No-Junk-All-Gym-July

No-Junk-All-Gym-July

That’s what we have named this upcoming month. 

Dustin and I have been in a bit of a rut lately, feeling like we’re trying to run uphill. We came back to Australia in January and it’s been a bit of a struggle for us (with many high’s too!) We have tried so hard to stay on the health wagon, but then we have those binging moments. I can’t believe I’m even going to admit this, but the other night I had a large pizza to myself... family size block of chocolate.. large packet of Smiths chips... and half an apple pie! YUCK! That night I waddled around with a big buddha belly. It hurt to move!

It hasn’t been all bad though. We joined a gym/leisure centre directly across the road from us. When you open the curtains first thing we see is the pool! I’ve also been reading a lot of raw food books, experimenting with raw food, we got ourselves a new juice, high powered blender and a food dehydrator. I’m more motivated than ever to live a healthy lifestyle. 

We have both been feeling pretty down lately. Sad and in a rut. A bit bored with life. Not sure what we want to do with ourselves. Both been having that “mid life crisis” feeling. Last night we were talking and we decided that our food and physical activity has got to have a role in all of this. I’ve been sick with the flu for the past 2 weeks, and we both haven’t been going to the gym. When we were walking to the supermarket late last night (to buy chocolate ice cream and Top Deck chocolate! Face palm!) we set ourselves a challenge. Everyday in July we have to go to the gym. No matter what. Even if it’s just to swim a few laps. We also everyday have to eat according to the earth diet. No more junk! If we both succeed until the end of July then we are going to reward ourselves by buying new work out clothes! 

This is just a small goal. I realized that when I set big goals for myself (which are great to do!) I don’t ever get off my arse to do it. And I need to set little goals along the way. My major goals is to be under 60 kg’s (never done that before since before puberty!), to have Jennifer Anniston arms (for my wedding!), work out what I wanna do with my life (love youth work but feeling a little burnt out) and be able to do 10 unassisted chin ups. Ohh and maybe be able to touch my feet without bending my legs! ha! 

My goal for July is to everyday eat according to the Earth Diet, go to the gym everyday, and to be happy. 

I’ll be blogging everyday to keep myself accountable, and if you would like to encourage me please feel free to! I will also be recording my mood for the day and how I feel physically. I’ve been having daily headaches and pain for awhile now, I’ve had the cold/flu, my skin looks bleh and I’ve been feeling sad. I want to see these areas transform by making small changes in my life such as exercise and food! And this time stick to it.

Today was the first day:

Mood- Sad but enthusiastic

Exercise- 20 mins cardio, weights, swim, spa

Food- Protein shake, green smoothy, mandarins, pumpkin soup, hand made potato chips (earth diet style)

Day 3: Steak and pumpkin salad

Hey all,

I'm onto Day 3 of being back on the Earth Diet. It's been harder to get back onto it than the last time when I first started! I'll be honest, I had fish and chips last night. The more I eat processed/fast food the more gross I feel. My skin is looking horrible right now! Anyways, I gotta be patient with myself and go through this transition period. Otherwise, I've been making good food choices! Today I declare that I will only eat all natural foods for Day 3.

I just want to quickly share with you a meal that Dustin and I made the other night! It was DELICIOUS!!!  We made it up ourselves but were inspired by other salads we've had. 

It was a Moroccan style salad...

Ingredients:

Steak

Pumpkin

Lemon

Spinach leaves

Potato

Red pepper

Red onion

Cherry tomato

Pine nuts

Firstly cut the pumpkin and potato into small squares and boil it until soft. And then drizzle with olive oil and roast in the oven. 

Grill the red pepper and red onion. 

Cut the steak into small pieces and cook. 

Put in a bowl the spinach leaves, red pepper, red onion, pumpkin and potato squares, cherry tomato and steak. Squeeze lemon juice all over it. Sprinkle with pine nuts. 

And you're done!!! 

It was amazing and we plan on having that again tonight. Yahoo!

Peace and love x

My Declaration!!

Hello all...

You may or may not have noticed my absence... 

It has been a busy few weeks. I have... packed up a house, given away furniture and clothes to various charities and friends, travelled to Vancouver Island to say good bye to the in-laws, had my last day (emotional!) at work, said good bye to friends, packed my suitcases, re-packed my suitcases as they were too heavy and had to throw out MORE clothes (nooo), stayed in motels, flew from Canada to Australia, moved back in with the parents (temporarily), unpacked my suitcases, picked Dustin up from the airport (different flight), caught up with friends, secured my old job (start end of the month!), travelled a few hours to see family, drove Dustin around for job interviews, opened bank accounts, began organising a wedding.... and... ate a lot of fast food.

I feel like shit. 

Don't get me wrong.. I don't necessarily regret eating the fast food... many of the foods I've been eating I was craving for a year and a half living in Canada... I'm glad I ate it... because now I realise that the memory I had of it in my mind were all wrong. I had forgotten that they don't make me feel good. That I feel bloated and sluggish and like I have a hangover. 

Anyways, it's been a week since I returned home to Australia... and it's been an emotional week. What I'm feeling right now is what people refer to as reverse culture shock. Coming back to a familiar place... realising how much you have changed as a person... and trying to find your way in an old environment. It's been a confusing week. A roller-coaster week of emotions. Excited to be home, excited to see people... but missing the freedom and the challenge of living abroad. I think it'll take a good few weeks to feel settled again.

So... today is a new day. I'm determined to get back onto the Earth Diet!!! I will begin back on Day 1. I've changed a few "rules" for myself also. Once a week I will allow myself some non-earth chocolate (I'll be honest, I received a lot of chocolate for christmas and I just can't part with it haha). I will try to write daily, as it keeps me accountable, however things are still pretty busy right now so if I miss a day I will not beat myself up. 

Here are my declarations for the year 2012 (so far): 

• 2012 will be my healthiest year yet! With food and fitness. I will find a new boxing gym to be a part of here. 
• By my wedding in January 2013 I will lose the last 5 kg's. 
• I want to be fully alive in every way. I want to live each day to it's fullest. 
• I want to love my friends and family fully, and to love myself. 
• There are some career changes I want to see in my life. I want to remain in the field I work in but begin working in a different position... 
• I want to be outside more, watch less TV, and complain less about the weather (haha)

I'm feeling so much more positive since writing this. I kept saying... "Today I will start the Earth Diet again"... and then I would continue binging on crappy food. Sometimes you just have to make a choice... even if you don't feel it. I'm choosing to eat Earth Foods again... I'm choosing to be happy and get over this "rut" I am feeling right now. 

Love and peace to you all !!! xo

Day 35-37 - Sickness/Stomach flu

Aarrgghhhhhh!!

What a crazy few days I have had.

It basically began with me waking up at 3am and vomitting. And then not feeling well for a few days after that. I havn't even thought about the Earth Diet. I had pretty much just slept... slept... puked... slept... drank water... slept... puked... cry. haha

I havn't eaten any food except yesterday (day 37) I had some dry crackers.. I know it's not Earth food but I didn't really care at that point, it was something I was taught growing up when you have a queesy stomach.. helps settle you down. I also drank Gatorade to try and get my fluids back to normal.

Now that I'm beginning to feel slightly better, I'm asking myself a few questions...

If when you are nausaus and have a stomach bug... what can you eat to help your tummy that is Earth food? Growing up my mum taught me to have some dry crackers (took me a couple of days to actually be able to do that though)

By doing a quick look on the internet it is telling me to... rest (check), drink fluids (check), and as for food... everything I'm reading so far is telling me to eat dry crackers (check) or bananas. So, on The Earth Diet it seems that bananas are the way to go... however, to be honest, when I was feeling the way I was feeling the idea of eating anything like bananas made me want to barf. As I said, it took awhile to get to the point to eat and keep down dry crackers... bananas to me seems like a different ball game.

For the first time (I write this on day 38), I actually have an appetite again... but I'm afraid to eat! And I feel so turned off food. Especially salmon and salad and fruit! They were the last things I ate before I had my barf fest.

Ugh I hate this.

I want to continue with the Earth Diet but my stomach feels so jumbled it feels like it wouldn't keep it down right now.

I'm sure I just have to keep recovering and getting better... and before you know it I will be right back on the wagon and doing well again.

Liana and Sarah, maybe you could shed some light on this? Have you ever had a stomach bug when on The Earth Diet, and if you did, what foods did you eat (and could keep down) that helped you?

Day 30-34 - I'm alive!!!

Hey everybody!!!

Wow!!! It's been 5 days since I last wrote. I am so sorry. When I started this blog I had committed that I would write daily. It's been crazy busy for me here (as I'm sure it is for you guys also, it being the christmas season and all!)

As you know I'm moving back to Australia in less than two weeks. There has been so much to organize and do. Over the weekend a good friend of ours also arranged an engagement party for us! It was so sweet of them and we had the most amazing time. Sadly, that night was when we had to say good bye to a few people because we won't be able to see them before we leave. Leaving Canada gives us bitter-sweet feelings. I'm so excited to go home and see my friends and family (it's been a year and a half), and to enjoy summer!!!! Summer in Canada was incredible but nothing like an Australian summer. I think the hottest day we had was about 23 degrees celcius here! (Good thing we went to Cuba to soak up some hot sun). I'm also incredibly sad to leave Canada because I have made some great friends here (who I will see again, ofcourse!), and I absolutely love my job. Also, Canada is such a beautiful country. Everytime we go for road trips, or simply a walk around the city, I'm constantly amazed at the beauty of Canada.

Here are some photos I took in Canada! :)

How amazing is the Earth! How beauitufl is Canada? The pictures of the blue water (Lake Louise), you'd be surprised to hear that I took that in SUMMER. And in the background you can still see snow! How crazy is that? The water is sooo blue because it is glacier water! Beautiful!

Anyways... how have I been on the Earth diet for the past 5 days? Alot has happened and it feels like a million years ago. It's been an emotional 5 days. I broke down in the office of my chiropractor. My back is at it's worst right now, and he has strongly advised that when I go home to have a blood test done to see if there is anything else going on. I'm determined to see my back and neck be pain-free! I will do the blood test and see if there are any vitamin deficiencies, and I plan to continue eating pain-fighting foods... weekly massages... spinal adjustments... stretching and strength training. It's just a process that I am beginning to be frusrated by.

I've also had really good days... I've been feeling so alive and healthy. As of Christmas I will no longer have my juicer... for a whole week.. until I go home. My mum got me a juicer for christmas :) So I'm wondering how I will go in that week after christmas, leading up to our depature. Most of our house hold belongings will be gone. And we won't have a bed anymore... or a couch... or lamps... or pots and pans... or tv... or... anything. Except for a blow up mattress. Should be interesting!

I must confess... on the day of our engagement party I did not eat earth foods! I had a burger... and cheese... and lots of finger food. The next day I definitly felt bloated and slightly sick! (Or it could have been because I was hungover!)

This post is about a new commitment to my health and a commitment to The Earth Diet. I expect there may be some more ups and downs until we settle in Australia, we will be crazy busy from now until probably the first week of being back home. I will do my best to write everyday. And I promise that I commit to the Earth Diet and I will endeavour to try my hardest. I love the way I feel on this, and the way I look! And I'm not going to give up.

One more thing! On Sunday one of my friends Shari and her husband Mike offered to shoot us some engagement photos. She is such a talented photographer, if you ever would like to use her services check out Shari and Mike photography. They are based in Vancouver but would pretty much travel anywhere. Here are a couple of photos she has already given us (more to come!) Thank you Shari !

Day 29- Honey and coconut baths

So, I'm still feeling pretty shitty! My body is exhausted, I'm in pain and to top all of that off a few stressful things have happened in regards to moving home to Australia.

But that is okay!! Because everything will work itself out. Everything is going to be okay. That's the way life is. Life always has it's ups and downs but in the end it eventually levels out.

We can always help the situation though by looking after ourselves. After a long, hard, achy day I ran myself a nice hot bath. There is nothing better than that when it's raining outside, your bones are cold, you have a headache and everything feels a little too much to handle.

To help the bath be the best possible bath ever I added a few ingredients that I love to cook with.

Raw organic honey

and...

Organic Coconut Oil

It smelt delicious and felt delicious on my body. The water had a sleek oil feel to it. I could feel my skin loving it and soaking it up. As well as my hair! I felt rejuvenated, relaxed and a calmer presence. I often use Coconut oil on my skin and hair (I'll write about this at a later date!)... it was however the first time I used it in the bath. And honey, I went on a whim with that one! I've only ever ate it but I figured it couldn't be bad for me. Apparently raw honey helps to relieve pain, calm the nerves and acts as in anti-inflammatory. There are many many other benefits, that at a later date I'll write about, but these three are what stuck out to me. Perhaps because that is what I needed at the time.

When I got out of the bath my skin was soft, smooth and silky. My hair feels oily (from the coconut oil) and I left it in over night, so that when I washed it out the next day my hair was soft and shiny and healthy.

I felt delicous!

My Day:

Breakfast- Celery/Carrot/Ginger/Apple/Orange/Banana/Rasberry/Flaxseed smoothy

Lunch- Leftovers from last night... Beef, quinoa, vegies etc

Dinner- I felt so out of it and ill that I didn't have dinner. I forced myself to at least have a carrot/celery/apple juice.

Snacks- I drank lemon water all day, apples

Day 28- Detox

"The best way to detoxify is to stop putting toxic things into the body and depend upon it's own mechanisms."

- Andrew Weil -

I think my body is going through the detox process again. I thought that after the first week I was fine, but I have been feeling like toxins and ick has been coming out of my body. Physically I feel AWFUL. But, emotionally/spiritually I'm feeling incredible. This is a necessary process! This is only going to make me feel BETTER. Healthier. Stronger!

I've been very tired (cannot stop sleeping!), my muscles and body ache, I have headaches and stomach cramps. My skin had a small breakout! At first I thought maybe I was doing something wrong. But after doing some reading on the internet I realize that this is all part of the process. I am getting cleaner on the inside.

I'm feeling positive and I'm feeling alive (except physically haha).

If anyone out there is beginning the Earth Diet or are in the midst of it... don't be discouraged when moments like this happen! It's all part of the cleansing process. Keep yourself hydrated and stay positive. Your body is getting healthier! Sometimes it just hurts to do that!

It reminds me of a drug addict. I think of this because I WORK with drug addicts and see this over and over again. When a person decides to clean themselves up... the process is BRUTAL. Absolutely brutal for the person. They vomit, sweat, feel anxious, feel like death. Temptations are everywhere. They are fighting within themselves! But it's part of the process to a new healthier person.

Processed and chemical foods are like drugs. It's addictive and it does no good for our body. When you first eat it, it makes you FEEL GOOD... but you're left craving more. You don't even realize how dependant you are on the food until you try to stop eating it.

Be encouraged, don't give up.

My day:

Breakfast- Carrot/Celery/Ginger/Apple juice

Lunch- Honey chicken and lime spinach, yams

Dinner- Beef, mixed vegetables, quinoa. I made a marinate using orange juice, ginger, onion, garlic, red pepper.

Snacks- Mandarins, spinach, I've been drinking lemon water all day