Category Archives: Fitness

Dec 12 2012
3 Comments
Nutrition

Review: Tropical Traditions Organic Coconut Oil


Disclaimer: Tropical Traditions provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.

I have used Coconut Oil for a long time now–and have loved its benefits.  I use it in making our own fresh deodorant, (yes, it works, and yes, it’s possible!).  I also use it to moisturize my body, as well as for my face before bedtime, and in the morning before putting on makeup.  It does its job so well!

Using coconut oil in cooking, however, seemed to be a bit… well, it just didn’t seem to click for me.  Wouldn’t there be a funny taste to the food, since it is coconut after all?  I could only imagine cooking eggs or beef burgers in coconut oil, and have them turn out tasting funky.  Well, Tropical Traditions sent me a quart of their organic coconut oil, free of charge and at a super speedy rate I might add, in return for a review.  I am happy to do that–so that readers might know about their awesome product.

Here’s my review of the product:

Packaging is outstanding.  This organic coconut oil came packaged perfectly, about two days after they approved my request for a review.  I was astounded to see that they sent me a whole quart.  I opened up the box, and decided to inspect it.

The coconut oil is a nice, clearly white and milky color.  It smells like coconut, which is a plus.

It’s unrefined.

The oil came in a glass container, which I certainly appreciated.

Against my original thought, it tastes wonderful in stir-fry’s, cooking and sauteeing, etc.  There is only a hint of sweet flavor.  Hubby also loves to use it this way.

Our two favorite ways to eat it now:  Take a chunk of extra dark chocolate, dip it in coconut oil, and indulge.  AMAZING.  Also, I just made some nut butter using 3/4 cup coconut oil, cashews, almonds, and sea salt…. and the coconut oil tastes so good in that.  You will not be disappointed with this product, as it is delicious and of very good quality.  Especially being organic.

Have you tried anything from Tropical Traditions?  I’d like to try some of their other products.  What about coconut oil–how do you like to use it in your everyday foodie life?

All my love,

-M

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,
Dec 05 2012
Leave a comment
Family, Fitness, Food Activism, Nutrition

New Diet: Think Again


Weightloss.  That’s what we all think about when it comes to dieting.  But I’m really not concerned with that right now.  After having August, breastfeeding has done a stellar job of taking me down to my normal weight–I just have to tone my pregnancy-induced muscle loss.  I feel pretty good about my bod, honestly.  However, my bod doesn’t always feel so great.  Much of the time, it hurts.

I’ve spoken about my issues with stress sometimes.  Not a whole lot, but when I’ve felt I should.  I mostly want to talk about it occasionally to allow others to know what I seek to know as well, “You are not alone.”  My hubby  knows how difficult it’s been for me, since he lives with me day-in and day-out.  He knows how deep it can run.  Most of it lies in the fact that I just seem to have inherited a set of genes prone to stress, anxiety, and depression. A set of genes that is sensitive.  Sorry if it’s TMI, but oh well–I get constipated after riding in a car for two or three hours.  That’s not normal.  I can not let go of problems, sometimes for years.  That’s NOT normal.  It runs in my family, as well as other neurotic behaviors and personality types.  In the winter, I get SAD.  In the summer and spring when it’s very sunny for long stretches of the day, I feel high sometimes (in a very happy, “look on the brighter side” sort of way) as the sunshine seeps into my skin.  This is not a very productive way of living.  It borders on insanity, and it also borders on manic depressive.

That said, though genes are powerful, I know that we have power in choice.  One of the huge lessons we can learn from God’s decision to let us choose to love Him, not just make us automatons who “love” him without choice.  Anyhow, I have run into many people who seem like they’ve given up on life.  I have great reason to not follow in their path.  Though I’ve been tempted many times in the past few months to do just that.  I’m going at this with my full force, because I have too much to live for.  Too much to hope for.  I can’t give up on my life.  It may be hard for some to understand these things, but that’s okay.  I can’t always understand other people’s issues and problems, either.

So we’ve tried a lot of things.  I have done acupuncture, and successfully used it during pregnancy to destress.  I’ve done herbal remedies, yoga, working out for endorphine release, lots of things.  I was previously a vegetarian, but don’t think that’s the way my body is made to be nourished.  Now, we are trying a new approach.  Per my nutritionist, I am going on the Page Diet, Phase 2.  Today is actually my second day of being on it, and let me say, I feel like crap!  But if this puppy does the trick, I will stick to it.

Here’s the basis of the Page Diet:  Paleo, basically.  Protein 3 x a day (from pastured, free-range animals, which we are currently trying to figure out); as many of certain vegetables as you want.  I can have quinoa, Ezekiel bread, or oats 2-3 times a week, but no more.  Limited fruits (I can only have a few fruits, which is so weird to me… Apples, grapes, and a few others) and NO sugar.  Of course, we can’t totally avoid it, but sugar is something I am supposed to try to completely avoid.  Along with that, eliminate processed flours and grains.  I can have butter, nuts to some degree, plenty of water, and of course I’m jumping with joy…. I can still have coffee if I don’t overdo it.  When we came home from our visit to see my Doc, we had to take a huge deep breath.  It seemed there was nothing in our pantry, or in the fridge, or in the freezer, that we could eat.  Last night, we had heaps of Kale with loads of butter and sea salt, topped with Kalamata olives.. and it wasn’t half bad.  But I still felt hungry.  We’re going to have to get on this grass-fed beef thing, or we’re going to be skin and bones!  We’re having to rethink everything, and will probably be ordering offline and going to Trader Joe’s more.

If you want to know more about it, check out this link, but I’m going to give this my best.  After this, my other options are far more medical, and I really don’t want to be on medication.  You probably know why if you’ve been reading for any time at all.  : )

I believe in food as a natural healer, an amazing resource we’ve been given, but can food really do this for me?  Balancing my blood-chemistry makes a whole lot of sense.  Half of the time, I feel like I could faint, and feel far too edgy.  I am intrigued that a few weeks ago I started to do gluten-free, after experimenting with what was causing me problems, and then my nutritionist recommended this diet.  I didn’t know how reliant I am on sugar, and today when I woke up with a headache, shakiness, and feeling very weak, I knew I was having withdrawals.  This amazes me, because I try to eat a healthy diet!  However, fruits really do have a lot of sugar, and your bod can’t deal with all of that.  So I’m having to learn this the hard way now.

I’ll keep you in tune with what’s going on here at our place; I’ll update you with how I’m feeling after a few days.  Hubs is going to do this with me, but is also going to eat things off the diet if he wants them.

Here’s to your health, and mine.  Haha.

All my love,

-M

 

 

 

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Nov 19 2012
4 Comments
Conscientious, Education, Environment, Food Activism, Nutrition

Health Nut Mama


“But that’s the challenge — to change the system more than it changes you.” 
―    Michael Pollan,    The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals

There is something so fascinating to me about foods and supplements as the body’s natural source for replenishment. 

I am astounded by the bounty of resources that God’s provided to us for many purposes, and also equally surprised that so many people do not use or belive in this capability.  Not only that, but I am continually hearing about new ways of prepping, combining, growing, cooking or not cooking, fermenting, and harvesting food for its best fuel return.  It’s a true passion, and a hobby of science experiements for me.  Some turn out fabulously, others not so much.  The point, for me, is just to venture into the new in hopes of a discovery for our family.

I would love to do an actual life update for us soon, including some cute photos of our little six-month wonder, but that’ll have to wait for another day.  We’re going to visit a local dairy this evening in hopes of getting a jug of raw milk to try, so I’ve got a lot to do before then!  So, I’ll leave a little list here of things we’re trying to experiment with, and some interesting reading in book and website form.  Hope you enjoy as much as I have.

Nourishing Traditions: Against the grain of the “Diet Dictocrats,” Sally Fallon questions everything about the American way of eating, circa the industrial revolution.  She goes against the grain recommending real butter, NOT eating vegetable oils in large amounts (really gives me some food for thought), and many other habits which are not thought of as normal these days.  Truly interesting, and if I were to embrace it, a close-to-180 degree turnaround for our family ideology, especially when it comes to healthy oils.

Food Renegade: One of my favorite new blogs, this website is a complete treasure trove of foodie goodness!!!  This chick is one inspired lady, if you read her about section you’ll see how deep her love of food runs, and the purpose that fuels her.

Homemade Butter: How awesome is this?  It’s so much simpler than I ever imagined… I envisioned a woman in a bonnet dressed in old-timey pioneer day attire, churning away at a bucket or barrel for hours.  Ha!

Kombucha: I tried this wierdly fizzy and somewhat sour drink a few years ago, and have thought of it a few times since.  I didn’t particularly enjoy the flavor of the one I had, purchased from a health store.  After reading about the health properties, and particularly the historic background,  I think I want to try making my own at home.  If you get into the reading, you’ll start wondering if you’re learning about a health drink, or an alien life form… but I guess the nerdy gal in me loves that aspect of it!

Last, but certainly not least, the thought of Raw Milk.  The link begins to describe some of why this is important.  A part of me is scared to go unpasteurized, and I think up terrifying ideas of sickness and foodbourne ailments, but the arguments make a lot of sense.  I’m really excited to get to this local dairy and try some milk from their cows.  Unpasteurized, very fresh milk.  The thought that our nation takes all of the fats out of milk, heats it up, and then adds nutrients that are difficult for the body to digest… really grosses me out.  Another attempt of American food scientists at making a historic, almost unbelievable, shelf-life for foods that should be fresh.  I hope to learn more about this and share as I do.

What are you and your family trying, experimenting with, or loving?  Is there anything you’ve tried, and really hated?  Lemme know!

–M

“[Government] regulation is an imperfect substitute for the accountability, and trust, built into a market in which food producers meet the gaze of eaters and vice versa.” 
―    Michael Pollan,    In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Dec 29 2011
2 Comments
Conscientious, Education, Environment, Justice, Nutrition, Priorities

A Question for Consumers


We, as consumers, trust so many things to so many people! People we have yet to meet–people who govern, or sit on boards, or are simply the inventors of products–and of course, the people who set our own country’s standards at the FDA etc. People who may or may not have our good in mind when they sell us things–or may have their own greedy, and money-lusting endeavors in mind. I’m not hoping to do a broad generalization here, but I think it’s important to question it all when it comes to your own decisions and money.

I long for the old days. Yep–I long for sacred Amish crafting, creating, and building. Because when you build something yourself, when you’ve made it with your own two hands, all you have to trust is your own abilities–and you already know the process that went into crafting that particular item. You don’t have to think long about how you made a homemade pie, or worry that some stray ingredient somehow landed in there. Conversely, you DO have to think about the assembly line that put together your child’s crib–and whether that crib was sprayed with chemicals, dyes, preservatives, whatever… that could one day create an issue for your child’s developing and growing body. Scary, indeed, especially for a pregnant mama.

Why do we trust so much? I think the key to this question is convenience. We trust because its accessible. Kind of like gossip–if you heard the news yesterday, and you heard it from numerous sources, the story must be how it went down, right? Not always. I think the same is true for so many different things we buy–we figure, well, I can buy this here, and here.. and there. So it must be good. Or this line of thinking: Everyone else is buying this brand, or this kind, or whatever it is… so it must be the trusted way to do things. I like simple when it comes to what I’m buying. I want the thing to BE what it says it is. I like understandable. So when I go looking, I want to come to the facts pretty quickly–and I’m sometimes shocked when I analyze a “trusted” brand or “trusted” way of doing things… to discover the ingredients or process of creation are far less than appealing.

Let me dare you to do something, with me. Become a conscious consumer. Become aware–even though it isn’t the convenient thing. Think about how the cleaning/cooking/household products you buy impact the environment (when was the last time you heard about vinegar hurting wildlife? Or.. baking soda causing unnecessary deaths in China?), and in turn, how those products can impact your body and your childrens’ bodies. Are you educated about what you consume? Simple questions. But oh–such tough answers.

Here’s the ultimate dare: Take one product from your kitchen (oh, it could even be mac n’ cheese), then take one product from your bathroom (maybe your shampoo?), and lastly take one product from your basement or garage (wherever your store all of those tough-job manly items such as caulk, paint, car cleaners, etc.) and take it upon yourself to look through the list of ingredients. If you’re really brave, enter some of the longer “methy-alca-bla-bla-bla’s” that you can barely pronounce into your search engine and see what comes up. I doubt the answer will have you asking to have a platter served up of said ingredient once you learn what it really is. Anti-caking agents. Binding agents. Yuck, yuck, yuck.

The biggest problem I have with all of this is people who simply accept. “Well, they put it in there, so it must be there for something!” I’m all about holding big-money corporations to their promises–and to strict guidelines. Often, the only reason they put something in there is because it’s the CHEAP way to do it. And gain a huge return, monetarily, because of it. There have often been no longitudinal studies performed about so much of this (how the chemical additives, or simply cheap additives, in our food and other products affect our bodies long term)–why would you risk it if you have a proven, safe alternative in front of you? Wouldn’t it be so much nicer to simply avoid exposing yourself, and your loved ones, to chemicals if you could? You can. I can. It may take a little creative thinking, or a little time, or some energy, but you can. I’m committed. This isn’t just the crazy nature mama (which I also am, sometimes) speaking. It’s also just common sense, pure and simple. I only hope to think a little harder when smacking down some cash–”What am I really buying? Can I make this myself? Is this healthy?” Nobody is looking out for you, but You, on the consumer side of things.

-M

p.s.
If you’re looking for some good recipes to make your own products at home, I’ve gone searching and found a few cool recipes. Passionate Homemaking always has amazing stuff, check it out! http://www.passionatehomemaking.com.

Tagged , , ,
May 22 2011
Leave a comment
Nutrition

Tiny Beans and Big Words


This evening, I was soaking some black beans to prep for the meals we could make with them throughout our work week.  After the soaking period was up, I cooked them and proceeded to put some rice in the cooker.  These ingredients are some of the basics for a variety of dishes that we have made in the past… sometimes we’ve used lentils, others times kidney beans, and also black beans.  Choose your flavor of the week, and you’re good to go!  I love making “Greek Salad” that’s got zucchini chunks, tomato, couscous, ground turkey, and a variety of spices mixed in a delicious blend of savory and nutritious goodness.  We could probably eat this for a week and not grow weary.  There… I’ve shared with you my amazing recipe!

Aren’t those just the cutest beans on the planet?!  ….As I was saying–before going on my Greek Salad rave–these little beans have me fascinated.  Their shiny black surfaces seem to beckon to me, “Look!  We have to be eaten.  We’re full of such great stuff!”  And I believe them instantaneously.  Even before I did a little research, my body told me (in the wise way that only it can) the story of black beans: “They make me feel satisfied, full, and healthy… How could you not want to consume them?  It’s biologically sound.”  Well, that could’ve settled it, but seeing as one of my top strengths (it’s a Gallup thing) is Input, I had to collect some data about this.  Lo and behold, there are hoards of information stored up about research on these tiny gems!

From my ever-helpful Google search, I have reaped these results, stick with me, I promise it’s worth reading!: (from whfoods.com)

“The seed coat of black beans (the outermost layer that we recognize as the bean’s surface) is an outstanding source of three anthocyanin flavonoids: delphinidin, petunidin, and malvidin. These three anthocyanins are primarily responsible for the rich black color that we see on the bean surface. Kaempferol and quercetin are additional flavonoids provided by this legume. All of these flavonoids have well-demonstrated antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Also contained in black beans are hydroxycinnamic acids including ferulic, sinapic, and chlorogenic acid, as well as numerous triterpenoids. These phytonutrients also function as antioxidants and, in some cases, as anti-inflammatory compounds as well. Antioxidant and anti-inflammatory protection is especially important for our cardiovascular system. When our blood vessels are exposed to chronic and excessive risk of oxidative stress (damage by overly reactive oxygen-containing molecules) or inflammation, they are at heightened risk for disease development.”

OK–what does this overly wordy paragraph say to me?  That black beans are a heck of a lot more complex and complicated than I ever imagined upon first glance.  Food is a heck of a lot more intricate.  We see this tiny bean, small and vulnerable to the world… perhaps uninteresting and undesirable to some…and we believe we know it all!  We have everything we need to make an assessment about it: It is black.  It will be slightly crunchy, yet give to a more chewy consistency when eaten.  It makes a good dip.  Yes, and yes.  Yet there is something wise to gain from this tiny bean.  God knows what he’s doing, and He did it for us.  Even here, even in this bean, and its amazing natural chemical composition.  Our bodies need so many things to function properly–hence the HUGE, enormous health epidemic we are facing in the U.S.  I have read that for the first time ever… obese individuals can actually be malnourished.  This means that they are getting calories, but they are empty calories that have nothing to offer in the way of body needs.  Astounding.  We consume something, get full, and think that means our bodies are nourished.  Wrong.

We have to appreciate the fact that we know very little, very minuscule amounts of what there is to find out about foods and their properties.  We have to realize that the natural foods God created, which come from the ground and not the candy land factories that pump fake things into our lunches… will give us a fulfilling and healthy balanced relationship with food!  It’s a beautiful thing, really, the synergy that is possible in ecosystems and in our body.

I think perhaps my little hats-off to the black bean is over with now.  : )  But I just had to go in depth a bit.  I love food, I love how it looks, feels, I love the textures when I feel them in my hands.  It’s fun for me to get into a bowl of rice with my hands and feel the grains.  But even more so, I love how food is something to be studied, and something that has puzzles to it–something we can’t quite get yet.  I love the mystery of food.  And I just relish the opportunities to learn more about what I can do to fuel my body–to experience more deeply the wealth of offerings our foods give.  So I don’t understand the big words yet.. the delphinidin, petunidin, and malvidin.  Heck, I’ve never heard of those things!  But I’m excited to learn more, and that’s compelling for me in this life.  The tiny black bean is spectacular–and even more so the fact that God figured out how to pack all of those little punches into it.  Wow!

If you want to read a really good book, check out ANYTHING by Michael Pollan.

Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,
May 17 2011
Leave a comment
Education, Endurance, Motivation, Priorities, Time Management, Value

Procrastination is A Beautiful Letdown


When I procrastinate–as I am currently doing by updating my blog–it’s a letdown.

I get into this anxiety-inducing coma of thoughts… my fearful thoughts envelop me, cause me to come dangerously close to nervous breakdown territory, and then create enough freaked out momentum to propel me through my procrastination haze with great torrents of gusto and enthusiasm.  This period of time is usually birthed out of great encouragement from my friends, husband, and to-do-list.. all cheering me “ONWARD!  You can do this!  Do it… Don’t stop now.. you’re so close!”  Through their prodding and enticing words, I look at my tasks ahead and decide that the night before is just as good a time as any to begin.

(Brief interlude: Why do I do this to myself, you may ask?  Well–friend, the fact is this… it does produce results.  Procrastination works for both my husband and I.. occasionally helping, with God’s grace, to make exceptional pieces of work that may not have been created otherwise–there is so much tension, so much last minute energy, that we work very hard in a short amount of time.  If we planned things out to a T, and did things before hand, it just wouldn’t be so exciting.  I think that’s the only good explanation for why we seem to habitually fall into this mode of operation.  I’m not condoning it.. just saying that it is one way to get things accomplished.  However, we go through great amounts of unnecessary stress, frustration, and sometimes get ourselves in a bind because of it. )

So at this stage of the game, when I’m finally pushed into overdrive, I am in a frenzy.  My mind goes through different periods of a totally on guard, awake, hyper-drive mode… then switches to a black out mode where I seem to misplace everything, turn the wrong burner on while cooking… and talk to my husband in half-sentences that he must work to decipher.  Most likely because I am thinking of all the crap I haven’t done, that I must do, and don’t have my mind on the things that I am currently trying to do. Not a delightful place to be.

As the semester closes, I am so ready to be done I can taste it.  I have one final tomorrow (a devilishly difficult one.. seems as though our prof has given us a curve ball exam, and I hardly recognize the study guide as material we learned!) and a presentation of my portfolio (which I should take pride in, as its a representation of my whole career as an undergrad) and that’s IT!

The story with my portfolio is this: It includes so many components of my life, my coursework, my passions, that it is something I should be able to love–easily.  The upside: I began it about a month ago, to get ahead of the curve.  The downside: I am just now sitting down to complete it (before tomorrow).  Oopsies.  Well, I have all of this built up fear, all of this anxiety about not having finished it yet… and I sit down to make myself do it.

I dawdle a bit.  Then I open up the files to work on them, get on the livetext website I am using to present it.. and what do I realize?  Goodness, the end is not nearly so far as I had imagined.  My project has fewer dilemmas to work out, less problematic aspects, and more fun to it than I realized!  This happens often with the things in life I MUST to do.  As I procrastinate… my fear of working on a project increases.  It expands and warps until suddenly, my once small and doable task has turned into a terrible creature that I cannot recognize.

I do this to myself.  And, I can say, it has gotten better.  The more often I’ve done it, the more I can see this pattern of imagining things as far worse than they truly are… and realizing I’ve done that.  Realizing I’ve created a monster that doesn’t exist.  I have freaked myself out and procrastinated, when it’s really not all that bad.

Ha.

So… this putting things off habit–which I don’t do all the time, but usually do when I feel like I can’t complete something properly, can be a beautiful letdown.  Yes, indeed, there is hope for us all.  A wonderful disappointment.  Because though I have done it again, I have come a little bit closer to working with myself and understanding myself.

Aren’t we amusing creatures?

Okey dokey smokey.  I must get down to business.

Thanks for letting me procrastinate just a bit more.

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Jan 10 2011
2 Comments
Endurance, Fitness, Running

I’m Not A Runner, But…


Though I don’t currently count myself a runner, I would be lying if I said that I don’t deeply admire them.  There’s something about the brute endurance and animalistic ability to take the punches as they come.  To me, it is simultaneously inspiring and nauseating to see a person going out, digging in their heels, and tackling a marathon.  It draws me in, with this mixture of love-hate, and makes me wonder if I can push myself that hard.

I have to give you a bit of historical background about myself before discussing my renewed interest in the cult sport:  I was “That One Girl…” during all of middle school, and some of high school (I was exempted my freshman year from P.E. on account of academic and musical pursuits).  By that, I mean, I was the girl everyone wondered about, hobbling along towards the nurses’ office, one friend on each side propping me up comically.  I was the girl who had to be taken to the hospital for some mysterious reason or another.  I was never on sports teams, and one of my “bucket list” items is to join a team one day (even a non-competitive one)… against all fear and trembling.  I am simply unathletic.  I don’t call myself this because I am uncoordinated, out of shape, or anything else.  I just have a way of being a klutz when there are people watching me and expecting me to perform to standard.

My athletic life journey is usually a solo one:  I do Yoga.  I’m a fine swimmer.  I have been trained classically on the piano, and even took riding lessons as a child.  (I was also a girlscout for awhile, does that count for anything?)  But as for athletic endurance, I’m about as fit for fighting as a macaroni noodle.  I had Pneumonia when I was very little, as well, so when I run I secretly wonder if my lungs have a disability.  But… all that said, I think that making myself try to masquerade as a runner, whatever that means in my own macaroni-noodle-like way, would build oodles of character and provide a great outlet for steam.

All of that to say– I’m not a runner, but I’d like to be.  In a dramatic effort to increase the chances of my “stick-to-it” abilities, I bought a new pair of running shoes that suit my feet.  Running has always been a painful process for my body, I feel more painful than most, and I know that having the right shoes makes the difference.  After getting my new shoes, my heart was filled with excitement: wanting to see how far I could push this body that God created beautifully, wanting to appreciate my pounding heart & healthy legs.  Excited to begin this push towards going over the line, but just barely.  I’d like to be able to do 5K’s for a cause, and push myself with new limits.  It’s interesting to see how far you can push your mind over matter.  Though I’ve always wanted to do those things, I can take no credit for this new interest in running.  I became enthralled after picking up a book by two runner moms (Dimity McDowell & Sarah Bowen Shea).  It’s called “Run Like A Mother,” and it documents their successes, failures, life ambitions,  laughs, favorite picks for music + running gear, and so on.  It’s been a lightening read for me, and so far given me victory in my mind.  They’ve been the ones who made me put some running shoes back on, (I have jogged off and on for years) and I don’t doubt that they’ll give me a boost when I need it.  Dimity & Sarah, I owe you a big thank you.  If you want a read that is brutally honest, informative, hilarious, and inspires you to push your “GO” button.. I’d suggest it highly.

Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 38 other followers

%d bloggers like this: