The Great Outdoors

We have had a few absolutely gorgeous days here in eastern Kansas and Christopher and I (and Kasey, our dog) have been spending time outside enjoying the weather. I think a big part of being healthy is spending time each day outdoors. I know it's not always easy, and it can be downright impossible when it's 0 degrees, snowing and windy. But whenever you can, get out to a place where you can see the trees and feel the fresh air.

You don't even have to live in the middle of nowhere to reap nature's benefits. Cities are filled with parks and green space; even small spots work! It's incredible the difference you notice in yourself when you spend time in nature. Here are some observations of my own feelings and what I see in Christopher when we spend a few minutes or a few hours outside...

• We are both much more relaxed.
• Any forms of stress that existed melt away and this effect seems to last for a long time after being outside.
• Our bodies get exercise! For a little, energetic boy this is critical! We go to a trail and he just RUNS. 
• We slow down more (after the running of course) and take in more details than we do when distracted by normal life... the moss on the ground, the woodpeckers in the tree, as many rocks as a certain someone can fit in his pocket, the snake in the garden... Our powers of observation are sharpened. 
• We have a ton to talk about. I can't tell you how many conversations are sparked by our hikes or refer back to one of our visits to the trail.
• We feel more connected to the rhythms and cycles of nature and the seasons. 

All of these effects are so important to a healthy life. You can eat all the fruits and veggies you want, but if you are stressed out because you are running from here to there, holding grudges against others, constantly checking the news updates, you will not get the chance to breathe, relax, and let go, even if it is for a few short minutes. It is so important! 

Pets and Farm Animals

An excellent op-ed in the Times this morning from Mark Bittman about the fine line between how we treat pets and how we treat farm animals. A must read...

http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/some-animals-are-more-equal-than-others/?ref=opinion

The aftermath

So I took part in an inadvertent experiment today.

Actually, it took place last night and into today. We finished the cleanse on Saturday. I ate very well on Sunday, even though we didn't make any green juices that day. Sunday evening, we went out and had Indian food (which was fabulous... and vegan) as well as a glass of wine. The wine threw me for a loop but didn't bother me too much.

Today, my mom and I brought Christopher to a coffee house/indoor gym and I grabbed a foo-foo butterfinger espresso drink with soy milk. As soon as I had that, I knew it was a mistake. While it tasted good, it was so sweet and rich and wreaked havoc on my stomach. Later in the afternoon, I made my chocolate-chocolate chip vegan cookies for a couple events we have coming up this weekend and of course I had to sample one or two as well as the batter. The whole rest of the day up until this very moment, I have felt weak, shaky, and just generally crappy.

And so I come back to the fact that none of this surprises me. I think my body reacted more extremely to the caffeine and sugar because of how alkaline we had been eating for the past three weeks. But it affected me just the same and it amazes me again how the food choices we make influence the way we feel mentally and physically. When you are just eating the way you always have without paying attention, you might not notice, as I would not have in the past. But my body is more sensitive especially now, and I am going to listen to it and give it what it needs! Green juice anybody?

Greens!!!

So just to give you an idea of what goes into our green juices, here are the ingredients...

Here is Christopher helping with the kale...

And the milk mustache has been replaced by the green mustache!

A few thoughts

Well, here we are, approaching the very end of this 21 day adventure cleanse. Okay, so we still have a day to go but it's my blog and I get to reflect when I want to!

First I have to say that I am very proud of Brian and I for having committed to this cleanse and working hard to see it through. Although there were times that were not fun (cleaning the juicer again; having a big salad again; smelling that espresso and not drinking it again), it was so helpful to have the support of my fabulous husband throughout all this, knowing that we are doing this for the improvement of our health and well-being. We are so ready for it to be done tomorrow but we both feel pretty darn good physically and we are grateful for that.

Personally, there were lessons learned during this cleanse that I will keep with me from now on. 1) I am very aware of how good I feel right now and although I am certainly not eliminating caffeine, alcohol, sugar, and gluten forever, I will be more aware of how much I am consuming and how my body feels when I do have them... 2) Juicing will continue to be a part of my life, although not on a daily basis. I feel so good consuming the nutritious yumminess from fruits and veggies and want to keep that going for a lifetime! 3) I've learned some new ways to get creative with food (i.e.--how many different combinations of "grain-bean-veggie" can you come up with in a week?) 4) I've learned to satisfy a sweet tooth with stevia sweetened tea (does not affect blood sugar!) and fresh fruit such as pineapple and kiwi... 5) I've reinforced the fact that I can make a commitment to something, work hard on it, follow through, and complete it with success!

One thing I don't want to do is fall right back into the crappy foods I might have consumed before. Brian and I have said the following quite a bit recently: "I can't wait til we're done with this cleanse so we can eat _________ (Indian food, pizza, wine, etc.). I will definitely be including these things in my diet in the future, but I don't want to dive right in and go crazy just because we haven't had these things in 3 weeks. I want to include healthy versions of these foods and not run to them in either times of celebration or in times of stress, which I have done in the past.

This has been such a journey and I am so happy to have found Kris Carr and her Crazy Sexy Diet. She addresses her readers as "Wellness Warriors" and I love that description! To me a wellness warrior seeks to live a healthy, happy life-- not a perfect one, because perfect is boring, but a vibrant and active one!

Day 17

By now, it feels as if we've been eating the "cleanse way" for our entire lives. I guess that's the idea though--to create new, healthy habits that will stick with us forever. While I admit that I have been living with many of these habits for a while now, doing this cleanse has made me really pay attention to everything I put in my mouth.

If I had to do this forever (pay attention to everything I put in my mouth!), I just might lose my mind, that's for sure. I am so looking forward to having a glass of wine or even a slice of regular whole wheat toast (gasp!). But I'm thinking about how great I feel physically, emotionally, and spiritually right now and I don't want to lose that feeling! I'm ready for this to be done but I'm so thankful for having done it.

Day 14

I can't believe we have been doing this cleanse for 14 days already!

I just want to share one of the biggest challenges for me on this cleanse so far--gluten! I seriously thought the alcohol (I love a glass of wine now and then) and sugar would be the toughest things to give up, but man do I love my bread. So far it's the only thing I've given into, but only moderately. For example, last week I made black bean burgers for dinner and one of the ingredients is bread crumbs. Okay, no biggie. Last night, my mom came into town and we went out to dinner at Ingredient (love it!). It was a Friday night and honestly, I was not about to have yet another salad. So instead of stressing about it, I ordered the West Coast Veggie Burger which is so delish! I had half the roll instead of both halves and I'm really glad I had it.

Today we went downtown for something and then to eat at the Plaza. We went to Eden Alley and it was interesting looking over their menu now that we are eating gluten free these few weeks. Usually I get the sweet potato burrito there (yum!) but this time I ordered a tofu/falafel brunch dish with cashew cheese and brown rice which turned out to be great, as all of their food is. But they usually bring bread to the table before the meal with vegan butter and that was really hard to pass on. That bread is amazing! So I just had Christopher and my mom eat it for me. Anyway, of all the things I am looking forward to having again, a little bit of gluten is it. But I am grateful for doing this cleanse because I will probably cut down a bit on the gluten I eat. It's all about awareness!

My Green Juice Helper

My son loves when we make our green juices! When we're not actually making a real juice, he's pretending to make one and "add the 'gredients" with whatever he can find. Here he is helping me this morning...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mT_NH0bwSvQ

And here he is enjoying his juice...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoqNVYv1WvA

Cranky!

When we were preparing for this 21 day cleanse, we read about some of the different withdrawal symptoms we might encounter as we detoxified our bodies. Well, two of them have occurred today: crankiness and headaches. It amazes me that I would still get a headache 11 days into this cleanse. It also scares me a bit to think of the things my body is trying to get rid of in this process that would cause me to get a headache. I'm cranky about meticulously planning every single thing I put in my body. I'm drooling over Christopher's peanut butter and jelly with all its gluten and jelly sugar goodness. I'm cranky about cleaning the stinkin' juicer and all it's parts every single day. And for crying out loud, if I have to slice another fruit or vegetable, the results will not be pretty!

But........

This moodiness is just temporary and I feel utterly fabulous otherwise! I've lost a little weight and body fat. My workouts feel stronger. I feel clean and healthy inside and out. My skin has improved. I feel really good mentally and spiritually about strictly following a vegan diet. We are making changes for the better and that is what we have to focus on as we do this. Nothing improves when you stay in your comfort zone!

The Veganist

 "Compassion is a muscle that gets stronger with use.  Eating consciously is an exercise in kindness and the more I work at it, the more empowered I feel. When I eat food that's grown in the ground or in trees, my mind is clear, my body thrives and I'm more deeply connected with the world."

-Kathy Freston  author of "Veganist"

I just really loved this quote and wanted to share it with you today. Kathy Freston's book is definitely on my "to read" list!