Boosting my Immune System

I’m not getting a flu shot. There is no way anyone is sticking me with a needle and injecting who-knows-what into my system.  Instead I choose to focus on eating well and cleanse my body so it can better handle any antagonist it faces.  Knock on wood, but I haven’t been sick in a few years except for a few brushes with food and alcohol poisoning.  Hint: a hangover = alcohol poisoning.  I rarely drink alcohol these days.

I’ve started using Chinese medicine to cleanse my liver. I’ve been using the product for about a week now, and I have already noticed improvements in my skin.  My hands have been rough and dry for as long as I can remember, and they are starting to heal and finally have some moisture in them.  If this rate of healing keeps up, in another week or so I should have soft hands!

Skin is a mirror of organ health. If you have unhealthy skin, your internal organs are in need of a little love and care.  Eating fresh organic fruits and vegetables are great for the liver, but you’ve also got to eliminate all the substances that make the liver sluggish like alcohol, cooked fats, coffee, and refined foods.  Foods that keep your liver healthy are foods that keep your entire body healthy.

Back when I was in high school, I was aware that my skin had a yellow tint to it.  I didn’t know then, but yellowing of the skin is a sure sign that the liver is in trouble.  My skin is now a very healthy colour and I know that my liver is doing much, much better.  It may have something to do with the fact that I drank copious amounts of Diet Coke back then.  Now I drink more water than anything else, and Diet Drinks never pass my lips.  I’ve still got some bad habits that I need to work on, but learning the truth about aspartame made me quit consuming it that second. I like my nerves, my eyes, and my brain a whole lot.  I never mess with aspartame any more and I know my liver is very happy about that!

I’m Sorry Liver.

Best of intentions = worst treatment of liver in awhile. I’m liver conscious.  I know what it likes.  I know what it doesn’t.  This week when I started a liver cleanse, I ended up doing more harm than good.  I started thinking of all the things that I shouldn’t eat while cleansing and ended up craving them!  Then I gave in.  This week I have drank more coffee than I ever have.  I ate toast.  I ate cheese.  I drank beer and wine.  I ate chocolate cake and ice cream.  I ate french fries even!  There probably wasn’t anything that I didn’t eat when I think about it.  Yikes!

But I like it better when I don’t eat these things.  I get a lot more enjoyment out of feeling amazing.  When I eat these foods occasionally, my liver can process and handle them with ease. When I eat them more often, my liver gets overworked. I feel slow, tired, moody, and even ill.  Now that I’ve been reminded of how these foods make me feel, I’ll complete the cleanse more faithfully than I would have originally.  My goal is clear and I am excited to see the results of the cleanse!

Running in the Rain.

This morning I went for a 50 minute run with my boyfriend in the rain. When the going got tough I wanted to stop.  I was getting bored and mentally I wasn’t in the game anymore.  Then I realized that this time last year I ran a half marathon without training (don’t EVER do that by the way) and I was able to push myself for the last 10 minutes.  Mind games can make us or break us.  Don’t let your mind chatter get the best of you.  Step out of your comfort zone and show that mind chatter who’s boss!

This is why I love yoga so much.  All I do for the entire class is focus on my breath. I breathe as deeply as possible for an hour and all my muscles have to do is follow the voice of my instructor.  Rarely do I ever start to question the work being done and rarely do I think about quitting.  I find if I just breathe the rest takes care of itself. However, if I start thinking too much and lose the breath I get into trouble.  I think about quitting.  I think about how difficult the pose is, and I think about laying on the floor in Savasana – corpse pose.  There is nothing better than Savasana!

So today when I ran and my mind chatter took over, I returned to my breath and kept on running. Deep breath in and slow breath out.  Over and over. It’s amazing what the mind can do when you push it.  If I had been un the middle of another half marathon I would have finished it, no problem.  But when you aren’t running with thousands of other people, it’s hard to stay motivated.  But each one of you has the ability to keep on strong.  Keep with your breath, keep calm, and carry on.

Living Allergen Free is a Lifestyle.

Today was a day filled with pears and barley grass. I ate pears when I was hungry and drank a liter of barley grass in-between.  We buy powdered barley grass juice and mix it with water.  It’s a bit intense if you’ve never drank greens before, but I’ve been drinking it for years now and I actually love the taste.  Yes, it tastes like drinking grass.  Yes, I know I am strange.  Barley grass is highly alkaline and such a good treat for the liver.

I really don’t miss all the highly allergenic foods I used to eat.  My diet has been improving over the last 3 years, but in the last month alone it has improved by leaps and bounds. For instance, I tried some “healthy” soup from can yesterday that my boyfriend bought for a video shoot.  Nothing from a can can really be healthy, but it depends on where you are with your diet.  If you eat tons of processes crap you may like the taste of a healthy can of soup. There was really nothing wrong with this particular soup.  It was full of vegetables and the ingredient list was alright, but the taste was awful.  I haven’t eaten anything processed in over a month now, and my taste buds have changed so much that the soup tasted like nothing.  The vegetables didn’t taste like the organic vegetables I eat every day.  The soup had texture; nothing else.  If I’m going to have soup, I’m going to make it myself.

Now, when I bite into a crisp organic royal gala apple, I am in flavour heaven.  No two apples taste alike. They are all so different, so flavourful and intense.  It’s something I never noticed until I started eating more of a whole foods diet full-time.  Royal gala apples are so sweet.  I love them and I could eat them every day.  I pretty much do eat them every day.

The one treat I like to have is pure, dark maple syrup. I’ll mix it into my almond butter energy bar concoction and I make it a little sweeter than I should.  It’s my treat and I make sure I have a treat every day.  Sometimes I’ll stray, but never too far.

Today we went to Lit Espresso Bar to do some work.  I had a soy latte with some dark chocolate.  Since my entire diet is based on whole foods, I don’t freak out on myself if I have a stray treat here and there. Now, please note that I rarely have soy and I don’t recommend it to anyone due to the heavy phytoestrogens it contains.  It just happens to be my current, personal vice.  I think the only tho things I have left to give up are coffee and chocolate.  If I give up coffee, I pretty much give up soy and chocolate at the same time. They are a package deal.  I know I don’t do well with caffeine.  Caffeine is next to go!  I’ll give myself a month to weed it out.

I do abide from some pretty stiff rules all the time: no wheat, no dairy, and therefore, no diarrhea! A few days ago I found some amazing berry tea that I’d choose over a latte any day.  The trick to quitting a bad habit is to replace it with a healthier habit that makes you happier than the initial one. I don’t think why it makes you happier matters, just so long as it does.  That loose berry tea is the best tea I’ve ever had, and if I meet anyone for “coffee” you can be sure I am going to take them to that place!

If you have food allergies, focus on the foods that you can have. It won’t do you any good to pine over old foods that make you sick.  Focus on fresh fruits and vegetables.  Keep a long list of foods that you can eat handy, and stock your fridge with those foods too.   Hang out with people who support the way you eat.  It’s going to be pretty hard to eat allergen-free if you’re hanging out with your friends in a bar!

Allergen-Free Diet: Day 2

Day 1 of my self-imposed challenge did not go so well. I didn’t have time to shop and had to survive on bananas and peanut butter through the day.  Neither of those foods were on my “Perfect” list, but I still consider the day a success since I didn’t eat and dairy, wheat, soy, or corn.  Dinner consisted of a garden salad with a 3 oz rib eye steak and organic acorn squash.

I have included meat in my diet once again to see if I can balance my iron levels and clear up the last of my eczema.  All meat that we consume is organically and locally raised at pasture.  I still have the moral dilemma that comes with eating a living animal, but I am starting to lean toward the hunter gatherer diet as one that suits both my mind and my body best.

I enjoy experimenting with my diet and I’m a firm believer in food as therapy.   Time will tell if meat is in my diet to stay.

Day 2 of my challenge is shaping up nicely. We just received our local organic food delivery and there are plenty of fabulous fruits and vegetables at my disposal.  Breakfast consisted of a smoothie made with bananas and almond butter and lunch consisted of a few pears.  I’m not too hungry today, so dinner will likely be a large salad!

Allergen-Free Diet for 30 Days.

I have multiple severe food allergies. If I eat wheat I get intense abdominal pain and gas.  If I eat pineapple my mouth will bleed.  Anything with yeast or sugar makes me itch instantly all over.  I haven’t drank milk in years, and if I did I would almost certainly have instant diarrhea.  I am so grateful for coconut milk ice cream!  Coffee makes the skin on my fingers swell, split and bleed within half an hour.  I guess you could say that for these reasons and more I study nutrition faithfully.

I stay away from these things most of the time, but for 30 days I want to commit to eating an allergen-free diet, catered specifically to myself.  We are all sensitive to the foods we eat to a certain degree. None of us have the same allergies, but you can bet that the foods you eat the most often are likely food sensitivities.   Most people eat the same foods day in and day out.  And most people are sensitive to these 5 things: milk, wheat, sugar, corn, and soy.  I am sensitive to the first 4, but for estrogen-dominance reasons I try to avoid soy as well.

Without going into too much detail, your body can come to crave the foods to which you are sensitive and those  foods can become drugs on which you are dependent.  Take coffee for instance.  A few days without your morning java and you could have yourself a nice little detox headache for 24-72 hours. If you are curious, go cold-turkey.  I had mine for a solid 48 when I stopped regular caffeine consumption.  You might as well add coffee to the common allergen list above at #6.  And if you eat bananas every day, your body can become sensitive and dependent on them too.  The same rules generally apply.

This is why I want to give my body a break.  I want it to heal substantially.  I want to feel even more energy on a daily basis and I want to identify the foods that are holding me back.  To aid my quest for optimal health, I will use my food sensitivity screening as my guide. This test uses your hands to complete an energy circuit and give you detailed information on how your body reacts to food.  It’s not expensive.  I believe mine was somewhere in the $120 range.

From my test I learned that there are:

118 foods to which I have a severe intolerance

34 foods to which I am moderately intolerant

16 foods to which I am mildly intolerant

And 139 that I am perfectly capable of eating!  Finally, some good news.

My method of attack in this 30-day challenge is to stick to the list of foods I can enjoy. I glanced over the list of foods I need to avoid, but there is no need to dwell on things I am not supposed to eat.  Mangoes were a surprise.  But then again I reacted to organic mangoes after my 31-day water fast back in 2007.  Mango skins gave me a rash and I was in denial.  My body knew back then that it didn’t want to eat mangoes.

As I look over the list again, there are no big surprises and nothing I can’t live without for at least 30 days, and I’m kicking off the challenge right now with a tall glass of high quality H2O   I will keep you posted as to how things are progressing – the ups, the downs, the meals, etc.

Oh, hello juicer. Long time no juice.

I don’t have anything against juicing, but I do have something against our juicer.  You see, our juicer is a runt. Whenever I juice I get 20% juice, 80% foam.  It may look like a juicer.  It may sound like a juicer.  But I assure you, the only gears that get properly ground in the process of “juicing” are mine.  I fantasize about going  “Office Space” on my juicer every time I use it.  Instead of it creating pulp I would gladly beat it to a pulp in the middle of a field

When you avoid your juicer for as long as I have, you forget how good green juices make you feel.  Focusing on the good, I suppose any green juice is good juice, even if it comes with a heaping side of foam.  So, I’ve decided to juice in bulk.  That way I can actually get enough juice to warrant having a go at the entire operation, and I can relish the days that I don’t have to clean it!

This week I have been juicing every other day, so every other day I drink about a liter of concentrated greens: kale, swiss chard, and celery are the norm.  My skin is glowing, and I’ve acquired an edge in yoga that I haven’t had in months. I feel so good right now that I can’t believe I ever stopped juicing, so foam or no foam I’m going to juice dammit.  Maybe I’ll just drink it out of a cappuccino mug and serve up a tall non-fat green juice with extra foam and stick it to Starbucks for good.

Selling Vespie.

I love my Vespa. This morning she got me through a construction site via the sidewalk with gentle finesse.  She parks herself readily on the sidewalk where no car may venture, right in front of the local bakery where the smells of freshly made pain au chocolate lure me in.  It’s 8:30 am and the city it just starting to stir when Vespie and I have already had our first ride of the day.  Later, we will venture Barks and Fitz where she will once again occupy a small piece of sidewalk real estate so I can purchase food and treats for the pups, who gingerly remind me every time they defecate that they have been without them since Friday.  And after that, we will travel to yoga, where this granola girl will morph into a sweaty and very slippery pile of mush on her mat.  The ride home will be blissful.  There is nothing quite like taking Vespie on the ride home from hot yoga.  The wind feels fantastic on my newly cleansed skin.

For all these reasons, selling her is close to impossible. But I am slowly letting go.  After 4 days of avoiding an email from a man willing to buy her, I called him back.  I tried my best to negotiate, as I won’t let her go without a fight.  My dad says I need to be content with the price I sell her for, so I’m going no lower than a price that allows for a night full of sleep.  I’d rather not be up regretting my decision.  And I certainly don’t have to take the first offer that comes my way, but what other man would be willing to buy a yellow scooter?

I gave him a counter offer that made him wince, which just happens to be exactly half of what I paid for her 1 year ago this month, so I’m standing my ground.  After all, she’s definitely worth more than that, and the worst that can happen is that Vespie and I remain friends.  I’m being frugal in every other way, so maybe I can keep this one little indulgence?  We’ll see.

Montreal: To shop or not to shop, that is the question.

In my quest to be frugal, I’ve been keeping a very close eye on my wallet. It likes to come up for air once and awhile when I’d rather it drown in the bottom of my bag.  I was especially careful this past weekend in Montreal, because last time I was there I spent close to $1000 dollars!  There were shoes, sweaters, jeans, and jackets…yes plural.  The shopping in Montreal is fantastic!

This time around I decided to exercise my mind rather than my wallet.  I am committed to drowning my debt.  Although there were plenty of opportunities to shop, my greatest obstacle was a morning alone downtown.  I was free to roam the stores unchaperoned for 2.5 hours and all I bought was a coffee and a bottle of water.  I know, I know, coffee is an anti-nutrient and all that jazz but I made a deal with myself.  I could sip and enjoy a coffee while browsing if I didn’t spend another cent.  This allowed me to have a treat without that treat being a few hundred dollars worth of unnecessary apparel.  I was content.

There were some close calls, however.  I picked up a few items in one store, thinking, I’ll just try them on – no harm done.  But after 10 minutes of walking around the store, I decided to toss them aside.  No need to try anything on, because I wasn’t buying anything.  I went to Chapters and found a few interesting reads.  No need – I’ll just make a trip to the library when I return home – FREE!   I am proud of myself for sure, and I am happy to report that the evil credit cards are still MIA in the black abyss that is the bottom of my bag

Celiac Disease on the rise? No kidding!

I read an article in the Toronto Sun yesterday about Celiac Disease (wheat allergy accompanied with digestive system hell) and how its prevalence is on the rise.  It’s 4 times more prevalent today than in the 1950s, and nobody knows why? Apparently the environment is blamed and so is our hygiene.  Since we’re eating less dirt these days, our immune systems are attacking themselves rather than the bugs around us?  I personally thing they should have had someone else write the article, because there are lots of people who have a general idea as to why CD is on the rise.

The environment is partly to blame, but you’ve got to into more detail than a vague “blame the environment!” Most North Americans are growing up on a diet that emphasizes wheat, potatoes, sugar, and meat, and their diet is often void of vegetables.

Even when people do eat vegetables, they’re are often cooked from frozen or they come from a can, meaning they are nearly nutrition-less and fiber-less.  If you want some nutrients, you’ve got to include fresh fruits and vegetables into your diet.  Don’t buy into all that “to increase fiber you must eat x amount of grains per day” crap. Fruits and vegetables are the BEST source of fiber.  I’m not trying to sell you anything here – seriously.  But a cereal commercial that boasts “12 whole grains” is trying to twist your arm into buying their product.  Don’t fall for their marketing ploy!

Most of all, the North American diet is to blame for our poor digestive tracts. Wheat and sugar are nutrient-void devils.  Between the two of them, they probably account for 95% of all bloating and the proliferation of bad bacteria in the digestive tract.  Add into the mix antibiotic medications, and you are completely digestive-ally screwed.  Antibiotics kill bacteria, which would be great except that they kill friendly bacteria too – and you need friendly bacteria to stay alive.  Being the devils that they are, wheat and sugar suppress the immune system as well.  Sugar especially beats it down – just 1 tsp of sugar can suppress the immune system for hours!

If you want a healthy digestive tract, then you’ve got to cut out pretty much anything that is advertised. If you cut out anything that comes in a package, you will successfully cut wheat and sugar from your diet.  Make sure you eat plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, and get some exercise.  If you really want to get healthy, try adding a green supplement to your diet, and get yourself some probiotics – Not yogurt (dairy is yet another digestive devil), but probiotic capsules that you take with water just before bed.  This regime may sound like a lot to ask, but if you’ve got digestive troubles, isn’t it worth a try?  After all, if you don’t have your heath…