Moonbeam

If all of our life's experiences could be taken away, what would we dream of?

My dreams are always so laced with parts of my past, present, and future.  I realize that we are the sum of our experiences.  I feel like this is a bad thing.  Our every reaction is predetermined by what it reminds us of in both waking life and unconsciousness.  Even new experiences aren't looked upon as a baby experiencing something for the first time.  We still act in a way that is responding to whatever our history has made us feel or believe.  Maybe we appreciate it more because it's something that we never thought we could have; or we do not appreciate it far enough for it is something that always came so easily. 

I want to figure out a way to let go of my past so that I can truly live every moment without worry or fear.  To erase preconceived notions of places, people, and all things.  To be free from doctrine and tradition.  To stop dreaming of the old house, for I'd much rather not go back there. 

To answer the question:  

I suppose we might dream of such things like swimming with stars in faraway galaxies.

The Kombucha Mushroom People

Near the end of last year, my father came home from a delivery one Saturday morning a little bit later than usual.  He had a meeting with the Board of Directors (The Board is a painting of donkeys in Greece hung on the wall in the back room of the herbal store).  He tells me they have asked him if he would partake in a new project.  At this meeting, the owners of the store share with him some Kombucha Tea.  They used to be able to provide an external Kombucha concoction to help with arthritis and other aches and pains.  The man who created the concoction had recently deceased.  They handed his recipe over to my dad and asked if he would be interested in making it for them.  The Mad Scientist agreed.

In order to prepare himself for this new venture, my dad went to the library and brought home a bunch of books on Kombucha.  I got through some of one of the books; sadly I am becoming so used to googling everything nowadays.  I do miss the library.  The most information I have retained has still been from the first chapter of one of the books.  Kombucha originated in Manchuria and is also knows as the "Manchurian Mushroom".  It is known that no person from Manchuria has ever had cancer.

Here is a list from the book of some of the things Kombucha is said to aid with:

1. Eliminates wrinkles, helps removal of brown spots on hands, it’s a skin humectant.

2. Prevents certain types of cancer in Manchuria where the mushroom is from not one case of cancer has been detected. Each day the people drink this tea as a religious atonement.

3. During menopause, reduces hot-flash discomforts, increases mobility in your extremities and flexibility around your waist.

4. Helps with constipation.

5. Helps muscular aches and pains in the shoulder or neck

6. Helps bronchitis, asthma, coughs in 2 days, helps chilrden with phlegm

7. Helps with allergies, also with aching nerves

8. It is prescribed in kidney problems

9. It’s proven useful in cataracts and other formations on the cornea

10. It cleanses the gall bladder, helps colitis and nervous stomachs

11. It helps heal the diseases. It will lower cholesterol and softens veins and arteries

12. It will stop infectious diarrhea

13. Helps burning of fat, therefore it also helps one to lose weight

14. Helps with insomnia

15. Helps the river work more efficiently

16. Helps to level off glucose, and sudden drops of blood sugar in diabetes. Taken daily, it eliminates urea in 100 days

17. It has surprising effects on the scalp, it helps avoid balding, thickens hair, helps to eliminate gray hair

18. Helps digestion

After reading about all the amazing health benefits I start getting really excited about drinking some of this fantastic tea.  I read a blog about how this dude started making his own tea in the 60's, he wrote that it become a big craze but was sort of forgotten a bit over time.  Once I learned about this tea I started seeing it everywhere.  When I bring it up to friends many of them already know all about it!  I hear it tastes great and I was just itching to try some.  While at a fantastic little restaurant in Burlington I see they have the Kombucha drink on the menu so I order the beverage.  It comes in a bottle and there are different flavours.  My drink was extremely tasty and refreshing but after reading about others experiences I felt like I was not getting any new flavours from this drink.  I did not feel like I was tasting something different for the first time ever.  It tasted more like the flavour that was added (pomegranate or blueberry) with a nice fizzy bubbly to go with it.  I was not entirely satisfied.

Our first batch of Kombucha failed because it was in an area that was not warm enough.  The second batch was placed in a warmer room with an additional heater to keep it to a 25 degree temperature.  It is usually easier to ferment Kombucha in the summer in warmer temperatures.  I got to taste the tea freshly brewed for the first time and I was pleasantly surprised.  What I find really interesting is how it ferments on it's own and becomes a refreshing bubbly beverage.

My dad is the brains behind this project.  He went on Kijiji (or Kajibi) and found someone who was selling scoby's close enough in our neighbourhood.  A SCOBY is the source of this beverage and looks like a pancake like disc.  It is actually not a mushroom but is a culture.  The tea is made by fermenting the scoby in a caffeine tea with sugar.  It needs both the caffeine and sugar to grow and thus creating the tasty tea.  The scoby sucks up pretty much all the caffeine and sugar while it grows so the tea becomes even better for you.  I use green tea most of the time and always organic cane sugar.  I did a white tea batch once and while it was good I preferred the green tea.  I used yerba mate for my batch last week which has had favorable results across the board. 

The scoby has a baby every time you make a batch of tea.  You can keep using the mother for many batches and remove the baby and use it as well or keep it stored with some of the fermented tea in the fridge so it does not keep growing.  It grows to the size of the jar when it is brewing.  As you can imagine, unless you have someone to take the baby scoby's off your hands every time, you start ending up with lots of jars in your fridge with weird looking gooey mushroom like aliens inside them.  I make a batch every 7-10 days and drink it regularly   I share it with friends that come over.  Since it is a cold, refreshing, bubbly drink I think it should be considered as a replacement for pop in everyone's day to day lives.

Speaking of pop, it boggles my mind that such a substance was ever even created.  To think that someone somewhere decided to make a drink that is so unbelievable bad for your health.  It is common knowledge that pop will rot your teeth and your innards.  Recently, a woman in Australia died directly from how much coke she was drinking a day.  It is such a part of our modern lives, we had it as children, the sugar goodness is craved always.  We know there is not a single good thing in it for us, why are so many people drinking it on the regular?  Not only is it not healthy, but it is actually harmful.  

Through out my adult life I have been on and off pop.  It is so much easier to not drink it if you don't drink it.  Seriously, simple as that.  I haven't had a coke in a while and I took a sip on the weekend and

I felt like I was drinking toxicity.  One day months ago I had some at the movies and I had the shakes and jitters afterwards from either the caffeine or sugar or both.  The more I simplify my life and get back to nothing, I can feel so clearly what is good and what is bad for me.

As for the Kombucha Tea.  I am looking to find anyone interested to either learn from me how to grow it yourself or to order a litre, or 2 or 3, of freshly brewed Kombucha tea from me.  My father is still making the special potion, that is a separate project now.  What I've learned from all this is how great my dad is at being the Mad Scientist, he really is smart and I need to learn much more from him. 

Rising In Love

When it comes to love, we are conditioned to using the term "falling".  We say:  "I am falling hard for so and so" or "falling deeply in love" or "falling for whats-his-face."  Has anyone ever stopped to think what this really means?  That we associate what is supposed to be the best feeling in the world with a negative connotation.  It had never ever occurred to me until I read about Rising in Love in a book with my boyfriend.  Yes, we read together.

One of my all time fantasies through out my romantic relationships has been to be with a man who read me a book while I could just curl up on his shoulder and listen.  Never did I ever express this to anyone, I thought it was silly and I am not one to ask anything from anyone.  In any relationships, very rarely did I say "this is what I want, be that."  I have always wanted people to just be themselves.  I could never ask someone to do something if it wasn't authentic and real.  Asking someone to do something to please you just ruins the whole process in my opinion.  I always weighed out the pros and cons in some sort of juvenile way, like he doesn't cheat on me so it's ok if he doesn't do the dishes.  Or he smells good and the last one stopped wearing deodorant so it's ok if he does not thank me for the meal I just prepared.  Or he still loves me even when I look frumpy and uncleanly, so it's ok if I haven't ate my favourite food in 5 years because it is not of his preference...

It is most important to see a person for who they really are so that you can make a rational decision on whether or not you want to continue the relationship.  Unfortunately, in my circumstances, even when I knew the person or persons weren't right for me, I always saw potential.  I thought well, if they changed this, or grew up a little, or just stopped that nasty habit everything would be A-OK.  Well, now I know that is utter bullshit.  I've been accused of stringing men along, but the truth is I was stringing myself along.

"You have to love him for who he is not his potential." -Californication

We are fed the notion that not all people are perfect, and while I agree with that statement fully, it does not mean I should excuse bad behavior or unforgivable events.  There is a fine line and it has taken me many years to really grasp the lines I have drew up and washed away in my past relationships.  The answer is as simple as one word spoken and understood:  CONFIDENCE.

Every single mistake I have made in relationships is a result of lack of confidence.  I met my first boyfriend when I was 18, he was 24.  I was out of high school and I had still never had anything even close to a romantic relationship.  I had been in love with one person who I could not speak to because I was utterly terrified to sound stupid, which I always did in my early years.  I couldn't bare the thought of dating anyone else, I knew how he made me feel and no one could top that.  Even so much as so called "hooking up" in high school did not happen, because I was so caught up on my crush.  I couldn't bare the thought of him thinking I was with others if we were destined to be together.  I had other crushes but nothing compared to this one person so I didn't bother seeking love from anyone else.  I always believed in true love, soul mates, twin flames...

When I met my first boyfriend, I was ready for a relationship.  I was begging the stars to let me know what it feels like to be loved.  I decided that I had to lower my standards, considering the fact that if I was head over heels for someone I would not even be able to talk to, what was the point of reaching my highest value?  I just needed some experience and he was cute and nice enough.  That`s about it.  I even made him wait 6 months before I slept with him.  I was scared and nervous.  Now looking back I also know that my attraction for him was not what I thought it was.  10 years later, I understand attraction finally.

It is easy to think that someone has an attractive face, or body, or mind, their successes, their sense of humour, their energy, the list can go on and on.  None of these silly little attractions are a reason to be with someone.  There is so much more to it, and I may not have all the answers but I can share my experiences and findings to help relate to others.  Essentially, how I got out of my first relationship was finding clarity from others.  Strangers.  Tv talk shows.  Books.  Music.

I was isolated in the truest sense of the word during my first relationship.  My ex had/has Paranoid Personality Disorder.  It started with just extreme jealousy.  I mistook jealousy and thought it was extreme love.  Wow, he must really dig me, I thought.  This dude was even jealous of my doctor.  Yes, my doctor.  I eventually had to lie about getting a physical, which I do yearly because I care about my health.  He made me feel guilty if I wanted to go to a concert.  He made me think that girls who go to concerts are groupies and said it made him feel like he was not enough for me.  I did not want to hurt his feelings; I abstained from going to concerts for over 5 years...

His PPD turned into him truly believing that people were trying to poison him.  He made me taste all meals before he would eat them.  He threw out countless meals I had prepared because he had convinced himself someone tainted it when I was not looking.  I moved in with him under the notion that he could no longer accuse outside forces of poisoning him if we lived alone.  I thought it might get better but it got worse.  He thought the people upstairs moved in to spy on him.  He made me keep the blinds closed at all times in case people were looking in with binoculars (we lived on the 10th floor of a building).  He took my sewing needles and stuck them in any little tiny crevice in the walls because he thought there could be a pin hole camera shoved in.  He bullied me towards putting on a surveillance camera every time I left the house to walk the dog, in order to catch the perpetrators in action.  To keep him from whining, I went along with it all, even though I did not believe any of it for a second.  A lesson from that I now understand is this: "Those who cannot trust, cannot be trusted."  He thought people were spying on him but in reality it was him who was spying on me.

I have so many unbelievable stories that I could share about him it would make your head spin.  How on god`s green earth did I last 6 years in that hell?  Well for starters, I am a peacekeeper.  I try and fix people's problems.  I am understanding.  I give people the benefit of the doubt.  I see the good in the ugly.  Above it all, I lacked confidence and even more so, I had no clue about my self-worth.

When I started dating my first boyfriend I was well aware that I knew nothing about relationships.  I knew I had no confidence.  I thought I was not attractive.  I believed in true love but I felt doomed as I was in love with someone who I felt was way out of my league.  I felt like I was plagued to an eternity alone, all at the ripe old age of 18.  He liked me and that was all I needed at the time.  After college I hadn't kept in contact with friends, there was no facebook back then kids.  My insecurity lead me to believe that I had no friends because there was something wrong with me.  I must be a bitch, I thought to myself.  I felt lucky that I had him in my life, he was all I had.

Silly things helped me realize my position.  An episode of Oprah, where she spoke of how women stay in abusive relationships because they never had a chance to realize their self-worth and lacked confidence.  With that I had the answer to the question, Why?  Whatabout, How?  Well, the Hills answered that.  Watching the development of Spencer and Heidi's relationship was a slap in the face.  Spencer said some of the same things he did, such as something along the lines of:  "I spend everyday with you doesn't that prove how much I love you."  Yeah... I thought that was true, it wasn't love though, it was extreme scrutiny.

The number one factor that gave me the courage to leave a man who wanted to marry me and warped his life around controlling me was my utter despair.  I got so depressed.  I fantasized jumping; it made me smile.  I always wanted to travel and see the world, to study more, to go on adventures, to laugh, all the things that make life worthwhile.  I decided that I must begin to live again.  That I must chose me over him.  That I must put my happiness above his once and for all.  I gave myself a deadline, New Years.  I would tell him I was not in love by New Years, and I made that decision in the summer.  Around Christmas time he left for a few days and I listened to Pearl Jam's Betterman over and over.  I practiced my speech.  He walked through the door and asked me if I had missed him.  I said, "NO".  The rest is, as they say, history.

I left that relationship without barely a single friend to my name.  It no longer mattered, I just wanted my freedom.  I understand freedom fully because I know first hand what it is like to have it taken away.  I was a free bird, starting a fresh new life at 25.  I made friends, they brought me joy.  I still had a lot of growing to do, I still had dreams to conquer.  Eventually I started dating my best friend.  We were so open with each other and had so much fun.  Things that I lacked immensely from my first relationship were found within him.  I thought we would be friends forever no matter what happened.  Before we chose to start dating we talked about what would happen if we were to split up, how we would handle it.  We promised that we would be mature and respectable and that if either of us wanted out it would be ok.  We would be honest with each other always.  That was the plan.

How can you tell if you're falling in love or rising in love? 

Something happened to him.  Something clicked in his head.  Maybe it was a loose screw?  The only conclusion I can draw to him is that he could not hold on to his changes for long enough, he reverted back to what must be his true essence.  I wish the man I loved was his true essence but he has proven that it is not.  When we were just friends he was not respectful to woman and he acted blindly and irresponsibly.  I would never date a man like him.  He felt unloved and he acted like the victim.  Back then he would say people used him.  I tried to show him all the wonderful people he had in his life and how blessed he truly was.  Before we dated he re-connected with his first girlfriend who he had not seen in 7 years.  He felt like meeting up with her was "closure".  He seemed lighter afterwards.  He changed his evil ways and I saw in him a great man who just needed true love.  I gave him that.  The problem though, is that he has been holding on to his core belief that he is unloved for so long that he identifies to that more than anything else.  I loved him the best I could and he never felt like it was enough.  He was always looking for something more.  He passed the blame on me too much and never took responsibility for his own actions.  Most importantly, he has yet to learn how to love himself. 

Once again, as soon as I stopped living for myself and conquering my dreams I knew I had to end it.  Once again, I had to chose me.  I had to fight for happiness and denounce depression.  He is no longer my friend, but we have at least moved on to adequate acquaintances.  He thinks I don't care about him, he thinks no one really cares to be honest.  In actuality he is the most painful person in the world to love.  He hurts his body everyday and lives recklessly.  To love him is to be constantly worried.  I am not built for that challenge, I fell down and started losing myself in the process.  But I do not regret it.  I do not regret him, not like the first one.  I learned a lot about myself and life.  He helped me learn my self-worth, I only wish I could have done the same for him.

Conquering Europe has been my biggest achievement to date.  Every part of me is happy and fulfilled because I did it on my own and for myself and no one or anything stopped me.  On top of it all, no one can take it away from me.  My experiences are in my heart forever and ever.  When I arrived home, summer was starting.  I had no intentions what so ever to date anyone seriously for some time.  I equate love to losing myself.  That is all it had ever been.  Me putting my boyfriend's needs before my own.  Putting my dreams on hold to fulfill there's.  I was going to be a free bird and enjoy it no matter what.  I decided to put my standards for a potential romantic partner way up higher than it has ever been to ensure that.  Little did I know, someone could actually meet those standards.

It was the summer, I was on my way to meet some friends in the park, and experience the pride parade because I had never attended before.  I was happy to jump on a bus and a subway and walk to find them because it reminded me of my travels.  I was a little late, I had been caught up with a conversation with my parents upon leaving the house.  I arrived to the Dyke March dripping in sweat to find that it was pretty much over and that I had missed it.  I ate some mushrooms and started acting really weird not giving a fiddler's fart of what anyone thought of me.   The rest is again, as they say, history.

Our first date was the next day.  He thought about the rules about calling someone so many days after the first encounter but instead went with his gut instinct and asked me out.  We met up with friends at a bbq and watched fireworks, as it was July 1st.  First date, fire works.  Beat that.  Every voice in my head said, do not move fast, get to know him, don't date anyone you have bigger plans, but my heart took the reigns and acted for me.  The universe works in a funny way.  I was supposed to be living in another town at that time but something fell through so I had another week and a half in the city.  We went on picnic's during that time and everything he said and did was just so damn perfect.  I actually thought he must be full of shit, or a mind reader.  How could he say to me everything that I wanted to hear?  I decided to not over think it.  To just go with the flow.  I moved back to the small town for the next 2 months which I felt was a very healthy way to slow our relationship down.  Give me the time I needed to be alone and focus on myself.  He visited me a few times and it was always so perfect.  I never met anyone else during the summer that made me stray from this guy I had only known for a week.  I got home in September and we have been two peas in a pod ever since.

For the first time in my life, I understand the difference between falling in love and rising in love.

Noble In Thought, Weak In Action

Pretty grim way to start a post about nutrition and health, I know, however for some reason the line from this scene kept playing over in my head as I was conjuring up my words, "Noble in thought, weak in action."  I think we all can admit that we often think that we can do better when it comes to diet and exercise but always seem to fall short when it comes time to act upon our highest values.

Today, I touch on diet; not diet as a means to losing weight, but diet meaning the choices we make towards what we put into our bodies.  Your body is truly a temple, inside that body holds the key to life and existence.  Inside yourself is where you can find the answers to all life's problems.  Do you want to house your spirit in a shack built of grass, in a hut built of wood, or a castle built of solid rock?  When the body is weaker it is easier for illness to creep it's way in.  Any health problems or mental problems can be fixed or avoided if you build a fortress around your inner core protecting it from all negative outside forces.  The key to happiness and longevity is nutrition, therefore it is the place to start if one desires a positive life.

For the last 10 years of my life, taking an active approach to eating well has been daunting and even useless.  It seems as if even adapting the healthiest foods into my diet had it's downfalls.  "Eat more veggies and fruits" they say, then go on to explain all the harsh pesticides and chemicals that are crawling around on all the produce.  These so-called healthy foods are genetically modified so even they seem to have a crippling effect on your health.  They say to buy organic but for some reason it is hard to even believe that organic really is organic.  With chem-trails and acid rain we have become powerless to what we are exposed to; our only power left is to build a impenetrable immune system.

For those who have been using meat replacements such as soy, all the studies that have come out lately have shown that soy has been a big scam from day one.  What a slap in the face to all those folks who've been trying to live a healthier lifestyle.  In this one article (there are many) soy is referred to as big business, that it was an advertising scam to make money off a product that is now being linked to many illness' such as brain damage and breast cancer.

Recently I have been introduced to Quinoa (pronounced keen-wa) and how it is a complete protein and I have been opting out on rice and reaching for this wonderful superfood instead.  Within months this article pops up exploiting the economical implications that North Americans consumption of quinoa is having on Bolivia and it's people.  At this point, I was like "good grief" what is good anymore?

It can be very frustrating and confusing finding not only the best food for you but the best food that does not harm people half way across the world.  What does one do?  Well this is my answer:

Do your best.

Do the best that you can do given your circumstance.  Speak up and ask questions, question where your food is coming from.  Educate yourself and spread awareness.  A warning: do not go around shouting at a dinner party that what you are being served is unhealthy or inhumane; use your discretion and common sense.  I find that trying to force people to do what you think is better has the opposite effect.  The best way is to start with yourself, be selfish and get your self on track and then sit back and let people ask you what you are eating.  Let people come to you for the recipes and share instead of lecture.

Do not expect that your local grocer is going to pick out the best crop to sell to you.  Do not expect that your government is going to pass laws that are to put your health above big business.  Take responsibility for your health into your own hands.  All the information you ever wanted and needed is at your fingertips, and here you are looking at pictures of boobies and kitties.  I'm not suggesting that you stop looking at the things that bring a smile to your day, a momentary happiness; I am suggesting that you try and hold onto that happiness for longer than a fleeting moment.  Howabout insuring today that happiness can go on forever?  Health = Happiness

Starting with your diet first will bring upon a domino effect to your life.  When you eat better, you look better, then you feel better, then you do better.  I do not believe in sacrificing the things that you love however if something you love is clogging your arteries, slowing down your energy, making you grumpy, then you must love yourself enough to love the things that lift you up rather then what brings you down.  Love yourself enough to chose to let go of those things that no longer serve your purpose.

Everyone is different and will go about their life differently and I am not here to ever throw stones at anyone.  All I can do is speak from my own experiences, and in that my formula has been to quiet down the noise in my head and truly listen to what my insides were telling me.  Finally, not denying what was so obvious.  In my early 20's, dairy starting upsetting my stomach, so I limited dairy but never quit it.  I notice that whenever I drink milk, especially before bed, my chest gets congested.  What is my body telling me?  That milk causes me congestion and tummy aches; that milk is not good for me.  After all these years of negative responses, I have finally taken to omitting cow's milk from my diet.

Back in the day I tried to make a switch to soy milk and I could not acquire a liking towards it, even the chocolate flavoured soy milk left me gagging.  However, 15 years ago I did not have the alternative choices that I see now on the grocery shelves.  There's rice milk, almond milk, and coconut milk!  A few week's ago I made my very own coconut milk and boy was it worth it!  So I now have a substitute for my black tea and coffee!  I will be honest here, I will not give up cheese, that is my treat,  periodically, maybe for giving up milk if I need an excuse.

Truly, I do not need an excuse for treats, because I am not on a diet nor am I trying to punish myself with not allowing certain foods.  I am eating what I like.  I prefer food that makes me feel good and that doesn't give me diarrhea when I'm sliding into first and feeling something burst.

Note:  One should not just change their diet over night, it would be a shock to your system.  Even when you change your dog's food, everyone knows to start mixing it in with the old stuff, phasing it out seamlessly.  Rather, listen closely to what your body is telling you and start by making adjustments.  Not every healthy lifestyle choice is for everyone.  For me, being vegetarian for 4 years left me unable to even do so much as a sit up, so I started eating meat again and there goes the last 10 years of my life where I've been noble in thought but weak in action.  Omitting meat out of my life entirely did not work for my body.

I know now that for me I find it to be problematic to set limits.  Labeling myself a vegetarian just put me in a box where people could throw stones at me.  I would much rather not call myself anything so that no one glances at me if I eat some chicken wings every now and again, it is my choice and mine alone.  Also, I do not want to miss out on the good things in life, so I refuse to say that I specifically won't eat anything.  I just happen to eat pretty damn healthy most of the time, that is all.

Ok, SO, simple adjustments that I found easy to make in my everyday life are as follows:

POPCORN -->  That microwave shit has so much chemicals added to it that it is a joke on humanity.  Do you know how simple it is to pop your own and also how much cheaper it is?  Put a little coconut oil in a BIG pot, drop in half a cup of kernels (kernels can be bought at le grocery store for a buck or two), shake the pot a bit and tip the lid to let a little air in, and watch the popcorn dance!

Speaking of COCONUT OIL --> I have made the switch to make this my number one cooking lubricant and I am never going back.  I understand that some do not enjoy the flavour of coconut so all I can say to that is, sucks to be you.  I love Extra Virgin Olive Oil but to know that as soon as it is heated it loses all of it's nutrients and becomes a trans fat has made me opt out on it for cooking and heating.  However, straight from the bottle, EVOO is still packed with all it's goodness.  I use it for salad dressings, bread dippers, drizzled over pasta, and of course in my hair as a deep conditioner.

Speaking of conditioner:  I am in the process of switching all of my beauty products over to natural products.  I cannot wait for my stupid shampoo and conditioner to be finished so I can start testing out natural versions!  I would like to develop a line of beauty products in the process, to be able to one day be able to offer an alternative lifestyle to those who care about such things.

TOOTHPASTE --> I made my own toothpaste, rather I should say we made our own toothpaste.  I do have a secret edge on this healthy lifestyle, until I am ready to touch on that topic we shall just refer to him as a great influence.  Easy toothpaste recipe:  coconut oil, baking soda (magnesium free can be found at bulk barn), a bit of rock salt (to remineralize) and some drops of essential peppermint oil.  I prefer this toothpaste than any store bought ever in the history of the world.  There are probably better toothpaste recipes out there but for now, I'm pretty content with my simple version.

I LOVE NUTS --> Lucky for me I'm actually not a big fan of potato chips.  I enjoy a good crunch but I can get that from so many other things.  I actually love nuts and prefer to eat them and cannot really understand why I wasn't eating them regularly before.  I think we just get used to eating chips and candies as a snack and things like nuts get shoved into a "special" category that we eat periodically.  Well forget that, I now like to go to bulk barn and stock up on walnuts, brazil nuts, and seeds like pumpkin and sunflower (because they are a bit cheaper).  I love dried cranberries.  I think they are way tastier than any candy out there, so I have decided to stop torturing myself and I grab a big bag of dried cranberries for my munching pleasures every few weeks!

I LOVE JUICE -->  From now on, whenever I say "juice" I am referring to my juicer and all the stuff I find in the fridge to throw into it and turn into a juice.  The best part about juicing fruits and veggies yourself is the family bonding time.  At my house, we all huddle around the juicer and watch the carrots, cucumbers, celery, apples, ginger, kale, lemons, beets, watercress, etc. turn into the best nutrient filled drink out there.  We take turns preparing and washing and as far as I am concerned, it is much more worth it to pull out the juicer when more people are involved to share in the experience.  Talk about an amazing energy booster too!  Red bull?  You ain't got nothin' on the punch that freshly juiced veggies and fruits give AND juice tastes better so put that in your hashpipe...

Lastly, I will speak of "organic".  As far as I am concerned, organic is subjective so my advice to that is:  I think that it is most important to just eat produce period.  So start there.  If it is simple for you to find and purchase organic then by all means, chose organic.  But do not opt out on not getting your produce because it is not organic.  Organic will come with time as the market continues to make changes and when we chose to take a stance towards what is best for us.  By May 24th weekend, have your plans for your new garden ready, because that is when planting begins!

It is time we all learn the basic fundamentals of survival:  

Plant a Garden