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Yesterday was the 10th day of the Laziness trial.  I spent it all day in the city with friends.  We walked about 5 miles plus and my feet were killing me, but it was fun.  We went to a bakery called babycakes.  It took 4 miles of walking to get there (that was the bulk of it), but it was totally worth it.  They had all of the best baked goods I’ve ever had.  Best corn bread, best cupcakes, BEST cinnamon buns (they called them skinny buns).  The brownies were excellent too, but a little rich for my taste.  And the best part?  It was all vegan and wheat free.  They even had stuff that was gluten free.  And there was no granulated white sugar, it was mostly all sweetened with agave.  Everything was sweet, moist, and delicious.  I encourage anyone who can get there to GO.  Totally worth it.  Next time I’ll be taking the subway, though.

During this trial I’ve exercised almost everyday and now I want to do it.  I think being vegan has something to do with it because I feel lighter and better overall.  Plus, forcing myself into action has helped keep me going.  Today might be the first day I take a break from cardio exercise though because my feet are still a little in pain.  That’s okay though, cause its a weight day.

The house got a little messy, which I think shouldn’t have happened if I’m no being lazy.  However, we have company over so that makes it a little more difficult.  Either way, its no excuse and I should have kept things neater.

Overall I think the trial was a success.  I am less lazy than I was before.  I’ve been very busy, so I haven’t been able to get to all my different chores everyday, but I’ve never spent a whole day sitting around doing almost nothing, so its progress.

I quit the other job I got because of the distance it took to travel and the fact that it wasn’t worth what I was being paid.  I have two other opportunities lined up, though, so I’m still okay.  I’m also going ahead with volunteering for the local First Aid and Rescue Squad, because I really want to do that.

Another thing that happened was the separation of a long commitment.  In other words, my significant other and I have decided to be just friends.  I wouldn’t find that appropriate to include that here except for the fact that I feel like it was something we had coming for a while, and now it is finished.  Just another thing that was “done” during this trial.

To keep myself going, I want to continue another trial.  However, but the 6th or 7th day of this trial I sort of forgot I was on one.  I was just on autopilot at that point.  So, I wonder if another trial is even necessary?  Still, just to be on the safe side,  I’m going to initiate another laziness trial.  However, I need to change the rules.

Rule #1:  The house must stay clean.  If something needs cleaning and I have honestly nothing more important to do at that moment, I must do it.  Most things I have on my list to do are more important than cleaning, but then it never gets done.  That must be taken care of.

Rule #2:  I must go outside on every sunny day.  I say this because I don’t get enough sun and because I want to start exercising outside.  Also, I just need to get out of the house.  “Going out” counts as a walk, sitting in the sun, or even driving somewhere like the mall or movies.  Just so long as I get out.

Rule #3:  I need to reconnect with friends, and make new ones.  I’m a really bad friend because I won’t call people usually.  I’ve been “too lazy”, as you know.  So that is something I need to work on for this next trial.

Rule #4:  I need to find a steady, satisfying source of income.  I have at least three options open to me, I just need to follow through.

I think that’s enough for now.  Those are mostly things I’m already working on but haven’t made a point to actually do.  Not too much of a burden too fast.

So the next ten day trial starts tomorrow.  For today I’m going to clean up as best I can.  I won’t give updates this time unless I find another strategy that I need to use and works well.  After the first few days my only strategy has been to write down everything I need to do in a day, and pick which ones are high priority.  I’ve kept with that the whole time.  At the end, I’ll give you an update to see how it went, if I stuck with my goals and if I had to use any strategies to get there (in addition to the list making).

Lia Cross

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There is a lot of confusion about osteoporosis. Most people think that if you take a calcium supplement you’ll be okay. However, not only will this not help, but it is totally disregarding the other side: negative prevention.

Allow me to explain. You must not only take a positive step towards preventing osteoporosis (in many peoples’ cases, adding a calcium supplement), you must also take a negative step towards preventing it (as in, taking something away).

However, what could we possibly take away that would prevent osteoporosis? After all, what causes it is a lack of calcium density in the bones, not too much. Taking things away will only lead to more of a deficiency, right?

While this logic may seem pretty basic, almost like 1+1=2, 1-1=0. If you take away from the equation, you take away from the solution. However, with health it is not that simple. There is something called the acid-alkaline balance that I would like to bring to your attention.

Human blood and urine are meant to be slightly alkaline (about 8 pH). Very few liquids in the human body are meant to be acidic, the most obvious being stomach acid. Our bodies maintain homeostasis, so your stomach acid alway remains acidic (a pH of 1) and your blood remains alkaline. However, our urine tends to change to slightly acidic to slightly alkaline depending on the food we eat, since it gets expelled this way. Testing urine pH is very telling to what is going on in the body.

Now, because the body is constantly creating homeostasis, many people want to call the acid-alkaline theory bunk. I assure you that it is not. The argument goes that if the body maintains homeostasis, then we don’t need to worry about what we eat because this balance never changes. They would be correct in one respect: our bodies do a good job and do keep things relatively equal. The process does, however, come at a price.

I will now explain why our urine pH is to telling as to what is going on inside of us. When we eat an acidic food and it is broken down and sent to our blood stream, our blood must respond by making the pH alkaline again. How it does this is similar to how someone with heartburn takes Tums to lessen their stomach acid. The body takes calcium and pumps it into the blood to create homeostasis again. There is always calcium in your blood. However, your body needs to store it sometimes, and where do you think your body stores calcium? That’s right, your bones. And every time you eat an acidic food, that calcium leaches from your bones into your blood to create homeostasis again. So, when you eat acidic food, you leach calcium through your urine and are in fact losing calcium, not gaining it.

Some acidic foods are touted for their high calcium content. However, this calcium is almost always (if not always) difficult to absorb and is itself passed out of the body. In short, the amount of calcium you may obtain from an acidic food in no way makes up for the calcium it leaches from your body. Keep in mind, not all calcium is equal. There are foods out there that contain perfect types and quantities of calcium for us.

Here’s the real question: What’s acidic? What must I stay away from to prevent calcium leaching from my bones? What should I eat so I can get adequate and easy to absorb calcium?

The answer: The most acidic foods are none other than the amazing dairy and meat that (not counting actual acids like vinegar) we all love so much. Add to this list eggs, fish (in case you weren’t counting it in meat) and other creatures of the ocean, and its pretty safe to say that anything that comes from an animal is best left alone.

And foods that are alkaline and good for us? Fruits, leafy greens and pretty much all vegetables. We get plenty of calcium from all of these things, in its natural state and ready for our bodies to absorb. Eating in this way will bring our urine pH to the alkaline side, which shows that inside our body our blood is not being rampaged by acidic food.

The short of it is to eat less animal products and more fruits and tender leafy greens/vegetables (preferably raw) if you want to avoid osteoporosis. Stay away from calcium supplements because they are honestly just a waste of money and can harm you by taxing your kidneys to detox all of the extra, difficult to absorb nutrients. A tell-tale sign is that if your urine is yellow (or anything other than mostly clear), you are leaching nutrients and should reconsider the foods and supplements you are taking. If you leach vitamins and minerals, then your food or supplements aren’t doing you any good.

Lia Cross

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Alright, I know that not every country that’s held the Olympics is by any means perfect.  Yet this doesn’t mean that we should allow bad things to happen anywhere, especially where an event is held that symbolizes brotherhood and peace.  If you would like to ask President Bush to put pressure on China to fix their human rights record, please click here:

Protect human rights in China.

Thanks.

Lia Cross

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Today I was awoken at 11AM by a call that told me I got the job. That being the case, I had a very energizing start on the day. I got up immediately and fed my dog, as well as cleaned up in the kitchen. I went on to do more chores but lets see what I had planned for the day first.

Must do:

-Cat litter.

-Pet room.

-Clean around house.

-Shower.

-Print volunteer form (and fill out some of it).

-Call relative.

-Call for a couch.

-Blog.

-Research.

Might do:

-Make something for Sunday.

-Exercise.

-Put Gas in the car (or, better yet, convert it to solar! I wish.)

Extra:

-Garden.

-Wash sheets / towels.

-Check email.

Its 3:30 now, and so far I’ve: Cleaned the cat litter and in the pet room, cleaned around the house, called about the couch, showered, printed and filled out the volunteer form, did a little research, gardened, and checked my email. I didn’t call my relative because I saw that her car was gone, and this meant that our plans were canceled anyway because she was at work. I anticipate exercising later. I also anticipate getting a couch, but I’m waiting for the person who owns it to get back to me.

So far I got all my chores done. I would like to do more research though, so I’ll keep that in mind throughout the day if I ever want to sit down and do some mental work. My research has been going somewhat slow but I’m just glad that its going at all. Some is better than none. I can do better, yes, but for now I am satisfied. I suppose thats a lazy person’s perspective but its an improvement from how I was before. Maybe if I continue for another ten days I’ll set limits for how little I can get away with in certain areas.

I’m beginning to notice just how little time it takes to do my chores. My house-mate even showed me a way how to make some of them go faster. I find I can get a lot done that needs to be done, but then I slow down with the other things that I don’t feel are quite as necessary, but are still important (like my research). I’m passionate about it, but when it gets right down to it I find my mental clarity is wanting. A resolve to this would be a raw diet, but for now I’m satisfied sticking with vegan. Raw vegan is the goal, and I’m confident I am working my way there.

More later.

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There wasn’t much that I did the rest of the day.  I never got in contact with the man with the couch, so I didn’t go to get it.  I ate a little, watched some TV, spoke with my father to sort out some things, and found a doctor to go to for a physical I need for a volunteer position.  I’d rather go to a holistic practitioner but I’m fairly certain they won’t accept any evaluation from an alternative doctor.  No worries, though, as its just a physical and I won’t let them push any drugs on me, or vaccines, and hopefully no blood work if the exam doesn’t require it.

I finished absolutely everything I had to do today, but unfortunately almost nothing that I didn’t have to do.  That being said, it seems I am just barely skirting by on this un-lazy challenge rather than pushing myself forward.  I will be satisfied with that for now, but after some things settle down in this new “hectic” lifestyle of mine, I’ll be forced to push myself harder, perhaps for another trial.

So far things are going better than they were before.  That being the case, this trial is thus far a success.  Its not mold-breaking, but it is giving me new insight.

I have not been employing any real strategies to get these results, I just find myself more motivated.  I wake in the morning and get things done, then I have all day to relax. I find that when I feel that I have free time, I am more likely to add responsibilities, such as this new job and volunteering.  Unfortunately I usually push myself too far, too fast in these positions, so I am glad to be taking it slow.

From now on I will not be blogging daily about the trial, since things seem to have neutralized.  I am not using any new strategies and I am not learning anything new.  If I do I will make sure to mention it.  For right now, though, I plan to update on the last day to give an overview of how things went.

Lia Cross 

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Last night I exercised by lifting weights, only for a minute though. I wanted to use a new treadmill we got, but I didn’t have the key (it was left at the home of the relative who discarded the machine). Hopefully today I can get on that instead.

This morning I didn’t sleep nearly as late as yesterday, although I’m pretty sure that’s because there was a dog barking outside from relatively early (I’m not sure of the time but it was still mostly dark out, so maybe 5AM?) up until recently (its 1:30 PM). I woke at 11 AM. I feel pretty awake, but perhaps not entirely refreshed. I went to bed last night with a lot of digested food in my gut, which made me feel very uncomfortable and caused me to wake at least once. The thing is, although I did eat late, I knew this was food from around 6PM. I guess the timing was right but next time I won’t eat so much around the same time.

Anyway, after waking I got some things done, but I wasted too much time on the computer. By “wasting time” I mean that I was reading the news, which really isn’t a waste, but it still wasn’t getting done many things I need to do.

For today…

Must do:

-Interview after 4pm.

-Clean in pet room (this I more or less promised to do today, with or without help).

-Blog (I’m even doing 2 today!)

-Research.

-Write a resume.

Might do:

-Clean around house.

-Exercise.

-E-mail

-Make something for someone.

Extra:

-Shower.

I know a shower shouldn’t really be “extra”, but I have so much other stuff to do that I just tacked it on there. Chances are I’ll get that done, but… just noting that at this point its secondary.

So far I’ve:

-Checked email.

-Made the resume.

-Cleaned up a bit in the kitchen.

-Blogged once.

-Cleaned the cat litter.

-Researched.

I want to wait until after my interview to clean in the pet room, and to exercise, so I’m not gross beforehand. Well, I could shower of course, but then I’d have to do my hair which makes more work in the long run. Besides, there’s plenty of time after the interview to get that all done.

So far with the research I’ve actually done very little. Only a few pages. I just can’t get myself into the groove. I would like to exercise to wake up more, perhaps to help become more focused, but as I said already I don’t want to get sweaty. I wasn’t anticipating waking so early, so I have more time than I estimated. This is good, of course, except for the fact that my interview is so late and a lot of the things I have to do are best saved until after.

Or, I could just be making excuses. That’s more likely. Still, short of pushing myself to do stuff I don’t want to, I think my best bet is to wait to exercise and clean after the interview when I’ll be sort of hyper from the whole experience and wanting to work off adrenaline. So, it seems energy saving to wait. I’ll save my energy now for the interview and use the momentum from after to do more work.

In saving energy I’ve ventured to do more research, but I still only get done paragraphs at a time. Its a little sad. I’m considering napping for a little bit, but I think that would be counter productive. Also, the dog is barking again. I could make that something that I need to for a family member. In fact, that’s a good idea. The question is, will I do it now? Who knows.

It seems laziness is creeping back in on me. Perhaps this morning will be a lazy one. But I still anticipate this evening to be energetic and worthwhile. For now, though, I’m going to work on visualizing success at my interview, and how exactly I’m going to make my offer on rate of pay.

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From the last post to about 3pm I took a nap. I felt good after but, honestly, it wasn’t necessary. I would have rather had exercised and then showered, but I’ve already outlined why I didn’t do that.

The interview went well, and as promised when I got back I cleaned the pet room with the help of my house-mate. It really needed it. I also did something else that I was planning on saving for tomorrow.

What I didn’t do was exercise or shower, but I will probably exercise before this night is up. I may even do more research as I sort of skimped on that today out of tiredness.

Overall, truth be told, it was a pretty lazy day. I think my nervousness for my interview sort of kicked me down a few notches. Still, I got done the one thing that REALLY did need to be done, so I am satisfied. I feel ready for tomorrow and getting all my chores done and maintaining the cleanliness of my home.

Lia Cross

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