It’s a wrap! Time for some weekly updates and awesome links. I chose the photo above for this post because I have been channeling my innermost Groovy Green Goddess lately. I have been feeling nothing less than amazing and ethereal lately. My general happiness with every moment of life and my gratitude has skyrocketed. I have no “special” circumstances in my life that make this nirvana easier to understand so I think I am just doing something really right with my diet and health of late. The winter blues that sucked me into a black hole of depression every year for the past 3-4 years… nada. There is not a black cloud in sight. I walk around with a goofy smile all day just so happy to be me and to live the life I do. I cannot say for sure which lifestyle/dietary change has brought this on, there have been many, but here are some of the recent changes I made:
- Paleo Foods – I have gone primal. I eat like a caveman… or uh, a cavewoman rather. No grains, no beans/legumes, no added sugar, and almost no dairy either. I do allow some dairy like my Passion Fruit Chobani, Jeni’s Ice Cream, and shredded Parmesan. All foods (with a few exceptions) are as high quality (organic/grass fed/local/pastured) as I can get my hands on. I went from a high carb, low fat, low to moderate protein diet to a high fat, moderate to high protein, low carb diet. I have more energy than my kids!
- I am eating lots more coconut oil and coconut products. Just today I got a delivery of Coconut Cream Concentrate to make some grain free brownies this weekend. Booyah!
- Eating more naturally sweetened dark chocolate.
- I am supplementing. This is pretty new really since the only kind of supplementing I did before was greens powder in my smoothies. I am taking Vitamin D and making it a mission to eat more eggs from pastured, local chickens. When the local organic delivery service we were using closed we were left without good eggs so I stopped eating them. Recently we found a place really close to our home that sells pastured eggs though. Woot! I am also taking fermented cod liver oil, spirulina, and bile acids (because I have no gall bladder).
- Cooking pretty much exclusively with cast iron now.
- I stopped doing so much running. I started reading in many paleo books about how too much exercise is actually bad for us and goes against what our genes have evolved to do. Now I swim six leisurely miles a week, weight lift for 30 minutes 2 times a week, and do one 1-mile run a week at a fast pace.
- I run my two air purifiers/ionizers most of the day. Oh how I love them!
- More time for me and for couple activities is now mandatory. Tonight is date night for instance and I think I am as excited as I would have been at 16! I am even “dating” the exact same guy as luck would have it.
- I am meditating and doing some light yoga/stretching.
- I am getting organized in my home life and business and that is helping me with mental clutter. I am using Jennifer Berry’s Organize Now books and following the guidelines from one of my all time fave books called Make This Your Lucky Day.
- I am cleaning and redecorating with Feng Shui principles in mind and taking an online Mind, Body, Home Challenge with Tisha Morris of Feng Shui Your Life.
I think that pretty much sums up what has changed lately. I totally plan to keep doing more of the same! Okay… on to some links:
Lori at Groovy Green Living talks about the Susan G. Komen, Planned Parenthood thing. I love her take on it.
Stephanie at Good Girl Gone Green shows us 12 uses for An Old Shirt.
This article from Cheeseslave reviews a book that claims wearing a bra increases your risk for breast cancer. Very interesting!
Green rock star Beth from My Plastic Free Life has a book coming soon and you can preorder now. The book is Plastic-Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too. I am very excited to read it!
The Green Moms Carnival for January (which I was remiss in joining) is all about making resolutions to fight climate change. Awesome reading.
And lastly check out my Pinterest page. If any readers here are on Pinterest let’s meet up there okay?
Have a wonderful and joyful weekend everyone!
Wow, Tiffany! You are just ROCKIN’ your life – what an inspiration! I am working on making changes – baby steps. But even the baby steps feel good. Just can’t wait till I’ve stocked up a lot of baby steps! ;)
And I absolutely love the image! As soon as I saw it on G+, it drew me in….
Enjoying your writing, please drop over to my blog http://ecoblogicalmommy.blogspot.com/
SO inspirational! I have made small changes here and there and am sleeping better, I think due to eating better. I haven’t done nearly the amount of work to change as you have, but I know I need to move toward this!
What a motivating article. Every little step helps. One of my goals this year is to kick the sugar habit, but after you mentioning and visiting the Jeni’s ice cream site, it may be tough. http://mommysorganics.com
What a motivating article. Every little step helps. One of my goals this year is to kick the sugar habit, but after you mentioning and visiting the Jeni’s ice cream site, it may be tough. http://mommysorganics.com
Thanks so much for the mention Tiffany! Hope the date night was fun. Hard to believe you’ve been together since 16! That’s incredible.
I stumbled across your blog probably at least a year ago and it is the only one I regularly come back to. We seem to go through the same thought patterns at similar times. My family went vegan for a few years, but I can tell my body doesn’t function well on all the carbs and I really feel the need for more protein. When the Primal idea started popping up I was very resistant because it seemed too similar to Atkins to me and that is just nuts! After I read your thoughts on it I have been doing A LOT of research and think it has much more merit than I first thought. I studied evolutionary biology in college and have a degree in cell and molecular biology and the science is certainly sound. I suppose the last test would be implementing the ideas. That is what I am working on. I just ordered Primal Blueprint and can’t wait for it to get here. I think you are great! Love the blog:) You are someone that I could definitely be buds with, but alas, we are separated by several states. Keep up the awesome blog!
What a sweetie you are! Good luck on your journey too. Stay in touch and let me know how it goes.