March 6, 2008
I am a new blogger…and it has been an educating journey for sure. From deciding on what blog face do I want (blogger, wordpress, facebook, myspace, etc., etc,.) to how to get an RSS feed. So many things to learn and for the most part…I was doing a good job. I chose two different blog sites to play with - blogger and here on wordpress. Writing down all the ‘important’ business things I thought I would like to have on both sites and comparing the differences of both. This post – I have decided just to speak from the heart and not worry about the business side of things and put it out there in blog land that I am blog-dumb. I really like wordpress and many of its features AND THEN… I couldn’t figure out how to down load pictures. Too big? I am guessing that is the case. It is so frustrating not to just KNOW this stuff. Not only am I blog-dumb here at wordpress and may need about 3 years of education on how best to proceed in blogging, it seems I also need to know how to shrink pictures if I want to use wordpress – or am I wrong about that? So, because I am blog-dumb I have been using my balancedchange.blogspot.com over at Blogger. I find it doesn’t ask me to get too educated on how big or small pictures are and it posts whatever picture I want.
It would seem (looking at this problem as a whole) that pictures are very important. But what is more important is that although I am blog-dumb (and I am self-aware enough to admit it) Blogger does not make me FEEL so dumb because it allows me the imperfections and limitations of my knowledge base.
On the off chance that someone could help me figure it out (how to post pictures on here at wordpress… that may be too big?) I would be more than happy to listen. Otherwise…I feel as if I will have to continue my blogging experience over at Blogger. I suppose after some experience and time…I may switch back to wordpress – but I am not sure how long it will take to go from blog-dumb to blog-fun.
January 30, 2008
How many times have I sat up in the morning with good intentions to be good to my body? One? A hundred? Um… Ten years? 20? >I am laughing<
Ohh… >big sigh< The battle to be good to my body is, to me, one of the biggest challenges. It changes a person’s life – literally. It is so easy to forget (to be good) when the bag of Maui Chips is in the cupboard waiting to be eaten.
After many nights of self-hypnosis – I am okay with food and avoiding the maui chips (or whatever else is in my cupboard -I have 3 boys (one is my husband) who all still eat a few crud items, but we won’t get into that today). I love to make lists of the families favorite snacks (the cruddy ones) and then make a second list of good snacks that I replace the bad snacks with. For example – we had a habit of eating ice cream EVERY NIGHT. WHAT?? I know…looking back it seems like blatant abuse – but, live and learn. I have now replaced ice cream with mashed strawberries and a sprinkle of the ‘crumble’ (recipe is in an earlier post). Sometimes we also slice a banana on top. It has now become a favorite. Who needs ice cream??? >grin<
OH!! I didn’t want to talk about food – I wanted to talk about exercising! So, today I woke up with GREAT intentions. It is now 1:12 p.m. and I still have not exercised. This always happens if I do NOT change my clothes. A great motivator is to change into some work-out clothes. When I get finished posting here…I am changing my clothes!! Nothing motivates me more than when I look in the mirror, with my work-out clothes on, and imagine the body I want to see there. I will get it – it is already mine. It may not match exactly to my imagination…but it will.
The goal this week IS to jump-rope until tired and walk 20 minutes – daily. Along with that – stand about three feet from a nice wall and do 20 push-ups against the wall. If it is too hard…move feet forward, too easy move feet back. It should be hard but not impossible. My goal this year is to do 20 REAL push-ups before summer. Upper body strength is very important. Of course, strong arms with a little muscle has a nice look to it in a swimming suit!
Tonight, at bedtime – I will close my eyes and imagine 3 things I am doing to benefit my health. For example, close my eyes and I can imagine how in the morning and every morning I wake up feeling refreshed and ready for my day. Waking up and working out (with my work-out clothes on). I can imagine how good I feel after the 20 minute walk and how much energy I have after drinking a green smoothy. I can imagine being aware of how much water I am drinking and to make an effort to drink at least 6 eight ounce glasses of water, if not more.
Let us see the goals we want to accomplish.
Let us see (in our minds eye) those goals as if they were already accomplished!
Filed under health, hypnosis
Tags: challenge, dogs, exercise, health, hypnosis, hypnotherapy, labrador, nutrition, positive change, raw food, self-hypnosis, weightloss
January 21, 2008
I have been in talks with a local fitness club and it looks like we may get the ‘green light’ to do a 90 days to health workshop!
What this would entail is having a set amount of people sign up who are willing to use hypnosis to achieve their goals – as well as attend a few classes that will reinforce a new way of thinking about health as well as talk about the issues that will come up during our 90 days to health.
When I get the complete ‘green’ light – I will document daily and keep track of what is working and what needs to be tweaked. It will be a great amount of fun – so put this on your favorites list and keep checking back.
If you would like to be a part of 90 days to health via this blog – just email me and let me know you are interested. Depending on the response of how many people want to take part via ‘webland’ will give me a heads up on how much information to put on this blog!! For bloggers – I will make available a self-hypnosis guide with step by step instructions.
How EXCITING. I can’t wait. If we can get this up and running by the middle of February – it will be just in time to have healthier bodies for SPRING time weather! That is the best!!
Filed under health, hypnosis
Tags: challenge, dogs, exercise, health, hypnosis, hypnotherapy, labrador, nutrition, positive change, raw food, self-hypnosis, weightloss
January 20, 2008
The best part of change is the journey. As a disclaimer (I am laughing) I must point out that most of my recipes or advice on eating healthy comes from my own paradigm. I have made drastic changes in my life and in my health. If you see a recipe that I post and you notice that it might have one or two things in it that, although healthy, are not raw – just remember – I am ALMOST Raw.>grin<
One might ask… why have I not hypnotized myself to be a raw foodist, since that would help with my transition. There are a few reasons. The first and most important is – I am not completely convinced it IS the way I want to eat. I do know that a ‘mainly’ raw foods diet does eliminate many ailments a person may have. However, I also know that once you give up certain foods your body isn’t keen on allowing them back in (ie: dairy). I personally dislike all dairy (I have researched dairy and I find it to be nasty and the mucus a person gets from eating and drinking dairy simply isn’t worth the trouble) so that isn’t a problem. But it brings to light that if there is one food… there may be more. I simply do not know enough to make an informed decision to be completely ‘raw’ for life. I do know eating a diet that is loaded with fruits and veggies, nuts and seeds – will with no doubt, help a person improve their health. I also know that not only would a person improve their health on a Cooked Vegan/Raw diet they would also improve the environment. I currently enjoy a Cooked Vegan 20/Raw 80 diet.
Bottom line: Until I know more (by researching it and experimentation) I am happy being ALMOST Raw.
January 19, 2008
After a few emails, it has come to my attention that some people are grouchy that I am advocating mixing fruit juice into my ‘raw’ green juice. I just want to point out – many people FAIL at eating healthy because they take too big of steps. This isn’t all or nothing. A person does not have to go crazy and switch their eating habits over night. If a person is capable of doing that – great! From my experience, however, many people find it difficult to stick with the healthy plan because they take too big of steps. So, I say…keep the yummy juice in the mix. When a person gets good at drinking a green smoothie every day… by all means, cut back on the amount of juice and try making it as healthy as possible. I am not a raw foodist. I strive to be healthy and advocate making changes that may benefit people. I may, one day, change my diet to be all Raw – I feel good when I do it. At this time, I am mostly vegan with my eye on Raw. Small steps… many times, make the biggest improvements.
January 19, 2008
Here is a great addition to my day. I thank myself every time I make it!
1 bunch of Kale – wash, cut, and spin in a salad spinner. Have ready
In a Vita-mix:
One big handful of chopped Kale (the flowery nature of this plant – one big handful should take up about 3/4 of your blender)
One handful of chopped spinach (lays on top of the Kale like it is barely there)
One ripe banana
1 1/2 cup water
1/2 cup apple juice (or my favorite, in a separate container I mix up a frozen Dole juice (Orange, peach, mango) and use 1/2 cup of this juice instead – it really cuts the green taste – great for beginners)
BLEND until you no longer see dark green flakes.
ADD WATER AS NEEDED if you want it to be thin and watery.
If you have a smaller blender – just place the Kale and spinach in first with 1/2 cup water and blend.
Blend again >grin<>grin< (about two 8 oz glasses)
Just note – the reason I use Apple or Dole juice is because…getting healthy doesn’t mean we should completely deprive ourselves of good taste. By using juices when we first start out on this healthy journey, we increase our chances of making this smoothie again tomorrow and again the next day.
Let us plan to succeed. Making changes that will promote more good changes tomorrow.
Also, a good note: I rinse my blender immediately with hot water. I place my blender in the dishwasher ever now and then, but all it really needs is a good rinse in hot water so it will be clean and ready to use again later. If I do not rinse immediately – then my blender sits next to the sink dirty or in the dishwasher waiting for the next load. What a waste – when I might want another smoothie later in the day. Making things easy for myself has increased my likely hood of doing it again!
January 19, 2008
This is my favorite recipe for starting people out on healthy raw foods.
Crumble
*all raw nuts and seeds do not needed to be soaked and/or sprouted…however, if they are – it turns out great and the recipe will be LOADED with great enzymes!!
Place in food processor
¾ cup raw* almonds
½ cup oat meal
¼ cup raw* cashews
¼ cup dried blueberries
1/8 cup raw* sunflower seeds
¼ cup fresh ground flax seeds (either color)
¼ cup pumpkin seeds
½ cup all natural grated coconut
8 to 10 Medjool Dates (pitted)
8 to 10 Apricots ( buy the apricots that are brown– orange ones have added sulfur dioxide NOT GOOD >grin<) Mix ingredients until crumbly in appearance.Place in a Ziploc bag in refrigerator until hungry.Can add any ingredients to this…and it turns out fine. I have made without the blueberries, coconut, pumpkin seed, and sunflower seeds…and it was still good.Main ingredients are :almonds, cashews, dates, and apricots.
Breakfast
Place in a bowl:
¼ cup uncooked Quaker oats (or special ordered raw oats)
1 sliced ripe banana
2 to 4 Tbsp Crumble on top.
Add: ½ to 1 cup soymilk
Strawberry Cobbler Crumble
4 or 5 fresh or thawed strawberries – slice and mash in bowl
Add 3 or 4 teaspoons of Crumble on top.
Peanut Butter Balls
Place 6 to 8 teaspoons of Crumble in a bowl
Add a heaping teaspoon of all natural peanut butter.
Mix and squish together with a spoon until it all starts to stick together.May add a bit more peanut butter to get it to stick – but don’t add too much.Just enough so you can form balls.May coat balls with crushed cereal of your choice or ground oatmeal.
Yogurt Crumble
Place a serving of any kind of yogurt in a bowl
Sprinkle Crumble on top.
Applesauce Crumble
Place a serving of applesauce in a bowl
Sprinkle Crumble on top.
January 19, 2008
It only makes sense that if I deal with behavior – nutrition is not going to be far from my rantings and ravings. Food alters behavior.
Let’s start out the year by checking ingredients.Ingredients that human bodies should not eat:
Artificial color and flavors – why, because they are toxins to a body and there is a list a mile long on the problems they cause. Too long to list here – look it up!
Sugar (and all of its ‘__tose’ names) – why, because sugar is poison. >did I just say that??< oi!!Well…yes, I did. AND believe me, I don’t like to say that. I have been battling my addiction to sugar for a good 38 years. It wasn’t until I started doing my own research that I started to believe, No one…cares about my body – so I have to depend on: me. Many ailments are caused by sugar consumption but no one is going to offer up that information!
The lobby on sugar is so huge that it will not be banned any time soon. I highly recommend looking up how the World Health Organization has on many occasions advised that sugar be banned from available processed food and from our diet!
Sugar also kills the pancreas (among other things) – take note of the rising Diabetes problem in the U.S. and the U.K.
