March Assessment and 90 days!!

90 days COMPLETE. WOO!! *dances*

So that's one of my new years resolutions crossed off. Which in all honesty, when I decided on it, I actually laughed at myself, thinking that I was not going to make it that far, I mean I had done 34 days as my longest stint before this one. There is nothing more awesome feeling than accomplishing a goal you thought you wouldn't actually achieve (at least on the first try). This makes me feel so great, and validates my year's goal of pushing myself to heights that I sometimes believe impossible (give new meaning to the whole I'm possible line).

I'm planning on continuing with it, but I do have an attitude of not depriving myself of something that I really want, as long as it stays in live with the whole high carb vibe. I think that having a all or nothing attitude has not contributed to my success in the past, and even with this 90 days I was going in with this attitude, and it has served me very well. I think that not telling myself I can't have something makes much easier, even if I don't really want it that much. This whole 90 days, every time I had a craving, I would ask myself two questions:
How bad do I want this?
Am I okay with feeling how this food will make feel?
Most of the time, the answer to the first question wasn't bad enough to warrant me even asking myself the second question. I think that this is how I am going to continue on, as long as I can budget it reasonably.

Okay, onto my March Goals assessment:

Food wise, I absolutely held up my goal of keeping raw and adding in more juicing. I juiced almost everyday of the month and I certainly felt the difference. I plan on doing another green juice fast soon, maybe even staring this week. I've had a few digestion issues, which I attribute mostly to the tons of stress I've been under because of my semester ending and the ton of work associated with it. Green juice usually fixes me up and I've made sure to have at least a liter everyday this past week.

I've kept up pretty decently with my calorie intake, keeping it over 2500 cals basically every day, with many 3000 calorie days. I established a new system where I almost always bring 2000 calories with me when I leave the house, that way I never get caught without food and I can easily achieve my goals. I just have to make sure I eat a 500 cal breakfast and a 500 cal salad and I'm set.

My exercise system worked really well for about half the month, the other half being overwhelmed by 60 hours school work weeks and too little of any thing else. I'm just reallyyyy happy this is the last week of classes, I have no issues finding balance during exams because my study breaks become exercise/meditation time.

As for my sleep schedule, I am getting up earlier and getting more done, but I have been having issues falling asleep, which resulted in most nights being under 7 hours. I think that the days I didn't exercise definitely contributed to the problem on top of stress.

Meditation has become a bigger part of my daily schedule, where I often find myself meditating during my commute and before bed. Yoga on the other hand, I'm still having difficulty implementing on a consistent basis.

I think that my blogging goals were relatively well attained. I'm going to keep the juicing post for during my juice feast. The anxiety post is proving a tad bit difficult to write, more so to get the right wording for what I want to express in it.

All in all, with the added workload from school, I feel like I've done decently in regards to this months goals. I am hoping to push harder in certain areas next month.

Much fruit and love! <3

Ditching the Scale: Why Numbers Don't Matter.

Numbers. The ones that we set some much importance to like they define who we are, our worthiness and our self-value.

When you think about it, weight is just the force that gravity has on an object. It's a simple physics equation. It changes in different environments, it's not even a constant.

Yet, we are influenced all our lives to think of our weight as a very important factor. Society has deemed that there is a norm that we should aspire to. Never mind that it doesn’t take into account the beautiful diversity of ethnicity, body types and lifestyles. Women should all be blonde, blue-eyed, tall and thin. Men should all be tall, dashing and ripped. Wait, this sounds vaguely familiar, eugenics anyone?

I'm going to make a few things clear before I continue. Yes, being healthy and fit is important, not for esthetics but for the wellbeing of the person. I don't agree with the movement that advocates overweight women being "real". But I do think that positive body image is extremely important. Everyone should have access to the same levels of health. A balanced life.

Everywhere we look, we see a new program, a new diet that tells people that they can achieve their weight loss goals in ridiculous amounts of time that just cannot be healthy or sometimes even safe. I've been there, many times. It was not only damaging to my body, but also to my mind because it kept me in the quick fix mindset and always looking for the wrong methods.

What needs to be done is a massive shift in focus.

Focusing on HEALTH. On living well, on abundant, plentiful life.

Focusing on LIFESTYLE shifts, on lasting change that can be maintained without a sense of deprivation.

Social conditioning is hard to break. Let's stop taking the "easy" ways out that never last. A true long lasting change may not always be easy, but it's the only way to get over this crazy idea of one true ideal.I still have massive issues with body image because of many reasons, one of them being that a certain image has been so deeply ingrained in my head that it's difficult to shake.

I also hold myself to very strict ideals. I am very hard on myself and most days  it keeps me from being able to enjoy the successes that I've had so far. This is probably because I've constructed such a strong image of what I want that until I achieve it, I've put massive blinders on myself.

One way that I've found to rip those blinders off, is that I don't weigh myself. Especially when I'm undertaking a bigger change, like I have been in the last few months. The scale is not my friend because I associate so much value to the number that shows up that it hinders my progress because if it's not what I want it to be or what I think it should be, I get demoralized, even if physically I've noticed a difference.

I used to measure myself to keep up with my progress, but then I found that I was transferring my bad number habit to that.

The truth of the matter is, weight fluctuates, throughout the day, throughout the month and throughout different life changes. Muscle is also denser than fat, so if you gain muscle you might lose volume but not weight. So how it a valid tool for your progress if it's so unreliable?

So I say, screw numbers. They do not define you. Your progress should be measured in sweat, in laughter and in feeling.

We are not made of numbers. We are made of experiences, of emotions and of stories. Instead of making yours about a scale, make it about your journey, your story. Because it a much better story to tell than looking at a graph of numbers.

80/10/10: The Raw Food "Bible"

My first introduction to the raw food lifestyle was from the well=known and popular 30bananasaday.com crew. AS much as they're forum is absolutely amazing for newbies and veterans of the lifestyle alike, I found that it really was essential for me to read the book that cemented it all. Besides being a wealth of information on why choosing this way of eating is the best, it's a great guide on how to transition, what to eat and how to succeed long term.

I call it the "Bible" of raw foods beause it really breaks down the lifestyle to the basics and explains in easy to understand terms how our bodies work and why a carbohydrate based diets works best for the human body.

As much as it advocates being a raw food fruit based vegan is the ultimate way to fuel our bodies and minds, it isn't strictly advocating it. The secret lies in the ratios of macro nutrients over time of 80% or more carbohydrates, 10% or less protein and fats.

After having experimented with this lifestyle for the past 2 and a half years, I can definitely say that I feel the best I ever have following that macro nutrient intake, even better when it's high or completely raw foods based.

The book comes with a high recommendation not only from me and the 30bananasaday.com crew, but from most of the raw community as well as the author of "The China Study" (another recommended read of mine of which I'll talk about in another post). It has basically everything you need to get started on thsi path to amazing health, along with the many online resources that are growing every day written by advocates of the lifestyle. 

I volunteer my personal copy to anyone who wants to check it out!

Happy Fruitarian Day!!!

So today is the official International Fruitarian Day, celebrating fruit lovers all over the world!

So I'm sure the question is: why fruitarianism?

The fruity lifestyle is all about vibrant health and care for other life. I eat fruit to be healthy, to have a clean body and mind. The toxins that are present in a SAD(Standard American Diet)  tire our bodies and lead to cancers, heart disease and other forms of toxemia. In a 100% fruit lifestyle (that which I am striving for), when you buy organic produce, there are no or trace amounts, of toxins that are introduced within our diets. That way our bodies are clean and function optimally, leading to higher energy and to better fitness. There are tons of stories of people having cured disease, lost weight and become the healthy vibrant individuals we should all be!

Since beginning on this path, I've noticed a huge change, I've lost weight, I've so much more energy. I am becoming the athlete I used to be as a teenager. I have a clearer mind, I can deal with issues with ease, things I didn't want to face before. Is it difficult? Well to be completely honest, it definitely isn't easy. Going through Detox after years of abusing our bodies is easy for some, and more difficult for others. But it is worth it's weight in ripe papayas (or gold, whichever you deem more valuable :P).If you want any more info, just message me! I'd more than happy to talk about it with you :P

So Today of all days, have some yummy juicy fruit and celebrate good health!! I know I will!

Cleansing day Numero Uno.

It's that time of year again, the one here everyone is thinking about cleaning out and starting anew, SPRING!  And so I'm taking this opportunity to cleanse my body, give it a little break after having put it through some tough times, mainly school stress, lacking exercise, etc etc.

And so I've decided to go the orange juice cleanse way. 7 days of homemade fresh orange juice, lots of water and some hardcore determination to get rid of food addictions and give time for my body to heal damage caused by a bad past lifestyle. Also a great way to get myself back onto the fruit wagon!

SO today being day 1, I've had 4 liters of orange juice(about 30 oranges) and 3 liters of water. And yes, frequent trips to the washroom are part of the game.

This is my supply for about 4 days :D :D Looks yummmyyyyy :)

I'd say there's about 130 oranges total. It's funny too cause the guy at the store looked at me like I was crazy when I said I wanted 2 cases! Wonder what he would've done had i bought all 3 cases that I actually need for my weeklong affair with oranges...



 So let's talk serious things now: detox effects for day one. Just a slight headache and a strong craving for salt, but my stubbornness is taking care of that affecting my resolve. Another point: this isnt for weight loss, of course it's usually a welcome side effect but the whole point to this is to clean out toxins so that afterwards it's easier to eat a clean diet and easier to get back into shape.

 As for exercise, just an hour light walk, runnind a few errands and soaking in some much needed Vit D.

Sleep is very important in normal circumstances, but when "fasting" it's a key element to detoxifying your body! So i'm off for a good 8 hours!