Home » Articles posted by Krysten (Page 18)

Author Archives: Krysten

Remember: She has a name. And 24 other things you can do…

Posted on by | Leave a comment

One link I forgot to post earlier was to the She Has a Name site. It is a simple portal to let you know what this little group of revolutionaries is all about… http://www.shehasaname.com/ 

You can go online to She Has a Name and buy a t-shirt that will no doubt spark a conversation when someone looks at you funny and asks “what does your shirt mean?” Then you can inform them of the fact that slavery is still very real and it still exists here in America and around the world. Who knows, you may do that one little thing and that may inspire them to do one little thing and before you know it, big things are happening to end human trafficking!! Isn’t that how all great things are done? One little baby-step at a time?

And while I’m at it here, I thought I’d post some other ways you can fight human trafficking. I started you off with one above…buy a t-shirt and start a conversation. Well, maybe that’s 2 things.

Anyway, the folks at Gracehaven have compiled 24 things you can do to fight human trafficking right now. Check out the list and if there’s not at least one thing on the list you can do….well….that won’t be the case so we don’t have to worry about that if.

One more thing…Doma will soon be offering it’s second Abolition U class, which was previously a 10 week evening class to learn everything you need to know to fight HT right now. This second version will be a condensed class, and it will consist of 2 Saturdays in October and a Sunday in November. I’m already on the list to sign up for the class (and sign-ups haven’t even started yet!) so if you’re interested in becoming an Abolitionist, keep this in mind and I’ll post more info as soon as I have it.  From information about previous Abolution U graduates, I’ve heard that during the class you participate in street outreach, raise awareness, visit The Freedom Center in Cincy, and  join with local abolitionist efforts who are rescuing and restoring survivors. Make plans to join with me and learn all you can!

Become an Abolitionist

Posted on by | 1 Comment
When I saw the trailer for the movie Taken with Liam Neeson, I have to admit, I was more interested in the bad-ass, action-packed individual justice that the main character was layin’ down on the creepy perpetrators than I was learning about the horrors of human trafficking. (I’ve self-diagnosed that I have some special gland that contains a big ol’ reserve of testosterone that immediately begins to secrete the very second I start picking out a movie to watch. Couldn’t care less about sappy romance on the big screen but give me some painful fight scenes and some stuff blowing up and I’m SO there. But I digress…) The point is, I wasn’t so much thinking about the story that the movie was really telling. A story of young people (in this case teenage girls and young women) being literally hunted, stalked, kidnapped, and drugged for the sole purpose of introducing them into the world of forced prostitution. For the sole purpose of someone else making money off of them because yet another someone else wanted to use them for their own sick purposes.
 
In the movie, these girls were basically drugged up to the point of barely knowing what was going on, then served up to eagerly awaiting men to do whatever their payment gave them access to do. In one scene, I recall a long line of men waiting to walk into a construction trailer. Once they paid and walked in, you could see that the trailer was sectioned off into what appeared to be about 4-foot wide areas, divided by makeshift curtains. Behind each curtain, these men went in to do the business they paid for with a woman or girl who had been drugged into a complete stupor. Dozens of these  “rooms” were in the construction trailer, each with a man taking what he paid for from a girl who was there against her will. I was sickened beyond belief at the thought that someone could even think up such a sick think to put into a screenplay, let alone thinking that this *might* actually ever really happen anywhere.
 
Little did I know…
 
The rest of that movie presented me with much more to ponder [big fat understatement]. Truthfully, I was severely disturbed by it. Afterward I could barely sleep. I hopped online and tried to read what I could about trafficking. The simple fact that there was so much to read turned my already queasy stomach. I learned that human trafficking is a lucrative business [big fat understatement] in many countries around the world, including the US. I learned that it was the second largest organized crime focus in the world, with only drug trafficking topping the charts in the world of all things terrible. I was overwhelmed by facts and figures with numbers too big for me to fathom. I closed my laptop thinking that, although it was a real problem, it was just too big for someone like me to actually do anything about. Besides, even if I could, where would I begin?
 
Enter Doma. The founder of Doma International, Julie Clark, came to our church a while back and gave a presentation as kind of an “HT 101.” There I learned that this whole human trafficking thing isn’t something that happens just in poor Asian countries or near the Mexican borders. She shared with us the unfortunately true story of a middle-class teenage girl from West Jefferson who thought she had found a boyfriend to party with. Instead, she found a young man who introduced her to large amounts of crack over a long weekend. He suggested that she come downtown to Columbus where they could get easier access to their drugs. As they hung out together, he freely gave her highly addictive amounts, and she assumed she just was having a great time with her new friends. After several days of this, he and his friends proceeded to ask her how she planned to pay for the drugs they had given her. She was confused, never understanding that she was supposed to pay them back for their “generosity.” When she told them she didn’t have any money to pay them back, they were quick to offer an alternative means of payment. Having run away from her home with a virtual stranger and now already addicted to the high that crack gave her, she submitted to the fact that she was trapped. The “friends” took her upstairs to a large selection of clothing, and proceeded to dress her up and teach her how to pay back her debt and earn her highs from now on…which, by the way, were now much smaller than the doses the man had freely given to her before she realized she was entrapped.
 
My head was spinning. That happened here? In MY beloved city, where I grew up? The answer was yes. And many other things, very similar to this, happen on a regular basis in this city and in similar cities all over the state and country. In fact, I learned that one of the worst cities for minors entering into the sex trafficking world is Toledo. Children are being stolen and drugged and forced into a life they never even knew existed, to spend the rest of their short years doing things they should never have even heard of….And this is all happening right here  in our own back yards. Every night. And it could be your child.
 
Unless…
 
Unless people stop putting their hands over their ears and changing the channel and drowning out the sound of the cries of these women and children. If we start educating ourselves, learning simple signs to watch out for, memorizing a phone number that any of us can call to report a possible trafficking victim, praying for these perpetrators to not be able to accomplish their sick purposes any longer….unless we start doing those things, it won’t get better. It will get worse. Unless we start pooling our time, talents, and resources to help these people…they won’t get help. Period. Unless we become new abolitionists for this new type of slavery, nothing will change, will it?
 
That’s what Sunday night was about. Sunday night, my husband and I attended Night of Hope, which was an event hosted at Veritas Church by a group pf people  who have launched a campaign called She Has a Name. The event was to create awareness of the problem of human trafficking both locally and abroad, and to highlight a few awesome organizations that are already fighting the fight against this modern-day slavery every day. Maybe you would be interested in finding out more about them and partnering with them in some way to help get women off the streets and back into a safe place where they can know their self-worth. Maybe you could become part of the fight to keep little children in their own warm, safe beds in their homes at night instead of being forced into a cold room with a dingy strange bed, with many men each night who are stranger still. 
 
Here is a list of the organizations present at the Night of Hope, a quick blurb about what their main focus is, and a way to contact them for more information. At the very least, please visit the web sites for each of these organizations to educate yourself. Know that human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery: people being bought, traded, and sold into situations where they become enslaved for the gain of others. And know that there has GOT to be a solution to this disgusting problem. And know that YOU can choose to be part of the solution.
  
  • Doma International  http://domaconnection.org/ Doma focuses on meeting needs of vulnerable women and children. Here in Columbus, they partner with an amazing program called CATCH Court, presided over by Franklin County Judge Paul Herbert, which provides an intensive recovery program for women convicted of prostitution (which many times is or began as human trafficking)
  • Gracehaven  http://www.gracehavenhouse​.org/ An organization that focuses on caring for minors who are involved in Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking. (That means here in the US, folks) They are building a home where young people can exit that life and begin a new one through rehabilitation and support.
  • As Our Own http://asourown.org/ In India, girls are particularly vulnerable to poverty and exploitation on a daily basis. This organization literally rescues young girls from brothels in India’s red light districts, and provides them with care until they are adults who can care for themselves. These girls are rescued from the most terrifying life imaginable, and placed into a family where they will be cared for — forever. Very unique situation and very inspiring.

if you’ve stuck with me this long, chances are you’ll check out some of these sites. And when you do, you’ll likely feel a break in your heart for these women and children. And you’ll likely want to do something about it. Thankfully, due to the hard work of these folks, you have plenty of places (even ones in addition to these!) to step into and help the least of these.

You can be an abolitionist. You can help end the newest form of sick slavery. You can make a difference in someone’s life. What if it was your child out there right now? What would you want others reading this to do to help?

Think of that. Then go do it.

Much love to you all…..

The King will reply, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” -Matthew 25:40

Ginger ABBC+O Juice

Posted on by | Leave a comment

This morning for breakfast we tried something different. Very different. I’m calling is Ginger ABBC+O Juice:

  • 1/2 red apple
  • 1 banana
  • 1 beet (i used 1/2 a can of beets since I didn’t have fresh)
  • 10 baby carrots
  • 1 orange
  • 1 handful of spinach
  • 1 big leaf of lacinato kale
  • 1 piece of ginger (about the size of 2 nickels stacked on top of each other

This recipe started off as something I found on reboot.com, but the taste was WAY too much for either of us, so we started throwing some extra things in to improve the taste. The result was a lovely little pink drink, but don’t let it fool you…this baby is stout! If you are not a fan of beets or ginger, this one is not for you! I am actually not a huge fan of either, although I can take them in small doses. I even used a much smaller piece of ginger than the original recipe called for because I knew neither of us liked it very much, but alas, we are both left with that gingery taste in our mouths this morning…kind of like after you eat a lot of Chinese food. Once we added the banana and orange, the flavor was still strong but bearable. If I were to repeat this recipe I would leave the ginger totally out and only add a very small amount at the end if I thought it needed it. Which I probably wouldn’t think. 🙂

No-Longer-My-Enemy Juice!

Posted on by | Leave a comment

Okay I will admit it. I HATE kale. It is my enemy! It is tough and bitter and quite frankly smells like farts to me. Yeah, farts! BUT I have been trying everything to figure out a way to sneak it into my life because every single thing I read shows that it is THE most nutrient-dense piece of vegetation on this planet! For example…..the ANDI food scoring method (the one you see in Whole Foods all the time) puts kale at the tippy-top of the list, with a perfect score of 1000 on their rating system (along with it’s evil cousin, collard greens! ewww!)

0209-andi-scores_vg.jpg

But even knowing this, usually I end up twisting my face up in disgust because the kale tastes so awful to me or is so tough that I get a sore jaw from chewing it. BUT…that was before the Vitamix came into my life. Now I can pop some kale right on into that magic machine, add some fruits, and voila! It’s like the grassy icky-ness is not even in there! However…I have to have a certain mix of just the right think to kill the kale taste, and this morning, I found it! Blend this awesomeness up in your Vitamix and be amazed:

  • Two leaves of lacinato kale (also called dinosaur kale)
  • one orange
  • one frozen banana
  • half of a green pear
  • ice & water

This green goodness was so yummy I didn’t even get a picture because I was drinking it so fast (oops, sorry!) So kale is no longer my enemy, now that I’ve found a way to conquer it in the Vitamix! [insert Dr. Evil laugh here] Hope you can enjoy it too!

Vegan Blueberry-Walnut Zucchini Bread

Posted on by | Leave a comment

One of my favorite things to make is zucchini bread. Not just because it is yummy, but because in the summer I have these green veggies popping up all over my back yard and I can’t use them up fast enough unless I bake with them! Another reason I love making it is because you can add whatever else you want to it and the bread will still turn out wonderfully. So a few years ago when I first starting baking, I found a recipe online for blueberry zucchini bread. Who doesn’t love blueberries!? (That would be communists and The Grinch–before his heart grew 3 sizes) Click here for the original recipe from allrecipes.com and check out my modifications below.

Since my husband and I have changed our eating habits to an almost entirely vegan diet, I’ve found ways to modify recipes to eliminate animal products. Now, don’t get me wrong, this treat is in no way automatically “healthy” just because it doesn’t have eggs. It still contains lots of sugar which is bad for your body if you eat 5 zillion tons of it like I happily used to do! But at least you avoid the cholesterol and animal products, and in this version you actually get some healthy omega-3 oils and fiber from the flax that you wouldn’t otherwise have. So, still eat this treat sparingly, as with all sugar, but enjoy it a little more knowing that it’s been modified in a good way. I followed the recipe at the link above except for these things:

  • As an egg replacer, I used flax goop. Yep, that’s what it’s called. Replace eggs by mixing flax meal (ground flax seed) with water. You will fake one egg by mixing  2 Tbsp of flax meal and 3 Tbsp of water, allowing it to soak together just for a minute or so and add to your ingredients wherever the eggs are called for. (In this recipe that’s 6 Tbsp flax meal/9Tbsp water =3 eggs)
  • I substituted half of the all-purpose flour for whole-wheat flour. (That gives it a nice balance between fluffy bread and whole grains) and I use organic, unbleached versions in all my baking.
  • I love a little crunch to my bread so I added about 1/2 cup of walnut pieces to the batter, then finely chopped a few more walnuts and sprinkled them on top of the loaves to give them a pretty, crunchy topping.
  • I didn’t have enough fresh blueberries for the recipe so I used some fresh, some frozen, but I did let the frozen berries thaw out before using them. They worked great and add a little extra moisture to the bread.
  • If baking mini-loaves, 45 minutes at 350 seems to be just right in my oven. If I use a regular loaf pan I usually have to bake it an extra 10 minutes to get it all the way done in the middle. The edges will be a little brown, and perfectly tasty.

Enjoy your vegan treat! Try zucchini bread with all kinds of delicious fruits such as banana or pineapple, too!

Carrot Ginger Juice

Posted on by | Leave a comment

This morning I tried out a new juice in my beautiful, hoss of a machine, the Vitamix. I took it straight from the Vitamix cookbook, but then changed it a bit. Here it is:

  • 1 cup water
  • 18 baby carrots
  • 1 tsp lemon juice concentrate (from the little plastic lemon)
  • 1 cup ice

I blended this on high for about a minute but I could see it was very pulpy (and I love me some pulp so if I am saying that you know I’m serious!) so I stirred it, added a little extra ice and blended it for almost another minute. It came out beautifully orange! (duh!) and it was very watery except that the foam/some of the pulp rose to the top. It was a bit too much so I skimmed the foamy pulpy part off the top and added a dash of powdered ginger, then blended again.

The result was very refreshing and easy to drink. I did notice that the longer I let the juice sit, the more I noticed the pulp. Todd calls it “grit” and he has some serious texture issues when it comes to food, so he was not a big fan. I say drink it right away while it’s cold and watery…and you’ll get all kinds of yummy fiber and beta-carotene for your day! Your heart will thank you!

Cheers to your good health!

Hey you, fix YOUR economy

Posted on by | Leave a comment

So, did that stimulus check fix all of your financial problems? Really, it didn’t?

How about Cash for Clunkers? That was a good one, right? Your whole world was changed because of that amazing, freeing financial idea wasn’t it? No???

Yeah, I didn’t really think so.

See, the truth is, Uncle Sam is not wearing bright shining armor, and he’s not riding in on a white horse to save you from your financial dilemma. If you can’t already tell that our government is not particularly adept at managing its own finances, let alone sitting down at our kitchen table with us to help out when it’s pay-the-bills night, you haven’t paid much attention to things.

But anyone can change. You can start paying attention. Not so much to CNN and the doom-and- gloom that it broadcasts about how awful things are getting and how the whole government is going to collapse if so-and-so doesn’t get off his pompous [fill-in-name-of-hated-political-party-here] butt and sign the newest quick-fix piece of paper that will allow the truly patriotic [fill-in-name-of-beloved-political-party-here]s to fix all the financial problems of the universe. That’s not what I think you should be paying more attention to.

Instead, I think all of us should turn that pointed finger around and look at ourselves. Look at your own financial sitation. Have you, like the government, overextended yourself? Have you, like the government, given into pressures of every voice under the sun spewing in your ears about what it wants, so you’ve said yes to spending on everything? What are those voices telling you to spend all you make and buy all you want,anyway? Is it your spouse? Your kids? Your workplace party-planning-committee? Is it that little brat who lives inside you and shares your name who is always hollering “but I want it!!!”

But, you say, I’m not really an overspender…I’m just the victim of bad circumstances. I got laid off and I can’t find work. I got hurt and I’m waiting for my disability check. I got tricked into a bad mortgage and I lost my house. I hate my job so I quit because I wanted to be true to myself but now I can’t find another one.

I get it. There are some crappy situations out there. Some really, really crappy ones. I am not saying that everything will be perfect tomorrow. All I’m saying is: stop expecting someone else to fix things, stop wallowing in self-pity and hopelessness, and start doing something. DO SOMETHING.

Start with these two things: Do what you can. Do better with what you have.

Do what you can. If you got hurt on the job and can’t chuck boxes anymore, I understand. Do what you can. Maybe you can sit and take orders over the phone. Got laid off and have kids to feed? I understand. You might be depressed and have lost all hope because you can’t find a great job as a computer guru right now like the one you had. That is depressing, I understand. But you have kids to feed, so you can chuck boxes in a warehouse instead. Oh, that’s not enough money? Well then maybe you chuck boxes and deliver pizzas too, until things get better. Like to stay home with your kids, but your husband’s business isn’t doing well and things are getting tight? I get it. Do what you can. Get creative…trade childcare with someone a few days a week while you launch an at-home business or you wrangle up carts or stock shelves or whatever for a while. Do what you can to make things better.

Do better with what you have. Maybe you have a good job already and you’re fine and able to pay your bills right now and spend whatever you want. Good for you. I bet that’s what a lot of people thought a few years ago who are now out of a job. Do better with what you have so that if things change in the future (and what’s the likelihood that will happen, right!?) you’ll be better prepared. Make a budget so you have a clue. (Oh, stop whining…it’s a freakin’ budget, not a straight-jacket) Don’t spend every dime you make. Plan for emergencies by putting back money for them because they will happen. If you’re a stay-at-home mom and your husband does all the financial stuff, help ease the stress by becoming a home economist. Figure out ways to make things go further by clipping coupons, bulk shopping with a friend, sharing meal prep with another family, freezing leftovers…whatever. Just do better with what you have.

All of us have to deal with the lovely mess the government is getting us into, and if not, our grandchildren sure will. But we don’t have to add to it. We don’t have to throw up our hands and just say “oh well, the government’s out of control so why bother…I’ll  just do whatever I want too.” 

Do what you can, and do better with what you have right now.

One thing I can do is to help other people get started in doing better with what they have. Years ago I learned the revolutionary ways to get financially fit… wanna hear the secrets?

Well too bad, there aren’t any dang secrets. It’s just common sense stuff. Spend less than you make. Quit borrowing money. Pay back the money you already borrowed. Save some money. Get it? Common sense stuff. And I can teach you the steps to take to put that common sense into action with your finances. No scam, no get rich quick junk, and no I’m not making money at it. Just learning the same way I did, and applying what you learned with diligence will do the job. It works. So if any of you reading this need help getting started, let me know. Really. I will help you. I coach people all the time who need help making a budget or paying off debt or whatever. I can help you too, even if you live somewhere far away. You can read, can’t you? Well then I can recommend what to read to get started and I can coach you from anywhere. Seriously.

That is how this economy will get fixed…that is how we will fight off all the doom and gloom. We’ll do what we can and do better with what we have. We’ll help each other one person at a time. Then that person can help another person. Then they can help one more…are you getting the picture here?

The government isn’t going to save you from your crappy financial situation. YOU are the only one who can change YOUR situation. So…get started already. One little step leads to another…do something today to fix your own economy.  

 

Still Listening…

Posted on by | 2 Comments

If you’ve never read The Color Purple by Alice Walker, please go get it ASAP. It’s one of those read-before-you-die kind of books. Here is an excerpt from the book… it’s a conversation about God between two women, Shug and Celie:

Listen, God love everything you love – and a mess of stuff you don’t.  But more than anything else, God love admiration.

 You saying God vain?  I ast.

Naw, she say.  Not vain, just wanting to share a good thing.  I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.

 What it do when it pissed off?  I ast.

Oh, it make something else.  People think pleasing God is all God care about.  But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back.

 Yeah?  I say.

Yeah, she say.  It always making little surprises and springing them on us when us least expect.

You mean it want to be loved, just like the bible say.

 Yes, Celie, she say.  Everything want to be loved.  Us sing and dance, make faces and give flower bouquets trying to be loved.  You ever notice that trees do everything to git attention we do, except walk?

 Well, us talk and talk about God, but I’m still adrift.  Trying to chase that old white man out of my head.  I been so busy thinking bout him I never truly notice nothing God make.  Not a blade of corn (how it do that?) not the color purple (where it come from?).  Not the little wild flowers.  Nothing.

Now that my eyes opening, I feels like a fool.

This is one of my first memories of myself thinking about God. I mean really thinking about Him. I had to read this book for a class. I was only a teenager.  I wasn’t even close to being a believer of any flavor, let alone a born-again Christian. I just remember the moment I read this, then read it again, and then over and over, I realized for the first time that God might be something (or someone) I had never dreamed of before. He might be more than “White Jesus” (this is the name I unaffectionately use to refer to the fake presentation we see mostly in those awful paintings with a glowing fishbowl around the head of a stark-white, blue-eyed, cojone-less sort of saintly figure who doesn’t really possess any power other than to make others feel guilty for not being as saintly or as white. Capisce?)

I briefly allowed myself to wonder, could there be more to this God thing?

Right after that I probably went about my everyday business of partying or whatever mess I used to get into back in those days. I didn’t have some big, light-shining-down moment that changed me forever. My journey was and continues to be much, much more subtle, but I’m convinced that it started way back then. It started when I first thought of God as more than a “He” and more than a keeper of cosmic scorecards, of which mine was dramatically marked up with a lot of red X-es. I began to see the idea of what might just be God as more than just something you experience when or if you go to church.

I’ve always been a lover of nature…not one of those going camping every weekend types…but almost childlike in my love, awe, and appreciation for all things around me that happen and exist naturally; a buzzing honeybee, the foam created from the ocean kissing the sand, the delicate veins in a perfectly symmetrical maple leaf, and…clouds! Oh how I loved (and still love) looking at clouds! I just figured I was a person who enjoyed things like that, I never thought anything else about it. But over many years I have come to realize that these things…these moments when I notice the small things around me that have been created by God, I know they are the artwork of the One who loves me and wants to delight me with His creation.

Could it really be…God is mad about me, not mad at me? It almost seems scandalous. The Creator of all the universe, the One who breathed and spoke everything into existence, loves me and is trying to get my full attention on a daily basis?! It’s true, my friends…and it’s certainly not just true for me, but for every one of the 6+billion people on this planet, all created in His image.

“…God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” -Romans 5:8

“So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.”                    -Romans 8:1

“And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” -Romans 8:38-39

Like I said, I never had this big, monumental sign that God was real and He loved me. It happened in a thousand small moments that accumulated into me finally admitting that I couldn’t ignore the clues anymore…I couldn’t push away the fact that I was starting to see all the loosely bound connections firming up into definite pathways. I was no longer interested in chasing after all the various things I had been, none of which ever resulted in giving me peace. I came to a place where I was pretty sure I was ready to surrender myself to something that was way more vast, way more good than I’d ever dreamed. Then I heard this song by a band that called themselves a Christian rock band, which I’d never even heard of before. “Christian” music that I actually enjoy listening to? Whaaaaatttt??

I looked for you in
The fire and the wind
But you weren’t there as far as I could see

I thought I’d hear you shout
But then I figured it out
That all along you’re whispering to me

And I’m still listening…

That was me. I knew it was. I knew that while I had been busy looking for “it” all over the place, searching for some huge moment in my life that would define me and validate me and encourage me and strengthen me and show me what life was really about, all along I had missed the hints and whispers of what was right in front of me. I knew that this band, these singers who were followers of Jesus, were talking about looking for and finding God. I felt a little like Celie in The Color Purple.

“Now that my eyes opening, I feels like a fool.”

But that foolish feeling quickly turned into a peaceful rest that I’ve really known ever since. Not perfectly, not without wrinkles and tears in the pages of my life since it all began for me. But a peacefulness that keeps my eyes willingly wide-open to these things, so I can share them with others and point out the whispers that are around them so they don’t miss the good stuff that God is trying to catch their attention with. But just in case they do miss it, and in the not-totally-unlikely event that I also miss it, I take comfort in knowing that God (as Alice Walker so simply put it) will just make something else to catch our attention.

Green Goodness is For Real!

Posted on by | Leave a comment

Many of you who know me personally have already heard me talk ad nauseum about our new household gadget, the Vitamix. I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised because after finally deciding to purchase one after talking about it for over a year, my husband and I thought for sure we would die from having to wait the prescribed 7-10 days for shipping. However I placed the order and within 3 days, the enormous Vitamix box was on my front porch!

I was like a kid on Christmas morning, tearing open that big hoss of a box. Once you get through the box and the packing material to reveal the treasure inside, you can’t help but stand back for a minute and stare. The thing is a beast. It’s massive, heavy, and constructed like a tank. In fact, I’m not entirely sure it isn’t a tank. But anyhooo…

We’ve been happily juicing entire fruits all weekend and creating sugar-free sorbets and all that yumminess. But the big event for a Vitamix owner and for anyone who is into plant-based nutrition, is conquering The Green Smoothie.

What is The Green Smoothie, you ask? Well it’s more of an umbrella term that is used for a wide variety of blended whole-food drinks that consist of a ridiculously large amount of fresh leafy greens (kale, spinach, etc…) combined with various combinations of fruit. Now, that doesn’t seem like that big of a deal, except for the following:

-Green, leafy vegetables are among the most incredible things God ever put on this planet. Their high nutritional values and easily digestible structure make them naturally disease-fighting, nutrient-dense little leafy lovelies. Everyone should be eating them. LOTS of them. But that’s the thing…eating LOTS of these veggies can feel a little cumbersome sometimes, especially if you eat a mostly plant-based diet anyway…you start to feel a little bit bovine, chewing all that cud 24/7. So what if you could get the same nutrition (including more antioxidants!) by drinking your leafy greens? Sounds great but also a little gross, right? There is a solution…

Enter The Green Smoothie. It allows you to combine these super-veggies that would normally not make such a delicious drink, with whole, natural fruits that do make delicious drinks. And the leafy greens literally get hidden inside the smoothie. Well, their color certainly doesn’t, but their taste definitely does. Today I created my first green smoothie, and I got the idea from another site (sorry, I can’t recall which one and there are a lot of sites with this particular concoction, so my apologies for not being able to credit the author on this one) and the person referred to it as an “Orange Creamsicle Green Smoothie.” You’ll know why when you taste it.

First I added 2 quartered navel oranges (these smelled awesome!) I had peeled the skin off but left the pith (the white part) because it contains nutrients and fiber that you’d normally miss eating the orange. The pith has a bitter taste, but when you blend it up in a Vitamix, you get the good stuff and you never know its there!  Then I added 2 giant handfuls of fresh organic spinach leaves (about 4 cups), 2 whole bananas (peeled) and about 3 cups of ice.

The Vitamix shredded all this up in about 90 seconds like it was nothing! I was left with this emerald-green beauty…but would it taste like Popeye’s spinach or would I, as many before me have claimed, not even be able to taste the greens?

WOW. Turns out that the claims were true. I took a big sip, half expecting to want to spit it out, but found myself enjoying the creamy orange-banana flavor of this mysterious Green Smoothie. I cannot wait for Todd to get home so he can become a convert too. I’m even taking some of the smoothie to book club tonight so the gals can sample its wonderfulness. 

I just drank my salad and several servings of fresh fruit, people!  And I LOVED it!

Only 100,800 Heartbeats to Spend Today…

Posted on by | Leave a comment

 

Wow. Just read a comment this article by Dan Miller, author of 48 Days To the Work You Love  about living your best life now. The person leaving the comment suggested focusing on “Heartbeat Management” instead of “Time Management” to improve your quality of life.

“Heartbeat Management??” Uhhhh… what??

 

 

He goes on to say that Heartbeat Management is a new way of thinking: measuring your day in heartbeats instead of minutes to show just how valuable each second really is. He says that the average # of heartbeats in a day is about 100,800.

 The commenter said:

“So, out of the roughly 100,800 heartbeats that will expire today, how many of my heartbeats will I give to my children? How many will I give to my spouse? How many will I give to a job that doesn’t align with my purpose? How many will I give to television? How many will I give to worry? How many heartbeats will I let slip through my fingers with idle time? How many heartbeats will I give to myself?”

Whoa. My heartbeats are expiring as I’m sitting here writing this. How have I spent them so far today? I spent some brushing my teeth and getting dressed. (not really optional!) I spent some making a quick breakfast for my incredible husband and then about three heartbeats kissing him goodbye as he left for work (hmm…does it still count as three since my heart skipped a beat during that kiss?) Then I spent some of them watering and fixing up the garden. I spent several of them baking vegan cupcakes and granola bars. I spent some of them reading the article I’m referencing right now. I spent a few of them getting the mail. I spent some checking email and Facebook (why, exactly!?) and a few more texting back and forth with some friends. I spent a few of them downloading an app to my iPhone.

Have I spent any of today’s heartbeats very well so far? *squirm*

On my to-do list in front of me, it says I need to spend some of the ones I’m not even 100% guaranteed to get later today on buying tickets, making phone calls to my insurance company, (kill me now)  jogging,  and mowing the grass. Later tonight, if I get to live out the rest of this day, I’ll spend a good chunk of my heartbeats hanging out with some friends celebrating a birthday. Those will be worth it.

Right now I’m spending some of my finite heartbeats on writing this so hopefully some other folks can start thinking of their moments as heartbeats too. Understanding that as each one pounds, it’s another one we will never get back. Like the one that just thumped in my chest. It’s gone. Yep, there goes another one…never to be replaced. And another one. And another…

Suddenly I feel like I have better things to do.