Brrr!

It's very cold outside so today I'm thankful for a warm house and a roof over my head. So many people are not that fortunate and while there is always a nicer house than the one you own, it's better than the alternative of living under a bridge. :-)

Old and new friends

Today I'm grateful for old friends who seem to just pick up where you left off even if there have been many years in between. I'm grateful that I'm back in touch w/some friends from my childhood so that I can remember the great memories as well as create some new ones. Love you, Heather, Rhonda, and Kim! :-)

Health

Today I'm grateful for my health and for a job that allows me to work from home so I can go to the gym in the morning and still make it back in time to have breakfast and login. I can also take Nikki for a walk in the afternoon when she gets tired of sitting in my office watching me work. :)

Although I'm finding the raw food diet a bit hard to maintain, I have definitely increased my fruit and vege intake and I still love the green lemonade I make every morning. To make it, you juice some romaine lettuce, spinach, kale, ginger, lemon and apple. It is soooo yummy!! The ginger and lemon really make it!

I'm grateful for hours spent at barnes and noble reading and getting caught up on computer tasks:-) It's nice to get away from the household duties and the pull of the project stacked up :-) I'm also grateful for the Dr.Oz show where I heard an interview the other day with a raw foodist. Decided to check out what it means to go raw and I'm very impressed. I'm going to give it a shot. I'm grateful that my pants have been too tight lately and it's leading me to make a change! The book I'm reading is called "The Raw Food Detox Diet" by Natalia Rose and while it's not a pure raw food book, it is mostly vegan and focuses on the importance of food combining (or not in most cases) and "quick exit" foods. Yep, you guessed it - things that make you go to the bathroom!

I find this diet appealing because it focuses on raw fruits and veges and things found in nature - not overly processed and pasteurized so that there are no enzymes or vitamins left in the food. Here is an interesting link to how raw food is so much superior to cooked food in some cases. Watch the one about apple pie. While I've never even considered going vegan or vegetarian, I really don't eat a lot of meat anyway and would probably do better with more fish and definitely more veges and less grains. The recipes in the book look amazing and I'm very impressed with the green lemonade I made this morning. I dusted off the juicer and put in celery, kale, spinach, lemon, and ginger and was prepared to have to choke it down but was pleasantly surprised when it actually tasted quite yummy!

I also like this book because it talks about de-cluttering your closets and pantries as well as your arteries and intestines. I especially like this way of eating because you do not have to count calories and determine the optimal mix of fat/protein/carbs. As long as you eat foods in the right combination and stick as close as you can to plant-based foods not heated to above 118 degrees Fahrenheit, you can eat as much as you like!

I will share some of my favorite dishes in the future. For now, I'm off to buy a very expensive blender to make raw ice cream :-)

Today, I'm grateful...

that this blogspot url was available :-) Seriously though, I've decided to start blogging about things that I'm grateful for because there are many wonderful things in the world if you just start looking for and recognizing them. There is way too much negativity and bad news floating around and I believe you find what you seek, so why not seek goodness and great things?

I heard on the Dr. Oz show the other day on OprahXM from Lisa Oz-- first of all, I think it's great that Dr. Oz has his wife on the show who is not a doctor. She was talking about a lecture she heard or gave, can't remember and it was about becoming aware of gratitude by looking at many of the things that happen throughout the day (good and bad) and acknowledging that you are grateful for them. For day 1 you recognize and act grateful for things that make you happy. For day 2, you recognize and act grateful for things that do not make you happy.

For instance, today I was grateful for the warm weather so Chris could put up the Christmas lights! I was also grateful for not hitting any traffic when I went out today. I'm grateful that I got out of bed this morning and went to the gym even though my trainer canceled our appointment! There are thousands of things to be grateful for if you just open your eyes to them. I think it also helps to verbally acknowledge them and not just think it.

I'm also hoping to influence my brother and his family so they can see that even though things don't always go as you'd like them to, there are still things to be grateful for and the more you start to recognize and verbalize them, the more likely other great things will come your way.

I could go on and on, and I will, in this blog but I'll save it for another day.