I'm Baaaaaack

Hi,

So, I'm sorry I took this blog down. I was just pissed and stressed out and.....anyways, I'm back and I'm the healthiest I have ever been! :)

Here's a quick update on my life thus far:

• I have overcome one of my allergies! Yay! Isn't that wonderful? :)
• My weight is good and I am actually not worried about my weight right now. I like my body and I like where I'm at right now. Like even when for some reason, I feel bloated, I know by morning, I won't neither would I look bloated.
• I am full of energy and like no matter how late at night it is or how tired I am, I can drop and give you 20 pushups or 100 squats or sit ups!
• I haven't worked out as much as I used to because of stress and school and performances. However, I have started ensuring I do at least 100 squats and 50 pulses in squat position without breaks in between at least once everyday and also, some push ups. I seem to love pushups now and for a while, I was working out only my arms because I just like working them out. However, I was forced to remember that I need to workout my entire body especially my thighs and abs which aren't as toned as I'd like them to be right now. My arms look awesome flexed. Those biceps are on point! I can also balance on just my hands a little longer than I've ever been able to without spraining my wrists. That's amazing! Now, I'm just working on toning up everywhere and getting a faint 4-6pack :)
• I eat 4-6 times a day now. Yup! Not 2 or 3 anymore. Now, I eat 3 cooked meals and 1-3 raw vegan meals a day and I snack on raw fruits and vegetables and I seem to have a newfound love for Medjool dates so I love nibbling on them whenever! :) The raw fruits and vegetables help with digestion and bowel movements and it just cleanses me from the inside out.
• My skin looks awesome! I still get 1 or 2 lil zits towards that womanly month of the week, but once that week's ending, the zit(s) go and I'm left with awesome skin again. Mind you, I still have dry skin that peels in some areas if not moisturised after a few minutes out of the shower. It takes a bit longer before it starts peeling now and not all the places that peeled on my face are still peeling. I lock in moisture on my skin using just raw, extra virgin coconut oil now and as for my face, I use coconut oil on my lashes, lips and eye lids and organic shea butter (sent over from Nigeria by my grandmother. bless her) on the rest of my face. I use very little of the shea butter because I don't want a shiny face neither do I want to darken my face as my mum gets a dark film on her skin from shea butter and I've heard of some people darkening from it. So far, I haven't darkened. I don't use the coconut oil on the rest of my face because, as once mentioned on this blog, I seem to react to it on all other parts of my face (same with my cousin).
• Also, I'm going to end here as this is getting very long, I am no longer anaemic, I don't get dizzy, daily/frequent headaches or any of those things anymore! I am not excessively tired all the time. My immunity is up! Like the old me would get sick once someone coughed or sneezed around me, but now, people are getting sick at my school as a bug is going round and I feel just fine! I even went to the health centre to visit a friend who was very sick and I'm still fine! I haven't seen a doctor or nurse because I've been sick since the whole detox and lifestyle change! I haven't had any medications or supplements whatsoever! Even vitamins and paracetamol! Nada! I don't need them! I am healthy and I am happy and I'm glad my parents seem to be accepting my lifestyle and vegetarianism a little more now that I've been updating them on my health and everything. I wish I had learnt more and done more research on my diet and all that when I stopped eating meats as I could've reaped all these benefits a long time ago! It's terrible always being sick and now, I'm happy not to be anymore! It feels awesome being healthy for once! :)

See y'all later!

~Sammy :)

My Possible Lifestyle Change + Why?

So....I've been looking into a raw vegan lifestyle. Actually, I've just been watching Kristina of  FullyRawKristina and Yulia of RawsomeHealthy's videos and....well....I am not going to become a raw vegan, but I am going to incorporate more raw, vegan foods into my diet. I am considering eating a raw breakfast, a cooked lunch and a raw dinner depending on how lazy I am at dinner time. If I'm to lazy to go for soups at lunchtime, and I hope dinner's good, I'll eat raw at lunch and if dinner ends up being bad, I'll eat raw at dinner too. (Incase I didn't mention it before, I'm a college student who lives at school most of the time, and my school provides most of my meals).

Why do I plan on incorporating more raw foods into my diet?

Well....if you read the Bible or (in case you've never read a Bible) any old historical book, you will notice that the people lived WAY longer than we do now. Also, you might notice that your grandparents or (if they're still alive) great-grandparents looked much healthier in the pictures of them while they were young than now. Why? Well....they didn't have all the artificial and synthetic things we have in our foods now. They didn't have so many pesticides and antibiotics in the food they ate and....well.....some of the things we eat now that are totally not good for our health, they didn't have it back then. Food was food not a bunch of chemicals and food.

Our sugar intakes have increased over the years resulting in people being more obese, becoming diabetic, having a chronic heart disease or even cancer:

Picture gotten from authoritynutrition.com

Our intake of sugar-sweetened drinks has increased too:

Fruit drinks are pretty much unhealthy, just like fizzy drinks. Why? If you notice, on the ingredients list, many of them have the words, "sugar" or "sweetener" on them and whichever of those words is on there is never at the bottom of the ingredients list meaning that there is a significant amount of artificial sugars in what you're drinking so....basically, it's a fruit and sugar drink. Sometimes, it's actually a fruit, flavouring and sugar drink or even just a flavouring and sugar drink!

Our calorie intake has increased quite significantly because of aggressive marketing, the increase in sugar consumption, processed foods, et cetera:

Gotten from authoritynutrition.com

The wheat we eat now is less nutritious that the ones our grandparent and their parents and those before them ate:

Source: Fan MS, et al. Evidence of decreasing mineral density in wheat grain over the last 160 years. Journal of trace elements in medicine and biology.

"There is evidence that modern wheat, which was introduced around the year 1960, is less nutritious than older varieties of wheat.

The graph above is from an experiment that has been run since the year 1843. In it, scientists have grown different wheat strains and measured the amount of nutrients.

You can see that the mineral content starts declining around 1960, which coincides with the introduction of modern wheat.

Today’s wheat has about 19-28% less of important minerals like Magnesium, Iron, Zinc and Copper, compared to the wheat our grandparents grew up with.

There is also evidence that modern wheat is much more harmful to celiac patients and people with gluten sensitivity, compared to the older varieties ." ~ From http://authoritynutrition.com/11-graphs-that-show-what-is-wrong-with-modern-diet/

We have started eating fast food more often and in higher quantities and we have started spending more on processed foods that we cook or eat in our homes.

We are killing (or just harming) our bodies with what we put in them.

Incorporating more raw vegan foods into my diet, I will be eating even healthier, getting all the nutrients I need and because I prefer to eat organic foods, I won't be ingesting all the pesticides and other toxic things that other foods might have. By eating raw vegan, my body will be able to detox itself and simply work better.

Please note that I do not plan on going 100% raw vegan because I pretty much have an eating disorder called SED so if I go 100% raw vegan I will end up protein-deficient and deficient in a few other things. I am currently a lacto-ovo vegetarian, have been for almost 8 years now and I plan on continuing to be a lacto-ovo vegetarian although I'll be eating as a raw vegan every now and then.

Why do I plan on going more raw vegan with my life?

Well....every issue I have had with my body, the allergies (including the reason I had to have surgery on my arms), have been because of things I have put on my skin and what did these things have in common? Chemicals. Toxic. Harsh. Chemicals.

There was a time I started reacting to my soap, changed it up to one with more natural ingredients, my skin got better, but I started reacting to that one too. I started reacting to my body lotion and the only thing "natural" in that one was sea salt, if I'm right. My hair didn't look so healthy back when I used any product off of the shelf to care for it. The reason I had surgery on my arms was related to a deodorant use and the chemicals in the deodorant. I've also had some serious skin discolouration from the stuff I've put on my skin.

By using more raw vegan things, I am keeping all those nasty, harsh things away from my body. I went on an underarm detox thing a while back where I used apple cider vinegar straight instead of a deodorant (I ran out of deodorant and was unable to purchase more). My underarms did pretty well and were odourless throughout that period of time! I applied the cider vinegar on it in the morning, at around 6:30am and by the time I went to bed at around 10pm, my underarms were still odourless.

I plan on using coconut oil as my body lotion (which I do every now and then now), eye cream (I always use it around my eyes), lip balm (always use it as this) and extra virgin olive oil on my face (I break out when coconut oil goes on my cheeks or forehead). I might even switch between a natural butter and coconut oil or make a mix of both for when my skin needs something a little stronger/thicker or a little more protection especially from UV rays.

I believe God didn't put us in a place where we can't survive. I'm pretty sure He didn't place us in a world where we can't heal and be healthy. What I mean, is that He gave us things that we can live with and use in our everyday life that are actually good for us. Natural things are best for us.

My grandparents had much healthier skin when I was younger and in the pictures I see of them before I was born than they have now. Why? Most of the products they use now are so chemical-laden and less natural than the ones they used to use. My nana and I both have really sensitive skin and we have had quite a number of skin allergies thanks to what we've put on our skins.

I hope my points came across well and this helps somebody.