Talkin' Bout A Revolution

Today marks day four of my new year's revolution (song link this time: Tracy Chapman - Talkin' Bout A Revolution.  I have been preparing for my next session with the Master Cleanse.  I still need to get to the store to buy some lemons, but that should happen in the next day or two.  I already have a good supply of maple syrup - though I will need more by the time the cleanse has run its course - and I should have enough cayenne pepper, so it is really just the lemons that I am waiting on.

As of today, I am out of kefir.  In keeping with my revolution, I have been drinking about 6-8 oz. of kefir each morning.  I purposefully didn't make any more kefir, though, so as not to let it go to waste when I start on the cleanse.  I am also running low on milk to make it from!  I haven't been able to get to Deerfield Farm to get more.  As with the kefir, though, this has not been a priority.  I want to get enough for the family, but without me consuming any milk during the cleanse, our needs are considerably smaller.

As planned, I have begun each day with some exercise.  Prior to eating anything, I have been spending about 30 minutes following Dr. Mercola's Peak 8 principles - though with my own twist on it.  Essentially, Peak 8 is interval training - after a warm up, alternate 90 seconds of lower intensity exercise with 30 seconds of high intensity exercise for 8 cycles followed by a cool-down.  The principles are based on heart rate zone training.  During the high intensity periods, you push your heart rate into (or close to) the anaerobic zone.  As the session progresses, your heart rate will peak 8 times - hence the name - and recover somewhat between the peaks.  Though he uses a recumbent cycle for his program, Dr. Mercola doesn't specify any particular type of exercise for the Peak 8 program, just so that your heart rate is elevated effectively.  For my purposes, I am using the Wii Fit Plus as my activity.  One of the fitness 'games' is the 'free step' which can be set for 10-, 20-, or 30-minute durations.  This activity simply counts your steps on and off the balance board and keeps the pace for you.  You can select 80, 90, or 100 steps per minute as a pace.  Note that each footfall on or off the board counts as one step.  I have been using an eight pound medicine ball in addition to the 'stepper' program.  My routine has been to simply step for 90 seconds at the highest pace while carrying the medicine ball (after a warm up, of course) followed by a 30 second bout of faster stepping - out-pacing the Wii pace - while raising (above my head) and lowering (to my waist) the medicine ball.  I go for a full 30 minutes and complete anywhere from 8 to 15 cycles.
Tomorrow's session will be fun!  I found my heart rate monitor today!  I have actually acquired several monitors over the years.  When I worked for NordicTrack - before they filed for bankruptcy and were purchased by ICON Health and Fitness - I purchased one of the Polar heart rate monitors that we sold.  That was my first experience with heart rate training.  I used it religiously!  A good heart rate monitor is an amazing tool to use when exercising.  Though you can find companies that make/sell monitors that don't require a chest strap, I don't recommend them.  Using a chest strap frees up your hands to do other things.  As well, the chest strap will usually communicate directly with the equipment that you might be using for exercise.  Many treadmills, elliptical trainers, and stationary cycles have the heart rate technology built in.  Lacking a chest strap, you will need to grasp a handle on the machine to read your heart rate.  In the case of the watch that doesn't require a chest strap, you will need to touch the watch with your fingers to activate the reading.  Either way, your hands will need to otherwise be empty to get a reading.  This seems counter-intuitive on a machine like the elliptical trainers which are designed to incorporate your whole body in the motion - something you don't get when you are holding the stationary handle to get a heart rate reading.  Mind you, using any heart rate zone training is still better than not using it so if all you have access to is the hand-held monitors go ahead and use it!  You'll be amazed at how hard you are working when you don't really need to!
I am really looking forward to tomorrow morning!

So, my mornings for the last 4 days have looked like this:

• Walk Ginger - due to the temperature, this just consists of letting her take care of 'business'
• Exercise
• VIDACELL
• Kefir
• Breakfast

What is different now when compared to 2010 is that I have added in the exercise step where I would previously have gone back to sleep.  After walking Ginger, I would usually do some deep breathing which, more often than not, would lead me to fall asleep.  While I realize that I generally fall asleep because I NEED sleep, this kind of sleep is not terribly beneficial.  Now, I am making better use of that time and improving my sleep cycle.  I have known for a long time that it is more beneficial for me to exercise in the morning than at any other time of day.  I have always been interested in fitness though I was never truly fit except for a relatively brief period in my life.  It was during this time when I was getting out of bed at 5:30 AM and jumping on my NordicTrack skier with my heart rate monitor.  I used my skier so much that I actually wore it out - twice!  It actually would have cost me more to repair it the second time than it would have to replace it.  It was due to 'right-eating' (or, at least what I believed to be right eating at the time consisting mostly of highly processed 'health' foods) and proper exercise at the right time of day for me.
It is never too late to learn and grow.  As such, I am always open to learning new things.  This time around (revolution), I have learned more about what 'right-eating' really means and I now have the stamina for the first time since the onset of my symptoms (March, 2006) to go back to what works for me - early morning, heart rate zone training before breakfast.  Sure, things are not quite the same as the first time around - I have limitations that I didn't have and no longer have my NordicTrack - but I have no doubt that I will see some amazing results.  Weight loss is still not my primary goal.  There are many other benefits to be had that I am focusing on.  Better health and being symptom-free are at the forefront of my mind.

Givin' the Dog a (Bath)

Today was quite the busy day!  The weather was (and still is) amazing and we had already planned on going letterboxing today.  Last night, the girls had a friend sleep over (so none of us got a whole lot of sleep!) and we had her accompany us on today's letterboxing trek.  After the usual morning routine (wake, walk dog, VidaCell, deep breathing, quiet time), I made myself some breakfast of two free range eggs, 1 slice of Ezekiel bread, and a banana.

Shortly after everyone had eaten breakfast, we headed off on our trek.  Of course, we took Ginger - our dog - along with us, too.

"Did someone say 'Ride?'"

Our destination was not too far from home - Smith Park in Middletown.  While I am not sure of the significance, the letterboxer - dubbed 'chthiker' - that placed the three boxes along the trail had the theme of 'building a concrete mixer' for the boxes.  As you walk the trail and find the three boxes, the stamps all work together to create a picture of a cement truck. 
It was a fairly short walk, but it was a really nice trail that led around a small pond.  While we were on the trail - well away from the park - we let Ginger off-leash.  The girls, my daughters and their friend - ran ahead of my wife and I.  Ginger had a blast running at top speed between both groups.  At one point, there was a small side trail that led directly to the pond (that was really green due to the overgrowth of plants - fortunately not algae).  The girls got to the edge of the pond first with Ginger racing along behind them.  Well...not being able to detect the edge of the pond, Ginger ran full speed into it!  SPLASH!  She immediately did an about-face and got back on the land.  It was too funny!  Thankfully, we hadn't yet made it to the third box at this point, so she had some time to dry off before we were ready to head home.  We also let the girls spend a little time on the playground in the park after we finished our trek.  When we got home, it was time to give Ginger a bath (hence the title - my homage to AC/DC's Givin' the Dog a Bone).  She absolutely hates it, but even before today's dunk in the pond she was in need of one.

Not wanting to end our outside adventures, we decided to head to Lyman's Orchard and do some apple picking (and whatever fruit we might be able to pick).  Lyman's is a wonderful place to go to spend a few hours or more.  They have a corn maze to navigate, the Apple Barrel store where they sell all of the fruit they grow (for those not wanting to pick their own) among other things, a golf course, and quite a few pick-your-own groves.  Our target was apples but pears, pumpkins, and peaches were also able to be picked.  We spent some time picking gala and ginger gold apples.  The raspberry patch was right near where we were picking apples, so we diverted through there on the way to pay for our apples.  No luck, though...it was really picked over.  Victoria wanted to find some pears, so we hopped in the car and headed to the pear grove.  Rae and I decided to let Victoria and Tatyana go on their own adventure, so we sat down on top of a hill with an absolutely amazing view while the girls went off pear hunting.  They came back empty handed, though.  Of the two varieties of pears available, they didn't like the taste of the 'brown pears' and they couldn't find any of the other ones.  I can only guess that the brown pears were bosc pears...  Our plan was then to go to the Apple Barrel and buy lunch at their deli.  The line was way to long, so we ended up getting a couple of things to snack on.  We all pretty much had our fill on apples, so we really weren't all that hungry anyway.  We took our 'lunch' to another park right near Lyman's and spent some time there before heading home.

Having mentioned Ginger, I wanted to share another VidaCell testimonial with you...

About a year ago, Ginger began favoring her back leg.  At times, she just didn't want to put any weight on it.  There was no real pattern to when she would and wouldn't do it, though.  We took her to the vet and had her checked out.  They told us that she had a luxating patella.  Essentially, this meant that her kneecap would pop out of the groove that it rode in.  While it didn't really cause any pain, it made it difficult for her knee to bend properly.  This is fairly common to small breeds - which she really isn't 'small' - and the only fix for it is surgery.  We obviously couldn't just shell out the $2,700 for the surgery and they told us that it wasn't really an emergency and that we could schedule it once we had the money.
I had already been adding Omega-3s to Ginger's food in the morning to help with any inflammation that she might have had.  After the diagnosis, I decided to try VidaCell with her, too.  I didn't use a whole packet for her as she only weighs 40 pounds.  Rather, I would just split the packet I was using with her.  I would sprinkle just a small amount on her food, moisten it,  and add the Omega-3.
After about a week or two, her limping became less pronounced.  Not too many weeks later, it completely went away.  We took her in for a follow-up visit with the vet.  He was amazed at her recovery.  Surgery was no longer required.

There And Back Again

Yes, I am aware that 'There And Back Again' is part of the title of J.R.R. Tolkien's book, The Hobbit.  It is also the title of a song by Daughtry - yes, that guy that got voted off of American Idol yet seems to have a better career than that year's winner.

Last night, I wrote about fasting.  Well, I decided that I would repeat my mini-fast today - hence, there and back again.  I think that I might have made a mistake with that choice.  Not a major mistake as I can simply choose to break my fast at any time, but the temptation to eat is a bit greater today.

Yesterday, the girls came home from the library with a bag full of freshly harvested vegetables and herbs.  Their group, Green Children, had planted a vegetable garden for one of their projects.  They harvested everything during yesterday's event.  We ended up with quite a lot of tomatoes, a couple of green bell peppers, some spicy peppers that I don't recall the name of, an eggplant, and a squash.  Additionally, we got some basil and some dill.  Victoria was still in the harvesting mood when they got home so she ran out back to our garden and harvested the two peppers that we managed to grow.

The long, green peppers on the left are from our home garden, the rest are from the Green Children garden.

Bottom tray with the basil and dill

Today, after my VidaCell and deep breathing, I got out the food dehydrator and set the basil, dill, and all of the peppers except the bell peppers to dry.  While I would have preferred to use the basil fresh in a recipe, I didn't have anything planned.  Rather than let it wilt and lose it entirely, I needed to dry it for storage.  The dill I will likely use to make pickles, but that won't happen in the immediate future.  As for the peppers, my plan for the ones I had planted was always to dry them and grind them for use in recipes.  I really wanted to plant them indoors to extend the growing season, but they ended up getting planted in the garden.

Second tray with the peppers

The basil and the dill dried out very quickly (as expected), so I simply removed the lower tray when it was done and left the peppers to continue drying.  To speed the process, I cut a slit into the peppers lengthwise.  I expect the peppers to go overnight before they are ready.
I plan to grind the dried pepper for use in guacamole, pepitas, and a lot of other recipes, so I was thrilled to get some of the Green Children harvest in addition to my own.  The plum tomatoes that came home will be made into salsa either today or tomorrow.  I need to get a couple more ingredients in order to make a good salsa, so it will have to wait until I can get to the store.

Anyway, as soon as I started to pick the basil leaves from the stem, the wonderful aroma began to fill the house.  It was only amplified when the dehydrator started doing its job.  If I can fight off the temptation to eat today after smelling that, I will be doing really well!  I think that this is when the spiritual aspect of fasting really comes into play.  Avoiding temptation through prayer is just one of the benefits.

Thanks to last night's post, I really looked further into the health benefits of fasting.  What I found influenced me to repeat my fast today.  I am really feeling great about the decision to fast, so I doubt that I will have a problem fighting temptation at this point.  As well, I am considering taking it a bit further.  One site that I read talked about a 'juice fast.'  Essentially, the juice fast relies solely on fresh juice from a variety of fruits and vegetables and the fast can span one day on up to 30 days.  The duration of the fast depends on the goals the faster has.  As I do not currently have a juicer, I am unable to follow this juice fast as described.  As well, I would continue to use my VidaCell daily, so it would not be a true juice fast.  At any rate, as I did with my self-designed egg fast, I plan to take some elements from the juice fast and work them into my nutrition regimen.