Preserve the Bounty Challenge

For anyone interested in preserving their own food naturally without canning or freezing The nourished kitchen website has a great challenge going on for August.

From the website:
Over the course of 5 weeks we’ll cover sun-drying, oil curing, freezing, fermentation and salt-curing – traditional techniques that optimize nutrition and don’t heat up the kitchen like canning. Plus we’ll have some great prizes for participants! You’ll receive an email once a week covering a specific technique for traditional methods of preserving the harvest. So sign up, share it with a friend and hit up the farmers market! Who’ll preserve the most?

nourishedkitchen.com/preserve-the-bounty/

I will be following this challenge and blogging about it as I go. Week 1 challenge of the challenge is Fermentation. As of right now I am planning on trying sour kraut and Beet kavass. My first try at sauerkraut a few years ago was a major disaster so hopefully this goes a little better! I went out and bought a new 3 gallon crock yesterday because my old one has a hairline crack and I have a feeling that may have been the problem, wish i knew how to fix it it's such a beautiful old crock!
Preserving Summer's Bounty: Week #1: Fermentation

How Much Oil Has Leaked Into the Gulf of Mexico?

Going Raw

Well, not totally raw but switching my diet to mainly raw.

I have gotten to the point in the last few months where i have just given up on losing weight, working out and heating healthy. For years now I have been quite faithfully eating healthy, watching my calories and working out on a very regular basis, yet my weight stayed the same. Since maybe Dec I have just pretty much given up, lost all motivation. My fibromyalgia has returned full force for the first time in over 5 years, I actually got a bad cold for the first time in years,I am tired ALL the time and just feel plain crappy lately! I turn 45 Sunday and I am slowly turning in to an old grumpy depressed fat lady! TIME FOR A MAJOR CHANGE!

From what i have been reading there are so many benefits to a raw food diet such as: more energy, foods are easier to digest, more healthy enzymes in the foods, raw foods are more healing to the body and the list goes on. Mainly it just makes sense! Look at pictures of people that eat a raw diet, they look vibrant and and just radiate health! If you look at the pic of Brigitte Mars you would never guess she was 50 at the time of the interview in 2003 and in recent interviews she looks much younger! I'll put a link to a really good video by Brigitte mars on the Raw food lifestyle at the end of this post.
I decided starting today I am going to try doing 75% raw, right now there are just a few things i would find too hard to give up like yogurt, eggs,oatmeal fish, herbal infusions & tea. I am going to attempt to switch from coffee to roasted dandelion root, not raw but definitely better for me :)

I ordered a couple books on eating raw last night too: Rawsome by Brigitte Mars and Raw Energy by Stephanie Tourles, can't wait to get them!

I would love any suggestions to any good websites or books on eating raw, a lot of the websites I have found so far are not as informative as i hoped, mainly because they are all trying to sell you something.

Below are the links to the You tube videos I was referring to, the first one is a 10 part series and the second a 5 part so they are quite lengthy but definitely not boring:

Brigitte Mars-"Rawvolution" Pt #1 (of 10)

Brigitte Mars-Pt.1 (of 5) "Rawsome" Interview-2002

From the Dr. Oz Website:

Make the breakfast drink that Dr. Oz swears by! This "green drink" is high in fiber, low-calorie and rich in vitamins.

Ingredients
2 cups spinach
2 cups cucumber
1 head of celery
1/2 inch or teaspoon ginger root
1 bunch parsley
2 apples
Juice of 1 lime
Juice of 1/2 lemon

Directions
Combine all ingredients in a blender. This makes approximately 28-30 ounces, or 3-4 servings.

Sounds tasty!! I think I'll give it a try!

One step forward 2 steps back

Joy oh joy! This week was going so well as far as staying on track with my running and workouts and then out of nowhere my hip started hurting and bad. I have pretty much come to the conclusion that is is iliotibial band syndrome, probably from running in a crappy pair of shoes on snow and ice....the duck walks, squats and excessive kicking probably didn't help either.

I did get my new running shoes this week but really did not want to use them outside until some of the slush and mess was gone after all the crappy pair I was referring to only have about 10 miles on them, they are not even dirty yet! The salesman at the shoe store i purchased them at insisted they would be better for for my type of foot than the ones I had been using and loved. Was he wrong! They felt way too snug once I started running in them and they twisted my knee out....Uggghh.

I went to the runners world website this morning looked up and did stretches to help with IT band syndrome http://www.runnersworld.com/video/1,8052,s6-1-0-5,00.html?bcpid=2888993001&bclid=1352465375 and I also went to Danny Dreyers Chi Running site to see if he had any advice on it, which of course he did :)

http://www.chirunning.com/shop/pages.php?id=343&pageid=18

So, come 2:00 today I am going to go break in my super shiny clean brand new pair of Asics and hopefully the stretching, Dannny's Chi running advice and a ton of Ibuprofen will alleviate some of the pain!

Promise Yourself

I didn't write this, I saw this posted on facebook and thought it was well worth sharing

Promise yourself:

~To be so strong that nothing can disturb your peace of mind.

~To talk health, happiness and prosperity to every person you meet.

~ To make all your friends feel that there is something worthwile in them.

~To look ath the sunnyside of everything and make your optimism come true.

~To think only the best, to work only for the best and to expect only the best.

~ To be just as enthusiastic about the success of others as you are about your own.

~ To forget the mistakes of the past and press on to the greater achievments of the future.

~To wear a cheerful expression at all times and give a smile to every living creature you meet.

~To give so much time to improving yourself that you have no time to criticize others.

~ To be too large for worry, too noble for anger, too strong for fear, and too happy to permit the presence of trouble.

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The Barefoot Running Debate at Runner's World

The Barefoot Running Debate at Runner's World

Barefoot running info

A good link on barefoot running from Harvard Science:
http://www.harvardscience.harvard.edu/foundations/articles/barefoot-running-easier-feet-running-shoes
I have started doing my treadmill runs barefoot again and LOVE it! When I first started running I used to do my treadmill runs barefoot in the morning because I was just too lazy to put my shoes on.... I forgot how nice it was!
I think once all the snow and ice melt i am definatly going to invest in a pair of Vibram 5 fingers! www.vibramfivefingers.com