I claimed my The Bull Runner 2016 Welcome Kit today! Very excited! The t-shirt is smaller than the size I ordered, but it's comfy. Good thing the gal at the desk insisted I try it and compare it to my original order :)
Sunday, September 13, 2015
Claimed my race welcome kit!
I claimed my The Bull Runner 2016 Welcome Kit today! Very excited! The t-shirt is smaller than the size I ordered, but it's comfy. Good thing the gal at the desk insisted I try it and compare it to my original order :)
Friday, August 28, 2015
Picker Upper - updated!
Running has its many perks. You get to witness so much around you. Everyday things that you take for granted, you have more time to observe as you catch your breath and wonder when your next water break is.
One fine morning, I noticed a familiar sight in my route: an eldery, Caucasian male, in his gray US Department of Homeland Security shirt stopping to pick up other people’s trash and disposing of them in the trash bin. I’ve been seeing this for several days now. He does that on his regular walking route, which is along my run route. I’m pretty sure he is as exasperated as others who see that the trash is just inches away from the bin. But unlike my usually self-righteous heart, which rants about it or sometimes even has the audacity to call the litterers on it, he just takes it upon himself set things right. No fanfare, no confrontations. Just humility.
I discussed this over an extra rice lunch with my ultramarathoner cousin Pavel (who offered to run with me as I train for my first 42k - thank you!) after my first 10+k run in UP (such beautiful running weather in the mornings! I shall return!)
For a nation obsessed with basketball, you’d think we as a people would like to “shoot” our garbage in its proper place. But this is so not the case. Why do Pinoys litter anyway in the country when they habitually keep their own bodies (twice a day showers!) and homes/cars clean? (I say they litter in the country because they don't do it when they're outside of it)
We've come to the following hypotheses:
1). Pinoys do it because they assume someone would clean up after them (like in the movie theaters when the credits start rolling and the uniformed dudes start picking up popcorn and paper cups)
2). This is learned behavior since you were a child when your yaya would clean up after you (as opposed to living abroad where something stays where it is unless you dispose of it)
3). There are no consequences for littering (unless you live in Davao or Palawan). When one goes to the US, or any other foreign country, one doesn't want to run the risk of being deported or at the very least, ostracized, so s/he follows all the rules and tries to fit in as much as possible. (This is also probably the reason why Pinoy parents stop teaching their kids Tagalog or their other Filipino languages, but I digress)
3). There are no consequences for littering (unless you live in Davao or Palawan). When one goes to the US, or any other foreign country, one doesn't want to run the risk of being deported or at the very least, ostracized, so s/he follows all the rules and tries to fit in as much as possible. (This is also probably the reason why Pinoy parents stop teaching their kids Tagalog or their other Filipino languages, but I digress)
What are yours? I'm curious to know.
It’s a little out of my comfort zone but I think I’ll thank Mr. DHS the next time I see him, not just for picking up the trash, but for being a breath of fresh air and a picker upper of other people's days!
Update: 1/5/2017: I got to talk to him! I thanked him for how he's made an impact on me! But he's also challenged me to pass it on. How should I? Answer the survey here!
Update: 1/5/2017: I got to talk to him! I thanked him for how he's made an impact on me! But he's also challenged me to pass it on. How should I? Answer the survey here!
How about you? What have you seen that blessed you in some way? Do you let those concerned know that they blessed you? Or how do you change your behavior as a result?
Running update:
161 days to go till my 42k! Woohoo!
Thank You God for helping me choose carefully what to eat, to sleep enough, and to exercise without injury! Most of all I thank You for surrounding me with friends who are encouragers! Thank You also for this ultra yummy watermelon, which I had when I got home :)
(One watermelon, placed in the lowest setting of your blender, poured into mason jars)
(One watermelon, placed in the lowest setting of your blender, poured into mason jars)
Friday, August 14, 2015
5 years high raw!!! (Celebrations part 2: Signing up for a marathon!)
I love August! It has always been a time of new beginnings for me: new schoolyears, a new job in the US, and five years ago, a new lifestyle of healing through raw vegan food!
For part two of celebrating my fifth anniversary of healthy living, I signed up for The Bull Runner Dream Marathon, my first 42k! I'm super excited to run this marathon! Friends have volunteered to run with me on my practice runs. Even a cousin who runs ultramarathons (he's done the Bataan Death March ultramarathon) wants to help out! So exciting! I gave them my schedule for increasing my distance training so they could choose which distances to run with me :) A friend, Mich who has encouraged me to sign up for my first 42k recommended that I read running books and I found one plan that I like which suits me as a novice marathoner. Also raw vegan runner Tim Van Orden replied to one of my FB messages! So stoked! But I hope I do even better in the race that does matter!
2 Timothy 4:7
Thank you God for the gift of raw vegan food, healing, and the love of friends and family
Thank you God for the gift of raw vegan food, healing, and the love of friends and family
Thursday, August 6, 2015
5 years high raw!!! (Celebrations part 1)
I have been delivering food to a friend in Makati since June 2015. She has had enough of poor health and is wanting to incorporate healthier food into her diet.
These are different from the mono meals which I eat most of the time, but they closely resemble foods a normal person would eat except that some allergens are taken out and the food is uncooked, and are a great introduction to eating healthy, so that the gourmet taste is still there and they are not at all boring. Because they are gourmet raw, they tend to be higher in fat due to the seeds and nuts. I soak them in order to remove the enzyme inhibitors in the seeds/nuts and to make the nutrients more bioavailable. These resemble the foods I started eating five years ago, which jumpstarted my path to healing. They are raw, but prepared classically. All these provide the dishes a rich taste that people look for in regular food, but because of all the plants, feel lighter, even though the volume is bigger.
Here are sample menus I have planned for her:
1: Banana green smoothie
Zucchini pasta and live marinara
Live lemon bars
2: Pineapple malunggay green smoothie
Spicy hand rolls and mango chutney
Jicama rice
I am excited that she is taking an active role in her health and I am praying for breakthroughs for her! :)
These are different from the mono meals which I eat most of the time, but they closely resemble foods a normal person would eat except that some allergens are taken out and the food is uncooked, and are a great introduction to eating healthy, so that the gourmet taste is still there and they are not at all boring. Because they are gourmet raw, they tend to be higher in fat due to the seeds and nuts. I soak them in order to remove the enzyme inhibitors in the seeds/nuts and to make the nutrients more bioavailable. These resemble the foods I started eating five years ago, which jumpstarted my path to healing. They are raw, but prepared classically. All these provide the dishes a rich taste that people look for in regular food, but because of all the plants, feel lighter, even though the volume is bigger.
Here are sample menus I have planned for her:
1: Banana green smoothie
Zucchini pasta and live marinara
Live lemon bars
2: Pineapple malunggay green smoothie
Spicy hand rolls and mango chutney
Jicama rice
I am excited that she is taking an active role in her health and I am praying for breakthroughs for her! :)
Psalm 34:8
Wednesday, April 1, 2015
Thursday, January 15, 2015
Faith and Food
Throw back Thursday! Faith and Food was a project Tasha worked on and invited me to participate in last year. I just want to disclose that around the time of the interview, I wasn't a hundred percent vegan, and like I mentioned a few posts back, the insomnia came back in 2014 when I wasn't following a hundred percent 80/10/10 and raw, and I bought a new smart phone. I started craving stuff that I hadn't eaten in a long time, for some reason. I told Tasha this and she said it was ok.
Update: I've been sleeping really well since I started keeping my smart phone out of the bed room as well as when I started running to prepare for my first 42 k :) :) :) I miss this dress. And I still hate listening to my own recorded voice.
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Healing from Anemia!
In early 2013, I was feeling like I needed to change something in my diet.
I had enjoyed the awesome health benefits eating raw the past three years provided, but I was also wondering why some health concerns were not improving. I was hoping that 2 years into raw food, I would see changes, but my health just seemed to plateau.
I then started reading a book called 80/10/10 by Naturopathic Doctor Doug Graham. The principles intrigued me; the book proposed a better way to go about the raw vegan diet, this time cutting out the oil and upping the carb intake by way of fruit.
Lo and behold, by the time I went through my general checkup in 2013, my red blood cell count had gone up and my anemia had healed! This had never, ever happened before, even when I was a little kid and drank all sorts of drugs called names like Hemoglobin, etc. I also had a meat-eater friend tell me she briefly thought about doing what I was doing if only to get healthy skin like mine at the time (don't judge me now, I'm not completely one hundred percent 80/10/10 anymore and I have been getting insomnia because of some poor health choices).
So there you go. It was such a wonderful surprise! I never, ever thought my anemia would heal! For the first time in my life, I could potentially donate blood!
What an amazing blessing!
I had enjoyed the awesome health benefits eating raw the past three years provided, but I was also wondering why some health concerns were not improving. I was hoping that 2 years into raw food, I would see changes, but my health just seemed to plateau.
I then started reading a book called 80/10/10 by Naturopathic Doctor Doug Graham. The principles intrigued me; the book proposed a better way to go about the raw vegan diet, this time cutting out the oil and upping the carb intake by way of fruit.
 |
| Starting 80/10/10. I went to this party carrying about 6 bottles worth of two pineapples blended with spinach. |
Lo and behold, by the time I went through my general checkup in 2013, my red blood cell count had gone up and my anemia had healed! This had never, ever happened before, even when I was a little kid and drank all sorts of drugs called names like Hemoglobin, etc. I also had a meat-eater friend tell me she briefly thought about doing what I was doing if only to get healthy skin like mine at the time (don't judge me now, I'm not completely one hundred percent 80/10/10 anymore and I have been getting insomnia because of some poor health choices).
So there you go. It was such a wonderful surprise! I never, ever thought my anemia would heal! For the first time in my life, I could potentially donate blood!
What an amazing blessing!
 |
| Anemia-free in 2013! TGBTG! |
 |
| My weekly stash the second week of 80/10/10 in 2013. Lots and lots of melons, bananas, mangoes, pineapples, and 2 guyabanos. Not organic though. Postscript written in 2017: I no longer am on 80/10/10, as I am adding lots of coconut, and other nuts and seeds, as well as probiotics, enzymes and green juice which aren't really part of the 80/10/10 protoco. 80/10/10 is awesome for detox and healing, but I was not able to sustain it due to cravings. |
Thursday, January 1, 2015
Things to celebrate from the past two years :)
I never got to blog about last year's highlights! Someone complained that I haven't been updating the blog as much lately. Sorry!
Better late than never, though! Briefly, here are some of those highlights:
2013 was an amazing year where I got more into 80/10/10.
Better late than never, though! Briefly, here are some of those highlights:
2013 was an amazing year where I got more into 80/10/10.
I ran my first 5k!
I won a game in my first badminton tournament and improved my standing from the previous year's. (I didn't win the championship but I was super psyched to have started this late and gotten ahead)
I was pronounced anemia-free!
I went on a road trip in the US with no trips to the hospital :)
I went to a beach wedding allergy-free!
I made dishes for family members without feeling sorry for myself I couldn't eat them. (Yay for taste testers on standby!)
I committed to eating healthy one day at a time.
I stepped in as moderator for an 80/10/10 author while she worked on her book.
In 2014, I was less strict about 80/10/10. I allowed myself some more fat than was recommended and even non-80/10/10 food. I felt like I was missing some kind of source for minerals, so I told my accountability partners that I was going to not be so strict about 80/10/10.
I actually felt less than optimal, even experiencing bouts of insomnia. So I am wondering if maybe I ought to go back on 80/10/10 a little more strictly. We shall see.
One exciting thing from 2014 was climbing Mt. Pulag with friends :) That was an amazing time!
January 5-10, 2014 will be a week of prayer and juice fasting. Aside from my church's suggested prayer points, I will also be praying for personal guidance on tweaking my health regimen, as well as a new health-related business sideline that I am very excited about!
Here's to many breakthroughs and growing more intimate with Him! Here's to being filled to overflow!
PS My mom was hospitalized in 2014 and could not chew her own food for a while. We prayed about considering a food tube for her, eventually deciding on letting her get it, and so far it is helping. Part of what her nurses place in the tube are fruit- and vegetable-based raw smoothies, and many have told us that she looks healthier, and even her doctors are pleased with her improvement. Praise God! :)
I owe God Almighty my health and all these things that I celebrate!
I stepped in as moderator for an 80/10/10 author while she worked on her book.
In 2014, I was less strict about 80/10/10. I allowed myself some more fat than was recommended and even non-80/10/10 food. I felt like I was missing some kind of source for minerals, so I told my accountability partners that I was going to not be so strict about 80/10/10.
I actually felt less than optimal, even experiencing bouts of insomnia. So I am wondering if maybe I ought to go back on 80/10/10 a little more strictly. We shall see.
One exciting thing from 2014 was climbing Mt. Pulag with friends :) That was an amazing time!
January 5-10, 2014 will be a week of prayer and juice fasting. Aside from my church's suggested prayer points, I will also be praying for personal guidance on tweaking my health regimen, as well as a new health-related business sideline that I am very excited about!
Here's to many breakthroughs and growing more intimate with Him! Here's to being filled to overflow!
PS My mom was hospitalized in 2014 and could not chew her own food for a while. We prayed about considering a food tube for her, eventually deciding on letting her get it, and so far it is helping. Part of what her nurses place in the tube are fruit- and vegetable-based raw smoothies, and many have told us that she looks healthier, and even her doctors are pleased with her improvement. Praise God! :)
I owe God Almighty my health and all these things that I celebrate!
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