Prep Day 1

In preperation for the cleanse I'm starting on Tuesday, I have to do a 3 day prep period. 

This means no refined sugars, dairy, meat, coffee, and lots of water, incorporate plant based meals so the cleanse is most effective and my system doesn't completely crash with the adjustment.

Yesterday was Day 1. The worst thing about it was avoiding coffee. My caffeine headache started around 11 am and has continued into today - over 24 hours now. I knew it was coming, but that doesn't stop it from being horribly painful. Otherwise, yesterday looked like this:

Filtered water, first thing in the morning, and throughout the day

Handful of raw cashews/almonds

Salad with lettuce, cucumber, green pepper and organic caesar dressing (so I failed a little here, I didn't realize my dressing had cheese in it, whoops)

Green tea

Vegan crackers with organic peanut butter

Vegan crock pot chili with organic tortilla chips (not certified vegan but there weren't any animal ingredients that I could see)

 I plan to do a post every day about the previous day, so you can follow along with this experience. I placed my order today for the juices, and they should be arriving tomorrow, which will allow me to start Tuesday morning. That's it for now!

Love you for reading!

xx

Health and Juice Cleanse

Good afternoon, beautiful people of the internet.

Lately I've fallen off the health wagon. A combination of stress, Halloween chocolate, and nasty weather have contributed to this lovely little spell. However, I am determined (and by putting it in print somehow I must be held accountable) to get back on track.

 I'm strongly considering trying a juice cleanse for the first time. I am no stranger to green smoothies, so my concern is not the taste of the juice. I actually am pretty excited about it. My concern for doing this is the cost, more than anything. I don't have a juicer, so unless I go buy one and all the produce i would need - by my calculations and guides I've found online at least - it would cost a few hundred dollars to do a cleanse for 3+ days. I have a Nutribullet, but the point of that blender is to maintain the smoothie consistency. The point of juicing is to remove that fibrous content that a smoothie maintains. 

On the other hand, I've found a company out of Nanaimo which delivers cleanses, raw, cold pressed, organic, to your door. It would cost, with shipping, about $60/day. Which, if you add it up, is less than if I did it myself. The only thing is I don't know if I can handle spending the money on it! Ugh, the struggle.

Regardless of the juice cleanse thing, I am making an effort to make better choices again. I need to not fall off the wagon anymore. This should be a lifestyle for me.

I am walking my dog every day, drinking way too much water, and plenty of tea. I've also been trying to avoid meat products. I have made a new vegetarian friend who has inspired me to stop eating meat, or at least I'm cutting down on it. Eating meat really is not necessary, just with also being gluten free I find it difficult to cut out both things entirely and still have things to eat!

Anyway, looks like that's it for now. If I go ahead with the juice cleanse, I'll let you know how it went, my thoughts and experience. 

Love you for reading. xx

The return of the baby dreams

I haven't had a dream this vivid in a long time. I slept for almost 12 hours, only interrupted once, which is the longest consecutive sleep I've had in about a week. 

Anyway, my troubled sleep schedule is beside the point. I had another pregnancy/baby dream last night, and this one has continued to stick with me. I woke up confused, physically sore, and with blanket lines all over me - which can only mean that I slept very deeply. At least I think so.

Let me set the stage for you.

I was the same as I am today, but in a hospital, and my vision was patchy as I apparently was in the process of active labor. I could see black spots and hear muddy voices - all I wanted to hear was the cry that would tell me he lived. I blacked out.

When I woke up, I was more tired than I've been in my life. I looked around, took in the room that surrounded me, stuffy, too warm. I kicked the blankets off of my legs and tried to sit up. A nurse that couldn't be much younger than my mom came to my side and propped me up with a pillow behind my back. She smiled kindly and said something akin to, "you're in for a surprise, sweetheart". Of course my mind automatically gravitates to the dark possibility that my son had died. She saw the panic in my eyes and assured me, "No, there's nothing wrong dear. You'll see in a minute."

Another nurse then wheeled in a small, glass covered bassinet - not unlike the ones they keep in the hospital nurseries, but not the one they place premature infants in. I noted the blue blanket peeking from the corner and my heart soared. He lived.

"Here she comes." The older nurse placed her hand on my shoulder. 

"She?" My mind reeled. "No, it was a boy."

She smiled and we both watched as yet another nurse wheeled in a second bassinet, this one with a pink blanket. 

"Congratulations, sweetheart." The nurse by my side smiled and took my hand. "It's twins."

My stomach dropped through the floor. Twins?

Never in my dreams had I ended up with twins. So this dream was kind of a strange turn.

 Also, in this dream the only people I knew were my family and some coworkers. I didn't have any friends, my dog was there, but not my best friend. That's part of what made this so strange. My mom, sister, uncle, and Timbit were present. Also the person I strongly suspect as the father was present too. This is a person I know in this life, so I'm not going to post who they are.

Next they allowed  me to hold them each in turn. The father came into the room and smiled with that goofy grin - that said - "Would you just look at this." 

Through the rest of this dream, I was learning how to care for two babies and not one. He was around, but not too present and this dream seemed to focus on the babies themselves, not us. The boy was bigger than his sister but not by much. I remember at one point jokingly comparing them to puppies. It was at this point that Maia and Timbit raced around the living room at my mom's house and she yelled at them for roughhousing around the babies. So maybe in this dream I lived at my mom's house? My uncle was in the house for some reason, I guess to meet his great-niece and great-nephew. He kept bothering me about how I was looking after them with the father. I guess we had them out of wedlock so he wasn't too impressed? My mom was over the moon excited to have grandchildren. My sister was excited to have a niece and nephew and respected my choices. I guess this was my choice?

I'm not sure really where the dream was going...I woke up shortly after the scene at my mom's house. I call it my mom's house rather than my parent's because my dad was not involved in the dream. Anyway, super weird and is throwing me off. 

I guess that's all I can ramble about for right now. Thanks for reading, if anyone does.

x

Blogger Hiatus, Depression, Health

Health. Is that a word anyone else cringes at? If there was a word that made me feel instantly guilty, that's it. 

Living gluten free is not too much of a struggle for me anymore. I'm finding it easier to resist the easy grabs - bagels, take out pizza, soft wheat fast food buns, Timbits, birthday cake. How I miss the easy wheat-eating life. But it's working for me so far, and there's enough substitutions out there these days that I'm able to have the occasional piece of toast or blueberry muffin if I want it. 

I don't know what the problem is now, though. Dairy? I wonder if I need to cut out something else that I love just for the sake of my seemingly increasingly sensitive digestive system. Lately I've been very bad and have had Dairy Queen three times in the last week! Talk about the best way to throw off all the hard work you've put into eating healthy. My digestive system hates me, my skin is freaking out, and my hair is falling out. 

That's another thing. My hair is actually falling out.  I don't know if it's stress, diet, or shampoo. After brushing, or finger combing, I literally will have strands on my hands, brush, falling out. I will feel one brush along my arm while at work - when I wasn't even touching it. I mean really...I haven't changed anything. I always brush it, I've been straightening it almost daily for the last four months (always with heat protectant), and haven't dyed it in longer than that. I try to take good care of it, and this is how it repays me? By fleeing my head? Come on, hair, that's just not going to do.

We recently went down island to visit some great aunts and my great uncle. I think the only purpose for this visit was to make my mom happy - it was kind of a sad, dull, and awkward experience.  Spending the day hanging with 90-something relatives is not usually a barrel of laughs, but they are all of varying health, and none of it is great. It was good to see them...I don't often get the chance to go to family functions as they're usually short notice and on days that I work. Anyway. The thing that got me was while my mom proudly exclaimed about my younger siblings' success in post secondary, my sister's promise ring from her boyfriend, and my aunt's farm's exploits to her dying aunts and uncle, she always paused when she came to me, the bisexual, uneducated first born, who has done nothing but work at the same job for four years, and says a variation of the following to each relative: "...and Samantha...has a dog, which she takes to dog shows, and wins ribbons."

 I'm glad my biggest claim to fame is the fact that my dog exists.

"Give me a heads up before you tear me down." Sam Tsui "Heads Up"

I dream that I will become something someone can be proud of.

 The last conversation I had with my father centered around my dog, my roommate's car, the fact that my little brother is moving away for school, and the plans to move in the next 3-4 years. He described their new home as "downsized", with room for "our children, and their spouses, and their children". 

"Dad, you sure seem to have high hopes of procreation in the next couple of years."

"Well, your sister has her promise ring. Didn't you ever think of adoption?"

 YOU SAY THIS BECAUSE YOU THINK I'M GAY?!

For the record, I have nothing against lesbian and gay couples. It just killed me that he assumed I would never amount to whatever pedestal he has placed my siblings on and therefore would HAVE to adopt a child in order to have a family. Thanks, Dad.

I think that's all the rambling I have for today. Just back to my old ways and feeling pretty squashed lately. 

xx

  

 

 

 

 

My Green Smoothie

Hi guys! *waves*

So the other morning I didn't have to work until later, so I decided to take a few extra minutes making my morning green smoothie and show you guys what I like to have. Keep in mind that what I put in these does change from time to time based on what I have in the house, but this is more or less what I have in it. 

I use my Nutribullet blender to make these. It was a much-debated purchase but in the end I'm so glad I went ahead and bought it. I make an effort to use it almost every day, and when I don't I actually find myself thinking about the smoothie I missed in my day.

I hope you can excuse the less-than-stellar iphone photos.

First I fill about half the large cup with organic baby spinach. This is my favourite "green" for the green smoothie. Some people use kale, swiss chard, even spring mix or parsley. I like the flavor of spinach, so this is really all I use. I always buy organic. Keep in mind I STUFF the spinach in there. It may not look like a lot but that's two handfuls crammed down in the bottom. I like to squish as much as I can into the cup.

Next I slice, then half the slices, about a quarter of a cucumber. I miss this when I don't have it for my smoothie. Again, I try and buy these organic, and I usually get at least 2 at a time. That will last about a week, then I go get fresh ones. It's so refreshing and really adds to the flavor, and of course green color! It's probably not necessary to cut it up so small, but I'm paranoid and want my blender to last as long as it can. Considering I'm using it almost daily to make these drinks (and others!) I want to prolong it's life the best I can. Part of that is not making it work too hard each time.

 My green smoothie doesn't feel right without pineapple. I use 2-3 "stalks" in each one, depending on how big they are and how much room I have left in the cup. I buy it pre-cut, which i know is the lazy way out, but my goal is to make making these smoothies as simple as possible so I am more inclined to keep doing it. That's the way my brain works. Anyway. This is part of the "fruit component. I usually do 50% greens/veggies and 50% fruit, as I like mine to taste sweet. The pineapple really masks the taste of the spinach, so if you're new to this I highly recommend it.

I half a lemon, cut a couple slices to put in plain water, then squeeze the juice of the rest of it into my smoothie. I am COMPLETELY, and utterly, irreversibly, obsessed with lemon. Lately I've been trying to make an effort to drink more water, and nothing makes it go down better than having it taste great. Lemon does that for you, without adding any chemicals, sugar, or calories, and it helps detox your system with its cleansing properties. Get lemon daily. 

As an add-on, I like putting in either a tablespoon of chia seeds (which are SO good, by the way; another obsession) or ground flax seeds. Yes, you do have to grind them into powder for your system to do anything with them. I used the Nutribullet to do this - it comes with a Milling blade made for turning seeds into powders and nuts/water into nut milk. I just bought a container of organic flax seeds then ground them in the Nutribullet until you get a rather fine powder. It's not going to be perfect. You could buy it pre-ground if you wanted, I just found it more cost effective this way as I knew the Nutribullet could grind them for me.Anyway, flax is a good source of fibre so it's a great add on to your smoothie, and it adds a different texture, so if you don't like more watery drinks, add this to thicken it up. I don't do this everyday.

Now, you could leave it the way it was, but because I only had 2 stalks of pineapple left this day I added some fresh raspberries. Frozen would work great too; I just happened to have fresh ones. I also really like frozen sliced strawberries in this. They work as nutritional ice cubes!

Now we're done loading up all our ingredients. How pretty does this look?

We're almost there. Just add enough water to either go up to the Max line (don't go past it!) or less if you want a thicker smoothie. I usually go up to the line or just below it as I've done this day. I use filtered water from my Brita filter, but you can use any liquid you want - cocount water, orange juice, whatever. I personally don't like the taste of coconut water, but it's health benefits are boundless so it's recommended for this kind of thing. I stick to the plain water with the lemon in there.

Screw on your Extractor blade, make sure it's tight, then flip the whole works over. Lock it into the power base (there are small notches which guide you). 

 Blend...

 Keep blending...you can see it's turned this - in all honesty - gross color.

It's lucky it tastes so good, because it's certainly prettier if you don't add berries or flax. I blend it until the consistency looks the way I want it. This varies day to day.

There you go! Hope you guys enjoyed. Want to see more recipes in the future? Let me know in the comments!

Bonus: Here's my latest fruit infused water obsession: Lemon and strawberries! So yummy.