Cold No More!!

     Ok, ever since last Friday the weather has been feeling WAY more like winter, and as a result, I have been feeling so COLD! I tried eating warming foods (ginger, hot peppers, greens ect.),drinking tea, and wearing warming clothing, but I couldn't lose the chill. 


     Today though was when I found a remedy. Since it has been much chillier outside I have avoided exercising outside, but today I gave myself a kick in the butt and told myself get out there and MOVE! So I bundled up, grabbed my iPod, hooked it up onto my brother's bike (he's so nice to let me borrow it whenever I want), and hit the road! 


     For 20 minutes I peddled as hard as I could before it started to rain and I had to go inside. But do you know what? Half way through my ride I actually wanted to take my jacket off because I was becoming quite warm. For the rest of today I haven't felt cold, at all! 


      I think the reason that going outside to exercise (even though it was cold) actually warmed my body up was because 1) exercising increases blood flow in the body which makes your body warmer and 2) going outside in the cold allows you body to start adapting to the colder environment after experiencing 4 months of warmer weather. I think I'm going to be exercising outside for the rest of this winter!


     In other news, I think I may have turned my brother Benjamin onto kombocha! He tried his first glass at our Thanksgiving dinner and he loved it. In fact tonight he came to my door and asked me if he could have the rest of my grape flavored kombocha. Of course I told him yes. Kombocha is loaded with antioxidants, probiotics, B vitamins (B12 included), and essential amino acids. I'm hoping that it will help him fight off his cold. I love my brother to death and just makes me so happy that we can both enjoy something that's healthy! :D

     I think that's all for today, except for a couple of pictures of what I had for lunch today. It was just so beautifully simple, bright, colorful, and delicious that I just wanted to share it with you all. My lunch just reminded me how refreshing and satisfying a raw plant based lifestyle can be.

Butterhead Lettuce, Orange Bell Pepper, 

Greenhouse Tomatoes, and Cucumber

A Sweet, Crisp, and Juice Gala Apple 

with a Handful of Dried Apricots

Tuesday: Insurance, Lettuce Wraps, and CSNN

Today got off to a good start, with my usual morning quart of lemon water followed by 4 cups of freshly cut up sweet pineapple. At 11 o'clock (a.m.) my mother accompanied me to our insurance agency. Now that I am officially an adult it was time for me to get my own insurance. After some thought I finally decided on the 5 year renewable term. 

Being an a legal adult is feeling a bit . . . surreal. I was just a few weeks ago that I was still 17 and under the authority of my mom. Now I alone am responsible for myself, my actions, and the rewards or consequences that come with those actions. I guess I just haven't really gotten used to it yet.

When lunch time rolled around my mom and brother had gone out to TCB (our local cafe) so I got the whole house to myself. :) I decided to throw together whatever was around the housefor lunch and wound up with this:

The filling was made up off locally grown tomato, cucumber, red onion, minced garlic, dried basil, and real salt. Simple, fast, and tasty! After putting it together I sat back and enjoyed an old episode of the T.V. show Monk while ate. Afterwards was just spent doing various chores around the house: laundry, sweeping, emptying the dishwasher, etc.

At about 1:30 p.m. I grabbed a banana and headed out to run a few errands. I headed over to Johnson Park to renew my annual pass so that I can start swimming laps in the morning again, and visited a few local establishments to ask about any part-time job openings. I'll be filling out some applications for a job tomorrow, wish me luck!

After picking up my brother and dropping him off at karate I headed over to TCB to meet up with my mom after she finished teaching at PCLA, and to work on my correspondence study work for the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition (CSNN), I just finished the chapter covering water pollution. Most of it I already from independent research, but still, it blows my mind on just how many chemicals and metals that out in tap water. Yikes!

When I got home I settled in with my nightly quart of smoothie to relax and enjoy the rest of the evening. Tomorrow I'm aiming to work on a few projects as well as some more of my CSNN work. Hopefully all will go smoothly.

My new favorite smoothie! 

A combo of mango, banana, peach, raw honey, and cinnamon!