Yummy Eats and Bikila Vibrams

     Hello my lovely readers! I'm so glad that I finally have some time to post. January was crazy! Trying to get my computer fixed, trying to get my refrigerator fixed, homework, training, working on my book, and finding time to spend with my family. . . yeah that's a lot to juggle. LOL. Somehow though, by the end of the month, everything that needed to get done was done, so I'm happy. So what's new with me? Well let's see. . .

     I've been really enjoying a wide variety of fruit, as always. This month alone I've gotten to have Mangos, Papaya, Chocolate Sapote, Ice Cream (Blue Java) Bananas, Cavendish Bananas, Persimmons, Pineapple, Heirloom Tomatoes, Blood Oranges, Clementines, Medjool dates, Pomegranates, Honeycrisp Apples, Strawberries, and Engilsh Cucumber. This of course meant that I had to spend time with my beloved Vitmamix to create colossal amount of smoothies.

Bananas, Strawberries, & Cherries

A Berry Blast!

Strawberries, Blueberries, Raspberries, Banana

Papaya, Banana, and Mango

Pineapple, Mango, Blood Oranges, & Spinach

My mom has been enjoying a lot of fruit as well. 

This was her breakfast a couple days ago. 

It looked so pretty that I had to take a picture to show you guys.

     Since this year I plan on doing a lot of running, and I'm already starting to wear out my Vibrams, I thought it best to invest in another pair of Vibrams exclusively for when I run. So I forked out the dough and bought the new and improved running Vibram, the Bikila! Now I'm not usually one to wear pink, in fact I don't own a single item that is pink, until now that is. I went for these hot shoes is because I want these babies to get noticed. If people see people will ask, and if people ask they might just go get a pair themselves. I am determined to raise awareness about the benefits of going barefoot. . . well almost barefoot anyway. =)

     I aslo decided that if I was going to be running these races for all to see, that I should raise awareness about the benefits of a raw plant based lifestyle. Having recently becoming a member of Organic Athletes, I purchased this running shirt to wear on my race days.

                            Front                                                                             Back

      As to recording my training, I've decided to not post my workouts daily. I want to remain consistent in updating you guys on my progress, so every Saturday evening I'll be doing a special post to list all my workouts for the week. This way I can still post about my fruit and adventures whenever I have time. However, when I don't have the time, I can at least be confident that my training posts will be posted consistently. And during the days before my Saturday post, you guys are more then welcome to hop onto daily mile. It's an online site where you can log in your running, cycling, and swimming mileage. My profile is here: http://www.dailymile.com/people/AmandaJ_B#ref=tophd.

      Until next time,
Run fast and eat fruit!

Everything Sorted Out

     Today was hectic but productive. I was finally able to sort out my classes so I am now set for the Spring semester. Hallelujah!

     This semester I am taking:

•      English Composition II
•      Principles of Accounting I: Financing
•      United States History II
•      Introduction to Anthropology

     I also got to have fun in the kitchen coming up with some cooked vegan recipes for my mother and I's healthy lifestyle transition book. I spent so much time playing in the kitchen that time just flew by and I didn't have time to go to the gym. Instead, I opted to just bundle up, grab my bicycle, and go for it!

Today (Tuesday)

• 3 mile bike ride
• 100 jumping jacks
• 100 crunches

    A merry heart does good, like a medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones. 

                                                                                                 ~ Proverbs 17:22

I love it when a day works out for the better. Later!

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.

Of Recipes and Poetry

     Just felt like sharing another recipe with all of you. Try this on banana, apple, or celery. It really is delicious!




     This is a sample piece from the poetry book I am writing. I hope to get it published by the end of this year.

Hope

BY: Amanda Berg

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the shadows begin to fade at the coming of the dawn,

I watch as the mist of morning rolls along,

Introduced into existence of the bluebirds song.

Life can be beautiful when it wants to.

Like the beauty of the ground of jade covered in glittering dew.

Hold onto everything that is good,

Shower yourself and others with laughter,

To forbid the moment of a doomsday mood.

Sometimes life presents us with sorrow

I just cling to the hope that it will be better tomorrow.

Wherever the path I’m taking goes

I know in my heart and mind

God is the one who I can trust to follow.

With him I know all will be well at the end.

Long Hard Day, but Fresh Persimmons Made it All Ok

     Hello everybody! Like the title says, it has been a looooong day! I had to get up at about 5:30 this morning to drive into Atlanta to retake my SATs. I figured that since I was taking a gap year to study nutrition, it wouldn't hurt to try and up my score a hundred points or so. All went smoothly and I'm feeling pretty good about the test!
     
     So this morning before the drive up to Atlanta, my mother and I started out our day with a lovely smoothie (which do to my tight time schedule I was unable to photograph.) It consisted of 2 cups pomegranate juice (juiced the night before), 3 bananas, two cups frozen wild blueberries, and a heaping tsp. of raw honey. Mom and I wanted to give our minds and bodies powerful fuel (I was going to need it!).
    
      The test seemed to last FOREVER, but I managed to get through it by refueling with a snack of organic dried mulberries (yummy!). These delicious berries are high in fiber, protein, iron, and calcium so eat up! Eventually the test was over and I was out of there, at 1:20 PM. : p
     
     Afterwards I went with my mom to Rainbow Natural Groceries (where I got myself a nummy salda) and The Farmer's Market to restock on food. When we got home I got to croon over my beautiful booty of grapes, apple, pineapple, tangerines, dried apricots, coconut water, celery, cauliflower, kale, tomatoes, banana, frozen berries, 3 bottles of kombacha (they were on sale!) and an entire BOX of of Hachiya Persimmons!! 

ALL MINE!! :D:D:D

     Spent the rest of the day doing house work until it was time for dinner. First I made my brother a nutrient and enzyme packed smoothie to have before he made his stir-fry because he's been saying he feel like he's been coming down with something. When my mom found out she asked me to make enough for her as well as she wanted to make sure her immune system was in top form. Here's what I came up with:

       The Immune Allies Smoothie

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1 C. chopped pineapple

2 tangerines, peeled & deseeded

1 C. fresh or frozen bananas

9 frozen strawberries (or handful of fresh)

1/2 Tbs. Raw Honey

1/4 C. Water

Blend until smooth.

                                                

  Later, for myself, I made a nice big, thick, and creamy delight!

Dreaming of Paradise Smoothie

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1 mango

1 1/2 C. chopped pineapple

1 1/2 ripe bananas

1/2 Tbs. raw honey

1/2 C. fresh thai coconut water

Blend until smooth.

  

     At the moment I am snacking on some globe grapes while surfing the internet. I am just so relieved that this day is finally done. I can stop worrying about the SAT and focus on my CSNN studies again. I hope everyone has a beautiful day, and that your life will be much blessed. 

Welcoming Autumn with Activity

September is gone and October is here! Here in the South the weather is finally lovely! Last week we had a bunch of flash floods so all the bridges had to be closed down (I live almost right next to two of them) which made getting around town quite difficult. But now the temperature high is in the upper 70z, there is sunny and breezy weather with clear blue skies, and almost zero humidity. Yesterday was the same and I spent a couple hours outside doing my CSNN studies while drinking a decadent Spirulina Smoothie of my own spontaneous concoction!

So I haven't really written anything for a few weeks but honestly I've been quite busy adding things into my schedule. I now swim for 30-40 minutes at Johnson Park about 3-4 times a week and I've started attending my brothers karate studio to finish my advanced brown belt training and hopefully test for my 1st degree black belt by nest Autumn. At the house I've been trying to cram as many hours of CSSN while still keeping the house clean, the laundry done, keeping my brother and mom fed, running errands. . . just life in general.

Despite all this life for me is going alright. Just yesterday the two books I ordered from

Amazon.com came in, the 2010 Poetry Market and Sarma's new raw food book! I love buying

raw food recipe books for when my mom or I has company to blow them away with the delicious

and nutritious wonder of raw food. I bought the Poetry Market book because I am hoping to publish

my book of poetry that I have been working on for 4 years now.

This is what I want to encourage everyone in, stay busy! I find whenever I start feeling depressed

or alone that if I go for a swim, a walk, or pick up a book, start a project, just do SOMETHING productive,

I can temper or even completely eliminate the down feelings I have. We are human and we crave stimulation.

When people don't receive physical and mental stimulation we don't form any new muscles in our

body, and the synapses in our brain don't create new connections. This result in a deteriorated mind and body,

who would want to live like that? I can't think of anyone.

When life is dull and you wonder what's the point, that is the moment you need to reach out

and make something out of nothing. We are the dominant species of this planet. Why? Because we

are smart and resourceful and we have zest for LIVING not just EXISTING. We what to do things better,

we want to do things better, we want to learn, and we want to discover. Society today wants to shove

us in a box with a label and have us stay there for the rest of our lives. Not me, and hopefully not you!

Peace out everybody! Until next time. SMILE!! :)

P.S. And here are some recipes and pics:

My New Book!! I really admire Sarma.

She is an amazing woman.

A kiwilicious breakfast. Did you know that kiwi, along with blackberries, are actually a great source of zinc?

My mom wanted pudding so she asked me to make her a raw pudding. We only had the bare minimum of food left since it was the end of the week, but a managed to whips this up for her breakfast.

Tropical Mousse

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1 large ripe banana

1/2 cup of fresh coconut meat

1/4 cup of dried coconut flakes

1/4 cup cashews (pre-soaking is optional)

1 1/2 cups fresh pineapple, chopped

1 tbs. agar agar flakes soaked for 10 minutes in hot water

1/4 cup agave nectar

1/4 tsp. real salt

juice from 1/2 a lemon

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3 tbs/ coconut water

Blend the 1st five ingredients until smooth, add the rest and blend until smooth and refrigerate overnight.

Serve 4

I made this smoothie as a little treat for my breakfast that same day. Not much left in the house but I'm a resourceful raw smoothie loving girl! ;)

Coco Cacao Beauty Smoothie

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1 cup coconut water

1 cup chopped frozen banana

1 rounded tsp. raw cacao powder

1 rounded tbs. raw cacao nibs

1 tbs. raw honey

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Blend until smooth

Serves 1

While studying this last Thursday afternoon I got really hungry. It was quite warm out so I decided to invent a new smoothie. OMG, I made this tried it, had my mom tried it, and we have both had this every. single. day. for the past three days. This smoothie tastes amazing, is incredibly satisfying, and gives me the most incredible burst of energy and mental clarity that I have ever experienced.

The Green Peachy Keen

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1 large peach (about 2 cups)

11 frozen strawberries or 7 fresh strawberries

2 frozen bananas

1 tsp vanilla

2 tsp. Hawaiian Spirulina

1 1/2 "scoops" of stevia ( I use the Now brand)

1/4 cup water

Blend until smooth

Serves 1-2