Better Living Starting Now

Our market haul this week. So much more stuff now that...

Sat, 25 Jun 2011 10:08:25 -0400

Our market haul this week. So much more stuff now that it’s summer!

My bread! It rose! I hear it tastes good! Yes, each sentence...

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 10:48:43 -0400

My bread! It rose! I hear it tastes good! Yes, each sentence of this post will end with an exclamation mark! Because I am thrilled!

Okay, I’ll stop. But SERIOUSLY this is so exciting. I’ve seen more failed bread in the last week than I can even bear to tell you. First, I obviously wasn’t using recipes that could accomodate freshly milled flour. Then I maybe didn’t deal with my yeast properly, because my poor dough didn’t rise. But finally, FINALLY, last night everything went perfectly. And this morning as I left for work I had three beautiful loaves baking.

This is great news, because the recipe I used actually makes six loaves (I halved it while experimenting) - which means I can make one batch at the beginning of the month and have bread for weeks. It’s definitely less expensive than the six dollars a loaf we pay at the farmer’s market, and I love the idea of making it myself from freshly ground flour. Yay! Could not be happier this morning!

let's pretend this is important

Mon, 30 May 2011 11:05:25 -0400

I’m not sure if this post belongs here or on my main blog. That’s but one of the many problems with trying to maintain multiple blogs! The biggest issue, of course, is finding time to update them. A few years ago blogging was, very truly, my life. The times I was away from my computer I was either mentally composing posts or stewing about reactions to previous posts. I thought about Tumblr constantly, and almost everything I experienced was considered fodder for my blog. Now, I find I have to really push myself to post each day.

The blog in particular has become tricky to keep current, because I simply don’t have constant updates to share. I go to the Farmer’s Market every Saturday and pick up, with a few variations, the same things each time. I wash my face with honey now. It works amazingly. I take hot yoga classes twice a week. I feel great. How often can I possibly update the status of these things?!

More than that, though, I find myself (oh man please forgive me I do know how this will sound) wanting to just live in the moment. I want to experience my world, my life and just…leave it there. I don’t want to record every minute detail of my existence. Why should I? Isn’t it enough to make a beautiful loaf of bread and then quietly savour the fruits of my labour? Must I then blog about it? I don’t really want to anymore.

I like the idea of sharing my experiences, in the interest of giving other likeminded individuals tips on achieving our goals for living differently. And certainly, as I have new things to share, I will. But barring that, you can expect this blog to be fairly quiet.

In terms of updates….

For now, my weight loss goals are totally on track. I broke 140 last week, weighing in at 139 for the first time in eons. I’m still trying to get to about 130 in the next 4-6 weeks, and then (I hope) I can just relax and try to maintain that weight and gain strength. Outside of one shampoo and condition at the spa for Mother’s Day, my hair hasn’t been touched by nasty chemical laden products since March 1. It looks and feels amazing. Using honey on my face has not just cleared my skin, but actually given me that smooth, soft, glow that drugstore products promise. That means I can wear less make-up, which may be the closest I get to giving it up. I still haven’t found a great bread recipe, but I won’t give up until I do. I have, however, started milling my own flour.

And that’s that. Still living better, still loving it – just not needing to blog about it ad infinitum. Okay? Okay! And that’s that.

1. My response, in picture, to people who say they...

Mon, 16 May 2011 16:02:10 -0400

1. My response, in picture, to people who say they “can’t tell the difference between the food they buy in conventional stores and food from the farmer’s market.” JUST LOOK AT MY BACON!

2. Last week’s haul from the Wychwood Farmer’s Market. We purchased our first steaks this week and we’re cooking them tonight. I so cannot wait! Also stoked to make a coleslaw from cabbage, celery root and beets. Yum yum yum!

Lentil soup and yummy muffins. Pics as promised! The soup is...

Mon, 16 May 2011 15:59:13 -0400

Lentil soup and yummy muffins. Pics as promised! The soup is pretty much the easiest thing ever to make. I got my recipe from The Stop cookbook, which I totally intend to post here eventually!

As you put on your makeup, you may be spreading lead across your cheeks, spiking your eyelashes with cadmium and smacking your lips with arsenic. In lab testing of 49 cosmetic products, Environmental Defence found varying levels of toxic heavy metals in all of them. Some contained levels of arsenic and lead far exceeding Health Canada recommended limits, according to the report “Heavy Metal Hazard,” released Monday. None of the products listed the metals on the labels.

Mon, 16 May 2011 11:26:55 -0400

As you put on your makeup, you may be spreading lead across your cheeks, spiking your eyelashes with cadmium and smacking your lips with arsenic. In lab testing of 49 cosmetic products, Environmental Defence found varying levels of toxic heavy metals in all of them. Some contained levels of arsenic and lead far exceeding Health Canada recommended limits, according to the report “Heavy Metal Hazard,” released Monday. None of the products listed the metals on the labels.:

Sigh. As I was putting on mascara this morning I was asking myself how much longer I can pleed ignorance about the shit I know is in my cosmetics. I guess not long…

busy bee tonight

Thu, 12 May 2011 20:50:10 -0400

I made the most delicious lentil soup (will post the recipe and pictures tomorrow when I have a moment!) and then some muffins to go with and then some yogurt. Eesh! Gotta remember to keep things DOABLE and not throw everything into one night.

Even though the muffins were from a mix (hold on now, an organic mix from the farmer’s market, using freshly ground ancient grains!) I’m still totally exhausted now. And the original plan was to try and fit in another hot yoga class at 8:30!

That’ll have to wait until tomorrow night. This girl needs to rest!

new facial cleanser!

Thu, 12 May 2011 09:27:00 -0400

I’m really, really hoping that at some point soon I can go make-up free. Okay, well, foundation free at any rate…I’m always going to need eye make-up!

The biggest thing keeping me from this goal, outside of just being used to wearing make-up, is difficult skin. When I have blemishes and uneven skin I rely on foundation to make everything look a little better. So far, I haven’t found a facial cleanser that does what I need it to. That is, keep my skin consistently clear.

I loved the feel of the olive oil/castor oi/tea tree essential oil cleanser, but after a month of use I realized it was definitely the cause of my breakouts. So now I’m trying…honey! Just honey. From what I’ve read, it works for a lot of people and because of its natural anti-bacterial qualities and mild skin bleaching effects, it keeps your skin clear and glowing.

Admittedly, it seems strange. When my sister told me about it I was pretty skeptical. But I tried it last night and I really liked it! And I’m cautiously optimistic…because already, my skin looks better this morning than it did yesterday. I’ll keep you all posted!

addictions

Tue, 10 May 2011 11:31:22 -0400

I love our new Wii Fit a little too much. I ~~want to use it~~ obsess about using it for at least an hour every day. Except! I already work out every morning. Plus hot yoga once a week. Plus spinning once a week. JL, JL. Addiction is never okay…even if it’s an addiction to a good thing. Le sigh. In positive news, I’m down six pounds!

needs

Tue, 10 May 2011 10:46:22 -0400

If I’m going to make bread every week (and I want to!) I am going to need a good bread recipe. I’ve never found one. I want a recipe for whole wheat bread that ideally has some grains and seeds for texture, but could be used for sandwiches. (A lot of the breads I’ve made crumble easily or are just too dense for a sandwich bread.) Also, one without sugar. Is that so much to ask?!?

how to get your ass out of bed in the morning

Wed, 04 May 2011 15:30:00 -0400

Credit where it’s due – I got these tips here. They absolutely, totally, definitely work. I work out every single morning, and every day it’s the same story. Once I’m done the workout I feel amazing – there’s nothing quite like knowing you’ve already accomplished something by 7am. But despite setting the alarm for 6:00 am, my fiancée and I inevitably press the snooze button three or four times and end up dragging ourselves out of bed at best twenty minutes late, resulting in a rushed, miserable morning. I decided this week there’d be no more of that, so I googled some tips for waking up early and decided to try them out. As of today I’m three for three on getting up right at six – and already I’m finding that I’m less reliant on the alarm clock. How’s that for results?!

1. First things first, if you want to get up early you really do need a reason. For me, it’s my workout. I hate feeling rushed and I hate running out of time. I want to be able to do a quick Wii Fit body test and then get right into my workout. In Body for Life, Bill Phillips really pushes the morning workout on an empty stomach. My type A personality needs to do everything by the book…so waking up and working out immediately is, to me, necessary. If you have a reason to get out of bed you’ll have the incentive to obey the rest of the tips.

2. Trying to wake up early is pointless if you haven’t had enough sleep to begin with. Your body needs sleep to function well. Your brain needs sleep to function well. You definitely don’t need to stay up watching The Colbert Report to function well. Besides, all of the good bits will find their way to Tumblr the next day anyway. Not everybody needs the standard eight hours of sleep to feel rested – but that’s something you need to sort out for yourself. For me, eight hours is too much. Six to seven hours is my sweet spot. Any more or any less makes me feel significantly more tired throughout the day. I try to be in bed by eleven and asleep by eleven thirty. That means not going out on the weekdays and not staying up watching television…even for the super late Canucks playoff games. A small price to pay for feeling rested in the morning!

3. Perhaps the most important tip is to stop – STOP – using the snooze button altogether. Does anybody ever press it once and then get up? Does anybody ever feel more rested after they’ve pressed snooze once, twice, or even five times? I certainly don’t. The last three days I have chosen to stop entertaining the snooze discussion in my head. This takes a bit of self control, but if I can do it I genuinely believe anybody can. I’ve simply taken the snooze option off the table. I will not press it once, I will not press it ten times. When I hear the alarm clock the first time, I get up.

4. No really, when I hear the alarm clock the first time I get up. Up! Out of bed! No quick cuddles. No grabbing my iPhone to check my e-mail. The alarm goes, I stretch my body and I pop out of bed. Because our alarm clock is across the room we already have to get up to turn it off. The trick is to stay up once you get up!

5. How do you fight the urge to get back into bed once you’re up? First, I remind myself that I’ve done the hard part…I’m out of bed. But I also have to get myself out of the bedroom. The further I am from my bed, the less it seems like an option to get back into it. Because I usually have to pee in the morning, I head straight to the bathroom. By the time I’ve washed my hands I feel awake, and going back to bed is just out of the question.

That’s it! That’s all! Seems like nothing, right? But it works. I’d love to be able to wake up without the alarm altogether, because I feel it is just begging for bad energy for the first thing you hear in the morning to be an awful, obnoxious beeping noise. Already I can see the results of training my body for just these three days, and this morning I woke up before the alarm went off! We’ve also hooked up a timer to a small light in our room, because we live in a basement apartment and without any light coming in it can be SO difficult to get out of sleep mode. It cost a couple dollars at the dollar store, and I find it really helps. The light isn’t bright enough to be jarring when it turns on, but rather your body gradually seems to sense that the light is on and it is time to awaken.

If you work 9-5 out of the house, you know that your day doesn’t belong to you. The moment you arrive at work you belong to the man. So don’t you think you owe it to yourself to have a peaceful, calm, rush free morning? Getting up right at six means I never have to sacrifice my workout, my shower, my coffee or my sit-down breakfast time with my fiancée and my daughter. It gives me two full hours to psych myself up for the day. And that, friends, is invaluable. Try it for yourself! You won’t believe how easy it really is.

"Don’t even get me started. I’m not against all vegetarians. But if you’re a vegetarian for ethical..."

Mon, 02 May 2011 15:13:02 -0400

“Don’t even get me started. I’m not against all vegetarians. But if you’re a vegetarian for ethical reasons, you may be causing more harm. I use this example: I was at a wedding, and at the reception everyone was eating local lobster and clams, but a couple of my friends were like, “No, we want the vegetarian option.” And it’s fucking vegetables from every corner of the fucking planet. Really? They don’t want to pollute the earth, they don’t want to support factory farming, but factory commodity farming is fucking awful. And not only that, it’s almost slave labor. That poor fucking person who harvested your asparagus from Peru might have died because you wanted a fucking goddamn asparagus in August. Which doesn’t happen. If you’re going to be a vegetarian, limit yourself to food from a place you can go to in two hours and just eat that. Do it, or shut the fuck up.”

- David Chang, chef, Momofuku.

The swearing’s a bit much, but I do agree with his point. Especially people who eat a lot of soy-based fake meat - the farming and manufacture of that stuff really tears up the planet.
(via katherinespiers)

Homemade peanut butter in fifteen minutes or less. That was...

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 13:12:12 -0400

Homemade peanut butter in fifteen minutes or less. That was easy! On Monday I was shopping in Costco (best place for rechargeable batteries and energy efficient lightbulbs) and I almost picked up a container of peanut butter. But not for ten dollars! On a whim I decided to check out Bulk Barn for some unsalted, roasted peanuts. OMG you guys. Bulk Barn! Am I the last person on earth to discover this amazingness?!? We picked up peanuts at $0.33/100 grams, for a total of approximately three dollars. At home we (actually this was all my guy, because I had dishes to do) poured them into the food processor, turned it on and very soon had delicious, creamy homemade peanut butter. That is literally all there is to it. You just have to try this. So easy and so yummy! And in my nice glass jar it’s beautiful too!

by request - the Diva Cup review

Wed, 27 Apr 2011 12:05:49 -0400

I bought my Diva Cup about two months ago, shortly after beginning my better living challenge. Several years ago I tried a similar product, called Instead, I think – but I didn’t really find it easy to use, and I eventually went back to tampons. The Diva cup is a tad on the expensive side, retailing for about forty dollars. Of course, that one time cost is negligible when you consider the monthly expense of tampons or pads.

The first day that I used it I was totally confused by the directions, and while I did manage to get it inserted, I had it too far up and it actually hurt a little when I was sitting. Worse, though, it seemed to be causing me serious dizziness. When I stood up from my desk and almost fainted, I took it out and decided to try again the next day. On the second try everything was fine, and I haven’t had any issues since then. Yay! Now I’m totally converted.

The Diva Cup is basically a small, plastic cup that you insert into your vagina. It suctions onto your cervix to provide a seal and collects your menstrual blood. Insertion is admittedly a little tricky at first – you have to fold it up, push it in and then rotate it to make the cup unfold and secure the seal. That’s the difficult part – knowing how far up to push it and then trying to rotate it once it’s in. After a couple tries, though, I totally mastered the maneuver. Once it’s in place you’re good to go. No leaks, no discomfort. And you only have to change it twice a day.

I suppose if you’re skeeved out about menstrual blood or touching your vagina it isn’t going to be very desirable to use? Like, to change it you have to reach in, squeeze the base of the cup (very important step! If you don’t squeeze it the seal doesn’t break and you will actually feel like your cervix is being pulled out of your body!) and pull it out…then dump it out. For me, though, it’s actually really cool to get a more accurate sense of my period’s life cycle.

Anyway, I totally recommend the Diva Cup. Go get one today!

I shall spare you the details

Thu, 14 Apr 2011 11:38:45 -0400

But suffice it to say - I heart my diva cup.

Too much formaldehyde in some hair products: Health Canada

Wed, 13 Apr 2011 09:55:11 -0400

Too much formaldehyde in some hair products: Health Canada:

Today in: headlines that reaffirm why I want, nay, need to live differently.

nationalpost: UN resolution looks to give “Mother Earth” same...

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 13:46:17 -0400

nationalpost:

UN resolution looks to give “Mother Earth” same rights as humans

UNITED NATIONS — Bolivia will this month table a draft United Nations treaty giving “Mother Earth” the same rights as humans — having just passed a domestic law that does the same for bugs, trees and all other natural things in the South American country.

The bid aims to have the UN recognize the Earth as a living entity that humans have sought to “dominate and exploit” — to the point that the “wellbeing and existence of many beings” is now threatened.

It also establishes a Ministry of Mother Earth, and provides the planet with an ombudsman whose job is to hear nature’s complaints as voiced by activist and other groups, including the state.

“If you want to have balance, and you think that the only [entities] who have rights are humans or companies, then how can you reach balance?” said Pablo Salon, Bolivia’s ambassador to the UN. “But if you recognize that nature too has rights, and [if you provide] legal forms to protect and preserve those rights, then you can achieve balance.” (Photo: Getty Images/ThinkStock)

Coffin for the dyed-in-the-wool environmentalist

Tue, 12 Apr 2011 09:43:02 -0400

Coffin for the dyed-in-the-wool environmentalist:

If I can’t be buried in a burlap sack in a forest somewhere, I’ll settle for this.

sigh

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 09:29:42 -0400

After week one of Body for Life…I gained two pounds. Blah! Discouraging.

Saturday morning at the farmer’s market - one hundred...

Sat, 09 Apr 2011 11:22:14 -0400

Saturday morning at the farmer’s market - one hundred percent the best part of my week! Not as big of a haul this time, with only $58.50 spent. Not bad! And today is our free day for food…yes oh yes, bacon and eggs for breakfast!