On being healthy... or not...

Let me tell you something:  I do not care if you do not want to be healthy.  Honestly. It is your choice... your decision... but please pretty please just assume consequences!!!

I know, and you know.... and mostly everybody knows by now that the best way to be healthy is:

1) adopt a plant based diet.  Period.  No if and but or "but I do not eat lots of... (fill in animal product)"
2) LOTS of raw fruits and veggies
3) Juice, smoothies
4) Eat at home - home made meals - as much as possible
5) Exercise with moderation - you can exercise too much
6) Practice yoga/meditation to relieve stress
7) Drink water - not to little and not too much (yes you can have too much water)
8) Minimize the amount of process food you eat or eliminate if you can
9) Minimize your caffeine and alcohol intake
10) Stop smoking
11) Avoid junk food

Now we're all adults here.... you can do whatever you want... and so can I.

I chose to be healthy because I have one body. I chose to be healthy because I owe it to myself.  I chose to be healthy because I want to see my son's life as far as possible.  I chose to be healthy because I want to be selfless and independent as long as possible - I do not want to have anyone feel responsible for taking care of me in old age if I can help it.  I chose to be healthy because spending the last 10-15 years of my life running form doctor's appointment to doctor's appointment is not appealing to me and I know there are other options.

I may make what seems like sacrifices to some of you... but it is not really!  I feel so good and full of energy that that "steak", "bacon", "ice cream", " glass of wine" or "piece of cheese" sound to me like "dead cow", "dead pig", "frozen fat", "fermented grapes" or "soft chewy greasy fat"... and I do not miss any of that!!!  I have taught myself to love what real food taste like... and love it! 

I really believe that we were not meant to eat the way we do... if not it would not make us sick... If we were meant to eat the way the standard American diet is design, we'd have much bigger teeth, much bigger fingernails and mostly a way more acidic stomach to digest all that dead flesh.

Now if despite all the information that is widely available you choose to live your life different then mine, well that is OK.. and it is YOUR problem... and you have to live with the consequences.... and be mature enough to stop finding excuses for your behavior! Do not look for "scientific" studies saying that meat is not so bad...  that "milk does a body good"... that egg white is OK and that fish has good fat in it...  and if you do find those studies, look at WHO is paying for those...

For example, the "meat/milk" industry in the USA is spending big dollars on proving that soy is not good for us... so you'll eat meat and dairy instead of tofu and soy milk (because their profit margin is decreasing every year)...  but then how is it that people where soy has been eaten for hundreds of years always had less cancer and osteoporosis then we did?  At least until they started "Americanizing" their diet...

Also, do not try and justify yourself with excuses like "my grandma lived healthy until 95 and she ate chocolate everyday", "my granddad died at 92 and ate bacon every day" , "my aunt is 98 and drink wine at every supper since she's 15"...  those are EXCEPTIONS...  they are not the rule.., be smarter then that!  What you're doing is assuming you son will be like "Wayne Gretzky" or "Tiger Wood" because they started playing hockey/golf at 2 years old!  Do you know many Wayne and Tiger versus the number of kids who start playing hockey/gold at 2?

I hope you now understand that I stand for what I know is best for us.... I will NEVER stop talking about it... but you don't have to follow me in all my eccentricity like some told me... you are free to do as you wish... and even if you are not vegan and drink beer we can be friend... but do not feel like you need to justify yourself to me because you don't... unless you're trying to justify yourself to yourself through me... 

love&peace,
nath
xox
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My view on: reality TV

There is nothing real about reality TV.
Period.
Let me explain...

A little over a year ago I decided to cut my cable subscription.
The cable company worked hard to try and keep me... offering discount and everything but my mind was set. I wanted to try this between April and end of June.  Time at which I would move to another province and start a new life hopefully without a television...
Instead of cable I took a subscription to Netflix.
It is cheaper.
No advertisement.
No reality TV.

The first few week was amazing.... I read a lot....
The next 2 were horrible.... I missed my shows.
Then I started using Netflix and saw some potential there.

Now, I use Netflix for documentaries, movie night on Saturday with my husband and son and I select one show to watch with my son and one with my husband. We are watching one show at a time. That is enough.

Do I wish I'd watch even less television?  Yes eventually but for now this is convenient for me.

Especially to have no advertisement and no reality TV...

I'll pass on my reason for disliking advertisement (hint:  I am against over consumption)

As for reality TV, I honestly believe that nothing can be more fake then what we call reality TV.
Of course the shows I watch are fake.. but I know it and everyone does...  no one pretends like this is reality. You wathc them for entertainment... not as a goal for your life to become.
Reality TV on the other hand is made to have "regular", non-actor people be on television... because for some reason, most of us are looking into being on TV as if this would bring us fame and money! A nice illusion...
In the end, those people that participate in reality TV shows are as fake as can get so that people like them, choose them, vote for them... They play a role... something they are most definitely not like... but they'll do it for money or possible fame... they all think that this might be their big coming out! Their moment where someone will see them and want to make an block buster movie staring them...  well guess what? This ain't happening....  never did and never will...  because actors are there for making movies and TV shows...

Regular people are there to "amuse" others... they are "cheap" labor... they are like "circus animals"... Enjoyed by the public but abused by who they work for...
But the saddest part I find is that they, as well as people watching them, are led to believe that this is what life should be like. That this represent meaningful life.

No one can actually fall in love on a TV show and hope this last.... they are falling in love with the money, the travelling, the expensive house they live in, the restaurants diner and shopping sprees... Once you get back to real life, that is another story and they both get to see a side of the other they did not see before... No one can play a role all their life!

As for all those "grand gesture" people do on reality TV, you can do these off screen...but who does that? Not as many people...  You do not need to be filmed to help the poor, the homeless, the sick...  If you need to be filmed doing it, well it doesn't come from your hearth and it is not selfless... therefore has no value. I know a few people who do amazing things for others without having excessive budget or bragging about it.  This is who they are. They are no doing it for fame but rather to genuinely help others.

And if you need to be on TV to loose weight you, most likely, won't keep it off...  Once the camera is gone, in a matter of months or years you'll be back where you started... because no real change will have happen inside of you... maybe there are issues you need to deal with psychologically or emotionally that the camera temporarily turned off or fixed but I doubt this is resolving anything in the long run...

Do you see my point?

Now, have you ever seen any of those reality TV superstars a few years down the line? Are they still thin? Rich? Famous? In the perfect relationship? Did they get a record deal? Sold many albums? Do we ever talk about them 5 years later? Do we even remember who they were? Or is there so many day in-day out that they are just like all the people you cross on the street and do not get to know or talk too ever?

If you want to be part of reality, leave your television, internet, smart phone and talk to REAL people... about their REAL life.... this is reality.  Television is NOT.

In any case.. this is the way I see it...  like it or not...
If you see it any other way and wish to share please feel free...

love&peace,
nath
xox
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The one question that saved my life

As you already know I have been through a LOT in my life... and I made many many changes... slowly but surely.... this was triggered by being diagnosed with MS and going to see a psychologist to learn to deal with it...  You can read about this here . Long story short, I realise in my early thirties that my life was not at all what I had picture it to be...  as an adult, a teenager or a child!

One question that helped me out was the following:  "what would you do with your life if no one was looking?"

Answer seemed simple...  and "seemed" is the key word because, little did I know, the first answer that came to mind was actually not the right one! 

In order to KNOW what you'd do if no one was looking, you need to dig deep into yourself! You need to go before expectations were set for you... before you were conditioned to like or not something... this mean really early into your life, but then, you probably won't remember what it was... Can you close your eyes and go back to how you saw life as a kid?  Before you even started school...  before you watch so many hours of television.. before you actually paid attention to advertising that is everywhere... before any reasonnable adult guided you into what would be the best thing for you...

Can you feel how you use to feel?  Can you remember how you saw your life?  What brought you joy? What made you cry?

So early in life we are told what we "should" be doing... what we "should" like... what our adulthood "should" be like...  that we hardly ever have a chance to picture it for ourselves...
 Everyone thinks your life through long before you even know you need to "plan" your future...

Now, let's assume that you could go anywhere on the planet, vanish from everyone you knew...  disappear and reappear somewhere where no one knows you... you could totally re-invent yourself... and no one would ever find out! No one would judge because you'd be somewhere where every one would be like you... people who chose to disappear and re-invent themselves...

Then, what would you do?  How would you live? How much money would you really need? What job/career would you occupy? What would you do with your free time? How would you dress? Where would you live? What kind of home would you choose to have?

Remember, no one knows you... 

You are the "architect" of this new life!  No one else is... not your parents/friends/family/coworker/society... 

Now, before you answer those questions, you need to "forget" or "delete" what you have inside that is not YOU... but was "forced" on you.... and THAT is the tricky part!  We so rarely have time to ourselves with no stimulation of any sort that we often do not even know the answers to those questions...

It took me a long time to actually be able to answer "what I'd do if no one was looking".  To be honest, it took me just about 7 years...  during all that time I was trying stuff... and I tried a lot of stuff!  I was completely lost... only to realise each time that I was not truly happy with my "new life".  After a lot of yoga/meditation/talking with my lover/writing this blog...  I finally put all the pieces together and I found out what I wanted to be when I grew up... found out the real answer to this question...  I actually needed to step away/vanish/disappear from many to be able to feel "free" and allowed to re-invent myself...  I had to move far away from everything and everyone I knew to find out what I was looking for....  (doesn't mean you'll have to do it.  Everyone can find the answer to that question in different ways...  No worries...)

I was looking for something so simple... and so "right there" that I would not see it... and kept looking for more... or different.. better...  bigger...

But really, all I ever wanted to be in life is someone quiet, who lives her life very simply...  help others when she can...  and with the tools she has... and this is going to sound so "anti-feminist" but I also always wanted to take care of my husband and my kid...  because this is what I love to do...  I am a care giver... and I like to make people I love happy...

Now, I can do this... I have manage to re-invent myself... I work part time...  make much less money then I use to but have so much more free time to cook/bake...  for my husband and son...  I have time to knit and read and do my yoga...  This is food for my soul... I need this...  I need to have time to myself in my own "land"... always did and always will.... but I also need to take care of others... once I took care of myself!

This is who I want to be when no one is looking... and this is also who I can be when everyone is looking... because I feel so much better this way that it really no longer matters what other people think...

What about you?  What would you do if no one was looking? - REALLY...  Is it what you are doing? Would you change anything?

love&peace,
nath
xox
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