Life Happens

Since my last real entry, I've had some weeks where I've strayed drastically from my raw-ish food regime. However, lately, I'm trying to make up for it by being more active: walking more, riding my bike around, etc. I just got the bike from my step mom for my birthday and I've already put about 7 miles on it. Not to mention the 14 miles I put on my mom's bike while I was back home for a visit. I hope to make it an active summer - as active as my injured knee (from falling back in February) will let me be. Today, in fact, I just bought a knee brace that will hopefully help me out a bit.

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Tebbe and I at the Jazz for Peace event she organized ~ March 2011

In other news, a close friend of mine and fellow AmeriCorps member, passed away suddenly on May 20th. Her name was Tebbe and once we got started talking we could go all night! We would carpool to our bi-weekly meetings from her work... it was like clockwork. As soon as our Site Director would send out the email about our upcoming meeting, Tebbe would send one out to me asking if we could go together.

She would often tell me stories about when she was a "hot, young thing" and when she was really into the music scene in Cincinnati. At least once during each story, I would have to stop her and ask what some of the slang meant! Tebbe always thought it was so funny that I was so clueless.

Tebbe was so young at heart and fully of spirit and positive energy. It was contagious! I know I felt it when I was around her and the other day I was able to hear one of her trainees from her work talk about how she had inspired him to turn his life around and make a difference. It was wonderful to hear how inspirational she was for so many people. I wish I had gotten more time with her... but I am so thankful that I got to know her as well as I did over the 2 years that we worked in AmeriCorps together.

City Beat Article: RIP Tebbe Farrell 1956-2011 

Tebbe and I in the DC Metro ~ Feb. 2011

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Time Flies

Is it really the middle of May already?!?! I'm in shock.

Weekly Photo 5.2.2011

Taken 4.29.2011 in front of the Museum Center in Cincinnati, Ohio

Trial & Error: Raw Food

The past few weeks I've been learning about and trying out a modified version of "the raw food diet". I know it'll be near impossible to stick to it 100%, so I've been doing as much as I can.

I've been trying to limit or eliminate my intake of the following items:

• chemicals
• preservatives
• hormone-based animal products
• synthetic materials
• food cooked in aluminum
• artificial colors and flavors
• meats
• canned foods
• cooked oils
• overcooked and packaged foods
• old and rotting food
• foods frozen for too long
• inorganic materials
• processed foods
• unknown and unpronounceable substances
• cooked fruits
• cooked vegetables
• cooked grains
• cooked beans
• frozen foods
• foods dried at high temperatures

And I've been trying to include more of the following, but I still have a lot of work to do in this area:

• raw, live, organic food
• whole food
• amino-rich food
• enzyme-rich food
• food dried at low temperatures
• rejuvenating food
• sprouts and chlorophyll-rich food
• cultured food
• medicinal herbs
• fresh, wild, hand-picked food

Items from the above lists were taken from The Raw Truth: The Art of Preparing Living Foods. The author puts them into categories that range from "Bio-Destructive" to "Bio-Regenerative". This book in particular also says that 60% of your food intake should be items from the "Fresh Foods" category, 20% should be from the "Sprouted Foods" category, 10% should be from "Cultured Foods", and the last 10% should be from "Dried Foods".

However, I have also heard that as long as at least 51% of your food intake is raw, you're set. That way, your body gets enough of a break from processing non-raw food items.

Luckily, to help me in this food-venture, I have been very fortunate to receive a gift of a Vitamix blender/food processor from my Mom. With this new toy, I have been able to try all kinds of juices and smoothies that I couldn't have tried otherwise. To give you an idea of its power, this machine will liquify carrots!!

Since the above-mentioned book spoke so highly of sprouts, I have tried twice to grow my own sprouts and have had no luck. The first time I tried lentils - and they sprouted like crazy! - but I had put way too many in the jar and I had to give it up.  The second time I tried garbanzo beans, and after a few days they just turned black in the jar. I'm guessing they should have been put on a tray or damp paper towel after the initial sprouts came out.

In terms of my diet, what I've been doing during the week is having one mostly-fruit/some-veggie smoothie in the morning, a mid-morning snack of a banana, a regular lunch (sandwich, salad, yogurt, etc.), then a mostly-veggie smoothie in the evenings. On weekends, I'll have 1-2 smoothies each day, allowing for 1 meal per day to be more of a social nature. (i.e. going out with friends to a restaurant)

I'll admit, it was very difficult for me to follow the above regimen during the week-long break from work since there was no real routine. I went to the grocery store today to restock on plenty of fruit and vegetables so I can try out 5-6 new smoothies this week and get back into it.

That's that! Hopefully, I'll be able to update again with some more progress!

Weekly Photo 4.23.2011

So, it's been about a month since I posted a "weekly photo". I guess time just got away from me!

Since there are only about 5 months until my trip to Brazil, I've been going through my old pictures and scanning them all. Believe me, this has been no small task as I have 2 large boxes of photo albums!
Here is a photo I took in 2002 on a trip with Belo Tours to Foz do Iguaçu, where we visited all 3 sides of the falls in Brazil, Argentina, and Paraguay, in addition to 2 other cities in Brazil: Curitiba and Florianópolis. This is by far my favorite picture from that trip!

Taken in June 2002, Foz do Iguaçu
Photographed: Chris (NY) and Matt (OR)