Dime a Dozen

I was on Pinterest, as usual, when I found this pin where someone mentioned they wanted this top from Lululemon and they were going to use their $1 reward jar towards it. I don't know how their jar works, but it got me thinking.

What if I could curb my 'outlandish spending habits' as my mother says with my love of using a 'reward system' to help keep me on track for working out? Kill three birds with one stone? Why the hell not? So I decided I'd go to the bank and take $20 in dimes out. Crazy, I know. Next I found a container that will work as my collection bin for workouts received. And finally I found something I've been drooling over as my motivation.

Lululemon's Studio Pant II* No Liner has been on my radar for what seems like an eternity. I love these, they're soft, they're comfortable, they're cute. I just can't justify spending $100 on a pair of yoga pants. Well, I could if I worked out for them. And at $0.10 earned for every ten minutes working out I don't feel bad. I will have to pour a lot of sweat, blood and tears into my workouts to earn those pants, but they're worth it.

I'm sure you're thinking, this is a dumb idea. $0.10 for every ten minutes is ridiculous and how can that even motivate anyone? There's two reasons really. The first is that a 20 minute workout isn't worth $1 to me. I should get rewarded for my workouts based on my time. Every workout is different and the reward should be as well. If I were to give myself $1 per workout I'd only ever workout for 20 minutes a day. By making it by the time I spend I'm holding myself more accountable, I'm making myself *want* to run for that extra ten minutes, that extra mile, take that class that's a little bit longer than the normal one.

And the second reason? Well I have this thing called buyer's guilt. I'm not sure if it's even a real thing, I just know I don't have buyer's remorse. I don't ever *regret* buying what I bought, I just always get guilted by someone for buying it. I love what I buy, I wouldn't buy it if I didn't love it. But this new idea allows me to buy without guilt. How? Because I've not only saved for the item at a painstakingly slow rate, but I've also poured my energy, time, blood, sweat, tears, motivation and dedication into my reward. I truly feel like I've earned it. And to me, buying something without the guilt, well hell, that's worth it every time!

Cost is Different than Worth

I often find myself defending purchases made, whether it be to my Mom asking where I got something or to a friend asking how much something cost. But they fail to grasp what Steve Jobs talked about during his time at Apple. Cost is different than worth.

The cost of an iPad starts at $499. That's a lot of money, it's well over $500 when you add tax in, and for some people the cost is not worth it. But what about for others? What about for someone whose child has a learning disability? The iPad was one of the few pieces of technology in our age that gave families who have children with autism, aspergers, Down Syndrome and a few other disabilities a way to communicate with the world. Can you put a price on peace of mind? What about access? There have been several tablets that came into the market after the iPad but few offer the design and ease of use the iPad has. No one can compare to the App Store the iPad has. So the worth of the iPad depends greatly on how you're going to use it.

The same goes for any aspect of your life. My yoga mat is by Manduka. It's an amazing mat, the Black Mat PRO Limited Edition Black Sage. It's absolutely gorgeous, comes with a LIFETIME GUARANTEE and is the Maybach of Yoga Mats. But when friends heard how much I spent on it, they could not help but throw their two cents in. $100 for a yoga mat? I was declared mentally unstable. But the cost of the mat may be higher than what most who do not practice yoga would consider fair, the reality is it's not. The average mat is about $20 - $30. I've had one mat I got for $20 for a month before it cracked. Yoga isn't a fad, it isn't just a workout. It's 60 minutes that I get to give to myself, my future, my health and get out of my head and into my body.

So what is it worth? Well with a Lifetime Guarantee, thickness to stand on my head (when I get there), and the cost of other yoga mats, the worth far outweighs the cost. I've never understood when people buy a lesser quality product and then complain about it. You get what you pay for when you go cheap. But sometimes, you get more than what you pay for when you find a product whose cost is trivial compared to its worth. And what a product is worth, differs with each person.

So the fact that I have one Manduka Black Mat PRO, two eQua mat towels and one hand towel may look like a waste of money to somebody else, but for me it's an investment. A reminder to practice yoga, to get my dollar out of every item I purchase. Besides, it's more fun to stick to a lifestyle change when you find what motivates you.

Yoga Controversy

There's been some fun news in the yoga world lately. The other day the New York Times published a piece talking about how yoga can wreck your body. The tales were quite scary but most of us with common sense shook our heads and thought, but the examples the writer used showed people going against everything yoga is supposed to be about when they get injured. Today, another piece was released to counter the controversial piece and it provided a much more logical point of view.

The New York Times did raise some valid points, there are positions that are dangerous, some may be risky to teach in a beginning class. The person practicing yoga needs to listen to their body, which is discussed with any yoga class you ever take. That each person needs to practice yoga at their pace, with thier strengths and injuries in mind, any ego should be checked at the door. But isn't this common knowledge? Well what can be considered common knowledge in an age of warning labels on coffee to avoid getting sued? So while there may be warnings against yoga, as with any physical activity it is best to consult with your doctor before starting.

And even though I know this is a ways away for me, it inspires me to keep practicing.

Yoga by Equinox

Life over Hockey Fandom

Life is funny sometimes isn't it? Last year there was nothing I loved more than hockey; talking to other hockey fans, watching hockey games, tweeting about hockey news...in a word I was obsessed. For anyone who has read my personal blog before you may have read the post earlier this Fall about the past six years of struggle I had been through, if not here's the Reader's Digest version. Shit happens, and sometimes when drowning you cling on to the ray of light that can bring you happiness and you don't let go. But as with all things in life, one day you're up the next day you're down. Somewhere along the line the online hockey community went from the thing that saved me and filled me with joy and energy to a place filled with negativity and whining. I can handle criticism but hockey seemed to invite people into my life to constantly criticize what I did, how I felt, what I liked and any opinion I had. I didn't realize it at first, I blamed it on the Avalanche crapping the bed midway through last season as to why I wasn't as into hockey but the Playoffs rolled around and I watched maybe two games. I couldn't care less, and I finally figured out why.

The hockey community is a great one, filled with fun individuals who really love the sport and want to talk to other hockey fans. The problem is that for me it felt like instead of going out and doing stuff I would talk hockey with other people. This past summer the hockey community was hit with tragedy, time and time again. Instead of banning together people fought over how other people should mourn, over what was classy and respectful and what was not. It was insane and above all else it was energy draining. I often found myself turning off Twitter and re-reading Steve Jobs' Stanford Commencement Speech - about living your life to the fullest. Somewhere along the line I realized that while online communities are great and connecting with other fans is fun, it's not the only part of my life. No wonder I had little to offer other than critiquing people on Twitter; I wasn't actually living an active life so I had nothing to comment on other than observe how others were living. What a boring life. Then the 10 year anniversary of September 11th came and Penelope Trunk wrote a piece that had me in tears at the end. Steve had nailed it on the head about remembering to make the most of each day, but even that seemed lofty and we always think we have tomorrow. But Penelope, well she smacked it out of the ballpark, bases loaded bottom of the 9th Inning in the World Series Game Seven for the Championship. I realized how to make me happy and what was worthwhile to me.

A few months later and I'm happier and healthier. I run two to three times a week, go to yoga four times a week and am out past 10 pm on most days. I hang out with cool people, learn something new each day, and get to laugh out loud instead of type LOL. That doesn't mean I don't love my Twitter family, it just means balance is needed in my life. For me, the pendulum swung all the way over to hockey and the online hockey community and as with all things the pendulum has to swing the other way to correct itself. I'm striking that balance any way I can, and sometimes that means by unfollowing people who don't have much to tweet about other than whine over how their team got screwed or their fellow fans or the return of Sidney Crosby.

But if you're wondering, I still love my Avs and am excited about Landeskog and the future for the organization. I still check out the scores, watch highlights and check out the news; but it isn't the only love of my life any longer. So if you're on Twitter and I'm tweeting about music, movies, food, technology and yoga, feel free to tweet me back; it's even more fun than just tweeting about hockey, I promise.

Practicing Yoga

Every class my yoga instructor starts with an intention for the class and for the day. Today I had Ryann and she is fabulous. She told us that it always surprises her when she tells people she's going to yoga and they tell her to have a good workout. What surprises me is people tell me to have fun stretching, if they only knew. The funny thing about yoga is that there are physical benefits to the practice. The building of stability muscles, the loss of weight, flexibility etc. But yoga isn't about achieving weight loss or lean muscles; those are simply by products for what the yogi is trying to achieve. What yoga focuses on is grace, patience, mindfulness and concentration. We aim for grace and practice it through dancer's pose which forces us to use stabilizing muscles, our core, etc. The benefits to yoga are what most people who are new or who are unfamiliar with yoga think of and what they associate with yoga. But once the practice begins it becomes about calming the mind, even getting out of one's mind and into one's body; it's about finding what's important in life, living in the moment and learning about oneself.

I practice yoga four times a week and I do it because I am trying to find my patience, I'm striving to be graceful,  and I need to let the pressures of the day fall away. I leave it all on my mat and yes, since starting on November 8th I've gone down a pant size and a bra size; I have built muscles I never knew existed and I love that as well. But the real joy of yoga is going and every time getting deeper in my practice. I may not get better every day because every day has a different challenge, but every day I become more connected with myself, with the present and with my intentions.

That's what yoga has done for me. That's why I tweet about it, why I wake up at ungodly hours to squeeze a class in and why I find myself doing more laundry than I ever thought was possible. Because who I am becoming and the lessons I am learning through those sixty minutes is worth every (expensive) penny to me.

My Food Revolution: Three Month Anniversary

When I first started down the road to eat healthy and live better I didn't know what I was embarking on was a 'Clean Food' diet. Well this isn't a fad for me, this is a lifestyle change, meant for the long haul. I stand here before you three months into my journey with new perspective, tidbits and even more recipes to share. I've read interesting books, watched startling documentaries and ultimately changed the way I view the world, food, and my health. I've lost weight, both emotional and physical and feel content for the first time in a long time. I'm taking care of me, cooking, cleaning, working out all because I made one decision: eat healthy.

Every day it gets easier to eat healthy, not to say there aren't days where I just want to order take out and veg out, but if I do it's a special occasion and I better be hitting the gym extra hard the following day. Finding a balance for you is the most important thing. I've always been an 'all or nothing' type of personality, when I work out, I work out hard. When I get off the exercise train I don't think you could motivate me to just go for a walk. If I do, the next thing you know I'm running the following day, expecting to do a 5k effortlessly. It's who I am. So when I made the change to 'slowly remove processed foods from my life and document that journey' I should have known better. I threw out fast food and soda in the first week. Processed foods the following week. I never do anything the easy way, but it was my way and I have found balance along the way.

Finding motivation in others, in the media is easy if you know where to look. Watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution as well as NBC's The Biggest Loser and ABC's Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition are constant reminders to me that every time I take a bite of food I am making a decision about my health. Every time I purchase organic, locally grown food I am spending money to support them and money against the giants like Monsanto who care more about profit than consumer health. Every Tuesday I watch Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition before heading down to the gym. There doesn't seem to be an excuse in the world that can stop me after watching how eating your emotions and being sedentary can destroy your life. It's pretty easy to stay motivated while eating at home or being in control of where I go out to eat, but life isn't always that easy.

Last month I went out to Happy Hour (HH) with my coworkers. Many of my coworkers know that I've radically changed my diet and thus were giving me a hard time when I showed up, had one cocktail (well half of one) and ate some of the food that was there. I talked about it with my Mom beforehand, and I figured it would be my one treat as it was for socializing purposes and not a daily occurrence. The food didn't have the same hold on me, I wasn't mindlessly eating it and the following day my stomach hurt. Not to mention that after I got home I was hungry again, I forgot how unsatisfying garbage is for you. Now whenever I'm tempted to eat something on my old diet I know without a doubt that I'd be much happier with making my own meal. What a difference three months makes.

How to Save a Life: It Only Takes 20 Minutes

The past few days we've seen #AlicesBucketList or #AliceBucketList trend worldwide on Twitter. While it's great that so many people are tweeting and re-tweeting about Alice, it would be even more wonderful if they would think about the one thing she wants the most. for everyone to get tested to donate marrow.

This past year hockey fans everywhere were told to go and get tested for Mandi Schwartz, they were told to 'Be the Match' and sign up. I was as touched as everyone else, crying every time I read about Mandi, yet I always forgot to sign up to get tested. Upon seeing Alice's story I was instantly reminded of Mandi's, her struggle and ultimate death. But I wouldn't call her death the end, her memory and legacy is alive in those who were touched by her story and chose to act on it. And that now includes me, as I've signed up to become a donor. I'm ashamed I didn't sign up earlier, but I've made the decision not to dwell in the past but move forward as a better person tomorrow. Hopefully enough people will be motivated by Mandi and Alice alike and seek to take a whole fifteen minutes to answer a questionnaire and five minutes to conduct a cheek swab. That's it, less than twenty minutes total to find out if you can save someone else's life.

Super heroes are great, they're entertaining and fun to watch. But even a super hero can't match an everyday hero who saves someone else's life not by gift, but by choice. It's a simple choice, but an important one. Won't you take the test so Alice's story has a different ending than Mandi's?

My Food Revolution: 'The End of Overeating'

When I first started on becoming healthier I had heard why eating out was a bad idea but the author's focus was more on eating healthier overall and he didn't delve into the science behind it. I had decided to limit going out to eat as it was harder to do when I was spending more on fresh produce as that food has an expiration date. So I focused instead on making homecooked meals and changing my diet towards eating healthy. I found that eating healthier was not as hard financially as many claim it is, when you go out to eat more often the food you have in the fridge that expires and then you have to buy more, wasting food and money. When I stopped throwing away food, I noticed there wasn't that big of a difference in terms of how much money I spent. I still occasionally went out to eat with friends, but felt somewhat guilty for doing so.

So when a friend recommended The End of Overeating: Taking Control of the Insatiable American Appetite by David A. Kessler, MD. I decided to read it. Finding it was only $2.99 prompted a quick buy and immediate reading. While I'm only halfway through the book here's my first impression.

1. The food that's super bad for you actually changes your neural pathways to reinforce the action of you eating it. This is essentially making food a drug but without the abundance of warnings and access to food at every corner on every street.
2. Some people literally cannot stop thinking about food. I have never understood this as I am not one of those people but to see how people describe their suffering is very similar to what an alcoholic goes through, it's fascinating and frustrating at the same time.
3. Chain restaurants are basically fast food places where you sit down and pay more. There's practically as much frying and processed food on your plate as there is when you eat from McDonald's. Your food isn't being cooked, it's being manufactured, so can we really call it food anymore?
4. Scientist are finding interesting studies showing how 'highly palatable' food is changing the pathways in animals and food manufacturers are using this information for a profit at the expense of our health.
5. We need to stop using food to reward good behavior or soothe us when we are stressed as it reinforces the 'desire' for food and forms habits that soon become automatic.

If this isn't enough to entice you to read the book then I don't know what is. The fact that the food industry not only puts so much fat, sugar and salt in their food to make us unhealthy but do it because it's addictive is a sign that we all need to educate ourselves. If after reading books on these topics we choose to eat the same way many currently do then that's a decision, it's a choice that was made after finding out all the facts. Because if we were to be honest, we know very little about what we're putting in our bodies, why we crave it and how to break the habits.

My Food Revolution: Frozen Foods

It's inevitable, there are going to be times when we need to grab a frozen meal and have it for lunch or dinner. But that doesn't mean it has to be filled with chemicals, we can still make good food decisions when we grab something to eat. Now usually that means forking over more dough, but it's well worth it. It can also mean more caloric intake, but it might not be awful to intake more calories that are healthy than binging on cookies later due to hunger.

Amy's Organic Kitchen is a great brand found at most grocery stores. The products are vegetarian and organic as well as steep in price. However, Amy's is often on sale and that's the best time to stock up. Now sodium wise their dishes are comparable to Lean Cuisine but they do have great low sodium meals that are just as wonderful. Let's compare Amy's Mac & Cheese to Lean Cuisine's Mac & Cheese (which I've had, and it's nothing to write home about.)

Amy's Organic Kitchen Mac & Cheese:

This dish has one ingredient with three parts and then six other ingredients total. That's it. Total sodium? 290 mg. The calories are higher but the dish is actually tasty instead of a waste of calories.

Lean Cuisine Mac & Cheese:
Trying to count the number of ingredients in this dish made my heard hurt. Some ingredients had multiple ingredients which had their own ingredients. This isn't food, this is science. And while science has made great leaps I'd rather have food than science when it comes to lunch.

And that's not all Amy's has, there's snacks and soups, breakfast burritos and salsas. When I went to compare Amy's Cheese Pizza Rolls with Totino's I couldn't even find the nutritional information available on Totino's site. No list of ingredients or caloric inventory, just information on how to cook them.

My Food Revolution: More of What I'm Eating

Earlier this month I told you what I was eating, and I thought two weeks later might be a good time to share some more recipes I've been using with you. The more I learn about what I'm eating the easier it is to keep eating healthy. I found that many homemade dinners can be easily altered with a healthy substitute that tastes fabulous and isn't processed. Here's a few pointers.

Ditch the Texas Toast:

Ever look at the back of your garlic toast box and look up the ingredients? It's not pretty and what's even worse is how coated in yellow the toast is. It's probably not even butter but whatever it is, it sure is delicious. How are you supposed to cut that out of your diet? Easy enough if you have the right tools.

Garlic Ciabatta Bread

Healthy Snacking:
Every good intention can be undermined by buying pre-made snacks. Forget the calories, count the ingredients. If there are more ingredients than the number of fingers or toes you have it's probably not the best thing for you. The best snacks are ones that are simple and delicious. It's not always so easy to bring fruit with you so grab something else that's great for you! For a great on the go alternative make your own trail mix.

Courtney's Trail Mix

When I told you about LARABAR I didn't tell you they were about $1.50 - $2.00 each. For some people that's just not doable. The other recipe I was given is a little more putzy than this one which I found on Prevention.com so I share it with you now.

Prevention's Granola Bars
When I was little I used to call asparagus ass-per-gas and refused to eat it. Then one day a friend's mom made a quiche with bacon and asparagus in it. I cut a small slice and was determined to eat it to be polite. After the first bite I was hooked, I loved asparagus. While I've had asparagus in the quiche several times since, I've only recently ventured out to eating it in a healthier way.

Asparagus

Change is CONSTANT:
Even after two weeks I continually change what I'm eating. I've replaced Lay's Potato Chips with homemade Popcorn, an apple and string cheese at lunch. For an after dinner treat I eat organic strawberries and blueberries OR I hanker down with Haagen Daz Chocolate Ice Cream and Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. Why Haagen Daz? Each ice cream previously mentioned has five to six ingredients without compromising taste. This is old fashioned style ice cream, the kind that even your grandmother's grandmother would recognize as ice cream when reading the ingredients. It's so rich and heavenly you can eat less and feel satisfied. It's a win-win.

My Food Revolution: One Month Anniversary

It's been a month since the fateful day that changed my life. Last Friday was my one month anniversary free of soda and this past Saturday was my one month anniversary free from fast food. It's been a journey, made more difficult by not being at home and being in complete control of my own diet but there are ways to avoid eating things you don't want to eat.

What I've learned:
- Read the labels. If there's things you can't pronounce or your grandmother's grandmother wouldn't recognize, skip it.
- You can find healthy alternatives to almost everything in your diet. It won't be exactly the same but that doesn't mean it has to taste like cardboard.
- Leftovers of home cooked meals are your friends. Freezing meals is even better. When you're lazy and just want something quick this prevents you from grabbing fast food or a frozen meal.
- Tell people about your changes, it helps to be held accountable and to receive encouragement from time to time.

New goals:- Use the Farmers Market. Now that the weather is nice it's time to take advantage of local produce.
- Give up plastic Tupperware. It's bad for my health, it's bad for the environment.
- Try new recipes. Good friend Sarah from CWGAP has sent me a ton of recipes. I'll report back on how some of them turned out :)

My Food Revolution: Fuel Your Education

I think it's important to know what you are talking about if you are going to believe in something. All too often we hear what is said about something and don't delve deeper. It isn't until our curiosity is sparked that we frantically 'Google' everything we can on the subject. When I saw the commercials for Jamie Oliver's 'Food Revolution' my interest was piqued, especially recalling images of morbidly obese people in my day to day life as the preview discussed obesity and how our food industry has us knocking on death's doorstep with our current diet. I missed the live episode but watched it online the following night. I was rocked to say the least, disgusted with the way Americans live and sad for humanity. It made me question things and I was intrigued that is for sure, but I still had Burger King the following night. It was that night that I watched Food Inc. and gave up fast food, limited soda and as many processed foods as possible. I have never felt more ashamed of myself for my eating habits, I was disgusted.

Since those pivotal moments I have sought out documentaries and books. I recently finished Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food, and suffice to say have strengthened my resolve to eat as healthy as possible.

Here is a short list of some books and documentaries you should check out.

Books
An Omnivore's Dilemma, Michael Pollan
In Defense of Food, Michael Pollan
Food Rules, Michael Pollan
Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser
The Eat Clean Diet, Tosca Reno
Real Food: What to Eat and Why, Nina Planck

Documentaries
Food Inc.
Fast Food Nation
The Future of Food
Earthlings

Michael Pollan also has articles on his website. Both Michael Pollan and Jamie Oliver can be found discussing sustainable agriculture and healthy school food on TED Talks.

My Food Revolution: Dealing with the Pushback

There have been a lot of benefits to learning about how food is made, where my food comes from, and even how to eat better. I feel better, I look better, and I know what I'm doing is better for me and the environment. It's been a constant struggle to encounter people who not only treat me like I'm crazy but also the ones who treat me like I'm manipulated and stupid for changing my ways. Even though I'm the one who has been reading the books, watching the documentaries, I'm the one who knows the least. And once that's known, it then becomes about how all of those books and documentaries are slanted and pure propaganda. I think there is a very big piece of the puzzle missing from most of the conversations where I experience 'push back' - it's called common sense. Let's throw out what the experts have found and just take a look at growing trends and try to see what could attribute to it.

Resistance to Antibiotics
There's this saying, 'You are what you eat' but as Michael Pollan brought up in his book In Defense of Food, 'You are what you eat eats.' This saying had me thinking about more than food, about antibiotics. For years Doctors had warned against using too many antibiotics for fear of resistance to antibiotics in the future. There was a time when Doctors wrote a prescription for every ailment, that time has come and gone and now we are seeing a stricter grip on recommending antibiotics. It stands to reason that resistance to antibiotics is bad, that these superviruses and superbacteria are evolving to survive antibiotics, and this is a problem for the health care industry and for us. Would it not make sense to also cut back on eating food that has been fed antibiotics as well? If our food is fed antibiotics to deal with the living conditions it's a fair assumption to make that there are superviruses and superbacteria that are evolving that target chicken and cows as well. By giving so many antibiotics instead of relying on the evolutionary process and the defenses their bodies have could be weakened, causing the need for more antibiotics. If we're so concerned with the amount of antibiotics we put in our own bodies, we should be equally as concerned about the amount of antibiotics we put in our food.

Natural Woman?
These days girls are menstruating at a younger and younger age. What used to start at age 16 is now beginning at age 9. What is the change in this, how can this be changing virtually over night? One could make the argument that the hormones (rBGH) used to increase milk production could be affecting as well. While it might seem unnatural to do so, let's take a look at things from a common sense perspective. Before the 1960s there was no to limited manipulation by food companies with their products. The average age for a girl developing was in the range from 13-18. After the 1960s we started changing our food, processing it, adding hormone, antibiotics, etc. In this day and age there are cases of pre-teens having babies and children as young as 9 starting their menstruation cycle. We are literally speeding up the process of aging, and given how many women wish to have children in their late thirties after they pursue a career starting their period at nine will make it that much harder. Evolution doesn't change things over night, these children should not be getting their period or having the ability to make a baby at such a young age, yet they do. This change is caused by something and my money is on hormones in our food.

Case Study: Margarine
Back in the day when margarine came out my Grandpa Pop said hell to the no was that going in his stomach. It didn't taste right to him and he refused to let my Grandma serve it. Now we know that the thing most food marketing tells us is deadly and bad for us is Trans Fat. Back in the day margarine had the deadly Trans Fat. I have a theory on man-made vs. made by nature/God and it basically is this: man is limited by what [s]he knows and often we find [s]he doesn't know enough. Just like with margarine which was introduced to take the place of butter as something much healthier for us, Heroine was developed by researchers as a safe alternative to Morphine. Patients had become addicted to Morphine and these doctors and researchers developed Heroine as a way to help them out as they believed Heroine was not addictive. It was later found out that Heroine was exponentially more addictive than Morphine. I am not saying science does nothing right, in fact Novocaine is an altered form of Cocaine that does not cross the blood-brain barrier thus it is not addictive and can be used as a local anesthetic so scientists have gotten some things right and some things wrong. What I am saying is until we know what is truly in this scientific food it might be best to leave it be.

Think before you eat something that has ingredients you cannot pronounce. Think before you eat meat that isn't free range, grass fed. Think before you purchase groceries, think before you go out to a restaurant. Even if you don't go as far as I am going in my quest for health just take a moment and think about what you are putting in your body. If you have more questions than answers about the food you are eating, chances are it's not something you want to put into your mouth.

Can Vespas Save the World?

I saw this article on Mashable about scooters and the reduction of gas consumption and emissions. Now reading this article it plainly reveals its bias as the company organizing the data and promoting it is Vespa. They have a vested interest, to say the least, in scooter/motorcycle sales and the accompanying policies that go with encouraging cities to become more scooter/motorcycle friendly. That being said, it doesn't detract from the fact that those numbers are staggering.

We all know that America is not necessarily built for mass transportation, it was built for a horse and carriage that then converted to cars (plus a bunch of other steps in between.) There just aren't enough people taking mass transportation to service varying routes if you don't work downtown. In fact it takes me ten minutes to get to work by car but an hour and fifteen minutes to get to work by bus. Even with the best intentions of trying to reduce my carbon footprint a two and a half hour commute compared to a half hour commute is just too big of a difference to take the bus. What Vespa is suggesting is to change some of our habits to help the environment, which is the same thing the bus suggests. The difference? Everyone can add a Vespa (well everyone who can afford it) whereas taking the bus just isn't an option for some of us.

Take my Uncle for example. He has an SUV and lives on the Lake. During the winter months he uses his snowmobile, during his summer months he uses his Vespa. The SUV gets approximately 12 mpg. The Vespa? 75 mpg. He takes it to the grocery store, the gas station to grab a newspaper, or basically anywhere that doesn't require a highway. He loves that the Vespa is not just beneficial for the environment but also economically beneficial.

We should all care about the one planet we have and want to save money. It's just smart to save money by practicing environmentally friendly actions, period. Whether it's introducing a scooter to your household or simply walking more often, the end result is money saved.

My Food Revolution: Don't Drink Your Calories

Long before I had ever heard of this 'Food Revolution' my sister Shana kept telling us not to drink our calories. That if something was calorie filled it probably wasn't good for us. My sister was also one of the first I know on the natural foods movement, she watched the documentary Food Inc. three years before I did. Shana and her husband Mark have not only changed their eating and drinking habits, they've also removed plastic from their lives when the rest of us thought it was wacky. As I've previously stated, my sister is Libertarian, this isn't a Left vs. Right thing it's about learning what is going on out there and choosing our health. Now we're learning why plastic is not only bad for us, but bad for the environment (more on that this week.) So when I started My Food Revolution I knew two of the things I had to give up were fast food and soda, I've already seen the benefits but here's how I get through the day without soda.

Now I never drank diet soda, to me it just tasted funny and I couldn't stop gagging when drinking it. It was not what we 'knew' about artificial sweeteners in diet soda that concerned me as much as what we didn't know, and my taste buds told me that I shouldn't trust it, so I never did. Giving up soda is a painful decision, every time I see someone drinking a Mountain Dew I have a moment. You and I both know what that feels like when dieting, when you want something so badly but you know how bad it is for you. It's not torture, it's just a moment and it goes away after awhile. While giving up soda made with High Fructose Corn Syrup wasn't easy, every time I read a book on food or watch a documentary it just reaffirms my decision to leave it from my diet.

While I can't give anyone any tips on how to give up soda as it really is that hard, I can give tips on how to increase your water intake. The trend in my office had been bottles of water, then we got a UV filter through the Culligan to make our tap water purified. Once that filter came to our office there was an increase of us drinking water from a glass, and I did drink a fair share of water. I am a firm believer of knowing how much water you are drinking, I think it motivates you to have at least 64 oz every day.

A recent trend in our office has been the Camelbak BPA Free water bottles. These water bottles hold 750 mL or approx. 25 oz. They come in many different colors and their biggest selling point is the straw. To drink from this water bottle you have to bite the rubber mouthpiece and then take a sip. One of the reason I love this is working out (which I haven't done for some time to be quite frank.) Whenever I was on the treadmill or elliptical and desperately needed a drink of water I wouldn't dare drink it for fear of taking a sip and having half the bottle drench me. These bottles don't do that, you don't even have to tip them back, just simply bite and sip.

On most days I find myself drinking anywhere between 64 oz to 125 oz of water. Harder to drink your calories when you're drinking so much water. On days when I do decide to have a Coca Cola (from the glass bottle of course) I make sure I've already had 64 oz of water. Most days it postpones my Coca Cola consumption assuming I do drink it. I've been using Simply Orange as a late night treat, sweet to drink and much better for me. What are your tricks?

My Food Revolution: Soda Be Gone?

"I gave up soda." - Me
"Yeah, I heard you gave up on life too." - Coworker
"You mean my natural foods movement?" - Me
"Yeah, giving up everything that is good in life is basically giving up on life." - Coworker

I love soda, more specifically I love a good Mountain Dew or Coca Cola after a long hard day of work. A Coke goes perfectly with pizza, and a Mountain Dew tastes great with a burger. What I don't love about soda is this: high fructose corn syrup. And I've tried Mountain Dew throwback, I wasn't a fan, too sugary. Now Coca Cola with sugar in the glass bottle, I'm a sucker for every single time. My sister has always told my mother and me that we shouldn't drink our calories. When you think of all the other wonderful tasty foods you could have instead of soda her advice is sound. When you think of how much sugar is in one can, it can make you sick to your stomach. So what can we do? Should we eliminate soda entirely from our diets? Is that realistic?

I've done a lot of thinking about this, I finished my last Mountain Dew on Friday, April 15, 2011. I told myself two weeks free from soda would do me some good, and I truly believe removing soda from my diet would do some good. First, I usually get soda with fast food, and since I pledged on April 16, 2011 to remove fast food from my diet, removing something that I get with fast food could only help me. I didn't want to taste a soda and think, man I wish I was having (fill in the blank) right now. So I came to an agreement with myself. I will limit soda from my diet. First, when I drink soda I usually don't drink the necessary water for that day. Second, it costs money that I could be using on better food: farmers market produce and free range, grass fed meat. The money I would be saving by removing this from my diet could be used towards picking higher quality products up.

Now everyone knows that when you have a goal, it's easier to stick by if you have rewards. When I am just getting into a new work out regime, I bribe myself. Stick with it for two months and you get a pedicure. Why can't the same be true for a new eating lifestyle? I don't think soda is the end of the world, but I do think limiting soda is important. So instead of completely banning I have decided that one soda every two weeks will be my reward for eating healthy. And more specifically, Coca Cola from the glass bottle with real sugar. Why? Not only does it taste better, but something about drinking it from an ice cold glass bottle makes me savor it more. This way I can still enjoy a treat, which is what soda should be viewed as, a treat to have intermittently instead of a part of our every day diet. If you don't know, you can purchase Coca Cola in the glass bottle with real sugar from Costco.

Racism: Alive and Kicking in America

Barack Obama. The man who is dividing my country, friendships, and my family. Why? Quite simply put, because racism is not only alive and well in America, it's actually celebrated. People questioning Donald Trump for demanding the birth certificate are viewed as idiotic, this is a real issue. I forgot, if you hide racism in issues, then it's not racism anymore, it's just good practice. I know you're going to go on the defensive so let's try a different approach.

Let's imagine the next President of the US has a mother from Kansas and a father from Sweden. The mother has blonde hair, blue eyes, and went missing after the birth of her son. The father is in the States for school, he also has blonde hair and blue eyes. Both were raised Christian and their son is raised that way too. They name their son John Smith. John's Dad disappears and his Mom struggles to get by. Despite the adversary, John is athletic, he's charismatic, he goes to an Ivy League school. After graduating college he gets his law degree from an Ivy League school. He could go on to have a very profitable career, but instead he goes into public servitude, going to the most dangerous areas of the country. Working to organize the community to help reduce teen pregnancies, end hate crimes, increase the number of high school graduates, etc. He runs for the Senate and wins. Then he runs for the Presidency, he also wins, by a landslide.

Perhaps it's best to look at a real life situation. One Chicago Tribune Reporter has been on the Obama birth certificate story since 2008 when they believed it was silly to even discuss the matter. While Senator John McCain faced similar questions regarding his citizenship (his father was stationed in the Panama Canal and McCain was born on a military base) there were never full page ads questioning his right to become President. He was never accused of forging signatures, producing a fake birth certificate, or to have a lawsuit taken to the SUPREME COURT over his citizenship. No, McCain didn't win, but if he had won would we be having a similar debate about his birth certificate and right to be President? Or more to the point would he be treated in the way that Obama is being treated for the answers to the same questions?

The problem is whether or not you have 'legitimate' claims of your concern for Obama being a natural born citizen. When we treat two individuals differently based on the color of their skin, THAT is racism. What satisfied those who questioned McCain being a 'natural born citizen' should be the same for Obama, clearly that is not what happened. It's frightening that the deep seeded racism is so engrained in our society we don't even recognize it when it happens.
 
The other day I was watching tv when a Bayer commercial came on. The white male is in pain on the plane and there is an Asian flight attendant. He asks her for medicine for his back. She gives him Bayer. Obviously she doesn't have a good grasp of English so he talks to her slowly and uses hand motions to show that it's 'Not my heart, my back'. She responds in perfect English telling him she understands and that it works for pain as well. While the intent is to show that most people have misconceptions about what Bayer can do for pain it uses a harmful stereotype about Asians to promote their product. Now I'm sure someone out there is thinking I'm overly sensitive because I am Asian. Damn right I am! People will avoid other racial jokes in front of people of other ethnicities, but almost every single white friend I've had has made some sort of crack about Asians. Whether it's about the food they eat, the accent they have, their abilities in math/science, or driving ability, I've heard it all. And mind you, these are from the people who supposedly care about me. All of my life I've had people tell me I "should be used to being made fun of, because [I'm] Asian." So instead of them not telling racist jokes or saying hurtful things and just being nicer, I am supposed to just take being treated like crap. Because it's their right to make me feel bad about myself over something I have no control over (the color of my skin, the shape of my eyes) and it's my job to take it. To say this is something that made me situationally depressed about in middle school is an understatement. Kids were so intolerably cruel to me I thought of committing suicide to escape their constant degradation. It's something that typing this post makes me tear up and I'm reminded of how much I hated myself for something I had no control over.

I've had family members tell me that people of Arab descent should be screened at airports and the Japanese were rightfully kept in internment camps. Racial profiling is there because these people are dangerous. The psychology major in me asks, are they dangerous and that's why we are profiling them or is it more like a self-fulfilling prophecy? When Timothy McVeigh blew up the Oklahoma City Federal Building no one profiled angry looking Caucasian men. When the KKK terrorizes families here in the US no one profiles Caucasian people. Using race as the ONLY factor to judge someone is not only racist, it's morally wrong.
 
As for as I know, God didn't tell us that we should "Love thy neighbor as thyself" EXCEPT Blacks, Asians, Latinos, Arabs and homosexuals. There wasn't an except then, yet we live that way now. Love everybody, and if you can't do that then tolerate everybody. No exceptions.

My Food Revolution: Where Can You Eat Out?

When I decided to give up fast food almost two weeks ago I knew I told myself I would slowly adapt to the Natural Food lifestyle and slowly reject my current ways. As with almost everything I've done, I jumped straight in and did the complete opposite. Fast food has been relatively easy to give up, despite living next to more than a dozen different fast food restaurants. Once I knew what was in my food it made every decision I made easier. Now I don't always have the energy, time, or dedication to make every meal, and with the removal of fast food from my diet where was I to turn to find a meal that fit within my new lifestyle and was still relatively friendly on the budget?

I knew immediately that I could count on Chipotle. I had always loved Chipotle, as a Colorado girl supporting this great Colorado based company was a no-brainer. Delicious food, good prices, what's not to love? Every time I've been to Chipotle I've seen that they are trying to have 'Food with Integrity'.

So what exactly does that mean? I looked it up today, checked out Chipotle's website to see what they had to say about their food. Not only is Chipotle trying (and in some cases are already there) to provide only grass fed, free range meat, they're also committed to keeping hormones and anti-biotics away from the dairy. Their theory is if you raise the demand, you'll help influence the way the industry is going. So by being committed to natural food, raised locally where animals and workers are treated with respect, they're actually changing the food culture. So every time you visit Chipotle, you too are supporting that movement.

Ironic to think the restaurant that teamed up with McDonald's to become global is one of the biggest pioneers in the industry for a change in the way food is made.

My Food Revolution: Great Harvest Taste Test

As I tweeted yesterday, I went after work to the Linden Hills Great Harvest location. The place is only a few blocks where I get my hair cut at Salon Rox. The best part about this is that I can go from work in Edina to Great Harvest, leave Great Harvest and go to Trader Joe's before taking Excelsior back to my apartment. It's a long, round about way to go home, but I found a way to make it convenient for me.
Back to the bread. Everyone I talked to yesterday has had Great Harvest bread, but usually years and years ago. My coworker and I discussed all the bad things out there for you and when I told her what my friend Sarah (from Chicks Who Give a Puck) told me about breads that last over ten days we both knew we would have to adapt and incorporate fresh made bread to our lifestyle.

So back to the actual bread. When you walk into the store there are samples of the bread to try out by the cashier. I had perused the aisles, kind of figured out what I wanted when the owner of the store took the time to answer all my questions, including pointing out customer favorites, how to store the bread, why not to refrigerate the bread, etc. Then he asked if I wanted to try one of the samples. Of course I did! I asked for a small piece as I was still full from lunch, to my surprise he gave me a slab of bread that was literally an inch thick. If that's small I don't even want to know what normal sized is!

The bread I sampled was the bread I ended up buying, Great Harvest's top selling bread - the Honey Wheat. Delicious and nutritious, with no preservatives, oils, dyes, or ingredients you can't pronounce. While the bread is significantly more expensive than what you'd find at the grocery store the owner gave me a great tip.
*Once you buy the bread put half in the freezer. The bread you leave out on the countertop will last from seven to ten days. Once you remove the other bread from the freezer, it will last seven to ten days. The bread thaws out in three to four hours.*

My Food Revolution: Change My Own Mind

Recently I was reminded how touchy of a subject one's diet is. The sole purpose and intent of "My Food Revolution" is to talk about my experiences, document my journey, and invite those who know more than I do to share their recipes, tips, and advice with me. I've learned so much on the beginning of my journey and I know it's only the start.

Part of the reason I find the Food Revolution so appealing is that it seems like common sense, same with most of the books and documentaries I am watching. I sit down and think about it, it all just makes sense. Now as many of you have told me, I should really seek other sources and find out more information. True. There are usually three sides to every story. Side A, Side B and the Truth. Most of us will hear A's story or believe B's side, thus giving us our perception of truth. This isn't the truth, but what we operate and believe to be true based on the facts provided to us.

Right now my perception of food is this: Fast Food and unhealthy food was delicious, cheap, fast, but I always noticed how my clothes fit, how my body felt, and what my skin did. I knew it wasn't the best thing for me. Even when I ate my regular meals if I avoided fast food I always lost a few pounds. I didn't need a diet or book or documentary to tell me that fast food was adding pounds I didn't want and contributed to me feeling lethargic. I avoided eating fast food while working out for that very reason.

What I didn't know was the corporation side of food, the way the government and food industry were in bed with each other. I didn't know the particulars and I didn't know why my dog's food was better than my food. The documentary cleared a lot of things up for me, including how meat is made, why the number of contamination outbreaks are so high when they happen, and more. Because once you understand the process, the contamination part is understood quite easily.

I guess what I am trying to say is this: Before I learned what I learned I ate the same things that most of you are eating. And while I am glad I found out because it's my body and I like to make choices based on what I've learned, I will never judge YOU for doing what you want. One month ago I couldn't have been told differently and would eat what I wanted when I wanted. But if you ever decide you want to learn more, I'm right here and willing to share what I've gathered thus far.