Proof of busyness

Life as of April is hectic! My husband tells me that I make my world hectic which is crap which may be the case but nevertheless…it is crazy. On the things I can take “credit” for are: changes in the way my family eats and changing anything I can in my environment that will make me healthier and happier.

We have a very American way of eating…meat constantly and not enough fruits and vegetables. Who the hell has time to eat a pound of leafy green vegetables every day? So, as I mentioned before, I have been preparing green smoothies every day. Take a handful of spinach or lettuce or whatever green leafy veggie you have and toss it in the blender with some fruit and any other healthy stuff you have around. Flax seeds, cinnamon, herbs, wheatgrass…whatever floats your boat. The end result varies on what you put in (shocking I know) but for the most part they taste anywhere from good to really yummy. Since this change we have both felt fuller throughout the day, lighter (hard to explain but like we aren’t so heavy) and have both had less cravings. I have been eliminating as much salt from my diet as possible as well as bread, white pasta and meat. I have lost 2 pounds (though I am not trying to lose weight, just be healthier) and my skin has been looking a lot better. I also found the Insanity program and we are going to try to start that! Going to be different…hope our downstairs neighbors don’t complain…I hear there is a lot of jumping jacks and jumping in general….yeah, we’ll see.

Anyway, I started looking into water filters and found a great company, Aquasana, that has a China branch and their filters are specific to the interestingness of Chinese tap water. Filled with Chloramine, it has less of a smell than Chlorine but is a carcinogen…aka causes cancer long term. We don’t ever drink tap water, opting instead to buying tons and tons of bottles of water, but I read that taking one hot shower in Beijing unfiltered water is the same as drinking 4 gallons of tap water…awesome. So, we got a filter for the shower, a filter for the bath and a drinking water filter for the kitchen. It has been great.

                In other news, my husband’s boss’s wife J is a therapist and she works at an international clinic here, which is (shock) international, and has branches in Singapore and New Zealand...and just about everywhere else. She thinks she may be able to get me some work there doing testing! This would give me actual working experience in the counseling field before getting my degree (basically unheard of!). This is in combination with the fact that one of my coworkers has gotten the police interested in the foreigners in our office and I will be working from home until further notice (yeah..now permanent). Seems to me like the perfect time to have a meeting with the boss’s wife about future opportunities.  I got this work at home news upon stepping foot in the office this morning…surprise…turn around and go home.

                Add to this my regular work responsibilities and a full load with classes, and I have been feeling hectic. Does this not sound hectic or does this sound like I overreact and hectify my life?

Vinegar...that is the key to my homes transition into less chemicals and more natural products. Vinegar can be used in so many different ways as an alternative to household chemicals. That link shows you 61 different ways to use white vinegar, from helping with lice to cleaning your oven to cleaning your pets and even helping with varicose veins and yeast infections. I plan to use it to…

• Clean the floors, countertops and bathrooms: You can do that by mixing distilled white vinegar (found in any supermarket) with water and keep spray bottles of this non-toxic disinfectant in your bathrooms and kitchen – to disinfect and clean.
• Soak your dishes in vinegar: Use vinegar mixed with water to rinse dishes after washing them to take the soap off and leave them clean. Vinegar is also an excellent grease cutter. 
• Vinegar for fabric softening: Use it as a fabric softener and static cling reducer – use as you would liquid fabric softener.
• For air freshening: Use 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 tablespoon vinegar and 2 cups of water. After it stops foaming, mix well, and use in a (recycled) spray bottle into the air. I think I would add in a little essential oil too. 

In addition to this, I found a wonderful water purification system for the apartment. One for the bath, one for the shower and a drinking water filter in the kitchen. Taking baths again has been wonderful and not waking up and needing to go to the store to buy water has been great as well! 


I also found this awesome site that sells essential oils and ships free internationally! Well....except for South Africa, sorry SA! Free shipping to China though! Yay! 

Pretty colors

All of the pretty colors of nature 

This is what happens when you heat up garlic and ginger in water (for a sore throat)...it turns BLUE

Shakes with red cabbage make crazy purple shakes...why is it not called purple cabbage?

Yummy...actually, not really, I really do not like the taste of "red" cabbage

This one was spinach and actually REALLY yummy

More on green smoothies

So, I did a post a while back about green smoothies and for the past 2 weeks I have been having at least one but usually 2-3 a day (until this week…because I’ve been lazy). We buy spinach, parsley, red cabbage, celery, avocado, broccoli and whatever other veggies look good and frozen berries, oranges, apples, bananas for fruit and blend it together. The fruit to veggies ratio was about 60/40 to start and is now more like 40/60 or even 30/70.

The best one so far is called the cinnamon role smoothie. 1 big bunch of spinach, 1 avocado, 1 banana and a spoonful of cinnamon, then blend it all together and the result is amazing. Some of the other mixes have been more “this is healthy so slam it down” type drinks but most are actually really good. Adding ginger to it obliterates all other taste, adding banana or avocado makes it creamy and spinach is the easiest taste on earth to cover up...red cabbage…not so much.  I also recently acquired some wheatgrass powder so I am using that as well.

Anyway, we have been doing these shakes more and more and we both feel better already. Being away from home, on our second day we were both craving one. We are using this as a gateway to a better, healthier diet where we have more energy and the food we eat makes us feel better. A lot of my cravings for junk and processed food have gone away and I even have an untouched sleeve of salt and vinegar chips here (a first for me). The side benefit of getting rid of those few extra waistline pounds doesn’t hurt either…especially with summer vacation season right around the corner. 

Some good websites to check out would be:

Incredible Smoothies 

and

Smoothie Handbook

Any recipes you find and really like, please share with me! I need new ones!