Our Journey To Green: May 2011

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Slowly getting back...

I am slowly getting back into a routine...it's still hard since we are still in limbo; living in a furnished house; eating off someone else's plates and sleeping in someone else's beds...renting a house that we know will not ever be ours. No painting; no hanging pictures; no tearing out old carpet...planting a garden and knowing that we may never get our whole harvest worth. It's a nice house and it's great to have our own space and a huge backyard with neverending pretend-time for the girls, but it's not ours. In fact, I can't even imagine having our own house. I hope it will happen sooner than later.

That being said...I have also been putting off making green drinks because I have this $20 "chunk-in-your-gunk" blender. I REALLY want a BlendTec, but the budget hasn't allowed that quite yet. SO, I decided a couple days ago, that I need to stop making excuses and just work with what I have right now...PLUS, I've been sick for 2 weeks now...coughing so much that my ribs hurt and blowing my nose so much that it's raw. It's REALLY annoying. And I know that I brought it on myself by the CRAP that I've been consuming lately. It's all my fault. Not fun, but true.

So ya, green drinks all around for the last 3 mornings. Go me! Here's to being healthy! No more Nyquil hangovers or Mucinex stay-up-all-nighters!

How Do I Start?

How do I start?

This way of eating does seem overwhelming (that's why it's been 2 years for me to actually do something), but I've just taken things slow because I knew I would get burned out if I did too much all at once. I feel really passionate about it, and I don't feel it's something I'm going to give up on. I don't see myself going back to what I thought was healthy before.

Here are some tips if you want to try to eat more alkaline/whole foods:

So...WHAT should I do first?

#1 You can start out at your local grocery store, and just spend most of your time in the produce section. If you don't have the money to buy all organic, then NO worries...just get the next best thing... Load up on vegetables to snack on like cucumber, carrots, celery, tomatoes, avocados, lettuce, spinach, green/red/orange peppers, broccoli, cabbage, zucchini, peas, etc. Buy vegetables that you are used to eating, and then a couple new vegetables to try. We buy hummus and almond butter (like peanut butter) for dipping our vegetables. Go easy on the fruit (it's not as alkanizing as vegetables)...the best alkalizing fruit would be grapefruit; lime; lemon; tomato and avocado (technically fruits)...You can find a list of alkanizing food HERE.

#2 Switch from white rice to brown rice or quinoa (you can find this in the health food section), and red, new potatoes from bakers...eliminate all meat except fresh water fish, like Salmon and Trout (I have yet to try this...we're still going through the last of the hamburger meat and chicken in our freezer). NO more bread with yeast and flour. We have substituted sprouted grain tortillas for bread.

#3 Change from cow's milk to rice or almond milk. My girls just have it on their cereal in the morning. Most grocery stores will have this. We like the regular non-sweetened rice milk. Start emptying your fridge of cottage cheese, deli meat, sour cream, ketchup, margarine, butter, mayo, mustard, soy sauce (we use Bragg's instead), fruit juice, and hard cheese...Your fridge will start looking empty, except for the veggies and fruits. :)

#4 Try 2-3 recipes a week, and keep track of the ones that you like. I have found a lot of recipes in the book "Ph Miracle" but you can google alkaline recipes as well...www.greensmoothiegirl.com and www.greenshakesandgiggles.com are other resources.

#5 Drink lots of water (preferably distilled water or reverse-osmosis water) I buy bottled spring water. I like to squeeze a lime in a glass of water. Try some "green" drinks for breakfast in the morning. Green smoothie girl has 50 "green" drinks in her 12-steps packet...You can get all your servings in one drink for the whole day! You can also add 1/4 tsp of baking soda into an 8 oz glass of water.

#6 The KEY is to not get overwhelmed. Do what works for your family. Let them see you eating healthy, and most likely, they will want to try what you're eating eventually. I have been surprised at what my kids have tried and what they like. They all love spinach and avocado. My 3 year old loves to dip her veggies in hummus. Almost everyone likes grapefruit!

#7 DON'T buy tempting snacks and cookies! Pretty soon, your taste buds will change, and it will be easier...! Don't be hard on yourself if you eat a few cookies either. Just balance it out with healthy eating...tomorrow is a new day... :) Don't go out to eat...try to resist. If you do...choose wisely...Get the salad with dressing on the side and no croutons, lol...

All of us know someone who has cancer, diabetes, is overweight or has other health issues in their lives. I don't believe this is really a cure "ALL" necessarily, but you have to wonder WHY there is so much disease, weight problems, cancer, etc in our day. WHAT is going on? I am starting to realize that what we put into our bodies is much more important than most of us realize.

We need to be careful what we put in our body. Not just obstaining from alcohol, tea, coffee, tobacco, caffeine. I feel like for our body to work how it was intended, we need to feed it "premium" whole and raw foods...It just makes sense. It's just hard because it seems so foreign and out of the norm for many of us...

I KNOW it will make a difference in your life. It already has in mine... I've noticed SUCH a difference. Especially in my energy...and I haven't been sick for a few years! I've also noticed that my knees haven't been aching and I've been able to run without pain!

Now THAT is motivation for me.

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Thursday, May 26, 2011

Slowly getting back...

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