My Energy Boosting Regimen

Here's my diet:
• Vegetables: Garlic and onion, sprouts, leafy greens, kale, chard, artichokes, and asparagus.
• Seeds and Nut butters: Sesame (tahini), sunflower, almond.
• Legumes: Lentils, adzuki, black bean, and split pea.
• Poultry or Meats (raised organically): Chicken, turkey, duck, beef, lamb.
• Fish (ocean-caught): Wild salmon, halibut, sardines, herring, and albacore tuna.
• Cultured foods: Yogurt and kefir with acidophilus.
• Healthy Oils: Extra virgin coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, flaxseed oil.
• Whole grains: Basmati rice (rinse well), wild rice, quinoa, millet. They tend to be lower in starch than other grains.
• Spices: Garlic, oregano, ginger, chives, cilantro, turmeric (curry powder), basil, thyme, rosemary, cinnamon.
• Other: High omega-3 eggs (poached or soft-boiled) with DHA, B12, and Vitamin E.

I am cheating with the non-organic meats until the tax bill is taken care of. I'm also taking astragalus root tincture and Renew-U Tea, thanks to some herbal energy testing I did at a great alternative healing/health care/therapy retail joint today. I may get "Adapt to Life." Pau d'Arco and astragalus I tested VERY STRONG for, so instead of getting Pau d'Arco bark there, I researched TheHerbalist.com and found I still had two boxes of Renew-U Tea, where the first ingredient listed is Pau d'Arco bark. So I'm brewing that.

I cheated today for it was pi day March 14, but I had only Perrier with my chocolate cream pie. I'll probably not be able to attend any more debt group breakfast meetings -- every restaurant insists on sugars, dairy, fruit and grains. I'm going to be like the Japanese and eat fish and rice and drink green tea in the morning.

My laptop is back but I won't get sucked into it. The Progressive Tech people told me a miracle happened in that the spill did not get into the motherboard.

As I read more of Caroline Sutherland's The Body Knows How to Stay Young the more I understand how it is I came to lose my parents at an early age and how to prevent dying before I'm ready to. I have knowledge now, which they didn't have. I thank the Lord for the gifts of intellectual curiosity and fortitude to withstand detoxification crises from caffeine and sugar, and for the gift of time and the Internet where I can look up this information. Certainly eating pie as a mid-afternoon snack was not the healthiest, but it was a great way to spend some time with my favourite math geek!

I also want to thank my godmother/aunt for sharing her health condition news with me: I can pray for her healing, and I have shared with her some resources she may find helpful if she wanted to try healing on her own terms.

I don't understand the U.S. at all: "here, have lots of grains, but don't soak them to reduce their phytates which inhibit absorption. Then get celiac disease, Crohn's, or irritable bowel syndrome when you get a gluten allergy or food sensitivity once your hormones start changing in your 40s. Then with the hormone imbalances and endocrine disruptors in your environment, mindset and food, you can get cancer and we can hike up your insurance as you get treatment or deny you claims, and big pharma gets paid off. Industrial agriculture, who gets subsidies for producing wheat cheaply, thanks you as well. US Citizens exist only to make food processors, banks, insurance agencies, doctors, pharmaceutical companies rich." So guess where I'm putting my US money as I eat non-processed, natural and whole foods?

weaning from caffeine, going green(er)

I gave up coffee a month back, which wasn't such a big sacrifice when I was suffering from my third go this year with a sinus infection. The lemon juice and cayenne were doing more to cut the excess mucus than the java was. I was also working somewhere where the morale was as close to the bottom as the company's stock price at the time. Coffee and alcohol were the survival drugs of the condemned, so I had the déjà (did I get that right?) vu of my dot-com bomb days.

Now in the morning instead of coffee I have a hot lemon/honey/cayenne drink, or hot apple cider vinegar/organic maple syrup drink. Sometimes I'll have Renew-U tea. Something to clean the insides without making me jittery and tense. I'd been drinking coffee since 1988, so this is indeed news. Of course, it is summer, and I need coffee the least when there is maximum sunlight. Perhaps I can save my latte money for a light box.

I have been less tense, but some of that might be from rebalancing my portfolios, and reciting the Rosary daily. I have more energy, which I dearly need.

My house has a carbon footprint that is 0.8 of the size of my car's carbon footprint. The house has a fuel efficiency score of 9.1 out of 10, meaning 9% of the homes in the US are more fuel-efficient that ours. We do not have solar power, and live in an old house. We have updated our heating system, purchased new windows and new insulation. I'm now considering duct cleaning and sealing, and other weatherstripping.

I am saving for a new car, as my car is twelve years old and has over 140K miles on it, and have identified the following possibilities, although by the time I have enough for a full car purchase other good options will be on the market:

Toyota Prius
2008 Nissan Altima Hybrid
2007 Toyota Camry Hybrid
2007 Hyundai Elantra

I looked at family sedans at Fuel Economy, a U.S. government website from the Department of Energy.
Any of these vehicles will have fewer emissions than my current vehicle, and better mileage. I'm looking to upgrade to a family sedan as the child grows. If I purchased an Altima Hybrid this year, I would be qualified to take a tax credit.