Monday 19 March 2012

Hello Sunshine.


It has been such an amazing weekend, the sun is out and we've had crazy warm weather! All week is calling for the same, low to mid twenties (Celsius) and it almost looks like we've skipped thrugh spring and gone straight to summer! I've been wearing dresses and shorts all weekend and will be continuing that allllll week!

I really did get my juicer at the perfect time, summer and fresh juice just got hand in hand! I got some massive cantaloupes and juiced one, which gave me 1.5 liters of deliciousness to enjoy in the morning sun!
I'm right in the middle of moving at the moment, so lots to do. Packing and moving are providing me with great exercise in combination with yoga and my meditation practice that I'm continuing on with. The new place is also very close to a great bike/running path, which means awesome running for me! I'm going to be purchasing my very first officially real running shoes and water pack so that I can actually get into it. I was going to be running a 5k, but then moving made things complicated and when I get busy, I lose track of running because it does take up more time. I have to fix that bad habit of mine!

In other news, I finally got my hands on a good water filtering system. The perks of my job include buying at an extremely discounted price when customers return things that can't necessarily be resold, like this water system:
I love it for many reasons, one being the water tastes great! We have one in the store so I've been sipping at it for a few months now. It has a 8 step process, first a carbon filter, then a 5 step filtration through various natural filters then at the bottom are remineralizing rocks and finally the spout itself has a magnetic function that removes negative ions from the water. I think that having clean water is so important, tap water just does not cut it. Bottled water is expensive and not to mention wasteful. So unless you have direct access to a spring, your best best, imo, is to get something like this. There are a gazillion different models out there, so choosing one is up to personal needs and preference!

Back to packing for this Bunny, have a great fruity week!

Monday 12 March 2012

Become a JuiceMaster.

Very exciting News! Well it is to me anyways, I got a juicer for my birthday! Oh, and not just any juicer, exactly the one I wanted! A beauty of 11 lbs, with a masticating powerful setup and clean design with small footprint. Here she is:

I think that investing good money in quality appliances, especially on a raw diets, is a not brainer. The best juicers on the market are the masticating type because they keep every nutrient intact during the juicing process. Others, like centrifugal types, heat the juice up with their high RPM's and cause nutrient loss and separation. I think that getting higher quality juice is what's important.

I chose this one because I've seen a very similar one in action and just loved it! My friend Julie, an inspiring woman that you can check out here, is a great advocate of juicing and raw foods, and after tasting juice from hers, I just had to get one.

So for my first test run, I made some yummy grape juice:

... I may have drank it all before I could get a picture of the actual juice. They yield was awesome! Again this morning I made spinach-beet-apple juice that was also amazing :) Only thing is I forgot to change the strainer to the finer one so ended up with a juice that I had to chew, which I normally love with strictly fruit juices, not so much with the green ones.

My morning was great too, did some yoga and meditation, as has become my habit in the morning, plus I woke up to these faces:



Fitness-wise, I've laid off the calisthenics for the last week, and opted for packing and moving as well as some walks and general busyness on account of the awesome weather we've been getting! I should be getting back into running soon enough with outside being much more welcoming!

Every morning I do 10 Sun Salutations and an average of 10 minutes of meditation. It starts off my day on such a great foot and I plan on continuing this forever more. I also realllly need to print out my voucher for 20 yoga classes. I want to get back into it more often, say about 2x a week to start and go from there :)

I am planning on doing a juice feast very soon. Spring is a great time to cleanse and detox, and I think that it will be a great starter to this new season of renewal. I will start with a goal on 14 days and see where I can take it from there. My longest before now was 5 days on only orange juice. I think that with much more variety I can do much longer than that. I will be combining it with a liver cleanse, a herbal mixture with milk thistle and such. I started it not long ago, but haven't finished yet. I can't wait!

Have a great week everyone, and remember to stay fruity!!

xxooxx

Monday 5 March 2012

New Beginnings, New Habits, Better Living!

Since my life's theme this year seems to be change drastically and permanently, I figured I'd go with the flow and implement some good habits and better routines into my day-to-day life. Sometimes I forget that health is a balance of many things and only concentrate on food and fitness, when water, sleep, emotional balance and spirituality are just as important.

This week I started implementing a morning routine that, so far, is working perfectly. I wake up, check emails and social networking sites, spend time with doggies and let them out. Then I drink 500ml of water and do a little yoga (10 Sun Salutations, pictured below) while drinking another 500ml. Next comes meditation time! I've always loved meditating but lacked the discipline to do it everyday. I've joined a group of people on Facebook who are all doing a 30 day meditation challenge for March, it's crazy how knowing there are other people doing it with you, even though you only know them online, can motivate you so much! The support there is great and just the thing I needed to implement it daily. I plan on continuing this routine forever more, it makes me feel amazing and get my blood flowing and mind balanced from the start of the day!

Sun Salutation
It's my 24th Birthday on Wednesday and I plan on getting the 25th year of life off on the right foot! I will be starting my usual spring cleanse the day after and I am planning on doing a 30 day one, although as usual, my body will decide when I am ready to stop. I also find it much easier to be 100% raw after a cleanse. I just have to truly stick to it this time. I realize that after having cooked food a few times after a 100% bout, I just get lazy and become a creature of habit. I have to implement strategies that will keep me on the path I want to be on. That's my task for the next few days and throughout my cleanse, to find the best ways to keep my goals in mind, to keep visualizing myself successful in this venture.

As per my usual Monday posts, here is my exercise for the past week!


Feb 27th
Mountain climbers
100
100
100
Bicycle crunches
75
85
89
Butt Lifts
200
200
200
Chest fly's
50
50
40
Chest Press
40
32
33

Feb 28th
10 Sun Salutations
10 minutes Meditation
High Knees
120
150
120
Squats
65
70
80
Crunches
75
75
85
Dips
30
25
24

Feb 29th
10 Sun Salutations
8 minutes Meditation.
Mountain climbers
120
130
130
Bicycle crunches
130
130
110
Butt lifts
150
250
300
Chest fly's
35
40
45
Chest Press
35
40
45

March 1st
10 Sun Salutations
12 minutes Meditation
OFF day

March 2nd
10 Sun Salutations
 13 Minutes meditation

March 3rd
OFF day
5 minutes meditation

March 4th
10 Sun Salutations
 11 minutes Meditation

My minimum workouts per week now is 3x, I want to get that back up to a minimum of 5 in the next few weeks. I think that I'll just be switching it up more and go to the gym 2x a week, plus the calisthenics that I am already doing. 

Have a great week! Smash it every single day. :)