It Feels SOOO Good to be Back!

(Green Lemonade)

Freshman year of college is finally a thing of the past and I miraculously got through it with a decent GPA. I'm kind of going to miss being a college student over the summer but I'm glad that I'll have lots of R&R time in the coming months. I'll also have plenty of time to do some well needed detoxing because my diet can use some real cleaning up. Not having a juicer or blender in the dorm makes my dietary life so much harder and my rigorous class/work schedule doesn't help matters much. The last few weeks especially took a toll on my body because I had been studying for exams anywhere from 3-7 hours everyday and chugging mocha-latte-cafe-machiatto's on the regular (I actually downed a 32 oz latte in about 15 minutes last Tuesday night and was jittery until about 10 a.m. the next morning - Good job Natalie).

Anywho, I have been delighted to once again have the honor of being in the presence of delicious greens, sweet and tasty fruits, and exotic superfoods. I've gotten a chance to spend some quality time with my juicer since my return and it has been the most amazing thing to reunite with it once again. On Sunday morning (the morning after I got back), I made it my first order of business to drive over to the grocery store and get the ingredients for a green lemonade (I have the ingredients listed in this blog post). Green lemonade juice (pictured at the top of this post) is one of the most refreshing green juices that I've ever tasted. I could probably drink one every morning with no problem at all. I remember when I was home for a weekend earlier this spring, I had a pretty bad case of the sniffles and just had an overall sick feeling. That night, I drank a hefty, probably 35 oz, serving of green lemonade and I felt like a million bucks the next morning. I'm not sure if it was just naturally time for my body to get better or if the green lemonade did the trick but either way, that eternally sold me on the power of green lemonade.

Plenty more posts to come since I actually have stuff to write about nowadays. Be sure to keep checking in!

Raw. Love.
-Natalie

This Thing is Interfering With My Workouts!!!

(Apparently I'm not supposed to go to the gym because of THIS)

In an effort to improve my cardiovascular health, I've been trying to be more consistent with my workouts recently. I got into the swing of things once again maybe 3 or 4 weeks ago and everything had been going well....until SWINE FLU decided to make a nasty appearance. There are 5 cases of swine flu so far at my University and this has caused a lot of people to get really paranoid when they engage in daily functions. Some things I think are appropriate, such as the University deciding to place Purell hand sanitizer and moist towelettes at the front desks in all of the dorms, but other things are just kind of unnecessary, like not coming within ten feet of your friend who spent spring break in Cancun. I mean, the 5 students on campus who supposedly have swine flu have been quarantined and are residing in a dormitory that is located three blocks from the main campus, so why is everyone still so panicked?

Okay, so maybe I'm a little too laid back and care free about the issue but when an influenza outbreak interferes with my ability to get my workout on, I get upset. A few days ago, I was standing in the hallway of my dorm talking to a couple of friends when I interrupted and told them I had to run because I was heading to the gym. Following this statement, I was immediately scolded and received a somewhat synchronous verbal expression of discontent with my decision to workout. Why were they so concerned? Apparently fitness centers are a breeding ground for germs and any old person walking around the gym could be carrying the virus. Even though I was aware of this, I was still willing to follow through on my plan to workout...but my friends weren't going to let me go that easily. The huffed and puffed and carried on about the danger I would be putting myself in so I just decided to submit and didn't workout.

And sadly, I haven't worked out since.

I think that, subconsciously, I actually listened to what my friends said and started to believe it to a certain extent. In recent hours, I've started to slap some sense into myself and was reminded that fear is a lethal weapon and it can truly hold you back. So yes, I'm going to be safe, but I'm also not going to let this swine scare dictate how I run my day. The perfect balance, right?

Take care all, and be sure to find YOUR balance of safety and freedom...

Raw. Love.
-Natalie

Skinny Bitch/Bastard in the NY Times

(Article about Skinny Bastard that was in the Arts sections of the New York Times)

During one of my recent New York Times adventures, I came across an article about authors Kim Barnouin and Rory Freedman and their new book Skinny Bastard. For those of you who've read some of my posts from last spring, you know that two books were heavily responsible for my bodily transformation: Body-for-Life (Bill Phillips) and Skinny Bitch. I have to say though that the latter had more of an overall influence on me because the authors really broke down the effects of animal products on the human body in a manner that was easy for me to understand. Skinny Bitch is the only book in the series that I own but in my bookstore travels, I've also had a chance to skim through Skinny Bitch in the Kitch (their cookbook) and Skinny Bitch Bun in the Oven (for women who are pregnant). All of them are excellent resources for anyone who is interested in pursuing a healthier lifestlye and are ready to turn things around; and I speak from personal experience when I say that.

(Authors Kim Barnouin and Rory Freedman)

I can imagine that the two authors may have had a hard time figuring out how to approach writing this book because dieting is typically thought of as a 'woman' thing...even though having sound eating habits is equally as important for men. The article stated that when it comes to dieting, men are more concerned about health than vanity...so trying to coerce a guy to diet in order to get rid of his 'man boobs' wouldn't be as effective as telling him that the amount of hamburgers he eats can lead to diabetes and heart disease.

I'm going to order Skinny Bastard off of Amazon.com in the coming weeks because I think that it may have some universal information that wouldn't only be valuable for men, but for women as well. One ironic speculation that the article pointed out was that women are probably more likely to buy this book than men...I guess I fall into that pool huh.

If any of you decide to go out and purchase this or any of their other books, be sure to leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

Raw. Love.
-Natalie