Saturday, May 31, 2008

Colon Hydrotherapy

Tomorrow, I'm having my first colonic. I'm nervous but I have no intention of backing out. It's actually kind of exciting because I am back on the path to optimal health and I'm looking forward to a cleaner body. The place I'll be going to is north of the city. It's called Richmond Hill Natural Therapies. Their website is well put together and they seem to have a natural and holistic approach to health, which I like.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Cancer

Life is too short and Life is precious. I'm actually quite disappointed in myself. I've been acting cowardly and lazy about finishing my Masters degree. It has been dragging on for four years (4 years and 2 children). I really hate academic writing and I've been doubting my abilities to write a proper research paper. I need to finish because it's getting expensive. This session is the last session.

Last week I went to see my advisor. We usually communicate via email or I just drop off copies in his mailbox at the university. When I arrived at his house, I was surprised to see him bald. It hit me that he was suffering from a severe illness. I hadn't known until that moment. My heart broke because his wife just gave birth to another beautiful daughter 2 months ago, who is a spitting image of him. I didn't want to be like those people who don't talk about the pink elephant in the room. I asked him what was going on and he was very matter of fact about it. My advisor is battling leukemia. The cancer has returned and he's trying to fight it again. Hearing that gave me a kick in the butt about my life and how I've been wasting certain areas of it. I know and everyone knows that life is precious and short but yet, we never seem to fulfill our dreams/goals. Fear holds us back, sometimes complacency and laziness, even selfishness. Guilty as charged.

I would gripe and whine to my advisor about how I can't finish this paper, I hate this paper, I don't know even know if it makes sense. What the heck is my thesis and blah blah blah. He would always encourage me and tell me to push on. I'm complaining about something that is of small significance in comparison to my real values and my advisor is fighting for his life. He must chuckle or roll his eyes at people like me.

So, I just want to say to my advisor thank you for every criticism and encouragement you've given me. You are the toughest advisor out there, a sock-it-to-'em-cuz-they-need-it kind of person. I thought you were stone cold but there is a warmth and generosity that has always been there and even you get tired. You never baby anyone and you never make excuses. I know you will beat this cancer and I will be praying for you night and day (no cliché).

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Raw Carrot Cake

Happy Birthday, mi rey!


(Each candle is worth 10 years)

It was my hubs birthday and I worked hard on a raw carrot cake recipe. I got the recipe from Renee Loux Underkoffler's raw recipe book. It was soooooo time consuming but the cake was delicious. I wasn't too fond of the frosting only because I found it too lemony for my liking. I would have preferred a sweeter frosting since the cake already had lemon and orange bits. I should've cut the recipe in half. The cake could serve 10-12 people and we are just 3 (baby can't eat food yet). My favourite part of the cake was cardamom flavour; it gave the cake a more exotic taste.

My husband was griping over the fact that he's turned the big 3-0. Hahaha! He thinks he's old already. Oh, please. I turned the big 3-0 three years ago!! I think I look good for my age and so does he.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Calling on all Canadians!! Urgent Action

Calling all Canadians who are concerned about their personal choice about their health and well-being. The Canadian Minister of Health has recently introduced BillC-51into the House of Commons. For those of us who follow a more natural way of living, we will suffer greatly. We cannot let this bill pass. I urge you to sign the petition. Information is below.

BillC-51 will:

  • Remove democratic oversight, bypassing elected officials to vote in laws and allow bureaucrats to adopt laws from other countries without our consent.
  • Remove 60-70% of all Natural Health Products from Canadian stores. Many others will be available by prescription only.
  • Restrict research and development of safe and natural alternatives in favour of high risk drugs.
  • Punish Canadians with little or no opportunity for protection or recourse for simply speaking about or giving a natural product without the approval of government. More than 70% of people in Canada use a Natural Health Product. The new law goes so far as to warrant action against a person who would give another person an “unapproved” amount of garlic on the recommendation that it would improve that person’s health.
  • Allow inspectors to enter private property without consent, take your property at their discretion, dispose of your property at will, not reimburse you for your losses, seize your bank accounts, charge owners shipping and storage charges for seized property, be empowered to store your property indefinitely, and levy fines up to $5,000,000 and/or 2 years in jail per incident.

Sign the online petition: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/billc51

Monday, May 12, 2008

Training Day

I had a wonderful workout today. My coach was very proud. I'm actually running now. I did two laps and some sprints. Who would've thought that in 6 weeks after barely being able to walk, I'm running now. The last words my coach left me with was that he will take care of the workouts but I have to take care of the food. For awhile I was not eating enough calories and I would be so weak during workouts. I realized that I was not consuming enough calories. I need to make sure I have enough energy to expel the energy.

Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Post Pregnancy Weight Loss on Raw

I intend to start another temporary blog in order to chart my weight release success. I think it will help to keep me accountable and to have a visual perspective of what I put in my mouth and how much exercise I do.

I've been following the Raw Food Detox Diet by Natalia Rose but I think I need to include more calories in my diet. I find that when I'm training with my coach, I get tired very easily and I have no energy for the workout. It could also mean that I'm so distracted by my children that I forget to eat properly. It doesn't help that I don't get enough sleep. Having a 3 month old seems to do that to you. *smile*

Check out the blog at www.weightreleaseonraw.blogspot.com

Saturday, May 03, 2008

Juice Feasting Postponed

I've decided to postpone my juice feasting on the advice of other raw foodists and raw mamas. As long as I am breastfeeding my child, it's best to wait until I stop so the baby is not exposed to any toxins. It's important that I don't deplete my body of nutrition so Santiago gets the best milk possible. I'm a little disappointed not to be starting right away but my baby is priority. I breastfed my first son for 18 months. It'll be at least that long before I do the juice feast. Oh well. It's not a competition and there is no rush. In the meantime, I continue to eat a raw diet.