New year…same goals.

After our major transition and life disappointments I found myself not only off of the wagon but being drug by it.

My weight has bounced up accordingly and after gaining 17 pounds I find renewed energy and discipline.

I have been loving my Wii yoga sessions and my Wii Zumba routines. And I also stretch, do resistance training and run on my treadmill. So far so good.

I am also trying to get back into my raw diet as the bloating is getting kinda old!

I still suffer from lots of tension headaches so I am stretching and using meditation to try to soothe this. My husband uses guided meditation on me from time to time and that helps some.His messages are also wonderful. Yay for the hubby!

I have also been doing Chakra healing in combination with my meditation sessions. I use my Amethyst on my Third Eye when I have a headache. It is supposed to be a Crown stone but you can use it to relieve headaches by placing in on the spot where the pain is radiating from.

You can see a bunch of Chakra kit options here: http://www.celestialwisdomcrystals.com/store#ecwid:category=489142&mode=category&offset=0&sort=nameAsc

I gave the Sagittarius one to my sister for her birthday and she loves it.

There is also a giveaway for a Chakra Star set (useful for balancing the Chakras) here: http://www.celestialwisdomcrystals.com/giveaway

Anyways, so far so good but we are hoping to get into a more reasonable home soon so that we can set up our home gym once again.

 

Giveaway

My website is doing a giveaway.

You can check it out here:

http://www.celestialwisdomcrystals.com/giveaway

I am also constantly adding new products. Thirteen new items loaded today alone.

I am also adding new articles. So come and check us out at www.celestialwisdomcrystals.com

Celestial Wisdom Crystals is open for business!

If you are wondering why I haven`t been one here much these days, this is a big part of it.

After much anticipation and labour, I am ready to welcome the arrival of my new baby!

Celestial Wisdom Crystals is now open for business. You can check out my hard work at www.celestialwisdomcrystals.com.

My site offers an array of crystals, pendulums, jewelry, decorations and more.

I also have an education section included for anyone who would like to know more about using pendulums, balancing chakras, choosing a master crystal, selecting crystals, cleansing your crystals etc.

First attempt at BBQ’d pizza

Not exactly a fail per se but I need a new dough recipe.

It sure looks yummy and it was in a way but the dough competed with the ingredients too much.

Instead of sauce I used olive oil (with dried oregano, basil and garlic salt) brushed onto the dough. Then I sprinkled canned (marinated) artichoke hearts, kalamata olives pitted and sliced, roasted red peppers, carmalized onions and mushrooms, fresh basil leaves and then sprinkled with parmasan and mozzarella cheese.

Really wonderful ingredients who were just not used properly. Please, try my recipe. Just make sure you find a good thin crust recipe. And if you have success then share it back with me.

Below is a picture of my raw breakie from the other day. It’s a cereal made from crumbled up Thrive bar (my recipe (see earlier post)) over blueberries and strawberries and topped with raw almond milk.

So I have stress…

I had to go see my doctor last week because I was getting daily headaches and feeling general worn out. He diagnosed me with stress.

I have always written about finding time for yourself and reducing stress as an important part of your health regime and here I sat completely oblivious to my own stress building up and incapacitating me. It would cause so much tension in my neck and shoulders that I would

I always tried to be prepared. I enjoyed exams while my friends wrung their hands. I always assumed I was one of those people who handled stress well. But the truth is that I worry and I mull and I obsess about details. Even just yesterday, I got all worked up over something that a) happened a long time ago, b) was out of my control and c) DIDN’T EVEN MATTER! I get so passionate (that’s what I call it. Maybe you’d call it crazy) about things I have no control over. I can’t get like this all of the time and I can’t be like thins until I get to come home again. We have had many, many major transitions in a very short period of time and the transitions aren’t over yet. I need to start chillaxin’ now.

My friend told be about the Happiness Project. It’s all about making one change every month to make yourself happier. I used to find a lot of time to do things that fulfilled me when I was home. I would sew, and exercise, and relax, and sing songs, and light candles, and go for walks, and bake etc. I was more relaxed, had less headaches etc. back then. Now my life is different. We have had financial stresses we have had job transitions. I get very little time to myself at home. But I must find a way to power through.

So my Happiness Project for the month is to try to go to bed by 10 pm and to try to find some quiet time to meditate. I have never meditated before (well except when I prayed and that was very similar in a way) and so I am finding it challenging to be still and let my mind be blank. Necessary but challenging.

My doctor has also been bugging me about my posture. I need to pull my shoulders back and sit up straight. This should help my neck and shoulders and reduce my headache. This will take a long time to fix as well.

So now I have to try to stay more positive…a first for me. I am such a sarcastic, realistic person. I need to start being a happy, easy-go-lucky kind of person. Time to welcome College Me back! LOL

Easy (and healthy) ways to reduce your caloric intake.

The reason I added healthy in the title is because there are people who think that Diet Coke is a good way to reduce your calories. Diet beverages are not healthy and even though they may have no calories, they are still going to help you gain weight. The artificial sweeteners used to make these low-cal or no cal have been shown in studies to actually increase weight gain. So here are my healthy ways to take your diet (no matter where you are at) and make it a little bit more “skinny.”

1. In a sandwich, try eating a half sandwich or an open faced sandwich. Or substitute the bread for lettuce. You can make interesting wraps using a large piece of romaine and you can use two slices of iceberg lettuce to substitute for a burger bun. Try using less mayo or butter or perhaps consider cutting it out altogether.

2. Smoothies are perfect without all of the extra dairy bits. Skip the yogurt and ice cream or milk and use a banana instead. The bananas will make your smoothie amply creamy and you won’t have any of the unnecessary calories. If you add juice to your smoothie you can switch to 100% natural fruit juice or use water. I add a tad of water in my smoothie every morning just to help things move and it’s perfectly fine that way.

3. Beverages are an integral part of our meals and they are prevalent at every social gathering. When it comes to alcohol people don’t seem to care about the fattening effect of their drinks. But if you do want to make a more waist-wise decision then I would stick to juice or water. If you must drink alcohol then be cautious of sugary drinks that will add unnecessary calories and make you think you have drunk less than you really have. At meals, a water with lemon is satisfying and much, much healthier than a fruit juice or a pop.

4. Substitute higher calorie foods with salad. For example, the family wanted chili fries so I made some up but I had my chili over a salad instead.

5. Skip the crackers and cheese. I am used to bringing a container full of chopped veggies for work every day. I snack on that throughout the day. It is satisfying and healthy.

6. If you eat granola bars you can try to make your own raw ones or you can buy one with wholesome ingredients. Read the labels. The more wholesome foods contained therein, the more nutritious (read: more likely to satisfy and reduce hunger) it is and the more bang for your dollar you are getting. If it’s cheap and filled with yogurt or chocolate or rolled oats you aren’t going to be satisfied. So it’s a waste of calories. I don’t pay attention to the calories of wholesome foods.

7. Don’t eat out too much. Restaurants often use too much salt and fat to make their foods taste flavourful and rich. Eating at home is the only way to control the quality and caloric load of your meal. If you do eat out you can ask for special orders, order pizza or check out the menu (some have the nutritional info posted online) and plan ahead what the healthiest thing to order is. On the fly is harder but lots of places will custom make a salad or whatever for you if you want.

8. If you aren’t training for an athletic event you do NOT need to eat lots of protein or carbs (like pasta). So go easy on that stuff because if you aren’t working hard enough to burn it off effectively you will be gaining that on your butt instead! You need carbs to fuel your body and you need protein to build muscle but be aware of your activity level and eat accordingly.

9. Eat a diet that is high in raw foods and low (or non-existant) in animal products. These are the healthiest diets out there. And they are diets low in calories that give you maximum health. Being a vegan can add 14 years to your life as well as help you maintain a lower body weight and a better quality of life.

Rawk and roll!  Eat healthy and peace out!

Post workout snack

Everywhere I look these days advertisements are spreading around the notion of milk being the perfect post-workout snack. Some even say that chocolate milk is the way to go. Really?!

Yeah, the chocolate and extra sugar is just what I need after busting my butt to work off a pile of calories.

Alas, I find myself unconvinced of the supposed saintly benefits of milk after a workout. They say that the protein in the milk can help your body build muscle etc.

There is no disputing here that protein is needed to build muscle and that it is better consumed after a workout than before. But what makes milk more effective than beans or steak or hemp?

My gut instinct is that milk is not the best way to get good wholesome protein into your diet. I have written a whole post on milk. You can see it here: http://theworldismysoyster.wordpress.com/2008/07/25/got-milk-you-sure-you-want-to/

Brenden Brazier states that a post-workout snack should have some fat and some protein (which milk does) but he advocates for healthier, cleaner sources of these.

Using his book as inspiration I have created my own post-workout pudding (make four small servings).

1 avocado

2 bananas

2 heaping tbsp of hemp protein powder

2 tsps (or more to taste) of carob powder (or cacao powder)

Blend that all up in a food processor (I use my small one) and serve!

This dessert is full of clean protein and of healthy fats. Milk has saturated (animal) fats. These are the bad kind of fats. Avocados make a perfectly healthy addition to a workout regime.

Raw chocolate carob style

I have been avoiding making raw chocolate because I seem to get migraines a lot when I indulge. A friend of mine suggested I use carob instead. I brushed the idea off thinking that carob “chocolate” couldn’t possibly taste the same.

Well, turns out I was wrong!

Here are my delicious carob chocolates:

I used a 1:2 ratio of carob and coconut oil and then added in as much honey as needed to sweeten. I usually use agave but the smalled container of agave at my grocery store right now is over $8 and I couldn’t afford that. So sorry vegans…just substitute as needed.

The heart ones also had cashew chunks and goji berries mixed in.

Disclaimer: They look cloudy because they were fresh out of the freezer.

Here are some more:

These ones are raspberry, blueberry, raisins and again, the goji/cashew mix. And the tart is the mango tart from Ani Phyo’s raw food desserts cook book. I didn’t care for it much. The tart was a little too strong on the coconut and the mango just couldn’t compete with that. Great idea though. I will try making a different kind of crust some other day.

New fruit

We were near the Chinese Supermarket so we decided to pop in. Boy am I glad I did.

We found some special items:

We were able to try mangosteens and lychees and I found some raw nori as well as oyster mushrooms for half price. They also had wolfberries (goji) for a fraction of what health food stores and grocery stores sell them. Can you believe that that bag only cost me $3.50? I couldn’t!

The only thing I knew about mangosteen is that the health food store sold big bottles of mangosteen juice for about $30!

Turns out they are not only cool to look at but also pretty sweet. We were all pretty happy with the mangosteen. They are a bit pricey though. Three of those beautiful apple looking things cost me over $3.00.

The lychees are a bit more starchy tasting and not near as sweet but they sure are juicy. When I would break through the shell they would squirt everywhere.

By and large, this was a much better experiment than the durian and dragon fruit.

Supper

Supper tonight was raw coleslaw, raw portabella steaks and cheezy cauliflower.

The coleslaw wasn’t those disgusting mayonaise tasting ones that we are used to nor was it overly vinegar-y like the KFC ones are. It was made from chopped red and green cabbage, grated red radishes and carrots. The dressing was made from pulverized ginger, garlic, apple cider vinegar, oil,  sea salt, soy sauce etc.  It was very tasty.

The cauliflower cheeze sauce is made from cashews, garlic, water,  nutritional yeast and cayenne pepper. Then it is just poured over the cauliflower. Top with chopped green onion.

The portabella steaks were made with the same food processor (unrinsed) as the salad. I just added a little extra soy sauce to the processor and let ‘er rip. Then I marinated the mushrooms in the mix for a bit.

I am being  a pain in the butt here but I won’t give exact measurements. I didn’t create these recipes and I don’t want to take credit for them.