The Fine Line

The Fine Line Between Ultra-Health and "Decent"

This past week, I've taken a vacation of sorts. I stayed in alot, watched documentaries, read articles, wrote stuff, did a little bit of stretching..etc. However, I was eating really late, and despite still eating raw organic, I was eating alot of nuts and dried fruits late at night, and it really knocked me off balance.

There is the proverbial "10 lbs" that stays on people. They want to lose it, but to lose that last ten, and reach "uber" health, you have to go back to nature in regards to your diet, and be really active.

My prime is 165. I can see definition, I feel like and my legs are not stiff. When I go back to my old eating habits, and lack of real strenuous exercise, I go back to 175. This is what happened to me this past week. I was so annoyed. Im thinking to myself...I eat RAW, VEGAN, and ORGANIC and still ride bike and walk around everywhere and i STILL gained 10 pounds?!?!

I was pissed. So today I had some rice dream mint fudge and some falafels. I had been raw since early june, but after the large amounts of coconuts and eating the fruit late at night, I lost the raw food high that I was experiencing in May and June.

Im going back to it, probably now I suppose. Its Sunday evening, so I could still technically go and have something sinful but Im honestly pretty satisfied. Curious as to what I had?

1 falafel at Chickpea. It was 3pm and they gave me chickpeas that had been sitting in the basket for a while. It tasted great and wasnt dry at all, but it was pretty cold. Oh well.

1 slice of ricotta cheese pizza. A little dry and i really could have gone for some marinara sauce. If I were to do that again, I would order two slices, bring them home and make a good marinara with sundried and fresh GOOD tomatoes. Then warm it up or just put it on top of the warm pizza.

Great, now Im giving food tips on pizza.

And then the pint of Soy Mint Fudge Ice Cream and a Rice Dream Moonpie. Both were excellent. No need for dairy ice cream. Really.

But that was it. I was so full afterwards. Im used to chewed up fruit and green juice and green smoothie. Now it was all this stuff mixed together. Although Im not really feeling all that bad. My face is puffy from the bad carbs and late night eating, but otherwise I feel ok.

I have a bridal shoot on Thursday, so I figure it will be a good time to test a cleanse. I havent cleansed since...mid march? No....I would say November. So I'll do four days of water...grapefruits...and cucumbers. All really cleansing, and I will juice as much green leafy veg and I can get my hands on.

This, together with morning pre-breakfast elliptical and nighttime workouts, should show some quick results. Whenever I get hungry, Im just gonna fill up on my three staples.

That last ten pounds...you know what it takes. Mostly RAW, Dont eat late, and be ACTIVE.

So we all have our ups and downs. Just keep making those "downs" further and further apart. I live alone at the moment, because my love lives across the world in Hong Kong, so it can be tough at times. But focus on the positives always! We here in the western world have had lives that Royalty would have killed for 100 years ago.

Hopefully though those luxuries haven't made us irreversibly weak. I plan on doing a lot more camping in the late summer and early fall. I have a strong longing to get back to nature. Living in this city and being inside alot can really change a person. Fresh air and sunlight! We now live in an environment that is really SOOOO recent in the history of our experience here. We have evolved in nature...and now we are in these mega-metropolises.

So lets do our best to reconnect to nature. For our own sake and the sake of our only home!
And if you fall off the horse with diet ? What do you do? YOU GET BACK ON THE HORSE. Persistence wins every time!

I'll post again on Thurs.

Concerned

we may all have to become raw vegans anyways.

I have to admit that Ive been indoors too much lately. However, I have been trying to keep active by riding my bike to castings and doing push-ups and sit-ups in my room. I have a great idea for a training routine. Get this...

1. 10 Regular Push-ups...hand spaced a little farther than usual.

2. Then right after that, without stopping, you flip over and do 15 Crunches.

3. Then right after that, without stopping , you go back into push-up mode, but this time you do the "diamond-cutter" push ups with your hands directly in front of you, with the tips of your index fingers and thumbs forming the shape of a diamond. Try and do ten of these. If its too much, go from your knees and do it slow so you can feel it in your triceps and lower pectorals. 10 of them.

4. Back over this time, and do 10 leg raises. Put your hands wherever they feel comfortable, and slowly raise your feet, legs straight out, and focus on your lower abdominal area. 10 of these.

That is the circuit. You get main chest, with #1, then main stomach with #2, then lower chest and triceps with #3 and finally lower abdomials with#4.

Then try and do as many of these until you really feel the burn. I was amazed at how difficult it was. By my second round my heart was really beating. This could be something good. Try it out and let me know what you think.


Food idea. A great smoothie for summer. 1 Cucumber, 1 Grapefruit, a handful of Goji Berries. Add water if you have to, add agave nectar or another natural sweetener to bring up the sugar content. Ive found the gojis to really sweeten it up alot, along with a nice pink grapefruit, but the agave can make it really nice too.

Or substitute peaches or nectarines instead of grapefruits to keep it more local to your area. That's a nice thing to try and do for a while in the summer. Eat nothing but local foods available by season. Its alot harder than you would imagine. Done with a friend though, it could be really fun. See what you can do with it.

http://www.lifeaftertheoilcrash.net/

Because unfortunately (or perhaps ultimately, very fortunately) our entire way of life here in the United States is coming to an end because of PEAK OIL. The United States peaked sometime in the late 60's, and the world is due to peak in 2010. Perhaps sooner because the demand keeps going up. After that, oil is going to be harder to drill for, and become less and less in the amount produced with each passing day. The middle east is the only region that hasn't peaked yet, and the survival of our entire oil-fueled society depends on it. That is why we are in the Middle East. We secured oil fields before we secured government buildings in Iraq. Our way of life simply cannot, and will not continue.

Think about your food. Where does it come from? It arrives from an oil-fueled vehicle, and usually from an oil-fueled boat. When gas becomes $10 a gallon (or even $6!) we wont have imports anymore. I think its all going to have to become very local, and it would be very wise to start preparing for ways to get it from ourselves. If you can, I would plant fruit trees around you. Most people in suburban America have enough space for a few fruit trees. And learn how to grow your own vegetables. I think we are going to have to take care of ourselves...just look at Hurricane Katrina, and then multiply it by 1000 to infinity. The Government doesn't have the power (or even desire) to help regular and poor people. The numbers are just too big, and the house of cards is just too tall.

Get solar, and start using electricity wisely. It ultimately affects your pocketbook and everything else. And its takes 10 lbs of vegetables to produce 1lb of beef. Look at where our water is going. We are growing crops to feed animals. Once tractors can no longer run though, will all that be able to continue? Who could ship the milk out? Remember, gas is going to be REALLY high, so what vehicles will still be able to operate? It wouldn't be cost effective. Everything around us is because of cheap oil, and that is going to be gone soon, so we are going to have to deal with it.

Look into what Cuba had to go through when the Soviet Union collapsed. This was their Sugar Daddy...going down for the count...all that cheap fuel and food was no more. There was a time where people were starving. Everyone was riding bikes around. Then they quickly started learning home agriculture. Rooftop gardens became common. The local farmers who were raising animals before started shifting the land to more varied crops. No more monoculture. They became healthier and became more independent. To know that you can take care of yourself, whether you are a country or an individual, is an empowering thing. As a country, we are VERY dependent on others.

So please...start educating yourself about this. This is one of the reasons I bought that small piece of property in upstate New York. Make sure you have some kind of food source and fresh water. Our power plants still run on fossil fuels. I don't think there is enough time to switch over when it comes to big industries.

OK...

One more food tip and I'm done for the day. I'm going to put on the Ipod and do laps around Central Park. Its a great day outside, and its already 2:37.

In regards to preparation, I would also invest in a comfortable bike with a nice little bike trailer. Just imagine having to reconnect with your family...who is 1000 miles away...via BICYCLE. Could you imagine?

Here's the recipe. 2 ingredients. Try and keep them equal in size or shift it so its either more sweet or more creamy.

1 avocado

1 peach. (or pear, or fresh (or re-hydrated) figs)

So creamy...a nice mellow sweetness. Not too much, but balanced so nice by the creamy avocado, which you can't even really taste because the fruit is stronger.

Food processor works really nice for this, or if you have a strong blender that can deal with pudding and thicker smoothies, then this is great too.

Seriously everyone...all we might be eating one day is vegetables. Who wants to go kill a cow when you run out of meat? Wouldn't it be easier to just eat fruits and salads?


More to come soon...