Things are going great...for the most part;)

I am human after all....right!?
That, and my sense of will power is close to NONE....ugh.

Thanksgiving I put being "vegan" to the side (though not too far to the side...the veggies still took up a HUGE portion of my plate) and made room for meat.
I'll be honest...this was the first Thanksgiving that after eating I didn't feel my stomach coming out of my body....and I think it's because of how I've been eating for the majority of the week.

Again, I'll say I'm about 80/20 when it comes to being plant based with my diet.

Here is a rundown of what I would like to have as a "typical" day for me: I tend to or I feel I need to eat every 2 hrs....only small "meals", if you can call them that..for me I find it helps to keep my energy level up...I try not to ever "be" hungry, because that's when I make poor choices in foods.

Morning: I wake up around 5am to make hubby's lunch (and in case I've forgotten to unpack my kids lunches from the day before, so I can get their ice packs into the freezer)...at this time I have a glass of water with lemon in it....if I'm cold, I'll warm up the water...I've also started adding ginger in as well...here's why:

Ginger: activates blood circulation in your body and improves overall radiance but also helps improve the tone of your skin!  It’s really refreshing and ginger is great to help fight off colds as well. Fresh ginger contains something called gingerol, which possesses anti-inflammatory and antibacterial properties, which aids in healthy cellular activity in the gastrointestinal tract, so make sure you are putting fresh ginger root in your water!
Lemon juice: contains high levels of potassium and vitamin C. A strong antioxidant, lemon juice is also a mild diuretic, so adding lemons to your drinking water can help support your liver and kidneys in their natural job of flushing out toxins.

Breakfast: Most mornings it's a shake (plant based....mostly Vega brand...LOVE the vanilla almond one, especially with frozen cherries, it's like drinking cake batter..) with a cup of unsweetened almond milk and whatever frozen fruit I have on hand.

Other times (when I'm in a cereal kind of mood and if it's in the cupboard) I'll have a bowl of GoGo Quinoa cereal (in cocoa flavour) with almond milk, nuts (like almonds or walnuts) and fresh fruit. But I don't have this too often...just like commercial cereals it has lots of sugar (I usually only do a 1/2 c serving)...but it's yummy (and wheat and gluten free)

I like having the options I guess.

Snacks: I have a few snacks during the day....they range from almonds with 1/2 apple, walnuts with 2 tangerines, hemp protein shake (mostly after a workout or at the end of the day), "trail mix" (raw nuts with goji berries and unsweetened coconut), and right now I'm just starting to experiment with roasted chickpeas..

Lunch: salad...I say salad but it's more like a big bowl of whatever raw veggies are in my fridge that day...and I add in hemp seeds and pumpkin seeds for my fats and protein (did you know that Hemp is a complete protein source, meaning it contains all 10 amino acids that the body requires, as well, it's a great source of omega-3 and omega-6...hemp also contains Edestin, an amino acid specific to hemp, that has been considered an integral part of our DNA which then makes hemp seeds the closest plant source to our own human amino acid profile...interesting isn't it!?)
...I've also been getting into making my own dressing...just made my own creamy ranch using soaked cashews as the "cream" base...it was really good (I'll put the recipe on here soon!)

Dinner: This is where I usually have some meat (if I'm feeling like it)...or I just do a quick stir fry and add in hemp seeds again, sesame seeds (which are a great source of calcium!!) or if I have had time during the day, to try out any vegan recipes that I happen to come across (right now I'm into making "patties"...zucchini and chickpea to be exact...kind of my "meat" on my plate...)

To get more food ideas, I tend to go to my "books"...right now they are "Whole foods to Thrive", "The Thrive Diet" and "Crazy Sexy Kitchen"...and Pinterest is always a good place to find things;)








.....AND....now here's where for "the most part" comes in....(BIG sigh here)...and maybe my extreme (and ever lasting?) AH-HA moment!

For the past month...I've been eating like CRAP. And it's showing...actually it's amazing that it's showing so quickly and how....WARNING...picture isn't that appealing...be careful.

When I first went "vegan" and decided to go all vegged-out and processed food free....amazing things happened....
* the extreme redness in my cheeks went away (meaning the inflammation in my body was disappearing), my skin tone and colour evened out with this as well (many people commented on how "glowy" my skin was!)....minimal makeup was needed.
* my extreme dry skin disappeared (especially on my feet...which were TERRIBLE...and I'm an aesthetician to boot!)...
* my hair did amazing things (was shiny, easy to manage...I have very curly hair..)
* and the pain that I experienced on a daily basis...whether it was a headache, joint pain, back pain etc...went AWAY. swear. on. my. life.

then....I started eating meat/highly processed foods again....the redness in my face came back (and increased my use of more foundation and concealer!! ugh..)....my dry skin has reappeared...strange, but only my right foot has thick dry skin on it (remember I warned you about the picture...it's posted way at the bottom, so if you don't want to see, you don't have to....you're welcome!)....and my hair has completely revolted against me (and the "Grey Family" has invited more friends to join them on my head...lovely)...and headaches became a daily thing.

So....seeing how I can visibly notice the difference between how I feel when I'm eating "vegan" versus how I feel when I'm eating "non-vegan"....you'd think it would be an EASY decision on how to resume my dietary lifestyle.....but it isn't...everyday is going to be some sort of struggle...our "world" isn't equipped for healthy eating...you can see junk food everywhere you look...when I'm watching the morning news, commercials for Wendy's hamburger combos are on...really!!?? At 7am there needs to be a Wendy's commercial?

Anyhow....it will be a long (and I think frustrating) road...but if it means I feel good...my body is getting what it needs, and if I can ignore those strong cravings....then it should be ok.



Ok...now...here's the picture of the bottom of my foot....sorry.

Happy health~

plant based diet....aka Vegan.

so...I'm contemplating a change......a change in the way that I eat, and eventually maybe even the way my family eats.
for awhile know I've been looking into plant-based eating/raw foods....and for a girl that grew up on a dairy farm-I never thought I'd see the day.

I've always had some sort of animal on my plate, and I've always been told it's good for me.....but is it?

there are so many reasons to avoid animal consumption...the main ones being personal and environmental health. the animals we have available to eat now are not the same as years ago....evolution of the food chain....but does it really benefit us in the long run? big food companies have invested large sums of money in R&D in the hopes to produce inexpensive foods but still sell them at a high cost....bottom line is profit...and those big companies want it ALL!

in a nutshell they have found cheaper ingredients that aren't only void of any necessary nutrition for the human body...but these ingredients have the ability to trigger cravings in our body....almost mimicking the same effects as most hard drugs.

sickening isn't it?
....and what's even more disturbing....most of the meat we ingest is rotting inside your body as it's waiting to be digested! yum...?

now...don't get me wrong....i love steak, bbq chicken and ham at Easter...it's what i grew up on (especially being in a dairy farm) and what we perceive as "normal".

I'm trying to change my state of normal....I'm sure it will be a very hard thing to do....withdrawals from sugary and processed foods are much like withdrawals from drug dependency...headaches, low will power, irritable and so on....especially since I'm a "food addict"

a little while ago i watched a documentary called " Fat, sick and nearly Dead"...a man decided to document his journey from being fat,sick and nearly dead into a slim,healthy person....he did this thru juicing...for 60 days he did nothing but juice his "food". i was so inspired, i grabbed out my blender that had been gathering dust in the cupboard and went at it....though i only did it for 5 days....it was amazing......I was honestly impressed!

my skin looked better,clearer...i had energy....and the best thing wad i didn't have any major withdrawal symptoms that i thought i would have by only juicing.

people are kind of scared with juicing/vegan concept....
how do you get enough protein? simple...all veggies and even fruit contain protein....honest they do !
spinach contains 49% protein in a serving!....it's just plant protein instead of animal based...and this protein is much easier for your body to break down.

am I getting too much sugar? Yes and No. The sugars I'm getting are pure, unaltered sugar in it's natural state("white" sugar is bleached..)...but my juices are mainly veggie based...the fruit is just to add sweetness to the drink so it will be more palatable..
what about the fiber? I get fiber too....the "juicer" I use is a juicer/blender combo...so I still get some of the pulp into my juice...plus, I do eat other food...just going to be decreasing the processed kind...

The post above was one I started in the spring....I was sluggish, overweight (still am;) and feeling awful because of my food choices.

I would say that for a good portion of the summer, I remained a steadfast "vegan" (about 80/20)....for most/all of the day I would eat a full plant based menu...quinoa, greens, juices, salads, almonds, etc...but then once I started making my family dinner (which usually comprised of meat with veggies and such) I caved and had meat.
What I notice though, is that after the meat dinner...I am sluggish, tired and my tongue has a weird fuzzy feeling to it (honest!) and I usually have a headache......after my plant based meals...I wasn't "full", but I wasn't hungry, I had a ton of energy, my head was clear and I just overall felt great.


BUT...then WHY....when I know all this information about plant eating and how it makes me feel.....DO I GIVE IN AND EAT TERRIBLE! ugh....(as I sit in a chip and ice cream coma...yup, that's right)

So...for the MONTH of October I am going to try to go 100% VEGAN! Yup....I'll be going 31 days without eating meat, meat products, dairy, eggs (which is OK b/c 2 out of the 4 of the people in my house can't even EAT eggs due to allergies..)...luckily my family loves fruits and veggies, so the only thing I'll have to steer clear of is their dinner....

So....yet AGAIN I'm going to try and keep up with "tracking" my progress, with posts here at least twice a week!!
~happy (vegan) health~

Do you have any questions or thoughts about being Vegan?

Happy New Year!! (yes...I know it's March!)

So....as you can see my last post was December 31st...in 2012....and it is now March 6th 2013.

Where have I been??
...I have was sucked back into the "lazy, non-exercise, non-healthy lifestyle"...and I feel like JUNK.(also add in there a few bouts with being sick and such....ya know...life...just not in a good way)

BUT...where am I now!?
...back on track, taking it one day at a time...one workout at a time....one good clean meal at a time...
...and I'm not going to let one bad meal ruin my path to health and wellness.
 

I have taken these past few weeks...gone thru my Pinterest pages and written down ideas, meals, recipes, snack ideas and for workouts I've gone back to the roots, where I know I'll get quick results...Turbo Fire.

IF you FAIL to PLAN....you PLAN to FAIL!

and with that being said...I'm going back to my "plan" that gave me the BEST results....

5:45am workout

ugh...but at the same time it's nice...I have such a busy day as soon as 7am hits that I don't have any "time" to workout...and I don't really feel like doing it at 7pm at night...so, seeing how I'm UP at 5am...

just finished a Fire 30 and Stretch 10....I feel great...now....this week is going to be the hardest hurdle to jump...one of the side effects of starting a workout is feeling the muscles....they are achy (but in a GOOD way...because of exercise and activity....not because they are suffocating under a thick layer of fat)

Also...earlier on in the year I was able to have an opportunity to become a part of a weight loss documentary......so I had to do some soul searching for a bit. Part of the outline of the contract (it was for a year, following people struggling and succeeding to lose weight) was that I wasn't able to discuss my weight loss on ANY social media...and that included my blog.
And I had just started my blog...and quite enjoyed it to be honest. (and I am very humbled about the number of people that read my ramblings...thank you.)

Needless to say.....I declined the documentary....why? Because THIS is what kept me accountable in the past...and will in the present....and will for the future. This is my journal....and while, normally my journals of the past included a lock and key...I want to share my ups and downs with everyone.....so in that I would hope to start seeing more UPS versus downs....more success and capture the holy grail of health and wellness....to the point where it is natural...

Here's to getting UP and starting again...

~happy health~