Paleo… a calling for change!

It’s been a while since I’ve updated this thing! I’ve been too busy living life. I started a paleo diet about a month ago. No grains, dairy, legumes, processed foods or extra sugar. Sounds restrictive but with a little creativity it isn’t hard to come up with delicious meals. So far I’ve made dishes with these titles… spring squash spaghetti, sweet potato brownies, blueberry grain/dairy free muffins, coconut tilapia, cauliflower curry rice, stuffed peppers and many different salad variations.

Improvements I have noticed…

acne is diminishing
less if no headaches (unless I cheat)
regularity
better mood
better energy
less fatigue

Now I am also taking supplements my naturopath recommended… the supplements are to help my liver and adrenal glands. This is probably the other part of the improvements.

My new goals now:

Give up all nonpaleo sweets (this has been my weakeness)
Meditate for 20 minutes daily (eventually work up to 20 mins 2x daily)

Wish me luck 🙂

My favorite place on the web for paleo recipes…paleomg.com

Good article on so hum and zen meditation… here

What is the Paleo diet? Learn more about it here

 

The Beginnng of a New Journey

After developing a strong interest in health, especially natural and holistic health, I have decided to tie my bonds to the pharmaceutical world. I figure they get plenty of business from others considering our society does not routinely exercise preventative health. It is more like oh you have this symptom there is a pill for that and if you experience x,y and z symptoms guess what I have a pill for that too! Luckily, I am not on alot of meds. Just birth control and 2 meds for my hormonal acne. Basically, I already know the root of my problem, hormones! Mine are out of whack and I am sure pumping my body with extra hormones by means of birth control for going on 8 years now is not the best way to fix it. I want to be balanced. I don’t want to put duct tape on the problem and hope it keeps together.

So my first step was contacting a naturopathic doctor. Doing some research online I found Melissa Wood, who actually lives just hours from me, but she only does on the phone consultations. She looked like someone who could help, why not? So I gave her a call and we set up an appointment. She sent me paper work and some questionnaires ahead of time.  She concluded that we needed to work on my hormones, adrenal glands and liver. The told me about the Paleo Diet. I could go on to explain the Paleo Diet but if you are really interest then click the link, Paleo Diet. On the paleo diet you do not eat legumes, diary or grains. It sounds like it would be so hard but it really isn’t! The paleo diet is big on protein so being able to eat all meat helps you. Also, sugar is a big culprit since when insulin levels spike so do your hormones. I have cut out sugar and sugary things. Plus, processed food! Processed food should be limited no matter what diet or eating lifestyle you have. So many additives and unnatural ingredients. Plus, it’s hard to know what is really in there because food companies have come up with a billion different ways to name their bad additives. No thank you! I rather just not eat them. So I have been opting for nuts, fresh fruits and veggies. Loose leaf tea helps too 🙂

Okay, so back on to the ND. She recommended some supplements to me and I am going to start on those next week when I receive them. I can’t explain how uber excited I am to do this process. I know it will probably suck for a while while my body gets back to normal but it will so be worth it in the end. Just to know I am healthy is a big deal to me. I will keep everyone updated on my progress. I am still currently taking my meds… birth control, spironolactone and doxycycline. I have already start decreasing my dosages on the spiro and doxy but will go one more month on my birth control because I kick that one out.

The one thing I can say now that I have been eating healthier is I feel overall more energy and my headaches have gone away. The only time I feel crappy is when I break my diet. I hate calling it a diet because I want this to become my lifestyle and there is a big difference between the two but it’s called the Paleo “diet” so I feel obligated to call it one.

Anywho if you are interested in what you eat on the paleo diet check out this website, Paleomg.com. Awesome, easy and delicious recipes by a whitty, down to earth girl.

Wisdom from Within, Literary

We are always seeking wisdom from the outside. Rarely do we seek wisdom from within. What if great wisdom was held in each of us, physically speaking? Wisdom on how to make the world a happier place but most importantly a place of union. Where do you look you say? Why look as closely as your cells.

Your cells function for the well being of the whole. They lack any selfish gestures and would rather parish then let the whole functioning of the body be at jeopardy. They communicate continuously to ensure all parts are working in union. They are open to change for the better as they will do so when needed for the survival of the whole. Cells are immortal because they will pass on to the new cells their functioning wisdom. They are all tied to a common source. No matter how many times you multiply them… they all exist for a higher purpose.

What do you exist for?

Just like the world we live in, if our cells face imbalance then there is chaos. Nothing is ever to be completely at peace and I am not implying “world peace”. I do not know if the human race is capable of 100% peace. What I am saying is to start this peace within you and spread it. Just like a smile, compassion and willingness to work in union is contagious. Not only will you have passed this on to someone but hopefully they will pass it on to another causing a chain reaction. Sometimes a little kindness makes a big impact even though our eyes don’t always see the results does not mean we should be discouraged.

(Deepak Chopra brought this idea of cell wisdom into enlightenment for me in his book, The Book of Secrets.)

Reclaim Your Brain… Through Meditation

I see meditation like I see exercising… you sometimes drag yourself to initiate it after a long draining day at work but at the end you are always reminded of why you do it.. It just makes you feel so good! Well turns out it is not just good at giving you that feel good feeling but it is also good for your brain.

A study by Psychiatry Research investigated this claim and reported that those who meditated for at least 30 minutes a day for 8 weeks had measurable changes in grey matter density in parts of their brain associated with their sense of self, memory, stress and even empathy. Memory? Yeah, I could definintely use an improvement with that! To read the full article about this study click here.

If you don’t meditate don’t stress… learn and de-stress. There are tons of websites and books that help with meditation. One book I own and recommend is 8 Minute Meditation. I recommend this book if you are new to meditation. It is easy to read and starts you off slowly with weekly goals. Meditation is not as easy as it seems. It is natural for the mind to want to take over and constantly be in over drive. It takes practice to calm the ego mind because it will do whatever it takes to be in control. Just be compassionate to yourself throughout your meditation journey. I am currently still struggling to just sit still for 8 minutes! I would love to set a goal of eventually 30 minutes but I know this will happen in time. Also, I just recently started looking into mantra and stretching meditation. All which I recommend looking into, especially the mantra mediation if you have problems clearing your mind.

 

Fruity Green Concoction

Just a little background, I grew up in a small poverty town of about 5000, just 45 minutes from the border. I was raised on southern cooking from my mom and mexican food thanks to the area I live in. Good tasting none the less.. not so good for your health. For the past couple of years, I’ve gotten interested in healthy living. This was easy when I lived close to a nice big HEB with plenty of produce options.. but just recently in the past 8 months I moved back to my hometown to get a job in the oil field.. which might I add is booming over here. Anyhoo, this small town, though doubled now, still is only equipped with the original HEB my dad remembers going to as a kid. On top of that, this HEB has close to zero organic options and is packed with unhealthy products. Though the odds are against me I am trying to find creative ways to eat healthy. One new kick I’ve gotten on is green smoothies.

Yesterday I created my own green smoothie. Even though it looks like a monster regurgitated in my glass it tastes pretty awesome. Even my dad agrees and he’s one of the most picky eaters in the house. Plus it’s simple and I KNOW you will be able to find all these ingredients at any grocery store.

2 hand fulls of spinach
2 oz. orange, pineapple juice
2 oz. water
half a bag of frozen fruit (I used a mix of strawberries, peaches, mango and pineapple)
1 apple sliced

Put it all in the blender and that’s it. I had it for breakfast, it’s pretty filling.

What is this?

So this is my attempt to collect and record all things I find that bring me peace, joy, humor, inspiration, simplicity, motivation and enlightenment. A recollection and regurgitation of things. Living in a small, south texas town that lacks any physical zen… this is my attempt to create a piece of virtual zen. This is a journey I have yet to know of in detail but will fill in the gaps as I go… just as I attack everything else in life. It’s just more fun that way.