Category: Healthy Living

Well… I finally took the initiative and changed my gym membership. It only took me two years to finally make the switch. I’d been at my old gym for at least fifteen years. It holds a lot of good memories. I met some fabulous people during the years and came away from the gym with some friendships. But towards the end of my membership I was not happy, but I kept my membership. The reason I held off cancelling was simple… the gyms that I DID like were further away from the house. I honestly did not want a lot of travel time just to get a workout and some sauna time.

Patience is key

Thankfully, a brand-new gym opened about three weeks ago and while I’d heard the rumblings I held off for a few reasons…

1. I really don’t need a “fancy shmancy” gym to get a work out. Give me a basic gym and I can still push out an awesome workout experience
2. I was not thrilled about paying double what I was already paying

However, since I was not thrilled with my old gym I decided to stop by and check out what was up this past weekend and I walked away with a gym membership at a great price. It’s still $40 more than I was currently paying, but they aren’t skimping on the essentials like housekeeping.You know, I appreciate those who maintain cleanliness in a work environment and I make a point to thank them often. One of the first signs that things were deteriorating at my old gym was the absence of housekeeping on staff when the gym was open. Housekeeping staff was reduced to a few hours daily and it was apparent in the general upkeep of the place and glaringly apparent in the bathroom and sauna. Since I can easily spend an hour in the sauna, I was not having that mess! So, I’m glad that with the new gym, they aren’t skimping on cleanliness.

 

For several months, I’ve been saying that I would get the Big Berkey but even though I was thinking about purchasing one (even before I posted about it on my site) I held off making the purchase until I was absolutely sure it’s what I wanted. Today, it finally arrived.

I will say that some of the directions weren’t too clear (at least for me) and so off to Youtube I went to find a video. Now my Big Berkey is set up properly and currently filtering water!

The fluoride cylinders were the last thing to install.  The video above shows you how to set them up correctly.

I most likely will let this filter twice before drinking the water. I can’t wait to see how it tastes!

Yesterday afternoon I wasn’t feeling and so shortly after returning home from work, I snatched some freshly brewed ginger and soursop tea and drank several cups throughout the rest of the afternoon and evening. I listened to my body and rested. A bit hard to do when you have a very active ten year old, but I planned appropriate activities and my daughter was content.

Later that evening, I added a few drops of oil of oregano to my water, and right before bedtime I chewed on a few cloves of raw garlic. The things I took are all effective, in some way, for fighting off the common cold and other ailments. Some of their properties are anti-viral, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and a great source of vitamin C. Running down that short list, it seems including them in my diet are way to tell any potential cold germs to take a hike, right?

And while some of the items listed don’t have countless case studies behind them (not too much money in doing case studies on natural remedies is there?) I’m not arrogant enough to think just because science has not deemed it as a cure doesn’t mean it won’t work. We humans are something else, aren’t we? We’ve been brainwashed into thinking that if something hasn’t been rigorously tested it’s ‘quackery? I don’t blindly assume that just because something is natural it has to be good for me, as with anything else I do a lot of research. My research, sometimes means reviewing what others have said about the particular item. Also,  I have a huge library of books on various natural remedies and their ‘reported claims’ to fall back on also. This morning I felt great and off to work I went, armed with natures boost to my immune system, which is just what was needed since there are several sick folks at work.

People don’t give you their colds or other germs but if your immune system is run down, your body will have a harder time fighting the various germs that decide to check out your body and if your immune system isn’t strong, you might get sick. What we choose to eat can work for us and make us healthier or it can be detrimental to our health.

Resources:

1. Ginger
2. Herbalist: Flu and viral infections
3. Beat Back Cold and Flu with Garlic

 

The past few months, I haven’t written much about candida, but it’s something that still fresh on my mind. I’m happy to say that the majority of the symptoms that plagued me have vanished. If I were to go by the numerous accounts I’ve read about, I most likely won’t be “candida free” for several months, but I’m content to know that the annoying symptoms that would rear their ugly little heads are now a distant memory.

I didn’t need a book as a guide, I found plenty of information online. While I was already eating healthy, I did learn that certain of the foods I was consuming was actually feeding candida and so they were eliminated. So yes, I was pretty much symptom free when I stumbled upon the book Sugar or Sex: an invaluable companion about candida, but I purchased it anyway and  that was largely due to Rachel Davies writing style.  She wrote about a lot that I already knew about candida, but it was her engaging writing style, that was apparent in the book that made me decide to purchase the book.

In later posts, I’ll write about some of the items I used that have been very helpful in my bout with candida.

Frigid weather and comfort food seem to go well together. Since the cold temperatures kept us inside most of the day, I decided to make a hearty meal that my daughter would enjoy… potpie!

 

For several weeks (perhaps months) I’ve been saying I’d make a pot pie, but I  never got around to actually doing that. I prepare a variety of meals that pot pies never made it to the list since there were to many other dishes calling my name.

 

Yesterday, I finally listened to the pot pie call and prepared my version. Actually… two versions were made; chicken and vegetable.  Naturally, I added an assortment of vegetables to both versions. It goes without saying that I added freshly ground spices and herbs to the ingredients also. I love my mortar and pestle, and use it several times weekly. You can’t beat the flavor of freshly ground ingredients, the taste and aroma from the seasonings is miles ahead of the ground variety that’s normally purchased.

But how did it taste?

While I could have taken the time to make a pretty pie crust, I thought to myself, why bother? They say the proof is in the eating. My daughter gave the pot pie two thumbs up! She tried both; chicken and vegetable. She even asked me to put some of it into her lunch the following day.  And while I can’t speak of the chicken, I can say the vegetable version was really good.  Since I’ve been extremely busy, I made enough so there were plenty of leftovers. The majority was frozen,  and I will bring it out when I don’t have time to prepare a meal.

Often, when my mother (who is a nurse) works I’ll prepare food for my father. This past weekend she worked and so I thought it would nice to prepare a few meals for my father.

Initially I was unsure at what I should make? But after turning over, and rejecting various animal product possibilities, my mind drifted to the Boston butt (pork) that I’d purchased about a month before. Initially, I’d purchased it to make sausage, but that never happened and so it made its way to the frozen food animal product section of our deep freezer.

With a few ideas in my head I pulled it out of the freezer, cut up the frozen meat and put it in the pressure cooker garlic with a variety of herbs and spices that  I’d ground in my mortar and pestle.

Freshly pressure cooked garbanzo beans were added to the mix, along with carrots and potatoes. The broccoli was added the last minute of cooking. The six pounds of frozen meat was tender in 1.5 hours! Got to love pressure cookers.The broth was drained and set aside in the refrigerator. Once it was chilled It was much easier to remove the fat since when chilled it turns a creamy white and rises to the top. The broth was then was reserved since I planned on making a stew the next day. All the pork was shredded with a fork, to be used in pulled pork sandwiches and the following day I made the sour pork stew.

As you can see, there are plenty of vegetables in this stew.

What made my pork stew sour?

The simple addition of freshly squeezed lemon juice and apple cider vinegar gave it just the right amount of sourness without overpowering the dish. The rich creaminess came from adding cream cheese.

Results?

How was it? Well… both my father and daughter scraped every last drop of that stew and came back for more. I guess, I’ll chalk that up to a success.

Leading by example: Showing others how to make healthier meals

While I might not eat animal products, I do think it’s important to show others a healthier approach (if they aren’t eating healthy already) to prepare their meals. That’s if they ask, I don’t randomly go about forcing my beliefs onto others. How arrogant would that be? I will say, because that I have been open to working with animal products many of my friends (who’ve regularly eating my food) eat less animal products now since they know that adding produce to the mix does not mean the food will taste bad. It won’t, if you know how to prepare food correctly.

While I juice daily, I haven’t gone on an extended 100% juice cleanse in about two months. Recently, I’ve been thinking about going on another one and I finally think I’m ready to begin. I most likely will begin my cleanse on the first day of the week, which would mean I’d be starting this Sunday. If that’s the case, I most likely will reschedule some of my advance posts so I can share some of the juicing recipes I use throughout the week. It will be similar to my past juicing regime, so they’re will be plenty of greens and very little fruit.