When You Have A Busy Life

Juice Fast Day #4 - The End

Juice Fast Day #1

JUICE RECIPE OF THE DAY

Jingle Jam Juice

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8-10 medium sized carrots*

4 small gala apples* 

1/4 inch knob of ginger

1/4 of a lime (with peel)*

1/4 C. coconut water (optional)*

a dash of cayenne pepper (optional)*

*Organic ingredients

My First Day Back at School (1/2/12)

Spring is Coming, Spring is Coming!

     Today was my first day back from Spring Break, and what a beautiful day it was indeed. Classes kept me indoors for the first half of the day. However, this afternoon I was able to go for a short 4 mile trail run at Turner Lake Park. Turner Lake is probably my most favorite place to run because it's only 5 minutes away from my house, and the only other trail runs are 30+ minutes away. Today was perfect running weather: 72 degrees, a slight breeze, clear skies, and trails bursting with fresh spring flowers and greenery!

   Turner Lake's trails are a perfect place to work on increasing my running speed, strength, and endurance.  Today I chose to hilly route and aimed "power through" the hills, pushing to go as fast as I can up them, instead of slowing down (which is what my legs and lungs wanted me to do, but I told them no and kept going. LOL),

   After I got home and took a shower I had just enough time to grab a dozen dates before accompanying my mom to the grocery store. I had promised her that I was going to make her a special raw vegan dinner, and we were out of a couple ingredients that I needed. When we got back my mom was famished, so I quickly set to work on preparing some Jicama Nori Rolls.

   This delicious meal is salt free and 100% raw vegan, and best of all, my mom adored it! It's hard for me to come up with savory raw dishes that she likes, mostly because her taste and mine are so different. I was just so happy that I was able to concoct a recipe that was tasty, healthy, satisfying, and raw.

My mom is camera shy when it comes to putting her face on the internet.

 However she did allow me take a photo of her chopsticks, 

getting ready to tuck into her meal.

   This recipe will be featured in my our upcoming health & lifestyle/recipe book, as well as my LFRV recipe book. So stay tuned to find out the secret ingredients to my special Jicama pate! =)

   Now, once my mom was settled into her food, I wasted no time in whipping up a fruity green pudding smoothie.

Kiwi, Mango, and Spinach (a dinner that Popeye would love)

   The rest of my evening was filled with homework, returning emails, and working on my recipe book. It was only just a few moments ago that I realized how late it is; this time change had really thrown my internal body clock off. It's amazing what a difference just one our can make isn't it? Oh well, hopefully by the end of the week I'll be back "in tune" so to speak.

My "Chocolate" Pudding Three Day Weekend

     I just love weekends, particularly the ones that last three days instead of two. I spent all day Saturday relaxing. I slept in, laid in bed and read, took our family dog, Charlie, for a walk with my mom, and went crazy with my Chocolate (Black) Sapote. 

You remember this decadent fruit from my last post?

     I had bought quite a few sapote from jourdansbeautifulfood.com. However, unlike the last batch, these sapote ripened all at once. Yikes! Now don't get me wrong, I love eating massive amounts of sapote mono meal style, but after a while I was ready for a new spin on this scrumptious fruit. So I turned on my culinary creativity, went to work, and came up with this luscious meal that I dubbed. . .

Chocolate Silk Breakfast Pudding

     Despite its name, I love this meal so much that I have it for more than just breakfast. I often enjoy this pudding 2-3 times a day and as a result, I'm almost out of sapote. Oh no! I better go order some more. Chocolate Sapote only comes around once a year and I want to have my fill of it before the season ends.

Yum yum. . . eat em up! LOL 

Another meal that I have been enjoying 1-2 times a day lately is this tropical thirst quencher. . .

Punchy Pineapple Smoothie

     I just love how rich the color is because it gives the food the aesthetic appeal we humans often need to enjoy our meal. 

     The ingredients and prep work is really simple: take one ripe pineapple, chop it up, put pineapple pieces in the blender, add enough water to blend (I just use a splash of coconut water), and blend until frothy. That's it, your all done! Now just pour yourself a glass and enjoy. =D

     The rest of the weekend went well. By Sunday it was time to stock up on food, so the entire morning was spent making the Whole Foods and Farmer's Market rounds with my mom. I was really lucky that all my favorite fruits for the season were ripe (or almost ripe) and were being sold in bulk (it really saves me money). I ended up buying a box of large pineapple (6 pineapple), 2 boxes of persimmon (28), 2 lbs. of red grapes, 4 Organic red mango, 15 lbs, Organic bananas, and 2 Organic Hawaii Papaya (score!). I also got a bunch of greens and un-sweet fruit (e.g. tomato, bell pepper, cucumber) for giant dinner salads.

     Today(Monday) went less smoothly then the rest of the weekend. My college classes are supposed to start tomorrow and this morning all the classes I had registered for have somehow managed to unregister themselves and I can't seem to get them back. Hopefully someone in the administration office can help me get that sorted out tomorrow morning. 

     Then this afternoon I accidentally drove all the way to the gym and back with my emergency brakes on. I feel like such an idiot about that. I'm just praying that I didn't total the emergency break. *sigh* I guess I'll find out when I have the car checked out later in the week. *chuckles* The things that life throws at you huh? I just do what the penguins did.

     Well, it's getting late and I have a full day tomorrow, but before I wrap this post up, my weekend workouts:

Saturday

• Day off - 20 minutes walking dog and 20 push-ups

Sunday

• 8 miles cycling - avg. 16 mph pace
• 1 hour of yoga (my 2nd class and my arms are still feeling it!)
• 20 push-ups

Monday

• 1 hour run - 6 miles - avg. 6 mph pace

Snow Day turned Ice Week

  
     What a week it has been so far. Sunday night brought loads of beautiful snow and to my great pleasure classes were cancelled for Monday. I spent that day running and playing in the snow, enjoying all the beautiful cold white fluffy goodness! Alas, the beauty swiftly turned into a nightmare.

     Tuesday the beautiful snow turned to thick sheets of hard glass-like ice. It's now Thursday and the ice still isn't gone! Today was actually the first day I was able to drive because of the roads being so bad. It was just in time too; I was going stir crazy being stuck at the house for 3 days in a row. The ice was so menacing that I couldn't even go running outside. My one attempt to do so resulted in me almost breaking a leg. Fortunately I have only a few bruises to show for my idiocy.

     On the bright side, being cooped up gave me plenty of time to work on our (my mom and mine) book. I mean one can only watch episodes of Murder She Wrote so long before becoming desperate to do something more productive. And don't think that just because I couldn't be physically active in the ways I wanted to be deterred me from continuing my training. I decided to use this time stuck inside to work on some of the muscle areas I don't normally focus on such as my abs, glutes, thighs, and arms.

With just a mat and a pair of 5 lb. weights I worked up quite a sweat. . .

Monday

• 1 hour playing in the snow (e.g. snowball fights, walking, running, snow angel making)
• 100 crunches
• 20 push-ups

Karate Dude

Tuesday

• 100 crunches
• 20 push-ups
• 30 minutes of stretching with some random yoga moves thrown in.
• 50 squats (ouch!)
• 20 minutes weight lifting

Vibram Foot Prints

Wednesday

• 5 minutes Mountain Climbers
• 50 squats (double ouch!)
• 30 minutes weight training
• 20 minutes stretching
• 1 minute intervals running in place (5 rounds/reps)
• 100 crunches
• 20 push-ups

By late morning today the sun had been out long enough to melt sufficient amount of ice for my to go to the gym where I finally got RUN!!! :-D

Thursday

• 60 crunches with a seated abdominal machine 
• 6 reps of 10 on the abnominal twisting machine
• 45 minutes run (5 miles)
• 5 minutes stretching

     With all these high energy workouts I have been one hungry girl. Some of the food I've been enjoying these last few chilly days. . .

     I hope all of you guys are staying warm, healthy, and happy out there. Until next time! :-)

Happy New Year! What to be expecting from me.

     Only four days into 2011 and it's still hard to believe that time has flown by so quickly. It seems like only yesterday that I was welcoming in 2010, and now it is passed. 2010 was a wonderful and eventful year for me and I hope it was the same for all of you.

     With this new year comes changes in my life. I enjoyed my first semester of college immensely. I feel that having the chance to live away from home allowed me to grow and explore who I am. I made some amazing friends and had the opportunity to try new activities. I got into rock climbing/bouldering and outdoor cycling; I was able to try my first triathlon and to preform a flying squirrel. However, all good things must come to an end and I am back at home. Union College provided me with a wonderful education but the tuition was just to high for me to stay. So I am now attending my local community college while I look for some scholarships and save my money. If I play my cards right I will be able to attend a very good private university for my last two years of undergraduate studies. My goal is to graduate with my bachelors degree debt free.

     Don't worry though, I still plan on keeping busy and updating this blog more frequently. I have so much planned for the future. Currently I am collaborating with my mom to write and publish a vegan recipe book. It's going to be half raw (mostly LFRV) and half cooked vegan recipes. The goal of this book is to help those who are transitioning from being SAD or vegetarian to being vegan and eventually (hopefully) raw or high raw. Personally, If I get enough feedback from you and those who purchase the finished recipe book I may publish a recipe book with just the raw recipes for those people who have already transitioned from cooked and just want the raw recipes. Also, I am working on starting up my own part-time business this summer. Stay tuned to find out what it will be! =)

     This year I also plan on training as hard as I can while going to school and improve my athletic performance. I have another half-marathon approaching in March and an obstacle course race called The Warrior Dash. I will training outside as often as possible but I will also be training at a gym on the days where the weather is unfavorable. My fitness goal this year is to become a bit more versatile in my athletic abilities.

     I will be working on developing my upper body more this year. I plan to do this through weight training, rock climbing, swimming, and yoga (hopefully). I will still be running and cycling, I just feel that increasing my upper body strength will improve my running. Remember that in running stronger arms give you more power to quicken your pace.

     How does all this effect my blog? I plan on documenting my training more often along with pictures of what I eat. I'm going to try to blog every day that I train, giving as much detail as possible. Blogging my progress will hopefully encourage me to really give it my all and maybe give you readers some ideas.

Rockin' and Rollin' in College!

Such a busy life I now lead. . . I managed to make a video for you guys though. Enjoy! :-)

And so the adventure begins!

     Hello my lovely readers! I know that my time away from the blogging world came without warning, but I have avery good explanation. Are you comfortable? Good, because I have tons to to tell!


     For those of you who are not aware, after graduating high school in May 2009, I took a gap year to travel, study nutrition,  run my first half marathon, and help my mom out with the house. That gap year came to a close in mid-August of this year and I was all set to attend Kennesaw State University   (approximately a 70 minute drive from my home). Alas, it was not to be, KSU wasn't able to get me off off the waiting list fir student classes in time for the fall semester.


     I was devistated! I worried that I would have to wait unitil the Spring semester to begin my college education. Fortunately, hope came in the form of Union College, a Seventh-Day Adventist college in Lincon, Nebraska. Union had yet to close my file and graciously allowed me to attend their college this fall. Of course this ment scrambling to get everything I needed together at the last minute. Somehow I still managed to have a lot of fun in the week building up to my time of departure.


How I spent my week. . .


     Saturday,  August 8th, I turned 19 (woohoo!) and there was a small "dinner party" in the evening whuch my family and my sudo family attended. I prepared Raw Chocolate Sauce, slice Peaches, Strawberries,  Banana/Date Ice Cream, Florida Passion Fruit, andcut up watermelon in the shapes of cakes! The meal was a big hit which made me incredibly happy! I'm always glad when I can get people to enjoy eating more fresh fruits.

My B-Day cake. . .yummy!! :-D

     On Monday,  Mom and I drove up to Whole Foods to meet up with a fellow raw vegan, Taylor Snipes of Taylor's Tropicals! As some of you may know Taylor has sold his business to his former roommate Jourdan (who has since renamed the company Jourdan's Beautiful Fruit) and has moved to the amazing city of Santa Barbara in sunny California.

     I was so happy that Taylor's driving route to California went through Atlanta. We spent a good couple of hours just talking and Taylor was kind enough to share his yummy fruit stash with my mom and I for lunch. We ate a scrumptious meal of mangos and figs!

     Afterwards, Taylor and I went into Whole Foods to stock up on some amazing varieties of melon. People looked at us so funny, but we didn't care because we were to excited about the awesome melon! We bought Galia, Canary, Crenshaw, Santa Clause, Casaba, and Orange-flesh Honeydew, and Sharyln melons! Taylor and I both agreed that to succeed on this diet you need to enjoy your food. If that means having to reajust your budget to be used mostly on your fruit then so be it. 

     People on this diet often find that the don't need or want to spend their money on much else other than fruit (e.g. beauty products, jewelry, movies, medical drugs, trendy clothes, ect.) People who eat a raw plant based diet find that they don't need those beauty products or medical drugs anymore because their ailments go away and their skin and hair have a natural healthy glow. They don't want the trendy clothes or flashy cars because they can't wear the clothes to ride the bikes that they much prefer using as transportation whenever they can.

     I wish that I could have had more time to get to know Taylor but eventually he did have to hit the road. That's alright though because one day I will move back to my lovely birth state of California of which I miss dearly. I might get to see Taylor more oftne then as we are bound to run into eachother wherever there's a giant fruit sale. LOL.

     Tuesday, Mom and I spent a good part of the day at the mall shopping for college dorm necessaties. It was suprisingly a lot of fun and by the end of it we were so hungry we couldn't wait to get home before getting some food. So, we decided to check out the food court and low and behold we found. . .

It was enough hold us over until we could make it back home.

     The rest of the week I spent with my mom making plane reservations, making plans to board the dogs, packing up my stuff in boxes to be shipped, selling my truck (I couldn't take it with me) to my brother, and just relaxing by watching movies  with my mom and brother.

My last dinner at home the night before the flight. 

Raw "Chips" and Salsa

My new Vibrams bought from the Abbadabba store in Little Five Points, GA!

     On Friday morning, August 13th,  my mom, my brother, and I all boarded a plane bound for  Omaha, NE. Ready or not I was off to college! Look out Nebraska!! :-D

My on flight snack.

     

     The only two airpoirts that I can remember seeing in my life are London Heathrow, Las Vegas, San Fransisco, and Atlanta, all of them were huge. Not Omaha though, no way no how. It would be impossible to get lost in Omaha Airport, it is just that small.

     After grabbing a taxi, my family and I spent the next few hours car hunting. I would need transportation here in Nebraska since I had to sell my car back home. By 1:00 PM we stepped out of a Ford dealership and I am now the proud honor of a used 2007 White Toyota Camry. 

     Once we had wheels we could now navigate about the city and begin the 50 minute drive to Lincoln. Before we did that my family and I stopped off at a Whole Foods to refuel.

Lunch at the Whole Foods in Omaha

     Once in Lincoln, we settled into our rooms at the Holiday Inn Express and spent the next couple of days relaxing and exploring the general area. On Sunday I moved all my stuff into my dorm room before spending the rest of the day back in Omaha with my family. That evening I had to drop my family off at their hotel outside of Lincon Airport (It is even smaller than Omaha's. Seriousle, blink and you will miss it.).

     This year is the first year Union College has put on a week long Orientation for freshmen. I spent the whole of last week in and out of seminars, waiting in line at the various registration check points, meeting with my advisor to set up a class schedule, signing up for various Clubs and Intramural Sports, and attending a mandatory weekend camping trip at a 4-H camp.

I joined the Associated Student Body of Union College.

Some of my Union Market Cafeteria Meals

Camping Trip: Look at me, I climbed a tree!

                  

     Tomorrow begins the first day of classes, I can't wait! My first class is at 9:30 AM and I plan on working-out before that, so I'm off to bed. Now that I'm all settled in I will be able to post more often. Check my blog regularly for weekly and bi-weekly updates. I can't wait to see what this year brings to myself personally and to this blog.

Running for Beginners: Getting Started & How To Keep Going Pt. 2

Amanda's How To Start Running Guide Continued. . .

Part Five: Variety = Better Preformance

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     Once you've gotten into the swing of things in your running routine, you might be tempted to run every single day, however, I don't recommed that you do this. When you're running you're putting stress upon your knee joints that can cause a lot of wear and tear over a period of time. TO avoid this it's a good idea to give your knee joints a rest every now and then. Go for a bike ride, swim, do some strength training, practice yoga. Any one of these things are a good source of movement without putting a lot, if any,  stress on the joints.
     
     Another good reason for doing other types of exercises in between running days is that you are toning other muscles and shedding fat around other areas of the body. The leaner your body, the faster you can run, so using other muscles in your body other than you legs and you will be on your way to becoming a lean running machine!


Part Six: Recovery
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     When you do any sort of high impact workouts, the muscles you use are broken down. It's during time after a workout that the body begins to rebuild those muscles and they will either become stronger or weaker depending on what sort of nutrients the muscle has at its disposal to use as building block for the new muscle.


     I have found personally that the best kind of recovery meal is some sort of smoothie. The nutrients in the food are already "chewed up" making for quicker digestion and nutrient absorbtion, which is good what you want so that you can get the nutrient building blocks into your body as soon as possible to build stronger muscles.


Some smoothie combonation ideas:

• banana/mango/spinach
• banan/date/coconut water
• banana/pineapple/spinach
• banana/grape/spinach
• banana/spinach/apple juice

Note: Raw fruits and leafy greens will provide you with the correct carb/protein/fat ration needed for your body to rebuild and repair itself. If you want to know a more about the protein myth that has been spread across the nation by medical propganda, then I recommen reading "The 80/10/10 Diet" by Dr. Douglas N. Graham, "The China Study" by T. Colin Cambell and a previous blogpost that I wrote here. 

     It's also very important - especially if you are participating in high impact workouts everyday - to take a full day off from high impact workouts. Doing so gives your body a break from contantly breaking down and rebuilding muscles on a daily bases. This doesn't mean that you have to be a lie around all day, it just means to obstain from any really strenuous activities. For example, on your rest day you could do go for a walk or do some housework, ect.

Part Eight: Keep Up Your Health

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     The key to having an energy filled run and still having strong energy levels through out the day is to make sure that you are keeping the 7 steps of health: NEWSTART

1. Nutrition - Keeps you fueled for your runs and keeps you from getting sick so you can workout. Eat plenty of carbs from fresh, raw, sweet juicy fruit! Eat some raw leafy greens, vegetables, nuts, and seeds as well and you have yourself a nutrient and water rich diet! 
2. Exercise - e.g. running
3. Water - When you sleep you aren't drinking water, when you exercise you sweat out water, and your body is approx. 75% water. If you don't replenish your water body's water supply you won't be running anywhere.
4. Sunshine - Allows you body to make vitamin D which is used in the absorbtion of calcium (which strengthens your bones so you can run without bone problems) and vitmain D gives you a boost of positive energy (will keep you energized and motivated to run).
5. Temperance - Alcohol will dehydrate you body and kills irreplacable brain cells, not good!
6. Air - Fresh air keeps your blood cells running and can give you body a pleasent, relaxing sensation, getting rid of stress.
7. Rest - When you run you have broken down muscles in your body and released free radicals into your system due to the stress put on your body during ecercise. Your body need to shut down for a minimum of 6 hours while 7 hours is prefered, and 8 to 10 hours would be the best.  Whatever the number of hours you choose, the most crucial hours of sleep that you body needs to regenerate is between 10pm and 2am (has to do with specific hormones that are secreted at this time of night). Miss these four hours and you've dprived your body of muscle repairing time and you will most likely find your energy during your run and throughout the rest of the day will take a nose dive. 
8. Trust in the Creator - Spiritual peace is important for your emotional well being. Trust in the Creator brings emotional stability to cope with life, which leaves your body free to function positively for your running and anything else in your life.

Part Nine: The Conclusion
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     I hope that all the information, suggestions, and ideas that I have provided in this two part article for you, will help you reach your running goal(s). There is so much more information I would have loved to write and share with you, but if I did that I know it would turn into a book!  So I leave instead with this basic synopsis that will steer you in the right direction, and I am sure that over time as you become a better, more seasoned runner, that you will discover many tips and tricks that will benefit your preformance along the way. Good luck!

Training for Half Marathon - Day 32 & 33

Day 32 - Thursday

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    Thursday was an intense day for me training wise. I spent 15 minutes in the morning doing some stretching and vigorous weight lifting (I was really panting by the end of it) before I had to get showered and dressed so I could get my daily chores and studies done before my 2:30 chiropractic appointment.

     When 2:30 finally rolled around I got my regular adjustment and electro-heating therapy. Afterwards it was time for my physical therapy with 15 minutes of the leg curl weight machine. I managed 100 front leg reps (10 sets) for both legs , alternating between 20 and 25 lb. weights, as well as 50 back leg reps (5 sets) for each leg using 15 lb. weights.

     As soon as I got home I went for a 20 minute run around my neighborhood. I had to slow down to a fast walk on occasion to catch my breath. It's very hard to run in my neighborhood because it is made up almost entirely of steep hills, so running the whole time is near impossible for me at this point. And later that same evening, I accompanied my mom around the neighborhood for a 20 minute moderately brisk walk while wearing 2 lb. ankle weights.

     My daily eats for this day was 2935 calories, almost 3000 calories! Let me tell you I needed every bite and I had:

• 3 Honeydew Melon

• Spicy Spinach Mango Smoothie

1. Put the coconut water & the spinach in the blender.

2. Cut up the mango.

3. Put the mango in the blender.

4. Precede to use teeth to scarp and eat remaining Mango fruit on pit and peel. :-D

5. Add chopped Banana.

6. Blend!

7. Pour, drink, and enjoy!

• Happy "Caramel" Bars (just take a bite of banana with a bite of Medjool Date)

• The last two thirds of my durian

My mom and brother can't stand the smell, so I partook of my heavenly bounty on our back porch.

• 12 Clementines (no pic)

• 1 Personal sized Sugar Baby watermelon. 

Day 33 - Friday

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     I woke up this morning with very sore and stiff legs and arms! But after stretching for about 10 minutes I was just sore. LOL! So I decided to that since it was a little over a week since a I had a true rest day, without any type of intense physical exertion, I settled down in my room to study. 

     Around 2 pm I took a break and came out to get some lunch (A Minty Papaya Smoothie) to discover that it had begun to snow! :-D Around, 3pm, when it became clear that the snow was not going to stop, my family and I  immediantely went out to run some last minute errands before the roads got to icey. 

Even Charlie got dusted! Hehe...

 I hope everyone out there has a wonderful weekend. I know what I'll be doing. . . making a snowman!!!