Monday, April 27, 2009

Green Monster Deliciousness




Seriously, I had my doubts about this disgusting looking concoction, but after hearing about this "green monster" drink for so long, I decided to try it for myself. And....mmmm its delish. AND so good for you! Who knew?

Ingredients:
1 cup soy milk or almond breeze milk
2 cups spinach
1 banana
2 tbsp flax seed

Mix ingredients in a blender until pureed. Enjoy!

Country Music 1/2 Marathon

I am proud to say that I am officially a FINISHER of the Country Music Half Marathon. To be honest, it was one of the most miserable/rewarding/fun experience of my life. The Thursday before the big race, I got a surprise delivery of these beautiful sunflowers from by besties CAC and LKM to wish me luck. It was such a wonderful gesture and actually brought tears to my eyes. It is so nice to know that I have such great friends who support me.



The day of the race started perfectly- I got a great night of sleep, waking only a few times to check the time. There was not a cloud in the sky and was around 65 when we started. There were over 30,000 people running this marathon and the energy at the start line was incredible. It was such an amazing feeling to be apart of something so huge. We were giddy waiting for our corral to start.

Over 27 stages of live music helped keep us entertained as we ran and ran and (walked) ran. My buddy, and coach, SBY was encouraging me the entire time. We sang, clapped, cheered other runners, gossiped, anything to distract us from the miles and miles ahead.

Around mile 8 we passed my dashing beau, our friends, and my mom and sister which was awesome to see. After about 1.5 hours of running, the temp really started to rise. By the end of the race, it was around 80 degrees. The heat really affected the runners (including us), who had been training in 55-60 degree heat. People were spraying their garden hoses on the runners to cool us down and we drank water every chance we got.


This is the GLORIOUS finish line. I have never been so happy to see something in my life.

SBY and I finishing strong.....

at this point, my calves were cramped up into tiny little balls of fire.


"Coach"- she looks great. Could have probably done the entire thing again.

And me....


All and all a fantastic experience. I was so overwhelmed with the emotions I felt when I crossed that finishing line. Even though I was cussing SBY and myself for ever committing to do such an idiotic thing around mile 12, I would love to run another half marathon someday. Who's with me?

Thursday, April 23, 2009

What I (want) need right now.




Does anyone have any advice about purchasing a GPS/ heart rate monitor? I have read a lot about runners using this Garmin. Sounds pretty cool to me. You can track how far, how fast, and when you are in your heart rate zone. Perhaps an incentive gift for finishing the half this weekend? Hmmmm......
Cancer Update from Johns Hopkins :

1. Every person has cancer cells in the body. These cancer cells do not show up in the standard tests until they have multiplied to a few billion. When doctors tell cancer patients that there are no more cancer cells in their bodies after treatment, it just means the tests are unable to detect the cancer cells because they have not reached the detectable size.

2. Cancer cells occur between 6 to more than 10 times in a person's lifetime.

3. When the person's immune system is strong the cancer cells will be destroyed and prevented from multiplying and forming tumors.

4. When a person has cancer it indicates the person has multiple nutritional deficiencies. These could be due to genetic, environmental, food and lifestyle factors.

5. To overcome the multiple nutritional deficiencies, changing diet and including supplements will strengthen the immune system.

6. Chemotherapy involves poisoning the rapidly-growing cancer cells and also destroys rapidly-growing healthy cells in the bone marrow, gastrointestinal tract etc, and can cause organ damage, like liver, kidneys, heart, lungs etc.

7. Radiation while destroying cancer cells also burns, scars and damages healthy cells, tissues and organs.

8. Initial treatment with chemotherapy and radiation will often reduce tumor size. However prolonged use of chemotherapy and radiation do not result in more tumor destruction.

9. When the body has too much toxic burden from chemotherapy and radiation the immune system is either compromised or destroyed, hence the person can succumb to various kinds of infections and complications.

10. Chemotherapy and radiation can cause cancer cells to mutate and become resistant and difficult to destroy. Surgery can also cause cancer cells to spread to other sites.

11. An effective way to battle cancer is to starve the cancer cells by not feeding it with the foods it needs to multiply.

CANCER CELLS FEED ON:

a. Sugar is a cancer-feeder. By cutting off sugar it cuts off one important food supply to the cancer cells. Sugar substitutes like NutraSweet, Equal, Spoonful, etc. are made with Aspartame and it is harmful. A better natural substitute would be Manuka honey or molasses but only in very small amounts. Table salt has a chemical added to make it white in colour. Better alternative is Bragg's aminos or sea salt.

b. Milk causes the body to produce mucus, especially in the gastro-intestinal tract. Cancer feeds on mucus. By cutting off milk and substituting with unsweetened soy milk cancer cells are being starved.

c. Cancer cells thrive in an acid environment. A meat-based diet is acidic and it is best to eat fish, and a little chicken rather than beef or pork. Meat also contains livestock antibiotics, growth hormones and parasites, which are all harmful, especially to people with cancer.

d. A diet made of 80% fresh vegetables and juice, whole grains, seeds, nuts and a little fruits help put the body into an alkaline environment. About 20% can be from cooked food including beans. Fresh vegetable juices provide live enzymes that are easily absorbed and reach down to cellular levels within 15 minutes to nourish and enhance growth of healthy cells. To obtain live enzymes for building healthy cells try and drink fresh vegetable juice (most vegetables including bean sprouts) and eat some raw vegetables 2 or 3 times a day. Enzymes are destroyed at temperatures of 104 degrees F (40 degrees C).

e. Avoid coffee, tea, and chocolate, which have high caffeine. Green tea is a better alternative and has cancer fighting properties. Water-best to drink purified water, or filtered, to avoid known toxins and heavy metals in tap water. Distilled water is acidic, avoid it.

f. Meat protein is difficult to digest and requires a lot of digestive enzymes. Undigested meat remaining in the intestines become putrified and leads to more toxic buildup.

g. Cancer cell walls have a tough protein covering. By refraining from or eating less meat it frees more enzymes to attack the protein walls of cancer cells and allows the body's killer cells to destroy the cancer cells.

h. Some supplements build up the immune system (IP6, Flor-ssence, Essiac, anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals, EFAs etc.) to enable the body's own killer cells to destroy cancer cells. Other supplements like vitamin E are known to cause apoptosis, or programmed cell death, the body's normal method of disposing of damaged, unwanted, or unneeded cells.

i. Cancer is a disease of the mind, body, and spirit. A proactive and positive spirit will help the cancer warrior be a survivor. Anger, unforgiveness and bitterness put the body into a stressful and acidic environment. Learn to have a loving and forgiving spirit. Learn to relax and enjoy life.

j. Cancer cells cannot thrive in an oxygenated environment. Exercising daily, and deep breathing help to get more oxygen down to the cellular level. Oxygen therapy is another means employed to destroy cancer cells.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Riley

So the marathon is ...count them...3 DAYS AWAY! I must admit that I am very nervous and a bit excited. Training has been going well-even though I def not exactly stuck to my training plan- I have run more in the last 6 weeks then I ever have in my life. And dare I say it...I actually look forward to it now.

I could never have gotten this far and had this much fun without my buddy and coach, SBY. She rocks, yall. She pushes me just hard enough and is super patient with my "turtle pace". She is an experienced marathon runner and has the most drive of anyone I have ever seen. I don't think I could run the marathon without her right beside me.

I actually love getting up early (gasp- I know) and meeting SBY and my other running buddy NLF. We run and chat and watch the sun rise. I think its a great way to start my day.


In this week of preparation, I am trying to really focus on "eating clean" aka fresh fruits, vegetables, lean protein, lots of water, organic yogurt, etc. I have recently come to the realization that what I eat greatly influences my energy level and mood (duh i know). I also am making sure to get plenty of sleep (not too hard for me, I get a solid 8 hours every night).

Given all this preparation, hopefully on Saturday I will be able to claim myself as a first-time-half-marathon-FINISHER. Yipppeee!!

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

I am suffering from a severe case of

wanderlust \WON-der-luhst\, noun:

a strong desire to wander or travel.