...... eating right and feeling better.....

....... since I started eating a better, fresher, healthier diet after finishing the cleanse.  I am now 1 week into taking the Barly Plus.  I have gradually brought myself up to 1 tablespoon per day and taking two fiber gel caps in the evening.  My skin is smooth and well hydrated ... surprising for January.  The skin is the largest organ and probably one of the best indicators visually as to what is going on from the inside.

This morning I took a PH reading.  In one week, I have managed to go from 6.0 to 6.5.  I am on my way to reaching my goal of 7.0 and then trying to maintain that goal for life.  Its all about balance.  My choice to go with Barley Plus has a lot to do with my initial purchase of Greens + from a local healthcare store and the Visalus I got involved with the year before.  Both of these products contain mostly soy and soy is one of those ingredients I have been continuously warned by my Oncologist and physicians to not use.  Primarily because most soy is genetically modified.  The back of the Greens + label specifically indicated that those with chronic illness including cancer should not use their product. Soy lecithin to be more specific.  It is found in numerous products as an emulsifier and 90% of this product is a manufacturing by-product which is separated from the soybean processing using chemicals .  http://preventdisease.com/news/09/073009_soy_lecithin.shtml 

So, why would I purchase a product that uses Lecithin as their number one ingredient when it is so abundant in so many of our processed foods?  Good question......

I think what amazes me so much is how ignorant I am when it comes to our food, where it comes from and why there do not seem to be stricter laws.  This week, I decided to take a few vegetables from my fridge and cupboards to see what would happen after watching a grade 2 student on YouTube show the lack of progress of sprouting Yams her family purchased at the local grocery store.  Well I was completely blown away when she mentioned a chemical called Bud Nip that the potatoes are doused in to prevent the growth of potato eyes in order to extend shelf life.  Apparently it causes tumours in mice... I think most of our packaged food would fall in to that category but our fresh produce????  Really?  So I took a few potatoes from each package and lo and behold.... nothing happened.  I cut the potatoes open and left them on the counter and they didn't even change colour???!!!!!!  After being left out beside a window for days, they did not even green up.  So what was I eating?  Dead potatoes... nothing there to even sustain its own life, let alone mine.  Max had picked up another bag of potatos at the local grocer and this one showed much promise when we saw a bunch of eyes staring back at us.  One of the potatos even had green marks on it!!!!  Before I eat one more potato, I will be making sure it can grow and feed its next generation.  

It didn't stop there.  I took a bunch of green pepper seeds from a pepper and germinated 3 out of the 300 in the glass.  Those took about 2 weeks to finally germinate.  They have since been repotted.  The onion had already begun to sprout in the cupboard - actually excited about this and I popped its bottom in water.  Within 24 hours, we had root buds.... so I put a little bit of barley greens into the water to see how our onion would fare.  So far so good, the sprouts are a brilliant green and the roots are growing nicely.  So I thought perhaps I could re-awaken the potatoe and promptly gave it a little taste of Barley in its water..... might be too late for the potato grown a few hours drive from here.  I now have 4 cloves of garlic growing in another pot after its roots sprouted quickly - that was an organic one my brother picked up for us in the Niagara region before Christmas.

All in all, it has been an eye opening experience for all of us at home and really makes us question what more we actually don't know??  Our choice to go hunting for Organic became a very simple one and one in which all consumers should choose.... we are the ones demanding perfect fruit and inexpensive food sources.  What we really should want are foods we feel would benefit our children and ourselves. Just like the lifeless potatoes sitting on the window sill collecting dust.... what can we expect our bodies to produce with something that can't survive given all the requirements to thrive?   Within 1 week of my drive to really educate myself and to feed my body to help it to help itself.... has had a huge impact on my own family.  My daughter loves the apple chips and is eating fresh fruit every day a few times a day.  We had an organic yummy chicken and I made soup with it for our meal the next day.  No additives, no preserves.... just good home cooking.  Tonight, the counter is hosting the yogurt machine we pulled out of storage.  I am getting back to my roots.  If it was one thing that I was taught - respect good food, keep it simple and enjoy what you are eating.  I have lost 10 pounds, gave away my sugary treats from Christmas and have more energy than I have had in a really long time.  Now... I need to start doing an exercise program.... preferably yoga.

My heart and thoughts go out to my friend Melina.... who is in hospital after two surgeries to keep her lungs clear.  I am praying and ask that you all help to send her energy she really needs right now. xoxo

Have your own experiments in your kitchens and get your children inspired to want a better future knowing you love them enough to make a difference by teaching them.  My cancer journey has taught me many things and continues to challenge me to live a better life and create that for my children. 

Check out the pics of our experiment.... more pics will be posted on their progress....  The first pic has the garlic in the top pot and green peppers in the two lower ones.  The middle pic is the onion, and two inert potatoes... the third pic is of the garlic on day 2 before planting.