Banner Credit


Many, many thanks to Spubba for designing and producing my title banner...so frickin' awesome!!! :D

Sunday, January 31, 2010

Swimming - LOVE IT!

I grew up with an above-ground pool in my backyard, and we used it regularly until my parents split up; once Dad moved out, the pool got torn down.

I've never been one to go out of my way to swim in public pools, but now that my mom lives in a condo that has an indoor pool (saltwater, no less), I'm there! Hubby is working hard at improving his swimming abilities as well, especially since we're booked to go to Barbados for two weeks! He's never been a fan of water so he's really got some work to do before we can even think about going snorkeling. Armed with a pair of goggles he can now get his head under the water for a few seconds, and that's a HUGE milestone for him. I'm so proud. :)

We went swimming last night at Mom's and had a good time except for some idiot doing laps and splashing us in the face with every stroke he took. My tummy muscles reminded me of the crunches I did the other day, but in a good way. I didn't over-do it, thankfully.

Saturday, January 30, 2010

Gotta Start Somewhere

With all this talk about changes to diet and motivation to get healthier, it makes sense to post a starting point, right? Well, we recently cashed in some of our Air Miles in exchange for a fancy weigh scale, which does more than just give you a weight readout. It also does a body analysis to show you your (approximate) body fat weight, body fat %, body water % and bone mass %.

Here are my initial measurements as of just a few moments ago:

Date Weight BF Weight BF % Body Water % Bone Mass %
01/30/2010 163.2 50.7 31.3 50.0 6.5

I know I have lots of room for improvement (my goal is to lose 20 or so pounds so I can fit into my work clothes again) and I actually started last night. I went down our "workout room" in the basement and went on the elliptical trainer for between 5-10 minutes while hubby made dinner. (Yeah, I know this isn't an optimal time to "work out" but hey, it was better than sitting there and eating chocolates while waiting!) We really need to put some sort of clock down there.

I also did some weight training with the lightest free weights I have. Note that I haven't touched these things in too many years, so I'm starting out small. I did two sets of the following:

- 8 lateral raises
- 8 front raises
- 8 bicep curls
- 8 tricep kickbacks

Then I got on the floor and did 32 stomach crunches followed by 8 (girl) push-ups, 24 more stomach crunches and 8 more push-ups.

Dinner was ready at that point (an omelet made with love) so upstairs I went to eat. Holy shit was that omelet ever tasty!

Friday, January 29, 2010

REAL Food. You should eat it.

It takes more time and energy to feed yourself well, yes, but it is definitely worth the effort. Having never been much of a cook, it's actually exhilarating to be able to say that we made a dish using real ingredients instead of heating up some pre-processed, boxed concoction loaded with chemicals and artificial flavours by some company that really doesn't give a crap about YOUR well-being.

We don't want to waste what food we currently have in our cupboards (packaged or canned items, laden with sodium and sugar, among other things), so we're using that stuff up while we transition to an "all real food" diet. As I type I'm eating some hot oatmeal that came in a package, which you just add hot water to. It says "reduced sugar" on the packaging, but there are still lots of unpronounceable ingredients listed. Can't wait to be rid of this stuff.

My next step is to make my own oatmeal breakfast cereal as well as healthy, fruity fibre bars for snacks (recipes, anyone?). Obviously I haven't cut grains out of my diet (as I mentioned before, I'm not going full-on-paleo at this point...not sure if I ever will be able to), but things definitely are a-changing in our house.

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Dreams

Last night I dreamt that Daniel Johns of Silverchair died. Thankfully it was just a dream. Funny things, these minds are.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Introductory Post

Greetings and welcome to my blog.

I created this blog mostly to discuss how December 31, 2009 was a day of revelation for my boyfriend and I. On that day there happened to be a Fark headline that linked to a particularly interesting post written by Richard Nikoley, which was a progress report after he stopped using soaps and shampoos. After spending most of the evening reading all of the reader comments, we decided we would also try going "'poo free." (The part about the Paleo diet was very interesting too, but one thing at a time...)

As of January 1st, we pretty much went "'poo free". We have daily showers, usually just rinsing our hair with hot-as-we-can-stand-it water, but if I feel the need to do more with my hair I use a baking soda rinse as "shampoo" with a chaser of diluted cider vinegar as a "conditioner." (Don't get this in your mouth...it tastes awful!)

Now, since we haven't made any drastic diet changes, we still use soap on "the bits", meaning the crotch, bum and armpits, but the rest just gets a good rinsing. Once finished, I turn the temperature down and have a cool rinse. After a light drying-off, I dampen a face cloth, add some olive oil to it, and gently rub it over my face and body. I usually get severely dry, itchy skin in the winter, so the oil helps moisturize. I still have the "winter itchies" so far, but it's not as bad now, and getting better every day.

Rather than glopping all kinds of hair gel/product on my curly (head of) hair, I use a couple of pumps of 100% aloe gel. I don't blow dry; haven't for over a year now. My hair is much more hydrated and the brown tones seem richer. It feels nice, too.

We also stopped using toothpaste (after just stocking up, too, dammit!), brushing only with water and rinsing afterward with mouthwash. (Yes, I know that's cheating a bit, but this is a gradual behaviour change and I haven't yet figured out what to substitute instead.)

As for changes to our diet, we've stopped buying pre-made (sodium-packed!) meals, most canned foods, pre-packaged snack bars, etc., and are making an effort to make our own meals and snacks. It's not easy when you're not a natural in the kitchen, but we are managing thanks to family advice, the internet, and a Betty Crocker cookbook. "Real food" is SO good for you.

Tonight, the boyfriend is making his first solo attempt at making homemade bread. This should be interesting.

I'll be writing more about how things are going with the "'poo free" lifestyle and life in general, and may post some favourite recipes as well. We'll see.

Mouse