Live and Raw Just Got Easier!

Oh Yeah! I unpacked my Excalibur 5 tray dehydrator last evening and set it up on the counter, and then I spent the rest of the evening reading about what kinds of foods etc.

When I ordered it I was mostly thinking raw crackers and cookies,  to enhance my meals so I don’t feel like I am eating celery, carrots and apples all the time. I realized last evening though that this is going to be a fantastic way to save all the abundant fresh produce to eat year round. Read the rest of this entry »

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Cardio is not enough. Add Weights for Strength.

This statement in obvious to most people. If not obvious then it is certainly something you have heard said before! You probably have already heard how weight resistance exercises can help reduce the risk of osteoporosis, increase metabolism, help prevent injuries, and look really great after you lose that weight.

Has anyone told you how you will FEEL though? Has anyone told you that you will stand with a more erect posture after only just a few days because you can actually feel your muscles. Has anyone told you that you will feel physically stronger after only a few days, even if there isn’t a measurable increase in actual strength. Psychologically when you can feel your muscles your mind associates that feeling with strength, and when you feel physically stronger you also get a subconscious boost in self confidence. Read the rest of this entry »

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Happier and Stronger Day by Day!

This is just a short post tonight. I will be on early tomorrow morning to write a bit in case you miss me too much! LOL

I just wanted to tell you what a wonderful day I had. Yesterday Jim and I had a wonderful Sunday out on the boat at the lake again. It really was a beautiful day, and as Jim reminded me, each one now is a gift as we draw closer to fall. The leaves were even changing color on some of the trees. It was mostly along the water line… we have had so much rain this summer that the trees roots along the shore have been covered in water all summer long. It’s been an unusual summer, with no beach at all along most of the river shoreline!

Well yesterday morning before we went out, I was able to do 35 minutes on the exercise bike, and a really good lower body workout. Today I did the bike and an upper body and then this evening I was able to sneak in 25 minutes on the treadmill. Since my attitude adjustment of yesterday I am actually looking forward to the exercise sessions.

On the bike now I am doing a 5 minute warm up and then a few minutes at resistance 3 and 80 RPM followed by 2 minutes of resistance 4 trying to keep RPM at between 95 and 100 so I feel like I am sprinting. I really want to be jogging by spring at latest providing my knees will allow it. So this was sort of my first conditioning workout.

Tonight on the treadmill I did brisk walking with 5 30 to 90 second sprints (well jogs LOL) but it’s a start and I feel really great to have a goal like being able to run. I have NEVER been able to, not because of strength but because I have always smoked and have never had the lung capacity to run. I think I will be able to finally. Any way… we’re gonna shoot for it! :-)

See you tomorrow!

S\

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I feel amazing today!

Yes I really do! I had a fantastic day. I did the bike, I did an upper body workout with weights and I did some ab work. That was about an hour. After that I spent a full half an hour just stretching, holding the stretch, breathing deeply, and feeling myself IN the muscle as it lengthened.

It is amazing, I feel stronger, lighter, and happier. If you read my post from yesterday, then you know that I finally conquered the exercise demon. I simply changed the way I viewed moving my body. Isn’t it amazing what happens when you no longer give over the power, but take it back for yourself?

Today, my muscles feel sore. It’s the good sore that comes from DOING something! I am walking with an energetic step. I am standing erect of posture. I feel strong, confident and healthy. IMAGINE all of that in just a day. Just one day that I’ve been building up for, and laying the foundation for this past month.

This afternoon for a while, and again this evening I browsed the internet, exploring fitness blogs. I have been browsing "loss weight" blogs for the past month, and it is interesting how the energy changes slightly with the keyword.

so while I was browsing tonight I came across a fascinating post from Dave at TheTruthAboutDiets.com. It seems that he has been saying for some time that exercise is not enough to lose weight, unless you make diet modifications as well.

Here is his post… Enjoy!

Exercise Alone Ain’t Enough to Get It Done

Anyone who’s read my stuff or followed any of my programs knows that when it comes to losing fat, I say that nutrition is more than half the battle.

Well, now there’s some very good research that proves this point.

Basically this research took two groups of sedentary people, and gave one group a well-designed fitness program to follow for 12 weeks, while the other group remained sedentary.

They didn’t change their eating patterns at all. The results might surprise you. You can read the details in a post from Dr. John Berardi, who was part of the research team.

Here’s the link to the post.

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WOW - A Month into this New Lifestyle!

It really is crazy how the time goes, and I was keenly aware that today marked the first month of my journey to rehaul my life. I really took the day to reflect, and center myself, to focus on eating well, breathing deeply, and taking inventory of what I’ve accomplished.

I haven’t lost any more weight since that initial 5 pounds but I am not at all concerned about that. I find that in itself a remarkable change for me. At any other time in my life I would be "dieting" and marking my progress with the scales. If I were to go 2 weeks without losing a pound I would be thrown in to the absolute depths of despair! I would go on a rampage, exercise myself sick, and starve myself and by golly i would conquer that weight!

I am at peace this time that changing weight is easy Read the rest of this entry »

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A little planning goes a long way!

My dear friend Angela emailed me this morning after reading my "focus" post, to ask me if I had spent some time prepping my food, which gave me my idea for this post. First, meet Angela… you can read a wee bit about her on the ABOUT Page. Angela is going to be a regular contributor to the blog as well as a moderator and contributor to the Be Naturally Well Forums. You are soon going to find out what I know about her… she is as beautiful inside as her picture shows of the outside!

So anyway… Angela gave me an idea for the post and that is to give you a glimpse of my preparation. You see a huge part of my preparation takes place only a couple of times a week, and this is a huge time saver over the week. I also REALLY do not like to be caught unprepared with no ready to grab food. Eating mostly vegan, mostly raw, I am hungrier more often than if I were eating foods with denser calories.

So here is what I did this morning. Read the rest of this entry »

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Focus

That’s sometimes an issue for me. The biggest challenge I face when trying to change a lifetime of entrenched habits is that ‘habit’ keeps pulling me back.

That is true for most of us. So much of how we operate is on a subconscious level. That is one of the reasons that people often seem a little obsessed when they are attempting to change a habit. It’s because in order to change something you have been doing for so long that it is second nature, you actually have to drag it to your conscious mind and really THINK about it in order to change it.

That is what I have been experiencing this past week. Read the rest of this entry »

 

 

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ARGHHH! Still Raining!

Yuck. Not only is it still raining but I have a desperate headache today, and I had the worst time getting out of bed. I want to blame it on the constant low pressure system hanging over the house, but I did not eat well over the weekend either so it’s hard to say why I feel so awful today. It’s probably a combination of both.

I have to go out and run a few errands today, but I will be back later to work a bit on the forum and make a decent post.  I was surfing a bit though and I came across a blog from someone who talks about going raw and how hard it will be with little or no family support.

Support is so important and it is one of the reasons that I really want to get the forums up and working.

Here is an exerpt from her blog….

Well, it’s Monday late-afternoon. This morning I weighed 155.5 lbs. Baby steps! I know this may take a little while. Now, I have decided to add in some physical activity everyday. I know this will help move things a little faster for me.

My oldest son, who is 10, just came home on Saturday. Reality has hit me like a ton of bricks. Not only his he not interested in my raw food, but now my husband isn’t either. I have convinced my son to try eating raw for … read the rest of this story.

When the forums are up, then as a community we will be able to support those who need it the most (and that includes me!!… some days like today I need support! LOL)

Have a wonderful day. I’ll see you soon!

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A Critical Time

First of all it is raining AGAIN! I don’t mind the rain, but it has been raining here non stop for a couple of weeks. This is unusual for us. Normally the last two weeks of July and the first 2 weeks of August are the hottest weeks of summer and then we start to transition into fall. This year, the grass is vibrantly lush green. I pout when I can’t get out on the boat with Jim. Summers here in Canada are too short as it is!

So I am feeling a little sluggish and blue this morning. I have decided that I need to step up the exercise. My life is in front of my laptop 14 hours a day. The little bit of exercise I am doing is not going to get me fit, and it isn’t going to help me lose weight. I need to move more. SO today is the start. It will be treadmill AND bicycle every day as well as weights.

I personally should be exercising 3 hours every day. Now I do not mean that 3 hours needs to be strenuous gut wrenching nauseatingly difficult. HOWEVER, I don’t move at all, so it needs to be at least an hour of strength training and real exercise, and at least 2 hours of just moving.

Last night we went out for supper. I had a stir fry on a bed of rice. The rice I only had a few mouthfuls of. It was good, I was just not hungry by the time I ate all the vegetables and chicken. It was done in a teriyaki sauce and was tasty but I was aware of it being a little greasy as well. Of course we were in a tavern, so I wasn’t complaining. Any place that sells draught beer by the pitcher is not likely going to have a cordon bleu trained chef on staff! LOL

I don’t have much in the way of motivation for you today. I am simply going to buckle down. I have my eating controlled, and now it is time to get the exercise regimen under control.

I caught sight of myself in the full sized mirror in the ladies room last night. My shock at what I saw should be motivation enough! :-)

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Paying for Slip ups!

You wouldn’t think that one slip would have such consequences. All of a sudden I am aware of exactly why I have been feeling so crappy for such a long time!

Last evening Jim came home with subs. My fave is a club on parmesan oregano bread with loads of veggies and cheese. I at the whole thing!! (foot long not 6") and savored every bite.

I felt a bit of a headache, and pretty sluggish by bedtime, but who doesn’t feel sluggish at 12:30 at night! This morning though WOW I have fluid filled sacs under my eyes, and my eyeballs feel grainy, like the wind blew some sand in there. I also have a headache!

I have felt for some time now that I had a wheat sensitivity, and I often have this kind of reaction when I ate processed meats before. I just never really drew the line between what I was eating and those puffy sacs under my eyes some mornings!

So today I am going back to raw, having learned a valuable lesson. I won’t say that I’ll never eat a sub again, but at least when I make that choice in the future I will be fully aware of what the consequences are!

I made a huge fruit salad yesterday that I can munch on all day. I will be drinking several pints of fresh juice today including a big glass of cucumber and celery to flush out my system. I still have some fresh veggies, but getting low so I will make a trip to the market again today. I need to go through the detox again but I feel better just thinking about it, so it’s going to be ok. Getting back on track doesn’t seem to get me down. :-)

This brings me to something I’ve been wondering about. We all have a  few vices that can through us off for a day, a week and sometimes permanently. My biggest temptations are salty crunchy snacks… potato chips especially, but pretzels as well. I can say no to any kind of chips except for Lay’s Salt and Vinegar chips. I would walk ten thousand miles for a bag of those! LOL

What about you? What can derail you, and how do you avoid it? If you do slip up, do you get right back on track?

I will be working on the forums for most of the day since it is raining today and we won’t be going boating. UGH we’ve had a lot of rain this past month. Hopefully August will be better!

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