Benefits of Walking

Since this is what I do best, I really enjoyed this article:

http://health.yahoo.net/experts/dayinhealth/easiest-way-live-longer

Summary:

• Walking more than an hour a day improves life expectancy.
• Thirty minutes of walking a day can prevent diabetes.
• Walking 72 blocks a week (6-9 miles) increases grey matter and can improve memory, concentration and ward off diseases like Alzheimers.
• Thirty minutes 3-5 times a week lowers blood pressure.
• One mile a day improves bone density in women over 50.
• Walking 12.5 miles a week reduced risk of stroke.
• Thirty minutes on the treadmill reduced depression and tension, lifting moods quicker than anti-depressants.
• Twenty minutes of walking per day burns 7 lbs a year.
• Forty-five minute walk in the morning five days a week reduces insomnia.
• Three or more hours of brisk walking per week reduced heart disease in women 30-40 percent..

Splenda, Artifical Sweetners, Stevia, etc.

I've been eating Splenda, so I've been worried about the dangers of it and wanted to know more. This article seems to be very good at explaining everything you might want to know, and as a result, I might be trying Stevia:

http://www.womentowomen.com/healthyweight/splenda.aspx

Inspriational Radio Broadcast - Didi Emmons and Eva's Garden

http://radioboston.wbur.org/2011/10/28/edible-weeds-evas-garden
Edible Weeds And Uncommon Herbs From Eva’s Garden By Meghna Chakrabarti

HealthyDiningFinder.com

Learned about this site today on the news, during an interview with a rep from the National Restaurant Association:

HealthyDiningFinder.com

They are working to get healthier dining options in restaurants for kids.

Organic vs. Non-Organic Produce Purchasing Guidelines

Great information! The new dirty dozen list of produce by Sarah B Weir(d) (just kidding)

Top 12 Dirtiest (Most Pesticides)
1. Apples
2. Celery
3. Strawberries
4. Peaches
5. Spinach
6. Nectarines (imported)
7. Grapes (imported)
8. Sweet bell peppers
9. Potatoes
10. Blueberries (domestic)
11. Lettuce
12. Kale/collard greens

Top 15 Cleanest (Least Pesticides)
1. Onions
2. Sweet corn
3. Pineapples
4. Avocado
5. Asparagus
6. Sweet peas
7. Mangoes
8. Eggplants
9. Cantaloupe (domestic)
10. Kiwi
11. Cabbage
12. Watermelon
13. Sweet potatoes
14. Grapefruit
15. Mushrooms

DesertJul's Fave Salad Dressing

Thanks to Cinda for posting about the Famous Gypsy Cab salad dressing recipe! Here is my current favorite salad dressing, this is for 2-3 servings:

• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• Splash of apple cider vinegar
• Squirt of organic mustard
• Optional splash of olive oil
• Spoonful of honey
• Dash of Celtic Sea Salt and dash of pepper

This is a flexible recipe and you can adjust the amounts based on your palate and the type of salad. This is very tasty on any salad but especially a salad with mangoes and avocados.

:)

~julz

Cuban Food

Fun site recommended by my friend Marilyn, who recently visited Cuba on an outreach program from Florida : http://www.tasteofcuba.com/. There are lots of healty choices in Cuban food, and the Caribbean as a whole.

Got land now, building a raised garden bed

Now that I have a home and some actual land, I think I'm going to build a raised vegetable garden bed. I've got this old Hungairan neighbor, Colman, who has this AMAZING garden on a vacant lot. It has inspired me. SO, now I am collecting info on growing veggies in Zone 9. Here's the post I am leaning on alot to help me plan for planting:

http://centralfloridagarden.blogspot.com/2011/01/garden-planning.html

Menu - January 16-22

• Chicken with Artischoke, Ham, Peas in a White Wine, Onion, Garlic Sherry Chcken Cream (Touch of) Sauce with Linguine
• Pork Schnitzel with Red Cabbage and Potatoes
• Rigatoni Cubana (Spicy ketchup-based sauce with Sambala Oelek and Cream, Ham, Peas, Penne)
• Mushroom Risotto

New year...thinking about eating better, as always!

I am always thinking about it, but it doesn't often happen. I want to eat healthier! I think I might keep track of my weekly menus on the blog. Some weeks, my meal planning is stellar, most weeks it is not. Now that we've finally gotten settled into the new house, I have managed to spend the week eating homecooked food (alas, some of it was prepared by Publix, but I heated it up!). And it has been great! here's this week menu:

Chicken and Apple Sausage Jambalaya with yellow rice, black beans, onion, green pepper, corn, tomator with green chile. Serve with a dollop of light sour cream.

Marinated salad mix with chopped hearts of palm, black olives, feta, kidney beans, chick peas, peas, herbs, spices and olive oil/white balsamic. Serve over chopped romaine with garlic bread croutons.

Turkey with gravy, mashed sweet potatoes, corn, cauliflower with melted American cheese, cranberry sauce.

Chicken pot pie with blueberry muffins.

Multigrain bagels with hummus and cream cheese.

Raw Julz- Day 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, & 18

For Tuesday's dessert, I blended some mango and banana, it was a fruity pudding and was tasty. I didn't eat it all and used what was left in Wednesday's Green Smoothie.

Wednesday, Day 13 Report

Vitamins.

32 oz. Green Smoothie.

Hot Flow Yoga.

Big Dinner Salad with Raw Julz Fave Dressing, Flaxie cracker and raw goat cheese.

I'm sure I had a banana cacao desert shake.

Thursday, Day 14 Report

Vitamins.

2-bar package of Wai Lana Raw Fruit & Nut bar.

Some fruit at our RETA meeting for Szq's birthday.

Honey smoked salmon salad at Lorenzo's, obviously not completely raw choice, but it sure was awesome. At least I skipped the bread which is major.

Big Dinner Salad with Raw Julz Fave Dressing, Flaxie cracker and raw goat cheese.

I'm sure I had a banana cacao desert shake.

Friday, Day 15 Report

Vitamins.

Breakfast and Lunch Green Smoothies.

Raw Confessions! I went to mom's to visit as my step-sister was moving to Denver the next day and I fell right of the Raw bandwagon with a couple pieces of pizza. Being in a pizza fog, I can't remember if I had dessert.

Saturday, Day 16 Report

Hot yoga.

Green Smoothie.

Big Dinner Salad with Raw Julz Fave Dressing, Flaxie cracker and raw goat cheese.

Banana cacao dessert shake.

Sunday, Day 17 Report

Green Smoothie.

Another Lorenzo's Honey Smoked Salmon salad but no bread.

Chia pudding with cacao, honey, cinnamon, nuts.

Monday, Day 18 Report

Vitamins.

About 26 oz Green Smoothie.

I was at a work retreat and had a salad with some kind of spicy mustard dressing. I also had a Raw Confessions moment with a piece of lasagna. BUT, I didn't have any dessert and boy they looked yummy.

Big Dinner Salad with Raw Julz Fave Dressing, Flaxie cracker and not raw goat cheese.

I'm sure I'll have a dessert shake and I have coconut to add tonight :)

Whew! That's a wrap.

:)
~julz

Raw Julz - Day 11 & 12

Monday, Day 11 Report

Vitamins.

32 oz Green Smoothie.

Hot Yoga.

Romaine with lots of veggies salad. I did try a new dressing recipe, a Ranch dressing with cashews, basil, dill, lemon juice, and salt. It was ok, but not my fave. I tried a new flax seed cracker with some raw goat cheese. I like the Santa Fe Flaxies better. A bit more expensive though...

I made a frozen banana, cacao, honey, pumpkin pie spice, and almond milk desert shake, mmm.

I tried to snack on a macaroon snack that I bought at Mountain View, blech! Had an awful lemonny soap flavor, left awful aftertaste that I had to kill with a piece of licorice.

Tuesday, Day 12 Report

Vitamins.

Veggie juice with chia seeds from Mountain View.

1 bar from a 2-bar package of Wai Lana Raw Fruit & Nut bar, really hit the spot as I was finishing final grades.

Romaine salad with 1/2 avocado, sunflower and mung bean sprouts, carrot strips, homegrown tomatoes, pumpkin seeds, and Raw Julz Fave Dressing (I added some nutritional yeast with no change in flavor).

What to have for my evening snack/dessert? I'll let you know what I decide tomorrow.

And now, I'm caught up! I should post from my phone with a picture of something tomorrow and not be so boring!

So much love from me to you :)
~julz

Raw Julz - Day 7, 8, 9, & 10

Thursday, Day 7 Report

Vitamins, of course, with a glass of water and mango aloe (herbalife).

I made a green smoothie - 45 oz kept me going all day.

Wanted to go to Skye's yoga class but just didn't make it. Fortunately, Holly grabbed me and helped me make it to Colleen's hot yoga class. Yay, 4 days in a row, felt great!

Dinner was Romaine salad with veggies and Raw Julz Fave Dressing.

I probably had some chia pudding. I really need to not wait 5 days before updating!


Friday, Day 8 Report

Vitamins.

Green Smoothie.

Veggie juice from Mountain View.

I had a pedicure with Raven, AWESOME!

I think I must've had a salad and some snackie stuff like licorice, nuts, craisins. I'm getting old, my memory is shot!

I put some almonds in water to soak overnight. I think I did some shopping after my pedicure and got a jar with lid and cheesecloth to make almond milk.


Saturday, Day 9 Report

Bite of banana before hot yoga.

16 oz Green Smoothie with some homemade almond milk. The almond milk is ridiculously easy to make and tastes much better than the store bought stuff.

Raw Confessions! We had a couples date and we took Lorenzo's apple spinach salad and pizza to our friends' house. I will just say, I had a lovely evening.


Sunday, Day 10 Report

Vitamins.

Frozen banana, almond milk, cacoa, and honey breakfast shake, yum.

Tried some spirulina in water, bleck, but I got some of it down.

I walked about 30 minutes to mom's house for a family pool party. Didn't feel like torturing myself with a run in this heat.

Raw Confessions! My step-sister makes amazing jalapeno peppers. Nuff said.

I ate lots of fruit and had a big salad and made my own dressing. Though I did cheat, it could have been worse, believe me!

I'm sure I snacked on snackie foods.

That's a wrap for this update. FYI, I feel fine. No energy problems. I think I had a mild headache one evening but it wasn't a big deal. I had a great week with yoga and actually gained some strength.

Raw Love & Virtual Hugs,
:)
~julz

Raw Julz - Days 5 & 6

Tuesday, Day 5 Report

Vitamins, of course with big glass of water with lemon or lime

40 oz of Green Smoothie with 1/2 banana, pineapple, orange, chard, spinach & sprouts

handful of sunflower seeds

banana

Yoga with Skye

I tried Jenna Norwoods Raw Fried Rice, didn't love it, ate a bit and then just picked at some cashews and dates. About an hour before bed, I made a Chia pudding concoction. I soaked about 1 tbsp of chia in water for an hour then added a spoon of cacao, spoon of raw honey, spoon of raw almond butter, and a little chopped banana. That hit the spot and I went to bed happy.

Wednesday Report

Vitamins of course with big class of water and lime

16 oz Green Smoothie with with 1/2 banana, pineapple, orange, chard, spinach & sprouts

Veggie juice from Caitlin at Mountain View with chia supplement

Hot yoga with Jane

I seem to visit the co-op everyday now. I picked up some raw Flaxie crackers, raw garlic oil feta cheese, raw almond butter, and Tom's toothpaste.

Salad w/ Romaine, spinach, sprouts, carrots, cucumber, tomatoes, avocado and Raw Julz Fave Dressing. I added a couple of the raw crackers and feta that I picked up, nice addition, though very garlicky! I ate a piece of licorice to clear the heavy garlic breath.

I snacked a bit on cashews and dried cranberries.

Made a little chia pudding for my evening snack. I wonder if one can overdo the chia? At least I'm not late night/early morning snacking like I was before my raw adventures.

And how do I feel? I feel fine. I had been cleaning up my diet for the past year so I don't expect any major problems. I do think my lips are gonna peel, I feel the edges getting a little rough.

And that's a wrap for Tuesday & Wednesday.

Hope ya'll are feeling fabulous!
;)
~julz

Raw Julz - Day 4

Monday, Day 4, Raw Julz Report

I weighed myself this morning - 158.6.

I did my normal vitamin B and omega routine.

I visited Caitlin at Mountain View and got my veggie and fruit juice with added vegetable protein and my favorite Chia seeds. I sipped on that for a while.

Early afternoon, I ate a yellow tomato with salt which reminded me that I needed to get some sea salt for work.

A bit later I ate a banana so I would have energy for hot yoga at 4:15.

I picked up some things at Albertsons and Mountain View:

• Veggies - cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, a couple of jalapenos, cucumbers, celery, green onions (don't like onions but there are a couple of soups I want to try)
• Raw Nuts & Seeds - sunflower, almonds, walnuts, pine, cashews
  
• Dates & Raw almond butter
• Flavorings - vanilla, nutritional yeast, Tamari or Shoya (can't remember what I chose), dill weed, mustard, pumpkin spice
  
• cacao

For dinner, I attempted some broccoli cream soup, um yeah, ugh. I took a few bites and threw it away.

I ate a few kalamata olives to clear the palette. Then had my yummy Romaine salad with cucumbers, tomatoes, avocado, mung bean sprouts, and Raw Julz Fave Dressing.

I snacked on some cashews and licorice.

That's a wrap for Monday.

Raw Julz - Day 3

Sunday, Day 3, Raw Julz Report

I did 1/2 my B vitamins and Omegas. I forget the second set.

I started Sunday with some Chia Porridge. I soaked about 1/4 Chia seeds in some almond milk (store bought, haven't made my own yet) and I added 1/2 banana, some raw honey, and some cinnamon. Couldn't quite eat it all, ate the rest about an hour before bed.

In the afternoon, I drank a 16 oz. green drink with buckwheat sprouts, spinach, couple leaves of chard, 1/2 banana, and 2 apples.

For dinner, I had a big salad with Romaine, 1/2 yellow tomato, a couple small red tomatoes, radish sprouts, and Raw Julz Fave Dressing.

In the evening, we watched movies and I drank some Kombuch in a wine glass and ate some black licorice. I recognize that black licorice isn't raw, but I needed the treat.

And that's a wrap for Sunday.

Raw Julz - Day 2

Saturday, Day 2, Raw Julz Report

My vitamins for the day included - 2 Coenzyme B-Complex, 2 Complete Omega 3-6-9, and 1 serving of Organic Life Vitamins. I split the B and Omega into 1 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon.

At 8am, I went to Hot Yoga. Even though I couldn't go to sleep the night before, got 5 hours sleep, I felt great and had a wonderful practice.

I went to the Farmer's market and picked up some sunflower, radish, buckweet, and mung bean sprouts. I also picked up a container of Chia seeds.

I made a yummy green smoothie with a couple apples, 1/2 banana, spinach, sprouts, my homegrown mint, and chia. I shared it with a friend, so I drank 16 oz.

Around noon, I had an apple with raw almond butter.

Around 3pm, I had a Romaine lettuce wrap with avocado, cucumber strips, yellow tomato, and radish sprouts. I made a wonderful dipping sauce with lemon juice, olive oil, apple cider vineger, mustard, honey, salt, and pepper. This dressing is going to be a staple, we'll call it Raw Julz Fave Dressing ;)

So this whole thing is new and I find myself hungry every couple of hours. I found myself completely unprepared for a reception that I went to and I had to eat. I fell off the Raw Wagon here a little bit. I had - a few tostadas with salsa and a little queso, a spring mix salad with a little ranch dressing, a bunch of steamed cauliflower, and some cooked red potatos.

That's a wrap for Saturday.

:)
~not so raw today julz

Julz goes raw!

So if you know me, you know that I've been researching and flirting with raw food concepts over the past year. I started with Green Smoothies and suddenly over the last couple of days my frustration with my weight has pushed me over the edge. Today without completely realizing it, I just did it. I went raw. And this evening I went raw shopping so I can hopefully get through the next few days and then who knows. I'm starting to think this is doable for at least a month.

I know I'm not alone on this journey. I had the opportunity to talk with Melissa Mango herself yesterday and am so grateful for that conversation. I think in addition to my personal frustration, Melissa's confidence and supportive attitude made it possible for me to finally just do this. I'm looking forward to reading her ebook, Melissa Mango's Green Cuisine Live Food Recipes. I also ordered Get Naked Fast! A Guide to Stripping Away the Foods That Weigh You Down, suggested as a great resource by Melissa.

I also visited Jenna Norwood's site last night and watched some of her videos. And yes, I'm a bit of a shopaholic so I've ordered her video, Supercharge Me! 30 Days Raw.

So let's do a report.

I just turned 41, and I'm about 5'3.5" tall. My weight this morning was 160.2 lbs.

My vitamins for the day included - 2 Coenzyme B-Complex, 2 Complete Omega 3-6-9, and 1 serving of Organic Life Vitamins. I split the B and Omega into 1 in the morning and 1 in the afternoon.

Throughout the day, I drank an Herbalife tea with mango aloe.

At about 10:30am I stopped at Mountain View Co-Op, visited with Caitlin and she made me a fabulous 16 oz. juice with apples, beet, cucumber, celery, lemon, ginger, and chia seeds.

At about 1:30pm I made 32 ounces of green smoothie with kale, spinach, banana, frozen mango chunks, some goji berries, and coconut water. It took about 2 hours to finish it.

Here we have a cheating moment to confess. I shared a Dagoba Milk Chocolate with Cherries bar with my writing team. I ate 1/4 to 1/3 of it.

At 4:30 - 5:30, I went to Downtown Desert Yoga for some fabulous Flow Fusion Yoga with Sky.

Then I did a little raw shopping. What did I get?

• Chard, Spinach, Romaine, Basil
• 4 heads of garlic and some ginger
  
• 3 Yellow Tomatoes and a package of vine ripened red tomatoes
• 6 avocados
• shiitake mushrooms
  
• 2 oranges and 2 pears
• a bag of apples
• 3 lemons and 3 limes
• celtic and himalayan sea salt
• extra virgin cold pressed olive oil
• coconut oil
• raw honey
• 3 bottles of some local kombucha
• a treat - black licorice
  

Finally, for dinner, I'm having a raw soup that I wanted to try with 6 small tomatoes, an avocado, a lemon, 4 cloves garlic, a little ginger, about a teaspoon of coconut oil, and himalayan sea salt. I blended it in my Vitamix. I still love my Vitamix and will probably order another one because I've been taking mine back and forth from home and work and that's just a pain. Honestly, the soup is a little bitter, maybe the ginger and the white part of the lemon? But it's satisfying and I'm enjoying that I'm doing this! I don't even think I'll be able to eat all of it, it's very filling.

So that's it for today. Wish me luck, I NEED it!

Good luck on your journey whatever it may be...
:)
~julz

Great grocery salsa for those who are salsa-prep-impaired

I just discovered this salsa and I love it! I tried the Thick and Chunky style in medium and it's perfect. Not authentic NM salsa style, but the flavor is close. Lots of fresh tomato, onion, jals, and cilantro, and little acidity taste that makes similar brands not so good.

Garden Fresh Salsas

Gonna revist low-carb!

Well, I've gotta do something to lost some weight. I've increased my exercise, but that's just not enough. I am already in trouble with my doc for cholesterol, so I know I am cutting back in that area. I am always trying to reduce sugar, but that one's tough. I did low-carb a while back and I am going to give that a shot again. I'll try to come up with some recipes and I'll post what I find/do here and tag it low-carb. Wish me luck!!! :)

Oh, and a friend in Germany had great luck quitting smoking with help from a homeopathic doctor. I don't need to worry about the smoking, but I am wondering if they can do anything about a sweet tooth! I'll see what I can find out.