A Spiritual War for Freedom and Peace

So last night I had the joy of experiencing Matisyahu and the Flobots from the FRONT ROW in the pit of Club Nokia. It was an amazingly spiritual experience unique to the dynamic of these bands (Chester French played too, but they seemed out of place and I wasn’t too fond of their music).

I’ve only ever heard the Flobots Handlebars song on the radio so I wasn’t too sure what to expect from their music. Boy was I blown away. It was like Rage Against The Machine had a group of little brothers and passed the torch, teaching them how to rock the politico of this era. Their messages were positive and their lyrics were well informed sparking the hope of change for the better. They spoke of fighting this war with our god given tools and talents, like true artistic soldiers!

Matisyahu’s spiritualism and depth gave power and solidity to the hope Flobots instilled in the crowd. The talent of him and his band never ceases to amaze me. He also had many very talented guests perform tidbits with him, including Mackenzie, the bad ass (hottie) fiddler from Flobots. She impressively worked the crowd with pure talent, free of any show stopping antics. Moved by Matisyahu, I couldn’t help but keep my hands in the air, absorbing his positive vibes. His music is like feeling rays of sunshine on your face through a cool breeze. Closing my eyes, as the stage lights poured over the audience, I couldn’t help but feel as though I was transported to a field, with the sun beating down on me, and all of the crowd seemed to fade away (even though the sold out house was jam packed and I got my ass touched more times in one night than in all my dating years). Matis’s power is truly a god given talent and I am thankful that I got to share that with each an every one of the people in the theatre that night.

Venture into the Green Smoothie Wilderness

Ok, so I've heard great things about how a raw foods diet can completely bring a "dead" thyroid back to full-functioning life, and figuring that mine is only borderline off, it should work for me too. SO I committed myself to a 80-90% raw lunch everyday. While exploring more and more of the raw food life online, I kept running into these things called Green Smoothies. It is basically a smoothie made up of some type of leafy green food (kale, chard, spinach, dandelion greens, beet tops, romaine, etc) plus fruits and maybe veggies (like carrots because their juice is sweet and tasty). Some of the most common fruits I've seen added to these smoothies are: oranges, lemons, limes, bananas, and mixed berries; but I've been told (or rather, I read) that you can use most anything tasty, including apples, peaches, mangos, grapes, plums, and so on. Also, the addition of avocados, ground flax seeds, and cold pressed olive oil can add healthy fats. I thought if I can get that much fresh, raw produce into my diet with only one smoothie, what've I got to lose? I made my first smoothie with some oranges, kale, lemon, and banana. I downed it for breakfast. It was rather tasty and surprisingly filling. I had one each morning for the next couple of days, along with my 80-90% raw lunch.

After reading more about these green smoothies, I learned that many people do what is called a 7-day Green Smoothie Fast. This inundates their system with antioxidants and pure raw goodness allowing for a (mostly) complete detox. I figured if I'm having them in the morning and other people are drinking them all day, then why can't I have them for dinner too? So I did. And it was great. I have never slept better and I wake up much more refreshed in the morning. Also, after a few days of doing this, I don't even need to drink tea in the morning to wake myself up!

I have had a couple of Green-Smoothie mishaps, which is to be expected. One night I added a little bit of everything into a smoothie. It tasted great, but there was enough to make 4 smoothies! I ended up refrigerating the left overs and drinking them the next morning, but they don't recommend doing that because the greens begin to lose their high oxygen content almost immediately. But considering the alternative (wasting the left over smoothie and having something else for breakfast), I figured I'd just drink the 12 hour old greens. I added an extra banana in the morning for good measure. This morning, I only had 2 apples and a lemon left, along with a little orange juice. I added these things in with my water and greens and, though it tasted good, the acidity was so high that the back of my throat started to burn halfway through it and I had to throw it out. Cest la vie. Next time I'll be sure to have plenty of bananas handy because they seem to balance the acidity of the drinks quite well. : )

Thyroid Android

So I've been diagnosed with Thyroid Disease (along with 11 million other Americans). I am the HYPOthyroid type, which apparently means my thyroid is underproducing OR not enough of the T4 is being turned into T3 - an iodine issue. My doctor insists I go to the nuclear department of a hospital to get an Iodine Uptake Scan. From what I understand, you swallow a small dose of RADIOACTIVE iodine. Ok, so my body is not functioning properly and you want me to put something radioactive inside of it? Ah, the brilliance of western medicine. But it's safe, they insist. In fact, it's so safe you have to sign a consent form stating that you understand that cellular damage can take place, even from the small radioactive dose they plan to give you. And it takes 24 hours for you to pee it all out, so it has 24 hours to work its destructive magic on your body. Not to mention that when you do pee you have to wash your hands more thoroughly than you ever have before so you don't become some pariah of radioactivity, spreading it to everyone and everything you touch. Its like the creation of a comic book hero...it all started with a simple radioactive iodine scan, but after her cat got some radioactive pee splahshed on it during a horrible trucking accident he became RINGO THE WONDER KITTY! Faster than a speeding bullet, strong enough to stop trains, equipped with ESP! That'd be kind of cool. Maybe I will go get the test, haha.