Hello Again
Hey Vibrant Beauties!
Been quiet on this blog for quite a long time. I apologize. I've missed you. A couple of big things happened in the months since I've been here.
As I'd mentioned in an earlier blog from 2013, my dad was diagnosed with a virulent form of dementia. He died earlier this year and I wasn't in much of a headspace to be inspiring.
This photo is from 2009.
The second big thing that happened is that my debut novel, REMEDY FOR A BROKEN ANGEL was published by Nortia Press and released in June of this year.
My attention has been on promoting the novel and less on promoting Vibrating Youth and Vibrant and Clear. But recently that's changed. A lovely friend who works at CSULA has arranged for me to speak to young women on campus early next year about aging well and she's ordering 40 books. I'm thrilled and grateful. This past weekend, on November 8th I did a reading from my novel with two very talented, extremely attractive and super smart women. We're the same age, within two years, but they both remarked that they thought I was years younger. I'd read a passage from a character who has hot flashes and one of the women, Colette said, "You really wrote about hot flashes well for someone in her 30s."
Haha! Well, I'm no longer in my 30s (but I'm delighted she thought so!) and the hot flash scene was written from experience.
This photo is from the night of the event with the other writers, Colette Sartor (left) and Desiree Zamoranao (center).
Colette's comment got me thinking that it was time to get back to sharing things I've learned that help us remain vibrant and youthful inside and out.
It seems that every year, my diet gets a bit cleaner and that's one of the things that seems to have helped. A few years ago I stopped buying and eating processed food that contains unnecessary additives, and instead began preparing my own food from basic ingredients.
For example, I was buying a microwavable brown rice bowl from Trader Joe's that I loved and had eaten for years, but I began to cook the brown rice myself and make my own rice bowls with fresh ingredients.
Another change was: no more flavored yogurt-- not even Vanilla, because flavored yogurts generally contain a lot of sugar. Instead, I began buying plain, low-fat yogurt and adding fruit or cinnamon myself. I also learned how to enjoy it plain.
The next year I stopped eating processed sugar and flour (white or otherwise). One sugar exception--dark chocolate, but only 70% cocoa or above.
Aside from the dark chocolate, I learned to avoid processed sugar and only allowed myself small amounts of raw honey and coconut sugar, which, I'd learned had a lower glycemic index. That meant no more Pinkberry-- which I LOVED. NO baked goods made with processed sugar or flour. No crackers, cookies, no hard candies, no soft drinks or coffee drinks from Starbucks that have added sugar. No ice cream. No pasta. No pizza. Pretty much, no fun!! LOL!
Did you know that SUGAR AGES THE SKIN?
Yep. This happens via a process known as glycation wherein the sugar in your bloodstream attaches to proteins to form harmful new molecules called advanced glycation end products also known at AGEs.
And when you eat starchy carbs, it raises your body's blood sugar levels in the same way regular sugar does. In addition to AGES, spikes in blood sugar cause inflammation, which ages you, too.
Soooo, if you minimize your sugar and starchy carb intake, or better yet, eliminate both, you'll age more slowly, look better, and be healthier.
I also started using UNSWEETENED almond milk and UNSWEETENED soy milk in coffee.
For a sugar fix, I began eating more fresh fruit. I also made my own chocolate with coconut oil, coconut sugar and cocoa. I used raw honey or or coconut sugar to sweeten my coffee/tea/smoothies, or went without the sweetener.
As sugar intake is minimized, the tastebuds adjust and less sweetness is needed to feel satisfied.
The year after reducing sugar in my diet, I discovered STEVIA.
Bought some liquid Stevia from Amazon and my life changed. I was able to even further reduce sugar consumption . I was still using a little raw honey and coconut sugar, but far less than before.
By this time, because of how much I'd already reduced my sugar intake I found myself turned off by levels of sweetness that I previously enjoyed. While visiting my mom I used some of her almond milk containing added sugar and the sweetness was cloying.
If you try reducing your sugar intake, within a few weeks you should find yourself needing much less of it.
In order to satisfy the need for CARBS with no bread, pasta, crackers, or other baked goods, I began eating more brown rice, sweet potatoes, quinoa, oats and a new discovery: black rice.
Processed, starchy carbs are VERY hard to give up, but I recommend it. It's been great. At my age it becomes harder to keep weight off as the metabolism slows; saying no to starchy carbs and sugary foods makes it much easier to manage weight in middle-age.
Also, the healthy foods used to substitute for starchy carbs like bread, pasta, and white rice have beauty benefits. Sweet potatoes are a "super food" and eating them benefits your skin. Not so with a slice of most breads, sorry!
This year, in 2014, a new change has been even less sugar. None in coffee and tea. Instead I use stevia.
And the biggest deal has been going ORGANIC. All in.
I have mixed feelings about this. Organic food is too darn expensive! That's my big gripe about it, BUT, more and more I'm convinced that the food industry is far more interested in making money than it is in keeping the population healthy. I don't trust the pesticides. A little bit here and there is probably fine, but I eat TONS of leafy greens and other vegetables and fruits and so I'd be consuming far too much pesticide laden food if I didn't eat organic.
I resent shelling out so much more money for organic food and I don't think it's fair that people who can't afford it are stuck eating foods with pesticides and feeding them to their children.
They say that nutritionally it's the same. That may be true, but chemicals that kill pests cannot be great for human consumption either. Especially not when those chemicals are being consumed daily, and over a long period of time.
So, now I eat organic fruits, vegetables, nuts, chocolate, and I drink organic coffee and tea. Has it made a difference in my looks or my health? Hard to say for sure, but I think so.
If we find out one day that pesticides are actually good for us, (ha!) I'll be first in line in the class action lawsuit, 'cause we are absolutely being ROBBED if eating organic has no benefit.
There are lists available online that say which foods should absolutely be eaten organic and which are okay to forgo the ridiculously high price of organic and buy regular. Here's one:
http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/recipes/healthy/dirty-dozen-foods
Hope some of these ideas will help you eat cleaner and grow younger.