Improving Health

I have been taking walks and riding my new bike most days since I received my new cruiser bicycle.  I have a great app on my iPhone called Sports Tracker.  It was windy this morning so I went for a walk, rather than kill myself riding against the wind.  It was a nice change from riding the bike so I had an enjoyable time.  I also listen to podcasts or music while I walk or ride because the time goes by less tediously.. LOL

The weather here in South Florida is rainy lately - May Showers bring June Flowers or whatever...

This morning after the walk, I had Muddy Mean Green juice.  It is Mean Green made with red kale which makes it muddy-looking, but the taste is the same, only the color is different.

Later, I went to late lunch/early dinner with a friend to a Mexican restaurant and had vegetarian fajitas which were very good.  NO DESSERT!!!  Once I got home I ate some watermelon, which was PERFECT!!  A local farm grown seedless, sweet, heavy watermelon.  High in Vitamin C, Vitamin A, magnesium and potassium.

Eating better, getting exercise, being active really has my body cooking, and food is being processed through my body.  I feel like I am regaining health I should have had all along.  Next Monday, May 21, will be my first visit to my doctor since November.  Since then, I have lost 28 lbs. and started exercising.  I have not lost much weight for the past month, but I know to just keep moving forward and not to let the scale stop me from doing what I am doing.  I will ask my doctor if I can do a 3-5 day "juice only" fast, and that will knock some pounds off.  I think a 10 day fast will do more good than harm.  I have strayed from a raw diet of fruits and vegetables and slowly cooked food, wheat, sugar, dairy, is working its way back into my diet.  I do best when I juice and eat clean, plus I feel so much better... I hope to do better.. I mean actually DO better, not just talk about it...

More later.....

I moved the headlight and taillight from my old bike to my new one, just in case I get caught out riding after dark, or decide to do a quick evening ride.  Better safe than sorry.


I also got a NICE beach bag/basket liner for $11 at Kirkland HomeStore and it fits in my basket perfectly. I can pull it out of the basket to go into a store, or just have it in the basket to put my "stuff" in there without it falling through.  I think it is "sunbrella" fabric... 

Next, I have to figure out what to do with my one-speed bike.  I think I should sell it, but these days, no one has any money.  I barely used the bike and it is a nice Huffy, Nel Lusso, 26" women's.. Very nice, but too hard to ride in the wind.

Here is my new bike.  I just got back from a 2-3 mile ride around the neighborhood and I decided I really like it.  Easy to handle (steer), very comfortable, brakes good, all around smooth ride.  I assembled it, then took to bike shop for them to go over the bike to make sure I had it assembled correctly.  I asked them to put the rear basket on the bike.  I put the basket on the front the next day, then today I got a new REALLY comfy seat, Schwinn Deluxe Comfort.  We have to take care of our fine butts, ladies!!  The bike is a Pacific Shorewood, 26" wheels, 7-speed cruiser bike.  At first I was disappointed about some scratches, but because the bike is such a nice ride, I forgot all about them!!  I do need to do some touch up painting though, or the scratches will rust.

This morning's juice was carrot, red beet, and cilantro.  Delish!  This is a liver cleanser and if your liver is clean, then your blood will be clean.  I am looking forward to a good doctor's report when I have my check up in three weeks.

Then I went to Pei Wei's for lunch and had Asian Chopped Chicken Salad and two crab wontons for about $10.  Can't beat that!!  It was delicious and I like the atmosphere at Pei Wei's.  Very calm and welcoming.

So between the juicing, eating better, and exercise, my life is changing.  Now I have to do some toning exercises to get rid of LOVE handles, or maybe I should call them LOVE bags.  HAHA

Love your life, keep moving, eat right, keep your stress to a minimum, get outside and if you are prone to skin cancer like I am, go out near sunset, go for a bike ride or go for a swim... Life is GOOD!!!

New Bike Arrived!!

My new bike arrived yesterday, so I got started.. Had a terrible time just getting the bike out of the box.  You aren't supposed to lay the box on its side, so I could not easily lift 44 lbs straight up, without someone holding onto the box.  I should have cut the box down the sides, but didn't see that video until AFTER the struggle. haha.. There was no packaging, no styrofoam blocks, nothing, just some cardboard type stuff wrapped and taped around the main parts.  Therefore, there are some scratches and a dent in the fender on a new bike.  I hate when I don't get to put the scratches on by myself.  Anyhow!!  I got it all put together and the front brake didn't want to work right.  After applying the front brake, it would not spring back to center.  It is a V-brake configuration. I messed around, watched YouTube videos, read all I could on the internet and I tried EVERYTHING to get it to work, so maybe I have a defective brake?  I found a bike place one mile from my house, so I am going to ride over there tomorrow morning and have them do a tune-up, making sure I did the assembly correctly, and they can make adjustments accordingly. The gear derailer or something back there is making a lot of noise, so they can adjust that, and I think the rear wheel needs to be trued by adjusting the spokes. It probably got bent to shit during shipping.  I will also have them put on a rear cargo rack I bought.  It is a "retro Pletscher-style" rack which will look very cool.  Tomorrow afternoon, I am supposed to get the front basket I ordered and I think that will be pretty straight-forward, so I should be able to do that myself.  If not, I can go to the bike store and they can do it for me.

I regret that I didn't get a Huffy or Schwinn... The quality on this Pacific Shorewood is not up to par.  But it's too late now, I guess.  I try not to make a big deal out of stuff, so it will be okay.  If they can't adjust it so it works right, I may have to send it back.  That's okay... I have my eye on a Schwinn that is on sale for the same price on amazon.com.  Let's just see how all this plays out.  Things happen the way they do for a reason.  God is in charge of stuff, even my bicycle buying mistakes!!

And I went to the Dermo doctor for a skin check.  You get down to your underwear and he checks your skin all over.  Not the most fun thing, but I trust and like my doctor, so it's not a big deal.  I go back in 6 months...

I had some nice juice today. Mean Green, my favorite!!  And I was just reading how good cilantro is for ailments.  The other day I had pineapple, cilantro, lemon and ginger root juice.  OMGosh it was so good!!!  So if you are juicing, try adding cilantro to your juices, even if its just a big handful... and do a Google search on cilantro to see the benefits of juicing it.

Okay people, get out there and enjoy your day, ride a bike, take a walk, go look around, explore, go on adventures, stimulate!!  And JUICE if you can.  There is a lot of energy in fresh fruit and vegetable juices.  My skin is looking better than it has for a long time.  The texture has changed from alligator to soft.

I heard that a girl from high school died.  She didn't feel well... next thing you know she had a heart attack and died!!  She was only 63-64 years old.  Get out there and LIVE it... You never know when you might not be able to do the things you want to do...  and keep your chin(s) up!

Still Standing!!!

Hello out there:

Just because I have not been posting, doesn't mean I have strayed from juicing and eating "clean."  Since November, 2011, I lost 30 lbs!!  YES and I am in a smaller size pants (still not small enough).  I gathered up my "big" clothes to give away, because I am determined not to ever wear them again.

I started walking about 20-30 minutes a day, then started riding my one-speed bike.  It has been windy lately and my legs turned to rubber the first day out.  Each day I seem to get stronger.  I downloaded an app on my iPhone, Sports Tracker, and it uses GPS to determine, speed, time, altitude, draws a map of your workout, and has an online component that expands on the data provided.  Today, it was raining so I did a "mall walk" and tried not to knock people over, especially the little ones and the elderly.  See?? I am a nice person!  lol  The map of the mall walk was very wobbly, but I assure you, I was not high or drunk.

I had a beautiful watermelon juice today.  I was so nutritious, I could feel it filling in the gaps as I drank it.  Do a google search on "watermelon" and you will see what I mean.

So, the diet and exercise thing is in play.  I have a doctor's appointment in May and am very excited to see the medical results of my efforts to improve my health.

I ordered a new bicycle, a 7-speed, Pacific Shorewood, from Amazon.com. It is inexpensive and practical.  I also ordered a front basket (Wald 135 deep basket), and a rear cargo rack, Pletscher style, retro looking.  COOL!!  

This is an example of the workout data.

This is the mall walk, not really wobbly, but maybe the GPS had trouble finding me inside the building. It was raining, so I went to the mall to walk instead of not doing any exercise today.

This is the FABULOUS watermelon juice I had today... It really hit the spot!!

March 20, 2012

Here is a photo of my juicer... Breville Juice Fountain Elite.... Notice the plastic bag in the pulp container. After juicing, the pulp can easily be removed and thrown out, neat, no muss, no fuss.

I weighed myself this morning and am now 27.2 lbs down from November 2011. I am amazed because I am juicing twice a day and eating one main meal. If I eat too much I don't feel good, so I do best with smaller wholesome meals. I don't pretend to know what I am doing, but I keep doing internet searches to see the possibilities. There are so many schools of thought, so many ways to go about regaining health, vegan, vegetarian, juicing only, so I am trying to go middle of the road. I think I am off to the side of the road though, because I eliminated sugar, processed foods, meat, dairy, etc. BUT I have had a few items that are processed, and last week I had a chicken breast. I am trying not to be so stringent, use common sense, and enjoy what I am doing. I don't want to be so rigid that I will have a "beat myself up" attack if I stray a little here and there.

My skin has changed to softer, even though I am 63 years old and try to stay out of the sun as much as possible since I live in Florida where the sun is very strong and harsh. My forearm and legs used to be "tougher" but now it has changed.

Today I had juice twice. I went to a salad bar for a late lunch, ignored the "free" frozen yogurt machine over there, and tried not to eat things with too much oil. They have an amazing olive tapenade, they call it muffaletta, and I love that stuff!! So I have to be light with that.... If I love it that much it is because it is not that good for me... :-)

Anyhow, one of the juices was pears and fennel bulb. That is so good... Usually I have greens in any drink, but not that one, not today. It is very refreshing...

OHHhhhhhh...... Yesterday I made socca, and that is a chickpea flour, tortilla type thing you make in a cast iron skillet that is heated in a very hot oven, then you add some olive oil, then the chickpea batter, then bake it for 25 mins at 450.. I know.. I thought it would be burned!! But I flipped it over, added some carmalized veggies, and put it back in the over for 3 mins. Then I cut it with a pizza cutter... It has a very different flavor that may take some getting used to... but I love the idea of having such a high protein item that is like pizza!!!! LOL I must experiment more!!

That's it for today. My official weigh-ins are on Sundays... More will be revealed!! haha

March 13, 2012 - Doing well!!!

I have been eating cooked foods, plus raw foods, plus juicing. My experiment has lessened my weight loss. If you feel you are losing weight too fast, just eat some cooked veggies and that will slow it down. I will say that the more I eat, the hungrier I am, and when I mostly juice, I don't feel as hungry.

Today I had "mean green" for first juice of the day, then I ate some cooked cabbage, carrots, and potatoes, which was okay, nothing special. Then I made collard greens, parsley, carrots, celery, red beet, and ginger root. It was tasty and I do love the red beets. Go very easy on the red beets to see how you react to them. If you are pre-cleanse, the red beets really pack a wollop because of their liver cleansing properties. They are also high in sugars, so at first I used 1/2 beet, now I am up to a whole beet. If you do too much too fast, you can become nauseous, blech.....

I make 32oz of juice at a time, drink 16oz of it while I clean the juicer and refrigerate the other 16oz for about an hour later. I sip the juice slowly and wash the juice around my mouth to stimulate saliva, digestive juices.... Then I read that the acid from the juice can erode the enamel off your teeth... Even something good can be bad?? One thing I learned is to rinse your mouth with water after drinking juice, don't brush your teeth right after juicing, wait a while.

Because I had a good meal, and mostly juices today, I feel pretty good. The juice gives my stomach a rest from digesting foods. I suffer from GERD and take medication for it, and I don't know if I will ever be able to stop this medication. Maybe I am just built this way? I think once the weight comes off, a lot of these secondary problems will go away.

My skin is clearer and not spotty, and the texture is moving toward the soft side. My weight loss has slowed, so I have to start eating raw foods, not cooked, and use portion control, and really get serious, I MEAN IT, about walking about 30 mins every day. I have some weights, a yoga mat, yoga bricks, Wii Fit Plus, etc. It is all waiting for me to GET SERIOUS!!!!

I am sending my first Breville juicer, the Ikon Multi-Speed, back to Breville tomorrow for warranty replacement. Sometimes when I am ready to juice, it will not start. I tried taking it apart and putting it together again, still won't start... Wait a while, still won't start, then I turn it on out of nowhere and it starts!! This drives me crazy, especially when I have everything all set up to juice..... Hopefully, the new Ikon won't act like that and I can keep it as a backup or sell it to someone, or who knows what. I love the Breville Juice Fountain Elite, but it would be nice if it had variable speeds like the Ikon. I like the metal basket on the Elite, the Ikon plastic basket seems to collect residue that is difficult to get off the surface. I use Dawn detergent and it does a good job. Anyhow, Breville said it would take 14 days to get the replacement Ikon, thank God I have a back up...

I love the juices, but I don't feel I have enough variety. I tend to use what I buy which lasts a while since I am the only one in the house juicing. I need to try fennel bulb with other fruits besides pears, just to change things up.

I bought quinoa, brown rice, 7 bean mix, lentils to try. I read that lentils and brown rice was a complete protein, so I will try that with some raw veggies, or steam them lightly. I have to stay away from the Whole Foods cafeteria and eat at home. Stay away from flour, wheat, sugar, dairy, meat, eggs, cheese, butter, ok that is dairy, but I feel so much better, still have cravings for those foods, so that tells me I am not juicing enough, or eating raw foods enough. Once that conversion happens I don't think I will have cravings...

More later....