Going Alkaline.

Tomorrow will be my DAY ONE of following Dr. Robert Young's program The pH Miracle which is a program focused on having the body be completely alkaline.

If you are anything like I was a few weeks ago, you might be wondering what exactly that means: to have the body be alkaline. I'm learning as I go along but have recently finished Dr. Young's book titled The pH Miracle: Balance Your Diet, Reclaim Your Health which sheds scientific and biological light on this question.

Essentially-to be alkaline is to be in opposition of acidic-which is very, very bad. Living in an acidic environment has a slew (and I mean MASS PILE) of symptoms including far too many of which I've been living with on a daily basis. The body is not meant to be acidic and it is acid in the body which is the livelihood of disease and discomfort. Symptoms are not only physical, but are deeply rooted within the emotion being as well.

Last week I had a microscopy done which examined my blood cells on a live and dried basis. I've been feeling terrible for awhile now and regardless of the time I've spent ( 6 months) dieting (hay weight watchers) and exercising (I have now become quite the little runner. Something I NEVER thought I'd be able to do) I've still been feeling terrible and my weight does not want to some off. Which is rather troublesome considering this is the hardest struggle I've been battling all my life. And you know, I so badly want to come out of this victorious with my health in hand radiating everything alkaline!
My live and dried blood cells spoke volumes about the environment of my body. My temple. Although I have been a vegetarian since the age of 11 (more than half my life!) and have made several healthy changes to my lifestyle-I still have a lot of "renovations" to do from the inside out.
For example: due to my style of vegetarianism I have not been a regular consumer of cheese for about 2 years. I would eat cheese on occasion, feeling sinful during the act. And I would pay for it in aches and pains up to several days later. Well my blood work was very telling of what a terrible thing cheese is to the body-as we could SEE the effects of cheese build up IN MY BLOOD. A green gooey cloud amongst my blood cells. I wondered HOW COULD I HAVE A BUILD UP OF CHEESE IN MY BLOOD! WHEN I DON'T EAT IT EVERYDAY?! WHEN IT IS A CRIME I COMMIT ON A RARE BASIS?!
The Answer Is: Because our bodies are not meant to eat it-and my body is in desperate need of cleansing and healing.
This was not the only alarming result of my blood work-oh no it wasn't! My blood showed a VAST amount of Candida and sugar! So much dang sugar that some of my cells had given up on life and had mutated into sugar crystals. My blood also showed that my bowels are incredibly stressed out, which was no surprise to me. My poop dramatics were enough to tell me long ago that there was something very wrong going on within my body.

My Symptoms Include:

• shortness of breathe


• bloating


• gas


• lightheadedness


• dizziness (everyday. For unexplained reasons..since my blood work from an MD showed I was deficient in nothing)


• heart palpation's


• fatigue (understatement.)


• constipation


• unexplained anxiety


• unexplained depression (I live an incredibly happy life..which makes my next symptom even more frustrating..)


• low libido :(


• reoccurring yeast issues


• irritability


• poor memory


• sleepy after meals


• low immune system resulting in frequent colds or infections (I've recently had my tonsils removed THANKFULLY!)


• emotional and spiritual disconnection


• Generally having one hell of a time getting involved with life.

The list could go on but that is it to sum.

So WHAT DO WE DO ABOUT THIS!?
Well....

For my first month I am on a STRICT (read:awesomely heartbreaking) regimen which is to cleanse my body.

I am eating:

• leafy greens


• all colors of bell peppers


• lemons


• limes


• avocados


• tomatos


• white grapefruit (which is impossible to find around here..)


• and more leafy greens.

I am not eating:

• Everything else. Including all fruit, dairy products (already practice this minus my sinning with cheese), meats (no problem), nuts (was getting tired of pooping out whole nuts anyway), anything fermented including mushrooms, pickles, miso and tempeh. ZERO carbs (not even the ones I can have in a few months like buckwheat) ZERO sugar.

Everyday I:

• Am required to drink 6 liters of water in total. 3 of which are going to be GREEN DRINKS which consist of a variety of Dr. Young's supplements.


• Am required to sweat in order to cleanse my body and restore my lymphnodic system


• Eat my 'dang greens


• Stay away from everything I cannot eat


• Test my pH levels in the am and pm to see how acidic my body is

I'm excited to start my journey into an Alkaline body. Although I know that my first month is going to be painful, I am truly looking forward to feeling better.

Relevent Now More Than Ever Before.

It's been well over two years since I first started this blog. Nearly two years have elapsed since my last post-which was about soy yogurt;which by the way I am still eating. Everyday, religiously...in a smoothie with my organic gluten free hemp protein and some frozen berries. I am oh-so-lucky to have a work environment with a fabulous top of the line VITAMIX. So I have the luxury of having my noon smoothie once a day. Often with a serving of matcha thrown in the mix. MATCHA I owe you an entire rant about this stone ground fine substance.

Without a doubt I lost track of time. But certainly not heart. I have been continuing my veghead journey still and am oh-so-fortunate to share it with my favorite person in the world. Since my last post I have met the most beautifully open minded human I could have ever stumbled upon. James is my partner through this journey called life and we are so blessed to share our lives with each other. ok almost done with the mushy goodness.

He is relevant to this blog and to my journey because he is the personification of hope for our modern day society. He is bonafide proof that absolutely anybody can enrich their life through a plant-based diet and consciously green mind.

He was the meat and potato eating, beer drinking "blue collared" heteronormative drum banging metal head (joethrasher.com) who never in a million years thought he would become a vegetarian.
That is of course until he fell hopelessly in love with a veghead girl (MOI!) who just happened to be incredibly savvy in the kitchen.
It is 100% true that you can win over the heart of a man (or woman) through their stomach. He began to feel the difference as toxins left his body and were replaced with energy and wholeness.He sought out the basic 101 of our commercial food industry which sealed the deal for him and his journey into vegetarianism.

His awakening is due to a mind which was already open and thirsty for truth. It is a sad fact that this mindset is not the norm amongst the masses. Most are happy to eat their shitty A&W CHUBBY CHICKEN burgers,thankful that factory farms do not have glass windows. Because if so were the case then they would be forced to cut out the crap, get involved with their universe and have some creative fun in the kitchen. (It really is that easy.)

We live in a society of fear and laziness, so counterproductive that we're missing out on our full potential. That is our ability to function as a harmonious collective. A HUMANE existence, not restrictively a HUMAN one.

The expectation of my role at work is to be a source of knowledge and communication to the customer, to facilitate in them a desire to understand their bodies with love. To feel a connection between themselves and our planet deeply rooted in ritual. I get to meet a lot of people in a day. I have many conversations with strangers about health and wellness and I often learn a lot on the subject from them. (I am also at times completely flabbergasted by some perceptions of truth-but we've got lots of time and blogspace in the future for such tales.)
Dialogue is key here, and we've got to use every ample opportunity to speak the truth.

MEAT EATING IS NOT FUNCTIONAL.

Over the past two years I have met a number of new vegheads whose journeys into a plant-based diet are not unlike those of my partner's. I strongly believe that not only should we all be eating this way, but we are all completely capable of doing so. Regardless of lifestyle. Regardless of status quo. Regardless of how much a pound of carrots costs in comparison to a pound of ground beef.

The original purpose behinde ThymeBomb is still as relevant NOW than it was when I first created this blog. I look forward to sharing and learning more through this fourm.
I hope you stay with me.

Sol Cuisine Making a Superior Soy Yogurt!

I'll be the first to admit that generally, I think all soy yogurt tastes disgusting. In fact, if I wasn't trying to keep this blog PG *Waves at her Mother from cyberspace* I'd give you a perfect vulgar description of what the texture and tastes reminds me of. But we'll all just have to use our imaginations.

In the past, I've had to mask the taste of soy yogurt in smoothies which makes it very much edible. However during my summer stay in Montreal I found Solgurt and can say with totally honesty that it is by far the best tasting yogurt I've ever had PERIOD. The problem I ran into when I was eating dairy was that yogurt would coat my broncular tubes and leave me with nasty congestion and fits of dry coughing.

Unlike other soy yogurts I've tried, the texture of Solgurt is thick and creamy like a dessert. It was not watery at all! The color was more white than an off beige-grey color and THE TASTE was heavenly. I experienced the low-fat vanilla, but they also come in lowfat blueberry and strawberry as well as natural unsweetned.

The only downside to this product compared to others, is on a caloric level. It is much higher in calories than any other soy yogurt I've tried (for a flavored option.) For 3/4 of a cup of low-fat vanilla it's 170 calories, 3 grams of fat (fair enough), 31 grams of carbs, 5 grams of sugar and 22 grams of sugar! No wonder it tastes like dessert! Having said this, the product is all 100% certified organic and if you're concerned about these stats I can tell you that the Natural Unsweetened option is a mere 110 calories in comparison and contains only 4 grams of sugar for every 3/4 cup.

If I can find this product in Ottawa (which I will report back on) it will be made a regular staple in my fridge. In conjunction with the amazing taste, the fact that this yogurt contains 7 active pro biotic cultures and pre-biotic- Inulin as well as being kosher, certified organic and gluten free!

Creamy Broccoli & Spicy Veggie Rice.

I've been out of town this summer and have found myself creating meals from basic foods-because I am running low on funds and not in my own properly stocked kitchen. Two days into my summer vacation I stocked up on whole grains (pasta, rice) and a lot of frozen veggies. This meal proves that as long as you have a basic whole grain, fiber and some sort of seasoning-you can make an excellent tasting meal for yourself while you're away from home.

Rice:

1/2 cup whole wheat (brown) rice. I'm a fan of Uncle Ben-because he's super easy. I NEVER add the salt or "butter" to the rice..there's totally no need for it.

1- 1 1/2 cups of water

1 cup frozen veggies

"Middle Eastern Spice" (I found this in the Beau's cupboard-it's a mixture of curry, turmeric and cordiner.)

Black Pepper

Montreal Steak Spice *it's vegan-shut up! Not just for steaks!*

Bring to a boil and let simmer covered on medium-low heat, stir every now and then. About 5 minutes into the simmer process, add 2 tbsp of low-sodium soy sauce.

Creamy Broccoli

1-2 cups frozen broccoli

2 generous tbsp of organic peanut butter

3-4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce * If you've got BRAGGS-use it in replacement of the soy sauce and add according to taste*

3-4 tbsp orange juice

garlic powder to taste

While the broccoli is being steamed, combine the remaining ingredients into a saucepan on medium heat, starting with the peanut butter. Add steamed broccoli and toss to coat!

Easy 3 a.m. Veg Muffins

I am the first to scoff at muffin mix from a box. It's true, I much prefer to do any kind of baking from scratch and encourage people to dirty their hands and create from raw ingredients. However, my friend is not of the same mentality. The man likes his muffins, and he can pop them out "fuss free" when the mix comes from a bag. 3am, a few mornings ago the baking bug nibbled away at our insides! With our pre-packaged muffin mix in tow, we set out to bake.

Most mixes (pancakes,cookies,muffins,cakes) are already vegan-it's the eggs you are instructed to add that makes the muffins non-veg. Easy solution: add 1tbsp of unsweetned applesauce for every one egg the box requires. For a personal twist, I threw in some oatmeal and crunchy cereal. The nice thing about these mixes is that they are mostly fool-proof!

So have fun and add in some nuts,dried fruit or morphine. ..Kidding about the morphine. Just make sure to READ the label on your mix to make sure the dry ingredients are AOK.

My veg muffins are in the blue silicon tray! FDA approved silicon cookware is a blessing! Easy to clean, less likely to burn the bottom of your baked goods AND you use a LOT less fat in your baking because you do not have to coat the pan with oil before you bake. I run a little grapeseed oil through just incase-but it is not a must. I use a silicon pan for my loafs and they come out perfect everytime!

NomNom!

Just Click the Damn Link...

For a VERY imporant news UPDATE:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQ7J7UjsRqg&feature=related

Green Your Sex Life

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