(Source: surf-body-soul, via youthofathousandsummers)
Since 2009, I have juggled many steadfast beliefs as to what will save me. Running will save me. Food will save me. The outdoors will save me. Chia seeds will save me. Yoga will save me. It took me…
I don’t mean to keep plugging my other blog, but you guys, this article I just wrote is fucking brilliant and so raw and honest… I just can’t even. I keep re-reading it because it just so hits home for me, my heart melts every time I finish reading it.
I wonder if there really is anybody who relates to what I wrote about. Part of me thinks it is a natural product of what the new generation is expected to buy into. If organic raw foods, green smoothies, cleanse diets, and veganism are the new biggest diet trends among the young crowd these days, then what happens to the unsolved distorted body images, eating disorders, and general self-esteem problems prevalent in grade schools, middle schools, high schools, and colleges? If the next generation is expected to be a size 0, pressured to adopt vegan diets by the media, and expected to perform above par in P.E. class, then where the hell does that leave those who grow up with fragile self-images?
Maybe this is just an Orange County, CA thing. Maybe this was just a Wendy thing. I wrote about it regardless, because maybe, just maybe, it’s something that happens to lots of girls or guys all over the country, and nobody really knows how to talk about it yet.
http://wendybelsbowl.wordpress.com/2012/06/06/if-you-find-yourself-in-paris-eating-cashews-2/#comments
I thought about this post last night. This is still the most honest and important thing I have ever written. Check it out if you’ve never seen it!
The Natural Progression of a Health-Conscious Bartender
may or may not be a growing passion for juicing. I love that as I’m slowly beginning to understand what fresh veggie juices go well together, I can’t help but relate it to my understanding of how to create great cocktails. I will always be a firm believer that fresh squeezed limes and lemons with a dash of sweetness from agave nectar will always be better than any pre-made sweet and sour. Take this method to a grander scale, subtract the spirits, and you have juicing.
I’ll just say it now, though… the wheels in my mind are beginning to turn… which fresh veggie juice would go great with vodka? I can see how certain ones (beets come to mind) would be a fairly bad idea, but what about cucumber? Tomato?
As a girl who loves a big bad Bloody Mary, I can’t even imagine making one fresh, no cans or bottles involved at all. Juice the tomato, skip the hot sauce and go for fresh peppers, celery juice…
Eat, drink, be merry. Wash, rinse, repeat.
How to Stop Spending $4.75 on an Iced Almond Milk Latte:
Make it at home!
I don’t have an espresso machine, but I do have a french press. Lately, I’ve been determined to make my own iced latte and save my precious $4.75, which is what it costs me to enjoy one at a local organic non-Starbucks coffeehouse in Orange County.
To make espresso at home, you just need to keep in mind that the most significant difference between espresso and coffee is the caffeine content, so changing the coffee grinds to water ratio will allow you to create a latte, albeit the taste will obviously be different, if you’re a fancy shmancy coffee connoisseur. However, if you’re like me and you just want a tasty latte-like treat, read on!
I basically use the same amount of coffee grinds as I do when I make a regular old cup of coffee—two tablespoons— but I use way less boiled water. This makes a higher concentrated double shot of coffee, allowing me to add ice and cold almond milk, and there you go… iced almond milk latte. As usual, sweeten to your taste. I like to add cinnamon to the press before the coffee steeps.
Oat me, Oat my…
I eat more than just oatmeal, I swear…
I just clicked through my “recipes” page on here and realized it is extremely oatmeal heavy… haha I think it more has to do with the fact that I wake up super motivated to blog and be all food savvy on this blog in the morning, and then I have work and get all busy as the day goes on and woop, there you go, another morning comes and, hey!! More oatmeal!!
Consciously working on posting more of my food creations for this blog, as well as bulking up on thoughts and yums in general because who wants another serving of WendyBel’s Bowl?! Why, everybody, of course!
Pink oatmeal (raspberries, blueberries, blackberries with coconut flakes, pumpkin pie spices, almond butter, almond milk) topped with banana, cinnamon, and this amazing raw honey my boyfriend’s mother gave me for my birthday. Nothing like some good quality sweetness to start the day right!
It’s Monday. Let’s make this a wonderful week.
Run of the Mill ~ The “Inherent You”
A lot of this blog chronicles my dabbling in different ways of creating a healthy lifestyle. In other words, all the ways in which I try too hard. I hear it from all angles, at least once a week: “You’re too hard on yourself, Wendy.” Well, yeah, I am. Because I expect a lot. Because I want to be a good person, I want to feel good, i want to be beautiful and healthy and strong.
This got me thinking just now, what is inherently “me?” If I stop trying, if I’m having a hard week, if I lose the motivation to be so hard on myself all the time, what is left? What do I cling to? What is essentially Wendy?
Surprise, Surprise #1: I’m not a committed yogini, after all—I’m a runner. When the going gets tough, I run. When it comes down to it, yoga or running, I run. I absolutely love running, I do believe I was born to run, barefoot. My legs are long and strong, my stride is brilliant, and my breath is steady and calm, even when I’m wearing myself out. I love the heat and the energy, and the chance to wave to random strangers who are putting themselves through the same trail you are, just in the opposite direction.
#2: I eat pretty damn good every day. I used to think it was my fear of getting cancer that kept me in the organic produce aisle every week, but after finally releasing all that grief I held, here I am, still buying mostly organic fruits and veggies, and continually stocking my fridge with vegan feed. I indulge in eggs and fish with the ones I love. I won’t fight you if you put gouda, feta, or goat cheese on something I was hoping to eat.
#3: I am a gypsy. And I mean the modern and sexy kind, of course. I reach for my deck of tarot cards when life throws me a curveball that twists a knot in my throat. I use essential oils like tea tree, lavender, patchouli, bergamot, and clary sage in my baths and on my skin almost religiously these days. I mentally catalog the phases of the moon and wonder if it’s affecting my feelings at certain times. I read Rumi like it’s a road map. I give myself over to my empathic tendencies, and take epsom salt baths daily in hopes that it not only draws out the toxins, but any negative energy as well (with the help of Eucalyptus oil, of course.)
#4: I will forever be a kid, trapped in an aging person’s body. I will forever love playing tag, hide and seek, any form of board games, cards, coloring books, sticker collections, cartoons, Disney/Nickelodeon anything, dressing up, and wearing whatever the hell I want, all at the same time, regardless of if it really goes together. For me, this is healthy.
#5: I need to feel the energy of nature as often as possible. Resetting myself by visiting a forest of trails, or walking the beach, or feeling overtaken by a gust of wind. Camping in the wilderness.
#6: I cannot help engaging in nervous habits. Biting my nails, chewing the inside of my lip, kicking the air with my feet when I’m upset. Running as a way of escape.
#7: Music. I was reminded of this two days ago, on my Dad’s 60th birthday celebration. He tells stories of growing up only after recalling which of his favorite albums by his favorite band came out on the same year. The kind of music that gets your foot tapping, and then your whole leg, and soon enough, by golly, you gotta get up and dance… that’s the music that is ingrained in my soul to always love and appreciate.
#8: I’m an incredibly loyal individual. I cannot fight this one, especially with the people I love. I am painstakingly loyal, sometimes to my detriment. But I strongly believe that this quality that I cannot escape or abandon will always bring me home to where I am meant to be in the end.
Take a moment and wonder, what is innately you? Strip away the distractions like health kicks, or motivation of reaching a goal… in the heat of any regular old, run-of-the-mill moment, what is inherently you? What threads hold you together the tightest?
Our internal acid-alkaline balance is one of our primary health balances. If our bodies become too acidic, disease follows. If our bodies are alkaline, disease cannot take hold. We are not acidified just by food; stress, environmental toxins, medication, dehydration, and negative emotional states all have an acidic effect. Alkaline forming foods include greens, fruits, vegetables, herbs and sprouts.
(via elizabeth-antoinette)
