2/7/11 Monday: My 1st Acupuncture visit and Dehydrated Sweet Potato Chips video
It's been awhile since I've written. Last week I sent a letter to friends and family telling everyone that this was it! I was well! It had been 2 weeks with no pain and the pain in my joints was also disappearing. I was feeling so good I decided to take a minute (or a week) to try out my regular lifestyle for a change. I didn't go crazy, but I was not nearly as disciplined with my schedule or diet as I have been. Well...it turns out "well" wasn't quite accurate. The pain in my joints is back and the general pain returned as well. I felt it especially Friday and Saturday night. So for now I will be continuing my strict lifestyle because following it really does help me control the pain. And understanding how to control pain is a tremendous blessing. It is terrible not knowing what steps to take to make the pain go away, and at least I can say I am no longer in that position.
Aside from all that, I had a great week! I've kind of changed directions with the blog a little...I am not sure if I will be blogging every day or just on noteworthy days. We are going to be doing much more video blogging and in fact, just today we did our first "documentary." It covered my first experience with Acupuncture. I have been meaning to try it forever, and I am really happy with the place I was recommended to. We met with and interviewed Elise Rivers, the owner of Community Acupuncture of Mount Airy. She was so great to work with and gave us a wealth of information...and she wasn't the only one giving a lot of information...I shared some things...symptoms, I hadn't previously shared in the blog before during my intake interview. We videoed the entire visit from start to finish, so if you are curious about acupuncture, and on the fence about whether or not to try it...check out the video when it comes out. Elise talks about how to choose and find a reputable acupuncturist and gives information about what to expect (though from watching the treatment, you will pretty much be able to see what to expect.) The whole experience was wonderful. You can read more about the Community Acupuncture center and Elise here: http://www.camacenter.com/ We ended up with over 2 1/2 hours of footage, so we will need to do some major editing before we can post, but it shouldn't be too long, so look for it soon!
I also videoed my first experience with my new dehydrator. I made sweet potato chips. Raw food enthusiasts love the dehydrator because it "cooks" the food at a low enough temperature that the enzymes remain intact. Enzymes are important because they assist in the digestion and absorption of food. Canned/microwaved/processed foods or foods cooked at high temperatures do not contain enzymes. I bought the dehydrator so I could make healthy (crunchy) snacks like chips for the family. Ayurveda doesn't love dehydrated foods because they are hard to digest, but I know myself...when I have the munchies I want something crunchy, and even though our snack cupboard contains the most natural chips on the market...they are still a super processed food. Except for the $8 a bag Brad's brand RAW chips...they are dehydrated instead of heat processed...but why spend $8 a bag when I can just make them myself?
The sweet potato chips/dehydrator demonstration is not very artfully videoed...but it documents the process, which is what I am going for. A summary of my experience with the dehydrator: Making chips took little effort but it was a long process...they had to stay in the dehydrator for about 8 hours. So if you watch the video you will see me awake and clearheaded at the beginning and by the end (10pm) I am slightly tipsy from red wine and not so great at videoing! Also, I dehydrated 2 sweet potatoes and by the time they were done they shrunk up to what would equal 1 small bag of chips (larger than the $8 Brad's chips, though.) So are you wondering if it was worth it? ABSOLUTELY! The chips were AMAZING! Next time I'm going to try making kale chips. I'll let you know what happens!
Video will post tomorrow
Aside from all that, I had a great week! I've kind of changed directions with the blog a little...I am not sure if I will be blogging every day or just on noteworthy days. We are going to be doing much more video blogging and in fact, just today we did our first "documentary." It covered my first experience with Acupuncture. I have been meaning to try it forever, and I am really happy with the place I was recommended to. We met with and interviewed Elise Rivers, the owner of Community Acupuncture of Mount Airy. She was so great to work with and gave us a wealth of information...and she wasn't the only one giving a lot of information...I shared some things...symptoms, I hadn't previously shared in the blog before during my intake interview. We videoed the entire visit from start to finish, so if you are curious about acupuncture, and on the fence about whether or not to try it...check out the video when it comes out. Elise talks about how to choose and find a reputable acupuncturist and gives information about what to expect (though from watching the treatment, you will pretty much be able to see what to expect.) The whole experience was wonderful. You can read more about the Community Acupuncture center and Elise here: http://www.camacenter.com/ We ended up with over 2 1/2 hours of footage, so we will need to do some major editing before we can post, but it shouldn't be too long, so look for it soon!
I also videoed my first experience with my new dehydrator. I made sweet potato chips. Raw food enthusiasts love the dehydrator because it "cooks" the food at a low enough temperature that the enzymes remain intact. Enzymes are important because they assist in the digestion and absorption of food. Canned/microwaved/processed foods or foods cooked at high temperatures do not contain enzymes. I bought the dehydrator so I could make healthy (crunchy) snacks like chips for the family. Ayurveda doesn't love dehydrated foods because they are hard to digest, but I know myself...when I have the munchies I want something crunchy, and even though our snack cupboard contains the most natural chips on the market...they are still a super processed food. Except for the $8 a bag Brad's brand RAW chips...they are dehydrated instead of heat processed...but why spend $8 a bag when I can just make them myself?
The sweet potato chips/dehydrator demonstration is not very artfully videoed...but it documents the process, which is what I am going for. A summary of my experience with the dehydrator: Making chips took little effort but it was a long process...they had to stay in the dehydrator for about 8 hours. So if you watch the video you will see me awake and clearheaded at the beginning and by the end (10pm) I am slightly tipsy from red wine and not so great at videoing! Also, I dehydrated 2 sweet potatoes and by the time they were done they shrunk up to what would equal 1 small bag of chips (larger than the $8 Brad's chips, though.) So are you wondering if it was worth it? ABSOLUTELY! The chips were AMAZING! Next time I'm going to try making kale chips. I'll let you know what happens!
Video will post tomorrow
Cool! I've missed reading your life; glad you're back.
ReplyDelete(BTW, Brad's a friend of mine- His aunt Joyce and his sister Pam are 2 of my closest friends, and he lives right up the road. His chips are great (try the beet chips! My faves!) but I certainly can't afford 'em either!
Aw, thanks Suzan. :) So funny, it's such a small world. I love his chips...they are so good. I will try the beet chips! So sorry I haven't posted the yogurt video...trying to do that today.
ReplyDelete