Monday, 30 November 2009

Day 36

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Thoughts: Eating only foods that are good for me. I never thought it was possible. I used to binge on junk food, for five years, and whenever I would gulp down a pile of chocolate or lollies, processed foods and takeaway I would think, "my body is not actually benifiting from any of this, I am not even benifiting from this, so why do I do it?". I was not being responsible for my health. Today I ate totally raw. My friend JD has inspired me, he is 50 years old and looks absolutely freaking amazing (no one believes that he is 50!) and he is going raw for 40 days. Raw foods are totally whole foods from the earth, and is at another level of health, instead of 'tampering' and cooking the foods. I feel very healthy and very clean today :)))) Clean...haha except my unwashed hair ;)

Challenges: Writing this blog after a series of 18 days with 6 hours sleep! My brain is foggy haaa so if this blog is all over the place that is why, it's a great challenge to get up early and go to bed late and have a full energy day and eat healthy earthy foods.

Triumphs: Before the Earth Diet I would be eating chocolate and lollies to keep me going. It's probably my first day ever of going entirely raw. I usually eat cooked foods. The conversation I now have with me and foods is that "I only need to eat foods that provide my body with energy and nutrition, keep it simple and less in best", and the conversation I had BEFORE the Earth Diet with me and foods was "I'm working an 18 hour day, I need to have chocolate and lollies to keep me going and the more I eat the better and more energy I will have", but now I get that the more crappy food I eat, the more energy my body uses for digesting it!

What I Ate Today:

Breakfast: beetroot, carrot, orange, celery and ginger juice. Chocolate balls and goji berries.

Lunch: A pear and a nut mix of macadamias, walnuts and goji berries!

Dinner: A salad! With green lettuce, bok choy, baby spinach, bean sprouts, advocado, macadamia nuts, goji berries, walnuts with olive oil and fresh lemon juice.

Dessert: Goji berries. (Can you eat too many goji's? Hehe I love them!)

Snacks: Goji berries.

Recipe: Salad:
Ingredients: Green lettuce, bok choy, baby spinach, bean sprouts, advocado, macadamia nuts, goji berries, walnuts with olive oil and fresh lemon juice.
Directions: Mix it all together and add the lemon olive oil dressing mmmm mmmm!

Exercise: Walking, running, and dancing on the beach at Surfers Paradise. And a swim. :)

330 days to go!!!
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Sunday, 29 November 2009

Day 35

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Thoughts: I never really thought about it before, but I went to the supermarket and thought, hangon a minute, almost every fresh fruit and vegtable is available all year round. And then I go to the markets they don't always have everything, and I'm thinking ohh why can't I find coconut anywhere at the market, or great watermelon, or rockmelon. So I did some research and of course...!!!...not all fruits and vegetables are in season all year round! Totally makes sense and totally common sense right?! So uuuhhh that's why cherries taste better in the summer, and the strawberries in spring! Fruits and vegetables are always cheaper when they are in season too!

So I did some research on what is in season in November and here it is:

Apples
Artichokes
avocado
beetroot
bok choy
broccoli
brussels sprouts
cabbage
carrots
celery
chard
chestnuts
cranberries
daikon
fennel
guava
kiwi
kumquat
lemons
orange
pears
persimmons
pomegranate
potato
quince
rutabaga
squash, winter
sunchoke
turnips
yams

Herbs: basil, chervil, coriander, marjoram, mint, oregano, sage, tarragon, thyme

Seafood: Atlantic salmon, coral trout, flathead, kingfish, flounder, King George whiting, mussels, ocean trout, prawns, redfish, scallops.

If you are able to buy a fruit or vegetable when it is not officially in season then it is "forced" to grow in artificial conditions, and are thus available year-round.

If you want to be sure you are getting in season whole foods shop at your organic store. They will only stock the fruits and veggies that are in season and are organic!

Challenges: I like to eat strawberries and cherries all year round! Hehehaaaaa

Triumphs: Today my world expanded because I learnt something new...triumph!...about the seasonal fruit and vegetables! I love learning something new about anything, especially healthy once a day because it literally expands my world ;)

What I Ate Today:

Breakfast: Goji berries with macadamia nuts and walnuts, and a beetroot, carrot, celery, ginger, green apple juice.

Lunch: Brown rice and steamed vegetables left over from last nights dinner.

Dinner: homemade chocolate balls (cocao powder, dark agave syrup, whole raw hazeluts, water, hazelnut meal)

Dessert: hmmm did I have dessert for dinner???!!! And it's all good, there are no rules!

Snacks: chocolate balls!!! a nectarine, goji berries, almonds, macadamia nuts and walnuts.

Recipe: CHOCOLATE BALL RECIPE! I a lot of my blogs...check previous!

Exercise: Walking around Surfers Paradise in the beautiful sunshine ;)

331 days to go!!!
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Saturday, 28 November 2009

Day 34

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Thoughts: Are You Getting Enough Alkaline Foods in Your Diet? 'Your health depends on an alkaline environment, created by eating foods such as tomatoes, avocados and green vegetables...striking the optimum 80/20 balance and regulating your body's acid/alkaline chemistry through simple changes in diet can result in weight loss, increased stamina and strength,a stronger immune system and a greater sense of wellbeing.' Dr Robert O. Young, Pioneering scientist and author of The pH Miracle.

How did we become so out of balance?
After years of societal changes, millions of dollars of marketing spend and technological advances we, as a race, are now facing more dietary based health challenges than ever before. It is no coincidence that the rapidly growing numbers of cancer, cardiovascular disease and diabetes correlate almost exactly with the rise in consumption of acid forming foods such as sugars, saturated fats, and white breads. At the same time our consumption of fresh vegetables and essential fatty acids has decreased dramatically, making way for convenience and a generation hooked on sugary treats.

Becoming Alkaline
This is not as difficult or as technical as it sounds. When we talk about eating alkaline foods or starting an alkaline diet we are referring to consuming those foods and drink which have an alkaline effect on the body. This effect is based upon the mineral content of the food and therefore the ash residue that remains after our foods are consumed. Some foods leave an acid ash, whereas others leave an alkaline ash. Conveniently for us, it just so happens that the foods that contain alkaline minerals (and leave an alkaline ash) are all the foods we already know are good for us: low sugar foods, fresh vegetables etc. And the foods that contain minerals that leave an acid ash? You guessed it, sweets, alcohol, saturated fats, meats, dairy etc.

Of course, everybody is different - but most of us should aim to eat 70-80% alkaline foods and a maximum of 20-30% acid forming foods.

This does not have to be measured in calories, grams or anything technical, just look at your plate! Is 70% of the food on it alkalising? And for the other 30%? You can do with this what you like (how acid is up to you - dependent upon the results you want), but feel free to go for some oily fish, wholemeal pasta or wild rice for example.

ALKALINE FOODS:
Vegetables
Asparagus
Artichokes
Cabbage
Lettuce
Onion
Cauliflower
Radish
Swede
Lambs Lettuce
Peas
Courgette
Red Cabbage
Leeks
Watercress
Spinach
Turnip
Chives
Carrot
Green Beans
Beetroot
Garlic
Celery
Grasses (wheat, straw, barley, dog, kamut etc.)
Cucumber
Broccoli
Kale
Brussels Sprouts

Fruits
Lemon
Lime
Avocado
Tomato
Grapefruit
Watermelon (is neutral)
Rhubarb

Drinks
'Green Drinks'
Fresh vegetable juice
Pure water (distilled or ionised)
Lemon water (pure water + fresh lemon or lime).
Herbal Tea
Vegetable broth
Almond Milk

Seeds, Nuts & Grains
Almonds
Pumpkin
Sunflower
Sesame
Flax
Buckwheat Groats
Spelt
Lentils
Cumin Seeds
Any sprouted seed

Fats & Oils
Flax
Hemp
Avocado
Olive
Evening Primrose
Borage
Coconut Oil
Oil Blends (such as Udo's Choice)

Others
Sprouts (soy, alfalfa, mung bean, wheat, little radish , chickpea, broccoli etc)
Bragg Liquid Aminos (Soy Sauce Alternative)
Hummus
Tahini

General Guidance:
Stick to salads, fresh vegetables and healthy nuts and oils. Try to consume plenty of raw foods and at least 2-3 litres of clean, pure water daily (ideally enhanced with pH drops).

ACIDIC FOODS:
Meats
Pork
Lamb
Beef
Chicken
Turkey
Crustaceans
Other Seafood (apart from occasional oily fish such as salmon)

Dairy Products
Milk
Eggs
Cheese
Cream
Yogurt
Ice Cream

Others
Vinegar
White Pasta
White Bread
Wholemeal Bread
Biscuits
Soy Sauce
Tamari
Condiments (Tomato Sauce, Mayonnaise etc.)
Artificial Sweeteners
Honey
Drinks
Fizzy Drinks
Coffee
Tea
Beers
Spirits
Fruit Juice
Dairy Smoothies
Milk
Traditional

Convenience Foods
Sweets
Chocolate
Microwave Meals
Tinned Foods
Powdered Soups
Instant Meals
Fast Food

Fats & Oils
Saturated Fats
Hydrogenated Oils
Margarine (worse than Butter)
Corn Oil
Vegetable Oil
Sunflower Oil

Fruits
All fruits aside from those listed in the alkaline column.
Seeds & Nuts
Peanuts
Cashew Nuts
Pistachio Nuts

General Guidance:
Steer clear of fatty meats, dairy, cheese, sweets, chocolates, alcohol and tobacco. Packaged foods are often full of hidden offenders and microwave meals are full of sugars and salts. Over cooking also removes all of the nutrition from a meal!

How Alkaline Are YOU?
You can test your acidity/alkaline level by going to a naturopath or health food store and buy some strips that you put under your tongue, they will appear different shades of green/yellow depending on your level. :)

http://www.energiseforlife.com/list_of_alkaline_foods.php

Challenges: My great friend JD told me about his "diet/lifestyle", he is eating raw foods. It's amazing his dedication to his health and vitality, and it seems like it's on a-whole-nother level (is that a word?!). So I was challenged with that, I was like whoooohoooo there is so much more about health and food and nutrion I am yet to find out. Both exciting and challenging, as I know I will be giving up some foods. JD mentioned rice how it is a trapped grain, so to release it's nutrtion and to digest it properly we need to soak the rice in water first for it to sprout. JD is like the health godness, and when I get back India I will interview him and write a blog about him and his health! Wooo wooo!

Triumphs: Another day on the Earth Diet! woooo woooo! Day 34!

What I Ate Today:

Breakfast: Beetroot, carrot, ginger and celery juice. Goji berries, macadamias, and walnuts.

Lunch: a pear, chocolate balls, macadamia nuts, goji berries and walnuts.

Dinner: My awesome friend Steph made us dinner...woooo! All inside the Earth Diet...

Dessert: Chocolate ball.

Snacks: a boiled egg and a green apple.

Recipe:
1. Free range organic chicken breast
2. honey
3. rosemary
4. olive oil
5. juice from a lemon
6. brown rice
7. broccoli
8. bokchui
9. fresh basil
10. zuchinni
11. Carrot

Directions:
1. Cook chicken breast in olive oil with honey and rosemary.
2. Stir fry the raw vegetables in with the chicken.
3. Cook the brown rice.
4. serve

Exercise: cartwhees and a fully self expressed run on the beach at Surfer's Paradise

332 days to go!!!
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Friday, 27 November 2009

Day 33

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Australian model Tiffany Hall has taken on the Earth Diet.

Thoughts: My friend Tiffany shared with me last night that she has taken on the Earth Diet! Here's what she wrote:

Tiffany Thoughts: When Liana first told me about the earth diet I thought she was completely nuts! I started following the blogs when the post about the chocolate caught my attention, that same day I made the chocolate, it was awesome! So I trawled through her previous blogs looking for other potentially good recipes, as I read more and more I found myself inspired by her spirit and her love for the Earth.
 
I saw a movie once that referred to the human race as a plague, and to some extent its true. We move into an area, consume all the natural resources, and when there is nothing left, we move on and do it all again. The worst part is, we are all to some degree aware of this, we just simply find it easier to ignore it and consume our time with our own petty problems like that parking ticket we got yesterday then to face the real issue that is bigger than one individual, the fact that we are slowly destroying this planet that we rely on for life. I Know I’m rambling but it brings me to why I am doing the Earth Diet. I want to feel less like a part of a massive plague, mindlessly consuming everything in its way and more like a human being, in harmony with the rest of the creatures of this planet.
 
Tiffany Challenges: Okay so I’m doing the earth diet until the New Year and then if it’s all going well from there I will do the full year. The first challenge is that I’ll be doing the Earth Diet over my birthday and Christmas which means no birthday cake, alcohol, Christmas trifle, Rum balls, Cheese... the list goes on, basically everything I used to love about Christmas. As much as this is going to be challenging to resist the temptations it will also be liberating to know that I have the will power to control what I put into my body, I also won’t feel bloated, fat and lethargic at one of my favourite times of year. I will have to be organised and plan ahead, as I can’t afford to be skipping meals. And lastly I have to make sure my diet is nutritionally balanced, that I eat plenty of protein, iron and that I keep my diet varied so I don’t get bored.
 
Tiffany Triumphs: Well I’m only on day 4 (YAY!!!) and so far I’m loving every second of it. The food is awesome! I’ve been eating heaps of fresh fruits, vegies, fish, nuts, seeds, oats, and chocolate... lots of chocolate. The best thing was tonight, I was having a snack in the car at a fuel station, the best peach I have ever eaten, it was sweet, soft and SOOOO juicy, anyway some people walked out with some magnum ice creams, Normally I would have really wanted the magnum, but I found myself thinking that those poor people are missing out on something really special and that I wouldn’t have traded my lovely peach for anything.

No more of this food for Tiffany while she's on the Earth Diet!
 
(Tiffany)What I have been eating:

Breakfast: ½ cup of lovely oats cooking in water with any of the following, and a fresh peach
-raspberries or strawberries
-honey and almonds
-sultanas and cinnamon
-Cooked or fresh Apple pieces sometimes with cinnamon
- Or just the oats on their own
 
Lunch:Today it was baked fish seasoned with salt pepper and oregano, with raw corn on the cob and a whole heap of peas. Also omelettes with herbed mushrooms and baby spinach , broccoli stir fried with  honey and sesame, and carrot salad with dukkah (a lovely blend of seeds nuts and spices).   
 
Dinner: Today was ½ cup oats with cooked apple pieces and a peach. On other days mashed mangoes that have been frozen (kind of like sorbet) with chopped fresh fruit and almonds, basically anything light as I don’t like to eat a large meal too close to bed time.
 
Dessert: Homemade chocolate, I have made it my own to a degree, Its is still very similar to liana’s recipe just tweaked it a bit to my tastes
Recipe:
1. Cocoa ½ cup      
2. Water to make a pouring consistency
3. 1 heaped teaspoon Natural peanut butter from the squasher machine at the health food shop
4. 1 teaspoon Olive oil
5. As I don’t have Agave I use honey at the moment but just until it’s as sweet as you like it
Mix all the ingredients together, I make mine pouring consistency and put it into a container lined with glad wrap (which I reuse) and freeze it, then slice it up into squares when it’s almost set, pop it back into the freezer until they are hard, then peel off the glad wrap and break the chocolate up into the squares. Leave in the freezer until you want one... or 7
 
Tiffany Exercise: Although this doesn’t really have anything to do with my earth diet, I thought it important to encourage everyone to get outside and do exercise in nature. Not only is it a better workout because you have natural variables like hills and surface changes its also better for the environment. Gyms are nice to workout in because of the air conditioning, and ease of jumping on a treadmill. But I shudder to think of the energy consumption of gym when you consider you could do the same workout, if not better out in nature.  
 
To summarise earth diet = AWSOMENESS!

Wow Tiffany! You are on to it, and I especially love what you wrote about Christmas and your birthday how it will be "challenging to resist the temptations AND it will also be liberating to know that I have the will power to control what I put into my body, I also won’t feel bloated, fat and lethargic at one of my favourite times of year." I wonder how many people are waiting to get healthy...thinking 'I will get healthy after Christmas, after the fetive season'. And like Tiffany this will be the first fetive season that I will enjoy chemical free :))))

Thoughts: My thoughts go to how wonderful Tiffany is!

Challenges: The taste of too much raw broccoli in my mouth! hahaaaa

Triumphs: It makes me so happy that other people like Tiffany are committed to their health and the health of their earth! Love it!!!

What I Ate Today:

Breakfast: Beetroot, organge, carrot, celery, ginger and apple juice. Goji berries.

Lunch: a pear, boiled egg

Dinner: Raw broccoli and carrot

Dessert: chocolate balls and goji berries

Snacks: a green apple

Exercise: A night swim in the ocean...mmm the best!

333 days to go!!!
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Tuesday, 24 November 2009

Day 32

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Thoughts: It's great to know whats out there in the world in the way of health. And there is no 1 "right" diet, there is no one right or wrong way, it's what works for you. What works for me is this Earth Diet challenge. I have peace of mind and my body feels stronger, leaner, cleanier and my body has less chemicals so I am experiencing peace and clarity! My friend Steve Rose sent me a link regarding a diet that he has been following for the last 8 months and he said "I have never felt so good, ever! It's basically about food ratios and as long as you eat the correct proportions (organic) then you will never suffer from bloatedness, fatigue etc..."

In the 1930's, dentist Weston Price began expeditions around the world and uncovered the link between modern eating habits and chronic degenerative diseases. He also discovered that there was no one diet that would be healthy for all people -- there was too much variation in climate, local produce, environmental conditions, heredity, genetics, culture.

Some people are fast oxidizers, because they rapidly convert food into energy. In order to balance their systems, fast oxidizers need to eat heavier proteins and fats to that burn slowly. In contrast, slow oxidizers convert food into energy at a slow rate. In order to balance their systems, it's recommended that they eat mainly carbohydrates rather than protein and fat.

How you can find out your metabolic type?
In the book The Metabolic Typing Diet, researcher William Wolcott offers a simple home self-test for identifying your metabolic type. For an accurate diagnosis, a trained health practitioner can provide a thorough assessment that may include urine and blood tests. Wolcott provides three general metabolic types:

Protein types -- Protein types are fast oxidizers of parasympathetic dominant. They tend to be frequently hungry, crave fatty, salty foods, fail with low-calorie diets, and tend towards fatigue, anxiety, and nervousness. They are often lethargic or feel "wired", "on edge", with superficial energy while being tired underneath.

Carbo types -- Carbo types are slow oxidizers or sympathetic dominant. They generally have relatively weak appetites, a high tolerance for sweets, problems with weight management, "type A" personalities, and are often dependent on caffeine.

Mixed types -- Mixed types are neither fast or slow oxidizers, and are neither parasympathetic or sympathetic dominant. They generally have average appetites, cravings for sweets and starchy foods, relatively little trouble with weight control, and tend towards fatigue, anxiety, and nervousness.

What are the guidelines for the diet?
According to the metabolic typing diet, the three metabolic types should eat the following foods:

Protein types should eat diets that are rich in protein, fats and oils, and high-purine proteins such as organ meats, pate, beef liver, chicken liver, and beef. Carbohydrate intake should be low.

Carbo types should eat diets that are high in carbohydrates and low in protein, fats, and oils. They should eat light, low-purine proteins.

Mixed types should eat a mixture of high-fat, high-purine proteins and low-fat, low-purine proteins such as cheese, eggs, yogurt, tofu, nuts. This type requires relatively equal ratios of proteins, fats, and carbohydrates.

For more information www.altmedicine.about.com

Challenges: Today I went to the organic store and they confirmed what I had heard, that the Lucas Paw Paw cream actually has hidden chemicals! Ahhh! It makes me sad to know that there are chemicals in products labelled "organic". I have used Paw Paw for years not knowing it contained Petroleum. Petroleum based chemicals are being found to cause significant attritional effects to the nervous system and immune system after prolonged exposure. Illnesses identified in the medical research include adult and child cancers, numerous neurological disorders, immune system weakening, autoimmune disorders, asthma, allergies, infertility, miscarriage, and child behavior disorders including learning disabilities, mental retardation, hyperactivity and ADD (attention deficit disorders). Vasoline is a product that uses petroleum. And the frightening thing is that it is used on babies all the time because we have "learnt" that it is good for us, and for babies.

So I found a no hidden chemical paw paw for those paw paw lovers...its called Paw Paw Salve. You can't get it from the chemists (most products from the chemists have nasty chemicals in them) so get it from your ogranic shop.

Paw Paw cream is fermented Paw Paw fruit and is used for Abscesses, Boils, Bruises, Burns, Carbuncles, Chafings, Cuts, Cysts, Dry and Cracked skin on hands and feet, Gravel rash, Heat rash, Insect stings, Mosquito bites, Open wounds, Pimples, Scalds Sunburn, Swelling associated with injury, Splinters and thorns, Tinea, Whitlow, Nappy Rash and Cracked Nipples, Temporary relief of the symptoms of dermatitis and eczema, Temporary relief of the discomfort of haemorrhoids by local application.

Triumphs: Discovering a no hidden chemical Paw Paw cream! Its called Paw Paw Salve and it's in a yellow tube.

What I Ate Today:

Breakfast: 2 boiled eggs

Lunch: goji berries and chocolate balls!

Dinner: chocolate balls! Oopsie! I wasn't well prepared. Although I'm not complaining, chocolate balls for dinner is oh so fine with me and they kept my body energized until 1 am!

Dessert: no dessert

Snacks: no snacks

Cost: cocoa powder $10, agave syrup $8, almonds raw $2, almond meal $2. Total =$20 and this will make you a lot of chocolate balls! And you can freeze them and eat them on hot days when you want a healthy energizing snack! mmmm!

Recipe: Chocolate Ball recipe on Blog Day 27

Exercise: 334 days to go!
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Day 31

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Thoughts: Do you think about what you are putting in your mouth? Do you wonder what it took to get it to you? How it was made? Processed? Developed?

Challenges: Watching my Polish film maker friend Arthur by a can of red bull and drink it. Because I care about him and his health and Red Bull is not good for us! Arthur is a fan of red bull and he says it is very healthy and helpful. "It keeps me in a good mood all the time and gives me very good thoughts about life and that speed of life and I want to thank God and my family and the producer and second producer and director...." ok he was joking a little then!Haaa! So summary Arthur says "Red Bull changed my life".

Facts about Red Bull:
1. People get addicted to the rush, to the high of the drink and refer to the product as "liquid cocaine."
2. Red Bull tested positive for cocaine. It was asserted the each liter of the famed energy booster contains 0.4 micrograms of the narcotic.
3. Red Bull contains a lot of caffeine - about a coffee's cup worth.
4. Many of the deaths related to Red Bull have been said to be Sudden Adult Death Syndrome.
5. So far, Red Bull has been labeled as safe for the United States and a number of other countries. It has been banned in France because they feel it is too risky for consumers.
6. Red Bull originated from an energy drink from Thailand called Krating Daeng
7. Red Bull contains taurine, glucuronolactone, caffeine, B vitamins, sucrose, and glucose.

Why I won't drink Red Bull:
It's an illusion that thinking Red Bull or any sugar products will give us energy. The sugar and chemicals in Red Bull and other "energy" drinks like it actually weaken our muscles as soon as it hits our blood stream. We may feel high for a short while and then we drop feeling more tired, and more weak, and then reaching for another sugar hit to bring us back up again. The more sugar in your system, the weaker and more tired you will be. Its a vicious cycle. Check out my sugar test in my earlier blogs (if you can't find it and want it send me an email) and you will see how quickly sugar weakens your muscles! Once you get that sugar actually makes you tired rather than alive and awake you will opt for natural sugars in fruits or carrots or goji berries!

So Red Bull aside, Arthur is a great guy and an awesome film maker and is travelling the world filming a doco check out his blog www.rtw43.com

Triumphs: My two amazing friends Carolyn and Mike commented on my blog yesterday acknowledging that I made it to day 30! So I got present to how cool that is! Woooo! And 32 days ago before I started this Earth Diet challenge, I had no idea that I would ever be able to go without processed foods, chemicals, preservatives, chocolates, lollies and breads for even 8 days let alone 31 days! We really are powerful beings when we want to be hey!

What I Ate Today:

Beakfast: beetroot, apple, carrot, celery, ginger juice. fresh Pineapple. Macadamia nuts, walnuts and goji berries.

Lunch: Buckwheat crepes with eggs and maple syrup! Recipe in blog Day 27.

Dinner: Honey garlic rosemary chicken with advocado and brocoli salad! MMMM! Recipe in blog Day 30!




Dessert: green apple

Snacks: macadamia nuts, waltnuts, goji berries, cehrries

Cost: Dinenr cost: Organic free range chicken fillets $10, brocolli $2, lettuce $2, advocado $1.50, purple onion 40 cents, rosemary $2, garlic 10 cents, total cost for 2 people = $18 so $9 per person!!!

Recipe: Recipe for buckwheat crepes and eggs on blog Day 27 and recipe for Stephs honey garlic rosemary chicken on yesterdays blog (Day 30)

Exercise: in the morning a long run with Steph the energizer bunny at the Spit beach! And a swim in the ocean! Ahhhh the ultimate reward :) Then at night a hott lil work out with Angelina in the gym, running, and ab work and the sauna! I never feel worse after a workout!

335 days to go!!!
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Monday, 23 November 2009

Day 30

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Bucky Bailey's mother became pregnant while working at DuPont's Teflon West Virginia plant.

Thoughts: Tonight I had dinner with my friends Craig and Steph. We cooked on their stainless steel pan instead of a "non-stick" teflon pan. Do you use "non-stick" pans and pots? I do! And I didn't even think about it, but to make it non-stick, the manufacturers have used chemicals on the pans! Do'h! Then I got thinking to the aborginals and what they would have cooked in, obviously they used no pots and pans, and then once pots and pans were invented they were basic made from stainless steel, and then as we get more advanced in technology and demand for more luxurious lives, we invented "non-stick" pots and pans as a more convenient way to cook our foods.

It's on saucepans, clothing, even buildings, but now Teflon - the famed non-stick chemical - is at the centre of a slippery controversy about cancer and birth defects.

So teflon is what coats our "non-stick" pans. Teflon is what causes our food to not stick, it also causes cancer. When teflon is cooked, it is highly toxic. Teflon is a high molecular weight compound consisting wholly of carbon and fluorine and is used as a non-stick coating for pans and other cookware. It is very non-reactive, partly because of the strength of carbon–fluorine bonds, and so it is often used in containers and pipework for reactive and corrosive chemicals. Where used as a lubricant, teflon reduces friction, wear and energy consumption of machinery.

Teflon was accidentally invented by Roy Plunkett of Kinetic Chemicals in 1938. While Plunkett was attempting to make a new CFC refrigerant, the perfluorethylene polymerized in its pressurized storage container, with the iron from the inside of the container acting as a catalyst.

Teflon begins to deteriorate after the temperature of cookware increases. These degradation by-products can be lethal to birds, and can cause flu-like symptoms in humans and even cancer.(Wikipedia)

Over the years, the non-stick coating on pots and pans has helped turn out countless perfect fried eggs and cheese soufflés. But is it worth your health?

Bucky Bailey's mother became pregnant while working at DuPont's West Virginia plant
The company recently agreed to an out-of-court settlement to a class action lawsuit brought by around 50,000 residents who lived near its West Virginia plant.

The residents, who lived along the Ohio river south of Parkersburg, West Virginia, claimed the company had contaminated local water supplies with teflon, which they alleged was linked to birth defects and other health hazards.

Among the plaintiffs was Bucky Bailey, who was born with a single nostril and a deformed face. His mother fell pregnant with him while working at DuPont's Parkersburg plant.

DuPont eventually agreed to pay $50m in cash to the plaintiffs, plus $22m in legal costs. The company also agreed to spend $10m on special water treatment facilities to filter out teflon.

So I am getting back to basics by eating only whole foods from the earth for 365 days and now I am getting back to basics with how I cook. Anything that says "non-stick" I am staying away from and I am incorporating more raw and non cooked foods in my Earth Diet challenge!

It's not about creating fear in you, it's about creating knowledge and awareness so that you can choose powerfully what you want to do with it in regards to your health!!!!

Challenges: Learning that I have to throw out my teflon "non-stick" cookingware and buy stainless steel! Hehehe

Triumphs: Learning that I have to throw out my teflon "non-stick" cookingware and buy stainless steel! Hehehe

What I Ate Today:

Breakfast: beetroot, apple, carrot, ginger, watermelon juice! fresh pineapple, a chocolate ball

Lunch: a pear, macadamia nuts, gogi berries, walnuts, chocolate balls

Dinner: Stephs Garlic Honey Chicken Salad cooked in a STAINLESS STEEL PAN mmmm! Chicken, honey, rosemary herb, advocado, purple onion, green lettuce, rocket, cherri tomatoes, with a lemon and olive oil dressing. Recipe below!



Dessert: goji berriessssss! yum yummmm!

Snacks: chocolate balls

Recipe: Garlic Honey Chicken Salad
Ingredients:
1. Free range organic chicken
2. Honey
3. Rosemary
4. Garlic
5. Olive Oil
Salad:
1. Green lettuce
2. Rocket
3. Advocado
4. Purple onion
5. Cherry tomatoes
6. Been sprouts
7. olive oil and fresh lemon for the dressing
8. your hands....ingredient of love!!!! (Craig)

Directions:
1. Cook cut up chicken and garlic in a stainless steel pan in olive oil
2. Add your desired amount of honey to the chicken and garlic to give it the sweetness you want and sprinkle with rosemary
3. Prepare your salad, mix lettuce, rocket, cherry tomatoes, purple onion, and drizzle with olive oil and fresh lemon.
4. Add chicken to the salad mmmm mmmm!

Cost: Organic free range chicken $13, 2 advocados $2.45 each,large pot of organic honey $13.50, been sprouts $2, olive oil bottle $6, cherry tomatoes $2, lettuce $2, rocket $2, lemon 70 cents, purple onion 40 cents. Total: $44.50 and you will use the olive oil and honey many times again, so I averaged it out and it came to $27.70 which fed 3 people = $9.23 each!!!!

Exercise: A swim in the ocean at Surfers Paradise and did some ballet on the bar outside at night time! I woke up this morning feeling tired and grumpy and just wanted to keep sleeping, so I went to the beach which Steph and Craig, and as soon as I dived in the ocean my state changed. It was freezing and freshing, so it broke me out of my tiredness and grumpyness and the waves were playful! I find that I can't be grumpy at the beach! Its so energizing and refreshing, a natural healer ;)

336 Days to go!!!
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Sunday, 22 November 2009

Day 29

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Thoughts: You know when you read the back of the ingredients list on what ever your eating (and if you don't you should! Get present to what you are putting into your mouth!) and you see all these numbers and words you cannot pronounce....well stay away from them! It's kinda like they are introducing all these new words and chemicals. I don't even know what most of them are or mean! Here's a list of some (thanks to Carolyn Wagner) to stay away from!

E500 Sodium bicarbonate
E535 Sodium ferrocyanide
E536 Potassium ferrocyanide
E538 Calcium ferrocyanide
E542 Bone phosphate
E550 Sodium silicate
E551 Silicon dioxide
E552 Calcium silicate
E553a Magnesium trisilicate
E553b Talcum powder
E554 Sodium aluminosilicate
E555 Potassium aluminium silicate
E556 Calcium aluminosilicate
E558 Bentonite
E559 Aluminium silicate
E570 Stearic acid
E900 Polydimethylsiloxane
E542 BONE phosphat eewwwww!

Challenges: no challenges today!!!!

Triumphs: day 29 on only whole and natural earth foods wooooo!

What I Ate Today:

Breakfast: beetroot, carrot, apple, way too much ginger and celery juice, chocolate balls, potatoes painted with olive oil cooked in the oven

Lunch: a pear, a boiled egg, raw snow peas

Dinner: Leftovers from last night's "Garden Feast" by Steph!

Dessert: no dessert

Snacks: Chocolate balls, gogji berries, macadamia nuts

Recipe: Chocolate balls, and you can get creative and add all sorts of fruits and nuts in it ;) Today the recipe went like this:
1. Add cocoa powder, agave syrup, water and hazenut meal to a bowl and mix
2. Roll into balls and eat!
This recipe is totally raw and organic and an energy food!

Cost: $20.30 to buy the ingredients for the chocolate balls. $4.30 for the hazelnut meal, $7 for Agave syrup and $9 for cocao powder. This will make a lot of balls that you can keep in your freezer and eat over a few days!

Exercise: 30 minutes run on the beach and swim in the ocean at Surfers Paradise! mmmm

337 days to go!
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Saturday, 21 November 2009

Day 28

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Thoughts: Tonight I had a beautiful vegetarian dinner cooked by my friend Steph. We are not "officially" vegetarians but it's nice to give our bodies and the environment a break from meat. Did you know that meat is actually damaging the environment?! My oh so amazing vegan friend Carolyn Wagner sent me 7 Clear-Cut Reasons Why Meat is Bad for the Environment:

You often hear of people going vegetarian or vegan out of concern for animal rights, or for their health, both respectable reasons to cut out meat. But today a growing number of people are shunning meat because of its impact on the planet.

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recently released a report called Livestock’s Long Shadow, citing livestock production as a primary contributor to global warming.

Here are 7 reasons — based on the FAO findings — why meat is anything but “green”:

1.Livestock production leaves a hefty carbon footprint, accounting for 18 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, more than all the world’s cars & SUVs combined.
Aside from carbon dioxide, the livestock sector emits 37 percent of global methane, a greenhouse gas far worse than CO2; and 65 percent of nitrous oxide.

2.2.4 billion tons of livestock-induced CO2 emissions are a result of the deforestation of over 7.4 million acres of trees cut for pastures and feedcrop land each year. This loss of forest means the destruction of billions of trees, each of which had the potential to offset around 1,400 pounds of CO2. According to the FAO report, “Some 70 percent of previously forested land in the Amazon is used as pasture, and feed crops cover a large part of the remainder.”

3.60 percent of US corn crops and 40 percent of soybeans are used as animal feed. We could be using the land and resources needed to produce these crops to grow food for human consumption. Instead, we are using it to feed farm animals, which are extremely inefficient converters of grain — Note: it takes 6 to 10 pounds of grain to produce a single pound of beef.

4.Livestock production is the #1 cause of soil erosion in the United States. Without a healthy topsoil, we can’t grow the crops that are necessary to feed people. Many civilizations throughout history have collapsed for this reason. In the United States, it is estimated that we have lost 1/3 of our topsoil in the last two centuries.

5.Meat production is heavily reliant on pesticides, which are toxic both to people and to the planet. “70 percent of the volume of herbicides used in agriculture can be attributed to animal feed production in the form of soybean and corn,” according to the FAO study. Of all chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticide residues in the U.S. diet, 55% are supplied by meat, while only 6% are supplied by vegetables, 4% by fruits and 1% by grains.

6.The livestock sector is the leading contributor to water pollution by Nitrogen and Phosphorous in the United States. It also makes a strong contribution to water pollution by pesticides and antibiotics (accounting for 50 percent of the volume of antibiotics consumed in the United States).

7.Animal agriculture consumes 1/3 of fossil fuels produced in the United States. According to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, the production of one calorie of animal protein requires more than 10 times the fossil fuel input as a calorie of plant protein. Fossil fuels are used heavily in the production of herbicides, fertilizers, to power machinery on the farm, and for transport between the farm and the store. Before you next put food in your mouth, consider what it took for it to arrive on your plate. Think of the impact your meal might have had on the planet.

"Never mind changing lightbulbs and shopping with a cloth bag; the best way to “go green” is to change your diet. Considering the alarming toll the meat industry imposes on the environment, you can significantly reduce your impact simply by going vegan or vegetarian." Carolyn Wagner. "Or start small and join UF students who have pledged to go meatless one day a week during Meatless Mondays.) "

It seems we eat so much more than we used to (than 100's of years ago, because it's so easy to go to the store and grab a chicken, or some beef, whereas before people would actually have to farm their own meat), plus there are obviously more people on the planet, 6 billion now! And our population is growing so rapidly so the manufacturers are producing more livestock to keep up with our population growth and demand on eating meat! I totally totally totally respect the vegetarians and vegans (you are amazing Carolyn) for the stand they are making for our environment, because I love to eat chicken, and although I have given up eating red meat for my health and for the environment, I'm not giving up eating chicken. However I will definately reduce my meat consumption. Because I LOVE THE EARTH!!!!! ;) Hehe check out my web www.iloveearth.com.au

Challenges: Getting the impact of my meat consumption on the environment! And wanting to get that message to millions of people....how do you reach and impact millions of people?

Triumphs: Getting the impact of my meat consumption on the environment! And feeling empowered to reduce my meat consumtpion because I LOVE EARTH!

What I Ate Today:

Breakfast: Some of my frozen chocolate balls....mmmm they were absolutely divine! It was already a hot morning, so they were fresh and cold, and the whole hazelnuts in them were crunchy! And a beetroot, apple, carrot, ginger and celery juice.

Lunch: beetroot, ginger, apple, carrot, celery juice. Macadamia nuts, goji berries and walnuts.

Dinner: My beautiful friend Steph made me an amazing earth dinner! Wooo it's the first time anyone has made me dinner since I started this Earth Diet. Steph is super duper healthy and she made her speciality "Garden Feast!". The recipe is below!



Dessert: no dessert.

Snacks: chocolate balls! mmmm mmmm! Recipe in yesterdays blog! I have chocolate balls everyday! P.S Steph and I have been shitting up a storm today! Thankyou chocolate balls! (Yes we are sure that the cocoa is making us poop!)

Recipe: Stephs Garden Feast!
Ingredients:
1. Olive oil
2. Tomatoes
3. Basil
4. Spring onion
5. Garlic
6. Eggplant
7. Red Capsicum
8. Green Capsicum
9. Zuchinni
10. Brocolli
11. Brown Rice

Directions:

1. Cook brown rice.
2. Make a tomato sauce by blending tomatoes, garlic, spring onion olive oil and basil in a blender. And then boil it.
3. Chop all your vegetables and steam.
4. Dish and serve.
Woooo easy garden feast!!!

Exercise: A little walking here and there in Surfers Paradise!

338 days to go!
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Thursday, 19 November 2009

Day 27

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I really do feel comfortable and actually love "being" inside my body since this Earth Diet! This is a shoot for Athan-Jon/Jigalin, photography by the most extraordinary artist Griffith Tchen Pan!

Thoughts: Yes I am guilty of this. Hair bleach. After reading my friend Eddie Kachabs "Chemical Free Parenting" book about chemicals, I learnt how hair dyes and bleaches are not good! But of course I was ignorant to it, because that's not something I am willing to give up (just yet). My friend Leanne Bridges said "I have read the only safe colourant is semi-perm. All others lead to a risk of bladder cancer from absorbtion into the scalp, hands and eventually the bloodstream. I don't dye my hair anymore. I have bleached, and than many many times used black perm colour but have not used any for about 7 months. I got really worried when My scalp itched and eyes burned from the fumes." I wrote in a previous blog that if you can't eat it, don't put it on your skin. Well obviously you wouldn't want to eat hair dye.

So the healthiest way to be is...don't dye your hair.

Sad fact about Hair Dye Brands:

400 out of 456 Hair-dye products that were tested for toxic chemicals are ranked as high hazard, which means they contain toxic ingredients linked to cancer, developmentive and reproductive toxicity, neurotoxicity, immunotoxicity, organ toxicity, not to mention allergies and irritation of the eyes, skin or lungs. As mentioned above, I will give you the link to my article detailing that, at the base of this article, so you can check out your hair-dye product, and see where it ranks on the safe list.

Bottle blondes may not have more fun, but it seems they may have less to worry about than bottle brunettes. A recent report by the European Commission has asked for greater control over the use of chemicals in brown hair dyes because of fears of a potential link with cancer. In April this year, a chemical present in all brown permanent hair dyes, para-phenylenediamine (PPD), was said by the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California to increase the risk of bladder cancer threefold in women who use dark- coloured dye. (http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G1-90276986.html)Semi-permanent and temporary hair colors have less toxic ingredients than permanent colors. Brunette colors are more toxic than blonde and red shades.

If you are pregnant and wondering if you should dye your hair....DON'T DO IT! read this first....http://searchwarp.com/swa307334.htm

But if your not willing to go el natural like me the healthiest way to do it is...

If you are blonde get a natural sun bleach. When I was in California and surfing alot in the sun my hair was naturally highlighted and there was absolutely no need to have dye highlights!

Natural and Herbal Color Rinses
Certified organic henna and plant materials can also color your hair, but with a more gentle and natural approach, since they contain no synthetic chemicals, preservatives, or harsh oxidizing chemicals, such as ammonia. These pure vegetable products do not alter the structure or natural color of your hair and actually condition your hair while imparting color and sheen.

You can create a wide variety of plant pigment color rinses yourself. These concoctions do not create radical hair color change, but instead accentuate your hair’s natural tone and shine. If your hair is less than 15 percent gray, some plants will disguise the gray. In these cases, the product actually stains your hair, although very subtly. Cumulative usage creates longer-lasting, slightly more intense results. You can repeat the application as often as desired, depending on the color level you prefer. http://www.care2.com/greenliving/safer-ways-to-color-your-hair.html#

It seems silly that I choose to consume these chemicals because I want to dye my hair now. What am I going to do about it? To be honest...nothing. Perhaps if I were living with the monks in India I would not be concerned for a highlighted head of foils, however with my work, this hair works.

Challenges: Making time to prepare my meals. Obviously it takes more time and committment to eat only foods born from the earth as it's quicker to grab a kebab on the way or a chocolate bar on the run. So today I was home for 5 minutes for lunch, and lucky I has left over veggie patties to eat, otherwise I would have had a cucumber lunch. Can I say over and over how amazing someone is? hehe well the oh so amazing Elisha made a smart suggestion to have a day to prepare meals and then put them in the freezer so on days that you are busy you can let them defrost (DO NOT USE A MICROWAVE, very bad!!! Thats for another blog!) and then eat them! I am working on a film set in January and am aware some planning and prep is definately going to be needed so I can eat earthy!

Triumphs: Being able to eat chocolate for breakfast! Wooo this morning I woke up feeling like chocolate....so I made some of my amazing raw chocolate cocoa balls! Recipe below. Its so cool to be able to eat something you love first thing in the morning, what a great way to start the day! AND who would have known its healthy for you! To read about all the health benifits of cocoa and real raw chocolate check out my blog Day 21!

What I Ate Today:

Breakfast: Chocolate balls!!! And I also had 2 boiled eggs and a juice (beetroot, ginger, carrot and celery)

Lunch: a cucumber (perfect and cool and watery for a hott summers day in Queensland!) and some left over home made veggie patties (recipe for patties in day 25).

Love cucumber!

Dinner: a buckwheat crepe with egg and spring onion mmmm mmm!



Dessert: a buckwheat pancake with maple syrup and my homemade chocolate! Ahhhh I am really enjoying the lovely natural sweetness that the earth provides us! Its beautiful!

Snacks: My very special hehe homemade chocolate balls! Recipe belowwwwwww! and almonds thanks to the beautiful Sophie :)

Recipe: Special homemade chocolate balls!
1. Agave syrup
2. Oats
3. Almond meal
4. cocoa podwer
5. water

Directions:
1. Mix it all in a bowl! Use your imagination and creativity to how sweet you want them (add more agave),how chocolately you want them (add more cocoa), how creamy you want them (add more almond meal)!
2. Roll in balls and eat or put them in the freezer and eat them fresh and cool, they are beautiful for a hott summers day!




Dinner: Buckwheat crepes with egg and spring onion. To me buckwheat is just amazing, it tastes great, its a plant seed that immitates a flour and is a great pancake, bread and pastry alternative! Love itttt!
Ingredients:
1. Buckwheat flour
2. water
3. free range organic eggs
4. chopped spring onion to garnish

Directions:
1. Make the buckwheat crepes, add buckwheat and flour to a bowl and mix until it's quite runny for a thin crepe, then fry in olive oil.
2. Scramble or make an egg omlete
3. Put the eggs on the crepe and add the spring onion! MMMM mmmm!

Buckwheat pancakes with chocolate:
Ingredients:
1. Buckwheat flour
2. water
3. agave syrup
4. cocoa powder

Directions:
1. Make the pancakes/crepes as above, if you want it thicker use less water.
2. Make your chocolate mixture with cocoa powder, water and agave syrup so it's like a nutella spread.
3. Spread the chocolate over your pancakes and it will melt! MMMM reminds me of the time Angie and I were under the Eiffel Tower in Paris eating crepes with nutella....although this homemade is way healthier, and tastes just as good PLUS it doesn't leave me feeling full, bloated and tired!

Exercise: Walking around Brisbane shopping, buying new sunglasses woooshhh this Aussie sun is strong ;) and getting my visa for India!!! Great exercise I must say!

339 days to go!
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Day 26

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Thoughts: BUT. Hey BUTT face! Let's face it we are all butt faces! I am a butt face! I have had many emails and comments on this blog, people saying "Wow this is so amazing, you are so inspiring BUT I couldn't do it, BUT I can't do it right now, BUT it's too hard for me, BUT I don't have that kind of will power!" AND the thing is yes you can do it!

I used to say these things also. I would say to myself "I really want to love myself and only nuture myself with foods that provide my body with nutritional value, I want to cut out all chemicals and preservatives and processed foods BUT BUT BUT It's too hard, BUT that would be impossible, BUT it's stupid because it's not humanly possible, BUT it would be too expensive to go organic, BUT my body needs some junk every now and then, BUT I shouldn't deprive my body of lollies and chocolate. (Get how crazy that is, 'I shouldn't deprive my body of lollies and chocolate! Why the HHH not? They aren't good for me anyways!)

The word BUT robbed me of my natural joy, power and full self expression. Everytime I would use the word BUT I put a lid on. Every time we use the word BUT it creates an un-reality. I used BUT for 5 years around my health, AND it wasn't until 25 days ago that I declared "I want to love myself and only feed my body with foods that will provide it with nutritional value AND i'm going to do just that for 365 days! And it was the most powerful transformation I have ever made around my health and my self! I did this with replacing BUT with AND!

The word AND changes everything. What BUTS do you have? Find the butts in your life, and kick the butts out! Replace them with AND! "I want to go to India and climb the himalayas AND I can create the money to get there!" "I want to learn french AND I can do it!" "I want to love you fully AND I will because you deserve it!" "I want to be healthy and love my body AND I will start right now with learning more about foods!" "I want to loose weight and be supermodel toned AND I will commit to having this by February!" - some examples! What ever excites you!

It makes no sense that such a tiny little word (but) can have a huge impact on your life and health!

Challenges: Today I had no challenges what so ever with the Earth Diet, I felt healthy, connected and extremely empowered! I chatted with a glowy looking lady tonight, Deb, and she is on the raw diet, she said that to her food is a vibration and that she eats foods with high vibrations, whole fresh raw foods, and because of that her frequency is absolutely glowing! It's getting easier to look at a chocolate bar now and not want it, to powerfully choose to be on the Earth Diet rather than eat something that only damages my health!

Triumphs: Being able to eat pancakes for lunch! Wooohoooo! Of course very healthy earthy pancakes!(recipe in blog Day 25)

What I Ate Today:

Breakfast: Juice with lots of ginger, beetroot, celery and carrot!

Lunch: buckwheat pancakes with maple syrup and strawberries mmmm mmmm! So fufilling and yet energizing, buckwheat doesn't drowse me like white or wholemeal flour used to.



Dinner: 2 boiled eggs

Dessert: almond meal (finely chopped almonds into a flourish consistency)

Snacks: no snacks

Recipe: Check out the recipe for the best ever buckwheat pancakes with maple syrup and strawberries in yesterdays blog (Day 25)

Cost: buckwheat flour $2, almond meal $2

Exercise: Walking around doing daily erands for 25 mins and talking! talking is exercise isnt it?

340 days to go!
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Wednesday, 18 November 2009

Day 25

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Thoughts: White bread is dead!

Why is the color of white bread so white when the flour taken from wheat is not?

It’s because the flour used to make white bread is chemically bleached, just like you bleach your clothes. So when you are eating white bread, you are also eating residual chemical bleach. Flour mills use different chemical bleaches, all of which are pretty bad. Here are a few of them: oxide of nitrogen, chlorine, chloride, nitrosyl and benzoyl peroxide mixed with various chemical salts.

One bleaching agent, chloride oxide, combined with whatever proteins are still left in the flour, produces alloxan. Alloxon is a poison and has been used to produce diabetes in laboratory animals. Chlorine oxide destroys the vital wheat germ oil. It will also shorten the flour’s shelf life and nurture insects.

Besides, in the process of making flour white, half of the good unsaturated fatty acids, that are high in food value, are lost in the milling process alone, and virtually all the vitamin E is lost with the removal of wheat germ and bran. As a result, the remaining flour in the white bread you buy, contains only poor quality proteins and fattening starch.

So why is flour so bad?

Highly processed white flour or wheat flour is missing the two most nutritious and fiber-rich parts of the seed: the outside bran layer and the germ (embryo). Flour contains high proportion of starches, which are complex carbohydrates also known as polysaccharides. Leavening agents are used with some flours, especially those with significant gluten content, to produce lighter and softer baked products by embedding small gas bubbles. Flour has been refined and processed. A diet of refined foods leaves many people malnourished, constipated, enervated and vulnerable to chronic illness.

The more refined foods a person eats, the more insulin must be produced to manage it. Insulin promotes the storage of fat, making way for rapid weight gain and elevated triglyceride levels, which can lead to heart disease. Over time, the pancreas gets so overworked that insulin production grinds to a halt, and hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) or diabetes sets in. Either way, the body is getting little or no fuel from the food you eat and tries to convert muscle and fat into energy.

So ditch the white bread all together and opt for whole wheats and whole grains. I use buckwheat as an alternative to flour! This morning I made buckwheat pancakes with maple syrup and strawberries! yes pancakes are part of the Earth Diet! Woooohooo! (recipe below)

Here's why buckwheat is so cool and is the new "flour"

1. Buckwheat is energizing and nutritious
2. Contains no gluten
3. Buckwheat is available throughout the year and can be served as an alternative to rice or made into porridge.
4. It is actually a fruit seed that is related to rhubarb and sorrel making it a suitable substitute for grains for people who are sensitive to wheat or other grains that contain protein glutens.
5. A Grain That's Good for Your Cardiovascular System
6. Better Blood Sugar Control and A Lowered Risk of Diabetes
7. Helps Prevent Gallstones
8. Low in saturated fats
9. rich in potassium and phosphorus

check out World Healthiest Foods (www.whfoods.com) you can search most foods and find out their nutritional benifits.

And here's what my beautiful earth friend and one of the healthiest people I know, Elisha Yarrington wrote about yesterdays blog.

"Soy the abominable bean"

Eating Soy Foods Will Destroy Your Thyroid and leach calcium from your bones.

Soy, due to its phytic acid, causes calcium to be stripped from the body, and impairs absorption of all minerals. Soy suppresses the thyroid gland, leading to serious problems.

Soy contributes to joint pain, and often merely discontinuing all soy and drinking lots of water to flush out the poisons will make the pain vanish. The highly-touted phytoestrogens in soy have been linked to increased cancer, infertility, leukaemia and endocrine disruption.

It is child abuse to feed a baby soy formula.

A baby fed soy will receive, through the phytoestrogens, the equivalent of approximately five birth control pills per day! The damage is incalculable. The British government is considering legislation to control the sale of soy-based baby formula - when will the rest of the world take notice?
Soy – another cautionary tale. Here is an interview from a neuro surgeon, he is brilliant! Dr. Blaylock: The worst of the things they're doing are the soy extracts. Soybeans, naturally, have one of the highest glutamate levels of any of the plant products. When you hydrolyze it, you release the glutamate, and the soy protein isolates. The glutamate levels are higher than a lot of what you'll find in MSG products, yet the vegetarians are just eating it like it's the healthiest thing in the world. There was a 25-year study done, which looked at people who consumed the most soy products, and they followed them for 25 years and did serial CT scans. They found out that the people who consumed the most soybean products had the greatest incidence of dementia and brain atrophy.

These people are destroying their nervous system, and I talked to a lot of them who complained of severe migraine headaches. I said, "Get off the soy," and they do, and that migraine headache goes away. In addition, you have very high manganese levels, which is toxic to the very same part of the brain that produces Parkinson's. You've got a mixture of toxins with soy products, and the people think they are eating a healthy, nutritious product. It's destroying their nervous system, as well as other organs.

Mike: In this whole debate of soy versus cow's milk, we find misinformation in both camps. Dr. Blaylock: I wouldn't recommend either one. If you're obsessed with milk, use goat's milk. It's closer to human milk, but I wouldn't recommend cow's milk or soy milk. I think people ought to avoid soy products as if they were poison.
Confirmation of the potency of soy products as a hormonal manipulator has come from a study in the July issue of the Journal Human Reproduction. This showed that men who consume a mere HALF SERVE of soy products per day halved their sperm count.
This confirms both animal studies on soy’s role in infertility, and studies from the Soy Industry itself, promoting thr product as a very powerful hormone modulator. Common sense would indicate that if a product was sufficiently active enough to endorse as an estrogen modifier to assist in the prevention and treatment of prostate cancer, that it MUST have an effect on the generation soy consumers, many of them male and a large percentage of consumers infants on soy based formula.
Elisha Yarrington

Challenges: Not having icecream on my pancakes! Hehe! There are just some things worth giving up!

Triumphs: Making the best ever buckwheat pancakes on the Earth Diet! (recipe below)

What I Ate Today:

Breakfast: Buckwheat pancakes with maple syrup and strawberries!

Lunch: a huge salad with advocado, purple onion with an olive oil and lemon juice dressing! With a side of veggie patties with a tomato basil sauce (recipe below!)



Dinner: a big bowl of oats and half a rockmelon! Dinner choice because I got home at 10pm!

Dessert: bed time

Snacks: cherries and very sweet green grapes

Recipe:
Buckwheat pancakes with strawberries and maple syrup!
Ingredients:
1. water
2. buckwheat flour
3. almond meal (crushed almonds that has a consistency of flour, or hazelnut meal or oats!)
3. maple syrup or honey
4. agave syrup
5. strawberries
6. a pinch of himalayan sea salt
7. cooking oil, olive oil or coconut oil

Directions: (use your human chef beingness to create your own measurements!)
1. Mix buckwheat and almond meal and pinch of salt into a bowl
2. Add water, if you want thick pancakes use less water
3. add agave syrup and make it as sweet as you want it!
4. heat oil in a pan, and pour batter into the pan!
5. when you see bubbles appear on the pancake then flip it over.
6. serve with maple syrup and slices strawberries! mmm mmm!



Recipe for veggie patties with tomato basil sauce!
Ingredients:
1. Beetroot
2. garlic
3. ginger
4. carrot
5. zuchinni
6. egg plant
7. eggs
9. brown onion
10. oats (optional)
11. Potatoes (optional)



Directions: (remember use your natural human instinct and create your own measurements wooohoooo)
1. Chop garlic, brown onion and ginger finely and put into a bowl
2. Grate all the other vegetables and add oats and mix in a bowl.
3. Add egg so that the mixture is sticky. Mix it.
4. Roll into hamburger patties and fry in olive oil, virgin coconut oil or bake in an oven.
5. Cook on slow heat from the inside out. They are ready when they are golden and crisp on the outside.
6. Serve with homemade egg plant and tomato sauce, or if you eat bread (I am not eating bread as it is not in this Earth Diet) serve it as a hamburger, I used lettuce leaves as a bread alternative!

Ingredients for tomato basil sauce:
1. Tomatoes
2. Tomato paste if you want to use it get organic and no added anythings
3. chopped garlic
4. chopped brown onion
5. fresh basil

Directions:
1. Fry onion and garlic until golden brown.
2. Add tomatoes and tomato paste.
3. Break fresh basil leaves and add to pot.
4. Add some water if you want a runny consistency.
5. Bring to the boil and then simmer for 15 minutes.
6. Serve with your patties! mmmm mmmm mmmm!




Cost: Pancake cost: buckwheat flour $3, strawberries $3, maple syrup $3, almond meal $3, agave syrup bottle $7, total cost for 2 people = $14 so $7 per person!

Exercise: 30 minute gym work out, 15 mins running, 7 mins ab work, 7 mins stretching in the sauna and then I climbed 390 stairs! woooo!

341 days to go!
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Tuesday, 17 November 2009

Day 24

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Thoughts: I gave up soy today! Elisha would be so proud! Elisha is my earthy food friend! She told me about soy and its effects on the human body months ago, I tuned out when she was telling me about it because I love soy and at the time could no way think of giving it up! My favourite thing to do would be to go to a sushi train and have soy sauce with my plates! And she was telling me it's bad for us?! Whatttt!? So I was totally ignorant to it. I included it my Earth Diet as I justified it earthy by being made from "soy beans, water and salt".

So here's the dirty little secret about soy and whats under the bean and why its not good for us at all! Sorry to burst your soy bubble if you love soy products, I let my bubble burst today because I realized my body deserves only the best best best foods!

Soy: SO….. No soy sauce... Elisha says 'In fact SOY BEANS are possible the worse thing for you. There are copious amounts of research on soy beans, and the findings are scary. Do a simple Google search and im sure you will discover why". So I did and I was saddened by what I found, and "basically, the genetically modified soy beans changes the structure of your DNA and soy beans raises your hormone levels through the roof. They are especially not good for guys, because of the high level of estrogen in them (causing low sex drive and infertility). SOY milk and all SOY products are a bit of a scam. We are OVERCOMSUNMING soy... Pick up a product of any processed food ie dorito chips, seaweed crackers, chocolate, anything, and you most likely find soy in the ingredient list. Our bodies are trying to FIGHT away the soy as we dumping so much of it in our bodies without realizing." (Elisha)

I also found out about the processing of soy and the use of hexane in processing. Hexane is strictly prohibited in organic food processing, but is used to make “natural” soy foods and even some that are “made with organic ingredients,” such as Clif Bars®. Hexane is a neurotoxic petrochemical solvent that is listed as a hazardous air pollutant with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).CRAZY!!!!

I even found a website that said "SOY—THE LURKING DANGER IN AMERICA'S FAVORITE HEALTH FOOD". Who hasn't heard of the marvels of soy? The marketing bandwagon has touted soy as the next perfect health food for decades. In fact, its health benefits have been aggressively pushed in advertisements on national TV. And from 1992 to 2006, soy food sales increased from $300 million to nearly $4 billion! That just goes to show that soy has fast become synonymous with healthy eating. But could something that sounds so healthy be actually dangerous? Before you take another bite of tofu and another gulp of flavored soy milk,think about the effects on your body!

Soy contains goitrogens which lead to depressed thyroid function.
It also contains phytates which prevent absorption of life enhancing minerals.

It is also loaded with phytoestrogens which sometimes block the hormone estrogen and have adverse effects on human tissues! It causes Breast Cancer, Brain Damage and Infant Abnormalities!!!

Soy foods, such as soymilk, soy sauce, tofu and “veggie burgers,”. It aint good. No more soy for me.

Check out http://www.cornucopia.org/2009/05/soy-report-and-scorecard/?gclid=COHw8ryCkp4CFZMtpAod9lfjow for more information or http://www.mercola.com/Downloads/bonus/dangers-of-soy/report.aspx?gclid=CJafhbyEkp4CFY0vpAod6kEHpg

Challenges: Giving up soy!

Triumphs: Giving up soy! Oh and tonight I declared I am committed to growing long and beautiful nails (I Have been a nail biter my whole life!) and tonight I looked at my short nails that hurt because I have bit them down eewww and said enough! And I declared it to 4 of my arab friends who will hold me accountable! wooohoooo! Otherwise they will come after me with their camels! hahaaaa!

What I Ate Today:

Breakfast: 2 boiled eggs and a bowel cleansing juice hehe beetroot, carrot, celery, gingerrrrrr

Lunch: cherries, sprouts and chocolate balls! Mmmm such a creative lunch ;) recipe below

Dinner: one of my favourite dishes, free range organic chicken breast with my tomato basil sauce and advocado on the side! The tastes sensations and textures go together so well! (recipe is in blog day 10)

Dessert: Cherries. Chocolate paste (recipe below)

Snacks: Cherries, green apple.

Recipe: Hazelnut Chocolate Balls.
Ingredients: Now I use no specific measurements for this, so get your being on and get creative woooo!
1. organic cocao powder (or your own made from cocoa beans)
2. water
3. olive oil
4. whole hazelnuts
5. hazelnut meal 9or you can use almonds and almond meal!)
6. oats
7. agave syrup.

Directions:
Mix all ingredients in the bowl except for the whole hazelnuts. Make it as sweet as you want with the Agave. Make it as dry as you want with oats, or more like a paste with water. It is absolutely amazing! You can roll the chocolate dough in a ball and pop into the freezer, or have it as a paste as an icing for a cake, or to add into cookies or just eat like nutella. They are totally natural, raw, organic and healthy for you with tonnes of magnesium and iron! wooo a healthy chocolate treat!!!

Costs: Today I spent $23 at the organic store, I bought some more Agave syrup $7, and tomorrow I am making buckwheat pancakes for my boyfriend and I so I stocked up on ingredients! I also bought some organic cherries! You know they are the same price as the regular ones in the supermarket! I noticed the cherries in the supermarket are more plump. It seems they are feeding the cherries something! hehe! I don't care if my fruit has dents in it, at least its organic! So I'm so excited for pancakes tomorrow with maple syrup and strawberries! I will post the recipe tomorrow!

Exercise: 30 minutes running and swimming at Surfers Paradise mmmm love the beach!!! With the beautiful Steph :) Oh and then I did a 90 minute pole dancing class with my friend Angie! haha I love trying new sports ;)

342 days to go!
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Monday, 16 November 2009

Day 23

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(Me enjoying the earth....the Grand Canyon)

Thoughts: "Being" with feeling great. So I am a human "being". And I am "being" a human. And today I got that I had an issue with "being" with feeling great. Everything was going great for me with this Earth Diet, I was feeling alive, excited, inspired, healthy, lean, my outer self looked glowy and basically feeling great! I suppose this scared my unconscious self and last night I self sabotaged this feeling.

This is what I did: I finished my beautiful homemade thai dinner and felt great and alive and awake, it was 8pm, and because I had been feeling great for 22 days on the Earth Diet, I freaked out, so I made myself another fillet of chicken, and then was full, but wasnt feeling crap enough so cut up some potatoes and fired them in olive oil to fill my body with starch right before bed. Then I thought I would add some acidity to the mix so I ate 5 passionfruit. By now I was over it and tired so I went to bed feeling crappy. Then I woke up still feeling like that, but actually worse, constipated, my body still trying to process the chicken and potatoes! Aaaahhhh! And so I went from feeling totally alive and great, too feeling tired and clogged! This is the exact process that I did for 5 years before the Earth Diet, althought it wasn't earth foods I would binge on, I would eat a jar of nutella, a box of tim tams, doritos, a kebab, anything gross I could get my hands on that would make me feel totally sick and tired. Totally insane and unconscious I know! A conscious person would not do this, for that action is totally human prohibiting and unconscious. It's like when I get in that zone, unconsciousness takes over, and I am not living true to my full human "being" self expression. Instead I am "being" small, tired, pathetic, not being responsible, weak.

So this is what you can count on me for now: I declare that for the duration of this Earth Diet, that I am committed to being and feeling great all the time. I am also committed to "being" with feeling great. And I hve just now altered the conversation with myself from 'I don't deserve to feel great all the time, It's too good to be true, it's not me' to 'I deserve to feel great all the time!!!'. Because you know one day will be my last, and I'm not risking being in a daze that day, I am totally in love with being alive, and so deserve to experience every moment for what it is, pristine. And every human being on the planet deserves this also!!!! It makes me sad that humans create pain and suffering for themselves. And I did this for 5 years, and still do, but I am so committed to living a life I love, and that does not include wasting moments tired and over it caused by bingeing!!!!

Next time you are feeling great, notice how long it lasts (a few minutes, hours, days, weeks, months?) before your mind sets in and creates drama or upset. And it's not wrong or bad, your mind is not evil, it's just conditioned that way, we were born into that, and now it's the years for people to wake up and become alive, and to become conscious and connected with ourselves, our temples (bodies), the earth and each other! I can honestly say I LOVE YOU! Because I know who you really are, an absolutely extraordinary and unique conscious love, light and peace being!

Challenges: Today was a huge day for me. I gave up sugar! My friend Elisha wrote to me one day and said I should give up sugar! Ahhh I was thinking no wat, thats too huge of a commitment, I need sugar, how can I live without and bla bla blaaaa! I have incorporated sugar (brown sugar and raw sugar) into my Earth Diet because I saw it as being earthy coming from the cane, however I have learnt how even though it comes from the earth, it has been refined and processed for it to look like that in the packet. I also did the sugar test with Bryan and Omar and they were so blown away by the results and how immediately sugar weakens your muscles! (the sugar test is in an earlier blog, contact me if you want to know it!). So today when I was in binge mode 'i want to feel crap, i don't deserve to feel good' mode I had oats with cocoa and brown sugar. I felt so tired and drowsy and over it that I just wanted to sleep and go watch a movie and eat apple pie instead of dealing with the things I needed to deal with today! So after that, when I got what I got what I wrote above, I said enough is enough, I don't need sugar, why eat something that actually makes me feel worse than better? Totally crazy! SO NO MORE SUGAR FOR ME!!! An alternative to sugar is honey and agave syrup. I have used agave syrup quite a lot over the last two weeks in cooking (awesome in curries) and great for making chocolate! The best thing is that it's a natural sweet syrup from a plant and has a low GI!

Triumphs: Getting committed to "being" with feel great! Huge!!!!

What I Ate Today:

Breakfast: two fried eggs in olive oil, strawberries, and a juice with beetroot, carrot, celery and ginger.

Lunch: potato chips (potatoes cut in chunks) cooked in olive oil (way better than takeaway chips!) with lettuce and eggplant and zuchinni.

Dinner: garlic and ginger chicken with brocoli and brown rice. (recipe below)

Dessert:1/2 a green apple

Snacks: oats with cocoa powder and brown sugar.

Cost: spent no money on food today!

Recipe: Garlic and Ginger chicken with broccoli and brown rice! (I would usually add soy sauce to this, but today I gave up soy, and it's actually nicer without the sauce, it tasted more earthy and more whole!)
Ingredients:
1. Free Range organic chicken fillets or breasts cut into squares
2. broccoli (or any veggie you want!)
3. Garlic
4. Ginger
5. Brown Rice

Directions:
1. Cut up as much garlic and ginger as you want! fry with olive oil in a pan until golden.
2. Add chicken. Fry until golden.
3. Add broccoli. Let stir fry for a few minutes until the juices from the garlic and ginger seep into the broccoli and chicken (mmmm getting hungry?!)
4. Add cooked brown rice to the stir fry and fry all together for a minute.
5. Serve! Soo good! I love garlic and ginger together! Ginger and garlic are the most powerful team bacteria fighters!

Exercise: 20 minutes running and 15 minutes in the sauna. I met the most inspiring extraordinary man in the sauna today. He was hit by a train at 14 years old and lost his eye sight. He chose to live life fully over comittting suicide. He now competes for the commonwealth games and is applying for Harvard next year! Talk about appreciation for life! It totally gets me present to enjoying my eye sight and not taking it for granted!

343 days to go!
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