Friday, November 16, 2018

I love and approve of myself video

I apologize to my email subscribers. For some reason, the video didn't come through the RSS feed.
The video is on my blog. The direct link is:
http://theveganmochaangel.blogspot.com/2018/11/i-love-and-approve-of-myself.html


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Thursday, November 15, 2018

I Love and Approve of Myself


Saying "I love and approve of myself" in the mirror is one of the hardest things I have ever done. I have been doing this for years. I've been more serious about it for the past six months. Some days I believe it. Some days, I'm like, ::eye-roll:: "whatever."

Why am I bringing this up? And why is self-love the cornerstone of my belief system? Because what we think of ourselves becomes the truth for us.

From You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay:
Some of the ways we don't love ourselves:
- We scold and criticize ourselves
- We mistreat our bodies with food, alcohol, and drugs
- We choose to believe we are unlovable
- We are afraid to charge a decent price for our services
- We procrastinate on things that would benefit us
- We live in chaos and disorder
- We create debt and burdens
- We attract lovers and mates who belittle us

If we deny our good in anyway, it is an act of not loving ourselves.

The clip below is less than three minutes long. It's Louise explaining the power of  saying, "I love and approve of myself." If it resonates with you, let me know.



Love,
Althea ◦
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Why Can't I Eat Whatever I Want?

The not so long answer:

Again, you can absolutely eat whatever you want. You have free will. You may be one of lucky people who can do that and live to be 105 years old. I read about a brother who was over 100 and his secret to long life was drinking Jack Daniels everyday.

Good for him, I say.

For the rest of us, even those blessed with the genetics of longevity, pay a heavy price for eating whatever we want. In my family, it's been soul food. I have watched my relatives die from Alzheimer's, diabetes, obesity, and every cancer you can name.

If you're a subscriber to my blog, then you are already interested in health. You already know that food has the power to slowly kill, as well as the power to quickly heal the body. And that is why, if you want to live your best life, then eating whatever you want, whenever you want, wherever you want, is not the best choice.

Please know that you are not alone. It may seem that everyone else can eat what they want. That's not the case. I hear people's emotional battles with food almost everyday on my job, and in the emails from you all.

Eat what makes your body, mind, and spirit perform at optimal levels. And seek therapy if the emotional struggle is too much to handle alone.

Health is holistic. It's:
-good relationships with family and friends
-feeling good about your work
-restful sleep
-spiritual connection
-purpose
-living in alignment with your values
-lots of love, especially for yourself.

Focus on all of those things, rather than just the food you're eating.

Love,
Althea ◦
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Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Food Changes: Keeping it Real

I got an email from someone who said. "Are you serious? That's not even enough food for me! (She's petite and weighs a buck fifty.) Are you really doing this?"

Yes and Yes.

Keeping it all the way real.....What's been the hardest part?

Cutting calories. Yikes. I had increased my calories originally because I was still hungry. My challenge was, well, challenging. I wanted to eat in a way that:
- doesn't leave me hungry
- doesn't leave me tired
- is not expensive
- doesn't have me in the kitchen three hours a day
- doesn't have me running to the grocery store every other day
- doesn't leave me bloated or constipated
- is vegetarian
- encourages weight loss
- is high in fiber
- doesn't trigger food sensitivities (like grains)
- has little, if any, processed food

Those are real challenges for a lot of people.

That sounds like raw food. The challenge with raw food is eating enough food to meet your caloric requirements. It also left me bloated and uncomfortable. Only two of my meals have cooked food in them. The rest of my day, including snacks are all raw vegan.

Rainbow Eating is as close as I've ever come to eating in a way that works for me. Although I've had:

Insane SALT cravings. I've spent my adult life battling chocolate cravings. Once I started the food plan I also started taking calcium supplements three times a day. Years ago, on a vegan mailing list, I read a suggestion from Elaine Rice-Fells to take calcium for chocolate cravings. I began eating calcium rich foods like sesame seeds. The cravings went away, but I didn't stick to the plan. Fast forward to now, I remembered what Elaine said. It's easier to take Calcium Magnesium Citrate supplements. Damn if it didn't work. Chocolate is a non-issue now.

Chocolate got replaced by salt. All I crave is chips and actual sea salt. I took it as a sign of mineral deficiency which is why I ordered Ancient Minerals from Body Ecology. And that's not an advertisement. I haven't taken them yet, so I don't know if they work. I'm just a fan of the philosophy of Body Ecology, which is a healthy and balanced inner ecology, especially the large intestine. (https://bodyecology.com/body-ecology-overview)

The Upside

- ZERO PMS. I mean 000000. Nothing. Nada. No chocolate cravings. No mood swings. No nothing. And that is a ginormous big deal.
- No cramping during my menstrual cycle. Again, huge plus.
- Evenness in my mood.

Next time: My long answer to the question: "How come I can't just eat whatever I want?"
My short answer: "You grown. You can eat whatever you want. You do you."
My long answer: "Well............."

Love,
Althea
  ◦
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Sunday, November 11, 2018

Quick Update

Sorry I have been gone for a moment. I have been recovering from a concussion. I hit my head at work on, believe it or not, the metal frame of a chest press machine I was about to clean. I hit myself square on the forehead. I instantly knew I was hurt. 

Long story short, I was out of work for two weeks. I'd had a concussion before in a car accident in 2011. Because it was a car accident I understood my whole body pain. This time, the pain, fatigue, and nausea were a complete surprise, which I underestimated. 

A concussion is super serious. My immediate symptoms were confusion, shock, dizziness, and I just didn't feel like myself. If you and anyone you know have these symptoms after hitting their head or falling, go straight to the ER to get a CT scan. I am a lot better now, and continuing to move forward with my goals. 

On to better news:

I have paid off both of my store charge cards. Yea!
And I have lost 9 pounds. Yea again!

I came up with this idea of Rainbow Eating. I was inspired by Ann Wigmore who said that disease is the result of toxemia and deficiency. I thought, why not eat all of the colors of the rainbow, plus white, brown, and black to get more nutrients in my body? Even with this plan, I still don't get every mineral and vitamin needed daily just through food alone. I added supplements to reach 95% of my needed daily nutrients. I tweaked the food plan I shared with you all on September 9. I also cut back on the calories for weight loss purposes.

Rainbow Eating: My Plan
Sunday Breakfast through Saturday Breakfast/Lunch
I eat what I want Saturday lunch and/or dinner 

Breakfast
-water with Emergen-C
-1 apple, 1/2 lemon, 3 c. of any green leafy vegetable, 1/2 c. pineapple, fresh ginger, water
-1/4 cup lentils, 2 eggs, 1 cup cauliflower, 1 tomato, 2 TBSP avocado, cilantro 

Morning Snack
-1 carrot, 1 banana, 2-3 clementines

Lunch
- 1/2 cup of black beans OR 1/4 cup lentils, 1 cup any green vegetable, 1 tomato, 2 TBSP avocado, cilantro 

Afternoon Snack
-Smoothie: Mixed berries (blueberries, raspberries, strawberries) and/or blackberries, 3 c. leafy green vegetable, 1 banana, water 

Dinner
-1/2 cup soaked gluten free oatmeal, 3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk, 1/2 banana, 1 apple, 1 small box raisins.

Supplements: women's multivitamin once a day, calcium magnesium citrate three times a day, acidophilus twice a day, Ancient Minerals (on order)


TOTAL: 1648-1660 calories

The colors:
white: cauliflower
yellow: pineapple, banana, lemon, ginger, eggs
orange: carrots, clementines
red: apple, raspberries, strawberries, tomatoes
green: spinach, kale, broccoli, collards, green beans, etc (I interchange them)
blue: blueberries
brown: lentils
indigo/violet/black: blackberries, black beans, raisins

Feel free to change the foods to match the colors. For instance, other good orange foods are sweet potatoes and butternut squash. Let me know what you think and if you decide to eat the Rainbow way, also let me know how it's working for you.

love,
Althea

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