Showing posts with label nutrition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nutrition. Show all posts
Sunday, June 28, 2015
Summer Life
It's officially the first week of summer. The kids are finally out of school, while at least for a week. July 6th, the kids go back to school 4 days a week for 6 weeks. I'm really happy that they get to have summer school at such a young age to help them maintain what they have learned through their year in school. I think it will help them have a better start to the school year in the fall.
That being said, summer is a time to have fun and enjoy some time away from the hectic pace of the school year. Unfortunately, I have to continue to work, but I am going to continue to work part time so that we can have some family fun. I am hoping that we can take some time and enjoy some time hiking and spending time outside with family and friends. I am also hopeful that we can get to the beach and enjoy the water. I think this may be the summer that we get the kids out kayaking. I want to make sure that we expose our kids to spending time outside in nature and enjoy everything that our earth has given us. This winter, we started taking the kids snowshoeing. We all had fun and got outside in one of the worst winters we have seen in a while. Now it's time to share our summer activities, even though we have started taking them hiking and camping a couple of years ago and plan to continue that for the years to come.
With summer hopefully in full swing, we have started planting our garden. We have most of our tomato plants and our pepper plants in the garden. We have what seems like a good growth of salad, and we had a good start to our peas, but they got eaten by bunnies. My husband took time and fixed our fence that got damaged this winter, so hopefully that will help us keep the animals out and our veggies in. We have also planted seeds for cucumbers and luffa plants. I just bought a container blueberry and raspberry plant. I am looking forward to being able to go out and pick berries as we need or want them. I need to get back to the local nursery and pick up a couple of eggplant plants as well as some potato plants (I have purple potato seeds prepared for planting) and get our squash and kale/Swiss chard plants going. I really want to get away from eating predominantly meat and start eating a lot more green veggies.
I really want to start following through with my diet goals and my creative goals in life. I need to start eating clean and spending time being creative. I need to continue to get my life organized and get rid of things that I don't need. The sad thing is, I know what I need to do, I just need to get motivated to do it. I am hoping that eating a clean diet with less processed foods, less starchy carbs, more green leafy veggies and lean protein (including beans), and way less sugar. In our society, it is so difficult to eat clean and healthy. There are so many reasons and justifications to make you feel better about eating processed junk food. I truly believe, once you get your body free of processed foods, you will succeed in living a clean natural life. Its not easy to rid your body of these foods, but it is something that I continue to try to work on. I also want to work on my goal of learning about herbs, natural medicine, and essential oils.
I am hoping to share some of my challenges and hopefully more success as I go along. This is something that I continue to work tirelessly on and something that I will always work on. Here's to living a handmade and natural life and enjoying the process of getting there.
Amy
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Angelina Jolie's Decision
I can't remember if I wrote about this in the past, but I am positive for the BRCA2 gene mutation. I found out about 1 1/2 years ago after my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer and found out that she had the gene. Thankfully, she is doing well after her treatment.
When I found out she had the gene and decided to get tested, I thought about my options if I was positive. Before I got my results, I decided that I would not get prophylactic surgery. After I got my results and since, my decision has wavered a bit, especially when stories like Angelina Jolie's come out.
Over the last couple of days, I have been rethinking my decision not to have surgery. I thought about the fact that I have such little kids. I thought about the pain and suffering that my grandmother went through. I thought about how my great grandmother, my grandmother, my grandmother's twin sister, and my mother got breast cancer.
I also thought about what surgery would mean for my body, my mind, my identity. I thought about (and still think about) how going immediately into menopause would affect my body. I thought about how my identity would change knowing that I would have parts of my body removed (as silly as it sounds). I thought about how much piece of mind I would really have even if I had surgery. Would I have less anxiety or would I still worry that I would get cancer even after having body parts removed.
I honestly feel like this is such a personal decision. What is right for me isn't necessarily right for everyone. What is right for Angelina Jolie isn't necessarily right for me. I think that all options should be looked at and weighed out. For me not having surgery gives me the option of changing my mind later after having time to think about it. If I have surgery, I can't change my mind!
Right now, my choice is to eat right (more on the pH diet), exercise, work on the mind body connection, work on my stress level and how I deal with it. I think doing this will not only keep me healthy and hopefully decrease my risk for cancer overall, but will also get me healthy to have surgery if I chose to do so later in life.
I am going to be forty this summer. Things may change as I get older since my family seems to get cancer later in life. I may change my mind about having my ovaries removed after I go through menopause. I may change my mind if I find a lump. Right now, I can't have surgery without having cancer.
My life is telling me that I need to look at the different things I believe in. I keep thinking that I need to make changes in my professional career so that it goes along more with my beliefs. I need to make sure that I look into more education that will help me have a career doing things I believe in and love. Loving what I do and believing in what I do will help me with my lifestyle changes also.
Amy
When I found out she had the gene and decided to get tested, I thought about my options if I was positive. Before I got my results, I decided that I would not get prophylactic surgery. After I got my results and since, my decision has wavered a bit, especially when stories like Angelina Jolie's come out.
Over the last couple of days, I have been rethinking my decision not to have surgery. I thought about the fact that I have such little kids. I thought about the pain and suffering that my grandmother went through. I thought about how my great grandmother, my grandmother, my grandmother's twin sister, and my mother got breast cancer.
I also thought about what surgery would mean for my body, my mind, my identity. I thought about (and still think about) how going immediately into menopause would affect my body. I thought about how my identity would change knowing that I would have parts of my body removed (as silly as it sounds). I thought about how much piece of mind I would really have even if I had surgery. Would I have less anxiety or would I still worry that I would get cancer even after having body parts removed.
I honestly feel like this is such a personal decision. What is right for me isn't necessarily right for everyone. What is right for Angelina Jolie isn't necessarily right for me. I think that all options should be looked at and weighed out. For me not having surgery gives me the option of changing my mind later after having time to think about it. If I have surgery, I can't change my mind!
Right now, my choice is to eat right (more on the pH diet), exercise, work on the mind body connection, work on my stress level and how I deal with it. I think doing this will not only keep me healthy and hopefully decrease my risk for cancer overall, but will also get me healthy to have surgery if I chose to do so later in life.
I am going to be forty this summer. Things may change as I get older since my family seems to get cancer later in life. I may change my mind about having my ovaries removed after I go through menopause. I may change my mind if I find a lump. Right now, I can't have surgery without having cancer.
My life is telling me that I need to look at the different things I believe in. I keep thinking that I need to make changes in my professional career so that it goes along more with my beliefs. I need to make sure that I look into more education that will help me have a career doing things I believe in and love. Loving what I do and believing in what I do will help me with my lifestyle changes also.
Amy
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Wishcasting Wednesday
"What Do You Wish To Do One Day?", ask Jamie at http://jamieridlerstudios.ca. Such a good question and so many answers. One thing I know I wish to do, travel cross country with my children and my husband. I did this with my husband about 10 years ago and loved every second and can't wait to do it again but with better planning to make sure I get to experience all that I want to.
Another answer would be to have a career in something I love. This is one area that is going to be difficult! Mainly it's going to be difficult because I need to future out what it is that I truly want to do with my career. I have thoughts about going back to school for art therapy, natural health, aromatherapy, herbs, or for nutrition training. I have crazy thoughts about opening my own studio with a healthy cafe and shoppe. I think about doing more with flowers and gardening. Then I think about just being a social worker. I know that I will be going back to work sooner than I expect. My twins will be in school within the next couple of years, and at that time, I hope that I can actually get back into the work force and love what I do. I am trying to use this time that I am not working to figure out what I want to do with my life and hope that answering questions like this will help guide me to my love and passion!
"What Do You Wish To Do One Day?"
Amy
Another answer would be to have a career in something I love. This is one area that is going to be difficult! Mainly it's going to be difficult because I need to future out what it is that I truly want to do with my career. I have thoughts about going back to school for art therapy, natural health, aromatherapy, herbs, or for nutrition training. I have crazy thoughts about opening my own studio with a healthy cafe and shoppe. I think about doing more with flowers and gardening. Then I think about just being a social worker. I know that I will be going back to work sooner than I expect. My twins will be in school within the next couple of years, and at that time, I hope that I can actually get back into the work force and love what I do. I am trying to use this time that I am not working to figure out what I want to do with my life and hope that answering questions like this will help guide me to my love and passion!
"What Do You Wish To Do One Day?"
Amy
Monday, July 18, 2011
Life
I am working really hard to get back to where I want to be with regards to my beliefs! My beliefs such as: making gifts instead of just going to a department store and buying them, eating healthy home cooked meals, being active, using alternative means to having a healthy life, being as green and eco-friendly/conscious as I can.
I am planning on sewing a couple of things for my sister's baby shower and I finally planned her blanket. I was going to make an actual quilt, but then I thought about time and whether or not it would actually be used. I decided to make a ribbon quilt. It will be an actual quilt, but small and with ribbons that my newest niece will hopefully enjoy playing with. I want it to be used and loved, not just folded away some where. I am also planning on making a couple of burp cloths to match the quilt. I did buy the diaper bag that was on my sister's registry as well as some little things to go along with it, but I absolutely for certain wanted to make something for my newest niece. I spent Friday night drafting the ribbon quilt for my niece. I am hoping that it will look great. I hope that it won't be too over done. My sister decided to go with the monkey theme, so I have monkey and jungle material with coordinating fabrics to go along with it. I am really excited to start working on it. I also decided to do a couple of traditional quilt blocks called the monkey wrench. I hope it some out the way I planned it! Then I will be off to draft my kids' quilts! I am hoping to use non-traditional patterns for theirs and make the boys coordinating and Eva Rose's coordinating too, but add something girly to it also. I am planning on having them in the same room for quite some time, so I might as well coordinate all quilts with the space theme that we had decided on for the boys!
I am trying to really get back to eating healthy. I have started to have at least 1 green smoothie a day. I would love to move up to have more and decreasing some of the solid foods that I eat. How healthy would it be to have more fruits and veggies in your diet and be able to drink them and get all the nutrients that you need. I still ahve a long way to go to fully be where I want to be, but again this whole life style is a balance. I don't have to be all or nothing. I can make small changes and hope that as I increase the amount of small changes, it will add up to big overall changes! As long as I keep moving in the right direction, than I am happy with that. I have started to decrease the amount of sugar that I give the kids and me and my husband. I am trying to get the adults away from as much meat as we have been eating, but not really the kids. I was hoping to do more with a raw foods diet for the summer months, but I don't seem to be there yet. I also keep trying to get way from gluten and gluten containing foods as well as dairy!
Tom and I hae been trying to walk on average every other day to every day depending on the weather and our schedule. We have been walking 4 miles and I am finally seeming not to have aches and pains like I did when we first started 2 weeks ago. I really want to start doing yoga! I have all these thoughts, but I just don't seem to find the time to actually do it! I am hoping the yoga will help me physically and also mentally, dealing with stress in my life.
As for using alternative means to a healthy life, I want to learn more about herbs and aromatherapy and how to incorporate that into my life. I would love to learn enough to start a career with this. I also consider nutrition as an alternative means of living a healthy life. By nutrition, I don't mean following the latest fad, I mean eating a healthy diet that may actually even go against what mainstream society tells you to eat. I also want to include yoga and other things like qi gong in my practice. I would love to add some of these things to anactual career, but I think my husband would kill me if I changed my career from social work to something else! I think it's because I had just gotten my MSW/LCSW right before I had children. Maybe some day, I'll actually get supervision and get enough hours to get my LICSW and then I can practice social work and do therapy how I want to, not just traditional psychotherapy!
I just want to continue to recycle and reduce my contribution to any negative envornmental impact. I would love to re-use instead of always using new items. Someday, I'll get to a thrift store and start to use/re-use otehr peoples things especailly in new and creative ways instead of always buying new, even material.
God this was a long post! If anyone is reading this, this was another post to help remind me of my goals, not to preach. Any thoughts are always welcome!
Amy
I am planning on sewing a couple of things for my sister's baby shower and I finally planned her blanket. I was going to make an actual quilt, but then I thought about time and whether or not it would actually be used. I decided to make a ribbon quilt. It will be an actual quilt, but small and with ribbons that my newest niece will hopefully enjoy playing with. I want it to be used and loved, not just folded away some where. I am also planning on making a couple of burp cloths to match the quilt. I did buy the diaper bag that was on my sister's registry as well as some little things to go along with it, but I absolutely for certain wanted to make something for my newest niece. I spent Friday night drafting the ribbon quilt for my niece. I am hoping that it will look great. I hope that it won't be too over done. My sister decided to go with the monkey theme, so I have monkey and jungle material with coordinating fabrics to go along with it. I am really excited to start working on it. I also decided to do a couple of traditional quilt blocks called the monkey wrench. I hope it some out the way I planned it! Then I will be off to draft my kids' quilts! I am hoping to use non-traditional patterns for theirs and make the boys coordinating and Eva Rose's coordinating too, but add something girly to it also. I am planning on having them in the same room for quite some time, so I might as well coordinate all quilts with the space theme that we had decided on for the boys!
I am trying to really get back to eating healthy. I have started to have at least 1 green smoothie a day. I would love to move up to have more and decreasing some of the solid foods that I eat. How healthy would it be to have more fruits and veggies in your diet and be able to drink them and get all the nutrients that you need. I still ahve a long way to go to fully be where I want to be, but again this whole life style is a balance. I don't have to be all or nothing. I can make small changes and hope that as I increase the amount of small changes, it will add up to big overall changes! As long as I keep moving in the right direction, than I am happy with that. I have started to decrease the amount of sugar that I give the kids and me and my husband. I am trying to get the adults away from as much meat as we have been eating, but not really the kids. I was hoping to do more with a raw foods diet for the summer months, but I don't seem to be there yet. I also keep trying to get way from gluten and gluten containing foods as well as dairy!
Tom and I hae been trying to walk on average every other day to every day depending on the weather and our schedule. We have been walking 4 miles and I am finally seeming not to have aches and pains like I did when we first started 2 weeks ago. I really want to start doing yoga! I have all these thoughts, but I just don't seem to find the time to actually do it! I am hoping the yoga will help me physically and also mentally, dealing with stress in my life.
As for using alternative means to a healthy life, I want to learn more about herbs and aromatherapy and how to incorporate that into my life. I would love to learn enough to start a career with this. I also consider nutrition as an alternative means of living a healthy life. By nutrition, I don't mean following the latest fad, I mean eating a healthy diet that may actually even go against what mainstream society tells you to eat. I also want to include yoga and other things like qi gong in my practice. I would love to add some of these things to anactual career, but I think my husband would kill me if I changed my career from social work to something else! I think it's because I had just gotten my MSW/LCSW right before I had children. Maybe some day, I'll actually get supervision and get enough hours to get my LICSW and then I can practice social work and do therapy how I want to, not just traditional psychotherapy!
I just want to continue to recycle and reduce my contribution to any negative envornmental impact. I would love to re-use instead of always using new items. Someday, I'll get to a thrift store and start to use/re-use otehr peoples things especailly in new and creative ways instead of always buying new, even material.
God this was a long post! If anyone is reading this, this was another post to help remind me of my goals, not to preach. Any thoughts are always welcome!
Amy
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