Tea for Tuesday.

Life events so far this week: 

> Easter, which was a wonderful break spent with my family 

> I enjoyed a really good run today (even though it was so much colder than I thought 46 degrees would feel like)

> A paper for one of my classes today cancelled

> A quiz for last night's class cancelled

>AND I had an entire class cancelled for today (different from the classes the paper or the quiz were due in!)

Tea Time

So all in all, I am blessed to start this week leading up to finding out where my internship will be (this Sunday, woah.) on a pretty good foot! Which means I even get to blog today, extra bonus! With the end of my last college semester only a little more than a month away, I have been working on cleaning out some of my stuff in preparation for packing/moving out (and in an attempt to not have so much to pack come May, because I REALLY dread that task!).

Today, this ongoing venture involved discovering that I have TONS of tea I need to work on drinking. There are a few reasons for this:

1. I get really excited about new tea flavors and forget I have other tea I should drink up first before buying more

2. My section of kitchen cabinets is not overly organized and sometimes I genuinely lose boxes of tea amongst my other dry goods, which does not my out of sight, out of mind mentality!

Now I realize that tea is not for everyone - I get that. However, tea is a fairly awesome drink that does come with added benefits to your health both long-term (possible cancer prevention) and short-term (possible healthier looking skin). Also, drinking hot tea can add some relaxation to any day (at least it does for me). Lots of people  have written on the benefits of tea & the tea vs. coffee debate, so today I offer you my 3 favorite sets of information about this lovely beverage:

1. Fun tea vs. coffee info graphic!
2. The Truth about the Health Benefits of Tea
3. My favorites: (all 0 calories, 0 sugar)

Lipton Caffeine Free Herbal Peppermint Tea, Bigelow Chamomile Mint Herbal Tea Caffeine Free,  Twinings of London French Vanilla Chai, Bigelow Plantation Mint Tea, Salada Decaffeinated Green Tea Citrus Flavored, Salada Red Antioxidants Tea Strawberry-Orange Flavored

18 days down. A lifetime to go.

It is hard to believe that 18 days ago I was returning from Argentina with a new found plan for becoming healthier by simply reducing the amount of processed sugar in my diet. Now, after 18 days of eating, researching, reading, and discussing the benefits of eating only natural foods, I  plan on never going back to my old eating habits. One easy reason being, the less processed/sugar/animal product type foods you eat, the less you think they taste great anyways!

After reading the book Eat to Live by Dr. Joel Furhman I was floored at how simple (in theory) it is to make a drastic health change for the better simply by having a primarily plant based diet. If you're not interested in reading it, I'll summarize: the higher amount of nutrient rich foods you eat = a healthier and more disease resistant you. That is it, in a nutshell, and honestly I think its crazy to not actively strive for being a healthy and informed consumer. Most people (hopefully) wouldn't buy a car or house without some amount of research, so why not take some time to think and study what it is you are eating and is directly effecting your body and mental health? There are literally TONS of resources and support available to encourage a healthy eating lifestyle...

I think in many ways I have overwhelemed most of my friends with my new natural eating vendetta. After becoming aware of how food can effect your life in such a huge positive way - it drives me almost to the point of crazy that most of my college peers could honestly care less. I totally understand that only eating all natural and whole foods as a college student is really really hard, but that is not to say it is impossible. Personally, I get really passionate about a lot of things, and while that part of my personality is as much a curse as it is a blessing sometimes, I really pray that others will see my passion for healthy eating and that it may spark a least a curiosity as to why I would pass up eating college favorites such as  Buffalo Wild Wings, pizza, or food from our student grill. God has designed an earth full of food that is perfect for our bodies - without needing all of the extra salt, sugar, gluten, and oils (among many other things) we tend to add. America is becoming more and more well-known for the high rates of obesity our citizens have. Food is getting a bad rap, and honestly its not the food that is the issue, it is us. If we are the ones that are buying  the processed and unhealthy food - that sends an easy message to the companies that their product is in demand. However, back to my earlier statement about the positivity of food, for as much as unhealthy food is addicting and contributing to high obesity rates, food does not have to be the bad guy - and this is probably the first time in my life I have put that concept together.

So now, what is next?

Next, is spending a focused six weeks on increasing the amount of nutritious foods in my diet and cutting out the not so great options. My first big challenge is work on my coffee addiction. Yup, if you just thought "yikes" - that was a very accurate reaction. I am 3 days now sans coffee, and this morning was a rough one to say the least. While I have noticed that having sugar limited in what I eat really has seemed to be helping me feel less moody, this whole coffee deficiency thing might be the ax to the absence of my mood swings lately...Why no coffee? Well, one cup of coffee a day really wouldn't be a big deal - but I am used to drinking at least 3 or 4 cups every morning which is a great way to be dehydrated and puts me at much higher risk for heart problems. So coffee got kicked to the curb this week and I am definitely mourning it's absence..if anyone has a great morning worthy drink to easy my coffee separation blues - please share!


Overall eating this week: Fruit & granola with flax seed for breakfasts, salads for lunch everyday, and lots of veggies for dinner. Snacks: almonds or kidney beans (which are a new favorite food item!)

Overall mood: No coffee. And it I spent the afternoon doing taxes. But all things considered: B+ for my mood grade.

21 days.

After recently (as in yesterday) returning to chilly Chicago from a wonderful trip to warm and sunny Argentina, I was struck by how many things effect the health and well-being of our bodies. Food, weather, excerise obviously, but it also can be things like relationships, conversations (good or bad)...etc. Recently, in a developmental psych class, we spent time learning about melatonin and how even your body's sleep cycle is effected by a factor as simple as how much cell phone generated light you have been exposed to in the hours leading up to sleep time...yes, texting right before bed is enough light to prevent you from having high sleep quality.

Now, how does this relate to Argentina? I was in Argentina for eight days, which was enough time to learn that the food down there was unlike anything I (or my family) normally consume in our every day American lives. Within three or so days of eating steaks, breads, and other high carbohydrate filled foods, most of us were not feeling the greatest. I personally do not like steak, but that meant that I was relegated to order other items off the menu - 3 things to now quickly understand about Argentine food: First, it is all very bland - spicy food does not exist. Second, there are lots of breads always served with meals. Third, if it is not steak, its probably going to come covered in cheese. (Case in point, I ordered a club sandwich on Friday of our trip and it came out of the kitchen buried under a layer of melted cheese. I may not know much Spanish, but I do know that I did not order a cheese-drowned sandwich intentionally...) Needless to say for most of the trip my digestive system was shot, which is what got me thinking about change.
My mom and other friends recently have been  going through various kinds of detoxing (for various reasons) from things such as dairy, meat, sugars, and processed food in general. It is so interesting to me, how every person's body is effected by the kinds of things they intake so differently. For some people, its as cut and dry as having seasonal allergies. For others though, especially women/girls, we underestimate sometimes how foods and other junk can really mess up everything from our moods and weight to the healthiness of our skin, face, and overall well being. While in Argentina and eating foods high in carbs/sugar/fats, I felt terrible. But that applies Stateside as well...

Side note: I realize this is no major revelation or big idea that other's have not already concluded or that still others will say is common sense - junk food makes you feel less healthy, duh.

That being said, this is more of a me stating the obvious publicly for my own personal benefit. Words typed out (or written) are hard to ignore. Also hard to ignore is my incessant amount of googling. All this thinking about detoxing and feeling healthier has been the primary search query of my Google adventures this morning. End result: I really want to try to eliminate sugars from my diet. To summarize my research, sugars just really end up not being so great for ya. 21 days sans sugars is my plan - based off of a fun blog I found. The main green light foods will consist of veggies, proteins, grains, and moderate amounts of dairy - fruits are a no-go though with the exception of green apples & newly ripe bananas.

Here are my two biggest personal motivations for this:

1. As a Christian, God calls me to take care of the body He has blessed me with & love others as I love myself. Plain and simple, I am here to serve others, and that comes from making sure I in the right shape to do so. I do not take nearly enough time to taking care of myself.

2. This semester especially, but this school year as a whole, I feel like I have been all over the place with my day to day moods/attitudes, which is especially frustrating and not always fair to those who unknowingly cross my path during a bad moment or do not have a choice but to be involved, i.e., my very patient and loving boyfriend, Adam (who I need to thank more often for those qualities!).

Two of the things that lowering sugar intake specifically helps is to improve mood stability and the other is overall/general health improvement - so hopefully both of those occur over these next 21 days.

So to recap: Argentina is beautiful, but try to avoid the food if you ever visit, Veggies= my new best friend, Mornings will start with coffee sans sugar. Ouy.