The Joys of Lucky Bamboo

     As of a April 16th, I've acquired "Lucky Bamboo" from a student organization event on my campus. Sounds exotic doesn't it? It also sounds gimmicky though, which is a little depressing to my soul. Sadly, these types of serendipitous things get me though; I find things like this so beyondly fascinating. These things make life full of wonder & mystery! I'm all about that life.

    I'm going to share the variety of joys & wonders of this beautiful, mysterious plant.

• Lucky Bamboo just needs the very basic care to thrive, which is marvelous (for a lot of people, that can't keep the simplest organism alive)

• Lucky Bamboo... isn't really Bamboo (unfortunately),it's part of the Lily Family (I like Lily's too, I'll accept that), because it's Dracaena Sanderiana - Dracaena's are part of this family, and are actually from West Africa

• They are dubbed their name because they look distinctly like Bamboo. The Chinese have associated Bamboo with good fortune, fortitude, and resilience.

• This plant is the perfect harmony of the five elements of Feng Shui coming together as one - Earth, Water, Fire, Wood, & Metal. The vertical stalks are Wood. The plant is placed in Water. Small coins or ornaments are used as the Metal. Rocks or Pebbles represent the Earth. Any shade of red that can be added stands for Fire.

• You can place this arrangement in your house, office, or any spot to keep positive energy flowing through the area and ridding of the negative energies; as Feng Shui insists.

• The legend of symbolizing is a as follows:
  - 2 stalks: Love
  - 3 stalks: Happiness (Fu [happiness]) (Lu [wealth]) (Soh [longevity])
  - 5 stalks: Wealth
  - 7 stalks: Wealth & Happiness
  - 8 stalks: Growth
  - 9 stalks: General Good Fortune
  - 10 stalks: Completion and Perfection
  - 21 stalks: Abundant Blessings

     I think these types of concepts and items are so necessary in life. Even if you are skeptical about the meanings and the serendipitous of it, what's the harm in maybe having good fortune, and happiness, or blessings? Plus it looks beautiful, and it having such a brilliant meaning, gives it that much more peregrine.  It's increasingly hard to try and put how much respect and magnificence I have towards things like this; really, it just brings happiness and wonder into my life, and I hope it does the same for you.

Lets hope it brings me enough luck to acquire more Lucky Bamboo in my future. 

Sincerely,

A Dreaming Dietitian

Sources:

http://www.organicgardening.com/learn-and-grow/growing-lucky-bamboo

http://www.lucky-bamboo.org/lucky-bamboo-meaning.html

Sunshine, Suntans, & Sunburns

     As it's Spring now, and summer (thank God) is right around the corner and within our midst, we will all be exposed to lovely and virtuous rays of the sun. I, myself, cannot get enough of the supplemental rays and would bask in them, if I didn't be at the adverse health effects of our beloved rays. Adverse health effects? What? Ohhhh yeah; don't be fooled by the warmth and nice tans you may get - your Melanin that is produced by your Melanocytes in your body is accelerated, which in turn darkens your skin; resulting in the nice brown tan.

     There is a lot of controversy over tanning and the addictive habit of doing it. Now, hold on, in my opinion, people are getting way too skittish about the sun. Lets review for a second:

1. First off, we literally need the sun to live
2. The sun is the key ingredient in producing our body's vitamin D 
3. Soaking up the rays even releases Endorphins that make us happy (Last time I checked, being happy was a good thing)
4. & who doesn't like a nice tan?

     You're not going to burst into flames if you walk out in the bright, light and you won't get stage 4 cancer by laying out for a little while. Too much of anything, including good things, can be a bad thing. You can get burned, and develop a higher risk for cancer, but if you stay out for too long. People have put on sunscreen for a long time, to protect themselves from the UV rays, but it's being speculated that the chemicals in sunscreen can put more harmful effects on your body than the actual sun itself. I'm not saying this is a sure thing, but I wouldn't doubt it either, with the amount of harmful chemicals the world has that people use.

     Tanning beds have become very popular for people who want an even tan, and that can time how much exposure their getting. These beds have been very harmful as well. This is not real sunlight, it's man-made, so it is not the same, and could be even more dangerous. If you fall asleep, you could have severe burns. These should be cautioned very high. Granted, I won't be a hypocrit, I've used tanning beds before; but this was when I was naive to them too.

     The truth is, is that your body can only absorb so much Vitamin D, and after it soaks up more than enough, it starts to break the Vitamin down. If your skin is tarting to feel too hot, get into the shade or put cool water on it (not cold, COOL!). Just because you won't burst into flames, doesn't mean you shouldn't be cautious and protect yourself.

Have a wonderful warm season!

Sincerely,

A Dreaming Dietitian

Be YOU, Be Happy.

     Now the usual agenda for someone is to go to grade school, high school, and then college, am I right? At least for most people anyways; besides the circumstances that may come along at one point or time. That was the plan for me though.

     Here I was, barely 18, and I was starting my collegiate career, in my first semester, and not knowing what I was in for. You hear the stories, you see the movies, and you have the ideas - but really what are you in for?

     We've grown up with the social pressures that come with the territory of schooling; trying be 'cool', wearing the latest trends, being 'fun' to others, being socially acceptable, & having all the other socially desirable traits that your peers like. Granted, there will always be those cruel individuals that won't hit puberty accurately as anyone else, and will continue to be jerks throughout their life and accumulate endless karma. However, after people go through their maturing stage in life, essentially we are all the same. Let me explain. Throughout grade school, we criticize each other based on our likes & dislikes, and everything in between; so much so, that we are accustomed to thinking people will always criticize us until the end of our days. This is the sad part! After the maturing stage does it's thing, we all will end up with our own quirky ways to eat things, we find our inner nerd, and we take to liking things, that in middle school, people may not have seen as acceptable. It's a whole different ball-game people!

     If your favorite character is Legolas from Lord of the Rings (Which he is) and the story of the Three Deathly Hollows in Harry Potter is the most amazing story in the entire world, and you are one that could consume cheese for breakfast, brunch, drunch, dinner, & second-dinner, SHOUT IT! 

     If you love the Petronas Charm so much you
have a tattoo of it, and you would rather just sit in your room and cuddle up with your chemistry book all day, and you would rather drink wine than most beverages for dinner, EMBRACE IT!

     If you eat your waffles in a geometrical fashion at all times, and you think it's just the most absolute amazing thing on Earth to see a minuscule seed grow into a mature plant with brilliant green leaves, and think that Shamrocks Shakes are something that the Gods made with their own hands, PROCLAIM IT!

     The amazing thing about the world we live in, is that every person is different and has their own unique qualities. We all should embrace our own nerdy, quirky, ridiculousness and proclaim it and shout it to the world. It's so liberating to do all the things you love to do in front of everyone else, without the fear of social backlash. By this point in life you know who you are, and you're not the only one that has embarrassing things they'd rather just ignore. If you put them out in the open, there's nothing that can make you feel embarrassed - you will literally become the badass of hysterical antics; and both you and everyone else will find you incredible. 

~Simply, be you and be happy~

Sincerely,

A Dreaming Dietitian

The Wonderful World That Is Relay

Hey everyone!
     Sorry I haven't posted since the archaic times, but school has been kicking my butt; actually just chemistry is. It's incredibly interesting, but it's really hard, or maybe it's the professor trying to teach it. Pray that I actually pass this class!

     Anywhoozer, last morning to this morning (or Friday 10am-Saturday 10am), my campus had our biggest event of the year, as it's better known as, relay for Life. This event is so incredible beyond measure. Let me try and put this into words for you. This event is all about Cancer Awareness and raising money for Cancer. There are always tens of orgs that participate, including my own Nutrition org that I created this year! I was so proud to be able to participate and make a difference with the org that is just fresh off the block. This is a huge deal on our campus, and especially in the Greek Life here. Every year, it's basically a giant competition to see who can raise the most money, single-handily and as an organization as a whole. This makes me so happy, because we're all coming together for an important cause and nurturing healthy competition while doing it. This year, we had a couple people raise over a $1,000 by themselves, including Anneke Hoogenstryd (right) from Tri Sigma Sorority and Amir Baz (left) from Theta Chi Fraternity! Now, that is just too amazing for words right now - what a breath-taking feat! besides those special people, we had more than a few organizations raise in the thousands themselves. The Phi Sigma Sigma sorority are most known for their combined efforts, in my opinion. One of their members, Dani Champlin, has been passionate about this event ever since I came to the university. And of their other sisters, Erin Bovan, is also part of the awesome team that puts together Relay. That committee works effortlessly and passionately to make this event a success, whilst putting countless hours of their time into it. Every year is a major success, especially for our campus being small and it being a commuter school, as well. Without these ladies, and the other committee members, Relay would not be the same.

     Relay is the funnest 24 hours you will ever experience. From having mini-games every hour, on the hour to games people start playing themselves; basketball, lightning, soccer, frisbee, volleyball, and this year we also had BOUNCE HOUSES! Like, whaaattttt. You could play basketball in one, try and bungee to the end of another, or just chill in the traditional bounce house if you'd like. They were all fun to play with. Plus, we also yoga with our favorite yogi, the amazing and wonderful, Sharnee Mead. Now, in other related news, my fraternity, Kappa Sigma, and Theta Chi Fraternity usually have a head-shave fundraiser every year; and we also usually do it separately. However, this year, we combined the event and did it together. It made me smile a bit because I love Greek Unity at any level... and that a lot of them have close to no hair left; which surprisingly isn't too shabby on them. All of the above statements are great and all, but my absolute favorite aspect of Relay is the bonding that everyone experiences during this event. It brings everyone together for a common cause; especially my lovely Greeks. It's the happiest day for me when all of our Greek orgs mix it up and hang out together, where it doesn't matter what affiliation you're from, we're all just having a good time together. That's what drives my happiness - when all of my friends come together, and are happy together. This is why I love being a socialite, because you get to laugh with everyone from different organizations, backgrounds, different senses of humor, and different conversations. Because think about it, you're bringing people into your life as nothing different than a friend - everyone is the same to you, you don't treat anyone different, does that make sense? And when people hang out together, it takes that concept and makes it real life. On the opposite of that, it's when people stick to their own affiliations, and separates themselves from the other organizations. I don't want to really confuse you, but it's hard to explain in writing.

Segway - I really hate when I'm thinking of something or of a concept in my head, but it's more than impossible to explain in words. It makes me feel stupid and like, people can't follow me. -_-/=[

Continuing on, Relay is just a lively experience that you have take on yourself. It makes you feel so accomplished and proud, when you stay up for the whole 24 hours and when you reach your goal for fundraising, like Anneke or Amir did. It's definitely something you have to prepare yourself for. I woke up today with accumulated soreness that I haven't experienced since the last Relay; so much so, that i have barely got out of bed all day (not that I could anyways! =P). That my friends, is a sign of success. Another favorite part of mine, are the tens of picture that you take during the event, and that you see on Facebook the next morning. I love to do that myself, because after all, like I always say, each picture is a memory frozen in time.

P.S. - I will try to be more punctual on my postings from now on! Until the next post, my friends.

Sincerely,

A Dreaming Dietitian

Yoga's hard?... What?!

     One of my best friend's, Sharnee (<-- Supposed to be an accent on the second "e"..), has been trying to get me to go do yoga with her for some time now; but I never get the time to go though. It's near Ann Arbor, MI, and I'm at least a good 45 minutes away; it's winter, and I don't want to risk my life; and it's on Sunday, which I have to get up early on Monday. This past weekend, Monday ended up being Martin Luther King day, so now was my chance!
     I get up at 7, meet Shar at 8:45, an we're off. I had a yoga mat, but I didn't have a towel, so she let me use her coral colored one.. I'm the luckiest guy, I know.. I sign in, and we sit down our mats and start stretching, or whatever routine anyone else has. I forgot to mention that this kind of yoga is called "Hot Yoga" and for good reason. they heat the room from 95-105 degrees.. and that's in winter, I can't imagine summer. Shar says it can be up to 120 degrees in summer.
     The instructor, Kellie, comes in and dims the lights, starts this calm music, and we start. By the way, this instructor has the best attitude about her, she's incredible. the first 10 minutes I'm starting to sweat. keep in mind, I never sweat during my workouts, my body recovers too quickly. Also, I've never done yoga before, so this was an intense start you could say.. I try and follow the poses of everyone else, and it's difficult because I've never done it before, but I get the hang of it a little. There are some people (like, my ridiculous friend) that look like they've been contortionists in their past life. I'm pretty sure I stooped what I was doing and just watched some people for a second. I'm over here struggling to just keep balance, and they're over there putting their heads behind their legs. Like. What.
     30 minutes in, my mat is not a mat anymore. It is now a 6 x 2 foot blue rag of sweat. I would step down, and the sweat would rise up from the mat. I would try and do a simple Warrior I pose, and even that was almost impossible because of my slip 'n' slide I was now fumbling on. I was sweating that bad. #thestrugglewasreal
     Then I hit a point where my muscles were shaking, my legs were barely holding me up, and I was fatigued beyond anything I could remember. The heat was finally hitting me to it's full extent. My head was a waterfall of sweat that was flowing into the ocean that was my body. It would get into my eyes and it would burn, so I had to keep pausing and wiping my eyes, to no avail.
     Now it was a hour in, and I wasn't worn out anymore - I was way past that. I felt like my body was slipping away from me; I was starting to get the funny feeling now - Passing out was beginning to be inevitable. Finally, Kellie says, "one more round", and I got the strength to hold on. My breathing was heavy and drawn out. At last, I could settle down and rest.
     The class was an hour and fifteen minutes long. 5 more and I would have passed out, I'm almost sure of it. We went into the beloved child's pose, and came back to our heart space. All of the people say some words in a different language, and then we all did the "stereotypical" ooohhhmmmmmm, and finish.
     All throughout the class, Kellie always kept people positive, and she spoke with a calm voice. She would come by and help people if they needed it, and if they were doing well, she let them know. She has a powerful personality, but not in the way people rule others, but in the way people stand by each other. She will pick you up if you fall, and she will give you that extra strength to hold on. The world needs more people like her, it surely would be a better place & a happier place. Even after the class was over, she came to me and told me I did very well for my first time, and offered me extra advice. She wasn't condescending or even sugar coating that I did bad - she was sincere about everything she said.

     I will most definitely do this again, once I get the time of course. Afterwards, we both went into Ann Arbor and got Gelato. It was magical, because we both have gone to Italy in the past year, and it tasted accurately to Italia. We both had a great time that day, and I can't wait to experience it all over again!

It's always good to try something new, even if it's your first and last time. Maybe it will better your health and understanding of the world, or give you a new perspective of the world around you. Always keep an open mind with what you do, and the reward will be always be happier in the end.

Sincerely,

A Dreaming Dietitian

Knowledge Is The Root, Happiness Is The Fruit

     I'm sorry I haven't posted in a few days now, I've been getting ready to go back to school, and working on my own Nutrition research. In honor of Academia and of the universities we all go to, I'm going to post about how incredible attaining knowledge is. The saying goes, 'Knowledge is Power'; and that couldn't be any closer to the truth. Think about it, how we're able to do anything that we can is because we know how to. If you want to get out of bed, walk around, or exercise, is all because you know how to do it. So many people nowadays take knowledge for granted! I mean, how ignorant can people be? You literally do anything you want if you know how to. But that's why our world is a mystery, now isn't it? Because we don't know everything, and it's human nature to find out everything we don't know, which results in a lifetime of mystery and exhaustion for attaining that knowledge.
     It's all the same with Nutrition. Nutrition has been important to people for thousands of years; because our body is only as good as what we put into it. Lately, however, laziness and self-loathing and greed has got in the way of all that. Which has resulted in epidemics and unhappiness. Everything we need is already on the planet on which we live, there's no need to 'make' anything new to help us have proper nutrition. We have 'superfoods', whole grains, water, fresh vegetables & fruits, lentils, nuts, & of course oxygen. We have everything already to live a happy, and healthy life. Best of all, it's one where we don't worry about health problems.
     The world is full of all the knowledge you need to ever do anything you want; especially, with the internet. We can read information on virtually anything we want, from anywhere in the world, in any language. That is so incredible. Everybody takes this all for granted, and doesn't put it to use! It makes me so freaking angry! This literally has virtually unlimited potential. Billions and billions, of pages, of information at our disposal - and most of it's even free. No matter what diet you wanted to look up, you could do it in seconds, and have full-scale review on it from a thousand different people. Or if you made up your own, and wanted to share it with others, you could make your own blog, of any sort, and share it with millions instantly - like I'm doing now.
     My favorite metaphor I came up with, is to think of knowledge being the root, and happiness ending up being your fruit. knowledge is the seed you plant, happiness is the fruit you pick.

I will be done ranting there, and in conclusion, I will share with you some of my recipes for smoothies and food.

4-Berry Smoothie

~ half the seeds of 1 Pomegranate

~ 2/3 of light vanilla yogurt (32oz)

~ Guessable sugar (3-5 Tbsp)

~ Cup of Milk (Guessable)

~ .83 lbs of Berry Explosion bag

Pumpkin Shake

~ 2 scoops vanilla icecream

~ 3 scoops Pumpkin Icecream

~ teaspoon of cinnamon

~ 1/2 tsp of nutmeg

~ cup of milk

~ 5 icecubes

Topped with:

~ 2 big & 1 small mint leaves

~ sprinkled cinnamon

Mediterranean Stir-Fry

~ Green bell peppers

~ Yellow bell peppers

~ Orange bell peppers

~ 1 sq Italian seasoning butter

~ Garlic Salt

~ Flax seed powder sprinkled

~ Tbsp Honey

~ Chicken Cubes

~ Green Onion scallions

~ 1 carrot

~ Potatoes

~ Extra Virgin Olive Oil

~ Tomatoes diced, add at end

Chicken & Baked Potato

~ 1 Chicken breast

Sauteed:

~ Green onion scallion

~ Snap peas

~ Green bell pepper

~ Extra virgin olive oil

~ Garlic salt

Potato wrapped in tin foil

Halved-open

~ Butter

~ Garlic Salt

~ Basil leaves or Parsley

Sprinkled with one lemon slice

All of these pictures correspond to each recipe. As you can see my two friends I made the stirfry for, really enjoyed it!

Remember, Knowledge is the seed you plant, happiness is the fruit you pick. Go out,and reap what you sow. Knowledge is absolutely everywhere, and not a bit of it will hurt you. Be educated in what you love and about the people around you, and you will be forever grateful for it.

Sincerely,

A Dreaming Dietitian

Mission: Recovery

  As I'm in the middle of recovering from the fun and eventful night last night, I will first say HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!!! How exciting! Every New Year is like a fresh start, each time. You have yet another chance to do better things than the year before. Rather it be doing charity work, dressing more sophisticated, focusing on academics harder, or more importantly, eating healthier. This is a fresh and clean slate to be a better you! This, of course, is where 'New Year's Resolutions' come in; and the hardest part is sticking to them, but you can do it if you put your mind to it! Don't give up because you slip up once, just get right back on track! I have faith in all of you!
     Now since it's a little after 3:30pm, I got up an hour ago, and I feel beyond exhausted; like, I'm struggling to keep my eyes open.. I decided to make something about recovering from these wild nights you may have in the future. You know, so you don't have to feel like death the morning after. Sound helpful? Okay, lets go.

     I'll give you a little background about me first. I'm 20 years old, my birthday is August 31st, and up until the July right before my birthday, I never drank at all (besides our family traditions, twice a year of a shot). I saw what alcohol did to people, the decisions they made, and the bad situations (usually) that they would get themselves in; so, I said I don't want to do that. I still hung out with people that drank, and went to parties still, I just didn't drink myself. Once more, I'm in a fraternity too, so that made people even more baffled. Nevertheless, I stood my ground, and said no to people that offered me any - and they respected that. 

Now, from June 18th - July 15th, I studied abroad in Italy. It was a beyond amazing time! I could go on and on about it! But more crucially to this, I went on a Tuscany Wine Tour. We went to various wineries in Tuscany, tasted different cheeses, meats, and, yup you guessed it, wine. You see, in Italia, drinking isn't like it is here. It's much more calm, people can control themselves, and more importantly, they don't drink just because. They're drinking with their culture - it represents family time, exchanging stories, and social gathering. This opened up my eyes to the whole concept, and has hanged my ways about drinking thus.

NOW FOR THE RECOVERY

• Through my first times of drinking, I've found that I know when to stop, and I can control my alcohol intake. I've also found that my Nutrition instincts kick in very quickly when I get near my point - A.K.A PSR (Point of Safe Return). When that point gets near, I start drinking lots of water. The morning after, I wake up fine, no headaches, no tiredness (from the alcohol) - it's amazing! I predict that drinking water before going to bed circulates the fluids in your body, so the junk isn't just sitting still overnight. The water starts refreshing your body through the night, so you wake up much better than you would otherwise.
• From this point on, you're going to want to AVOID  junk foods at all costs. You don't want to add to your already existing aches and problems. Eat whole grains, fruits, vegetables - the nutrients in them will do wonders, and you'll start feeling better exponentially. There are antioxidants (yup, those again) that will take care of all the toxins you've absorbed, along with the protein that will help your body recover as well. Stay AWAY  from the processed foods - pizza, chips, etc. Again, adding to the problem
• Lets say you get absolutely plastered, like many Americans did last night, and you're dying this morning. If you didn't drink water the night before, start being responsible now, and drink some before you consume anything else; it will flush out what's been sitting in your body.
• Something you can keep in mind while drinking, is to keep an eye on how much you drink in an hour. Typically, a shot or one beer per hour is ideal. However, I know much better than this, and I'm well aware that people won't abide by this rule perfectly; I'm not naive nor foolish. I'm just saying to realize how much you're drinking, and realize to slow down if you need to. That's part of self-control, and being mature about what you're partaking in.
• Something that you can do to make your body feel better is taking a hot bath. Baths are probably the 8th wonder of the world. They are so good for everything! They relax your muscles, calm your mind, and helps you focus, among other things. You can add essential oils or herbs to your bath to have even more enriching effects.
• I've talked about Vitamin Waters before for colds.. well, I don't know this from experience, but more than one person has told me that they also work for hangovers. I hear the same two (XXX and Recovery) work the best.
• A smart choice also might be to just lay low for the day, and not do anything too strenuous. Your body is working on processing the alcohol and any other toxins you consumed, don't make it's job even harder. Extra work isn't going to be extra help.
• Drinking tea is going to give your body various nutrients that will help you recover that much faster. It has antioxidants, calming effects, and it's warm as well.

  I hope these quick tips helped you guys. Follow them, and your recovery will be that much faster. I'm currently fighting myself to not go to the gym today, since it was closed yesterday. It's going to be tough. I hope you all had a great ending to your year & an amazing to start to your new one - I wish you all the best in your New Year!

 

Sincerely,

A Dreaming Dietitian