Supplements raise death rate by 5%

Now there's an attention grabber! Below is a link to an article that once again lets us know that taking vitamin supplements are NOT good for you. What you have to look for is this key phrase: "they examined only the use of synthetic vitamins." (The study is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association which is a peer reviewed publication)

Whole food vitamins have been tested and shown to give you the benefits that you think you are getting when you are taking synthetics.

How do you know if your vitamin is a synthetic? Put your money where your mouth is, so to speak. Synthetics are cheap to make therefore cheap to sell. If you are buying big jugs of vitamins for very little, you are taking synthetics that are only going to be detrimental to your health. Whole food vitamins should state that they are whole food on the label. The other way to tell is look at the ingredients. They should read like a grocery list: carrots, green pepper, orange, alfalfa, acerola cherry, broccoli, etc. If you read your label and it is not "food" then you are dealing with synthetics.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/healthy_eating/article1449813.ece
editor's note: the article is no longer at this link... :(


 Say cheese...

...cheese pizza, that is. I haven't posted in awhile because as of Feb. 19th I started delivering pizza again in the evenings. I have been adjusting to being at work 4 nights a week. I am not getting much sleep now. Before I would be in bed at nine. Now I get off work at nine and by the time I come home and wind down from the go-go-go pace at work, it's usually eleven or later before I go to bed. Not a good bedtime when you have a little one getting you up anywhere from 4:30 am to 6 am. But I enjoy the job, I average $15/hour, and we don't have to put the kids in daycare for me to work. It is havoc on my diet because I do love pizza, white flour and all, and there is always pizza for us drivers to eat while on shift - too hard to resist! I am trying to make sure I eat all raw on a work day to offset the free pizza. :p

Well I think it is time to post more pictures of our beautiful little girls. Here is one we snapped the other day so we could print some wallets to carry. (Grandparents - you will be receiving one soon!)

Here are a couple of Angelina - trying to get mobile on the floor and playing with her toes - a favorite past-time these days.







Grandma Barbara was with us for Trinity's first day of dance class. Here are couple of pictures that she took.



Another late night...sigh. I better be off to bed.
Grace and peace be with you.


 Why?

Tomorrow Trinity will be 25 months old and already we are getting asked on a frequent basis: "Why?" I didn't realize that question would come so soon! The lastest - Dad: "It's time for bed." Trinity: "Why?" Now what do you say to that?!?

Anyway, I snapped pictures of lunch the other day because it just looked soooo good. First Trinity's lunch - yam chips, guacamole and grape tomatoes.


My lunch was a bed of organic baby greens topped with raw coleslaw, sunflower seeds, cucumbers, green peppers and grape tomatoes - Yummo!


Trinity is halfway through her tiny tots dance class. Here are some pictures, but unfortunately they are blurry. She is pretty good about paying attention and not running amok during class.






Grace and peace be with you!


 Time for an update

I had added some cooked food back in my diet and my weight popped up a few pounds, but has now dropped back down to 164. I have been trying the fruit only til noon principle this week. At first I wasn't so crazy about it, but now that I am getting used to it, I think I do like it. I noticed it yesterday when I got in the pool to swim that I felt like I had so much energy. (speaking of the swimming, I am up to 30 minutes this week)

David has been off and on eating raw food with me. He told me yesterday that he feels so much better when he eats raw. He had gone and got Del Taco for dinner the other night and then he felt bloated and sick and felt bad even the next morning. So yesterday I asked him to pick up some yams and steel cut oats from Sprouts and he came home with loads of raw food. We had a yummy smorgasbord of food for lunch - yam chips with guacamole, raw trail mix, sweet grape tomatoes, and raw pickles. (Bubbies kosher brand) David packed up much of the same for lunch today and headed off to work with smoothie in hand. :)

Grandma and Grandpa Case came and babysat for us last night so we could go out to celebrate Valentines. We wanted to go out the day after so it wouldn't be so crowded. We had a gift card to the Cheesecake Factory so that is where we went. We split a salad then split nachos. This goes back to a tip from my earlier post - shoot for 50/50 live vs. dead food. He suggested that if you are eating fruit only til noon, then just have a salad with lunch and dinner. Make it a good sized salad, not a skimpy one, and eat it first. Then you won't eat too much cooked food and your body will be getting more of the healthy live food.

I did this the other night with David too. A lot of time I will ask David if he wants me to make him a salad too and he'll say no. This time I didn't ask. I made us both a salad and filled his dinner plate with it. Then he had to eat his salad before he could eat the cooked part of the meal. That worked out well. I keep thinking that if we can make that practice a normal part of our dinner, then we will be teaching our girls good eating habits too.


 94 - How about you?

What is your life expectancy? This site has a quick and easy to take test that will calculate your life expectancy and tell you ways to increase that number. Check it out - knowledge is power!

Living to 100


 More Fit For Life...

I am continuing to read the book Fit For Life Not Fat For Life and really like the principles he outlines. Here they are in a nutshell:

1. Eat more live food than dead food - shoot for 50/50

2. Eat only fresh fruit or non-pasteurized fruit juice until noon

3. One day a week eat only live food

These are the basics. I will elaborate more in future posts. I definitely encourage anyone interested in improving their health and quality of life to read this book.


 New View on Raw

February 10 - Day 13

I decided that since my food doesn't vary much, I am not going to post my daily intake unless I try something new and want to share it. But speaking of sharing something new, I have been reading one of the books I checked out from the library. It's called Fit For Life, Not Fat For Life by one of the coauthors of the popular book Fit For Life. He proposes that rather than counting calories or carbs or anything else, there is one simple principle to remember: Eat More Living Food Than Dead Food! or put another way, more raw than cooked. Hear, hear! He lost 50 pounds and constant pain by following this principle. He advocates that you shoot for 50/50 raw and cooked food intake. When he had to lose weight and regain his health, he determined to eat twice as much raw food as cooked food - two-thirds raw, one-third cooked.

I think this is a very livable eating plan that most people can work into their lifestyles. He even said that there is no rush to be at 50/50 right away. The average person eats only 10% raw food daily and even doubling it to 20% will start reaping rewards. For me, since I eat oatmeal for breakfast, a big salad for one meal, and a fruit smoothie almost every day I could easily accomodate one cooked meal in my diet and still be a raw foodist. (traditional definition is someone who eats 75% or more raw food) This makes life very livable. I can go out to dinner with my husband for Valentines day and enjoy myself without worrying about the repercussions on my health. We can attend functions at church and I don't have to go hungry because it's nothing but cooked food.

I'm still going to eat mostly raw, but I just enjoyed reading about someone who has witnessed the power of live food in the lives of hundreds of people over the years without it having to be a 100% raw diet. It seems to me that many people get on the raw bandwagon and become food nazi's, wielding guilt and shame lest a morsel of cooked food pass through their lips.

So if anyone wants to try incorporating more raw food in their diets, please let me know how it goes for you and your health.

An update on me - the bump on my neck is now completely gone. I had written about it before - it has been around for a long time - since before Angelina was born for sure - and since I went raw has completely gone away - hooray!


 Sleeping through the night

February 8 - Day 11
raw oatmeal
yam chips and guacamole
smoothie
big salad

Angelina is doing so well with her sleep now. She slept through the night for the first time last Saturday night and has continued to do so every night except Sunday. What a relief to get good sleep again! Looks like we won't have to go through the same sleep technique with her as we did with Trinity. We had to teach Trinity to fall asleep on her own. Angelina is already there. She doesn't need to be nursed to sleep like Trinity did. Thank you God!

Today at lunch Trinity asked for pizza. We had some leftovers so I heated them up for her then peeled and sliced a yam for myself. When I sat down with the yams and guacamole, Trinity immediately abandoned her pizza. She came over to me, spit out the pizza in her mouth, and went for the yam chips. A raw kid in the making! I couldn't be more proud! :p

I have been using my dip from Sunday to spice up my salad dressing. I make my usual EVOO, Braggs apple cider vinegar, and lemon mix and then put in a spoonful of the dip. Yummo! I really like extra zest in my salad dressing. I have a bunch of the dip left. I'm wondering if I should freeze it. Hmmmmm....

I did make it to the gym today and swam laps for 25 minutes as planned. I will do the same tomorrow after Trinity's dance class. Next week will be 30 minutes. Also, I usually wear my swimsuit under my clothes when I know I am heading to the gym. Today I forgot to pack my underwear/bra for after swimming. What to do, what to do. I put my swimsuit in the sauna while I did my makeup and blew dry my hair. It wasn't perfectly dry, but close enough. Saved by another MacGyver moment! Thought I'd just pass that one along in case any one else finds themselves in that predicament. :)


 Camera is back!





February 7, Day 10

When in doubt, turn off your computer and start over. My camera is now downloading again so I thought I would post some pictures of the girls. (my favorite shutterbug subject!)

I tried working with Trinity on potty training today. The technique sounded good, but you have to have an obedient child for it to work. Trinity was really cool with teaching her doll to use the potty, but was not so keen on then doing it herself. She just wanted to play with the doll. Trying to make her go to the potty every 15 minutes, no way was she up for that. The last thing I wanted to do was drag her kicking and screaming to the bathroom and make it a negative thing. She did ask to go to the potty this afternoon and actually used it, but she has done that on several occasions before. I guess I will just be diapering 2 kids for a while longer. Sigh.

As for my diet, I fell off the raw wagon today. I'm not worried about it. I'll be back in full swing tomorrow. I just didn't have time today to fix my raw meals like I usually do since I was trying to devote myself to Trinity and the potty training.



 Wobbling on the wagon...

February 6 - Day 9
weight 163, down 7 pounds
smoothie
larabar
big salad
2 kiwi
raw trail mix
zucchini pasta w/raw marinara
last bit of chocolate banana pudding

I made meatballs today and set them in my arizona room and let the sun work its magic as the dehydrator. It worked perfectly. I tasted the meatballs, which had a mushroom base, and they were good. However, when I tried eating them with the pasta and sauce, it wasn't working for me. Not sure why. Raw food recipes can be wierd that way.

I was soooo tired this afternoon and I don't know quite why. Angelina slept through the night for the second time. The first was Saturday night - she slept from 8:30 til 5:30. Last night she slept from 11 to 6. Anyway, DH stopped at Costco on the way home to do some shopping and picked up a rotisserie chicken. OMG did that smell so good. I was nursing Angelina and trying not to fall asleep and being hungry - figuring I would do dinner when the kids were in bed. I wanted to just go tear into that chicken. But I knew it was desire born of being tired and that if I did, I would eat waaaay too much and totally regret it in the morning. So I resisted and did not fall off the wagon - just wobbled!

Speaking of Angelina, I finally took her in for her 4 month well baby checkup. (4 mo on Jan 20) She weighed almost 13 1/2 pounds and is 25 inches long. The doctor said she is a keeper - everything is fine. I can't wait to get my camera working to post new pics of her!

We got the book "Potty Training in Less Than a Day" from the library. That's my next project with Trinity. Be praying for me!




 Raw Journal


This photo is SAD vs RAW diet. On the right was 6 months raw, Dec. 2002. On the left was 10 months sad (standard american diet) Dec. 2003. This is my motivation picture to stay on the raw path.

Here is my raw journal to date:

January 29
Today was my first full raw day. I have been doing raw since January 5th, but have not maintained 100%. I am starting at 170 pounds. My food for today:
raw oatmeal with chopped pecans
big salad
orange
smoothie
raw banana split

I got really motivated today to stick to this. I talked to the instructor at my gym after pool aerobics today about becoming an instructor. She was very enthusiastic and I guess they are needing daytime instructors, so I will begin training with her shortly. I am sooo jazzed about this. It's the perfect job for me right now. I will get free gym membership and free childcare as well - bonus! Just knowing that I will be up in front of people as an example makes me want to succeed with my raw journey so I can share with others.

Alright, enough for now - I was up nursing my little one, but she's back to bed, so I must go too.

January 30 - Day 2
raw oatmeal w/pecans and raisins (to borrow a rachel ray phrase - Yummo!)
raw trail mix snack
2 ears raw corn on the cob with guac butter and cracked pepper
smoothie
big salad
2 small oranges

My biggest challenge continues to be having to cook food for my husband. I made a crockpot full of split pea soup today and was soooo tempted to eat some this evening. It was one of those rare, overcast, somewhat drizzly days in the Phoenix area today - a perfect soup day. I just reminded myself that it always looks better than it actually is compared to fresh raw food, and it definitely doesn't make me feel good like raw does. Another reminder I give myself when being tempted is that I have had almost 40 years of gorging on cooked food - I have had plenty of those foods in my lifetime and I don't need more. (in case I am starting to think that I am being "deprived" somehow)

I go to the dentist tomorrow to have a deep cleaning done. Not sure how this is going to affect my eating, but I am sure my mouth will be sore when the numbing wears off.  May just be a smoothie/juice afternoon and evening.

On a positive note, my husband was jealously eyeing my raw oatmeal this morning and wanted some. I let him finish off the bowl because I want to encourage him to eat raw foods. My 2 year old always wants what mommy has, and will eat most of my raw food. (looooves smoothies, which she calls "mooothy")Was so cute to see her cleaning up my ear of corn - I saved her some on the second ear and she was delighted to eat the corn like mommy was.

Oh, yeah. Not to forget. I got a coffee grinder last night and finally ground up the millet I had bought ages ago. I plan on trying that for my breakfast grain tomorrow morning - I hope I like it cause it might be my only solid food tomorrow! I was reading the nutrition info on it at Sprouts and it has 10+ grams of protein in 1/2 cup - Wow! And people wonder how you get protein without eating meat!

January 31 - Day 3
I weighed 167 this morning - that's 3 pounds down.
soaked millet and dates w/blackberries, banana, pecans, raisins, and sunflower seeds
smoothie

As I suspected, eating wasn't a big priority today. My whole mouth was numb for so long I didn't dare try to eat or drink anything. Now I am guzzling my water to replenish myself. I had my millet this morning. Not the best. I ate about half a big bowl. The taste was "okay" and it had a grainy texture that was not too pleasant. I am going to stick with my oatmeal or maybe try it again mixed with oats rather than all millet. One of the things I am fully committed to is finding foods that I really love, not just tolerate. Another thing is ease of preparation. From my experience before as a raw foodist, a lot of recipes are quite time intensive, and with two little ones, I just can't take that kind of time. And then a lot of the time, I wouldn't even like the taste when I got it prepared. So, easy to make and really yummy are two prerequisites for me.

I had gotten the idea for the millet breakfast out of a raw book that I found at a used book sale last year by a guy named Tobin. (I think) It was published eons ago - I'll have to look it up b/c I remember being really surprised that a raw food book was out that long ago. The book gives raw recipes for breakfast, lunch and dinner for each day of the year. An absolute steal at $3!
I just looked up raw food books at the library and there are several checked in. I am going to go get them tomorrow and peruse the recipes. Also, I enjoy reading the information. There is something to be said to keeping the benefits of raw food living fresh in your mind to keep you motivated. When I was raw before, I was working for a nutrition company  and the president was big into education for all employees. That's where I learned about raw food. Two of my coworkers who also ran a clinic in conjunction with OHS were raw foodists. I found it much easier to be raw when I went to work everyday in an environment that supported and promoted that lifestyle. So I realize that I need to create my own raw environment. One thing I will do is start attending the free seminars each month at the Windhawk Clinic.
February 1 - Day 4
raw oatmeal
yam chips w/guacamole
trail mix
smoothie
big salad

My 2yo daughter had an almost all raw day today. She shared my oatmeal this morning and also sat down with the bag of raw trailmix and picked out her favorites. Then she had a larabar for a snack - which she calls candy - of her own doing, not mine! I usually slice up my yam in big pieces and then use to dip in guacamole, but I was at a friends house, and their knife wouldn't cut all the way through. So I ended up making smaller, thinner slices off the yam. My daughter loved them! (she's always been a guac fan so it was an easy sell) Once home, she had some smoothie, some raw cheese and more trail mix before bedtime. The only non raw for her today was a hershey kiss over at the friends house.

The book I mentioned in my last post was by John Tobe and published in 1969, which means it is almost as old as I am! (born '67) I checked out Raw Food for the Real World from the library today. My question is this: what real world are they talking about?! My real world has me hopping trying to keep a 2yo entertained while not completely neglecting my 4mo. I do not begin to have the time to do the very elaborate recipes in that book. What a disappointment since I had been told the recipes were delicious. No doubt they are from what I read, but certainly not quick, easy, or cheap which is what I need. Oh well. There were a few that I will copy down - just don't know when I will get the time to experiment.

My husband seems to be trying to quit soda, although not having an easy time. Also he was craving sweets tonight, which we don't have in the house right now. I suggested he put a pecan inside a date.

Okay, it's after 3am so I am back to bed now that the little one is snoozing happily in milk coma land!

p.s. forgot to mention that after getting my deep cleaning on my teeth, I had no gum pain nor did I need to take any medication after the numbing wore off - they had sent me home with these elaborate instructions on post op healing but the only thing that was bothering me was my jaw was a little sore from being open so long. I am thinking my raw diet helped me with this...

February 2 - Day 5
weight - 165, down 5 pounds
food:
raw oatmeal (only 1/2 bowl - wasn't too hungry)
1/2 larabar snack
salad
smoothie
raw tacos/raw brownie
Wow! I feel soooo good today! I have energy and feel alive! This is a major improvement over the dragging through the days I have done for the last 4 months since my second daughter was born. I didn't even get a good nights sleep. I just got back from the gym. I miss pool aerobics on Fridays b/c my 2yo has a dance class in the morning on Fridays for 5 more weeks. So I just went after her class and swam laps. I did 15 minutes last week, and 20 minutes this morning. I am going to up it five minutes a week til I am doing 30 minutes of swimming.

Meanwhile, I also wanted to post that I have noticed a couple of health improvements. First, my tailbone had been hurting me a lot lately when I would sit down. I noticed today I sat down on the bench at the gym and no pain - yeah! Also, I have this little bump on my neck that kind of looks like a chicken pox scar, but it keeps getting big and then I would squeeze it and stuff would come out. Well today I went to see if it needed to be squeezed and it is almost completely flat - if I try to find it without looking in the mirror, it's really tough to detect it. Cooool.

One more positive note - I have noticed that I am not getting angry with my toddler like I was before. I still have to get stern with her when she is willfully disobedient, but I am not losing my cool or feeling like I'm going to go ballistic. This is by far the best result I could have asked for!

February 3 - Day 6
raw oatmeal w/pecans, raisins, and banana
Bitmap
mmm
rest of yam with guacamole/brownies
smoothie
big salad

Gooood news! My DH was running late for work this morning. He came into the kitchen while I was slicing 1/2 banana onto my leftover oatmeal from yesterday. He asked if he could take the 2 raw tacos I had made last night with the leftovers from dinner, and then had a raw brownie and a big spoonful out of my cereal before heading out to work. I tried to give him the whole bowl but he wouldn't take it. But I was pretty excited to see him grabbing the raw food to eat. I was telling him yesterday about how good I am feeling and he grumpily told me, "I don't want to hear it - I feel horrible!" He's been sick most of this week. He also snacked on some yam chips and guacamole yesterday, so he had a pretty raw day.

In all fairness to my DH, he did tell me a little later that he was happy for me that I was feeling good and apologized for being grumpy.

I picked up 3 books on raw at the library today. One had no recipes. I have only had time to look through one of the others, but WOW it looks like a lot of good, easy recipes. It is called Eat Smart, Eat Raw. I can't wait to start trying some of the recipes. I may make something from it for the superbowl party tomorrow - a dip that I can also use to make a wrap.

On a bummer note - my tailbone is hurting again today.

February 4 - Day 7
raw oatmeal/millet w/raisins and pecans
1/2 larabar
apple and raw cheese
carrots and broccoli w/raw dip
smoothie

I tried a 3 to 1 ratio of oats to millet in my cereal this morning - was yummy. I think that is the way to go for me. I ended up making a new dip for the superbowl party I went to, and while it was okay, I wouldn't say it was yummy. I want the yummy factor in my food, so I am going to experiment tomorrow and see if I can doctor up my leftovers to make it something I look forward to eating instead of something I am eating up just so it doesn't go to waste.

Very good news today. My DH decided he wants to eat raw with me. He isn't going to do 100%, but I am sure it is still going to help him out. He said he is feeling better today and he feels it was the raw food he has been eating. It could also be that I picked up a supplement on Thursday from the Windhawk clinic called Prodigen that is jam packed with probiotics and enzymes. I've had him taking 2 capsules after meals while I am only taking one a day to build up my good bacteria levels and letting the extra enzymes help clean out my system. Anyway, I am pretty excited about having him on the same eating as me. That will sure make it easier. But it also makes me want to search and find some more good recipes that will fill up my hubby and have that yummy factor.

I have collected a few from the recipe forum so far. I think I would like to try the chili recipe first, but I still have no dehydrator. I may try using the sun....we'll see how that goes.

February 5 - Day 8
I weighed in this morning after one full week 100% raw.
weight - 164, down 6 pounds
raw oatmeal w/usual toppings
shared food with Trinity for lunch so I didn't eat a whole lot of anything - apple w/raw cheese, carrots and broccoli w/guacamole
chocolate banana pudding
last brownie bite
raw cheese and carrots
raw trail mix

I need to get a before shot soon. I can't get my camera to download, but eventually I will sort that out and then I will have the picture. I am making a mental note to have DH take photo this afternoon.

I didn't really sit and eat a lunch or dinner. The day just didn't allow it. We took the kids to the park this afternoon and then to the library and by the time we came home and I nursed the baby, it was time for me to run off to bible study. DH and DD1 were having pizza for dinner as I left with my cheese sticks and carrot sticks to munch on in the car. I was only mildly tempted to grab a slice of pizza. If I had time for my daily big salad or smoothie I probably wouldn't have even thought twice about it. But the fact that I hadn't had a sit down meal since breakfast made it slightly tempting. Not too bad though. I really want to stick to raw for now. I've had enough pizza in my day to last my whole life! I turn 40 in May and I want to stay 100% until then. One day at a time....



 Oil Pulling

This is a concept that is new to me. I was introduced to the idea when I asked for testimonies on teeth healing on the raw diet on a raw site. The basic idea is to swish a Tablespoon of sesame or sunflower oil in your mouth for twenty minutes first thing in the morning. The oil is supposed to pull toxins from your body resulting in all sort of ailments being treated. One of the major results seems to be healthier teeth and gums and whitening of the teeth which is why it was recommended to me. Seeing as I have thousands of dollars of work that needs to be done on my teeth, I am ready to try anything that will possibly alleviate some of that or at least keep them from getting worse while I slowly get work done. Today is day two on oil pulling for me. If anyone has any personal experience with oil pulling, for or against, please share under comments!

For more information, do a search on google for oil pulling. There are plenty of sites. Or you can check out this link: www.oilpulling.com


 Back on Line

Hi all,

I decided to get on the blog bandwagon because it will be an easier way to keep up with everyone. My time seems to be at a premium these days so I need to keep things as simple as possible. Creating my own web pages for family updates takes more time than I desire to devote to it right now.

So to catch everyone up. January 5th I decided to go back on a raw diet, but not 100%. I was eating mostly raw though with a few exceptions until we went to Las Vegas for David to attend the Redken Hair Symposium. Then I just ate cooked food and didn't worry about it. I just have a problem with paying $15 for a buffet and eating only salad and fruit! But on Jan. 29th I made a committment to go 100% raw for 30 days. So far so good.  On day 5 I had lost 5 pounds. My days tend to pretty similar food-wise. I have raw oatmeal for breakfast, a big salad for one meal, and a fruit smoothie each day. Then I have one other meal that varies each day. But my basics get me grains, veggies, nuts and fruit everyday.

Trinity turned 2 years old on January 19th. Grandma Barbara flew out to celebrate with us. We had a lovely party with her friend Hope. The girls got to decorate birthday cupcakes with lots of sprinkles, ate pizza, and played in the playroom together. It was a good time. :)

David started sharing his space with his old coworker Camille at the end of January. He is enjoying having her around a bit. She works on Wed-Fri so there are only 2 days they are both in the salon. She is paying half the rent which is a big help for us.

I am going to start training to teach pool aerobics for LA Fitness. It's the perfect job for me b/c not only do I get to do something I enjoy that is good for me, but I get free childcare in the kids club while I teach a class. Also, I will get free membership and childcare as long as I am teaching at least one class per pay period. Bonus!

I will post pictures as soon as I can get them downloaded from my camera. For some reason my computer is not recognizing my camera when I plug it in.



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