What Being Vegetarian Taught Me

Over the past 30 days, 31 to be exact I have been vegetarian. Further, vegetarian in China—if you’ve ever been or lived in China you understand the difficulty. Why did I become a vegetarian you ask? Well, like all great experiences in my life it started off as a dare.  Yes, a dare! One of my classmates, a vegetarian, dared me to be vegetarian for one whole month, I will not disclose what the bet was, just know it was a good one 😉 . My love for bets and dares lead me to an eye opening experience that I will share with all of you.

 

1. Not succumbing to peer pressure

Being in university is also harder. When you are constantly surrounded by your peers who would say “No one will know”, “1 month is too long”, “Just have a little” the temptation can overcome you. For me, I had to tune out all the outside pressure and focus on my goal.

2. Sticking to your convictions

Honey we all came into this world an original, don’t make it turn you into a copy. Just imagine if we all stuck with our beliefs. A good tip I learnt was switching from “I can’t” to “I won’t” By saying “I won’t” it gives you the power and backs your conviction. “I can’t” makes your goal a punishment, which will ultimately make you fail.

3. Being comfortable standing out

This one was definitely a big one in China. Meat is everywhere and growing up in the U.S. south I have seen my share of meat, but nothing like China has to offer. You will most likely get a look of confusion when you say no meat.

4. Empathy

I can admit, I was one of those people that would ask vegetarians, vegans…why they would even consider going meatless. But boy oh boy, when you’ve walked in the shoes of someone else you can begin to understand the other half A LOT better. Stop picking on my vegetarians         :p!

5. Accepting isolation

When you go out for lunch or dinner you have to know the crowd you will be eating with. Sometimes I wouldn’t go out for dinner or lunch with my meat eating friends because there would be no vegetarian options. At the same time, it was great having meals with my veggies (shout out to my veggie crew).

6. Power of habits

I can tell you, in the beginning it was really hard. I was nearly about to stop the first week. However, after the second week it seemed like a breeze. That’s even the reason at day 31 I am still a vegetarian. I challenge everyone, set a goal and do it for 1 month (Everyday), and it will become a habit.

7. You have the power to influence

My friend’s dare influenced me, and he was able to involve others in the dare as well. Some of my other classmates have also gone vegetarian and tried for 1 week, 2 weeks, and even reaching my 1 month.

 

So, will you try going vegetarian, what will you do this month?

Move Over Green Tea; Hello Roobios Tea

Move over Green tea, the African Roobios tea will give you a run for your money when it comes to health benefits it provides. Studies have shown that it even has 50% more antioxidants than green tea.

Roobios tea is popular in South Africa and many other African nations. This red tea is grown from a shrub found in Cape Town, South Africa; here are some of its health benefits:

1. Great for skin-It will help to improve blemishes, acne, and other skin conditions. This really works you can even try to put the tea bag directly to your problem area!
2. Heart Protector: Roobios tea contains numerous antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties that helps to protect your heart.
3. Caffeine free: Anyone can drink it and no need to chemically process it to remove the caffeine!
4. High concentration of zinc- Zinc is important to speed up your metabolism..always good to have
5. Packed with iron- Low iron can make you tired and depressed.
6. Aids in sleep- Just like chamomile  it’s known to help in sleep, many Africans use Roobios before bed, as it has a calming and relaxing effect.
7. Protects your brain: Drinking roobios tea regular can help to fight free radicals that damage your brain cells and lead to Alzheimers disease.
8. High Magnesium- Ladies if you suffer from severe cramps, a boost in magnesium can help relieve those painful cramps.

source: Underground Health

Want to be healthy, skip the gym

You must be surprised by the title, someone is saying not to exercise? Well, this is not entirely the case. I know many people who will go to the gym for two hours a day ,and then thats their exercise for the entire day. They will sit at home and they will continue to sit at work. However, the time spent at the gym should not be the primary form of your activity, but an added activity.

If there is something I learnt from this region is that you do not need gyms to gain strength or fitness. All day people walk or ride their bikes to school, to work, to the store. A constant day of activity will continuously make you stronger and healthier. In Rwanda for instance government and public workers have half day Fridays to concentrate on exercising and sports. Now most people do not have gym memberships, so what do they do? Many will walk around town or walk from their work place to home or ride their bikes. Being healthy and fit is a priority for the governments because they understood that it would keep their employees healthier and healthcare stronger. For this reason, there’s a strong culture of healthy living and daily exercising (maybe not in the form we know in the west with gyms) but continuos activity.

Heres some tips

1. If you can walk or take a bike to work, do it

2. Try to have a standing desk

3. Start with 30 mins a day walking around your neighborhood, bring a friend!

4. Go for a hike

5. If you’re watching television, stand during the commercials then move to stand the entire time

Just be continuously active!

Eat African, Live Longer: Millet

Have you ever heard of Millet? Millet is staple in most African diets, it can be eaten as a porridge, bread, dessets etc. However unlike the bread found in western diets Millet is gluten-free, wheat-free, diary free, peanut-free, and kosher certified. Its benefits are endless and have been used by many to lose weight! Here are some of the other amazing benefits found in Millet.

1. High fiber- able to relieve constipation
2. Serotonin- millet contains calming components to better your mood
3. Reduces blood sugar-unlike wheat with its high glyxemc index, so its great for diabetics!
4. Detoxifying agent- has many antioxidants that clean out the toxins found in your body
5. High Magnesium- high levels of magnesium in diets tend to relieve menstruation cramps, increase mood, better digestion, prevents diabetes.

Eat African Live Longer: 50% Veggies

The African diet is rich in vegetables and fruits. Heres a tip: when you are filling your plate with food make sure half of the plate is filled with vegetables. This way you will get fuller and eat less calories. Once you are done and you still crave food just keep adding vegetables and soon you will be satisfied. Im someone who mindlessly eat even when Im full I continue eating. So, this way of eating has helped me fight the bulge.

Bon Appetite

Kanna Herb Relieves Anxiety and Stress

The Kanna herb has been used by South Africans for centuries to relieve anxiety and stress. As you may know stress can lead to numerous health concerns. Once you take Kanna you will feel a suppression of your anxiety and elevated mood. But its important to know many people sell faux-kanna so make sure you receive it from a reputable supplier.

Kanna is also great for those who have high blood pressure due to stress. If you have bad anxiety it might be best to look at this herb and its benefits for your specific concern, its great because it’s a natural alternative to those harsh medications!

Series: Eat African, Live Longer – The African Groundnut Amazing Benefits

The African groundnut (or peanut) is usually made into a sauce, unlike the west, where peanuts are used mostly as a butter. The sauce is usually put on rice or meats or matooke (a traditional Ugandan food). I personally love groundnut sauce. Anytime I make rice, you know the groundnut sauce is being made as well. Here are some of its benefits:

So, you might want to incorporate this African item into you diet.

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Product Review: Esse Products

So I love everything about this company and their products are amaziggles. Esse is a south African company, they use African plants to create various skin products. On their site you can view products by skin concern :dryness, aging, pigmentation, acne, and so much more. They are one of the leading skin care product lines in South Africa and all their products are organic. They do this because they have the strong belief that human skin reacts better to natural organisms found on our planet than “manufactured chemicals”. The whole premise makes sense and their products speak for themselves.

My personal favorite is the cleanser and I give this a high Afri-rating! Can someone get this for me for my birthday its coming up ^_^.

What you should be taking for a whiter smile

If you’ve read my blog before, you know that I am a strong believer that diet is the number one contributor to your overall health. When it comes to the health of your teeth, this statement is an important rule to follow. By drinking cokes and eating sugary foods it can deteriorate the enamel and turn those pearly whites to gloomy yellows. Living in east Africa I noticed that the overall health of my teeth was getting better. Whether it was the lack of access to sugary drinks or a decrease in processed foods, I knew something had affected this change. It was not until my friend had asked me “Why do Africans have such pearly white teeth when there is a high poverty rate”?

In all honesty I had noticed this before but never really thought about it. In the western world we are exposed to all the latest technology to improve our smiles. Yet we can see the poorest people with the best teeth. This goes to show that diet plays a major factor, not economic status. So, the question I wanted to figure out is which foods really allow for healthier teeth.

The answer to this is the orange monster itself, carrots. We usually think of milk and yogurt being the recipes to whiter teeth, but think again! Yes ladies and gentlemen the carrot is a natural whitener. It’s a plus for me since I find carrots everywhere here. It seems like every restaurant has carrot juice, carrot as a side dish, it’s a carrot frenzy!

Eat up my fellow bugs bunnies!

What is the Afri-Diet?

While this is labeled a diet, it really is not a typical “diet”, where you cut calories or do anything extreme. All its doing is changing the way you eat. When I moved to East Africa from the States, my diet completely changed and for the better.

In the west we are all concerned about the food pyramid, over the years we have seen some changes to it. What I have learnt is the food pyramid can  be revamped. This is how the food pyramid is compared to the Afri-Diet.

Figure 1: USDA Food Pyramid                                                                                Figure 2: Afri-Diet

 

What do you notice? Instead of focusing on grains like the food pyramid does (in the western world corn is king) the afri-diet focuses on vegetables and fruits being the most important item in our diets. Vegetables and fruits make up 50% of what you eat followed by beans,tuber, grains at 30% and finally meats,dairy,oils at 20% of your diet. Its all about fresh foods pushing away from “box” type products. I’ve provided you with a sample afri-diet meal to revamp your health! There are so many varieties to choose from so I will be putting up different daily meals for you to see.

Monday:

Breakfast

• 2 slices of watermelon
• 2 slices of papaya
• one banana
• 2 slices of pineapple
• Green Tea

Lunch

• Brown Beans
• Mushroom and peas
• Plantains (non-fried)
• Rice

Dinner

• Broccoli, carrots with beef stew
  • (Try not to eat carbs at night)

Snacks: Eat nuts, fresh fruit, or yogurt.

As you can see it’s a full meal it’s all about eating fresh! For beginners: I don’t want you to even focus on portions, just completely take out non-fresh items. Do this for a week. Then begin to look at your portions; I’ll give you some tips later on.