What wants to live forever?

I want to feel this good

I've had my health and wellbeing in my crosshairs recently (its probably because I haven't had a job and had too much time on my hands). I've realised that I talk a lot about keeping healthy so I can live a long and fruitful life, but there hasn't been a lot of action done in the past.

But if I don't focus on it daily, I'll just keep doing the same unhealthy habits over and over again.

Tonight I attended a talk by Dr Michael Elstein at my local chiropractor's. He's a wholistic medical practitioner who doesn't talk a whole lot of mumbo-jumbo, but uses scientific facts about the human body and its fascinating way that it works to grow and heal itself. I particularly took notice of why we need to sleep when it gets dark and wake when the sun gets up (she says typing this at 11pm - again).

On an aside, he also talked about a prediction by Ray Kurzweil that we would all be living forever by the year 2045 or to quote Wikipedia:

He believes that with radical life extension will come radical life enhancement. He is confident that within 10 years we will have the option to spend some of our time in 3D virtual environments that appear just as real as real reality, but these will not yet be made possible via direct interaction with our nervous system. He believes that 20 to 25 years from now, we will have millions of blood-cell sized devices, known as nanobots, inside our bodies fighting against diseases, improving our memory, and cognitive abilities. Kurzweil believes that a machine will pass the Turing test by 2029, and that around 2045, "the pace of change will be so astonishingly quick that we won't be able to keep up, unless we enhance our own intelligence by merging with the intelligent machines we are creating".

Which means we will live on in our iPhones. Crikey, I better get my software updated now.

However, Dr Elstein made a lot of sense and as I couldn't take notes (I forgot my pen!), as soon as I got home, I ordered his e-book (only $5.99!), which will hopefully explain (at my pace) how I can get my system balanced through balancing my hormones.

I also attended a talk last week by Jean Kittson about her new book, You're Still Hot To Me: The Joys of Menopause. I'm not quite there yet (I only had two hot flushes a few months ago), but I thought I better get prepared.  She was surprisingly informative (I was expecting just a whole lot of laughs, not facts!) and highlighted the fact that there is next to no scientific research into menopause. This is pathetic.  I'm sure if men suffered from it (and I don't mean suffer the effects from their partners' menopause), it would be thoroughly investigated and treated.

I took the first step to cleaning up my system last week by buying a NutriBullet (well, I had requested it for Mothers' Day but ordered it by phone the next day). And I've been juicing everything in sight since, not just for me but for my family as well.  I don't always tell them that I might have put kale or spinach or celery in their juice, but they've been drinking it down anyway!  And my banana and mango smoothie is soooooo goooood!

Its only been four days where I've been having a vegetable/fruit juice in the morning and a banana/mango/yoghurt smoothie in the afternoon, so I'll let you know how I'm feeling after a couple of weeks.

In the meantime, I'll be ramping up my 'getting-off-my-arse' exercise regime (I actually ran a whole kilometre at the end of my bay walk on Sunday!). That's after I get a job. Oh, and after my weekend at the Broadbeach Blues Festival with the girls (well, a girl's got to enjoy herself!).  THEN I'll get healthy.

Who Wants to Live Forever?

*Joining Essentially Jess for IBOT*

The diet you have when you're not on a diet - The I Quit Sugar Program

This is not another one of those high fullitin', gung-ho, goal-orientated posts that outlines my fitness and weight loss plans.  But .... I DO need to lose some weight, I DO need to get healthier, stronger and fitter.  And yes, I DID join a health challenge at work.

We are in teams of four and we've paid our $10 entry fee. We've all weighed in and taken our waist measurements and each week they get checked again.  If we've gained weight we pay a $5 fee.  At the end of the challenge (I think it's about six weeks) we tally up and the winners that lost the most (in percentages I think), wins the kitty (that's the money raised, not a cat).  They can either use the winnings to spend on a big fat lunch or they can donate it to their favourite charity.

Mmmm, might leave that decision till the end of the challenge.

We might be really, really hungry by then.

My team is called the Celery Sticks. I did suggest a name that would give us motivation towards a reward at the end of the challenge, like Red Velvet Cupcakes, but after mentioning the name we all took a moment to think and all we could visualise were delicious cakes. Not so much a motivator as a temptation I think.

from here

My diet plan isn't so much a plan as a reduction in 'bad' foods and cutting out sugar.  I've been following the I Quit Sugar program developed by Sarah Wilson.  I started (the first time) about two months before Christmas and was surprised at how much weight I lost in the first three weeks just by cutting out sugar in my tea and replacing it with Natvia, not having any soft drinks (not that I drink that much, more a milkshake girl) and dropping my deadly cake habit (I'm a sucker for a cream bun).

Unfortunately Christmas got a hold of me and my almost non-existent willpower gave way to all the chocky gifts and rich foods.  Along with a Summer holiday up the coast and I abandoned the IQS program until I was back at work.  I gave myself the beginning of February to get back on it.  When I'm at work I'm much more disciplined to the point where I sometimes forget to have lunch and I have the opportunity to run up and down the stairs repeatedly.  Luckily I've found ways to eat as if I'm not on a diet, which I love.  I've discovered eating traditionally 'fat' foods aren't as bad as eating some processed foods that are full of sugar and preservatives.  In fact, as soon as I cut sugar out I went back on full cream milk and still lost weight!

I've been telling everybody at work about IQS and have even left a copy of Sarah's cookbook in kitchen.  If you'd like to check it out you can read all about it here:

Order here

*Disclosure:  As an affiliate of the I Quit Sugar Program, for every one of Sarah's ebooks somebody buys, I make a small commission.  And I assure you that I've only became an affiliate with this product because after trying Sarah's program I wanted to tell everyone about it.  I wouldn't ever flog a product I don't believe in as I'm really shite at lying.

**Joining up with With Some Grace's FYBF!