Sweatin' it out!

Well, without moving I've landed in Greece, Hawaii or Mexico, Turkey, Southern France, you name it if it's SUPER HOT, that's where I'm living right now.

Read something last night in my in box that said:

"Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day." -Henri Nouwen

I noticed that this last week I've not been "feeling the joy" in my heart. I feel like I'm going through the motions and know that deep stuff is coming up and through me because I'm no longer using food to stuff it back down again. Fears, angers, disappointments, guilt, you name it, I've experienced it this week. Instead of choosing joy each day I chose to wallow in these negative feelings. Well, after receiving this message in my in box, I CHOSE JOY today and what a different day I had. I had much more patience. Instead of getting upset at little things, I chose to laugh at them and deal with them. Things happen, either we can choose to despair, or choose joy. Things will still happen, but our reaction to these things can be dramatically different. It's a lot more fun to laugh than to get upset.

CHOOSE JOY!

Today I ate:

1/2 apple

1/2 pint raspberries

2 litres of water - need more in this heat!

Smoothie:

1 tbsp. vitamineral green

1 banana

1 date

1/2 apple

1/2 cup cherries

Deep, dark green yum!

Smoothie:

1 banana

1 date

1 cup frozen strawberries

1 tbsp. almonds

1 tbsp. hemp seed

2 cups water (this is half the recipe, the other half my sister and son drank!)

I also added 1 tbsp. vitamineral green and 1 scoop of sproutein to mine - will post photo of me drinking this!

Dinner:

Salad - yellow pepper

avocado

mixed greens

dill

cilantro

carrots

cucumber

with Vega oil dressing recipe Dessert:

1 banana

1 tbsp. shredded coconut

1 tsp. honey

1 tbsp. raisins

1 tbsp. almond butter

I ate too much today again. Trying to figure out why I want to keep eating. Sometimes I have cravings, other times it's no trouble. I'm trying to track it down, but believe it has to do with my cycle. I'm mid cycle right now and find my cravings and over eating happen more mid cycle and just before menstration...anyone else experience this type of thing?

Well, it's 30 degrees Celcius in the house right now, that's 86 degrees Fahrenheit. It's 10:30 in the evening! Windows are wide open throughout the house and there is no air movement.

Did 5 min. on the rebounder this morning but felt it was too hot to do any outdoor exercise today...no wait, did about 25 min. walking with helping daughter on two wheeled bike and walking to the river to go for a dip! So did get some minor exercise today. Bootcamp on Thursday night. Yoga tomorrow morning!

Night all!

Hot enough for ya?

Wow, we've got one heck of a heat wave hitting the West Coast of B.C. right now! We were up around 35 degrees Celcius which is about 95 degrees Fahrenheit! That's pretty hot for around here. Tomorrow's supposed to be even hotter!

Drank 2 litres of water today, could have used more in this heat!

Not hungry in the a.m.

Did a 20 min. walk

Had some raspberries and a banana for lunch

Snacked on strawberries, blueberries and a nectarine

Dinner: Huge salad with raspberries, apple and the Vega oil dressing recipe.

Dessert: one small live bar with "icing" - 1 tsp. honey mixed with 1 tsp. coconut butter.

Did errands and drove kids to bike camp this afternoon. My daughter is now much more confident on two wheels - she knows how to stop and start better. The pedaling was already pretty much there. She is so excited. Cleaned up the deck outside some more.

My Zen Zone is almost complete!

Took my daughter to a friends' place to have her hair cut. She's donating it to a local company that makes wigs for kids who have lost their hair due to alopecia, traditional cancer treatments, etc. She's been growing it for over a year and a half and was very excited to get this done today.

My daughter's new "do" is quite cute. There were 9 inches taken off so she's left with a cute little bob.

SO hot, and I'm really not hungry in the heat. Hotter tomorrow, supposed to hit 100 degrees F. I'm off to the sauna, oops I mean bed. I just love to sweat out those toxins as I sleep!!! :) Night all!

Hot and Humid

I remember a blog post here not so long ago when I said that the heat no longer bothered me since I've been raw. I take it back! I was irritable today, for seemingly no reason except the fact that it was 30 degrees Celcius (hot for around here) and the current humidity is 83% - that's unheard of around here! I can't sleep so figured I'd get a post in for today.

We started our day off at the market. The fruit and veggies were out in force, as were the wasps! Luckily we dodged them while getting our raspberries and some greens!

We polished off the first pint of raspberries on the way home! I had a bowl of blueberries just before we left to go to the market.

Here's all I ate today:

Bowl of blueberries

3/4 pint of raspberries

1/2 cup of chocolate almond shake: banana cacao almond milk

Small bowl of yum: 1 banana cut up into "banana coins" (my kids' term for sliced banana)

1 tbsp. almond butter

1 tsp. shredded coconut

1 tbsp. raisins

Swirl together and enjoy.

Huge Salad. I eat from a salad bowl the size of one you'd bring to a potluck.

Mixed greens with some herbs 1 tomato grated carrot (1/4 cup about)

1 tbsp. cashews

Balsamic/olive oil dressing

Raw Ice Cream:

1 cup soaked cashews

1 cup coconut meat

1 cup coconut water (used most of it)

2 tbsp. vanilla - found this a bit much...

1/2 tsp. sea salt

I think that was all. Blend and then put in ice cream maker. It's so hot here though it was more like soft serve ice cream. My hand crank ice cream maker could not compete!

Not enough water today. Need more water! Had about 1.5 litres but probably sweat out about 2.

Worked on my "Zen Zone" in the back yard. I'm recreating the Tree fort deck, it's an area where all the kids' toys used to live all over the place. Now we have three deck boxes that they fit nicely into since I decluttered a heck of a lot of the toys. Freecycled most and others will go to charity. Have you checked out Freecycle.org?

It's going to have a nice covered fire pit that I can move so I can also do yoga out there as well. So excited to get that finished soon!

Other than being hot and cranky today it was overall a great day. Lots accomplished and good food going in! Time to try and sleep - maybe my Zen Zone will be a good place to sleep this week, there's no end in sight to the heat wave we're having!

Cheers!

My Daughter on RFR!

I hope Penni doesn't mind, but I had to copy this into my blog to show you all what it said! Proud mamma talking here!

Talk about a Day Maker! Here is Melinda Gill's radiant daughter as she creates her first salad...how could I not feature this as the Photo of the Day?! Be in awareness of the impact that your choices have on those around you.

Made My Day

How exciting to see my daughter's precious smile on the main page of RFR today! She was amazed and felt so proud to be on the website. She's heard me talking so much about this site, and seen me on it from time to time during the last two months, so she knew how special it was to be a part of it! Thanks Penni!

Today was another field trip to Fort Langley, B.C. We visited the B.C. Farm and Agriculture museum. It was incredible how many artifacts they had there. They need about three times the space to give their items justice! It really hit me how much people really knew about their food back in those days, when they grew a lot of their own food, made much of their food from scratch and knew exactly what was in the food they were eating, so unlike our lives of today.

Children would not have time to be bored, or need stuff to fill the void/extra time...they had not extra time. They were busy in their studies, helping out around the house, learning how to farm, keep house, and fix things. If they were lucky their family owned some type of instrument and they would learn about music. Family was the most important thing, and everyone pitched in because if they didn't they would not eat or have a properly running home. Makes me think of Little House on the Prairie, which my husband is currently reading to our kids. Life was simple - or at least seemed a lot simpler back then. Simpler in ways but harder in others.

I find often I yearn for simpler times. Simplifying life. I just took a book off my shelf, and will have to dust it off...it is brand new and I've only read a chapter or two but it's all about living simply with kids. Some important messages for us there. My kids would give up all their worldly belongings for more time with mom and dad. So often children are given stuff to occupy them when in reality all they really needed was US!

On this sunny day we also had our last ride on the Albion Ferry, a ferry that runs across the Fraser River. It's free to ride, but now that a big, swanky new bridge has been built 20 min. up river, they are forever closing this ferry. I actually cried when we drove off for the last time. I didn't use it all that often, but again, it's the end of an era for that little ferry and 60 people will lose jobs because of this closure.

The beautiful sunshine gave way to dark ominous clouds and then the skies opened up to all of our senses! Rain, wet on our skin, the electricity could be felt on the hairs of our arms, the claps of thunder had the bravest of souls running for cover and the shocking white/blues and purples of the sheet, chain and fork lightening burned in our retinas! It was a most incredible thunder and lightening storm. The kids loved it, as did I. I actually get giddy when storms come this way as they are not a common event here. The rain was coming down SO hard!

A haiku to mark the event:

Blinding light flashes

Tearing thunder rumbles on

Wounded sky opens

Here's what I ate today:

1 banana with 1tbsp. almond butter and 1 tsp. shredded coconut

1 litre of water

1 small bowl of cherries

1 live bar (size of half my thumb) with "icing" (1 tsp. coconut butter, 1 tsp. honey)

1 Kelp dish - boo hoo, kelp's all gone now, must buy more!

Lots of carrots, celery, orange pepper, cucumber, and such at my mom's place.

Raw ice cream:

Small bowl of strawberry, small bowl of maple walnut

So, as the rain softly taps down on the rooftops nearby I sign off to spend some time with my man who's feeling a wee bit neglected. How are all of your significant others dealing with time you spend on the computer learning new things about raw foods? I didn't think anything of it until he said yesterday - seems like you have more fun on that computer than you do sitting with me these days. Ouch. Just a gentle reminder to give those you love a hug today and let them know how important they are to you!

Cheers and Green Smoothies to you all!

Melinda

Cooling down

First day of cool weather in a while, a nice reprieve but the heat is not bothering me much this year. While others are constantly complaining that it is SO hot, I've noticed that since I've been eating this way and weight has dropped off, the heat is a welcome friend!

Today I ate:

2 litres of water

1 apple

Smoothie:

1 scoop of Sproutein

1 cup frozen strawberries

1 container of pea shoots

1 banana

1.5 cups of water

1 date (I think that was all)

I juiced today! First time in a LONG while. It was not my favourite juice but you have to get creative when you're almost out of greens.

1 small head of broccoli kale from the garden (six or seven stalks, small)

4 stalks celery

1 bunch parsley

1 lemon

It made about 1.5 cups and I watered it down with another cup of water, as it was SO strong. Next time some cucumber would be helpful!

Kelp dish: This is going to be my new favourite until the kelp noodles run out! I used the recipe on the package as a guide, but made it all raw. All measurements are approximate.

2 cups of kelp noodles

1/2 cup broccoli

1 carrot grated

2 green onions cut up

Sauce: 1 tsp. brown miso paste 3 tsp. raw almond butter

1 tbsp. agave

dash of sesame oil

dash of raw apple cider vinegar

Put it on the top and mix it into the kelp dish and oh my gosh is it GOOD! It's very asian tasting, and I gobbled it all up!

1 Live bar with home made icing (1 tsp. honey mixed with 1 tsp. coconut butter)

I'll be making that kelp dish again tomorrow, for sure!

I also went to bootcamp tonight and we did a 1 mile run, and a yoga/pilates/ab workout tonight. I sweat more during this class than the other ones, it is hard work! I love being back to exercising outdoors. I've been once a week for the last three weeks and plan to do twice next week. Love it!

Hope you are all enjoying the week as it comes to a close. What are some of your plans for the weekend...we're always talking about food here, how about what you do for recreation? I'll be going to a museum of agriculture, taking a ferry that's closing at the end of the month for the last time. We are also going to dinner at my parents' place, so I'm going to bring some great dishes with me. On Sunday we're going to be enjoying some more family time.

Eat Raw, Live Well!

Melinda

Raw Food Rehab answer

In my Raw Food Rehab group they asked us a question:

Do you feel that you are counter cultural by eating raw and living foods?  She also talked about how many do things in moderation so as not to upset the "apple cart".  Here's what I had to say:

Being a teacher, I do not see moderation at work. I see children eating what's available to them...crap! The stuff that they eat at school is terrible. The school board here is trying to change things, but it does not happen in reality. There's slurpees, french fries, yam fries, burgers, sometimes sushi and then there's the vending machines. How do we expect children to learn when they are feeding (numbing) their brains on this "filler". I cannot bring myself to call it food.

I do not see moderation in the staff room either. Here are some examples from our school: Every single meeting that happens has donuts, cake muffins, coffee, and other sweet treats...this is how people are enticed to COME to the meeting! We have Popcorn Wednesdays where you'll see people trip over each other to get there first to get the most buttery and salty popcorn. There are children being stampeded upon when it's Treat day Friday! A few years ago they even did a spoof video regarding this particular weekly event! I should get my hands on it, it was SO funny! Then there's those on staff that also take part in "Fat Friday". This group gets together and goes out to one of the local fast food joints. They know what it's doing to them but they do it anyway, "Hell, you only live once, may as well enjoy it!" is often quipped if they get a sideways glance from anyone.

The culture around food in our schools (at least the ones I've seen here in B.C) is S.A.D. indeed.  

Enter Melinda...that granola girl who is SO granola now, they don't even know what to call me. Most of my staff has been there and seen me go through the changes I have gone through. Thin and 25 years old starting my job, steadily gaining weight for the next 10 years until I hit 222 lbs. at the end of my second pregnancy...to holding steady at 196 for the longest time even with Bootcamp 4 days a week! They've seen me go through a breast biopsy, endless stomach issues, injuries, depression, anxieties, you name it...and they've also seen me healing one day at a time since I made the decision two and a half years ago about what I put in my mouth to nourish myself.

All of these sweet eating, meat eating, beer swilling, partying people I work with have seen this amazing transformation from 196 to now 140. From depressed, ill and aging to energetic, happy, enthusiastic and healthy! Yet, even though I receive many compliments about how I look I am teased and tormented on a DAILY basis about what I bring to the staff room. I'll admit, there are a few who really admire that I eat like this but say they could never do it. There are those that are interested in what I eat and ask me for more information...but these are the exception, not the rule. Some applaud that I make green smoothies for my class as a "smoothie start to the week". Or that we have Fruitful Fridays and everyone brings in a piece of fruit to cut up and put in our Friendship Fruit Salad. Others balk that I am taking up "curriculum time" to do such trivial things. "They won't eat that stuff!" They tell me. Well, the kids do eat it, they are so open about trying new things in this environment and I am so passionate about getting the word out to the youngsters as they can help change the way their family does things. They all begged for recipes each time I made something for them so that they could make it at home with their parents.

So, no matter how counter cultural we may be, eating raw and living foods, and no matter what the teasing and torment we may experience...when you've found something that works so well, and makes you feel so great, you just want to sing the praises of it to the world.  

That being said...it's not always easy, but if it was easy we wouldn't appreciate the journey nearly as much! Cheers to all of you for being a part of something great! You'll never know how many people you will touch with your inspirational spirits!

Here's what I ate today:

Feeling good, weighed myself this morning and I'm two pounds lighter than Sunday! Ya!

What I ate today:

July 15, 2009:

1.5 litres of water
Apple
Raw ice cream:
Banana/walnut/maple syrup (I meant to use agave, poured the maple syrup on it and figured it'd probably taste pretty good, which it DID!) None went to waste, my son even ate some.
Licked the spoon with raw chocolate, coconut butter, agave on it from a recipe that I did. (Now there's some brutal honesty for you!)
Ran about 45 min. (5 min. run, 1 min. walk)
Huge salad, same as last night. I LOVE this herb salad, it's so simple and so tasty...but they had more dill in the last package I had, liked it with more dill.
1 piece of raw chocolate. It is smaller than a reese peanut butter cup. Ooh, I could put some raw almond butter on top and it might taste close to that...will try with my other chocolate tomorrow.
2 cups of camomile tea

Still riding the roller coaster of a dental ride with my daughter's teeth but we have one more consult before we decide which route we're going to take. I want minimally invasive, no amalgam, no anesthesia, but I also want her safe and unhurt by the whole situation. There were not as many issues with her teeth as we'd been told by the previous dentist, and I have major trust issues with them now. We'll see how next Wednesday plays out.

This is the first time I've dealt with anything stressful and not turned to food to help me through it. I'm experiencing the frustration, sadness, pain and such in real time. I cry if I have to but know that it will all work out and we'll be a stronger family unit because of it.

Family day

My husband and I always try to have at least one or two family times during the week.  It's important to be together and enjoy each others' company.  Today we went out with my parents and had a great time with them and the kids.  Our kids are very lucky to have all four grandparents living as well as living close to us.  They are our daycare for the kids so the children have grown up with them and are very attached.

July 12, 2009

142lbs.  Scale didn't move this week.  Too much fat, too much of the sweeteners this week.  No exercise.  Will try for two bootcamps, some rebounding and at least one run and a couple of yoga sessions as well.  Less fat, less sweetener (agave, honey, dates, etc.)

1 litre of water

bowl of strawberries 

carrots

avocado

lara bar

1/2 litre of water

huge salad - mixed herb green salad, with green onions, pumpkin seeds (1 tbsp), generous sprinkle of kelp granules.  Dressing was 1 tbsp. braggs raw apple cider vinegar and cold pressed olive oil (1 tbsp).

three stalks of celery with 1 tbsp. macadamia nut butter and 1 tbsp. raisins

Banana with 1 tbsp. macadamia nut butter.  

1/2 litre of water

tea - a few cups of acai berry, touch of honey.

I LOVE macadamia nut butter.  I usually have to purchase one container per week with the amount that I eat, but having cut back on my fats, I've only used a half a container in 2 weeks. That means a container will last me 1 month instead of 1 week.  That's very helpful in the cost department.  Actually by eating less food, I really am doing well money wise for my groceries...until I start purchasing specialty items on line...

Got lots accomplished in our carport, in dire need of being tidied up.  Lots to give away and lots to pass on to friends, and the garbage, recycling, and green waste to be picked up tomorrow!  I can actually park there again!

Teaching my daughter to bike on two wheels.  Today was our first day out, for 45 min.  There were lots of tears (hers), lots of encouraging words (me) and she did really well for her first time out without training wheels.  Her confidence is not there at all yet, but she was much better on the bike in that short time, it helped her to gain at least a little confidence in what she is doing.

Off to go look for kelp noodle recipes!  I can't wait to try this stuff!

Night all!

Sun's Shining...

Today was a day of temptation in the sun! Here's how I coped! Drank a litre of water while getting ready for the day. Made a chocolate shake from the Gianni's daily video post. You can find her doing the recipe here: This is the recipe (I used 2 tbsp. cacao - then forgot to put in carob to substitute for the other 2 tbsp. and it's supposed to be 2 tsp. of maca. I also only used 1 tbsp. of lucuma and half the agave...I'll write it in the recipe below, as this is kinda confusing...)  

Delicious Chocolate Dream 

2 Bananas 

1 small avocado 

1/4 cup raw cacao (I used 2 tbsp. and meant to put in 2 tbsp. of carob) 

1/4 cup agave (I used only 2 tbsp.) 

1 tbsp coconut oil (I used coconut butter as it's all I had) 2 tbsp lucuma powder (I used only 1 tbsp.) 

2 tbsp maca (2 tsp. maca) 1/2 tsp cinnamon (forgot this one...) 

1 cup water -maybe more if you want the consistency thinner (this makes it more like a pudding instead of a drink, but either way it is great.) Blend and enjoy  

OK. So looking at this now it seems that I didn't really make the same shake at all like the one she made on the show...I always fiddle with things depending on what I think I need or my body will tolerate. However, my son had at least a quarter of the drink, he absolutely loved it. Usually he can taste the avocado in anything but just kept asking for more. My daughter who isn't a lover of bananas did not like this particular drink/pudding.  

I was super full, brushed everyone's teeth and we were off to the park for our annual family reunion picnic. SUPER fun, by the ocean, lots of exploring and playing of sports, talking to people who have been travelling all over the world, some volunteering in Africa, one who'd been fighting in Afghanistan and just got back, one who'd just arrived home from Bahrain. World travellers these are!  

The table was full of food, but I was not hungry and so did not eat. I drank another litre of water about two hours later though as it was HOT today.  

The next party was a year old birthday party with the usual fare. Lucky for me there was a fruit tray. I ate about a 1/4 cantaloupe and 1/4 honey dew melon. That's it there.  

At home I had a huge salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Mixed greens 

grated carrots raw dried cranberries sweetened with fresh apple juice (store bought) 

1 tbsp. cashews 

two green onions cut up  

Later on I had three stalks of celery with 1 tbsp. macadamia butter. 

Later after that I had 1 tbsp. macadamia butter with grawnola with a touch of honey swirled in. 

Finished eating at 8pm. I do not feel I've been low fat enough this week. I do not think the scale has moved, and I have not exercised much either with my bootcamp instructor away for the week.  

Next week I will go twice and have two run days. Yoga in the mornings about three times this week. Rebounded about 3 times as well. Off to spend some time with my other "honey". =)

New Day, New Outlook

Had a rather good day today.  

Drank 1.5 litres of water  

Ate: apple

kale chips (shared two bags with my two kids - those things are addictive!) for lunch and a

snack 

bowl of strawberries/blueberries - LOVE berry season! 

Living Nuts - about 2 tbsp. worth. They too are great!

Late Dinner: half a cantaloup and half a honeydew melon. How can you tell that my order from Upaya Naturals came in today?! I have to learn how to make kale chips myself.  

Here's a great recipe that I found on line and will use the next time I would like to eat them. My son, the "do not go green" guy (4 yrs) LOVED them. My daughter always loves to try anything and likes most foods. My son will water the garden but not eat from it! So the kale chips will be a great way to get some green in him. I found it on Raw Food Talk by Raw Knitster  

CHEESY CURLY KALE CHIPS  

1 large bunch green curly kale***, washed, large stems removed, torn into bite size pieces COATING: 1 cup cashews, (soaked 2 hours) 

1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped 

juice of 1 lemon 

1 T. nutritional yeast 

2 t. agave (opt.) 

1/2 t. himalayan pink crystal salt 

Put coating ingredients in Vitamix. Blend until smooth. Using your hands,(same as with Awesome Goddess Chips which are indeed AWESOME), spread coating on kale pieces getting it inside of curls. Put on teflex sheets and dehydrate at 105 overnight or until coating is dry. Slide onto mesh screens and dehydrate 12 hours, or until very crispy. That seems like a long time to dry kale chips. The kale was very curly, and the coating very thick.  

I will be trying it soon and let you know how it worked for me. Was at a retirement party most the evening and LOTS of temptation there, there were at least five main dishes and about 15 side dishes - one of which was raw, a veggie platter. There were 14 different kinds of desserts. I think I ate most of the fruit tray myself! That's where the melon count came in on my food for today! I enjoy parties much more now that I stick to the raw foods, as I don't feel sick or tired when leaving a party anymore. That's a nice feeling, for sure! Tomorrow it's off to a family reunion picnic (should be interesting!), and a one year old birthday party for my friend's daughter. More temptation, but the more I resist eating it, the less it appeals to me. One day at a time.  

Hope you're all doing well out there!  

Melinda

Uncomfortably Numb

That about describes how I'm feeling today. I'm having trouble feeling anything as I feel so numb. I'm shutting out feelings, and trying NOT to do it with food. Fasted on water (about a liter) until 4pm as I was too upset from news at the Dental Specialist this morning regarding my daughters teeth situation. 1 peach 1 bowl of strawberries 1 banana Ate two raw bars Salad - same as last night but with balsamic and olive oil. Seems my hemp oil, flax oil have gone off and my Vega oil is finished, until next week shopping. Macadamia/honey/grawnowla mixture. Currently feeling bloated, and numb. Gave my daughter a massage today, she's feeling my strain/stress, and is super worried as well. Here's a six year old who has never had a cavity and now has a mouthful. She's not a happy camper, but lives for the moment and seems only to be sad when I am. So I've decided not to be sad with her around, right this moment that's how it's gotta be so that she doesn't take on my emotions. Will not eat any more tonight. Stopped eating at 7:45pm. No exercise, although my heart rate has been high with stress all day. Perhaps I should go for a walk after I get the kids to bed. Hope you all had a better day. Looking to start fresh tomorrow morning with some yoga. Have to get those garden pix up as well this weekend! Good night to you all! Me.

Winnie-the-Pooh

I've been playing a lot with honey in the past few years and truly enjoy it and feel that it does have amazing qualities...however, I am Winnie-the-Pooh when it comes to honey. Once my honeypot is open, I like to have more than a small smackeral of it! My waist starts to expand and before you know it I'm wearing yellow with red! I also think that honey has something to do with my kids' teeth issues! I give them natural vitamins with natural sweeteners instead of the pills made from synthetic chemicals and chemical sweeteners. I also found out two months ago that the toothpaste that we've been using for about a year and a half was sweetened with honey. How I missed that on the list of ingredients all that time I am unsure...however, now we've got major tooth issues to deal with. Of course I see everything that happens through the eyes of "food", while my husband is very traditional in his thinking (we used non flouride toothpaste, so that must be the reason) while my mother in love (feeling more like "law" these days!?!) feels that we are doing our kids a disservice by not feeding them milk and milk products. She feels that they are calcium deficient and that's why they have cavities. No matter the reason, we need to deal with this and it's going to cost a lot of money and time not to mention the trauma to the poor wee ones! We need to re-examine what we've been doing and change things (already changed the toothpaste, anyone know of a good natural toothpaste with flouride - we're going to brush with it once a day to help the teeth for now). We are trying to use this situation as a learning experience, and hopefully we'll all come out of it better people! Tuesday July 7, 2009: Yoga and Breathing exercises Lots of water, 1 litre before 10am apple macadamia nut butter - 1 tbsp. two raw bliss spheres from Nature's World - date, carob, coconut, cinnamon. Went out to dinner for anniversary to a cute restaurant called "Wilbur and Sebastian's". Wilbur for the pig in Charlotte's Web and Sebastian is the lobster in Little Mermaid. It's a cute place, the owner was raw for about six weeks she told me but could not continue, found it too hard to do. They do homestyle cooking, everything is fresh and most is organic...my husband's back was hurting badly so he was in so much pain he could hardly eat! Poor guy! I keep telling him to go raw, maybe it would help but alas, it hasn't happened so far! Amazing tea at "Cafe Divine" and even bought some it was so good, reminded me of spiced mulled wine or apple cider! With honey of course! :) Had huge salad that they made especially for me. Nice! Mixed greens, red onion, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, tomatoes, cucumber. Oh and a glass of wine... Had about 2 litres of water total today. Exercise, housework only. Wednesday, July 8, 2009: Today at 12:34:56 07/08/09 was a neat time, I was somewhere on public transit I believe, went on a "field trip" with the kids today!) to see dinosaur exhibit. Only 1 litre of water today Apple raw bar mini carrots Bliss Sphere Huge salad: mixed greens, spinach, broccolini, pea shoots, clover sprouts with the vega oil dressing. Bliss Sphere with 1 tbsp. of macadamia nut butter Camomile tea at Cafe Divine - LOVE their teas, they come from NY somewhere and are packaged here. YUM! The fat is creeping up again and I'm eating more emotionally this week so far as my daughter's specialist appointment for the dentist is tomorrow morning. I know that "all is well" and that everything will work out in the end, it is just the unknown that I focus on. Trying to focus on the positive and not have my emotions affect her or my son. They are troopers and I know they can do this with style! Now I just have to follow their lead! I'm off to bed early as it's an early wake up call. Cheers to our half way point, have we come that far already! Looking forward to the next five weeks, must find that book! It is not available new from our Canadian online book company, so will go looking! Night all!

Inspired...

End of a long weekend of enormous amounts of work in the back yard. I know I've been writing a lot about this but it has literally consumed me for three days, like nothing else recently! Today it was all about watering and learning more about the plants and what they need and where they should (or should have) been positioned. Some will have to be replanted, but in the meantime I'm thrilled with how our back yard is coming along. I must think of this as a journey, not a destination of "garden's done". Today while talking with my sister outside, I mentioned that on our raised wooden patio area I (it is triangular against the fence of two different neighbours, shaded by big pine trees) would be a great space for socializing if we had somewhere to sit. I asked my hubby to make some benches along the fence, and make them storage benches as well, with a simple hinge lift top. He likes that idea...and we could also get one of those covered outdoor fire pits, and make it a real meeting place for our neighbours. This way too I'd have a place to put all the kids' outdoor play stuff and not have to worry about the eye clutter when I look out the door. There's even room for a small garden shed (just one foot deep, five feet tall and maybe three feet across) where I could keep gardening tools at the ready). So tomorrow after the kids' swimming lessons and some dinosaur learning (we do theme weeks in the summer this week is dino dig week) we'll clear the deck off, decide what to keep and give away and go looking for some nice cushions that we can use on our new benches. That's next week's building project. The other idea that I had is that it would be the PERFECT space for outdoor yoga for one or two, so I'm working on making it a very calm, soothing place, maybe a fountain somewhere, for a trickle of water effect. Any other suggestions? I'm really starting to have fun with this now, progress, not perfection! Here's what I ate today:

Sunday, July 5, 2009:

Fasted on water until 2pm. Hulk sauce: 3 apples 1 tbsp. vitamineral green 1 bunch of parsley 1 scoop of sproutein 1/4 cup water (or more to help blending) Blend in vitamix and ate out of an old fashioned milk shake glass. I always enjoy my food more if I eat them from a beautiful vessel. Dinner: HUGE salad. One head of romaine lettuce One container of pea shoots 1 container of alfalfa sprouts 2 tbsp. cashews (Fat?) 1 bunch of broccolini (I think that's the name?) Dressing: 2 tbsp. vega dressing (28g fat) 1 tbsp. stone ground mustard 3/4 tbsp. agave 1/2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar Snack: 1 tbsp. macadamia nut butter (12g fat) 1 tsp. raw cacao 1 banana Mash together and eat! Hmmm...looking back, that's more fat than I wanted to eat today. Start of a fresh week tomorrow, looking forward to it! Sorry for the squished writing, I'm having trouble copy and pasting into blogger from another site I write in?! Melinda