Health

Here are cliff notes of the days I did not make a video.

Day 22:
I’m inspired by my non raw buddy who attended a raw meal prep class. I learned 2 new raw recipes from her. The heavy foods sedate me, but held my appetite a long time.

Learned all about the sauna and some extra benefits I was unaware of. Now I am committed to using them regularly.

Last night my front end of my car was munched (aka hit) by a friend backing out of their driveway. I am trying to keep a positive attitude. It’s only “stuff”.

Diet:
24 oz green juice (collard greens, carrots, celery, and grapes)
A tangerine
A few kale chips
A handful of cherry tomatoes
New recipes: Not tuna pate w/ celery sticks…I couldn’t believe it had that essence of tuna salad, I will definitely make this again . Super satisfying and filling
Chocolate mousse (from avocados) w/ strawberries. Ultra rich and filling .
Those 2 dishes did the trick and kept me full for over 6 hours.

Workout:
Woke up late for the gym. Ham curls, donkey kicks, adductor and abductor squeeze, Abs- the real deal
Later in the day I did: 30 min toning: barbell squat, chest press, ab crunches, attempt at chin ups, walking lunges, and backward lunge.

70 min Baron Baptiste power yoga video with kids. Level 2. An old video, but really good for balance and upper body strength. I just felt like mixing things up this week and expose the kids to other styles of yoga other than my own.

Enjoyed 15 minuts in the sauna 2 times

Day 23: Feeling down a bit
Working & Running errands, feeling down maybe too much salt & fat. Considering doing 80/10/10. Funny, it corresponds to Bunny Berry’s video.

16 oz green juice
Kale chips- salty
2 bananas
2 apples
Guacamole & salsa w/ a salad!: I had a tough time resisting the chips, beans & rice

Workout:
40 min power yoga
60 min Walk
20 min Sauna

Day 24- Friday: Fun filled
Weigh in & Measurements: NO CHANGE, scale back up: Time to change the program
Au Lac Restaurant in Huntington Beach
Attended Jack Johnson’s Concert
Bought Matthew Kenney’s book “Everyday Raw”. Looks like some fun stuff for me to make. 🙂 I know I can’t go wrong with his recipes.

Diet:
3 Qts H20
1 qt green veggie juice (yellow squash, carrots, celery, collards, bell pepper)
3 bananas
Au Lac Raw Restaurant: shared with the family: chips & salsa, salmon rolls, seaweed soup, teriyaki salad, rainbow dessert

Workout:
40 min yoga
30 min walk

Day 25: Time to reassess
“Insanity is repeating the same thing over and over expecting different results.” Einstein
Helped out with IEOPBC (organic produce co-op)
All about produce prepping: sat in front of the sink washing, chopping, composting hoping to have an effortless week of raw, just on the simple stuff.
Starla smacks some sense into me to stay with this challenge

Diet:
32 oz juice carrot, celery,
3 qts H20
Watermelon, pieces of pineapple,
Tomato w/ onion
Banana w/ choco sauce, almond butter, walnuts & cacao: this seems to be my fav raw binge food that saves me when I am ready to toss in the towel.
“fried” onions

Workout:
Off day
Co-op: lifting, sorting, cleaning, etc…for 60 min
Cardio ( 20 min bike)
Sauna (15 min)
Enjoyed a massage

Day 26: A Busy Body
Reading through the book “4 Hour Workweek”. I love the quotes and that I already apply many of the suggestions in the book.
I ask myself “Am I inspiring others to live up to their potential & enjoy optimal health?” I guess I can only be a living example and hope that it helps others.
Teaching my brother & sister in law that raw can be good with simple meal prep. When will I be making food gourmet style? I can shoot for it, right?

Diet:
Peach & Pineapple
Pineapple
Made dishes for non-raw family to sample:
Corn Salad w/ ¼ avocado and tomato
Fried Rice recipe from Jenna Norwood: Supercharge Me
Spaghetti w/ meatballs
Banana Cream Pie

Exercise:
Feeling like I am bulking up..need more walking & yoga to lean out
I love Bryan Kest…a new download is ready (poweryoga.com)

I did my 2 hour Sunday morning class w/ Bryan …green style (downloaded version vs. driving into Santa Monica)
Sauna: 30 min
Colonic
Coconut Oil Hair Treatment
Bentonite clay & Vita C facial
Lip wax
Sunning… a bit too much

Day 27: I finally made a video

I am sore from yoga and it feels so good! I wished I hadn’t eaten so many samples of raw recipes last night & not so late too. I missed my juice challenge yesterday. I want to do 2 weeks of juice for beauty…inspired by Angela Stokes. I wanted to juice and eat only fruits or veggies (no oil, salt, nuts), but I had prepared dishes just sitting in the fridge waiting for me.

Diet:
3 qts of H20
Last night leftovers of corn salad, spaghetti, & fried rice for breakfast
Banana w/ almond butter, chocolate sauce, walnuts, a sprinkle of cacao nibs (that darn sugar fix again)
Same as breakfast
Leftovers again for dinner

Workout:
None…I feel like a lazy bum!
No sauna or tan
Finally made a video
Read a chapter of 4 hour work week
Picking up more snowboard gear for the kids for this coming snow season.

OK, I think I decided to amp up my blogging skills and start vlogging. However, I still feel really silly about it. I am on youtube if you can believe it. I am actually part of a 100 day raw food challenge online. Here is My Day 1 Video. I have vlogged for a week now. I am obviously super low tech…LOL. I brought my camera to film my kids in gymnastics practice, and ended up making this while I was leaving. Why not, eh?

http://www.youtube.com/user/Inspire2Act

Living in Southern California, I can’t help but feel concern for the water supply and how we use our water. Here are some facts about what we are using or wasting our water on.

1. Four to seven gallons of water are required to flush a toilet. Placing a brick in your toilet tank to serve as a dam can save one to two gallons of water with each flush.
2. About five gallons of water are used if you leave the tap running while brushing your teeth. Just wetting and rinsing your brush uses only a 1/2 gallon of water.
3. The average household uses about 245,000 gallons of water per year. The average person about 188 gallons daily.
4. On average, 20 gallons of water are used to hand wash dishes. An automatic dishwasher requires 12-20 gallons.
5. Only one percent of the earth’s water is suitable for drinking water. The rest is salt water (97%) and glacier ice (2%).
6. The earth’s surface is 80 percent water, equaling 362 trillion gallons. Water is the most common substance found on earth.
7. The human body is made up of 70% water. A person must consume about 2 1/2 quarts of water per day (including water, food, etc.) to maintain health.
8. A pineapple is made up of 80% water. Many of the foods we eat contain water, including a tomato (95%), and an ear of corn (80%).
9. Watering the lawn at 5 to 10 gallons per minute for a half hour equals 300 gallons! Automatic clothes washers use about 30 gallons, a tub bath requires 36 gallons, and a shower uses 35 to 50 gallons.

Anyhow, we started entertaining many ideas on how to conserve water and make sure we are using only what we need and not being wasteful. It has turned into a household challenge for us. We try to see who can use the least amount of water. Now, I still have a long way to go. I still need to completely remove my lawn since that seems to be our biggest water guzzler. I also started thinking about rainwater (which we hardly receive in So Cal), and grey water, which is usable water for gardening and so forth.

As you search you tube ANYTHING is possible. I figured how much water my household uses on flushing the toilet and it is close to 75,000 gallons of water a year. That water can go to better use. Here is one way to alleviate that water waste.

Ok, so my kids laughed at first, but then said it looks like a good idea. Hmmm… am I ready to go to this extent? It is environmentally friendly especially since we are on a raw food lifestyle and everything we eat is compostable, but still. My heart says this is smart, my mind says this is out of my element. I know I will eventually do this….just one green action at a time.

This clip answered more questions

I just placed an order for more seeds. Yes, in the middle of summer. Most people order before spring, but a new gardener like me hasn’t established a system yet. I am sooo excited because I bought things that I have never even seen before like a red and orange carrot, black tomaotes, cinnamon basil, I mean the list goes on. I love the fact that I will grow things that are not only organic and biodynamic, but they are rare and uncommon. Who wants to grow the same exact thing that you can pick up at the market? I find the uniques varieties far more alluring.

I have also finished building four more 4×4 raised beds. I will use them for my kids gardening experiments for school science.

My ultimate gardening goal is to have a beautiful organic edible landscape that provides food sustainability that is super nutrient dense. It just makes sense to grow food rather than work on a lawn that serves no major purpose, especially since I am in Southern California which is experiencing a water crisis. It makes no sense to see miles of lawns in a place where we are in need of water. If you are going to be watering something you might as well be growing food.

I have really been enjoying learning as much as I can about gardening this year. I have been exposed to gardening with sea agriculture, rock dust, ormus, compost tea, worms, bees, bio dynamic, bio intensive, square foot method, and so on. I can’t say that my garden is flourishing out of control like many gardeners are experiencing right now. I learned I was missing nitrogen from my soil and that stunts the growth of the plant. So, while researching online I found many sites talking about urine in their garden as a great source of nitrogen. WHAT?!?! Ok, this immediately repulsed me….NO WAY am I going to PEE in my garden. Well, then it started making a bit of sense. I mean, I would go to the garden shop and put chicken and bat poop in the garden. So that’s just as gross, right? I started thinking about my diet and the fact that I eat raw foods. I eat sprouts, seaweeds, nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables, superfoods, and so forth. All of which would go into a compost bin safely. I don’t consume any animal products. Anyhow, I started to apply it to my garden…go figure… I am seeing peppers that are finally producing rather than the flowers just falling off. My teeny tiny canteloupe has tripled in size. I know it sounds disgusting, but proof is in the ….PEE…LOL.