groups because of our vegetarian/vegan diets. If the rest of the world is noticing, then why aren’t we following our own message?

We are so quick to apologize for the many sins we accept: lying, envy, stealing, even having bad thoughts towards another. These sins are obvious. But is it not also a sin to avoid taking care of our own health?

Think back to the Garden of Eden, to God’s OPTIMAL design for us. We all know animals weren’t killed then. Everyone lived in harmony, both human and animals alike. We didn’t eat all of this junk food that we have now. We didn’t eat animal flesh. We didn’t eat eggs or drink milk. We had the beautiful fruit from the earth. That was the diet God intended.

Now, the world has continued to become degraded. Our soil quality is not what it used to be. You do need to eat vegetables, fruit, grains and legumes. But the key is, you can still get all the nutrients, even often better received by your body, with an animal-less diet. God hasn’t left us hanging. His diet is still here.

In fact, cultures and groups who eat minimal to no animal products suffer less disease and illness. Why do we put our bodies through this?

As a child, I thought all of these things were ok. But the more research I do, the more I realize how blind we are. The even scarier part is that we refuse to be truthful with ourselves. We don’t consider the fact that the devil can easily use food to get us. Think of all the junk food society craves. Have you ever wondered why the ingredients list is always 10+ items long? Most of them you don’t even know what they are. The food industry wants to get you “hooked” and they know what ingredients to use to do it. We are a society with a “health message” where the majority ignore the truth.

We all know the phrase we long to hear when Jesus returns, “Well done good and faithful servant”. But how many of us can He say that to when it comes to His very temples? These bodies are not ours and we must treat them as such. These bodies are God’s. We invite the Holy Spirit to live within us, and yet we treat His house like garbage.

I’m an avid exerciser, and no it’s not always fun. There are days I drag myself to the gym. But without exercise, my heart would not function like it should, my body would not carry me around like it should, and my health would not be in continuous progress like it is.

I also was a cheese addict. I went vegetarian cold-turkey when I was influenced by my first vegetarians. I remained that way for years, often considering going vegan, but never actually having the willpower to say no to cheese. If I could double cheese on anything and everything, you can bet that I did.

When I decided to go vegan, I went through cheese withdrawal for about a week. Who could have ever thought you could go through cheese withdrawal? But it happens because of the design of cheese. It is meant to be addictive. At times during that week, I had to make sure I had fruit in my hand to shove in my mouth so that I wouldn’t be tempted to eat the cheese. And now? I would never look back.

So where does this leave our society? In my opinion, uneducated. It doesn’t take an Adventist to see the benefits of plant-based diets. The science is spreading through the world like wildfire. Evidence is springing up with the results in peoples’ lives. Several doctors are realizing their lack of nutritional education and are starting to get involved. It’s time for us to learn it for ourselves, to understand the impact we are having on ourselves and others. Can you imagine rarely getting sick? Rarely having headaches? Rarely having to go to a doctor? It’s possible, you just need to want to embark on the journey that is not going to be fun at first.

We also need to remember that everything we do in life – EVERYTHING – is seen by our LORD. He knows our motives, He knows our hearts. Just as it’s not always easy to walk up to someone to share the message of Christ with them (especially if you’re expecting backlash), it’s not easy to want to change your habits. But as we see throughout the Bible and throughout the world still today, God’s call is not an easy one. God doesn’t even bring you to paths you can handle. Instead, He wants your heart to be earnest, and then to walk with Him on the path He wants you to take, even carrying you part of the way when necessary.

This is not meant to be a controversial topic. It is meant to be a reminder of truth, of a journey that I have been on myself lately. I’m not perfect either. Even though I was able to hear the call to better health, to realizing and beating my addiction to cheese, I need to get better at a whole food diet and ditch the convenient, pre-made vegan food that I have made a habit of eating.

Life is a journey and it’s never easy. If it was so easy to be healthy, everybody would be healthy. It takes determination, acceptance of what needs to be changed, and the willpower to do it. And even so, all of our efforts without Christ on our journey with us are of little use. Christ is the extra motivation that we need. Picture this: You know Jesus is coming to your house today. What would you do? I know I would be cleaning like mad, making sure it looked the best it could, and preparing the best food I absolutely could. Our bodies are no different. We invite the Holy Spirit in, but how many of us have cleaned internally? Are you feeding your body the best foods so it runs the healthiest and is the cleanest it can be? That is a question for serious thought.

I’m going to leave you with some quotes from Ellen White and the author of the article, “Adventists Urged to Examine Their Meals,” Andrew McChesney:

“We have had this information for more than 120 years, ” said Dr. Peter N. Landless, director of the Adventist world church’s Health Ministries Department. “Sadly, many have chosen not to follow the advice that has been given to God’s inspired servant, but it is always reassuring when one sees that that which is given by inspiration proven by peer-reviewed, evidence-based science.”

He added: “Our prayer is that our church will take note, not because this is an issue related to salvation, but because it affects the quality of life and our service to a broken world, the mission to which we have been called.”

“Flesh was never the best food; but its use is now doubly objectionable, since disease in animals is so rapidly increasing,” White wrote in the book Child Guidance. [You would be surprised how much diseased flesh is in your animal products today, since she said this so many years ago! Our world is corrupt and hides many things from us.]

White, who Adventists believe had the gift of prophecy, wrote in the same book that meat would become more contaminated as the earth neared its last days and that Adventists would stop eating it. “Flesh will cease to form a part of their diet,” she said. “We should ever keep this end in view and endeavour to work steadily toward it. I cannot think that in the practice of flesh eating we are in harmony with the light which God has been pleased to give us.”

I wish you all a happy, healthy 2016 as we prepare for the ever-closer coming of our LORD and Saviour. May we leave ourselves behind and put God first, no matter what journey He asks us to embark on. Because unlike many things in life, we know the end. We know that all the evil of the world will fade away, and Christ will reign in the best lives we can’t even possibly imagine. All of our unanswered questions will be answered, and we will no longer have to watch suffering take place. Our LORD will be with us, face-to-face, with the loving embrace that will bring happy tears knowing that everything we’ve suffered, everything we’ve endured, everything we’ve experienced will have all been worth it. I cannot wait to thank Him for all that He has brought me through, and for all that He has done for me. What a glorious day that will be!

Macklemore Calls Out Pharmaceuticals

I have seen, many times, people who refuse to go to doctors or take medication unless necessary, called freaks. They have been blamed for wanting to be in pain, wanting to be sick, and in some very sad severe cases, wanting to kill their own family and children.

I’m a person that doesn’t believe in going to the doctor unless I absolutely need to. I’m a person that doesn’t believe in taking medication unless I absolutely have to. I don’t believe in NEVER going to a  doctor. I do believe they have their time and place, but that time and place is when absolute necessary.

See, the thing is that I spent a lot of time at the doctor’s and at the hospital as a child. We were sick a lot, always on some form of medication, and quite frankly, I got sick of it.

Not only did I get sick of it, but I also began questioning things, part of which led me to veganism. I know there is an increase of sin in the world, but it did not make sense to me at all that Christians were called to spread the message of God’s love throughout the world, but that our bodies would be constantly plagued with every illness going around.

Another thing that inspired me was the simple fact that there are people who seem to hardly get sick! What were they doing that I wasn’t? Was it really just that I had no immune system left?

What I discovered, through veganism and thoughtful reflection/prayer was that the way we treat our bodies is the way our body treats us. If we feed it absolute crap food, our body cannot be expected to defend us. Just as a bricklayer knows that you have to have quality product to build a strong house, we need quality food to build up our bodies. I kid you not, there are some vegans who have not been sick in years! Did they somehow live in a bubble and avoid the outside world? Absolutely not! Vegans are known for being out in the world, fighting for animal rights. But they’ve treated their bodies well with the healthiest food, plenty of water and sleep, and exercise, the building blocks of a healthy body.

All to often, we do not credit our bodies with the ability it was designed with to save us from sickness. When treated properly, our bodies really can fight off the germs and bacterias around us. But we have to build that ability up as described above.

So what happens when people don’t believe in their bodies and don’t take care of themselves? Hi ho, hi ho, off to the doctor we go.

Here is my problem with going to the doctor. Most doctors get kickbacks from selling pharmaceutical drugs. Most doctors feel so overwhelmed that they cannot spend the appropriate amount of time to properly diagnose you and give you a healthier treatment. Most doctors do not even get nutrition training, and thus will feel inadequate about giving nutrition advice. Most doctors know that patients want quick remedies. Unfortunately, what most patients don’t understand, is that these drugs are usually treating symptoms, and not the actual problem.

The other danger of most of these pharmaceutical drugs is the side effects and addictions they cause. I shake my head when I see commercials for different pills, and the side effects list takes up half of the commercial. Why are we consuming something so dangerous? And not only that, think of the huge drug market for the addicting drugs. Think of people coming off of these drug addictions. I’ve seen it first hand. My step sister ended up jumping off a bridge because she couldn’t handle her life anymore. I’ve seen her scream bloody murder while being drug away by the police because she just needed one more drink after she finally broke away from drugs but replaced her addiction with alcohol. I saw her weeping in complete devastation when her drug dealing boyfriend was banging his head against the wall and cutting his wrists. I’ve seen her begging outside of grocery stores, and caring about her daily methadone shot more than her own children. Yes, this can be street drugs too, but a lot of addictions start from pharmaceutical addictions. Once you can no longer obtain your addiction, it’s just a matter of finding something else to fill its place. It’s a vicious cycle.

I know, I know, some people may call me delusional, I’ve been called many things for my beliefs before. But if you don’t want to believe me, or do the research I’ve done, then maybe you’ll listen to someone who also has caught on to this misled, multi-billion industry. Here is Macklemore’s song, Kevin, a stand against the world’s pharmaceutical companies.

So what do you think? Leave your thoughts in the comments below.

Homemade Eye-Makeup Remover

Alright people. I’ve had a pattern my entire life to never buy the same products. After I finish a foundation of one brand, I try a foundation of another line. Life is too short to be boring, right?

Well, since I’ve turned vegan and have been studying the effects of not only food but chemicals that we ingest, it only made sense to study more into the products we put on our bodies as well.

Skin is the largest organ of the body. What we put on it, it soaks up and then puts IN our bodies. This can be scary if you consider the chemicals some of our products contain.

Recently, I finished my last eye makeup remover, and then was faced with the dilemma of tracking down a vegan option (which would probably be a larger amount of money), or learn to make my own. Guys, or ladies, let me tell you, I have found the cheapest and easiest to make eye makeup remover. You just need 2 things: Organic cotton pads and organic extra virgin coconut oil. That’s it.

So I don’t even make these ahead of time. What I’ve done is purchased a jar of coconut oil (solid at room temperature, but you could use the liquid oil as well), and purchased the organic cotton pads. I keep everything in the bathroom with a butter knife. When I’m washing my face, I then put a tiny amount of oil on a cotton pad (a little goes a LONG way), spread it out with the knife, and then use it as a regular eye makeup remover. It’s really that easy. The best part is, it’s so healthy for you, and the oil helps to moisturize your eyes.

Did you know that once you hit 20, your eye area quits making as much natural moisturizer as other parts of your body? This is how the market for eye moisturizers has boomed. But we now know the cheaper and healthier secret: coconut oil! Love it!

Farmers Do Not Love Their Cows

I apologize that the title of this blog sounds hateful. I can assure you I don’t have farmers. For 2 years of my life, my family had our own farm. My best friend in university’s family had a beef farm, and for two years, my hairdresser and her husband had a beef farm. I don’t hate farmers in the least. But here is an argument I was part of this week.

Now, normally, I’m not such a vocal person. I’m not the kind of person who just looks for a fight or who believes everyone should think the same way I do. In fact, because of my Christian beliefs, I believe that God has given everyone the gift of free choice, and so I am not someone to take that away. Of course this gets bordered when it inflicts pain on others, but that’s a whole other topic. The fact is, in Exodus, God gave permission to eat certain animals, one of them being cows. So if you want to eat beef, I may not agree with it, but you have total right to do that. So that’s not where this argument is coming from.

What I saw this week was a picture of an almost frozen calf in a farmer’s truck. This is a typical appearance. In my two years of farming, we were up in the middle of the night to help our animals sometimes. I get the work it takes. I see the dedication farmers have. But the caption of the farmer is how much they cared/loved their cows. That’s where I had a problem.

Now, this world has problems enough with understanding what love really is. All too often we see people throwing around the “love” word without really meaning it. People date people and still keep their own needs above their partners. People get married, and stop caring for each other. This is an awful view of love. There are so many terrible views of love. One of the pure views of love that are left in the world is when I look at mothers who truly love their children. They will do anything to protect them and give them the best lives possible. That’s what love should be. Fighting for the one you love, willing to die for that person, that’s love.

Now, I know we are talking about animals and not humans, and many people do not consider them on the same level, so that’s fine. Let’s go with that. But love, in no sense of any manner, means killing the thing you love. Think of a child’s favourite toy, or an adult’s favourite car. You love that toy/car. If that object were to “die”, you would be incredibly upset and angry. These objects aren’t even alive. Yet the cows are. (This also goes for pigs/sheep/chickens, etc…)

So these ALIVE things that farmers are claiming they “love” are raised to be killed. Does that still seem like love to you? Is it caring to kill them?

I had someone tell me that ranchers and farmers are different. That’s cool. I can see they are different. That’s not a big deal to me. The ranchers say they are animal rights activists and they do what they can to give the cows the best lives they can. Well, although it does seem like a very nice gesture to give an animal the best life possible for their short lives, do you think they would call it a “good life” to live for a couple years then be killed? Would you call it a “good life” if you were raised to the age of 2 or 18 (2 year old cow = 18 years as a human) to know you would be placed with a bullet between your eyes and then cut apart for others to eat? Would you call that loving? Is that caring? Knowing you were only born to be food? I don’t think so.

I think there is such a disconnect in this world! It’s crazy! If you are willing to put all that care into an animal, taking a cow into your home to warm them up, saying that you “love” them, well, I will agree you are acting that way. But why do you stop loving them? Why does it change from this seemingly “love” feeling to a feeling of “get on my plate! Die!” Is that how you feel about your dog? Is that how you feel about your cat? Is that how you feel about your children? They’re only worth loving for so long before you get rid of them and don’t care what happens to them?

Some of you may be wondering why I have such a big deal over a simple word. But here’s the reason, people are not owning what actually happens. Sure, the cow may have a “good life” before its death date. But here’s what happens to this “beloved animal” on it’s death date. It gets taken on a usually overloaded cow trailer where they are not given water or anything of substance on the way to slaughter. Once they get to the slaughterhouse, they become terribly frightened. They hear other cows expressing their fright and just as a dog has amazing senses in the personality of humans, cows are no different. They can sense fear and know something is wrong. The “beloved” creatures are as scared as a child in the dark except darkness is easy to fix, death is not. So not only are they unloaded to this terrible place, many people abuse these animals while they are still alive, fighting with creatures who are only scared and reacting as such. Do you go in and punish your child for having a nightmare? These cows are LIVING their nightmare and being punished for it.

When the time comes to be killed, a bullet is put between their eyes. Now, according to government regulations, it’s ok if they’re not killed by that bullet as long as they are stunned and unable to move. Now, I don’t know about you, but it’s almost like a totally functioning person in a coma. These people, when out of the coma, are able to tell you things that people said because they were totally there, just not in control of their body. That’s how these cows are except they can’t tell you what people are saying, but they can tell you about the hooks that were painfully shoved through their legs. Would you like to be alive with hooks piercing your body? I’m going to guess not. Of course, the hook is not enough to kill the cow. So the next step is being sliced open down the middle of their bodies and through their neck. Mmm. What an awesome feeling while you’re still alive. So humane. Such a “loved” and “cared about” animal, right?

So here’s the thing. If you can accept what you do, and you have no problem saying cows are just money to you, that you don’t actually love them and don’t care about the violence you put them through, then by all means that’s at least not hypocritical. Again, I don’t agree with it and think it speaks volumes about the kind of person you are, but I at least appreciate the honesty. But if you advertise to the world that you are such a caring and loving person to these animals, you are so hypocritical and maybe even lying to yourself! I’m asking farmers and ranchers to take responsibility for their actions. You’re not really an animal rights activist when you’re still sending them to a bitter death. So that’s the part I have a problem with. Accept the realities of your job. Don’t just pretend that you’re doing something good for them because for all the good you did before, I guarantee the cows would choose a little less cozy life in exchange for keeping their lives. Nobody wants to die, not even animals. They are alive, they have thoughts, they are just unable to communicate to us the way we need to understand. So start thinking and accept what the truth is. That’s it. If you choose to continue to eat meat, like I said, that’s your choice. But know where that meat is coming from and what that animal is going through to get to your stomach when the world over knows a vegetarian/vegan diet is a way to thrive. You don’t need meat, you don’t need dairy products. But make your choice while being educated and not hiding the truth.

Know the truth, own your choice.