Pomegranate Lime Chiller, Shaken, not Stirred

Okay, so a lot...I mean a lot has happened since the last time I made an entry into this collection of experiences. As of March 20th I've lost 40lbs, found my raison d'etre and beat back sciatica with the help of a lot of people and Father making good on a promise: D&C 89:18-20. I'd quit drinking anything with alcohol, quit coffee and right about the time I gained momentum with that, I developed sciatica...after taking a lot of time off from running at my doctor's advice I finally got frustrated enough to kneel and ask God to make good on the promise in the Doctrine and Covenants. I'm embarassed to think I let it go to the point of frustration before I asked Father to help heal me. I was sort of frustrated, desperate and maybe a bit demanding. I hope He isn't taken aback. I never meant to suppose arrogance to demand anything of Father, especially when He's promised the gift that always follows obedience to the commandment. So I hope He wasn't offended.

I went for a run and felt so good that one mile turned into 2 into 3 and about 35 minutes (give or take) I had 4 miles under my belt and felt just fine. I stretched out for a while after and took a hot/cold shower and felt so good. I was thinking I'd be kind of stiff and sore the next day especially after a week long hiatus from running but I wasn't at all. I was so grateful. I don't remember if I thanked Father but I hope He knows I'm so grateful to Him for all the things He's done in watching over me during this journey. He's sent you to me to help me...what a tremendous gift!

Coach, this whole journey has been so incredible. I'm seeing things differently and I've never been as happy. Even when things pile up and get frustrating, the frustration doesn't last long and I know if I'm ever at wit's end, I can pray and I can talk to you. I know I have your support and love. You don't judge me or make me feel like I'm not going to be anything but successful. I can only imagine how it must have been as a child growing up in your home. If I could be a child again, I would hope to be raised by a mother like you. My mother was awesome too and she had so many other children to keep tabs on. I found myself taking on some of those responsibilities myself just to help her...so it was very different for me. I'm so grateful for you and how you encourage me and keep me honest. I would rather cut off my right hand than disappoint you...and I would follow you anywhere. Thank you.

I made that breakfast cereal because of the conversation we had when all you asked me was what I thought my physicalilty was calling for.  It was sort of a ad-hock/spur of the moment thing I felt inspired to make when I found myself energy depleted when I ran. My body kept telling me; "dude you need more protein." I didn't want to start eating animal protein again, not with all the whole plant protein available in my own home...and what I had on hand to supply my body with the protein I felt it was starving for...so when the breakfast cereal came together, guided by your loving encouragement, I thought you should have it...so in a sense, I made it with the intent to helping me have more endurance and then all I wanted to do was just turn it over to you and hoped you'd find it as tasty as I did and maybe one day add it to your website if you thought it was good enough.

You've given me so much I just wanted to give back something even if it was just a little recipe. I had the quinoa, farro, steel cut oats (which I neglected to add to the mix) as well as whole rolled oats. I had shaved almonds, chia, raw cashew pieces, sunflower and green pumpkin seeds, coconut palm sugar and shaved/shredded coconut...so I cooked the grain and mixed in the other things along with a couple tablespoons of pure amber maple syrup and coconut butter spread. I told you about how I made it and what I put into it not thinking you might use it for a project you're working on. So you tweaked it made it even better which is AWESOME! and I'm so proud for you to use something I made that you made even better! I'm so proud for you!

So tonight I felt myself feeling thirsty but didn't want to just have a glass of cold water...I wanted something sort of sweet but cold and tasty too...so I decided to piggyback off of a drink I tasted at FuD (the vegan restaurant in KC). So here it is. It was delicious! It has a sweet and tart taste all at the same time...

Pomegranate Lime Chiller

4oz Rooibos tea
4oz POM Pomegranate Juice
1t    Stevia
The juice of one lime
16 oz ice
Shaken....not stirred (thank you 007)

So my dear Coach...a gift for you on a hot day...please accept it along with my humble gratitude for all that you've done and meant to me. I love you so much. Every morning I pray, I give thanks for you and every night before I close my eyes to sleep I tell Heavenly Father how grateful I am for you and what you've started in my life. Thank you with all my heart...

A thankful Nomad is grateful for you
Cheers!

"This Time Where are You Houston, Will Somebody Listen, Is Somebody Out There?"

First of all, thank you to Tom Delonge and Mark Hopus for writing the song Asthenia for Blink 182. Great song which I totally plagerized for the title of this blog entry...but I'm not being paid for it so....don't sue me.

Okay so I've been a total lazy tool keeping up with my blog. I know this. I've been distracted and it's time to come correct. The whole center of my universe shifted from somewhere just north and west of the Gulf of Mexico to around 40.7500° N, 111.8833° W. If you have to ask, my friend the mostly all knowing (allegedly) Google can help you out with those co-ordinates. My most humble apologies to my avid reader. (since there is as far as I know, only one of you)

So, what have I been doing the last week or so since I've not written in my blog? Well, let's see. I managed to blow off 2 physical therapy appointments because the secretary scheduled me with a different therapist and failed to mention it to me. Nothing irritates me more than having to explain to 2 different people what hurts or is ailing me. Don't these people in the medical world put anything on a patient database and do their homework? Apparently its just easier to play the 20 questions game ever bleeping time I go into see the doctor, therapist, nurse pacticioner or whatever. Seriously, this is why I abhor/hate going to the doctor and taking a trip to one with my wife makes me want to punch a hole in a wall sometimes...its like every time we go in..."ma'am do you have any allergies to medication? Are you taking any medications at the moment?" Um no, she's playing the "$64,000.00 Question" with you! Just once I'd like to respond to the person filling out the dossier on my wife so the doctor can ask her the same flipping questions..."um, is she taking any medications? It would be quicker to list the ones she isn't taking...now run along and look on your computer and see what those are, I'm sure her internal medicine doctor had someone put them on a data base somewhere. If you get lost I'm sure Google can help you out." WHAT THE EFF?! I think I'd rather just get cancer and shoot myself in the face while simultaneously punching myself in the junk than go through that every time I went to the doctor. Which is why I have to practically have a bone sticking out somewhere important or something to get me to go. The only one I really trust is my orthopedic surgeon who rebuilt my right shoulder and that's about it.

I'm not a fan of doctors ordering tests for you when they're not needed or refusing one just because they tell me my insurance won't cover it until whenever. I think ordering a test or ordering therapy for a patient without first discovering a symptom that would lead a doctor to request a certain test or course of physical therapy is foolhardy, irresponsible and dangerous. Who are they all studying medicine under these days, Greg House? How about letting me pee in a cup first before determining if I might have an insulin problem before shoving glucose (read high fructose corn syrup) down my gob. Or thinking outside the box and ordering an MRI along with the x-ray before allowing a therapist to bend and contort my body and possibly causing further complication to whatever joint is injured. Oh and another thing...

Truth in advertising...sort of. I'm laughing my rather shrinking behind off at these stupid corn ads on TV. Recently the corn growers (probably failed football players from Nebraska or Iowa) have launched a campaign for high fructose corn syrup...some lady is walking through a totally airbrushed cornfield somewhere in Whogivesacrapfieldville, Iowa chatting up the camera saying, "experts have said that there is no difference in how your body reacts to high fructose corn syrup and cane sugar," ...blah, blah, frickety blaaaaaaaah! You know what, she's probably telling the truth. What she isn't saying is that though the body may treat HFCS and cane sugar and beet sugar the same since it's all processed, it's still most likely (and I haven't researched this other than just seeing the people where I live/lived) the largest cause of obesity, type 2 diabetes (and all the other types) and tooth decay in our country right next to the education department cutting out Phys-ed and the advent of PlayStation, X-Box and Wii. What she doesn't say is that if you quit eating processed sugar and so forth and get your sugar naturally from plants like coconut, the birch tree, and green leaf stevia etc, your body will thank you but the chemical companies and food additive companies etc will be pissed as Hell.

Another thing I've been meaning to bring up but haven't is the whole GMO issue. I read an article in of all places a leading women's magazine (normally I just look at them because of the hot movie star on the cover) but this one caught my eye because it talked about Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO) and I thought, "I've become more diet conscious, let's give this a read." What I read was about 4 and a half pages of double speak and duplicity. In the article they talked about genetically modifying salmon and farm raising them so they would grow faster and be available to consumers at a higher rate along with modifying grain that was fed to cattle...I don't recall what the modification was but the charlatans, errrr scientists said is that they didn't find any genetic markers that would indicate that the modified grain in any way altered the cattle they fed. So we're really NOT what we eat? Really? So those cattle they fed genetically modified grain, not altered in any way? I mean they still look like cows but their freakishly huge sci-fi not normal size didn't give any of these PHD (Piled High and Deep) types a moment for pause? How long did they research those particular cattle? Did they monitor and test the offspring of those cattle? Nothing in the article to suggests they did which leads me to wondeder... either they did and found next-gen modification in the offspring and don't want people to know about it or they didn't do the tests all together.

It's hilarious in our society today how it's perfectly okay for the FDA to approve steroids for livestock, steroids and growth hormones that end up in the meat consumers buy in the butcher shops and grocery stores and then shove down their cake holes, but if an athlete slams a syringe of growth hormone or equine testosterone in his butt cheek, he can be banned for life from competing in the sport of his profession and then waste my tax dollars sitting on CSPAN in front of congress and lying about it to millions...yet it's perfectly fine for our government to slam genetically modified grains and steroids into our food source and poison them with pesticides and herbicides...does anyone remember DDT? How duplicitous.

Okay, rant over. I realize that in this day and age it's impossible for anyone to get purely non-contaminated food, with all the chemicals in our water supply and airborne pathogens and particulates floating around it's a wonder the planet doesn't more resemble something out of a Robert Rodriguez zombie film (Google it if you don't know - I love Google) But I guess the tactical strategy going forward is to eat organic as much as possible in order to not get a larger dose of crap that's floating around in our water supply and squirming about in our soil. I truly believe we are what we eat...then so are the cows, horses, pigs, sheep, goats and chickens. If I omitted any other farm animals, my apologies in advance to them if they read this. I did leave out the ass but I think there's a Book of Mormon prophet that references an ass somewhere. I read that once...

On a much cooler and more serene note, I made a totally kick-@$$ fruit salad this week and some killer banana/raw cashew/cranberry/orange muffins just for kicks. (it's my variation of the banana-chocolate chip muffin recipe from "the web site.")

Here's the recipe for the fruit salad:

1/2 lb raspberries

1/2 lb blackberries

1/2 lb sliced strawberries

1/2 lb diced fresh pineapple

1T     coconut palm sugar

2T     shredded raw coconut

1HF* sliced raw almonds

1HF* chopped pecans

Juice from 1 whole Lemon

*HF = Hand Full

Combine all ingredients into a large bowl, cover with a lid and shake gently (or violently if you're in a hurry) to mix all the ingredients like I did, or you can just get a large spatula or spoon and mix them if you're not into "caveman" style mixing...cuz let's face it, it's all gonna be mush pretty soon anyway...and it's all good!

Over all pretty tasty and the amino acids in the coconut sugar gives it a nice muscle cell rebuilding property which at my age I need...

Again, loyal reader, thank you for checking in. And thank you for coaching me!

Cheers!

With One Step With One Flow You Will Know Synchronicity...

Okay, so here's the deal...today same as any other day recently, I've been feeling much better about my back. The doctor has told me she believes I have sciatica...fun for me right...not so much. Her advice; "stop running." I heeded it pretty much til it was either do something or fall face first onto a really sharp ice pick. I went swimming, did the elliptical trainer and some mild jogging in a really short circle in the community fitness center upstairs rubberized track...and I was going nuts.

I went to physical therapy and was again told why I probably didn't need an MRI and the therapist was really cool and told me most times with what I had which could be a mild case of sciatica, could be fixed over time with a regimen of stretching and rest and again little to no running. I had prayed for and fasted for help from God to ease my sore back and keep me from having nerve damage in my lower back and I just thought, "you know, I've been doing what is required for the blessing of "health to my navel and marrow to my bones - run and not be weary, walk and not faint" so why not ask for the promise that went with the principle? Yah, why not?

So I did.

As of today, I have very little ache and stiffness in my back, I stretch and do what my therapist told me to do, have appointments with the PT clinic through July and probably scaring the crap out of my Personal Health Coach.  (hey, I promised you and me and my body I'd listen to it and I have...promise) I have run nearly every day this week except for yesterday and feel great. No residual discomfort whatsoever...so what does this tell me? God answers prayers, He delivers when called upon and always has the game plan firmly tucked into his waistband and always calls the right play when it's needed. All I have to do is execute it and all will be well.

Today I ran a different route. I got about 3 and a half miles into my run and shut it down. At 10:30am the temperature in Warrens-tucky was about 88 degrees with 20 degrees less humidity and I was feeling a bit like I just needed to take a walk for a while...so my game plan was to run in the shade walk in the sun. That plan gives me a great chance to get a tan on my scary mask tattoo and my arms as well not to mention take the time to look around for things that might be beautiful and otherwise missed, besides I was sweating like a Fin in a sauna.

As I was coming up the street and headed toward home I came up on the Warrensburg post office and saw as I approached a guy who looked like an extra from "Night of the Living Dead" minus a the cool leprosy special effects makeup. He was maybe between the age of 70 and half way to Methuselah and moved like he couldn't decide to take the next step or take a dirt nap...poor bugger. I could tell he was going into the post office because he had decided to head up the wheel chair ramp to the front doors and at the last minute decided maybe that was more cardio than he wanted to do in a hot humid morning so he went around it. I quickly ran around him, grabbed the front door to the post office and held it for him so he could shuffle inside.

He mumbled something unintelligible to me as he passed by and after that I took off and headed home. It got me to thinking...Nothing happens by accident. Everything is in perfect sync. Had I not stopped to walk/run the rest of the way home, I would have missed the chance to help this old gentleman out and even though it was no big deal to me, just one random act of kindness shown an old man might parlay into something really big for him later on...okay maybe not but who knows? Maybe its just that when I'm an old codger and can't get my feet moving quite as fluidly as I do now, I'm hoping that the karma I banked early in my life will pay dividends when I'm half way to pushing up daisies.

So I thanked God for the surreality check and finished my run. I don't know how long it took but I know I was still sweating like I'd just run through a car wash and grateful for the experience. So I have that going for me.

Thanks for looking in!

Cheers.

What's for Lunch? FϋD!

The other day the wife and I went out to look at some prospective houses in the city. Saw a couple duds and then saw a really cool bungalow that I was excited about. Okay excited is kind of an understatement. I was more like the kind of excited a 18yr old guy gets kissing the incomparable 17yr old girl he knows is the love of his life for the very first time kind of excited! It had a lot of nice features, not much in the way of upgrades for us to do if we purchased the property and the price was right. It looked small inside only because the guy who owns the property at the moment has more shoes than me and Emelda Marcos combined and enough button down shirts and suits to start his own satellite "Men's Warehouse" (you're going to like the way you look, I guarantee it) and enough cologne to open his own counter at Macy's. The neighborhood is where we finally settled upon living when we move and so I thought all was well. I later discovered that wasn't quite the case. I think my wife just has this anxiety about  moving since where we are now is the longest she's lived in any one stretch of time in her entire life. I, on the other hand have moved more times than a high school freshman playing dodge ball with the school's baseball team pitching staff. (that's a lot).

Heidi in front of FϋD 

After a few hours of house hunting and coming to a sort of consensus on which house we wanted to make an offer, we decided to head to the West Side of Kansas City for lunch. I read in an indie newspaper about a vegan restaurant called FϋD. After being seated on the street (our choice) we ordered our food; my wife ordered an Avocado sandwich made with one half an Avocado with seasonal sliced vegetables & Greens topped with Dillanayz & Thrillanayz (not sure what all is in them) on Cracked Wheat Bread and I ordered a "Jack Reuben" made from seasoned green jack fruit paired with sauerkraut and their own sauce and I'm not entirely sure what was in the sauce but the sandwich was delicious. To drink, I had what they call a Red Cooler made from fresh apple juice mixed with cranberry juice and brewed rooibos tea. My wife had a chocolate cacao chip shake made with raw cacao powder, raw cacao nibs, agave-cashew milk and crushed ice. All of their foods are whole and organic so I was curious as to how my sandwich would taste. Without question it was the best lunch I've had since I left my own kitchen. This place was totally legit as far as strictly vegan fare. I mean I've been vegan for just over 2 months and I have eaten at 2 different vegan restaurants. One was not really strictly vegan but made a good attempt (what my PHC calls "transitional vegan) and though there were no animal protein items on their menu, they missed on being a "whole food/organic" vegan restaurant, whereas FϋD hit right in the bulls-eye dead center!

We met the owner/proprietor, Heidi (pictured above in front of the restaurant). She's what I would describe as ecclectic and very, very cool and told us she'd been vegan for 20 years. We told her I'd been vegan for 2 months and a few days. She took the time to talk to us for about a half hour and was kind of surprised at what I had learned thus far about being vegan and what stuff to eat and where it came from and so forth. I explained I had a great personal health coach who was teaching me via Skype from Houston and she thought that was awesome. My wife told her it was weird, (not in a bad way) but that I'd taken a trip to Utah for a week alone and came home and declared that I was vegan and quit drinking alcohol and eating animal protein etc and told her how much weight I'd lost in such a short time. What was not lost on me was that as Heidi and my wife were talking I thought I detected that she was kind of proud of me for the first time in months. So all in all a great day and maybe we bought a house but that remains to be seen!

Thanks for reading!
Cheers!

Take Xylitol For Any Headaches, and Midol For Any Cramps

Funny story...the other night I'm bringing my wife a fresh baked banana-walnut muffin nearly straight from the oven...with a little notso butter and only about a 3rd of a muffin she says...because she is going to be asleep shortly and doesn't need to eat a whole one...which is good because the last 3 batches of muffins could pass as ottomans. They're seriously huge. Way more muffin than any one man should eat in one sitting. If I were Otis Spank-meyer, I wouldn't be too worried though because I still haven't figured out a way to mass produce them (muffins) anyway and then I'd have to give my Health Coach a massive kick back because they're her recipes anyway...but I digress.

My wife asks me (again) what is in the muffins, since earlier that day she called and told me that her wheat alergy is kicking up and was there any way I could make them without flour. So I asked my health coach and she suggests spelt I'd heard of spelt, that could work! Enter SPELT!

I've only casually heard of spelt before; sounds like something you pull out of a lake though there's nothing fishy about it, so I figured why not? Upon colluding with my health coach, operation Spelt was in full effect! I found some miraculously in Warrensburg and immediatly went to work making new muffins.

The muffins turned out fabulous and my wife asked me for that 3rd of a whole one as mentioned before...then she asked me that question I dread answering... "what's in these?" I started ticking off ingredients and when I came to Xylitol on the list of things (all of about 10 or so...find that on an Otis Spunkmeyer muffin and then keep adding ingredients/chemicals until you hit about 40 or so) she asked me...does everything we eat have to have xylitol in it? What other kinds of sweeteners do you use? Oh and what is xylitol anyway? I explained that xylitol comes from the birch tree and other natural plants like some fruits and corn cobs and the reason I use it in our food especially baked goods is because it has the reverse effect on our bones and teeth that regular processed sugars made from sugar beets and cane have on our teeth and bones like tooth decay, and also it helps prevent osteoperosis and so on...so that seemed to work for now...she said the name freaked her out which I find ironically funny because this is a woman who ingests about 6 different prescription medications daily, some of which are potentially dangerous to her internal organs like her liver, kidneys and heart and the word "DEATH" as a potential side effect in some of them...and she's worried about xlyitol sounding weird? That's macbre! She's coming around and trying new things so I'm very encouraged and I understand for her it will take time...Rome wasn't  built in a day...It's gonna take time :)

Cheers and Happy Mosh Pitting!

Doctor, Doctor, Can't You See My Hip is Burning?

Okay, there’s no other way to spell this other than saying finding out I have possibly got sciatica is massively disappointing considering I ran my best 5.5 mile time since coming back from my half decade hiatus from running. I had 5 different x-rays done and an examination by a doctor and she concluded that for the immediate future my running was going to have to wait. That in a word sucks! Okay that’s the dark cloud…here’s the silver lining:

As much as it is a bummer to have to reel in my running there are other things I can do to keep myself fit cardio-vascular wise and still keep on track to prepare to run a marathon in the fall if my doctors say it’s okay for me to do so…if not, no biggie right? I mean the main goal here is to be able to walk when I’m 100 and be fit doing it. My diet is on track and doing well. I’m eating better than I ever have and feeling so much better. So I have that going for me. I just can’t run for a while, and no one said it would be forever. I can golf, swim bike and use the elliptical trainer not to mention weight training as well so I have options. All is not lost. Actually swimming will help strengthen my core muscles tremendously and help build my lung capacity as well as my chest shoulder and arm muscles…and I’ve been saying all along that I really should improve my upper body strength. Nothing I can think of would do that better than having them pull 185lbs through the water for 3000 meters.

So while I’m disappointed about not running, the other options give me a lot of reason to be and stay optimistic. Then there’s the spiritual aspect of my training. There are things I believe are absolute truths things I know at the core of my being are right. Principles with Divine promise…things if I adhere to and obey, I will reap the blessings of those principles. So long as I continue to stay focused on my diet, mainly eating whole plants and grains and avoiding things like caffeine, and stay humble, I know Father will hold up his end of the bargain. He’s promised me and cannot lie. He has promised me that all things I desire in righteousness will be given to me and nothing will be withheld. What I desire is a functioning left hip and spine…and I know it requires that I heed the council of my health coach, my doctors and therapists…and listen for the spirit and follow the guidance I receive from it as well as what I am able to glean from the words of those who have gone before me…the ancient prophets and masters. They had a direct conduit to our Heavenly Father and I would be wise to follow their wise council as well as pray continuously for divine guidance for myself directly from Him. My main focus needs to be heavily entrenched in my spiritual recovery process and I know as I heal there my body will follow. It cannot help but do so. Also I've thought about fasting with the sole purpose of asking Father in Heaven to help me with my sciatica and all those suffering with the same affliction. Perhaps if I ask Father to help those who need his help and while He's at it relieve my discomfort and heal my spine as well we can work something out. Its worth a shot. If He needs me to show Him more...I've got more...

There are things I don’t but should and will eventually comprehend about all of this and while I don't, I have to have faith it will all work out. I know faith can produce miracles. I really believe that healing my hip and alleviating my sciatica would be a major miracle… I can’t wait to see how it all works out! After a trial of my faith, then cometh the blessings. I’m very excited! Very hopefull and I know good will come of this!

Run and Not be Weary

So...I'm on day 2 of no caffeine. Yesterday I took the day off and didn't run yesterday trying to give my hip the day off. I'm worried about the possibility of having sciatica. I've tried to stay more consistent on my regimen of herbs and so forth and and it seems to be working out rather well.

I didn't have any hip soreness or tightness this morning and so I decided to go running. Not a bad thing at all...I run the DD Loop which is posted below...

The one big difference I felt this morning is that before I started out I knelt and prayed to have the Lord's healing hand on me as I ran and to prove me herewith the promise of keeping the word of wisdom...I prayed and acknowledged I'd been 2 days off caffeine and could He please help me make my goal of finishing my run...

Not only did I finish, I finished a whole minute and a half faster than I have since the last time I ran the loop. Awesome huh?!

Okay so I'm off to get my blood drawn and see about getting an Otho consult for my hip! Fun!

Sorry this is so short today...Thanks Coach...I love you. You're the best!