You are Destined for Greatness!!

So here it is.... whether you believe yet or not, you ARE destined for greatness. The real question is are you going to pick that destiny? Ya that's right. You still have a choice here. What is it going to be??

You may not believe me but our destiny is our own to make. If you haven't figured it out yet let me break it down for you. You are what you think, focus on and repeatedly say to yourself. Recently I have become a little obsessed with the talks and recorded seminars by Tony Robbins. I am sure you have heard of him. There is absolutely NO reason that man should be great... other than he decided to be. Maybe you don't believe he is great. Maybe he offends you to your core. Ok, I understand. You are not ready to take responsibility for your life, your choices and your actions. Come back and keep reading when you are ok?

Did I make you mad?? Good. Now use that to prove me wrong. Keep reading. Because you ARE destined for greatness. I am going to keep saying that because it is 100% true. What is greatness though? I think it really comes down to you!

Do you believe you get back from life what you give? How about this, have you ever been in bad mood so you let yourself lose control of your temper and maybe say not nice things to someone. Or perhaps you let yourself be selfish at the cost of someone else's happiness. Then later on, still not in the best mood bad things start to happen. I mean the reason you let yourself (yes you let yourself, these are choices here.), lose your patience, temper, whatever, in the first place is because you have had enough right? Life owes you a little break right? You deserve better than the crap you have been handed lately, right? But now that you have "stepped up" and taken whats "rightfully" yours or let out your anger "rightfully" so, life is handing you more crap? You lock your keys in your car, you lose your wallet right before a night out, your heal brakes off on your way to work... etc etc. Ya that's you getting back what you give! Sorry but its true. Mad at me again. Good! Keep reading.

So what if I told you, that you have the key to your own greatness and it all starts with gratitude. I dare you to try it. Just for a week, maybe 10 days. Keep a diary what happens each day. Tony Robbins as a great 3 step process to start your day. And yes... includes taking time to be very grateful. If you are on here looking at Facebook posts or playing silly online game turn on this Audio Recording in the background and have a listen. I DARE YOU! If you are in a hurry skip to near the end, start at around 54 minutes if you want. Wont be as great as listening to the whole thing but it will be enough. I could give you links to studies, research and many videos by people like Bob Proctor, Tony Robbins, Louise Hay, Robin Sharma etc. but I wont. If you want that info go get. Be hungry. Question what I am saying and go find answers. But I am telling you what you focus on, what you tell yourself every day (your language in your self-talk), and what you give out into this world is what is rather aiding you or stopping you.

I have another question to ask you. Do you have this feeling, a gut wrenching feeling like you were meant to be doing something different then what you are right now? Just thinking about it is driving you nuts. You can't quite put your finger on it but you know you should be out there doing something AMAZING! Maybe you don't. Maybe you already are doing something amazing every day. That's great. But maybe you are like I was. You tried multiple different types of jobs, you bounced around trying to find your place but you never felt fulfilled. Because that's what that feeling is. You feel like you are missing something because you are. It's called your greatness! Each one of us as a gift to offer to this world. Take a moment to really search your soul, look back on the ways you made peoples lives better, ways you helped them. Or maybe you have had some crazy hard challenges in your life, but you have made it out alive! What is it you have to give this world? This life and the people in it. I promise you once you discover what your gift is and you start using it every day to help others, or to give back you will start to feel your greatness!

You don't have to be rich, or amazingly successful at your job, or even popular to be great. You will know when you get there. I promise you. Find your gift, find your passion and live it. Live it every day. And be grateful for all the things that have made you the amazing person you are today. But don't forget, the choice is yours. You make that choice every day. When you wake up and hop outta bed or if you lay there praying your alarm goes off so you can fall back a sleep even if it means your late. The choice is yours. So are you ready to take responsibility for yourself, your choices and your destiny. Life doesn't happen to you... Ya I said that. Life happens for you! What are you going to do about it? 

Our Purpose is to Give

So recently I have been spending a lot of time reading and listening to Tony Robbins, Dr. Wayne Dyer, and Louise Hay.

I have to say for me this has been very enlightening. They talked a lot about our purpose in life and what it is to give. I think in today's day in age with social media and the other different media sources available that we see every day we end up being self consumed,  almost narcissistic if you will. We are always wondering how people are going to see us, if they're going to like us, how popular our posts will be... excetera. But the reality of it is to have a purpose isn't in what we get or how we are going to get it. To have a purpose is to give. That's right... A purpose is something we do...something we provide to others, this life.

I also really like listening to TJOP (The Journey of Purpose) channel on YouTube. It has a lot of videos about what we can give back to the universe and finding our gifts. It's because when we give we will get back the same. It's that same old saying, you get what you give, you reap what you sow, treat others how you want to be treated or karma  if you will.

For me it's hard because I was taught as a kid to always look at the richer people, the better off people, the people who had a better life than me and to judge and resent them. By the way this isn't an excuse. I am an adult now. My choices are mine.

However my parents taught me that it wasn't my fault I was destitute or didn't have as many options and that it was just life. They also taught me that I should resent the rich and the better off because they obviously didn't appreciate what they had and they also didn't understand what it was like to be us.

Took me years but even as a teenager I started to realize this was wrong. It wasn't that they were better than me and it wasn't their fault they had a better start in life than me and it didn't mean that they were better off either. You see the one thing my parents didn't teach me is that you get what you give in this life and if you're constantly giving judgement, negativity, resentment, anger, hate ... you are going to get it back. And that too can come in abundance.

I didn't enjoy those emotions. I didn't enjoy feeling them and I didn't enjoy giving them. And I definitely didn't enjoy receiving them! So I decided not to. I decided to be accepting and caring and loving. I even remember once being asked by one of my parents, "Why do you let your friends use you?" And I remember a teacher accusing me of being a follower. People are so confused by support given, maybe even given to someone who cannot appreciate it, that it can offend them, confuse them. At the time these comments upset me and angered me but I understand better now. They just didn't see the truth of my wanting to give people what they needed at that time. I wasn't weak, I wasn't a follower. I just could tell that at that exact moment that is what the person needed and I was happy to be able to be there for them.

However, there's a problem for me, anger is a hard habit to break and I'm still struggling with breaking my anger habits today. I watch my children and I can tell when I have fallen short because then they start behaving like me, getting really angry about things that there's no need to be angry over and so I'm listening to people like Tony Robbins, Dr. Wayne Dyer and Louise Hay and I'm realizing that I can change. I am embracing the concept of love again, something that used to be as natural as breathing when I was a child, and I choose to go through life with love instead of anger.

The best part is I will get it back. I get back in abundance and I want my kids to have that too. So I have started a new journey in my life. I personally plan on meditating more, I plan on making it conscious effort to tell myself everyday that my anger does not control me and that I choose to be loving and understanding and above all I choose to treat people better than they even think they deserve it themselves.

If I can teach my children this simple thing I could make their life completely different than mine. They will still have struggles, we all have struggles but they won't be the same as mine and for that I will be grateful. I know I cannot make their choices for them, all I can do is show them the mistakes I made and hopefully help them not make the same ones. A life devoid of love is a cold and lonely one. The fear of judgement, holding onto anger, trying to force life to be a certain way because that's just how it should be etc. I want none of those things for my children ... Or myself.

It took me over 30 years, 32 to be exact, to discover my purpose. I was naturally born to love, be understanding, compassionate and 100% accepting of people. This allowed people to confide in me my whole life. Telling me their secretes, desires and fears that normally they would never say out loud. I kept their confidence with ease because I knew how much they needed an ear to hear.

I never understood what a gift that was until later in life, after I had been conditioned to judge, hate, fear and mistrust everyone. But that was and still is my natural gift. I just need to unlearn all the conditioning I have had over the years.... And I have to say so far it's been awesome! I almost feel like myself again. But it's hard to do sometimes. I fall short a lot. But that's okay, because the love, understanding and acceptance I show others I first need to give myself.

I am not 12 anymore with a relatively simple and innocent past. I am now a grown woman. I have lied, I have stolen, I have mislead people for my own benefit... I have even broken people's confidence for entertainment. Things I am deeply ashamed of. But I can forgive myself. I can and I am not doing those things anymore. And I will break the hold anger has on me. For myself and those I love the most.

My purpose is to help others like I did so naturally as a child. By listening, loving them when they can't love themselves and showing them acceptance that so many in this world cannot find. I also am passionate about health and wellness so I share my journey and encourage others not to give up. I joined Plexus because I love the quality of their products and the real life changing results I have seen in others.

It's been amazing the wonderful changes that have happened so far in my new journey.

If you ever need to talk... Just want someone to listen... Just let me know. You are stronger than you think. I promise! And I am here to listen if you need it. As Louise Hay says... Life Loves You ;)

Mixed Diets & Bean Burgers

So I don't know about you but for me with small kids, trying to keep my house clean and being self employed it can be a huge challenge to eat healthy. It's a constant struggle between wanting to eat healthy and feeling like I have no time. 

I can tell you last week I ate an entire bag of carrots and a bag of radishes with hummus because I kept snacking instead of making a meal. Yes this isn't so bad, and not bad for me, but it left me with cravings because it wasn't a well rounded meal. Then I make the horrible choice to have corn chips or heaven forbid chocolate instead if real food. Tastes great but leaves me feeling sluggish and a little yucky if you know what I mean. I don't even really like chocolate but when I am not getting proper nutrients from my food I crave sugar and junk just like anyone.

So a couple weeks ago I decided no more! Time to get serious. But it's not going to be easy. My husband and my step daughter are standard meat and potatoes kind of people. They will eat salad if I prepare it sure but most of their plate is starch and meat. Me I am the opposite. Almost all veggies, as many raw as I can and beans. I love beans! 

I do like fish and eggs and even some wild game from time to time but I really only like meat once or twice a week and sometimes not at all. I was raised mostly a vegetarian accept when visiting family or friends. So sometimes I feel like I am making two or three different meals for supper. But I am learning. My kids love veggies too, I am grateful for this trust me, but they also love plain noodles and a little of daddy's meat or my beans. Whatever suites their fancy that day. My son is becoming a little more like his father and prefers potatoes now over noodles. 

I do believe more raw veggies are better than meat and dairy but I also refuse to tell my kids they can't have what daddy's having just because I said so. I don't want to encourage them to think less or loose respect for him just because I think a lot of what he eats is unhealthy. So I make a conscious effort to only make little comments like, no that has too much sugar before bed, or, you can have daddy's juice after your done your water. The last one is great because by the time they drink their water there usually isn't much room for daddy's juice ;) I never want to sound like I am putting their father down. To me that is unacceptable. 

When they are older and can understand more I will educate them to the best of my ability. For now I just keep things balanced and during the day feed them as much good food as I can. Teaching by example if you will.

But I digress. The point I was making is I am learning. I keep cooked noodles in the fridge to easily warm up and now I have started combining my meals with my husbands. I offer my main dish as a side dish to his if he's interested. As example I just created a been burger I love that he could eat in lieu of potatoes. But little does he know what's in them ;). I have baked potatoes in the fridge ready for him as back up though. One must be prepared. That way I only have to make a salad tonight and cook his meat. Makes things simple and easier for me.

If you haven't guessed by now I am not for forcing people to eat healthy or food they don't like. I know I will probably at some point have to bribe or talk my kids in to trying foods they don't like but hopefully I can find more creative solutions then forcing them. We will see ;) But as for adults I don't agree in forcing my health beliefs on them any more than forcing my spiritual beliefs on them. I am happy to share my information and knowledge but only if your interested. Otherwise it just creates bad feelings and resentment. I prefer to be an example over being a preacher. 

So in an effort to keep healthy meals handy and easy for me to warm up, for both me and my kids, I was inspired to take a couple different veggie burger recipes and make my own. And yes I compromised and let my daughter have some ketchup with hers ;) You can make your own or buy an organic healthy version of ketchup. But for me I buy what everyone likes as a small compromise. My daughter is a sauce girl and I have come to accept that.

Here is my recipe: 

• 2 1/2 cans of beans (black or kidney recommended) - 540ml/19oz
• 1/2 bell pepper
• 1/2 onion
• 2-3 celery stalks
• Large handful or 2 cups of loosely packed kale or spinach. (I used baby kale in mine)
• Handful of fresh cilantro
• 1 TBS of minced garlic
• 1 cup of cooked quinoa
• 1/2 cup spiced bread crumbs or plain
• 1 1/2 - 2 cups of dry rolled oats (uncooked)
• Braggs soy sauce substitute and spices
• 1 cup of water or some bean water if you cooked yours.

You can always cook your own beans but I didn't have any cooked so I just used the cans. First I used my arm powered food processor to mince up the veggies.

Once everything was the way I liked I put it in a pot with a bit of oil. Use oil of your choice. I just put a little in the pot to stop sticking. You may not even need any. Your choice. Then I put the beans in... I had to do two separate batches myself. They get quite sticky and can take some muscle to whip up. Once I got the this stage I added a tiny bit of water to help me mix it up a little more. 

Once I found the consistency that I felt was right, I put that in the pot too. I added some Bragg's Liquid Soy for taste, and some other spices that I liked. But I have to be honest, between the onion, garlic, cilantro and fresh veggies it smelled amazing so I didn't add much. Just a little Thyme and Turmeric. (Huge fan of Turmeric) 

Then I turned up the heat and added my water. My house smelled awesome by the way. 

Once things got sizzling I added in my Quinoa and Bread Crumbs. I like to make spiced bread crumbs for cooking so they already have basil, oregano, pepper and some other spices in them but plain would be good too. Whatever is your liking really. You can also by a can of Italian Spiced bread crumbs. I use that when I make meatballs for my husband. But if you are trying to avoid gluten maybe just go with some cooked rice or more Quinoa. Haven't tried that yet but it should work. ;) 

I actually have a hard time with wheat and usually try to avoid it because it literally hurts me but I find it in small quantities like this split between 8 burgers it doesn't really hurt me. 

I cooked it for about 20 minutes on medium, stirring constantly. Having small children and not much time, I wanted to cook it fairly quickly, so I turned up my burner as much as I dared with out burning it and just kept stirring. Once it got as thick as I figured it would get, (instead of bubbling it would give me one giant air burst lifting half the goop), I took it off the burner and put it on a cutting board. 

I then added my oats and kept stirring until it was all mixed in well. At this point it may seem still a little goopy for making burgers but I promise as it start to cool you will see it thicken up perfectly. Once again I was a little impatient so I improvised a little to get it onto the cookie sheet to bake. 

I laid out some wax paper and spread the burger batter over it to let it cool. I took a knife and gently separated the batter and then took a spatula (its a little sticky at this point and I didn't feel like being covered in it) and flipped it on to the oiled cookie sheet. Now if you are patient and have time to let it completely cool it is quite easy to form patties by hand, as I found out with the few I was not able to fit on the sheet the first time around. 

I then used my fingers to form them into rounder patties just because ;) This worked great for me. Only issue was the bean batter was a little warm for the wax paper and it would tear a little if I wasn't careful. So don't eat any wax paper by accident. 

I baked them at 400f for about 20-30 minutes. Leave them in a little longer for crunchier outside. Choice is yours. As I said before wheat hurts me so I chose to make a raw, tomato, cucumber, radish, zucchini chutney for my topping. Added a little Bragg's raw apple cider vinegar and a dash of olive oil, yes and some salt ;) to taste.

All in all I would say this was a success for me. 

I recommend that you experiment. I have tried several different veggie burger recipes and this is the first time I have every been really pleased. 

I let go of my fear of it being a total disaster... lets face it, it could have been lol, and just let my imagination and personal experience guide me.

And my kids actually really loved it! YEAH! 

Cheers and I wish you all the best in creating happy healthy meals for yourself and/or your family. Embrace the challenge and run with it. ;)

A Parent's Struggle

So lately I have had some issues with my patience not being a long as I would like it to be. 

Have you ever been out and seen that amazing smiling, well put together mom? She looks so amazing, happy and genuinely in control of her life. When her kids start to fuss and yell out in public she handles it so calmly but firmly never losing that amazing composure. I have honestly thought I have seen it but I am guessing by the time she makes it home that composure is slipping if not gone, if her kids don't let up with the crying and yelling and fussing. 

Kids are not perfect. They have to learn from being an infant and crying to get what they want, to using their words, and then to accept that sometimes they really cant have what they want as their wants and desires grow. This can lead to challenging times. Specially in the toddler stage when communication is just being formed. And sometimes the temper tantrums can last on and off all day. Add a fussy teething baby, a cranky overworked husband, bills, doctors appointments, laundry, messy house, dogs, family obligations etc. etc. and all of a sudden your not sure if you want to get drunk or punch someone ;) (Or is that just me lol)

I have had many days where I go to bed and berate myself for the way I have handled situations with my kids. I try my hardest to be the Mother I described above but it can come at a price if you don't take time to recharge. But there is another challenge, by the time you have time to recharge all you want is comfy jammies, a snuggly bed and absolute silence ;) Well at least I do lol. And for those of us with husbands or life partners there is the other struggle. They need to feel loved by you too. So how do we keep our sh*t together?

What do you do when you reach that point when you feel like everyone wants a piece of you and all of your time is so divided that you have nothing left for yourself? Sometimes our spouses get the short end of the stick (so to speak), and sometimes that is ok as long as they understand, but most times we do. So our tempers get shorter, are moods get messier, and our ability to feel in control crumbles. Some of us even feel depressed because we think we should be able to do it all. Didn't our mothers? What about our Grandmother's (The Leave it to Beaver mom's)? And we compare ourselves to the other mother we believe we saw who looked so perfect. Is it possible, is there a way to be so calm and in control? Perhaps. If I had money for a nanny and could take more time to myself, or if I had money for daycare, or if I had more family close by that didn't have jobs to help me out.  Maybe.

But that isn't my reality. Nor is it for a lot of us. We are not all well off with extra cash. Neither is our family so they are working when we would need them. That is life. So I ask again, what do you do when you reach that point? 

(I love the message in this image, but it's easier said than done.)

Recently my step daughter had something very sad happen to a friend at school. I saw her mood slide into a funk. (She is tween now). To help her get out of the funk I asked her to write me 20 things that made her happy. Could be simple, like eating pancakes, or sleeping in, or maybe just fuzzy slippers. The point of the exercise was to get her to search through her memory and remember the happy times/moments as she wrote them. Thus in theory when she was done she would be smiling. And thankfully it worked :) And then feeling confident because my exercise for her worked, I explained the benefits of helping ourselves be positive and grateful.

Of course two days later I became a hypocrite and got into my own funk after an argument with my spouse. And it got worse once I realized I was a hypocrite. Ever have those moments? You know logically how to fix your problem and really you shouldn't have the problem as you think you know (or did know) the solution but there you are with the issue you where just so busy and confidently preaching about? Hopefully some of you do, because I hate to think I am the only one ;) And when your trying to be that perfect mom there is no room for having a funk right?

I bet your wondering when I am going to bring out the ultimate answer, the easy solution or even a miracle cure right? Why all this babble and no solution. Well I honestly can't answer that for you. Each time I face that struggle, find myself wishing I had handled things differently, or feel like a hypocrite, or should have had more patience it is a little different. I handle it a little different. I learn something new about myself and life almost every time. 

What I can tell you is what I do if I genuinely feel like I messed up. I apologize for my behaviour. Yes even to my 1.5 yr old. I don't care if they don't understand all my words yet, that isn't the point. The point for me, is doing what I feel is right. So if lose my temper or raise my voice I apologize and ask them if they can forgive me. If they did something wrong I explain it was still wrong but I should have handled it better and I am sorry. For me this helps me not feel so down on myself. I have now acknowledged my mistake and taken the first step to fix it. I try my hardest not to mess up again but I know I will. Just like I know my kids will break one of my favourite glasses one day, or draw on my wall or maybe eventually dent my car. But like all long lasting relationships hopefully I will be able to give them the acceptance and forgiveness they now give me. 

I still have days when I feel drained, and I know that will continue from time to time for a little longer while my kids are growing up (or maybe life, who knows). But that is ok. I will figure it out, I will read the mom forums for ideas and motivational blogs/articles/books to lift my spirit. I will take long walks in the woods with and with out my family. It will be ok. I will accept I am going to mess up, I am not going to be perfect but it wont stop me from trying every day. Fight the fight worth fighting right?

And most of all forgive myself... even during those weeks where it feels like the whole week has been a big mess up. I'll take a time out, maybe I will have good cry, whatever I need to do at that moment, it is different every time, but I know it will be ok. But I will never take my kids acceptance or forgiveness for granted. I use it as motivation to try harder. And to not give up on being the best mom I can. Just like they try to make me happy every day. My only answer is love! Just keep on loving yourself and your kids. You will make. I know you can!

Yes We Can Be More Grateful

So it has been a long time since I wrote. Why? Well quite simple really. Life. Moved twice, had another baby, started a home business so I can be a stay at home mom and most importantly I try to dedicate as much time as possible to my ever growing kids.

But I am feeling the need to today. Actually have for a while but every time I find the time, I have been too tired to be honest. My topic today is being grateful. Why? Because it is a daily challenge for me and one I wish to get better at. 

I was nursing my son last night getting ready to put him down for the night and I got some tragic news concerning an old friend. But I will get back to that. 

I was consumed with my problems, I was tired, I still had a mountain of laundry to do, my bathroom sink is still broken and we cannot afford to fix it, I cannot seem to keep my house clean for more that 1/2 an hour before some sort of chaos breaks out again, I had been up since 7am going strong all day with no breaks, cooking, cleaning, kissing owies, scolding bad behaviour, calming tantrums, teaching numbers & colours and trying to get some work done. I was feeling down, unappreciated. I have Osteitis Pubis, which when I walk too much can make my entire back and legs throb and/or ache with stabbing pain. I still had to get back up and do the supper dishes, put laundry down stairs for tomorrow, sweep up the kids mess now that they are sleeping, make sure my husbands lunch was made and my step daughter had her homework done and teeth brushed before bed. I still had some work I needed to do for clients... and in the end if I was lucky to have energy left I really needed a shower. Being a stay at home mom has long long hours and if you are working too it can make for an interesting challenge.

So there I was consumed with these negative thoughts and I heard my phone buzz (I had it on silent so it wouldn't wake my son) and I read the email and everything I was thinking left just like that. Poof .... I had no problems any more. Tears came to my eyes and I couldn't help but shed some. My heart was breaking for my friend. I fight tears now as I write this. I have so much to be grateful for! So so much!

My friends son had just died on that Monday at the age of 22! I cannot express how much my heart hurt for her. There I was being so consumed with my problems I forgot to be grateful for what I had.

So there I was nursing my young son who was cuddled close to me. I still have my son. I am very lucky! (at this point I felt pretty ashamed of my silly not productive, negative thoughts) My 3 year old daughter was sleeping peacefully in her bed. Once again extremely blessed! 

I am lucky enough to have laundry to do when some don't even have a home to clean! My back hurts and my legs hurt but I can still feel them, use them. I am truly blessed! I have food to cook for my family, we can still afford fresh healthy food so I make meals from scratch which creates a lot of dishes sometimes. I so unbelievably lucky! Yes sometimes I feel like I have had no sleep but I get to wake up every morning to my wonderful children and their smiling faces. I am grateful. 

My bathroom sink might be broken but I have one, and running water. I am blessed. My days are long and weeks are busy but it means I have a purpose and I am accomplishing things. I am very grateful. My house is almost always a little messy but it's because my kids are exploring, experimenting and being creative. I am blessed. 

Yes sometimes I feel my husband doesn't acknowledge how much work I do or the effort I put in, or how I try to put the family first. But I am blessed, for when he can he helps me which is his way of saying thank you. He will do the dishes if I am too tired, or he will take the kids outside so I can mop the floor. And he is the best father my kids could ever ask for. I am truly grateful. 

My love goes out to my friend and I cannot fully understand what she is going through as I have never had such a life changing experience happen to me yet. I have had my problems but nothing that compares. 

And please just remember, Be Grateful for what you have, for there is always someone with less, sometimes a lot less. 

Remember the cup is half full after all...

Holiday Season with Recipes

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 first is a peanut butter/banana oatmeal cookie you can find here: Gluten-Free Vegan Banana Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies 

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

I haven't tried this yet but I would really love to: Raw Vegan Pumpkin Pie

And you can bet your bottom dollar I will be making this Eggnog substitute. I loved eggnog growing up. 

Here are some other recipe sites I plan to reference this season: 10 Vegetarian Christmas Recipes from glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.ca, The Best Vegan Christmas Recipes from Sheknows.com.

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. 

Adventures Continue

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.