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Amazing Woman, Kathie! Slim, Healthy, Sexy!
I have a friend, Kathie, from England whom I met through her sister in Sarasota, FL. From time to time, Kathie crosses the “pond” for visits and over the years I have gotten to know her. What a truly remarkable woman she is.
First of all she is knock-out beautiful and now single after raising two children she has her own successful business that she built from hard work and perseverance. Plus, she has one of those outgoing personalities that has never met a stranger. Meaning, she has no problem starting conversations with people in the cafes and pubs in Sarasota. I too have no problem striking up a conversation with a stranger so we have that in common and I immediately liked Kathie.
But Kathie is a force to be reckoned with. She is a size 2 (yeah, that part is where we are vastly different) and an exercise enthusiast. She has a pretty heavy work load at her business in England and you would think she would take the opportunity to kick back when her feet hit Sarasota sand, but nooooo! She uses the warm weather as a good excuse to participate in keeping up her exercise routine; mainly biking. It is nothing for her to ride her bike from Palmer Ranch to Venice and back, and then try to talk someone into biking with her to the beach in the heat of the day. We (her sister and I) usually hide from her in fear she may try to talk us into a run across the Ringling Bridge.
One night we were having a few cocktails at Mattison’s on Main when she informed me that she was going to Cuba in October (2013) to participate in a 400 kilometers (250 miles) bike ride with a group called Action For Charity (AFC). I almost fell off my bar stool and spilled my Mudslide.
What is AFC? (from the website)
Action for Charity and Dream Challenges have raised millions for UK charities with exciting challenge events in the UK and around the world. With many years experience in organizing events for charities we guarantee a life-changing experience for everyone that takes part.
We have an amazing calendar of events lined up for 2014/15. Why not take on one of our hugely popular team challenge events such as Race the Sun Lake District or join the next amazing Women V Cancer challenge Cycle Africa. Alternatively join us for a once in a lifetime trek to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro or track the famous mountain gorillas of Uganda on our exciting Trek Uganda challenge. The first Women V Cancer Ride the Night challenge will also be taking place in 2014. This event is fully booked but registration for 2015 will be open in June 2014.
Join the Women V Cancer team for a stunning 400km cycle challenge across the Caribbean island of Cuba.
It will be a journey full of fun, friendship and incredible support as women of all ages and from all walks of life challenge themselves for an amazing cause. This fantastic challenge is a great opportunity to get fit, lose weight and have an experience of a life time all whilst raising significant funds to help in the fight against breast, ovarian and cervical cancers.
Funds raised by Women V Cancer will be divided equally between three important charities: Breast Cancer Care, Jo’s Cervical Cancer Trust and Ovarian Cancer Action and used to support their valuable work.
When I regained my composure, I asked Kathie where she came up with that crazy idea? Cuba in October…400km…yikes! She said she saw it in a fitness magazine.
Kathie said she was training for 18 months by biking whenever she could fit it in her busy schedule, about 50 miles per week, and also taking a lot of spinning classes. Her weekly schedule looks like this: get up and drink a protein shake for breakfast, walk to work along the seashore in southern England (sounds pretty), eat protein bars for lunch and snacks, and go directly to the gym after work. Rinse and repeat Monday thru Friday.
I got her to confess that she does slack off on the weekends with a little telly (TV) and chips (potato chips). Aha! She is not perfect!
Fast forward to when we meet again in Sarasota after the Cuba trip. She admitted that the adulating hills that they said on the AFC website was more like steep mountains and it was unbearably hot. The group of women (around 72), oldest 74 and youngest 24, stayed in remote motels along the way and got up at 6:00am every morning to ride for about 70 kilometers. There was a bus that traveled with them that you could ride in if you got tired, and she said a lot of women did when the heat got to be too much. But not Kathie even though she suffered with heat exhaustion and stomach upset; she pressed on. (The entire trip took 5 days.)
The upside was the amazing beauty of the landscape and seeing the small little towns along the way. And she was able to raise $3,000 for charity.The downside was the food was not that great and it was bloody hot!
Kathie said the camaraderie was great and there were many women who were in the ride had either cancer or was a cancer survivor who she rode side by side with. She mentioned one woman in particular that had picked up a rare parasite in the Falklands that was slowly destroying her internal organs and she rode everyday. Her name was Jill and she had already lost a lung and a kidney to the disease and unfortunately broke her wrist on the trip. Kathie says she got her inspiration to push on from women like Jill.
So, what is Kathie’s next trip? Vietnam to Cambodia possibly, Nov. 2015. If anybody wants to go, check out this link. http://www.actionforcharity.co.uk/
Do You Have a Healthy Alkaline Body?
Healthy blood has a pH level of 7.35 I’m sure you have heard there is a difference between an alkaline body and an acidic body? The theory is that an acidic body’s support inflammation and even cancer, while a alkaline body is a healthy body that fends of disease. Most people are clueless about the impact of food on our body’s pH level. The foods that we eat can have an acidic or alkalizing effect on our body’s pH level. So, how do you find out if you are supporting an alkaline (good) or an acidic body (bad).
One way is with PH strips that you can easily find at your local pharmacy, The human body should have a neutral pH level of about 7.0, but most people have low, or acidic, pH levels. This condition is referred to as acidosis, and it is damaging to your cells and a serious health risk in the long run. PH Test Strips enable you to quickly and easily test your pH levels using your saliva or urine. This critical health information will enable you to adjust your diet and use specific supplements to boost your pH levels to a healthy range.
Usage Instructions for pH Test Strips
For External Use Only To test saliva: Wait 2 hours after eating. Spit into a spoon. Dip the strip. Read in 15 seconds. Results: Use the color chart to determine pH level. An optimal reading is 7.0 to 7.5. This indicates a slightly alkaline body which is normal. To test urine: Do not test with the first urine of the day. Briefly place the strip into paper cup with your urine sample for 30 to 45 seconds. Shake excess fluid. Read in 15 seconds. Results: Use color chart for to determine pH level. A reading of 7.4 is normal. A reading of 6.5 acidic. Note: Urine is slightly more acidic than saliva; a normal reading is 6.5 to 7.4.
Step 1 – Buy pH Test Strips
Buy pH Test Strips. You can buy them at the health store or pharmacy or order them here CLICK
Step 2- Test your urine. You need to pee on the pH test strip. The color will change.
Compare this color with the color of the pH on the test strip box. Read the PH number.
Step 3 – Write Down the pH number.
Write down the pH number, the date and time. (you’re going to want the average for the week)
Step 5 – Daily pH Testing
You may note that every time you go the bathroom the pH number is different. When you’re healthy the number will always be around 7.3 or even up to 8 just after eating. The first urine of the day is usually the lowest.
Step 6 – How Healthy are You?
If the pH of your urine is mostly around 7.3 you’re fine. If the pH of your urine is lower, especially if it’s below 6.5 this means you don’t have sufficient alkaline reserves to buffer acids. You are short in minerals such as sodium, potassium, magnesium and calcium.
Step 7 – Get Healthy – Get Alkaline!
Add alkaline foods into your diet and eat less acid food. Eat more raw green leafy vegetables and less food high in animal protein, sugar and grains.
Eat more avocados, vegetable soup, fresh almond milk, young coconut water, wheat grass, green powder, green vegetable juices, smoothies, seaweed and super foods. Here you can view a full list of alkaline foods . Keep testing a few times a day until you always test alkaline. It’s the best motivation for eating raw food! The pH of your blood is tightly regulated by a complex system of buffers that are continuously at work to maintain a range of 7.35 to 7.45, which is slightly more alkaline than pure water. If the pH of your blood falls below 7.35, the result is a condition called acidosis, a state that leads to central nervous system depression. Severe acidosis – where blood pH falls below 7.00 – can lead to a coma and even death. (Complete list of alkaline foods here alkalifoodlist ) If the pH of your blood rises above 7.45, the result is alkalosis. Severe alkalosis can also lead to death, but through a different mechanism; alkalosis causes all of the nerves in your body to become hypersensitive and over-excitable, often resulting in muscle spasms, nervousness, and convulsions; it’s usually the convulsions that cause death in severe cases. When you ingest foods and liquids, the end products of digestion and assimilation of nutrients often results in an acid or alkaline-forming effect – the end products are sometimes called acid ash or alkaline ash. There are two main forces at work on a daily basis that can disrupt the pH of your body fluids – these forces are the acid or alkaline-forming effects of foods and liquids that you ingest, and the acids that you generate through regular metabolic activities. Fortunately, your body has three major mechanisms at work at all times to prevent these forces from shifting the pH of your blood outside of the 7.35 to 7.45 range. You can imagine these 3 major mechanisms as buffering systems to keep your pH in balance. When people encourage you to “alkalize your blood,” most of them mean that you should eat plenty of foods that have an alkaline-forming effect on your system. The reason for making this suggestion is that the vast majority of highly processed foods – like white flour products and white sugar – have an acid-forming effect on your system, and if you spend years eating a poor diet that is mainly acid-forming, you will overwork some of the buffering systems mentioned above to a point where you could create undesirable changes in your health. For example, your phosphate buffer system uses different phosphate ions in your body to neutralize strong acids and bases. About 85% of the phosphate ions that are used in your phosphate buffer system comes from calcium phosphate salts, which are structural components of your bones and teeth. If your body fluids are regularly exposed to large quantities of acid-forming foods and liquids, your body will draw upon its calcium phosphate reserves to supply your phosphate buffer system to neutralize the acid-forming effects of your diet. Over time, this may lead to structural weakness in your bones and teeth. Have you heard of osteoporosis? Drawing on your calcium phosphate reserves at a high rate can also increase the amount of calcium that is eliminated via your genito-urinary system, which is why a predominantly acid-forming diet can increase your risk of developing calcium-rich kidney stones. This is just one example of how your buffering systems can be overtaxed to a point where you experience negative health consequences. Since your buffering systems have to work all the time anyway to neutralize the acids that are formed from everyday metabolic activities, it’s in your best interest to follow a diet that doesn’t create unnecessary work for your buffering systems. That is why it is extremely important to maintain the acid alkaline balance of your body in order to stay healthy and keep yourself free of diseases and illnesses. The easiest way to keep your body in a healthy, alkaline state is to eat raw foods and juicing is the easiest way to do that. Think raw and green. By the way, I just went to the doctor’s yesterday and my blood pressure was 110/70! (I take no blood pressure pills) I give credit to juicing. Here are some great ways to juice:
Juicing For Weight Loss
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The End of The 30 Day Juice Challenge
I have completed the 30 Day Juice Challenge and wanted to give you my personal review.
It wasn’t hard and became routine so I give it a 10 on the easy scale. Let me add that I work from home so it is easy for me to prep and prepare juicing at my leisure. It would be much harder for a person who has a 9-5 job to prepare for juicing.
As far as taste, it is something you will get used to. It only took me a couple of times to look forward to the juice. I also flavored it up with apples and ginger. After that even kale is pretty yummy. Who would of thought?
I didn’t find the cost prohibitive. I buy lots of produce every week anyway so this wasn’t a new area for me. Previously to my juicing challenge I tried to get as much organic as possible so I was already on the right track.
My disappointment was with the weight loss which was only a couple of pounds even though I was using once a day juicing as a meal replacement and gave up sugar and gluten. I did lose a few pounds but not the 20 I was hoping for. (sigh)
I felt fine but never got the “I feel like I have the energy of a 20 year-old.” Nope! It didn’t happen. I would say my energy level only increase a tiny bit. That for me was my biggest disappointment.
The best benefit was my skin became flawless and glowed, so I at least looked better. I no longer craved sugar or processed carbs. My taste buds now desired a higher grade of eating.
So, what I learned:
I may have to juice 100% everyday to get the full benefits that Joe Cross brags about on Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead.
I am using the wrong juicer. I am using a cheap juice extractor and that doesn’t get the most juice out of the veggies and it heats the foods up destroying enzines and nutrients. See my post on Juicing vs. Blending.
Will I continue juicing? Yes, I will but not so dedicated. To complete my experiment, I am going to try juicing 100% for 7 days to see if I get WEIGHT LOSS and FANTASTIC ENERGY, but not right now. I need a break. I was doing Holy Juicing for Lent but I think I lost my followers who were doing it with me. Yes, it’s hard.
One thing I am sticking to is giving up white sugar and process foods. Yuck. And breads with
gluten. Bread just doesn’t agree with me anymore. Of course they are now putting all kinds of disgusting and dangerous chemicals in bread. All to keep it on the shelf longer and to make more money. No problem, there are tons of breads in the freezer section at the store that are gluten free and I have a great recipe for almond bread.
There you go. My review of the 30 Day Juicing Challenge.