31 Days to Better Health - Day 5

Good afternoon, I hope you are all having a fantastic day I know I am. The skies are blue and I just came back from three miles in the crisp cold air and I feel rejuvenated and full of energy. Exercising in the cold air has a wonderful way of reminding me that I am alive.

Before we jump into day 5 let’s review what we have accomplished during of the first 4 days:

Day 1 – Defined Success and What is/was Holding Us Back

Day 2 – Determined our Purpose and Looked at Passion

Day 3 – Listed Our Goals for January

Day 4 – Listed the Things We Have Needed to Work on for a While

Are you an Optimist or a Pessimist:

Today’s exercise has two parts which are both related to attitude. The first part is about optimism and pessimism and the second part is fear and intuition. On first blush they don’t seem related but I will try to show you how they are by taking you through a few of my life experiences to show you how they manifested themselves for me.

I would say that am a natural pessimist which probably surprises many of you. In fact it surprises me that so many of you think that I am an optimist because my gut reaction is to see myself as a pessimist. It is amazing how long we can hold on to the old mental images of ourselves, like thinking we are heavy long after we have lost weight. Apparently attitude is the same as weight and I still see myself as more pessimist than optimist.

My parents are both extremely pessimistic. My father never met a situation that he didn’t see as a potential calamity. He has always been a professional at turning a mole hill into a mountain. He plans for every possibly “disaster” before the problem has occurred. Talk about bringing a room down, my father can do it faster than anyone I know. My mother is no ray of sunshine either. She complains about everything and things that go wrong are always things that happen to her never anything that she had any control over. Imagine being raised by two people who never saw the bright side of life? Yep, welcome to my world. I grew up expecting the worst to happen, and when you expect it that is what your reality becomes because it is what you are focused on.

The low point of my young adult life was being raped at knife point just after turning 18, getting pregnant as a result of that rape, having an abortion that I kept quiet and trying to go on as though nothing ever happened. This happened during a time in America when women were blamed for somehow enticing men to rape them. Needless to say I did not report the rape or even tell anyone about it for years, nor did I get any professional help to deal with it. As a result this event dominated both my conscious and my subconscious for much longer than it should have. The event caused me not to trust people particularly men, I was also afraid to be out at night (that was when it happened) and generally just expected the worst from people. My life was being run by fear and I was always worried about my safety.

As a result of the rape I didn’t want to be “alone” and married while I was an undergrad. Let me go on the record that this is not a wise thing to do. My first marriage was thankfully short lived as it was a mistake on my part. My husband cheated on me and then tried to blame the marriage not working out on me. Clearly the demise of that marriage was my fault as I am sure you see (heavy sarcasm). *rolls eyes* In addition to this marriage ending in divorce (thank goodness) my ex-husband thought I owed him something financially since we were married most of the time I was in college. Never mind that I paid for my education by working three jobs and using the inheritance from my grandmother. Are you started to see how I might have been a bit of a pessimist?

However cancer has a way of cutting through the "crap" and getting you to focus on what really matters. No one would consider cancer something frivolous, clearly this was serious. I had two ways to deal with it, I could attack it head on or I could let it crush me. The other things that happened in my life had taken their toll on my mental and physical health but I was determined that this problem wasn’t going to define how I lived my life. A funny thing happened when I started doing research, I became less fearful of the disease. Something inside me (my intuition I assume) told me that I was on the right path (with the shift to a plant-based diet) right from the start in spite of what everyone we knew were saying.

I read a number of books and studies that attitude had a big impact on survival from serious illness. Being the fighter that I am I immediately started to institute not just dietary changes but attitudinal changes at our house. I don’t have to tell you life at our house did a 180 flip do I?

In addition to going from omnivore to vegan we also changed our outlook on life. Each day we both take time to appreciate the things that go well in life of which there are many. My husband and I tell each other “I love you” many times during the day every day. We spend time together each day talking, sharing our day without whining or complaining, and just hanging out enjoying our time together. We are that couple who still holds hands and enjoys being together even after a quarter of a century of togetherness. When either of us are out and sees something the other one would love we snap a picture and text it. Every day I know how much my husband loves me and I am certain that he knows how much I love him.

Additionally I love to take pictures of the beauty I see around me. Taking those pictures brightens my mood and reminds me that the world is beautiful place and all we have to do is stop to appreciate it. Somehow I just know (there is that intuition again) that stopping to appreciate beauty is a good thing for my soul. Now when you see pictures that I took out and about during my day you will know why. That is my way of sharing the beauty of life with all of you. *smiles*

So what does any of this have to do with being an optimist or a pessimist? What I hope you have learned from reading my story is that while there is a “cultural” component attitude really does come down to a choice. What type of person do you want to be? You can chose to focus on what went wrong or you can chose to focus on what went right. I find that when I focus on what goes right, the things that didn’t go quite “as right” just aren’t all that important. Being an optimist or a pessimist comes down to a decision. Since you can choose to be either one, wouldn’t you really rather be happy? Deciding to be happy was one of the smartest things I ever did.

Fear versus Intuition:

The other thing I want you to think about is how often your life is run by fear because this also relates to optimism and pessimism. In the past most of my decisions were fear based and those didn’t often turn out well. I can tell I am acting out of fear when I feel anxiety around a decision, or some sense of urgency. There are few things in life that require immediate action (a heart attack is one, but most things simple aren’t like that including cancer). In the last year or so I have been trying to cultivate my intuition and use that to make decisions instead of fear.

Fear is easy to spot if you take the time to look at what is going on in your decision making process. Do you feel a sense of urgency or immediacy? If you do try to figure out what is causing you to be scared. Are you trying to be safe? Fear is also something that we use to keep ourselves safe, so that could also be a sign that you are operating out of fear. Another sign that you are operating out of fear when you feel the need to be right, or that someone has to win. Looking at this from the other perspective you aren’t operating out of fear if you are willing to feel silly or be rejected. I struggle with this one too, but I am working on letting go of fear. Now when there is a little voice in my head I try to assess if it is fear or intuition talking. Sadly 95% of the time my little voice is fear, but at least now I see it so that I also disregard it knowing that it will hold me back. One of my favorite sayings is that you only fail when you don’t try! Fear has the way of keeping all of us stuck because doing nothing is safer than taking a risk.

I am sure that some of you are thinking that fear-based decisions are good, but I assure you that frequently are not. I can list a number of decisions that I made in life which I made based on intuition that turned out very well. That is the exercise for you today, what decisions have you made based on intuition that either turned out well or that you learned from? Here are the ones that popped into my mind:

1. Marrying Dan – this was not logical when I did it but is one of the smartest things that I ever did.

2. Starting the blog – this I did totally on faith though I certainly didn’t think it would become anything but I have enjoyed it and sharing what I am learning keeps me motivated

3. Bidding on a sailboat in Caribbean – again this didn’t seem logical at the time but it felt right and we went for it and it worked out well

4. Changing our diet – this was something we did after I read one book, it just felt right and the later research and results proved that we did the right thing

5. Selecting our oncologist – Dan and I “interviewed” a few doctors and went with the one we felt comfortable with, in the end we both know that we made the right choice even though many of our friends expressed concern that we should have gone with the “world renowned expert”. Our results have been fantastic so we are comfortable that we made the right decision.

Now it is is your turn.  What decisions did you make following your intuition that turned out well, or that taught you something about yourself. I know some of my biggest lessons were from things that didn't go the way I wanted.

I also want to share with you observations from my 3 miles today since they relate to what I wrote today. I have to cross a number of intersections on my regular route through the neighborhood. Each time I meet a car at an intersection I stop because the car is clearly bigger than I am. Three times today I met a car at an intersection and the driver waved me through. I smiled, waved and went through the intersection. I see this as proof that there really are nice people in the world. People aren’t all bad nor are they out to get us. Just so you know I only met three cars at intersections so I wasn’t cherry picking those situations. I thought some of the pessimists out there might think that. ;-)

Also while I was out I passed 6 large men running the other way on my route. Again each time I nodded and smiled and they nodded and smiled in return and we both kept our pace and direction. The old me would have been concerned meeting these men on the path since they were: men, in good shape and much bigger than me (I am 5’2 ½” and yes that ½ inch matters at my height). In the past I would have immediately felt concerned about my safety and might have crossed the street before we got close to each other. However after years of telling myself that not every man is like the one who raped me I can finally relax around most men.

I hope that this post helps you to realize that how your view the world is completely under your control.  I hope that your intuition can be good and that you try to follow it more than listening to your fears. Trust me when I tell you that deciding to see the good in people and the world results in a much happier existence.

Progress on my goals:

1. Newsletters – spent 45 minutes on this Wednesday

2. Body Bugg – three days in a row and going strong

3. Date with Dan – Dan came home early on Wednesday *woo hoo* and we are going to have another date either Friday or Saturday, maybe both! ;-)

4. Measuring my calorie dense food – I am doing this and was surprised to find that I was overestimating and probably need to add a few more seeds

5. Working on my business – the meditation DVD cut into my time and this didn’t happen on Wednesday but did on Thursday at least

How about you doing are you keeping your goals in mind and are you making progress? Remember it isn’t enough to have goals you have to work on them. I start every morning rereading mine to remind me what I need to do and that seems to help.

Wednesday:

Dan had his favorite fruity oatmeal with nuts and seeds for breakfast. This time I added raisins, dried cherries, cinnamon, a little stevia and frozen wild blueberries and topped his oatmeal with chopped walnuts and raw sunflower seeds.

Since I greatly enjoyed my breakfast yesterday I went with the same thing today, broccoli and hummus. This time I measured the pine nuts and realized that instead of underestimating them I overestimate them. I was intending to add 1 tablespoon of seeds but have only been adding about ½ tablespoon and I would never have known that had I not measured. Darn I hate it when things I don’t want to do turn out to the be the thing that I should be doing! ;-)

While I eat my breakfast, and drank my green tea I decided to pop the meditation course into the DVD player. Let’s just say that was a big mistake. The Practicing Mindfulness course was really good and ended up taking over 5 hours of my day. I talked to Dan about it and he is going to do it with me, but only one class (30 minutes) at a time. Dan isn’t as prone to dive right into things as I am, in case you missed that. LOL

When I finished exercising I had a mid-day snack of a banana and almond butter. I put this in a little dessert glass, grabbed a pretty beaded spoon and I was ready to eat. It isn’t everyday that I use some of my favorite dishes, but it does make a difference in how it “feels” to eat. I will be covering conscious eating tomorrow for those of you who aren’t familiar with the concept.

My lunch was the end of the bean, mushroom and kale soup from a few days ago. Those intentional leftovers sure do make my life a lot easier as did reusing a photo.  ;-)

Dinner at our place was a baked veggie casserole (artichokes, mushrooms, onions, garlic, tomatoes, homemade whole wheat breadcrumbs, Italian seasoning and freshly ground black pepper) which was served over cooked quinoa and topped with a few pine nuts. When I put this together I made 4 servings so that there was enough for us to have lunch on Thursday.

Overall today was not as productive as it could have been because I got carried away with the mindful meditation DVDs. However I did enjoy the DVDs and feel like I learned a lot so it wasn’t a total loss.

Happy thoughts:

• I was very happy to have the weather warm up enough that I could get outside to exercise today. Spending time outside in the cold crisp air is something that I really enjoy.

• The sunset Thursday evening was spectacular. I love when the sky is painted with orange, red and various shades of blue. It is almost as if Mother Nature is putting on a show some evenings and tonight was one of her better ones. Binky and I sat in the bay window and watched the sunset. He didn’t seem terribly impressed but I enjoy it.

• Today’s post was one of my most personal but I am hopeful that it will shake a few of you up and cause you to see that bad things happen to all of us but that doesn’t mean that we need to let those events bring us down. It is easy for all of us to see people who we don’t know and think that their lives are so much easier than ours. However generally when you get to know people they have had their share of bad experiences too. Please don’t let those experiences cause you to live a life in fear.

• I only spent one hour with the meditation DVD today, so it was less of a time drain. However I am really enjoying the course so I can see watching at least one segment every day. There is a lot of information packed into 30 minutes and I feel like I will pick up tid-bits from multiple viewings. Also the course relies heavily on Buddhism and now I want to learn more about that. I never thought I would be drawn to Buddhism but that is what I am finding now. Who said that? ;-)

• I am very happy to report that the views on the 31 Days to Better Health posts continue to grow. This makes me very happy! We have also added 7 new followers in the past 5 days which is also a fantastic sign. Since one of my main goals is to get more people thinking about their health both of these things are huge for me. You guys really do keep me going, thank you!

• We have kale in the house again. *woo hoo* I walked to the grocery store today for kale and came home with kale, parsley, lemons, romaine and tofu.  You can't have too much produce in the house in my opinion.  ;-) Dan will be very happy to have a green smoothie option tomorrow for breakfast. I know he loves his oatmeal but I am sure he misses his green smoothies too. I love that my husband enjoys the green smoothies this much. I never expected him to be a health convert. It hasn’t been that long ago that he told me he would eat tofu as long as it didn’t taste like tofu. See how much progress I have made with him?

Signing Out:

I have another webinar tonight and I still need to make dinner so I need to run. Sorry this post went up a bit later than I intended. Better late than never right?

For those of you who want to know what is coming up for tomorrow that post will be about conscious eating. I think it will be a good one and may not be what you are expecting.

I hope you are having a great week and have some fun planned for your weekend. Talk with you again tomorrow.

31 Days to Better Health - Day 4

Before we get to the exercise for today let’s review what we have done so far.

Day 1 – we defined success as well as what was holding us back
Day 2 – we determined our purpose and whether we have passion or not
Day 3 – we set specific and achievable goals for this month

I don’t know about you but I think we have made a lot of progress in just a few days. Go us! I really hope you are feeling as good about your progress as I am about mine.

In terms of the goals I set yesterday here is what I have done so far:

1) Monthly Newsletters – I spent about two hours Tuesday working on this and at this rate I should have this crossed off my list in no time. *woo hoo*

2) Wearing my Body Bugg daily - I charged my Body Bugg Monday night and I put it on first thing both Tuesday and Wednesday morning and I have learned that I am definitely less active now than I was during the summer which I needed to know. As I like to say, we can’t change what we don’t know and now I know I need to step it up in the exercise department.

3) Scheduling at least one weekly date with my hubby - Dan and I made a date for Wednesday night which means he should be home by 7:30 this evening at which time I will have finished everything that I need to get done so that we can spend time together.

How about you, have you set things in motion to start making progress on your January goals? I hope so. If you haven’t gotten started yet please do. There is no time like the present to get moving. I can tell you from personal experience that it feels good to be making progress on my goals.

What Should You be Doing that You Have Been Avoiding?:

Today I am going to ask you to spend some time thinking about the things that you know you should be doing. Please do not let this upset you because there is something you aren’t doing. The purpose of this is to get you to acknowledge those things which you know you should be doing and then to get you to commit to do at least one of them this week. These items could be anything but should relate in some way to your idea of success and your purpose.

Please go back and reread what you wrote to the first three days exercises if necessary to remind you of your areas of interest. (Have you put your responses in a notebook or separate Word doc yet? I have mine in a notebook and it makes this easier.) The items that you know you should be doing could be as simple as drinking more water or as complex as overhauling your entire diet. I want you to think of the things that you have been meaning to do but haven’t. These could also be spending more time your family or friends, eating more greens are getting more exercise. What is important in this part of the exercise is to list as many things as you can that you have meaning do though they haven’t made it to the top of your priority list yet. For me the things that I think about often, but don’t do, are the ones that I really need to work on. I imagine the same is true for you. Sometimes the act of writing these things down also makes them more real or at the very least brings them to the forefront of your mind.

When you are writing your list think about how long you have been intending to do these things. Those items which have been on your list the longest are probably most important. The reason I ask you to think of what you know you should be doing is:

1. We all know ourselves better than other people know us. In other words each of us knows what we need to do better than anyone else knows what we need. Typically it isn’t that we are unaware of what we need but that we just need to move from interested in these actions to being committed. Make sense?

2. Tasks that we think are important are more likely to happen. To put that differently if you think you need to exercise more that feels completely different than if your spouse thinks you need to do it. Does that make sense? By determining your own “to-do” items you are increasing your probability of success.

Let me show you an example of something that most people should be doing, which is getting more sleep. Almost everyone that I know is chronically sleep deprived. Most of my friends work long hours, try to cram as much time in with their family as they can into their “free time” and what tends to suffer is their sleep. Since inadequate sleep is linked to weight gain, increased risk of heart disease, trouble concentrating and difficulty remembering things it is important to get enough rest every night not just on weekends. If you think that you might not be getting enough sleep this could be a good goal for you work on this week. Start by going to bed 15-30 minutes earlier than usual (to gradually change your bed time) and move up your bed time until you are getting a full 8 hours of sleep. You will know that you are getting enough rest if you wake up refreshed. I would suggest that you use how you feel in the morning, whether you “need” coffee, and how alert you are during the day, to tell you if you are getting adequate rest. Your body is sending your messages all the time all you need to do is listen to them.

Here is my list of things that I know I should be doing (in the order that they popped into my head) as well as why I think I am not doing them and how they relate to my purpose and idea of success:

1) spend at least an hour a day working on ideas for my business – I guess that I am avoiding this is probably due to perfectionism rearing its ugly head again, this clearly relates to health both mine and others

2) measuring my calorie dense food like nuts and seeds - while I realize that all of us tend to have portions that grow over time I really dislike measuring even though I also know that it's a good thing to do periodically therefore I avoid it, this is also tied to health

3) organize and purge my clothes closet – I have been avoiding this because I hate to get rid of clothes that are too big but are still good so now the mess makes me unhappy and that is not good for my emotional health

4) make an inventory of my pantry - so that I don’t run out of staples as frequently which would be good both my physical and emotional health

5) start going to the gym at least twice a week rather than working at home all the time – exercise variety is a good thing and would be positive for my physical health

6) wearing my Body Bugg daily – which I started today (Tuesday) when I was writing this post and it is
clearly good for my physical health

7) eat more salad – this is one I have been avoiding for a while and I don’t know why but it would
definitely be beneficial for my physical health

8) eat fewer whole grains and more cooked beans – this is another one that has been on my list but that I have been dodging though it would be good for my physical health

9) get into bed earlier so that 5:30am doesn’t feel so early -  this would help me get back into the early
morning gym routine which would be good for my health

10) vary my exercise routine - again this is something that I know is important yet I like what I like and I really need to push myself to make regular changes to my workout routine for my physical health

Okay now you have an idea of what I know I should be doing that I'm have been avoiding. I decided to stop my list at 10 things but if you wish keep going I think that's great, please do! Once you are satisfied that your list is long enough please choose one item in your list to work on this week. You can either choose an easy one so that you know you will be successful or you could choose the item that you think will have the biggest impact. Remember you can always add to this list at any time. We will come back to this list next week so that we can tackle another item.

Now it is your turn, what are the things that you know you should be doing, yet you aren’t getting them done? When you are making your list think about how these items relate to your idea of success and to your purpose. Start working on items which relate to your purpose and will make you feel successful.

You probably noticed from my list that there are some recurring themes. Clearly exercise variety is on my mind as it appears in item 5 and 10. Also it is obvious that I want to make a few more tweaks to my food intake. The item I have been considering doing for a while in terms of food that I've been avoiding is measuring calorie dense items. I can't tell you how much I dislike measuring food. It feels so restrictive and unnatural to me. Currently I sprinkle nuts and seeds on things with no serious attempt to measure. Since I know this is an issue I'm definitely going to work on it this week so that I can better eyeball quantities in the near future.

While I only asked you to work on one item I am I am also going to commit to working on my business an hour a day. This is something that I've had in mind to do since the summer that I haven't gotten it done. Six months is enough time to procrastinate and now it is time for action. I will set aside an hour every day when I work on my business plans without interruption. I am confident that I know enough, in fact more than enough, to make a career out of health and wellness. Now I need to stop talking about it and just do it. In order to hold myself accountable I will tell you each day what I did. If you don't see me mention that in each post for the remainder of the month please ask me about it. Like I have been saying accountability is a good thing.  :-)

For those of you that want to get a head start on tomorrow that topic will be assessing whether you are an optimist or a pessimist. Since all of us know which one we are the next question is which one do you want to be? I will have some suggestions for how to change your attitude since I used to be a pessimist which I imagine surprises many of you but it is true. Believe me if I can become an optimist anyone can do it. ;-) I will explain this tomorrow.

Tuesday:

The morning started like usual by my reading and meditating before Dan got up. Then I made Dan breakfast, while he made us double strength mugs of tea. While his fruit and nut oatmeal was simmering I packed his lunch and we chatted about the plans for our respective days.

My breakfast ended up being some broccoli and hummus that I had originally packed for Dan’s lunch but he thought that I was sending him too much food so it became my meal instead. I love broccoli and hummus so this was a fantastic breakfast in my mind. I sprinkle some paprika on top for a few reasons, flavor, extra vitamin C and the red color is pretty. ;-) I also added pine nuts for flavor, texture, protein and fat (to help me absorb the fat soluble vitamins in the broccoli).

Once Dan left for work it was time for me to do some work on the computer. I spent a couple of hours finishing up the post for Day 3 and then it was time to start this post. It sometimes shocks me how much time I can be on the computer.

I did take time to enjoy my hot tea with grapefruit and cinnamon, watching Masi being mesmerized by the snow flurries, and then I did some cleaning and cooking and it was noon. How does the day go by so quickly?

Since my morning had been relatively inactive I opted are of very light lunch most of you proud because snack of a banana and some almond butter. I had planned to get outside new quickly 3 miles this morning. With a temperature of 31 and a wind chill of 21 the idea of getting outside for exercise was not terribly appealing to me. Gee, I wonder why? Given the weather it made much more sense to work out inside today. Thank goodness for exercise equipment at home is all I have to say. On days like this I appreciate they have will stay warm inside.

Once I had finished exercising I had a bowl of leftover bean, mushroom and kale soup over quinoa. I hope you are noticing that we eat a lot of leftovers. Having intentional leftovers available is the biggest reason that we are able to eat this way. If it weren’t for those leftovers I would not have time to do anything other than cook which would make this lifestyle all but impossible.

After lunch I spent more time working on the blog, gathering items for future exercises this month, as well as cleaning and planning meals. When I got a few free minutes I took the time to do a little reading in the public health book which I just bought. Who knew textbooks could be so interesting? LOL

I also found two hours to work on my newsletter project. I should be telling you more about that very soon. However I can tell you it feels good to be making progress on something that has been on my to-do list for entire too long. In addition to the newsletter project I also spent some time working on my business plan today. Productivity was in full swing at my house on Tuesday. *woo hoo*

Dan was a little late coming home because he stopped at the boat on the way home since our overnight temperatures were supposed to dip into the mid-teens. Even though the boat has been winterized he wanted to increase the temperature inside the boat overnight just to be safe overnight.

Dinner at our house was another huge salad which I am sure shocks you…..LOL. The salad had a base of baby spinach, I used salsa in place of dressing, added some broccoli, raw sunflower seeds and hummus. Dan’s salad also had cold cooked quinoa for a few extra calories and protein.

Wendy sent me an email yesterday asking about how I eat salads without dressing and any suggestions that I had for her since she can’t imagine enjoying undressed salad. Since I am sure she isn’t the only thinking this I wanted to share my thoughts on this with you too.

In terms of salad without dressing I think that is something that becomes your new normal in time. Back in the “bad old days” there was nothing that I loved more than blue cheese dressing which was my favorite. Hard to imagine isn’t it? Then I went through a long period of olive oil and vinegar. Now when I have salad, evenly lightly dressed, it just takes greasy to me. Again this is something that I NEVER thought would happen.

My favorite salad dressing currently is salsa and hummus. I just toss the greens with a little salsa and top it with hummus. I find that if salad has enough “juicy” foods in it (like artichokes, tomatoes, or fruit) that I don’t even need the salsa or hummus. However I wasn’t always like this. In the past I would place either raw sesame seeds or raw cashews in my Vitamix and add flavors like: raw garlic, lemon juice or vinegar, roasted red peppers, sun-dried tomatoes and herbs and spices and then blend until the dressing was creamy. There are lots of these recipes on my blog just search for “salad dressings” and many of them will come up.

I hope the salad tips helped a few you. Thanks again for the question Wendy. :-)  Keep them coming!

Happy Thoughts:

• Today it was very good to have exercise equipment at home. It was so cold and windy outside there was no way I could face 3 miles outside. Thank goodness I was able to stay warm inside yet still get my exercise in for the day.

• Making progress on goals which have been languishing on my to-do list feels great. I hope you are finding the same thing at your house.

• I realized that my daily activity is lower now than it was in the summer and fall. Now that I know this I plan to step it up starting tomorrow. This is exactly why I bought the Body Bugg and how I think it is best used. I admit that I don’t wear mine all the time, which probably makes more sense, but even wearing it periodically is enough to point out trends that require action.

• The meditation course (Practicing Mindfulness) that I ordered from The Great Courses arrived yesterday and I have already watched 3 hours of it because it is that good. If you are interested in meditation I think you will enjoy these DVDs. When I finish the entire series I will tell you more about it.  BTW, the courses go on sale often, if one you want is full price just keep checking back, it will go on sale.  I have many of these and haven't paid the list price for any of them.

• I checked on my parents today and they are doing well. My mom was feeling good enough to go out and that was nice to see. For those of you who do not have elderly parents having them up are around is a big deal.

• Dan checked on the boat this morning before work and everything seems fine. Given that it was colder here this morning (17) than it was in Minneapolis (25) we are both grateful that everything with the boat was good.

• I realized today that I haven’t watched the news for many months. In the past I used to start my morning watching the news and then would turn it on during the day and again in the evening. While I didn’t intentionally put myself on a news fast, that is what happened by accident. I have found that by not watching the news I am much more at ease and less worked up. Apparently there is something to what people say about 24 hours news being overly stimulating. Since I just realized this I wanted to mention it to you. BTW I also discovered that when something happens that I need to know I still get the information usually by talking to others. It is nice to be able to spend my free time focusing on things that are much more positive in nature than the news which is almost always bad news.

Signing Out:

It is time for me to start working on the next post. I got so carried away watching the DVDs on practicing mindfulness that I haven’t started the next post yet. *eek* I better get my tush in gear.

I hope you are having a wonderful week and that you are enjoying my January posts. Again, if you have any suggestions or feedback please feel free to share either here on send me an email. You can reach me at veganepicurean@gmail.com. Talk with you again tomorrow.

Another Great Weekend and a Few Recipes

Saturday was for sailing:

Time has been flying by recently. We have been getting a lot accomplished but very little of it has been at home. I have gotten pretty good at making food that is portable or taking the ingredients with me and whipping things up on the boat. I will need to write a post about that soon so I can share what I have learned with all of you. There are definitely some tricks that I have picked up.

Saturday we had good wind and took advantage of it to figure out what the boat would do. Did we have a good time? No doubt about it! When we left the dock the wind was about 5 knots but it reached 13.6 knots so we had a great day to try things out. We got rid of the prior boat over a decade ago so we really needed to “get our feet wet” and it was the perfect day for it. We had the boat moving at 7.6 knots which wasn’t bad for our first trip out. I was pleased with how she handled which was a little bit of surprise. Since the last boat was a racer I assumed she would have been much easier to handle but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Here is Dan behind the wheel.

This is me trying my best to see over the cabin. The world is just not made for short people. ;-)

I loved this picture of the Inner Harbor as we were coming back to the marina.

Here are a few more shots I took while we were out.  Sailing out of the inner harbor is definitely different from having the boat on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.

We go right by Fort McHenry on our way to the bay. It is great be surrounded by history. It isn’t like being in Italy but we have our share of American history at least. ;-)

While we were underway I made us a salad of: tatsoi (an Asian green), quinoa (which I cooked at home), marinated mushrooms (also made a home), tomatoes and pine nuts. I was able to toss this together while Dan took the wheel.

We sailed for about 4 hours and it was getting cold (temps in the mid 60’s and a lot of wind), and we weren’t really dressed for it, so we headed back for the marina.

I couldn’t get warm so I made us some hot green tea. When that didn’t do it I decided a mostly raw dinner was out of the question. Thank goodness I had stashed some of the Tasty Bites packaged vegan food on board. See even we eat “packaged” food sometimes. ;-) I am sure you know me well enough to realize that I didn’t eat it as it came out of the package though. It wouldn’t be me if I didn’t tinker with it now would it?

Sunday:

We started our morning at the farmers’ market like always. Fall is definitely fast approaching as the winter squash is plentiful now. *boo hoo* It is always sad to see summer end. However I am consoling myself with the good wind we always have in the fall. On the Chesapeake sailing is better spring and fall than it is during the summer. Additionally the powerboats don’t seem to come out as much and that makes for less dodging them since many of them don’t seem to understand the “rules of the road”.

Here are some of the fun hummus flavors I picked up at the market on Sunday.

After the market we came home and lounged around for a while since neither of us got much sleep last night. There was a new episode of Dr. Who on so you know Dan couldn’t go to sleep. I am not sure what my excuse was for getting into bed so late, but I am going to blame it on Dr. Who keeping Dan up. ;-)

Dan ran out to the hardware store to pick up some materials to make a device to hold the spring line up at the marina so that it will be easier to dock. Good thing one of us is handy isn’t it? As you probably guessed I am not the handy one in our family. ;-)

While he was gone I made another batch of curried split pea soup because it travels really well. I measured this time so that I can share the recipe which you will find at the end of this post.

Since it was so cold last night I thought some hot chocolate would be nice to have on the boat and whipped up a batch of almond milk and part of that became hot chocolate. This recipe will also be at the end of this post.

I also wanted to make a sweet and spicy pickled salad of sorts. I had something similar at Jesse Wong’s a few months ago and knew I could make it my own, and dare I say improve on it from both a nutrition and taste perspective. I have also shared that at the bottom of this post.

When we got to the marina it was much later than we had intended it to be. I got busy stowing everything on board so that we could go out if we decided to. Dan took care of installing his new device on the dock. While he was busy with power tools I took a little time to write this post and get some veggie chili with mushrooms in the crock pot. The boat came with a crock pot on board so I wanted to test that out and see how it would work on board since that was a new idea for me. For some reason I never used a Crockpot on the prior boat. Since it seemed to work fairly well on high I may start making more meals in the Crockpot on the boat.

Before I forget Dr. Greger is looking for unpaid interns for his site nutritionafacts.org to help spread the word about the health benefits of a whole food vegan diet. As you have probably guessed I don’t have a huge amount of free time but helping Dr. Greger is a fantastic cause so I am thrilled to be able to lend a hand. If you can spare 10 hours a week for 10 weeks please join me in volunteering for Dr. Greger. I am sure you will find it very rewarding. I hope to see you there soon. :-)

Recipes from this weekend:

Curried Split Pea Soup
Serves 8

Ingredients:

2 cups Bob’s Red Mill “Vegi Soup Mix” (green and yellow split peas, barley, lentils, and whole wheat alphabet pasta)
8 cups water
2 bay leaves
1 onion, peeled and minced
32 ounces homemade canned tomatoes (or 28 ounce can crushed tomatoes no or low salt)
2 tablespoons garam masala
½ - 1 tablespoon turmeric (this can be bitter so start with less how much you need will depend on how much is the garam masala you used)
½ tablespoons fresh ground black pepper (to make the curcumin in the turmeric more bioavailable)
2 tablespoons black mustard seeds
fresh lime wedges to finish

Directions:

Combine the water, bean mix, and bay leaves in your pressure cook and cook on high pressure for 10 minutes. Use the quick release method, remove the bay leaves and add the remaining ingredients, except the lime and cook until the onion is tender. Serve the soup with wedges of lime to bright the flavor.

Almond Milk Hot Chocolate
Serves 2 – greedy vegans ;-)

Ingredients:

3 cups homemade almond milk, with the oats to thicken it
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
a pinch of mace
stevia to taste, depending on how much of a sweet tooth you have

Directions:

I combine this in Mason jar and shake well to combine. By doing that you can shake the jar and pour out the amount you want to heat and store the remainder in the refrigerator. Also it travels well this way.

Spicy Sweet and Sour Salad of Bok Choy and Carrot
Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 cup white vinegar
1 cup water
1 cinnamon stick
approximately 10 whole cloves
whole dried chilis (like you see in Asian stir fry), add these to taste depending on how much you like heat (I used 15 or so but I love heat)
2 carrots, cut into sticks
4 cups shredded bok choy
¼ cup golden raisins
sesame seeds for garnish
spicy greens to be a bed for the salad (I used tatsoi)

Directions:

Combine the water, vinegar, spices, and heat on high until the liquid is just beginning to bubble. Now add the carrots so that they will begin to soften. Once the vinegar has cooled add the bok choy and raisins and store the salad in a jar in the refrigerator. Periodically turn the jar over to distribute the marinade. To serve place the salad on top of the greens and dust the salad with sesame seeds. Don’t forget to tell your family not to eat the hot peppers as they are very hot.

Happy Thoughts:

• It was another fantastic weekend for us. Dan didn’t spend any time at work so we had lots of face time and you know we loved that. ;-) We had a great sail on Saturday and a very relaxing dinner on board on Sunday.

• I have a new little feathered friend at the marina. The most adorable mallard has decided that she needs to greet me every time I come down the boat. I am sure it has nothing to do with my feeding her the leftover pancakes that the delivery crew left in the refrigerator. ;-) Thank goodness Michelle can to the rescue to tell me what I should be feeding the duck. My little friend (who I now need to name), hung around with me for an hour under Sunday after I gave her the end of the pancakes on board. I swear one day I am going to arrive at the marina and she will be waiting for me on the boat.

• I have a new human friend at the marina as well. Chris, two slips away, and I are really hitting it off. We both love to cook, and talk and have been spending a lot of time together. It is very nice to make new friends.

• The wind has really started to pick up on the Chesapeake which is fantastic. After all sailing is no fun when you don’t have wind. ;-)

Signing out:

I have been spending so much time at the boat that things at home are now out of control. Time for me to get busy and get some things done at home so that I can relax at the boat. Talk with you again soon.

Cinnamon Raisin Hummus with Peanut Butter

Sunday I made more hummus because I am totally on a hummus kick thanks entirely to the hummus stand at the farmers’ market. When I tried the “hummus guy’s” cinnamon raisin hummus I immediately thought it would be better with peanut butter in place of the tahini. When Dan tried it and said the same thing I knew it was a sign.

Like always cook the chickpeas until they are very soft, in other words too soft to be used whole. While the beans are still hot drain them and place them in the food processor and add a little of the bean cooking liquid and process until they are completely pulverized and smooth. Add additional bean cooking liquid until you like the texture (thickness) of the hummus. Now add some homemade reduced-fat peanut butter, cinnamon and a touch of stevia to make it lightly sweet. Once you like the hummus flavor and texture stir in some golden raisins and refrigerate. Remember the hummus will get thicker as it chills so it should be a little softer than you like when it goes into the refrigerator.

Errands and Dinner Out:

Dan decided we would run errands last night after he got home from work. I had a few things to return to the library and other things waiting for me that I had reserved on-line so we headed north to Baltimore County.

Since we knew that we didn’t have time to get back to the restaurant and see the gang we decided to have dinner at Jesse Wong’s in Hunt Valley and then stop at Wegman’s.

We started with the sweet and sour cabbage with sweet red peppers, dried hot peppers, and sesame seeds. This is a very nice salad. I think it is cooked briefly and then cooled. I will try to make something similar soon at home so that I can share it with you in more detail.

Next Dan wanted vegetable dumplings so we ordered those.

Our entrée was faux “shrimp” (made with white yam) and King Oyster mushrooms in a brown sauce. The shrimp are so real in both taste and texture that it is a bit creepy.

While we were there we order Hunan “faux” duck for Dan’s lunch tomorrow.   Dan loves this dish in case you hadn't noticed.  ;-)

After dinner we went to Wegman’s which is also in the same shopping center in Hunt Valley. I needed a variety of beans (garbanzo, great northern, black, and red lentil). Additionally I was also running low on golden raisins, organic cat nip and wanted some chopped peanuts for garnish. A few packages of bean thread noodles jumped into my cart as well. Don’t they do that with you? LOL

Since I am always raving about the great selection at Wegman’s and I was in the ethnic food area I took a few pictures of the variety to give you an idea of the fabulous selection. Please note these weren’t things I bought (thought the Muesli was tempting) just a random selection of items that I don’t typically see in other grocery stores.

This is just a tiny sample of the variety of products that you can find at Wegman’s. It really is a great store. If you have one near you and haven’t checked it out please do. I think you will be glad that you did.

How to Identify Guy Humor…I think:

We got to the restaurant late, after 8:30 and knew that we should order quickly so that we weren’t keeping the kitchen busy when they would rather be cleaning up and going home. Since we often forget to order brown rice and that means the servers ends up going back to the kitchen Dan mentioned it to the server right away in case we didn’t remember once we had decided on our entrée.

There was another couple, about our age, at the table next to us. After we ordered our salad and dumplings and said we would decide on our entrée in a few minutes the man next to us piped up and said “Don’t forget my friend’s brown rice.” Huh? Do I know you I thought? I looked again and realized I had no idea who this guy was. However since his comment annoyed me I figured it must have been guy humor. I asked Dan after we left and he said, yes that was guy humor. Now I know how to identify it. If something comes out a guy’s mouth that irritates me it must be guy humor. Got it. ;-) Men! *rolls eyes*

Happy thoughts:

• As Monday’s go it was a very good day. I wasn’t very productive but I enjoyed myself and we all need those days sometimes. Dan and I had a nice dinner out though it was much more rushed than we typically prefer. We had tasty Chinese food and talked all through dinner. Heck we talked all through our errands. It was a nice evening.

• Massimo continues to improve. He was popping around here earlier today and he even went for a ride on my shoulders around lunch time.

• The fur children are finally adjusting to being back on crunchy cat food (kibble as we call it). My youngest (Binky) may just be growing up …finally. LOL, too bad he had to be 10 years old before he started to mature.

• We got a little rain last night was we desperately needed because the ground is extremely dry. The storm put on a beautiful light show before the rain started falling. Since we did get caught in the rain going between the car and the restaurant it was a good day to be wearing jeans and T-shirt last night.

• Speaking of growing up Binky may not be the only one who can say that. I went out last night in jeans, my gray Hopkins Lacrosse T-shirt, hair in a pony tail and no makeup (yikes!). Who knows maybe I am growing up too. Nah! LOL

• Yesterday our temperatures were again over 100 and that made it a day to be very grateful for air conditioning and I was.

Signing out:

The day if flying by and I have a lot of things to do before Dan gets home from work. I hope your Tuesday is going well. Talk to you again soon. :-)

What Does Life Have to Teach You?

Have you ever wondered when and how your life became what it is today? All week I have been in an introspective mood, probably due to lack of sleep over the last three days. No matter what the reason I wanted to share some of what I have been thinking about. Those of you who have been reading for a while know a lot of this, though there is some new information, but I wanted to talk about it in a different way in the hope that something I write will resonate with more people.

I have always believed that ideas are what make everything happen. Without ideas where would any of us be? What do I mean by this? When the oncologist said there was nothing that we could do to keep the cancer under control I viewed that as a challenge. I knew in my gut that lifestyle mattered and I was not going to stop until I understood the science behind how it could make a difference. Additionally, I was determined to show the oncologist that lifestyle could impact cancer. I am not sure that I have gotten through to the MD, but everything for us is going great so that doesn’t matter as much to me now. It took me a while but I now realize that all people see what they are ready for and no more. Maybe one day more doctors will be open to treatments that include lifestyle change. I know many people listen to their doctor religiously but fortunately that doesn’t describe us. We are practical about treatment but are also open to ideas that most MDs think absurd, like lifestyle changes.

If there was one thing I knew early on during this journey it was that what I do (and what you do) matters in life. Every moment each of us has a choice to make. What are we going to do? How are we going to react to something that happened to us? We each make decisions all day long that we don’t give much thought to. Going back to the last post, if you hate your job and it makes you miserable that is a decision that you made. The job doesn’t create your misery you do.

Cancer happened to us, and it sucked, but that didn’t mean that we had to allow it to take control of our lives. Also it didn’t take me long to realize that I could learn from cancer and use what it taught me and share it with others. I have always believed that when you learn you are obligated to teach. Additionally I think that all of us are here for a reason. My reason at this time is to share what I have learned about nutrition and how it impacts health.

I can imagine some of you are reading this thinking, where the heck did this come from? I completely understand why you would have that reaction. If I had read this pre-cancer I might have had the same reaction. Cancer has a way of cutting through the noise, the garbage, and getting to the heart of what really matters most. While cancer is a horrible scourge it can also be the ultimate teacher if you are open to the lessons it brings. In my case cancer has taught me many things including:

• Life is short, don’t waste it whiny, complaining or hating
• Don’t bother to get upset about little things which don’t matter
• You don’t have control over anyone but yourself (this was really tough for me)
• When you make sense people will listen, though they may not change
• If you truly care about others you will reach them on some level

Once I started learning from cancer I knew that I needed to do something with my new knowledge but I didn’t actually know what that meant. In the beginning it was enough to share recipes and teach people that they could eat healthy food that also tasted terrific. Initially I thought that food was all that I had to share because it was something that I was comfortable writing about. However it didn’t take long before writing about cooking became boring for me. After all cooking isn’t exactly mentally stimulating stuff. That is why I share so many links to scientific studies on my Facebook page. At least that stuff makes you think and keeps your mind engaged. Not to mention I love learning since it helps me to put more pieces together. However I also thought that I should go beyond food and science since I know that attitude and mood make a big difference in terms of health.

Back to cancer, it has taught me that I cannot survive in this world relying on myself. This was a hard lesson for me to learn. Before cancer I thought that I was island and that as long as I took care of myself that was all that mattered. Of course that was short sighted and selfish. My excuse for that behavior is that I was young and immature then, okay younger not exactly young. ;-) As I have gotten older I have started to realize that what we all put out into the world really does make a difference. That is why I try to share things that go beyond food. I also believe that life is about growth and change. When you are no longer growing it is time to change. That is another reason that my blog continues to morph as time passes.  I will still be writing about food but also about other things as well.

Additionally good luck, or bad luck, is not really something that I believe in. In terms of good luck I think that what people call luck is actually better described as what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Everything that has happened in your life is preparing you for the moments that are to come in your life. Additionally I believe that everyone’s life has a pattern and those patterns leads all of us to our purpose. Where do you feel most at home? Knowing where you are comfortable will lead you to your purpose. I bet you already know what my purpose is; it just took me longer to figure it out because I am stubborn.

I also believe things show up in your life that you are supposed to notice. In my case what kept showing up in my life was health, nutrition, and caring for other people. For decades I have been interested in food and the impact of food on health though I had no idea what to do with that if anything. It took me a long time to figure out what I should do with the idea. However on some level I knew that I needed to stay true to what was important to me, what I now see as my purpose in life.

I also believe that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Every thought that we think is going to create an action that will come back. In my case early actions resulted in “bad luck”. Of course it wasn’t luck at all it was my actions causing other actions which I didn’t like. Fortunately I figured this out before it was too late. I am pointing this out in case it causes you to think about your actions and whether they are leading you in the direction that you do not want your life to go. A perfect example of this would be hating your job and dreading going there each day. With an attitude like that is there any wonder why your day would be less than stellar?

For years I would joke and say that I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I grew up. I must be a slow learner because it was in my 40’s before I had any inkling what I was passionate about other than cooking. In the process of teaching myself everything that I could learn about health and nutrition I started to understand what it was that I loved. A funny thing happens when you love what you are doing. When you are happy you tend to spend more time on things and you naturally do them better. Additionally when you do things well people tend to notice which is what continues to happen for me. I am constantly surprised by the number of people who ask me questions about nutrition and health. I also believe that whenever you work hard and do your best you are preparing yourself for opportunity.

During my path to learn about nutrition and realized this was something that I would love to turn into a career. After all since I was happy doing it for free getting paid to do it would be even better right? Are you starting to see where this is going? ;-) I have decided to put my nutrition knowledge to work and to see if I can turn it into a career. Exactly what that career will look like I am not 100% certain yet though I have some ideas. However I am working on that now and as soon as I have it completely worked out I will let you know. Assuming that I stick to my schedule I should have things worked out in the next month or so. Wish me luck as I think I am going to need it. If you have any suggestions or ideas please feel free to share I would love to know what you think.

Since I suspect some of you are wondering …. yes, I am planning to continue writing this blog. In addition to this blog I am planning to have a second blog for the business that I am working on. I will also be writing a newsletter that will be free and when I have that ready to go I will let you know how you can sign up. There is a lot going on in my life at the moment as you can see. Good thing I thrive on being busy huh? ;-)

Feline Update:

Like the last time the cats had to fast Nicco (Binky) is certain that he is going to starve overnight without any kibble to eat. I should lock the cats out of the bedroom but that seems so mean since they like to sleep in the bed with us and I can't do that to them. I am paying the price for that decidions in terms of lack of sleep exactly like the last time. Dan was sweet enough to drive Luca to the hospital and back Tuesday. Good thing because I was too tired to do it safely.

Luca Belle had two molars removed and she was not a happy girl Tuesday night. However she usually isn’t a happy cat so her behavior isn’t markedly different from normal. ;-) She is on two medications now, one for pain and an antibiotic. Let’s hope she continues to be more cooperative about taking these meds compared to how she behaves about her asthma meds.

Overall she seems to be doing well just a little sore from the operation. She is feeling good enough to swat at her brothers which she seems to love to do based on how often she does it. Since Tuesday night I have been trying to keep Luca out of the crunchy kibble. I am taking that a sign that she is feeling well. Clearly her appetite has not been impacted by the surgery based on her often I have been feeding her Wednesday and Thursday.

Food:

I have been remiss in my food photography duties lately. I guess this is what happens when you are operating on 4 hours of sleep or less for three days in a row. After I drive my father to the orthodontist today I am going to relax and maybe take a nap this afternoon. I can feel myself really starting to drag now.

I did photograph a snack of peaches and cinnamon raisin hummus. This hummus I bought at the farmers’ market but I will be making my version of this soon because it is really good. Who knew sweet hummus would be so good? I am usually more of a savory girl but I am enjoying sweet flavored hummus much more than I ever expected.

I also made an eggplant and shitake dish in curried tomato sauce. To this I added a few diced dried apricots for a little sweetness. I served this over quinoa and finished it with cilantro and cashews

There was also a “crème” of lentil soup with shitakes that was made similar to this split pea soup. I flavored the soup last night with Spanish seasonings including: sherry vinegar, smoked paprika, and lemon. I added some leftover bulgur to the soup just before serving. The soup was topped with fresh cilantro and sliced almonds.

Of course there was salad too.  This on was shaved zucchini, tomato, marinated mushrooms, roasted peppers, basil, nutritional yeast, red wine vinegar and fresh basil.  Since I like to finish my salad with nuts or seeds this one had pine nuts.

Happy thoughts:

• It was a huge relief to hear out little fuzz ball Luca Belle came through surgery fine. We were both concerned about her undergoing anesthesia because she is a little chubette. Thankfully there was nothing to worry about. In fact she seems to have bounced back faster than Massimo which I didn’t expect.

• Having a low key week is something that I am very thankful for. Three days with little sleep has been much easier to take when I can play things by ear.

• Things are going well in Grenada which also makes me very happy. We might have a small paperwork delay to contend with but that is not the end of the world. Our girl will be here soon and a potential short delay is certainly not worth getting upset about.

• We have another concert coming up in August which I am starting to look forward to…of course it is more jazz. :-) For my fellow jazz fans the next concert is Euge Groove. I love listening to live jazz in case you hadn’t noticed.

• I am looking forward to Saturday because all the cats will be eating the same food again and that means I will be able to leave the dry kibble down. Having kibble available for the fur children to free feed means I will get sleep again. *woo hoo* Sleep is definitely something to be thankful for.

• Additionally I am also extremely thankful to all of you who take the time to read. It makes me very happy that so many of you are interested in eating a better diet and that I can offer you ideas for what to feed your family.

Signing Out:

Now it is time for me to get a little rest before Dan gets home from work. We started watching “Wind” last night for the first time since it came out. I guess it isn’t a surprise that we would like movies about sailing.

Wish me luck getting some sleep tonight. I am doing my best to get back to daily posting but without sleep that hasn’t been possible this week. Talk with you again soon.

If you any thoughts about this post please let me know. I would love to hear your thoughts. Thanks! :-)