I haven't been feeling too hot lately and have been focusing on many (non-Internet related) life tasks, so I apologise for not blogging in weeks. I told you this blog wouldn't be entirely political and I meant it! So, today I am going to share with you one of my favourite healthy (and SUPER easy recipes) and a little about my health philosophy!
I was diagnosed with Crohns Disease at 17. so my entire adult life I have dabbled in healthy eating, massage, Ayurveda, reiki, natural supplements, herbs, and the list goes on and on! I have been vegetarian, vegan, pescatarian, raw, local, organic and all of these genres have morphed into my own life philosophy as I have gotten older. It is always improving, though. I have my weeks/months of eating poorly and temporarily being a destructive Pisces, but I always get back on the metaphorical healthy horse. My life has been moving back in that direction lately with a few very painful bouts of what I suspect is a spastic gallbladder. After having emergency surgery in 2009 to remove a necrotic part of my intestines, I REALLY really really don't want to go through surgery again. In today's world the solve-all is to just remove your gallbladder. Now, scientifically I understand we are constantly evolving creatures and I could survive without my gall bladder. I am not entirely in the healthy-hippie-woo-woo camp, science is my first and most important factor in all decisions. But, I would like to keep my gallbladder as long as possible since it does have beneficial properties..that's why its still in my body! So, I have been reading up about alternative remedies (and no, none of that crazy bullshit about using my own urine or putting vinegar in my socks to stop a fever..that stuff is just insanity) involving herbs and foods that will be beneficial to producing bile and a healthy liver/gallbladder/pancreas.
I am going to begin using the following:
-Milk Thistle- for your liver. I have used this in the past when I had mono
-Dandelion tincture-homemade by my step dad and taken in tea, a detox that also helps your liver and your gallbladder
-Apple Cider Vinegar- this is a BIG one and a very HARD one for me. I cant stand the smell of vinegar. I have horrific memories of dropping an entire bottle of this bastard juice on my floor and having the glass break and my poor little college apartment reeking of vinegar for months. However! This is so so helpful for acid reflux and a healthy acid level in your stomach. My ex boyfriend was a total convert when he came to me with terrible acid reflux and I pulled the tums away from him, poured a shot of apple cider vinegar (with honey and water to dilute it since I was a nice girlfriend) and told him to drink it in one sip. Yes, it burns..yes it tastes awful...but your body will thank you! Apple cider vinegar is really a super food in my opinion. The blogs I read said I should take this if gallbladder pain begins, but also take it daily to stay ahead of issues.
-Apple Juice- along with apple cider it is recommended to drink this daily.
-Exercise-Yes! Its a cure-all for so many ails. I have been walking 1.5-2.5 miles a day (with a day off here or there) for a few weeks now and hope to steadily increase that..however I have been very stagnant since I quit work and even if I only do 1 mile on a specific day, It is 1 mile I didn't do before! Never forget that!
-PROPER SLEEP-a very difficult one for me..but I have stopped taking benadryl to sleep (I have always had issues sleeping and over the years used a variance of medications, but for the past few months I've been taking benadryl) and I'm slowly trying to fix my schedule with night time tea, a bedtime, waking up earlier than usual, exercise, and reading before bed instead of messing with electronics.
-Getting lots of sunlight-With summer coming and my working in the garden/taking walks, this is becoming a lot easier.
-Curcumin-I'm still researching this one as I have had allergic reactions to Turmeric in the past and I'm very cautious of going near this..but for some people this is a magical herb. I tried taking it in the past for arthritis pain, so if you have issues with that, try curcumin!!
Along with all of these things I am eating more organic vegetables,adding more hemp oil and hemp protein into my diet, less soy, more tuna steak and shrimp (my body is SCREAMING for protein lately and I am still enough of a vegetarian that I will only eat fish) and SO MANY AVOCADOS! GIVE ME ALL THE AVOCADOS! Mm :)
Speaking of healthy food! Here is one of my favourite, most simple and super delicious sandwich (AND VEGAN!) recipes which I have held near and dear to my heart since college. I have never been a gourmet cook like my mother and grandmother, but I can make a damn good sandwich when I want to. (Yes, yes, insert your anti-feminist "make me a sandwich" joke here so you can get it out of your system.) The recipe is from one of the best cook-books called "The Vegan Stoner," right down my alley, right?! You can find the recipe online HERE
These are all the ingredients (not including salt) that I used.
-Garlic, Vegan Mayo, Bread, Cucumber, Tomato, Dill weed and salt. SIMPLE!
So, this has been my focus lately (healthy living and getting my life back on track) along with spending time with friends and family and building a more meaningful life for myself. I am over the moon about school and it occupies my thoughts every day. I absolutely can't wait to start back.
On the fox front, she has started sleeping with me ever since we moved into my new bedroom and that has been an amazing journey. To me, it is comparable to your child learning to walk or learning their first words. She had her 2nd birthday May 1st and has really grown in leaps and bounds lately. The only downside is shes a huge grumpy-puss when I roll over during the night and occasionally nips me, groans at me, or all out screams and attacks my feet thinking a monster snuck under the blankets.
We've had torrential rain the past few days which ended up being rather perfect since the garden went in the day before. I have: cucumbers, pumpkins, strawberries, watermelon, cabbage, poblano peppers, jalapeno peppers, and banana peppers, red bell peppers, 4 kinds of tomatoes (all heirloom), okra, yellow squash and zucchini squash! This will be the third year at this house I have had a garden and this year it is much more laid out. In the past it became a giant cluster-fuck mid-summer when everything had grown together along with weeds and bugs.
Last, but not least, I have been doing major spring cleaning in The Poet's House getting it ready for autumn when I settle in for my studies. I purchased this amazing Indian bronze metal lamp from World Market just before I quit and finally cleaned my dining room enough to have my step dad come put it up. I am super excited about having dinner parties in here now!
Anyway, I finished my delicious sandwich (this was supposed to only be a recipe entry but it became a WHOLE LOT MORE! That's life!) and its time to get back to cleaning the kitchen and dancing my ghetto butt off to Sublime radio on Pandora.
CiaoCiao!
-M
