So much excitement!

So for those who haven’t read my “about” page (see left side bar) I was diagnosed with Chronic Urticaria earlier this year.  It’s really just a fancy name for chronic hives, but in cases like mine, my body attacks a certain type of cell which results in hives.  I was put on prednisone—a steroid with yucky side effects—for 3 weeks and they went away.  I hadn’t been working out because the hives were so bad and sweating made them worse. THEN the prednisone gave me awful side effects. *Insert weight gain* I was weaned off the steroids and put on prescription antihistamines.  Well, they were gone for almost a month and last week..ta-da. Slowly they started to get worse, doctor up’ed my antihistamines but finally they were constant for 3 days and she gave me 5 day dosage of prednisone.  We’re checking my “Chronic Urticaria Index” and if it’s high enough they’ll put me on immunosuppressant drugs.  I’ve been doing a lot of walking of hills (on a treadmill of course, we have no hills in Florida lol) but today I just went for a run, even though it’s brutal as all hell out.  It wasn’t bad considering I haven’t been consistent.

I’ve been doing a lot of strength training at home with my balance ball and I have 5lb weights.  Ugh, six weeks until I move and I’m just not happy.

Things like this kind of irk me. Like, okay loving your body is essential if you want to get healthy and such but it’s like…I don’t know if I’m going to explain this right but when people cross out something that’s supposed to be taken as an inspirational message and put something else under it’s just. I mean you’re making it sound wrong that somebody wants to be skinny. Because when you think of skinny you think of anorexic or unhealthy but when I think of skinny I think of healthy, strong..I think of being able to wear all those outfits that wouldn’t fit right otherwise. I think of not having to worry about how my ass looks in my jeans. I mean, wanting to be skinny shouldn’t make you a bad person and when people continually make people feel bad for wanting to be skinny it’s just wrong. Because “skinny” in one person’s eyes can mean something completely different to another..but I don’t think you should ever discourage someone that way…Just cause you never know what the intention was behind that….

“Why choose to fail when success is an option?”

- Jillian Michaels

Myocardial infarction treatment. Heartattack. http://bit.ly/cT3h8w health

Today, I was inspired to cook. After tuning in to the Food Network, how could I not? I channeled my inner Paula Deen, Ina Garten, and Rachel Ray and hit the grocery store. I picked up the essentials plenty of blueberries, strawberries, bananas, apples, peppers, onion, spinach leaves, applesauce, yogurt, cottage cheese, eggs. orange juice, oatmeal, peanut butter, bread, craisins and raisins.
With my grocery treasures I made a pasta salad consisting of broccoli, red peppers, tomato, salami, cheddar cheese, rigatoni and Italian dressing.?Luckily, I had a buddy in my cooking expedition- A fellow Warren lane girl, Michelle. Our first project was to make Barefoot Contessa’s Brownie Pudding?. We combined eggs and sugar and whisked them for about 3 minutes. The whisk add some air to the batter making it light and fluffy versus the hand mixer.Flour and cocoa powder were sifted together and then added to the eggs and sugar. Finally, the butter and vanilla were added.?Good sifting skills Michelle!We put them in a pie and muffin tins, followed by a drizzle of caramel syrup on each. Bake at 325 degrees. Twenty minutes for the muffins and 50 for the pie tin.The Brownie Pudding came out beautifully- so decadent! It was literally a consistency between a brownie and pudding. A super moist brownie if you will and when you thought it couldn’t get any better our addition of caramel did. The caramel created a crisp top and some soaked through the batter to the middle of the brownie. Mmmmm!?The next treat was Peanut butter granola- a recipe from Peanut Butter Finger’s blog. She came up with a great recipe- I can’t take credit for it’s deliciousness! The only addition I made was to bake in some craisins for an extra punch! I can’t wait to put this on top of yogurt and oatmeal!?Next, I took Julie’s recipe and doubled it. The goal was Peanut butter and Jelly granola bars. I added one egg white, 1/4 c of brown sugar and 4 tbsp of (melted) butter to Julie’s recipe. I put half the batter on a cookie sheet, spread a thin layer of grape jelly over it and then put the final half of the batter on top.I baked it on 350 for 25 minutes, which as it turns out was too long. I would suggest 20 for next time! Be sure to let them cool. I found the longer they sat the more I like them. Michelle and I approved of these bars. They had a crunchy top and soft center. We loved that we could taste each ingredient; the peanut butter, the cinnamon, the vanilla. However, we felt that if maybe raisins or walnuts were added it might give these bars a little something extra in terms of texture and a taste that stands out. We were also pretty cautious with the jelly, so maybe just adding a bit of a thicker layer would be enough.We’re finishing the night off with a movie while enjoying the fruits- or should I say oats of our labor.Until tomorrow, Toodles! ?

Top 50 Summer Diet Foods for Weight Loss:

Diet Food: Mulberries

These sweet, juicy summer berries are tasty both fresh and dried in trail mix or in a salad, says Lisa Dorfman, a registered dietitian and author of The Reunion Diet. “At just 43 calories per 3.5 oz serving, they contain 61 percent of the RDA for vitamin C, and they’re also chock full of potassium, fiber, and resveratrol, a phytonutrient shown to protect the heart.

Diet Food: Pineapple

“This sweet tropical fruit is the perfect ingredient for summer smoothies and juices,” says Beth Aldrich, a certified holistic health and nutrition counselor, and author of the book Real Moms Love to Eat. “It contains the proteolytic enzyme bromelain, which aids in the digestion of protein and blood clot formation. As an anti-inflammatory super food, pineapple can help reduce swelling and in turn, you’ll have a flatter belly.

[read more at the source…]

Lifehacker | Pirates really do sleep better:

Turns out hammocks are better for sleeping. Who’d have guessed that.

So today was the last day of our yard sale. I made like $35.00. My mom made more than I did. But remember..this was all just junk & clutter. The amount I made was perfect because what I wanted to buy my mom for her upcoming birthday was on sale for $30.00! Super excited & can’t wait for her surprise party. What was left from the yard sale, we took to Goodwill…besides a few things that we’re giving a couple people & a few things we’re putting in my sister-in-law’s yard sale. 

I ate okay today. But I still felt bad for not eating perfectly. I did make it to the gym though! It felt amazing. I warmed up for 10 minutes on the bike, did some stuff with weights, & then ran a mile! I ran a mile…without stopping..in 13 minutes. That’s like a freaking miracle for me! I was breathing way too hard, but I couldn’t help it. It felt great! Proud moment. (: 

Now I just got out of the shower, lying in bed, about to read. 

Before I end this post, I want to show you a picture. This was another proud moment. Not last Summer, but the Summer before I bought a sundress..when I bought it, it fit. The next Summer it was too tight. I decided since I’ve lost 35 pounds since last Summer, that I should try it on. So I waited a day or two & then the other day I finally tried it on…. & IT FIT! I’m sure I have a picture of me wearing it when it was slightly too tight, so I’ll try to find that but here is the one of me from the other day.. 
 
(Don’t mind the wrinkles in the dress. It was put up in a box for a year.) 

Sweet dreams!

xo
T 

Boot Camp Week 4 Day 3

Maybe the publishing world heard us last week when we toldja our girl Jennifer Hudson was having a tough time getting a book deal about her weightloss. Well, things have changed! J-Hud signed a deal to write a book on her dramatic weight loss. The ‘Dreamgirls’ star will be opening up about how her unhealthy eating habits which she says began at an early age. The Weight Watchers spokesperson famously shed 80lbs in less than two years, going from a size 16 to a size 6.

She’ll share her weight issues, and some of her own best tips for losing and maintaining weight loss, fitting in exercise and keeping the pounds off. In the mean time, someone needs to share with her that with the weight shed those breast aren’t the same beast they use to be and she can hide the push bras and stretch marks, right now!

SOURCE: E! NEWS

Lunch: baked chicken, salad leaves, chorizo, onion and nandos sauce. Yum, nandos sauce is so good on salad if you like spicy food :)

I’m inclined to disagree with you knowing how to abandon a food, considering meat is different than cheese - meat doesn’t have casein. Casein is the milk protein that you’re addicted to.

We do deal with a lot, as vegans, and I commiserate with what you’re saying about getting shit from friends - I find that people being unsupportive of my diet, even though it’s no concern of theirs and doesn’t hinder their lives in any way, is the only hard part of this lifestyle for me. You know what, though? I don’t have any friends who say it’s stupid, because no ‘friend’ wouldn’t take the time to try and understand a life and moral change like veganism that literally hurts no one. If your ‘friends’ are being called stupid and aren’t willing to support you in something you care about, it’s really high time to get some new friends.

As for keeping up with everything, I’m not sure what to tell you - yes, there’s a lot of ingredient-reading in veganism. Yeah, there’s a lot of explaining. Worse, there’s a lot of substituting, especially when you find out our favorite alcoholic drink or shampoo, etcetera, isn’t vegan. But you do it because living cruelty-free means more to you than convenience and hopefully someday (as it’s been starting for years and years) veganism will be as convenient as an omnivore diet. We already have so many amazing products that make our lives easier (one being Daiya, obviously) and the list goes on from there. This day and age, it’s not hard to be a vegan - it’s just mind over matter.

Vegansoapbox has a list of how to get cheese out of your diet - I’ll throw it in for good measure: http://www.vegansoapbox.com/i-cant-live-without-cheese/

Fitness Fun Fact:

I love double and sometimes quadruple dating. My boyfriend and I have so much fun hanging out and connecting with our friends. This more than likely ends up with us all meeting up to go out to dinner to catch up or heading to the movies together and ordering the popcorn. Last night, we changed that. We met up with my best friend and her fiancée at the park last night! We laced up our shoes and went for a 2 mile jog/run. Afterwards, we raced each other to see who was faster in the park parking lot(of course my boyfriend and I won!). It was a different type of meet up but we all had a blast and the best part: we burned calories and drank water instead of consuming calories with food and alcohol. This is just one of the things that we have done together fitness wise. As a matter of fact, my boyfriend and I are actually in a competition with my best friend and her fiancée!  Two weeks ago, we took before pics together. The couple who has made the most improvement at the end of July will receive a prize from the other couple! Cool, huh? It’s funny because the men are so competitive that in return they have been pushing my best friend and I to work that much harder. So fitness fact of the day is, include your friends in your fitness goals. You will have fun and all get healthier at the same time. Now that’s what I call a win win situation! 

““The main thing diagnoses are good for is sussing out what your shrink thinks of you — Bipolar Affective Disorder means they like you, Unipolar means you’re boring, Borderline Personality Disorder means they hate you and Schizophrenic means you scare the shit out of them because they can’t keep up with your thinking.””

- Blackbridge 1997

great video!

Typhus fever, a common tic born disease. http://dld.bz/qVs7 health

Lots of excitement today.

Global Healthcare Expenditures---And Ours

I can’t remember what the machine says but imma low ball it and say 422. That means 578 cals left to go!

Anyone know what machines will help burn those the quickest?

Last week: 126.6

This week: 124.6

Back on track.

Next week’s goal: between 1-2 lbs

QUEENS, NY: 20 (ninety minute) bikram yoga classes for only $20 at Bikram Yoga Queens located in Astoria! Originally worth $360! - via Living Social!

*Click picture for link

In good health news, a study finds that Californians live longer than the average American – 77.4 years for men and 82.2 years for women. Among states, California men have the seventh-highest life expectancy and women the fifth.

But with few exceptions, Californians’ life expectancy is still shorter than that of the healthiest nations. For men in Yuba County and women in Lake County, life expectancy was at a level not seen on the international frontier since 1978. Read more.

Graphic of life expectancy for U.S. women in 2007 via Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation

The rates charged by popular health insurance companies may not be favorable but their faithfulness in fulfilling their promises cannot be undermined. They are also dependable in crisis moments. At times, making a little higher payment for a superior product may be more rewarding that always rushing for cheaper ones. Bearing that in mind, there are several ways for attaining reduced payments and

Choosing The Perfect Insurance For You: Stuffs To Help You Decide

SideEffects and recovery from a lumbar puncture, spinal tap http://bit.ly/czJbjR health

“The John Hopkins study—whose results will be published this week in the journal Psychopharmacology—involved giving healthy volunteers varying doses of psilocybin in a controlled and supportive setting, over four separate sessions. Looking back more than a year later, 94 percent of participants rated it as one of the top five most spiritually significant experiences of their lifetimes.”

- Far out: Magic mushrooms could have medical benefits, researchers say

How times change…

Expenditures In Healthcare Globally As Well as in OECD Developed Nations:

 A comprehensive study published by the Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development last year in 2010, covering 30-plus nations including the majority of the most developed world economies (excluding Brazil, Russia, India or China), found stark contrasts between health costs here in the United States and those of other nations. Three years ago in 2008, the average of a list that includes, for example, the U.K., France, Germany, Mexico, Canada, South Korea, Japan, Australia and the U.S., spent 9.0% of GDP on health care.  The highest figures were right here at home in the U.S. at 16.0% of GDP, France at 11.2% and Switzerland at 10.7%. Health expenditures per capita, on a purchasing power-adjusted basis (PPP), averaged $3,000.

 Total health care expenditures around the world are difficult to determine, due to several unpredictable factors like emergencies and calamities, but $5.5 trillion would be a fair estimate for 2010.  That would place health care at about 8% of global GDP, with expenditures per capita about $800. This $5.4 trillion breaks down to approximately $2.6 trillion in the U.S., $2.4 trillion in non-U.S. OECD nations, and $0.5 trillion elsewhere around the world.  Outside the U.S. and the rest of the OECD, that would allow roughly $88 per capita per year.  Clearly, there is vast disparity in the availability and cost of care among nations, as there is with personal income and GDP.  Health care spending per capita in the U.S. was equal to about $8,290 in 2010, while spending in the world’s remotest villages was next to nothing. The trend over the near future is for the modest amount now spent on health care in emerging nations to rise dramatically, while OECD nations like America struggle to contain their own mountainous costs. The total prescription drug market globally was in the $630 billion range in 2010.

Health Care Costs in the U.S.

 Continuous increases in the cost of health care, especially here in the U.S., grow at rates far exceeding the rate of inflation in general, are hammering health consumers and payers of all types.  Insurance providers continue to struggle to contain costs. Employers, meanwhile, are hit hard by vast increases in the cost of providing coverage to employees and retirees. This, particularly felt, in small businesses all over the nation. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimated that in 2010, an employer’s premium cost to cover a typical family was $13,770 per year (that’s a 114% increase since 2000), with the typical worker paying 30% ($4,131) of that premium.

 Many major employers are now utilizing preventative care programs in efforts to reduce employee illness, and thereby reduce costs. For example, many organizations have participated in providing/offering gym memberships to promote health through active, physical activities and exercise or the use of employee education aimed at better managing the effects of diseases such as diabetes. 

 Smart employers are showing their employees how to use the Internet to obtain better information about diseases and prevention.  Insurance providers are jumping on the Internet bandwagon as well.  Some employers are even hiring in-house physicians and nurses to provide primary and preventive care support in the workplace.

 Patients and insurance companies are also dealing with sticker shock over the nation’s prescription drug costs. Other factors edging costs upward include expensive new medical technologies and patients’ demands for greater plan flexibility in choosing doctors and specialists at their will.  At the same time, hospitals and health systems write off massive amounts of revenues to bad debt, which increases costs for bill-paying patients.

 In the wake of the tremendous growth of all aspects of the health care industry from the end of World War II onward, efficiency, competition and productivity were, regretfully, largely overlooked.  Much of this occurred because employers plus federal and state governments paid such a large portion of the health care bill.

 Healthcare providers are caught between the desire to provide quality care and the desire for cost control on the part of payers, including PPOs, Medicare and Medicaid.  The cost versus care debate has spawned an energetic movement to improve the quality of health care in the U.S., much of it centered on patients’ rights, disease management, preventive health care and patient education. Wellness programs,nonetheless, with preventive medicine and health education remain woefully inadequate.
 

 A Milken Institute study released in 2007 found that during the year 2003 (the year on which the study focused), 109 million Americans suffered from one or more of the most common, chronic diseases, including cancer, diabetes, heart disease, pulmonary conditions, mental disorders, stroke or hypertension.  This means that more than one-third of all Americans had these conditions to one degree or another. The study estimated one year’s cost of treatment of these conditions at $277 billion, but estimated lost economic productivity to be vastly higher at $1 trillion.  In other words, lost work and lost output due to these illnesses reduced the nation’s GDP by about 10%.  These burdens could be vastly reduced through better consumer health practices and better preventive medicine.  For example, obesity, lack of exercise and cigarette smoking are immense contributors to these diseases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that medical costs for obesity-related diseases rose as high as $147 billion in 2008, compared to $74 billion in 1998. 

 Back at our nation’s capital, both houses of Congress remain at odds—due to bipartisan differences, as to move forward with true reform in healthcare. Meanwhile, technology and innovations in the pharmaceutical/biotech industries, as well as in the holistic side of managing health—-together with health care costs, march ahead relentlessly.

-The Bassist From Hell

NEW BLOG YEAH.

So this summer, I am taking on a challenge. That challenge, my friends, is to eat healthier.

Let me tell you a story. Last summer, I weighed 127 pounds. That summer, I had eaten 1200 calories a day, with at least 45 minutes of exercise per day.

Then I went to college. I now weigh 143 pounds. I’m not healthy, and I want to change that.

This blog isn’t going to be about counting calories or obsessing over carbohydrates. This blog is going to be about eating foods that make me feel good, doing things that make me feel good, and loving my body- everything about it.

NEW BLOG YEAH.

So this summer, I am taking on a challenge. That challenge, my friends, is to eat healthier.

Let me tell you a story. Last summer, I weighed 127 pounds. That summer, I had eaten 1200 calories a day, with at least 45 minutes of exercise per day.

Then I went to college. I now weigh 143 pounds. I’m not healthy, and I want to change that.

This blog isn’t going to be about counting calories or obsessing over carbohydrates. This blog is going to be about eating foods that make me feel good, doing things that make me feel good, and loving my body- everything about it.

The Following Is Not Allowed In My Diet For 1 Week

• High Fructose Corn Syrup and other refined sugars
• Bleached, refined flour
• Anything made with any sort of processed oil (even canola, palm, safflower, or sunflower seed oil)
• No beverages with added sugars (exception of coconut water)
• No chemical additives (i.e. food coloring, artificial flavorings of any sort)

Health benefits of garlic

Health benefits of raw garlic:

(1) is a powerful immune system enhancer. Eat two to three cloves of raw garlic the first sign of a cold.

(2) helps lower blood pressure.

(3) helps reduce high cholesterol.

(4) helps reduce plaque within the arterial system. One recent study shows this effect to be greater in women than men.

(5) helps to regulate blood sugar.

(6) helps to prevent blood clots from forming, thus reducing the possibility of strokes. reduce platelet clumping and clotting (thus reducing strokes)

(7) dramatically reduces bacterial infections.

(8) expels intestinal parasites & worms.

(9) is a potent natural antibiotic and, while far less strong than modern antibiotics, can still kill some strains of bacteria that have become immune or resistant to modern antibiotics.

(10) has anti-fungal and anti-viral properties.

(11) helps to prevent cancer, especially of the digestive system, including the esophagus, stomach, and colon.

(12) has anti-oxidant properties and is a source of selenium.

(13) cures athletes foot. Rub crushed raw garlic on the affected area. Then cover or wrap the area leaving the pieces of raw garlic and oil enacted. Leave on overnight if possible. Repeat process until fungus is gone.

(14) helps to remove heavy metals, such as lead and mercury from the body.

(15) improves cardiovascular health.

(16) removes warts. Crush a clove of garlic, apply to wart, tape in place for 24 hours. The wart may blister and fall off in a week.

(17) heals boils & infected sores including cold sores.

Coconut water contains organic compounds possessing healthy...

Coconut water contains organic compounds possessing healthy growth promoting properties that

30 Day Weight Loss Challenge - Day 05

Why do you really want to lose this weight? Are you doing it for you?

I want to lose weight to feel comfortable with my body for the first time in my life. I grew 6 inches the year I was 10. I got boobs and my period when I was 11. I looked like I was 16 at a very young age. I got looks from men, some old enough to be a my dad, some younger. But no matter how old they were it always made me feel sick to my stomach. I didn’t know how to deal with attention from guys at ten because I was more concerned about playing with my friends.

There is only one person I am doing this for and that’s me. No one can make me lose weight. No one can make me work out. It has to all come from me; just like I can’t lose weight for anyone but myself.