Summer Days of Fruitrition 3/7 – Healing Journey Day 65

Journal:
We are back on track! I woke up super tired. I definitely went to bed too late, but the menu was completed and sent so that my family could buy their groceries today. I am praying for them!

So, something happened this morning that I have not talked about in this blog. But I believe this part is crucial for FEMALES who may be embarking on a journey similar to mine, so I will comment about it as of today. Today, I got my period. Yes, I know, that seems like no big deal. But it is a big deal when I tell you that I haven’t had my period for 94 days. I knew I wasn’t pregnant, and I knew it could happen because of my change in diet. Although I enjoyed not having it for so long, I was prepared for it to come back at any time. I do the fertility awareness method (check it out here: http://www.tcoyf.com) but had slacked for awhile so even though I could have probably been able to tell when it would come, my lack of tracking made it slightly more difficult to tell. Was I worried when I didn’t get my period? No. If something was really wrong, I would have noticed something different. But I didn’t notice anything different; I felt great, didn’t feel like I was lacking anything except water, and it is fairly common for people who go raw. I’ve also done some research online of people who even question how “normal” a typical period is and I must say it is fascinating. I encourage you to do some research of your own. 🙂

So this morning, I went with the Summer Days of Fruitrition Wednesday schedule. That meant blending up some strawberries and mangoes this morning to make a “fruity soup.” I didn’t follow the exact proportions, but it really did turn out so good. I could see making this soup throughout the summer regularly.

For lunch, I chopped up 6 bananas and blended up 1 lb of strawberries to pour over the bananas as a strawberry sauce. It was honestly so simple, but so good.

Because I got in a bit of a “rush” to get to the gym and back, I indulged in a bit of rice. I am figuring out that part of my issue is prep time. No, I know I don’t seem to be “fixing” everything as quickly as expected, but part of the ability to fix things is to understand why they are happening. My last meal was going to be chopped up mangoes and tomatoes eaten in cups of lettuce. That’s a lot of prep whereas rice you just throw in a pot. Perhaps if my primary food was a different fruit, I wouldn’t have to spend as much time to eat. But, I’m going to keep going.

I had a superb workout. I did a full body workout, hitting each muscle group with at least one exercise. I finished up the session by doing some HIIT cycling. I felt SO GOOD. I missed the gym. I loved being back. But, they did rearrange the whole gym set up, so it took awhile to adjust my bearings and find all the equipment and benches I needed. But I did it, and I loved it.

After the workout, I was dangerously hungry… which led me to pick up a salad on the way home. Guys, this is huge. I easily could have picked up a sub where I would have had bread for the same price, but I went with a salad, no bread included. I am honestly so proud and amazed at myself that I’m picking such better food than I normally would have. I have changed, big time!

However, it fell apart – a bit – once I got home. Salads that you buy are usually much smaller than what you would make for yourself at home, and so, it didn’t fill me up. So as soon as I got home, I made some peanut butter dates, rice, and junk (aka finished the vegan ice cream in the freezer). I was ravenous! Crazy. Honestly crazy. If I was a binger, this would have been my binge. But, it’s over and I’m not replacing these junk foods that I’m eating. So, if they aren’t in the house, I won’t eat them. And that’s going to be a strategy going forward.

Review of Symptoms:
-Acne is bad.
-Hunger was ravenous after the gym.
-I actually got my period after 94 days!!
-Can tell I need to drink more water.
-Excellent strength and endurance in the gym.

Weight at the end of the day = 167.4 lbs (same as yesterday)

Total Calories = 2739 (87% carbs, 8% fat, 5% protein… I ate a lot!!)

All Fruit Day – Healing Journey Day 37

Journal:
This morning, I didn’t wake up until almost 10:00! Man, I’m enjoying the ability to sleep in. It shall be short-lived as I return to work tomorrow.

I didn’t eat ANYTHING until 2:00 today. My fruit supplies at home were low, and I needed to go get groceries. There are four organic grocery stores in my city, and I frequent three of them (one has awkward parking). So, I made a list for what I will need this week and went out.

It wasn’t until I got to the second grocery that I noticed they had apple samples! Yes! I ate about a quarter of a Fuji apple that was amazingly delicious, and about a quarter of a Red Delicious apple that wasn’t so impressive. Needless to say, I chose Fuji apples to buy. Then, as I was getting ready to checkout, I decided that I should buy something to take with me. So I bought a cup of grapes to take along.

Now, you’ll notice in the picture that I also bought a bottle of water. One thing that I have noticed is that I am NOT consuming water. Yes, fruit is hydrating, but I haven’t been doing well getting in all my calories lately either. So not only am I not eating everything I need to, my body is also being deprived of water which ended up leaving me with the feeling that I needed to pee all day. It was almost like I couldn’t get all the urine out and I know that lack of water causes all kinds of problems in that area, hence, the bottle of water. People, don’t joke around; drink your water!

After I came home and put everything away, I went to the gym and completed about 26.5 minutes on the rowing machine. Now, this is interesting because I use to try using the rowing machine when I ate the typical bodybuilding diet and I HATED it. I don’t think I was ever on one longer than 5 minutes; seriously. And yet, with no rowing experience, after having eaten maybe 150-200 calories so far, I was able to do the 26.5 minutes of rowing with burst intervals (fast/strong pulling reps between slow/easy pulling reps). I was shocked and amazed. There truly is something to this journey about unlocking my own potential and I’m loving it.

When I came home, I went to look at my food sources I had only to discover I didn’t have much that was ripe for today. I guess I kind of overlooked that when planning my grocery shopping. So I ate an apple. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I ate an apple to end my day. So in total today (and this is terrible), I ate 1.5 apples and 1.5 cups of grapes. Yup, I ate hardly anything and it doesn’t make me happy. This is an example of bad planning. Please don’t replicate days like these. On the other hand, this also proves the potential our bodies have and how ridiculous it is that we – as a society – have become so distant and scared of the feeling of hunger. It’s not going to kill us to feel hungry from time-to-time, just not purposefully starving ourselves either.

Now, let’s talk about hair. I said I was going to finally fill you guys in and so let’s do it right now! I have been looking into the no-poo movement. Basically, it explains about all the chemicals we put into our hair which ultimately gets absorbed into our heads. It also discusses how the typical shampoos and conditioners strip our hair of its natural oils and all of the damage we do. So the no-poo movement works towards restoring your hair back to maintaining its own oil balance while using no shampoos and conditioners and washing with simply water.

Now, it doesn’t happen overnight. We have trained our hair to create more oil than it needs to for years, hence the greasiness you feel when you haven’t washed it in so long. So it is quite the process to get your hair to look and feel good without washing it for a long time. Currently, I wash my hair every 4 days with water, and every 12 days with shampoo and conditioner. When I started this 3 months ago, I ended up wearing my hair up a lot because it looked greasy and awful. But now, 3 months later, I only wear my hair up one or two days of those 12 days and it’s awesome. My hair is learning. 🙂

If you’re interested in learning about the no-poo method as well, please Google it! There is so much information out there and it is totally awesome for those who are trying to get back to our natural state. I’m all about keeping as many chemicals as possible away from my body!

Review of Symptoms:
-Surprisingly energetic despite a lack of calories.
-Stamina is so much better!
-Hair is not greasy.
-Acne is awful.
-Digestion on pause… but what can you expect with hardly any food…
-NEED MORE WATER! Caused me to feel like I needed to pee all day without actually having to.

Weight at the end of the day = 169.4 lbs (down 1 lb from yesterday… so excited!! Haven’t seen the 160s in a LONG time!)

Total Calories = 320 (96% carbs, 0% fat, 4% protein… embarrassingly low…)

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?

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!

Persimmons – My Favourite!

Have you ever had a persimmon before? Did you fall in love with them as much as I did? If you’ve never had a persimmon, you’re missing out!

The first time I ever had a persimmon, I was in a RV of a youth group leader for breakfast. She had this strange, orange fruit that was hard. She sliced it up and told us to give it a try. It was different, but it was good.

Fast forward to today, and I can’t get enough of them! I would even dare say they are my favourite fruit! But enough about me, on to the persimmons.

As the picture shows, there are two types of persimmons: Hachiya and Fuyu.

The one that gets eaten while hard is the Fuyu. It’s smaller in height, and almost does resemble a small pumpkin. The flavour is sweet and very good. Go ahead and eat the peel on this one!

The Hachiya should be eaten when it is almost jelly on the inside. It should be very soft to the touch, and even some black on the peeling is good. The last Hachiya I ate had half of its peel turn black, but the inside was so delicious that I almost cried I didn’t have more. It was so good. And no, I did not eat the peel. Black peel is not my thing.

Seriously people, if you’ve never had a persimmon before, go buy one right now and try it. You won’t regret it! Check out the some of the health benefits below!

Organic vs. Non-Organic

Take a good look at those cucumbers. Do you see a difference?

I wish my camera was a little better. If it was, you would see that the top one is smoother and much more dull than the bottom one. The bottom one has many more ridges and is less “perfect”. Can you guess which one is the organic one?

If you guessed the bottom one, you are correct.

I love cucumbers. More specifically, I love cucumber sandwiches (it’s my thing lately). Of course my motto is to always buy organic when you can, but at $5 per cucumber, it becomes very expensive.

The top cucumber came in a bunch of 3 that I got at Costco. Normally, their produce is pretty good. However, I do wish they would bring in more organic items. Regardless, I figured this pack of 3 English cucumbers would hold me over until my next organic order. Let’s just say, I have 2 1/2 of those cucumbers still in my fridge weeks later.

Why you may ask? Because they are way too wrong.

Wrong in the sense that the texture is different. Wrong in the sense that the flavour is off. Wrong in the sense that I can tell this is nowhere near a good, organic cucumber.

It makes you wonder… if there is this much difference in an organic and a non-organic cucumber, then what is really going on with our food?

I may dive into this issue a little later, but I can tell you friends, it’s not good. Scientists need to stop playing with our food and we need to buy as much organic as possible.

From now on, the only cucumbers I will be consuming are the expensive, but much healthier and natural option in the bottom of that picture.

Life Vs. Death: What Would You Choose?

Yesterday, at our school’s staff meeting, we had a representative from Alberta Health come in to discuss allergies and anaphylactic shock. Of course, this came with training on how to use an Epi-Pen.

Growing up, my sister had extensive allergies. She always had one Epi-Pen at school and one at home or rather near her at all times. It was a no-brainer that she needed it incase something did happen. It wasn’t even a choice. She always had 2.

You would think that all families would treat this issue the same. But unfortunately, working in a school has shown me otherwise. Some parents will not buy their sons and daughters Epi-Pens. This boggles my mind. A school is a place where so many children come from so many homes carrying so many different items. Sometimes, people will develop the allergies. So even if they had no idea they were allergic to something before, they could come into contact with something later in life that they have an anaphylactic shock to because they have developed an allergy to it. You never know.

Now, we do have a Peanut-Free environment at our school that we enforce. But we cannot control what children were in contact with before they came to school. So it’s a very hard thing to ever make 100% sure.

So, here’s the deal. For the parents who refuse to buy Epi-Pens, we aren’t supposed to give their children a generic one if they need it even if we have it. We could get in a lot of trouble. We cannot administer medication that does not have their name on it.

So let me ask you this: Do you sit by and potentially watch the child die while the paramedics are stuck in a traffic jam or somewhere further away in the city? Because you’re not supposed to drive them to the hospital yourself either. How do you do that?

The decision basically boils down to this:
#1: Do the legal thing and don’t give the child the generic Epi-Pen you have on hand. Best-case scenario, the child is able to make it long enough for the ambulance to QUICKLY get there and handle it from there. Worst-case scenario, the ambulance cannot get there quick enough and you watch the child struggle for each mini-breath and die.
#2: Risk getting fired/sued by the family, but at least know that you did what you could to save that child’s life by administering the generic Epi-Pen you have on hand. It could literally save a child’s life; that’s what they are made for.

I am really interested in hearing what you would do. It’s a tough situation. Leave your answer in the comments below!

An Unusual Date Night

Life can get hectic – we all know and have experienced that. But sometimes, your love life is what suffers most, especially when you’re having a hard time finding time to get the things you need to get done, done. It’s an awful cycle to get into. But what if you could turn “tasks” into dates? Here’s an example of what I mean:

I didn’t buy my used car that long ago (2 years?) but we know that it’s going to have some major work needed soon. It’s ten years old, and it’s been a wonderful car. But the price in work that it will need done far surpasses what the car is worth, so we’re starting to look at getting a new car.

I hate the idea of spending a ton of money, I really do. And especially because I know we can’t afford a new car right now, the thought of looking at vehicles does not appeal to me at all. However, my husband wants an idea ahead of time what I want so he can work towards getting me something I like. I guess it’s kind of a motivating goal for him to know what I want so he can work towards that thing.

Last night, he asked me if I would go looking at cars with him since it was Sunday and the dealerships close early. It would give us the privacy to walk the lot, look at the vehicles from the outside without being interrupted by a car salesman which I can get so intimidated by. I’d rather have my time to at least identify what type of vehicle I’m looking for before being pursued to purchase anything.

My husband’s been after me for awhile to do anything like this, and I’ve been avoiding it. But especially because vehicles have been his new love, I decided to go more for him than anything. But you know what? I couldn’t have made a better decision. First of all, he was excited I had said yes. Secondly, we went to Starbucks to get a drink to take around with us. Thirdly, it really was kind of like a date, getting to know what each other liked about vehicles, browsing around after hours, not having any outside pressures, and just spending time together. It was actually really nice.

So instead of thinking about the mundane tasks all of the time, maybe think of ways you can incorporate tasks with your spouse and make it more of a date. It can totally change something you hate (I really hated looking at vehicles the four times we’ve done it before). Spend your time together, and make the best of every situation that you can. You and your spouse promised to share your lives together, so share even the smallest of tasks. It can have a way of improving you life all around. 🙂

Debunking Car Sales: What You Need to Know!

I have come to learn that there are a lot of misconceptions in the world about car salesmen, so I’m here to fill you in a little bit.

#1: Salesmen usually only make a commission, which means no sales, no income. Which leads to #2.

#2: When you go in without an intention to buy, you are wasting their time to have a chance of making money for their families.

#3: You may think that every salesman is ripping you off, but here’s the deal. They only make 25% of the profit the dealership makes, which means, if you refuse to pay much over the wholesale price, that salesman is only taking home $250 or less. And when you calculate how many hours they spend with each customer explaining everything, taking test drives, dealing with you, taking you through the finance process, they really are not becoming “rich” off of those deals.

#4: Sales do not happen everyday. So put together the profits from above, mix with days that people don’t show up for the appointments they said they would, plus a dead day at the dealership. Sorry, food is not produced from love alone. Most salesmen have kids at home just like you do.

#5: If you ever wonder why salesmen can get upset, it’s because people do crazy things. In my husband’s short time in sales, he’s had people come in and ask to go for a test drive just to get dropped off somewhere so they didn’t have to pay for a taxi. He’s had countless people CONFIRM their appointments with him, and never show up. He’s had a ton of people even put deposits on vehicles, and then go out of contact for weeks, often before saying they are no longer taking the vehicle or fighting for a lower price than was agreed on. He’s had people yell at him for giving him their name before going on a test drive, although it is typical for the dealership to know who you are before they let you drive tens of thousands of dollars down the road. He’s had people come back and yell at him for not noticing things (including a ripped seat…) when they drove it off the lot. He’s had people yell at him for not being approved for financing because they haven’t paid their bills in six months. I mean, seriously people… you can’t be a jerk to people and expect them to be happy all the time. It doesn’t work that way.

#6: There are times that dealerships will let vehicles go for less than what they paid for it. Now, before you go jumping for joy, remember the profit we talked about above? How much do you think the salesmen are bringing home for their families if the dealership isn’t even profiting off the vehicle? Yeah… think about it.

I know there is probably a ton of things I’m missing, but this is a good start. Car sales is not the typical way I’ve thought of it before. I’m that wife at home with our three dog-children. There is not even a chance I could be a stay-at-home person for the very facts I mentioned above. It’s so easy to think that you’re the one being wronged all the time, but unless you truly understand how it all works, you’ll never realize what you’re doing to the people behind the scenes.

Are there rich car salesmen? Of course there are. Some people have enough money that they never bat an eye at the sticker price and will pay whatever the dealership originally asked for the vehicle. And depending on the vehicle, that can be a decent profit. But that’s not how most customers are, and that’s where the problem lies.

So next time you buy a vehicle, sure, ask for a lower price, but don’t beat them over the head until your salesman has to go home and tell his kids he’s made almost no profit again, and he’s upset because someone gave him a hard time for doing his job yet again. Please think of the people you interact with. Your purchase is their bread and butter on the table. Remember, no sales mean no money. Love is important, but it doesn’t pay the bills.

Fat Loss Pills – Let’s Get Serious!

Ok. I’m pretty sure I’ve talked about this before, but that doesn’t stop the convincing ads you see in magazines and on tv, and that surely doesn’t stop people from buying them. So I’m going to talk about them one more time, and explain my experience with the last weight loss pills I tried.

Why am I against weight loss pills? Simply because they don’t work. Diuretics may work, but that is simply causing you to lose water weight, not actual fat. There are some carb blocking pills and hunger reducing pills, but why are you starving your body of the nutrients it needs? People end up spending way too much money on these “miracle pills” only to end up wasting their money because they simply don’t work.

Now, there are also very expensive, powerful weight loss pills that can work, but I will tell you one thing for certain: it is going to be very hard on your body!

My sister bought one of these very powerful weight loss pills, and she ended up having consistent nightmares and barely being able to sleep. The pills were just short of giving her hallucinations. Definitely not a good sign.

I bought a weight loss pill from the states (I’ve tried many brands before), but these were supposed to be powerful enough that you can only take one capsule a day. You know what the pills did? I didn’t lose weight. Instead, my throat burned like a hole was forming in it. It didn’t matter if I took the pill with food, or what I drank with it, this one simple pill a day was strong enough to burn my throat and irritate me for the full day. I even tried taking it every other day. But same results. I didn’t even finish the bottle.

So ladies and gentlemen, before you go out and buy all of these weight loss supplements and fat loss pills, please just consider that healthy and balanced eating mixed with some type of exercise each day is the healthiest way to go. No pill is going to be healthy for you, and it’s definitely not going to do the job that healthy eating and exercise can do. Put in the work and be proud of the body you create. Don’t harm it out of desperation to look a certain way. There are enough things in this world that harm us already.