by rupareiki@yahoo.com | Sep 25, 2018 | Compassion, Cruelty Free, Diet and Weight Loss, Guilt Free, Health Tips, Recipes, Sugar Free, Vegan
Vegan- Cruelty Free- Sugar Free- GUILT Free- Animal Loving- Easy- Healthy- Recipe for Breakfast or Dessert
Now how would you like it if I said you can eat this pudding made out of Chia seeds for dessert or for breakfast and its Sugar Free !!
Chia seeds are the tiny black seeds of the chia plant (Salvia hispanica). They are native to Mexico and Guatemala, and were a staple food for the ancient Aztecs and Mayans. “Chia” is the ancient Mayan word for “strength”. Chia seeds contain large amounts of fiber and omega-3 fatty acids, plenty of high quality protein, and several essential minerals and antioxidants. Enjoy the goodness of eating a healthy pudding without GUILT!! (Scroll through the recipe below)
Do You need some other recipes veganized? Leave me a comment below and I’ll make them Cruelty free for you. Enjoy spreading LOVE.
If the slides below don’t open try this link: CLICK HERE
by rupareiki@yahoo.com | Oct 22, 2017 | Health Tips, My Experiences, Self Esteem, Self Love, Yoga
My Journey to a headstand/ Sirshasan started in Dec 2015 when I was visiting my home town in India. I went with my sister to the Anti Gravity Yoga session and with use of the hammock I learned how to get inverted into headstand. It was difficult cause that was my first time ever being upside down and I was very glad that I was well supported with the hammock. I already knew that Sirshasan was the King of all poses and had a lot of benefits. But that day doing the inverted pose brought up a lot of fears I must have housed since forever.
First I’ll start with top 10 Benefits of doing the pose:
- Calms the brain and helps relieve stress and mild depression
- Increases focus
- Increases blood flow to eyes
- Stimulates the pituitary and pineal glands
- Strengthens the arms, legs, and spine
- Strengthens the lungs
- Tones the abdominal organs
- Improves digestion
- Helps relieve the symptoms of menopause
- Therapeutic for asthma, infertility, insomnia, and sinusitis
I had never tried headstand ever cause I was always afraid of being hurt, of my neck breaking, or my back breaking. I don’t remember doing it when I was young ever. May be I could start somewhere I thought to myself. May be I could start doing headstand with support of the wall. I started trying out the pose every weekend in the morning (first thing in the morning before I ate or drank anything). Frankly speaking even with the wall next to me I was afraid of doing the pose for quite some time. My regular practice of yoga along with increasing my upper body and core strength helped me a lot with having faith in myself and building my strength overall. I was finally able to get over the fear of breaking my neck but that again was with a strong wall next to me!
Well now that I felt stronger I had to achieve more. How do people do a headstand without support? How do they do it in the middle of the room? What kind of balance and strength do these people have? I had encountered such people when I attended a few classes at Sivananda ashram in Bahamas. I was amazed to see people from all walks of life just able to do it with ease and grace.
One of my close friend Aparna who teaches Yoga came to my rescue and taught me what to do. Her guidance helped me get to the next step. This step included trying to balance in the middle of the room on my head while getting my feet up half way. The picture below shows the progression of the headstand from one level to another along with the method to do the headstand.
She suggested I get to the half way position for about 3-4 months and not rush myself. I continued my regular work-outs while I added this practice to my routine. Some days were better than other. Some days I felt balanced mentally and it was easy to get to the half way headstand. March 2017 to August 2017 I continued to do what I was told. But now I wanted to get to the next level. I thought it would be a very easy transition. But alas, I had more fears to conquer.
Next step for me was to get over my fear of falling! Fear of falling on my back and hurting myself. This one again was a lot of mind work and I started with practicing a good way of falling. Falling with a pillow next to my head so I can roll over onto the pillow and not hurt my neck, head or my back. During the fall I was told to release the finger thread, with palms open, tuck my neck, round my back, bend my knees and roll out of it. Once I got over my fear of falling, I was able to try getting my legs straight up.
Took me a while and today 22nd October I can say I have finally gotten to that point of getting my feet straight up in a proper headstand/sirshasan. While the posture is not perfect I know now that I have gotten to a point where I am free of my fears related to this amazing pose! I am sure I will add more goals to refine this pose and hold this pose for longer times. But for now I am happy that I stayed with it and while it took long I didn’t give up.
In summary I want to say that this pose alone has helped me work through a lot of my own limitations and my own fears. It feels amazing today that my body is able to do what I set my mind to. The key to success was that I never gave up and continued to have faith that the day will come. All along I also always looked for support, motivation and teachers who I learned from. Even though it took almost 2 years the day did arrive and every single step was worth the effort and worth the struggle. I promise myself this journey will not end here, I will continue to explore a lot more difficult poses while I find some other fears, play with them and stretch my abilities. Going beyond my limitations set by me and freedom from fears is what I strive for every day!
**IMPORTANT** If you are new to Yoga I recommend you seek out a qualified instructor/teacher to teach you this pose. Learn how to do the pose appropriately and ensure you have support of the wall when you first get started. If you are suffering from low or high blood pressure you should not attempt this pose. Also consult your health care practitioner prior to trying new poses. Understand the limitations, restrictions and cautions associated with the inverted postures like sirshasan. Please assess your own personal health before trying the pose. Inverted pose in general should not be performed by women who are menstruating, as is the case with all inverted postures (where the legs are raise over the head).
by rupareiki@yahoo.com | Sep 25, 2017 | Health Tips, Love, My Experiences, Self Esteem, Self Love
During my walk on the trail today I became very present with the stream of water that was flowing all along the trail. The sound very serene, the ambiance very soothing & the water just flowing.
Flowing got me thinking. There are so many rocks along this stream and so many changes in the landscape where a dead tree trunk had fallen in the middle of the stream and the water had to flow in the middle of the two land masses, wherever it went the water stayed within the boundaries. While all the water wants to do is flow and either meet a bigger river or meet an ocean or feed into a lake, things are constantly in its way. But what does water do? It finds a way, changes its course, go over the rocks or even chisel through an entire mountain. It doesn’t matter what comes in the way water stays on its path and continues to flow until it reaches its destination. At any time water is not doubting its ability to find a way and stay true to its nature of FLOWING.
Now consider yourself in place of water and while you are flowing along this path called life, the rocks along the way are obstacles, the dead tree trunk that falls into the middle of your path are the challenges that you have to face, and the boundaries are the limits that are either set by yourself or by others in life. Sometimes these boundaries are needed to keep you in them and other times they are there so you can learn and grow beyond them. Life is always full of experiences, the good the bad, the cool fun ones and the ones we don’t want. While there are some great clear paths full of amazing views and some easy times, there are spots full of obstacles along with dead ends.
Just like the water we can keep on flowing. We can also change course, go over obstacles, create new paths or sometimes even change the entire landscape. We have the power to deal with life the way we want. Either jump over the hurdles, work through fears, come up with different ways of handling challenges, or change the limits given to you and get creative. Think beyond your boundaries and limits, think outside the box.
Whatever you decide to do, it is all fine and it is just another choice or decision that you choose to make. So be happy with your choices, be happy with yourself, live on, accept yourself and keep flowing. Don’t cling onto all that happened with one obstruction just cause it is big or a steep climb. Learn from it and move on. No matter how long or short, how difficult or easy the journey might be, make it a fun journey. Keep flowing and stay true to yourself. Be yourself and let your inner being, your source, guide you through the journey.
A reconnecting walk into the woods and just being present to the surroundings helped me reflect on something so profoundly simple “Just keep flowing- no matter what”!
by rupareiki@yahoo.com | Sep 24, 2017 | Aspartame, Food Color, Health Tips, HFCS, Natural Flavors, Sustainable Agriculture
My mom is a health nut! Yes she’s a Health Coach and on top of that she’s a Chemical Engineer! She basically understands chemicals much more than a normal person around me would. Lately she’s exploring about ingredients on the food label. It’s all good because she really cares about our health, wants to teach us to make the right decisions when it comes to food and understand to “Let thy food be thy medicine”. But at the same time I am a part of this group called teens! The TEENS of 2017 and beyond!
In this world of experiments that she does with foods, I have ended up trying every single green smoothie she has made. Some crazy green smoothies are made with extremely healthy dark greens like kale and spinach. Other green juices involve wheat grass that need to be swished around in our mouths. I have also tried the best proteins that involve quinoa (Pronounced as kin-wa but it looks like Kee-Nova to me). There are also some super foods like goji berries, chia seeds and hemp seeds as she calls them that I had never heard of, but they are now a part of my smoothie. I cannot even start listing the rest of them, but a whole lot of ingredients in my life have changed because I know my mom cares a lot about me and my health. All I can say is that if it’s healthy and good for my body I have tried it. And no complaints because I have been amazingly healthy with side effects of tons of energy, liveliness and positive attitude!
But guess what I am a teen and I live in a world where teen consume so many things just cause it looks cool. Some of such cool things that come to my mind are-
- Coke– The No. 1 drink on my list contains Aspartame. Most of the chewing gums contains this sweetener too. It is something that causes a whole lot of diseases I would not want my body to have.
- Food coloring and dyes– My favorite cereals and candies have them. But mom says they are made out of petroleum products. Now why aren’t food colors made out of food? I don’t understand why we need synthetic materials in our food?
- Natural Flavors that are made from Beaver Butt! Really! This one is in just about everything and its disgusting. I saw a video on Food babe. Ugh. Check it out for yourself click here.
- Sweets that are made from HFCS. Oh No, I am turning into my mom! I know what HFCS stands for. Do you? High Fructose Corn Syrup. And this sweetener is everywhere in everything.
Life is turning into a very difficult place to live- all because I want to be a part of the community that is called teen! A normal regular teen who can just go about freely and put whatever type of food in his/her mouth when he/she wants to. I want to be like a normal regular teen who doesn’t find the need to know where his/her food is coming from. A normal regular teen who doses on sugar as many times as he/she wants to.
But living with a health nut (in all good ways) has definitely made me think. Even when I try to have a guilt free drink full of chemicals it is just not possible. Over time I have realized that I do care about my health. I tend to choose water over other sugary drinks that are just a concoction of
chemicals. It seems to be important to me that I grow into a healthy individual full of energy. While I don’t want to be called the son of a health nut I definitely don’t want to compromise my health. It is absolutely a struggle choosing to be a teen who is different. But this time I will say while I wish to have the freedom to eat and drink the way a teen does I also would like to demand for cleaner foods and be a part of the change that our society needs so that all teens can make the right choice. A few years ago we took a step towards
knowing where our food comes from by joining the Community Sustainable Agriculture program (
http://www.localharvest.org/csa/) where we join hands with a farmer and get our organic vegetables from our local farmer. If you’d like to learn more about all these wonderful things you are in the right place! You will find a lot of tips on taking charge of your health.
This is a teen (health nut’s son) taking the liberty to write on my Mom’s blog!
by rupareiki@yahoo.com | May 13, 2017 | Compassion, Cruelty Free, Love, Vegan
Mom, Mummy, Maa, Mother, Madre, Amma …
MAA the one who brings life to earth!
Mom is the one who gave me birth,
Mom the one who makes me ME,
Mom who is there with me always,
Mom the one person who loves me no matter what.
MOM
- She thinks I am her baby even if I am 40 Years old
- She is always there to rescue me
- She is always there when I need her
- She is the first one to wake up and last one to sleep
- She juggles so many things and yet manages to make me my favorite food
- She is always there with her home remedies trying to make me feel comfortable while I am sick
- She takes my headache away with her gentle soft warm touch
- She knows when I am lying or making excuses or stories (I still wonder if she has eyes at the back of her head)
- She always manages to know exactly what’s going on in my mind and heart
- She is that one person in my life I cannot live without
- She is full of love and is always showering us with love
- She eases my pains and endures it all by herself
- She cries when she sees me accomplish something
- She cries when she is proud of me and happy for me and she also cries when she is sad after getting mad at me
- She takes is all upon herself to make sure my life is perfect
- She feels my PAIN everytime undoubtedly
- She is someone I cannot describe with words
- Maa an epitome of unconditional LOVE!
I wish Happy Mother’s Day to all my fellow Humans.
And as I join all of you out there in celebrating motherhood and mothers (of the human species). Don’t you think we are forgetting something? What about the cows, the pigs, the ducks, the geese, the goats, the dolphins, the whales etc.? What about the Mothers and the babies of all those species? Do we really know what a mother goes through? Do we take the time to understand how many mothers are in pain right now? Do we have the courage to open up our eyes to the world of cruelty just for our need for taste or pleasure or entertainment?
Today I want to bring to your attention the billion other mothers who are cruelly tortured in our world by us for human consumption. Consumption in the form of milk, cheese, icecream, butter, yogurt, beef, pork, ham, veal, steak, leather etc.
Today I want to talk about
- Mothers who are abused every day
- Mothers who are tortured everyday
- Mothers who are separated from their child
- Mothers who only wish for freedom for themselves and their children every single moment
- Mothers who are injected to make sure they produce enough milk after the babies are delivered
- Mothers who are raped so they can produce more babies who can all grow up for the meat
- Females who are inseminated against their wishes as soon as they are ready to reproduce
- Females who are only allowed to stay alive just cause they have a reproductive organ that can be used their entire lifetime
Can you Imagine:
- Can you imagine being punished your entire life just cause you are woman?
- Can you imagine being sentenced a cage for your entire life just cause you are female?
- Can you imagine anyone being cruel to your mom?
- Can you imagine as a mother having your baby stolen in front of your eyes?
- Can you imagine the pain you would feel as a mother to lose your child right after birth or as a child to not be allowed to be held by your mom?
- Can you imagine as a mother how it would feel to only give birth to a child just so your milk could be consumed by other species?
- Can you imagine having to be stuck to a crate, pregnant for about 9 months and not able to move while you are pregnant?
- Can you imagine having to be swimming in your own feces while being pregnant?
- Can you imagine a life of a female cow or a female pig or for that matter other species who give birth but are sentenced life time imprisonment just cause they are NOT HUMANS?
What do you Feel?
- Do you love your Mom?
- Do you feel pain when your Mom is hurting?
- If you love your mom do you think these mothers deserve a better life?
- If you love your mom do you think these mothers deserve freedom?
- If you love your mom and respect human mothers and celebrate mothers today I challenge you to think beyond.
- How can you celebrate motherhood when you still consume Dairy products or products that directly violate an entire gender regardless of what species they are?
- How can you say that you respect woman when you still go out and contribute to such cruelty?
- How can you look away from the pain of these mothers and yet celebrate the mother’s day?
This MOTHER’S Day
- I ask you to look at the pain around you
- I ask you to feel some pain yourself
- I ask you to understand that what you consume is directly related to what other species go through
- I urge you all to expand your celebrations to include all MOTHERS and not just HUMAN MOTHERS
- I hope that you are able to understand the connection between all mother and child and not just yours
- I pray that every child be able to stay with their MOTHERS
- I hope that you take a step today towards a pain free world
- I hope that you see this connection everywhere you go and are conscious of what type of pleasures you seek which causes pain in others life
- I hope this Mother’s Day you celebrate it with compassion for yourself, and all mother’s out there.
- I hope this Mother’s Day you understand why you need to be Vegan
- I hope you take this step towards compassion and pay conscious attention to what you are consuming in your daily life
- I wish you a very happy healthy compassionate loving MOTHER’s DAY.
- May all of us as children of this Mother PLANET EARTH begin our day every day valuing every living being and show respect to all!
- May we learn to share this EARTH equally, with love and compassion, WITH EVERY LIVING BEING.
- For we all were born equal and we all deserve to live a life full of freedom and LOVE.
HAPPY MOTHER’s DAY to You and every single Mother! And I mean EVERY SINGLE MOTHER!!
Here are some helpful resources for you to take your first steps to becoming a Vegan and to learn more about why you need to be a VEGAN!
- The Physicians Committee of Responsible Medicine
- Vegan Starter Kit
- Making Vegan Easy
- The Vegan Society
- Mercy for animals
- Food Choice and Sustainability
- Dr. Joel Kahn America’s Healthy Doc
- The World Peace Diet
- Plant Peace Daily
- Main Street Vegan
- Catskill Animal Sanctuary
- Veganisn and The Environment in Numbers
I AM A PROUD VEGAN MOM!
