First things first, my apologies to everyone who reads this for being a lazy blogger as of late. However, I've been busy making preparations for motherhood, reading, learning and experimenting so I'm not really that sorry since my life has been seriously enhanced by the past few weeks of mind, body and soul food.
Now for the goodies!
Meditation! I've been saying that a post on meditation was coming, and believe me, it still is...but not yet! I've been a meditating mama for about 6 weeks now (with a little bit of laziness thrown in there) and the benefits are definitely starting to show. However, I am still learning, still taming my 'monkey mind' and trying to find the best positions, best conditions, best mantras and best times of day for me, and would like to have more info for you in terms of results before I blog. That way you don't get crap-for-blogs. I will tell you one thing though: I sincerely believe that every human being on the planet can benefit from a meditation practice. The mental, emotional and physical benefits of stopping, relaxing, taking deep breaths and learning to be mindful will enrich every area of your life if you let it. If you want to get started now (DO IT! DO IT! DO IT!) then download the *free!* starter course from this website: http://project-meditation.org. It's a super-simple, super-easy way to start out. You can also e-mail me with any questions and I will do my best to answer them!
I am also currently learning about different ways to keep my body in the rockin' state of homeostasis. Equilibrium is a beautiful thing my dears, and I plan on knowing how to keep myself thriving by encouraging and helping my body to stay in that blissful state. This research covers a whole lotta things, like stress management, time management, exercise, relaxation, mindfulness, a pH-balanced diet, detoxification, hydration, oxygenation...all fascinating topics that I am enjoying immensely!
Now a bit about the loveliness of green juice! Juicing has added vibrancy to my life. It kick-starts my mornings (and is about 1000x healthier than coffee - bonus!) and cleans the gunk outta my god pod. Juicing veggies has some tremendous health benefits. Green juice is full of vitamins, minerals, and *enzymes* and has the potential to rock your world! It's very simple to get started. First of all, get a juicer. You don't have to spend a ton of moula, but you definitely get what you pay for. I use Jack Lalanne's power juicer, and I love love love it. That thing could squeeze juice out of a rock.Then, get some fresh veggies (organic is obviously better, but do what you can with what $$ you've got) and get ready to juice! My current favourite juicing combination is 1-2 apples, 3 stalks of celery, 1/2 cucumber, kale and some romaine. The apples add a little sweetness, but pears work nicely too. That particular combination has been rocking my world, and my body is loving me for it. In these last weeks of pregnancy, my energy level is starting to wane and the juice packs a nice punch. I don't even want to think about how sluggish I would be without it. There are tonnes of green juice recipes online (some gross, some delish) so I recommend experimenting until you find a couple that you like. And yes, juicing can be pricey as a daily practice, and it is kind of annoying to clean the juicer every day, but guess what? This is the only body you get, and the only life you get, so take that seriously and get your ass to the market! Juicing shouldn't cost much more than your (insert ridiculous habit here - daily Starbucks, weekly Taco Bell, daily chocolate bar, weekly drinking session, etc.) fix so I don't wanna hear any excuses! Plus once you figure out what you like juice-wise, you can buy those veggies en masse. I personally like to buy my veggies for the week, wash them in water and a little vinegar (to get rid of those nasty stubborn pesticides), and seperate them into plastic bags (I wash and re-use the bags, so don't point your green finger at me) for every day of the week. It saves time and hassle in the morning, and can be especially helpful for those of you who have very little time in the morning. As for cleaning the juicer, after doing it about 5 times I got into a pattern that made cleaning it easy and simple. And as for the pulp, I compost it. Simple, easy, enviro-friendly and wicked healthy. Try it. I dare you.
I've also been vegan recipe hunting and testing so that I have a large selection of tasty recipes to choose from once the baby is here. My plan is to prepare and freeze meals for the week so that Jim and I can simplify our lives, free up some quality time, stay on the healthy living bandwagon and simplify our weekly grocery shopping. I figure anything that will make meal preparation simpler is going to be a huge help with a new baby thrown into the mix. I've a accumulated a nice collection of recipes already, all delicious, super-nutritious, and animal-environment-cell&tissue friendly. If you would like to try some out or just see some of the incredible possibilities that a vegan lifestyle has to offer, leave your email below, or e-mail me and I will e-mail you back a folder full of goodies.
I've been growing my own sprouts for about two weeks now, and I never imagined when I started how easy and fun it would be! The process can be super simple if you use something like the BioSnacky and will infuse your salads, casseroles, sandwiches and LIVES with incredible nutrition. Basically, I put seeds in my sprouter, water them twice a day, and 4 days later I have a whole lotta delicious, crispy and enzyme-loaded sprouts to add to pretty much anything and everything. You can even juice them! The great thing about using a sprouter with layers is that I can stagger my planting so that every two days I have a fresh batch of sprouts, never have surplus and never have to store them (which is perfectly fine of course, I just like my sprouts super-fresh!)
In terms of mental, spiritual and emotional health, besides meditation, I have been reading two books of note for the past couple of weeks. One is Magical Beginnings, Enchanted Lives by Deepak Chopra, which is a holistic guide to pregnancy and childbirth. It is packed with awesome information for mommies-to-be about mental, spiritual, physical and emotional self-love practices that can make pregnancy magical and transformative. I recommend it to any mother-to-be, mother, grandmother, and even fathers! It's a wonderful resource. The second book is called Buddhism for Mothers by Sarah Napthali. Now ignore the knee-jerk reaction to the word 'buddhism' you probably just had because this book is basically about mindful parenting. We can all use a reminder to be present, especially when our children are concerned, and this book offers a practical approach to being in the here-and-now as much as possible, to enrich our own lives and those of our children. It's pretty amazing. I'm reading and re-reading these two so I can extract every ounce of good-momma-deliciousness out of them. Lucky fetus, right?
OK, I'm done typing for now! A juicy article about pH balance is calling my name. I hope you enjoyed the info, and will do some exploring of your own to find what works best for you. If you want more info, resources or advice, shoot me an e-mail or message me on Facebook and I'll give you the goods.
Much love and green juice!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Monday, June 28, 2010
Anger...let it all out!
Aloha! I'm going to break from the physical health blogging for today and talk to you about an issue involving our emotional and mental health.
Anger! It's an emotion we all experience (some of us more than others) on a regular basis. Lately I've been doing alot of self-care work in the form of overcoming negative thought patterns. I've been doing my best to recognize negative thoughts that commonly plague me regarding all kinds of things (my body, motherhood, my relationship, my character) and replacing them with positive ones. So far it's been working pretty well and I've come a long way towards no longer beating myself up for being human, and accepting faults and differences in others. However, I've discovered that I was also using the practice of taking my thoughts captive as another way of suppressing emotions. Not good. There are certain things that are good to let go and put out of your mind (like negative thoughts, self-hate, materialism, etc.) but I don't believe we should ignore our emotions.
Some emotions are a result of a negative thought pattern, like jealousy, hatred or impatience. Sometimes anger is even the result of a negative thought pattern. But sometimes, we're just plain angry. I recieved this wake-up call on Friday morning. I've been having some trouble sleeping for the past few nights because I've been feeling angry about an issue that has come up in my relationship (which I won't be sharing out of respect for my significant other's privacy, so don't hold your breath) but the reason I couldn't sleep wasn't because I was angry...it was because I was angry and I wasn't doing anything about it. I was blaming my anger on negative thought patterns instead of looking at the situation and saying "OK. I'm really pissed about this, and I should do something about it." And frankly, that's not healthy for me, for my relationship, or for the people around me who have to deal with the negative energy I'm putting out there when I feel so pissy. I didn't realize this until I woke up feeling unrefreshed and stressed, checked out my fave website (crazysexylife.com) and watched Friday's vlog about anger! Because it was so relevant not only to my life in that moment, but to exactly how I felt in that moment, I kind of felt like it was there just for me. Anyways, a light came on and I realized I was just plain pissed.
I'll break from the personal aspect of this blog for a minute to talk a little bit about anger. First of all, it's normal to be angry. It's a natural human emotion and as long as we deal with it in a positive way, it's totally healthy to experience anger. When we keep it bottled up though, it feeds physical disease, mental disease and emotional disease. As women, we are encouraged to keep emotions like anger to ourselves, to bottle them up and push them down. It's considered unattractive to be angry. We're encouraged as girlfriends, wives and partners to keep that emotion in check. We're encouraged in the workplace to keep it in check. We're encouraged among friends to keep it in check. We are constantly told by society that anger is unattractive, so therefore we should never show it when we're angry. How many times have you lied when someone has asked how you're feeling and said you were 'fine' when in fact you were seeing red? We've all done it, we all do it, and it's about time we stopped!
I fully encourage you to take a moment to check in with yourself when you feel the rage start to bubble and ask yourself why you're angry. Sometimes we get irrationally angry because we're tired, hungry, stressed or just plain grumpy. When I find myself in those situations, I like to separate myself from everyone and just do my own thing for awhile. Nobody is going to judge you for saying "Listen, I need to go take care of myself for a bit. I'm feeling (grumpy, tired, hungry, stressed, etc.) and I am not going to be much fun to be around unless I do something about it." and checking out for awhile. You'll be doing them a favor, and yourself a favor. However, sometimes we are angry for a legitimate, concrete reason and have every right to feel that way, and to express that emotion. I don't encourage yelling at your kids or your spouse or your parent because you're angry about something that has nothing to do with them, or yelling at anyone for that matter, but it's important to recognize your anger and the reason for it, and do something about it.
Healthy expression of anger can mean talking to someone who has wronged you. It can mean going out for a run or having a crazy-intense workout. It can mean bending the ear of someone who cares about you just so you can get it off your chest. It can mean writing a letter or an e-mail to someone. It can mean going out into a field and yelling at the top of your lungs. Do whatever you have to do to get that nasty, white-hot pussy anger out of you. Just don't hurt anyone else in the process. Learning to get our anger out in the open and out of our mind and hearts makes a huge difference in our quality of life. Anger is a normal emotion, a healthy emotion, a common emotion. But it's an emotion we should acknowledge, and then kick out of our living space to make room for peace and content.
As soon as I realized that what I was so plagued by was anger and frustration, I dealt with it. I talked to my partner, we discussed the issue, made our feelings on the subject known, and then let go of it. If I had done that sooner, I would have slept this week. The huge difference I noticed afterwards in the way I felt was incredible. The perks of getting things out in the open included not only getting rid of the nasty mind infection I had been plagued with, but establishing an even deeper level of open, honest communication with my partner. It brought issues we both need to talk about to the forefront so they could be dealt with and we could move forward.
I'll end this by saying that it's okay to be angry. As women, it's our divine animal right to get pissed from time to time. But let's learn to deal with it in a healthy way, so we can kick out the negative emotions to make room for the lovely ones like love, peace and contentment.
Anger! It's an emotion we all experience (some of us more than others) on a regular basis. Lately I've been doing alot of self-care work in the form of overcoming negative thought patterns. I've been doing my best to recognize negative thoughts that commonly plague me regarding all kinds of things (my body, motherhood, my relationship, my character) and replacing them with positive ones. So far it's been working pretty well and I've come a long way towards no longer beating myself up for being human, and accepting faults and differences in others. However, I've discovered that I was also using the practice of taking my thoughts captive as another way of suppressing emotions. Not good. There are certain things that are good to let go and put out of your mind (like negative thoughts, self-hate, materialism, etc.) but I don't believe we should ignore our emotions.
Some emotions are a result of a negative thought pattern, like jealousy, hatred or impatience. Sometimes anger is even the result of a negative thought pattern. But sometimes, we're just plain angry. I recieved this wake-up call on Friday morning. I've been having some trouble sleeping for the past few nights because I've been feeling angry about an issue that has come up in my relationship (which I won't be sharing out of respect for my significant other's privacy, so don't hold your breath) but the reason I couldn't sleep wasn't because I was angry...it was because I was angry and I wasn't doing anything about it. I was blaming my anger on negative thought patterns instead of looking at the situation and saying "OK. I'm really pissed about this, and I should do something about it." And frankly, that's not healthy for me, for my relationship, or for the people around me who have to deal with the negative energy I'm putting out there when I feel so pissy. I didn't realize this until I woke up feeling unrefreshed and stressed, checked out my fave website (crazysexylife.com) and watched Friday's vlog about anger! Because it was so relevant not only to my life in that moment, but to exactly how I felt in that moment, I kind of felt like it was there just for me. Anyways, a light came on and I realized I was just plain pissed.
I'll break from the personal aspect of this blog for a minute to talk a little bit about anger. First of all, it's normal to be angry. It's a natural human emotion and as long as we deal with it in a positive way, it's totally healthy to experience anger. When we keep it bottled up though, it feeds physical disease, mental disease and emotional disease. As women, we are encouraged to keep emotions like anger to ourselves, to bottle them up and push them down. It's considered unattractive to be angry. We're encouraged as girlfriends, wives and partners to keep that emotion in check. We're encouraged in the workplace to keep it in check. We're encouraged among friends to keep it in check. We are constantly told by society that anger is unattractive, so therefore we should never show it when we're angry. How many times have you lied when someone has asked how you're feeling and said you were 'fine' when in fact you were seeing red? We've all done it, we all do it, and it's about time we stopped! 
I fully encourage you to take a moment to check in with yourself when you feel the rage start to bubble and ask yourself why you're angry. Sometimes we get irrationally angry because we're tired, hungry, stressed or just plain grumpy. When I find myself in those situations, I like to separate myself from everyone and just do my own thing for awhile. Nobody is going to judge you for saying "Listen, I need to go take care of myself for a bit. I'm feeling (grumpy, tired, hungry, stressed, etc.) and I am not going to be much fun to be around unless I do something about it." and checking out for awhile. You'll be doing them a favor, and yourself a favor. However, sometimes we are angry for a legitimate, concrete reason and have every right to feel that way, and to express that emotion. I don't encourage yelling at your kids or your spouse or your parent because you're angry about something that has nothing to do with them, or yelling at anyone for that matter, but it's important to recognize your anger and the reason for it, and do something about it.
Healthy expression of anger can mean talking to someone who has wronged you. It can mean going out for a run or having a crazy-intense workout. It can mean bending the ear of someone who cares about you just so you can get it off your chest. It can mean writing a letter or an e-mail to someone. It can mean going out into a field and yelling at the top of your lungs. Do whatever you have to do to get that nasty, white-hot pussy anger out of you. Just don't hurt anyone else in the process. Learning to get our anger out in the open and out of our mind and hearts makes a huge difference in our quality of life. Anger is a normal emotion, a healthy emotion, a common emotion. But it's an emotion we should acknowledge, and then kick out of our living space to make room for peace and content.
As soon as I realized that what I was so plagued by was anger and frustration, I dealt with it. I talked to my partner, we discussed the issue, made our feelings on the subject known, and then let go of it. If I had done that sooner, I would have slept this week. The huge difference I noticed afterwards in the way I felt was incredible. The perks of getting things out in the open included not only getting rid of the nasty mind infection I had been plagued with, but establishing an even deeper level of open, honest communication with my partner. It brought issues we both need to talk about to the forefront so they could be dealt with and we could move forward.
I'll end this by saying that it's okay to be angry. As women, it's our divine animal right to get pissed from time to time. But let's learn to deal with it in a healthy way, so we can kick out the negative emotions to make room for the lovely ones like love, peace and contentment.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
Life is Sweet When You're Vegan!
I would like to share with you some of the wonderful things that have happened to me since I went raw/vegan.
First of all, I will list the 'common pregnancy symptoms' that I was experiencing full-force, which have now gone away. Keep in mind that these are common and many women take them for granted as something that is just a normal part of pregnancy - including my midwife. Here goes!
Insomnia - I now sleep like a wee baby, and hope my wee baby does as well when he arrives!
Fatigue - I no longer need a midday nap.
Restless legs - my poor sore restless legs no longer make me toss and turn at night.
Swelling in my face, hands, ankles and feet - all of these things have returned to their normal size, thankfully. I was starting to feel like a blimp.
Acne - My skin is beautiful. Most days I even skip my makeup routine because I found I was putting it on, then looking at myself and realizing I looked better before I applied it. And this is my skin all over.
Skin dryness - Dry skin is a thing of the past. My skin is not even a little bit thirsty. I still moisturize the belly to keep stretch marks and itchiness under control, but that is a separate issue.
Heartburn - this is a BIG one for me, because I was getting heartburn every night several times. I detest taking any kind of medication, and since I consider TUMS to be medication, I'm thrilled to be able to say that I no longer require those annoying little pills.
Constipation/Diarrhea - Let's just say I'm regular and leave it at that!
Other delightful things that have happened include:
I have found something I am deeply passionate about - holistic health - and look forward to exploring career options in this field.
My eyes, ears and heart have been opened to all kinds of different environmental and social justice issues, inspiring change in different areas of my life that make me feel like I can leave this earth having done more good than harm. This will also enable me to raise environmentally and self-aware children.
I have done a lot of work on the inside, including learning the joys of meditation (blog to come), the deliciousness of journaling, the all-over tingly feeling of delight caused by volunteering for a worthy cause, and the biggest one - learning to accept and love the things I can't change, and working lovingly and diligently on the things I can change.
Realizing how lovely life can be when you trim off all the unnecessary frills, embrace simplicity, and turn off the freakin' television!
For those of you who may be considering the raw/vegan lifestyle, I will share with you a few of my favourite meals that are simple and easy...and make you feel super-charged with healthy goodness!
For breakfast, my favourite things are rye toast with almond butter (and sometimes a little honey if I wake up feeling grumpy), Kashi 7-whole-grain Honey Puffed Cereal with cut up strawberries and banana, and a little almond milk, and any combination of breakfast smoothie - but this one's my fave:
- handful of frozen mango and strawberry
- 3 pieces of ice
- 1/4 cup chia gel (2 tbsp of chia seeds in 1 cup of water left to soak overnight makes chia gel - and the health benefits would rock your world!)
- 1/2 cup of almond milk or pure OJ - both are delicious.
- blend those together and listen to your tastebuds sing!!!
For lunch I enjoy homemade whole wheat pitas with all kinds of yummy veggies (I use lettuce, spinach, green and black olives, alfalfa sprouts, many colourful peppers and pickles) sometimes tofu, and either baba ganouj or hummus. The pita recipe I use is here. The only difference is that instead of white and wheat flour, I use wheat for the whole thing. These are also good cut into pieces and toasted to make yummy pita chips for dipping in hummus and other delicious vegan dips. Hummus woud have to be my fave though. You can buy all kinds of vegan dips at the grocery store, but for an even yummier experience make your own! There are all kinds of recipes online.
For supper my current faves are strawberry spinach salad with walnuts, a good old fashioned veggie burger, vegan whole-wheat pizza or tabouli-stuffed peppers.
For a snack I usually munch on a beautiful combo of nuts, seeds and dried fruit (my favourite combo being sunflower seeds, almonds, walnuts, raisins, banana chips, pistachios and dried figs). I also enjoy Kashi Honey-Puffed Cereal dry, and there's all kinds of recipes for vegan energy bars online - every one I've made so far has been ultra-yummy.
My fave drink right now would be 1 part Bolthouse Vanilla Chai (found at the grocery store in the refridgerated section) to 2 parts almond milk. It's delicious cold and at night-time I enjoy it warmed up with a little cinnamon added to it.
The moral of this TRUE story is that when you take your health and well-being into your own hands, do some good old-fashioned learning, keep the best and leave the rest, and decide for yourself what works for you, you will emerge from the experience feeling like a fresh spring chicken!
First of all, I will list the 'common pregnancy symptoms' that I was experiencing full-force, which have now gone away. Keep in mind that these are common and many women take them for granted as something that is just a normal part of pregnancy - including my midwife. Here goes!
Insomnia - I now sleep like a wee baby, and hope my wee baby does as well when he arrives!
Fatigue - I no longer need a midday nap.
Restless legs - my poor sore restless legs no longer make me toss and turn at night.
Swelling in my face, hands, ankles and feet - all of these things have returned to their normal size, thankfully. I was starting to feel like a blimp.
Acne - My skin is beautiful. Most days I even skip my makeup routine because I found I was putting it on, then looking at myself and realizing I looked better before I applied it. And this is my skin all over.
Skin dryness - Dry skin is a thing of the past. My skin is not even a little bit thirsty. I still moisturize the belly to keep stretch marks and itchiness under control, but that is a separate issue.
Heartburn - this is a BIG one for me, because I was getting heartburn every night several times. I detest taking any kind of medication, and since I consider TUMS to be medication, I'm thrilled to be able to say that I no longer require those annoying little pills.
Constipation/Diarrhea - Let's just say I'm regular and leave it at that!
Other delightful things that have happened include:
I have found something I am deeply passionate about - holistic health - and look forward to exploring career options in this field.
My eyes, ears and heart have been opened to all kinds of different environmental and social justice issues, inspiring change in different areas of my life that make me feel like I can leave this earth having done more good than harm. This will also enable me to raise environmentally and self-aware children.
I have done a lot of work on the inside, including learning the joys of meditation (blog to come), the deliciousness of journaling, the all-over tingly feeling of delight caused by volunteering for a worthy cause, and the biggest one - learning to accept and love the things I can't change, and working lovingly and diligently on the things I can change.
Realizing how lovely life can be when you trim off all the unnecessary frills, embrace simplicity, and turn off the freakin' television!
For those of you who may be considering the raw/vegan lifestyle, I will share with you a few of my favourite meals that are simple and easy...and make you feel super-charged with healthy goodness!
For breakfast, my favourite things are rye toast with almond butter (and sometimes a little honey if I wake up feeling grumpy), Kashi 7-whole-grain Honey Puffed Cereal with cut up strawberries and banana, and a little almond milk, and any combination of breakfast smoothie - but this one's my fave:
- handful of frozen mango and strawberry
- 3 pieces of ice
- 1/4 cup chia gel (2 tbsp of chia seeds in 1 cup of water left to soak overnight makes chia gel - and the health benefits would rock your world!)
- 1/2 cup of almond milk or pure OJ - both are delicious.
- blend those together and listen to your tastebuds sing!!!
For lunch I enjoy homemade whole wheat pitas with all kinds of yummy veggies (I use lettuce, spinach, green and black olives, alfalfa sprouts, many colourful peppers and pickles) sometimes tofu, and either baba ganouj or hummus. The pita recipe I use is here. The only difference is that instead of white and wheat flour, I use wheat for the whole thing. These are also good cut into pieces and toasted to make yummy pita chips for dipping in hummus and other delicious vegan dips. Hummus woud have to be my fave though. You can buy all kinds of vegan dips at the grocery store, but for an even yummier experience make your own! There are all kinds of recipes online.
For supper my current faves are strawberry spinach salad with walnuts, a good old fashioned veggie burger, vegan whole-wheat pizza or tabouli-stuffed peppers.
For a snack I usually munch on a beautiful combo of nuts, seeds and dried fruit (my favourite combo being sunflower seeds, almonds, walnuts, raisins, banana chips, pistachios and dried figs). I also enjoy Kashi Honey-Puffed Cereal dry, and there's all kinds of recipes for vegan energy bars online - every one I've made so far has been ultra-yummy.
My fave drink right now would be 1 part Bolthouse Vanilla Chai (found at the grocery store in the refridgerated section) to 2 parts almond milk. It's delicious cold and at night-time I enjoy it warmed up with a little cinnamon added to it.
The moral of this TRUE story is that when you take your health and well-being into your own hands, do some good old-fashioned learning, keep the best and leave the rest, and decide for yourself what works for you, you will emerge from the experience feeling like a fresh spring chicken!
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