Here we are in December. 3 weeks until the big Christmas day. How many out there celebrate Christmas even though it has nothing to do with their religious beliefs? I personally just enjoy the tradition with family and friends. It's unfortunate that so many feel the need to force their personal reasons for Christmas on each other but I think it's a fun holiday and can be a heart warming time for anyone no matter what their culture or background.
And of course comes the next topic of discussion that seems to becoming more and more interesting over the Holidays. How do we feed the "odd" one in the family lol. For some families who are all vegetarians or vegans this isn't so hard but for a lot of us our families like the traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings and if we eat even a little different then the rest we are sometimes labelled the picky eaters or the "hard" ones to feed.
Personally I am quite use to this. Growing up my step dad was usually the only vegetarian present at our family meals and I learned from him you can make quite a meal with the veggies and dinner trimmings. Of course stuffing was out if it was cooked in the Turkey but he still managed to enjoy the meal with out fuss. Now being vegan can be a bit more challenging. With the use of butters and cheeses and milk it can rule out a lot of foods at family dinners.
For my vegan friends who go to family dinners like this do you bring your own foods? Or do you make small exceptions during the holidays? My grandmother is actually allergic to milk protein so going to her house for Turkey dinner if you are a vegan is actually a bonus. Just avoid the turkey and the gravy.
I was raised of the mind to be respectful to my host and not to refuse what was given to me, even if I normally would not eat it. Now this may seem old fashioned but that is how my parents raised me. If someone was going to slave all day in the kitchen I should show a little appreciation. But for some who have never eaten meat or dairy this may result in you feeling very ill later. What are your feelings on this? If you cooked for 4-5 hours making a turkey dinner or even a tofurky dinner would you find it offensive if someone brought their own food? Or kindly refused over half of what you made?
Before I got pregnant I was eating a vegan diet more or less. I didn't get excited if I found my bread was baked with some milk but I also didn't intentionally eat any animal products. Since the end of my first trimester this time around I found I craved meat and started to eat small portions of it again 2-3 times a week.
I still love my vegan meals and raw foods though. And this year I spoiled myself and purchased a Vitamix. (Actually scored it second hand from my mothers aunt who never even used it after purchase! Whoo Hoo.) So I am totally stoked to make some awesome raw vegan desserts and side dishes to bring to family supper. More than anything to get people to experiment with new foods. I have already found 2 gluten free and/or sugar free cookie recipes I really love and feed to my daughter who is 1.5 yrs old.
The next one isn't vegan but you could easily make it so by substituting the egg with flax or maybe a banana or two. But it is gluten free. You can find it here: Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
If you have any tried and true recipes you love, vegan, vegetarian or otherwise I would love to hear them. I truly enjoy trying new foods - specially healthy foods.
So it has been far too long since I wrote a post. I will admit I became a little overwhelmed this summer between my home business, babysitting and becoming pregnant.
I am happy to say we had planned this pregnancy but hadn't really expected to be expecting so soon lol. I just stopped taking my pills and a short 3 weeks later unbeknownst to me I was officially pregnant. I didn't know what happened of course until the morning sickness hit me like a bolt of lightening in August. I all of sudden needed to sleep 20 hours a day, was beyond nauseous all the time and became a little more than irritable because of the way I was feeling and not having the time to take care of myself as I should.
It is amazing how quickly one can go from being energetic working from 6am to 10pm everyday to feeling drained of life and overly exhausted. Unfortunately not only did my body and my health suffer a little at first but so did my relationship with my partner. It is too easy sometimes let yourself become overwhelmed with life and its daily challenges.
After a few heated discussions and my partner firmly expressing is first and foremost concern, my health and secondly his feeling unwanted and unloved due to my lack of communication and time for him. I quickly realized he was not the only suffering, so was I. I had not had the energy after trying to force myself through my normal daily routines to work out or make proper meals for myself, mind you take time for others. I could barely make it through my day sometimes but I kept reminding myself we needed the money and I just needed to refocus and reorganize.
However after my discussions with my partner, who although loves me had thoroughly lost his patience with me, I decided I had to make changes before I sacrificed more or inadvertently hurt myself. This was hard for me to admit I couldn't do it all. I wanted to be strong, healthy, and in the past was proud of my abilities. I now felt week and unable to feel proud of my daily accomplishments. I really didn't want to admit I couldn't do it all. But I didn't see any other option. I was no longer happy everyday has I had been all year up until the morning sickness.
One hears stories about how some women worked 12 hours of hard labour a day while pregnant, kept a clean house, drove kids to soccer practice etc. etc. etc. I didn't want to be a weakling. I do not normally compare myself to others but when it comes to determination, strength and endurance through life I have always prided myself as a strong woman. It took me a while to believe I was still a strong woman even though I had to admit I needed more rest, more time to just relax and take care of myself.
Part of being healthy and feeling healthy is taking the time to rest. Not just eat healthy and exercise. This is a hard lesson for me. I watched my Step Father, who was self employed like myself, work 18 hour days as a child and learned wasted time is wasted money. What I failed to notice was he did not do this 365 days a year. There were months when he worked like a crazy man but than there were months when he would take whole afternoons off or sometimes several days. We all need down time. However we choose to do it we still need it and it does not make us week.
Until the morning sickness hit full swing I had been putting in very long and busy days. I had taken time for juicing, make raw vegan meals and preparing food for the week for myself and my growing toddler. It was hard to make the sudden change to cut back on my daily activities. Lucky for me the friend I babysat for was very understanding and soon found someone else to help her with her kids. I had to admit that I needed to just rest some days, shortening my walks and letting the weeds grow in my gardens. It took a few weeks but I slowly started to feel better.
I am now in my 2nd trimester and of course feel 100 times better but I still take naps sometimes and on the odd occasion take a day to just sit and read or play with my daughter. I am slowly making things up to my partner and my house almost seems in order again. Most days anyways lol. I had to simplify as well as modify my work outs for the day. Sometimes I just dont have the energy for more than a 45 work out and that is ok. I just barely made it through a month of some serious cravings with out gaining 20 lbs lol.
I have introduced a little more meat into my weekly diet. I find I crave a lot more protien and feel better for it. I still like to eat as much raw food as possible but I think my body knows what it needs and I plan to listen to it. I know some would disagree but I think to feel and eat healthy is an individual thing. As well as educating ourselves we also need to remember to listen to our bodies and be aware of how we feel. If you are trying to force yourself to eat vegan after being raised on a high animal protien diet you may not feel good for the switch. Or you may feel great! It just depends on you.
I came across this article recently and I highly recommend reading it. There is a new study out, which I haven't been able to find the full version for free yet, but I think it still deserves some credit. The study appears in the October edition of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, entitled "Meat intake and cause-specific mortality: a pooled analysis of Asian prospective cohort studies." This new study is direct contradiction to the conclusions of the previous "China Study" by Colin Campbell's.
To be fair and well informed I think both studies should be read and acknowledged. Once the information is in your hands obviously the choice is yours. Just don't forget to be extremely greatful to be in a position to make such choices as what to eat and how to eat it. I get so caught up in my health goals I forget some people are simply just greatful to be fed ... regardless the quality of food. We are blessed to be able to choose to eat healthy. And we all need to remember to respect each others choices. If you are a pure vegan your a not a better person than the meat eater... unless of course you live and act like Mother Teresa. Just as a raw vegan is not better than the vegan. Sometimes all the knowledge we gain makes us overly judgmental and overly opinionated. This video is a little reminder for myself.
Being pregnant has also been a good reminder for me that everyone is different and your body is your own to master and feed. Listen to it and feed it accordingly. Using educated choices and common sense helps but I immediately started to feel stronger when I reintroduced some meat into my diet. My body thanked me. I still don't eat it every day mind you but I know if I did I wouldn't feel very good. I am also lucky to live in a rural area where local meat is accessible. I am not a fan of the mass murdering meat producers. I prefer to support local farmers who let there cows roam the fields or chickens who are allowed to go outside and peck at the ground and run around. I believe there is a food chain for a reason but there is no need for cruelty either.
Moral of the story: Rest when you need it - it's ok to admit you can't do it all, if feeling stressed and overworked make the changes you need to be happy and remove the stress, adjust your diet according to your bodies needs and don't care what others think about it, remember to be greatful for what you have and the choices you are able to make and don't judge others based on their diets. What works for you may be wrong for them.
So for those who haven't read my earlier posts I live in Ontario, Canada. Usually our summers are warm and can be humid. But last week it was much warmer than a lot of us are use to with a lot of humidity. I literally looked like I stuck my finger in a socket when I left my hair down lol. My hair does not behave very well in humid weather to say the least. However what was really the adjustment I think for a lot of us was slowing down, drinking enough water and avoiding heat stroke. I even skipped out on my runs because I knew I would over heat too quickly not being use to the weather.
I don't normally condone making excuses to skip exercising but I also wanted to be safe. I am not use to 35C that feels like 42C with the humidex. That is around 107.6F, but for those in dry climates let me tell you when it is that humid it is like trying to breather water. The air is thick like soup. But I refused to complain. It was awesome for other activities besides running. Swimming of course was #1 on list. I love the water and any excuse to stay in it forever and ever. And seeing as it is only a few short months away before the snow comes back we better enjoy the sunshine right!
I also took on babysitting for the summer on top of my home business managing Social Media sites for companies. So far babysitting has been a great experience. I had forgotten a lot of the wonderful things about being a child and everything that goes with it.
It seems that my imagination is being rekindled and my creativity has come back full force. I always loved being crafty but now my passion for art and everything creative is coming back. We recently just spent a week making a paper mache pinata. And the week before we created an obstacle course outside for the kids to race.
However as much fun as I am having what I am lacking is enough sleep which is really killing my motivation to maintain my workouts like before. It is a toss up some days if I should work out or sleep. What is more important I ask myself. Unfortunately some days I am not done chores and working until almost 10:30pm and I have to wake at 5:45 for babysitting so I am very tempted to pick sleep.
I know my workouts are important to reach my goals but I also know you need sleep to reach your goals too. ... This leaves me with the ultimate question: if I get up at 5am to work out with only 6 hours sleep will that be enough for me? I hear so often we need 8 hours sleep and some times I feel like I need 10 hours sleep.
What are your thoughts? I would love to hear other peoples opinions or ideas.
So my last blog post was my June challenge. Well I am officially admitting I have to amend my goal date lol. I am very much lacking the upper body strength to hold myself up with my arms. However I plan to correct that. I have been trying to get myself to hold the L-handstand facing the wall. And this is how I learned I need to get a lot stronger. I found this great tutorial on how to do handstands and am trying to follow what he says.
I have been doing some really great challenges through tribesports.com and I am already noticing the benefits. I am going to push a little harder and hopefully this summer in July or August I will be doing hand stands. What I really want to be able to do is lift my own weight. The infamous handstand push up that you see these amazing athletes do.
Some of the challenges I have really enjoyed from tribesports are:
The Sexy Leg workout is a lot more challenging than I expected. And the core workout was not has hard for me as I thought it would be. I always thought my legs were strong but obviously not nearly as strong as I wanted them to be lol. I was also surprised at how strong my core was after having my baby 13 months ago and feeling like I had fallen short on my core work outs. I have also decided to take on the 30 Squat challenge to strengthen my legs. I happy to say today is a rest day for me. ;)
Taking these challenges is not only worth it but a great way for me to see where my strengths and weaknesses are. I think until these two workouts become easy for me I will continue to do them. Maybe the leg workout twice a week and the core at least once. I still find both work outs challenging at the moment so it only makes sense to master them.
But now I also need to find a great workout that I can do at home to increase upper body strength. I do have a small home gym but it is limited.
In order for me to reach my goal of the handstand push up I really need to get stronger. I have started by increases my push ups for each day. I actually was able to do 65 push ups yesterday. I broke them up into reps of 15 or 20. I am very happy with this. As of April all I could do was 5 of the modified push ups (commonly called the "girl push up").
So if you have any recommendations for a good upper body work out I can do at home let me know. I am a newbie so be kind ;)
So it's been a while since I wrote anything. Once again I got caught up in some awesome spring weather. And with spring comes gardening, hiking, running and for some reason more visiting.
A while back I joined a website called TribeSports.com. I have to say I am enjoying it. There are mini challenges and others encourage your activity. There are a ton of different groups, called Tribes lol, that you can join based on your interests and discussions. You can create your own challenges to challenge others, you can create discussions and tribes too. It really is a great social tool for people looking for like minded fitness seekers and doers.
However as much as I am enjoying it I have recently decided to challenge myself for June with a goal that I have not found on TribeSports (not saying it isn't there though). I found this pic on Pinterest.com and decided I want to be able to do this.
So my goal is to be able to at least hold a free standing handstand by the end of the month. OK, actually my goal is to be able to do this but I will be happy with a regular hand stand too. Now that does not mean I will stop trying to achieve this at the end of June if I have not yet mastered it. I will do this. It's just a matter of time.
I love living in Canada and enjoy almost every season. The few weeks where it is no longer fall and not quiet winter are not my overall favourite. I usually avoid outdoor activities at that time. Give me snow, give me a warm spring rain, give a hot summer day but rainy cold weather that seeps into your bones... not my idea of fun. But right now it is SPRING! It is so invigorating to see everything starting to grow, new life, all the green returning and the smell of the trees unthawing. I haven't written a new blog in a while because I have been loving the outdoors too much.
Not only do I go for daily walks with my dogs and my little one in the hiker pack.
I also made myself a new goal this year. I want to become a runner. But not just running down the road or regular path. I want to be able to run all the trails I love to hike so much. Now I have never been a good long distance runner. So this is going to be a great challenge for me.
My spouse and I are planning to have one more baby hopefully next year. We want them somewhat close in age but before I go and get big and awkward I have pledged to be in the best shape of my life. I gave birth 100% natural and let me tell you if there is anything you ever need to be in shape for, labour is it! I can honestly say there is nothing that can prepare you for the pain or euphoria that follows.
So here I am 30 years old working out 4-5 times a week at home and running 4 times a week. Once I get stronger I hope to be able to run everyday. I do hike every day even if I don't run but my muscles and lungs are still adjusting.
I learned a long time ago I need something to keep me accountable so that I don't lose interest or get bored. I am not always a good self motivator. So I joined a website called Tribesport.com. I like it because everyone is very encouraging and you can take short or long term challenges where people will encourage your activity. You can also join conversation if you want. It has been great to help me stay motivated.
For running I decided to try the Vibram Five Finger shoes.
I wanted them for hiking anyways (nothing like losing a shoe in a muck hole to make the hike a little longer lol). I have to say I love the Vibram shoes. I was able to run my whole 2k hike the first time with only stopping 3 times for about 30 seconds each to catch my breath. Granted I wasn't going to break and speed records but my goal was to go from point A to point B with the least amount of stops possible. And man was I happy with myself lol. I never thought I could do that much so I was stoked.
Keeping your expectations of yourself small and your goals a little bigger sometimes has the advantage of making you very happy when you go above and beyond what you expected.
Right now my goal is distance. When I can run my 2k regular hiking trail with out feeling winded or my legs burning the next day I will speed it up and start to make it longer.
I have become addicted to the feeling of running. I never expected that. I use to hate it in highschool but whether it is the change in my diet or just my new determination it feels completely different than it use to and I am loving it.
Don't let anyone tell you, "You can't". That is the biggest lie. They probably don't want you to because that would rub in how they didn't do it or didn't go for what they wanted. Because YES YOU CAN. YES YOU CAN. Look in the mirror every morning and tell yourself that. Don't let your fears stop you. Because YES YOU CAN.
So lately I have been in the mood for experimenting. A little with raw food recipes and I have learned raw food can taste as good as it is for you. I'll be honest I have made more raw desserts than anything but I mean really isn't that where most of us run into trouble? With our junk food or desserts. A lot of it is our portion control and lack there of but I think the piece of cake or ice cream after supper can be the kicker.
That being said I ended up eating these desserts as meals most of the time because they were more than filling. And they made me feel really good after I ate them. Not once did I feel bloated, sluggish or tired after my meals. These raw food experiments have definitely proved to me I need to do more.
First I tried chocolate banana cream pie. I have to say avocado chocolate pudding completely blew me away. Man it tasted good. Who new? Now my meat and potato eating boyfriend wasn't overly impressed lol but what can you do. It definitely tasted different than a Betty Crocker cake. ;)
After that I tried raw carrot cake. Sorry no pics but it was once again an amazing thing. Talk about a revelation. I could eat my cake and instead of feeling yucky from eating all that icing and sugary goodness that I would normally feel, I felt energized and light as a feather from eating all the raw goodness in the carrots, dates, oats & raw cashew icing.
The next was a chocolate caramel tart. Now that was fricken good. Dates creamed make an amazing caramel. Even my boyfriend liked that one. I added some raw agave nectar to the carob topping. A little vanilla to the creamed date filling, helping the caramel flavour along and a little salt in the nut & date crust. This was beyond my favourite :D
The last recipe I tried was raw cheesecake. Made with cashews, dates, banana's and some oats for the crust. I made raw chocolate, melted coconut oil with some agave and cocoa powder, to go on top with my just peanuts, peanut butter. Man that was yummy. However I found it to be a meal in and of itself... which really wasn't that bad.
I did learn I love raw chocolate. So easy to make too. I keep mine in the freezer for storage and to keep it from getting soft. Very easy to snack on and I love the coconut oil mixed with the cocoa. I didn't add too much sweetener (real maple syrup) so it kept a dark chocolate flavour, just a little bitter. Very yummy.
I have also experimented with raw sweet potato noodles, raw zucchini noodles. These have both been very good.
However I have also tried some vegan cooked meals and really liked them as well. Recently tried some vegan burgers, which where gluten free, dairy free and very good. Loaded with nuts, mushrooms, onions, oat flour and more. They were very tasty. Even my 11 month old daughter liked them. I love wraps too. I often lightly fry some of my veggies just to warm them up and put them in a wrap. Zucchini, mushrooms, carrots and onion warmed up. Add a little grated ginger root and garlic. Fry gently in coconut oil until just warm enough to eat. Sometimes I add a nut of my choice, almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds etc. Then I put them in a wrap or pita with spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers & maybe some salt. The ginger and garlic in the coconut oil make a great dressing. And the strong flavours seem to help curb any cravings I may be having.
All the dessert recipes can be found on www.thisrawsomeveganlife.com. I have a ton of recipes from all over I want to try. I will keep you posted.
In summary I have to say I have never felt better. It has been several weeks now since I have decided to make a conscious effort to eat more raw foods, more vegetables over all and drink more water. (I may have to write about water consumption soon) Actually when I think about it, it has probably been two months now. Part of me feels I should have been doing this my whole life but I suppose if I hadn't eaten junk food first and learned how yucky crappy processed food can make me feel I may never have appreciated how good real food makes me feel. I had started to change my diet a year ago but it never really stuck. This time I am sticking to it. Why? Because I can. ;)
If you have recipes to share I would love to hear them. Wishing everyone a happy, healthy spring. :)
Hi, for those who do not know or those who do not know me well my name is Jessie. I am the creator ofY3s Y0u C4n, which can be found onFacebook, Google+ and now here. I haven't yet but if this get's popular I may work in a Twitter account as well. My goal with Y3s Y0u C4n to inspire others to do whatever it is they have wanted to but maybe haven't done yet. Or maybe to finish something already started. I believe most of us can do whatever we put our minds to. The challenge of letting go of our fears, thinking outside the box, trying new things, trying again even after we fail and never giving up can be hard. I suffer from these as much as anyone. That is part of what inspired me to do this blog. I am 30, not old and not really young - granted matter of opinion I suppose, either way I have reached a wonderful point in my life. I live with my common law partner in crime in a nice house in a great location. We are exact opposite in almost everything accept our taste in movies and twisted humour, so we keep each other on our toes. ;) We have a beautiful daughter Anola, 11 mnths, (I am hoping we have one more - after that he wants to get "snipped" lol), he has another beautiful daughter Reagan who is going to be 10 this year. I have 2 dogs and 1 cat. Really I couldn't ask for much more... ok maybe a pool lol
Jokes aside I am very content with my life ..... accept for one small thing. My health. I am not "unhealthy" by societies standards. I am not really over weight, maybe a little chunky in the bum, but nothing serious. I walk almost every day for 2 miles or so plus work outs at home. I eat a pretty clean diet, make all my own foods from scratch and only indulging in junk food maybe 3-4 times a year. (Usually around holidays) But I still want more. I know I can do more. I feel it. AndI WANT IT. Have you ever had that. Something you really really really want. You know you can do it. You just need to buckle down, dirt to the grindstone sort of thing and you'ed have it. But for some reason you keep procrastinating. Maybe your like me a suffer from a little passive aggressiveness. Or maybe you just don't take enough time for yourself, or maybe you just haven't taken the time to really think about it period. Well this is it for me. I want to set a good example for my kids and all those I affect. I want to prove to myself once and for all I can do it. Because if I can, ANYONE CAN. I mean that with every fiber of my being. Why because I am nothing special. Just your average every day person you see cruising around in an old rusty car with nothing to make me stand out more than the person next to you at the check out line.
That being said, this is no simple thing I want to do. I am not aiming to just lose 10 lbs for the summer to wear my bikini. No, what I want to do is change my lifestyle. Exercise more, eat better, get stronger, and most of all get healthier. I have a 5 year goal. When I am 35 my kids are in school and I have been work my butt off for 5 years I want to join every obstacle race and marathon with in driving distance of me. And I don't care if I make it first or 121st but I do want to enjoy running by a few 20 yr old's in their prime to prove to myself that age doesn't matter when it comes to being in shape. Don't get me wrong I want everyone to do there best and if it meant running by some one or helping them I would help them first but when I am 35 I am sure it will feel good to smoke them too.
So this blog is to share my journey, have those reading help keep me focused and hold me accountable. I hate failing when people are watching, waiting and expecting me to finish and be successful. And at the same time I hope some of you share your dreams and success stories with me. Maybe you're on your own journey or want to start one. Let's help each other out and find a way to get there. I love the saying "Where there's a will, there's a way." No matter what your beliefs are or spiritual preference is there is usually a certain amount of faith and belief required. Whether you believe in yourself, God, Buddha or which ever it is we all need to believe because "Yes. You. Can."
I will try to post min. once a week. Maybe more if exciting things happen. I will post about foods I try, work outs, hiking trips and over all positive experiences. I think keeping a positive frame of mind when trying to complete a goal is important and I would love any positive stories that you may have. Maybe some will even let me share them here online. So tag along, follow me, join me or just watch silently. Which ever you choose Thanks for Reading.
