There are many aspects of living a fulfilling, fun life and one important element is your health and physical well-being. How else can you live the exciting ride of your life if you don’t take care of your body?
In this article, I share a story of an individual I believe is doing a tremendous job in raising awareness about the food we eat to contribute to a better life for yourself, your loved ones, and the rest of humanity.
Recently I came across the award speech for TED Prize winner Jamie Oliver. The speech inspired me to the point of tears.
Jamie Oliver is a chef from the UK who is somewhat of a media mogul. He has TV shows, many best-selling books, a magazine, kitchen products and many other creative pursuits.
He is very passionate about saving the health of humanity with his Food Revolution project. This project is tackling the global epidemic of obesity, heart disease and other diseases caused from our modern lifestyle.
He is starting the Food Revolution in the U.S. with hopes that if he can inspire America to change, America can then lead the rest of the world to change. It’s all about community, health and living a long happy life.
His mission is:
“I wish for everyone to help create a strong, sustainable movement to educate every child about food, inspire families to cook again and empower people everywhere to fight obesity.” -Jamie Oliver TED 2010
Please watch the inspiring video below and I hope it inspires you to take action in your own lives and the lives of those you care about. Enjoy!
When finished please share with everyone you think may be interested by using the features below the post. For more information about Jamie Oliver, check out his website at www.jamieoliver.com and his many books.
Instead of waiting until you ‘have more time’ or ‘have more money’ you can do simple daily actions that help you change the world while also benefiting yourself with feeling happier every day.
So, let’s combine the two thoughts – By practicing random acts of kindness and the other simple actions discussed in the Change the World book, you can help change the world while also naturally feeling happier each day. (great concept, right?)
It was written by We Are What We Do, a nonprofit organization aiming to inspire every day people to change the world through simple actions. The book has 50 actions that are easy to do during a regular day.
In this article which is organized in three parts, I discuss the steps in creating a vision binder, intention list, and a regular manifestation practice to create the life you want.
Part 1: The process of creating the Vision Binder.
One of the greatest things you can do to imagine and create your ideal life is to create a vision board (or actually a vision binder as I will discuss!).
A vision board is essentially a canvas of images that remind you of the life you want for yourself. We first learned about this from watching The Secret and hearing John Assaraf talk about the importance of visualization.
Many great teachers explain how to do this. They tell you to create a large board you can look at and meditate to often that contains visual images of ideas and/or objects you want or desire in your life.
This all makes sense in theory but for us there were a couple logistical problems.
Problem #1
You are supposed to keep your desires to yourself or, at most, to yourself and your close partner/husband/friend. If you show your visions to others your ego becomes involved and that is exactly what you want to avoid. Having your ego involved means your goals are no longer about what you truly want; it becomes what you want to show other people you are or have.
For us, this meant that anytime we had people over (which we like to do often) we had to take our vision boards off the wall. To make matters worse we had two cork boards each, so four total (we have a big vision, lol). This was very cumbersome and you feel that you are blocking your visions by turning them backwards to hide them from others (and yourself).
This could be different if you have an extremely private bedroom in which there is no way anyone other than yourself and your partner would walk into your bedroom.
However, there are still exceptions to when people would still have to enter your bedroom such as maintenance people or friends/relatives that like tours of your home.
Problem #2
Once vision boards are filled they are filled and you are out of space, unless of course you add another board.
We all know that maintaining our health is an important part of life. If you feel tired or sick, it is hard to conquer your dreams each day and live a fulfilling life.
To help maintain our health, we make fruit smoothies with our Vita-Mix blender almost every day. We have been using our Vita-Mix almost daily for 3 1/2 years (except when traveling).
These smoothies jump start our day with energizing vitamins and taste fantastic. We have experimented with many different lifestyles including veganism and one constant that has always stuck with us is our smoothies.
There are many other things you can do with a Vita-Mix besides making fruit smoothies such as creating instant fresh soups. However, right now our primary use is to make morning smoothies.
Photo Copyright Terrah Lozano 'Man with Cashew Fruit' Canoa Quebrada, Brazil
We use the Vita-Mix instead of other blenders as part of our overall health consciousness because it does the following:
Better Health: The Vita-Mix breaks through the cell walls better than your teeth can to release the hidden nutrition in whole foods. Research has shown that when you break down the cell walls of your foods, more nutrients are released into the blood stream.
Fast: It takes 60 seconds to make whole food juices and smoothies, 4 minutes for hot fresh soups, and 30 seconds for healthy frozen treats.
Flavor: The Vita-Mix completely pulverizes whole foods to release full flavor. This means you don’t have to add sugar, salt, or other condiments to make the meals taste good.
The initial investment of a Vita-Mix seems a bit pricey. We thought the same at first. However, Elliot, being of an analytical mind, wanted to know for certain, so he did a data analysis.
This analysis compared the costs of purchasing the necessary ingredients to make a smoothie at home compared to a retail smoothie shop.
He found a price difference of 4 to 1 per smoothie with the Vita-Mix being 4 times cheaper to make at home versus buying at a retail smoothie shop.
This shows that the machine will pay for itself in no time in terms of cost savings by spending less in the long run and increased nutrition for your and your family’s health.
We have used ours almost daily for 3 1/2 years now and there have been no problems with the machine malfunctioning or breaking down. And, even if it did, the Vita-Mix comes with a 7-year warranty.
So go ahead and purchase a Vita-Mix. We have recommended it to many family members, who have since purchased it themselves and are also enjoying the many benefits.
It even makes a great gift. One family member actually bought one for their son after we recommended it to them initially.
Also try the recipes below and let us know what creations you come up with! All recipes below are good for vegans as well.
In this article, I provide some insights in the form of life lessons I learned from my travel experiences. Travel to me is a vital component of living a fulfilling life experiencing the world.
You probably know someone who has spoken about having a travel experience. It might be you, it might be your son or daughter, or someone else close to you. I hope through writing about my experience it enables you to approach this conversation from a different view.
If you are hesitant and afraid of allowing yourself or your loved ones to travel, please be open to obtain a new perspective of the life experience you or they could gain from it. The hesitations and fears will never be eliminated, but through proper research and education, I hope that you are able to contain them. One such program that I utilized that may help contain your fears was i-to-i.
A little background information…
During my junior year of college, I did a 6-month study abroad program in Europe where I was based in Rotterdam, Holland. When not studying, I would travel and spend my time in several countries including Ireland, England, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Spain, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Hungary, Turkey, Denmark, and Holland. I thoroughly enjoyed the unique cultures of each of these countries and it was then that I came down with the ‘travel bug.’
Everyone should have an experience like this in their lifetime, especially while in college. It should actually be a required experience because it is a real eye opener to look at your life from a different, outside view perspective.
You re-think everything and learn to follow your heart. This is a great characteristic to have while going through life. This study abroad experience, for me, was the start of a never ending travel bug that, like many others with similar experiences, will never go away (thankfully).
After my initial study abroad experience, I completed several more trips including going back to Turkey and visiting Mexico. However, after all this, I wanted a unique experience. I came across the prospect of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) and a company that offered a quick way for me to get this certification by doing my training online. This company was i-to-i.
Photo Copyright Terrah Lozano 'Sarong of a Brazilian Flag' Salvador, Brazil
Through i-to-i, I immediately completed all the requirements including TEFL certification, several inoculations, visa work, red cross CPR training and many other travel related tasks. (Seem a bit overwhelming? Don’t worry because i-to-i provided a checklist depending on the country and program you chose to get it all done.) I then decided to enroll in one of the volunteer programs offered through i-to-i.
In late summer of 2004, I was off to Brazil for an 8-week volunteer experience teaching English to Brazilian teenagers. I had also scheduled in an extra few months of solitary travel afterwards (which I recommend for you as well) in which I traveled around the vast country of Brazil visiting its towns including Olinda, Jericoaracoara, Recife, Joao Pessoa, Salvador, Lencois, Ilheus, Rio De Janeiro, and many others along the way.
Like all travels, my experience in Brazil led to many unexpected turns including discovering a favela (a Brazilian slum) in which the community lived and thrived on a landfill. I was able to visit this community as a side project each week to visit the children and bring food. These experiences were incredibly humbling and can never be replaced.
Now, here are 13 life lessons I gained from my i-to-i travel experience:
Walking away from your daily life gives you an opportunity to really find who you are and what your passions truly are.
I have the opportunity to get to know something new about myself each time I travel. When you are experiencing something new you see yourself in a new light. You enjoy things you maybe never saw yourself enjoying and this is how you find your passions. You are able to look inward and find yourself.
