Photo A Day April - Day 1: Your Reflection

Today's photo-a-day assignment made me reflect and write about my observations for the previous month. See, I was a total portrait of overjoy when I was informed about my successful application for a lateral movement up north. I've been on graveyard shift since graduating from college and even while I pursued graduate studies. I've been on this nocturnal lifestyle from April 2003-June 2009, made a one-year rest then crawled back to this madness in June 2010 until this February 2012. I envisioned being a morning person would complement my gradual switch to raw food diet and other wellness-related explorations.

To my dismay, I stared at the woman in the mirror the past week more often and I don't know how to begin to console her. Her reflection was far from the expected AFTER photo for someone who turned her back on night differential for priceless night sleep and normalcy. Today's portrait is a pale canvass marred with rallying zits, red, tired peepers and suffering nostrils. Blame it on the typically toxic quarter-end in the workplace, the bipolar weather, my rented room's tendency to accumulate dust and possible decline in citrus consumption, I was diagnosed to have sinusitis for the first time in my life. My usual avoidance of drugs when having colds turned to parade of antibiotics, antihistamines and congestant. My targeted 80% raw food diet went down to about 10-20%. My recent idea of exercise involves pushing keypads and jumping into conclusions. Sadly, I've gone absent to the usual Thursday smash-out sessions with colleagues. Also, the kikay in me showed no enthusiasm to debut two ensembles waiting for their turn to see what's outside my closet let alone keep my signature pussy red lipstick. It felt I have no appetite for everything. Worse, it's my boyfriend Waldo who gets all the OMG-you-look-so-blooming! compliments. What's going on?

Day 1: Your Reflection

I tried dry skin brushing before taking a shower this morning to help eliminate the toxins and to boost my immune system. All I did was brush my skin all over towards the direction of my heart. My upper chest turned the reddest and I didn't really linger on the soles of my feet as it made me go giggly. I'm not sure if I did it right or if I spent enough time as I was running late for the Sunday service. I hope I would carry this on and see its benefits. Now this reminds me of my failure to inner dance often and finally give oil pulling a try. Sighs. Somebody needs spanking.

The olive oil-infused bristles for my dry skin brushing. But I think THIS is the recommended type.

By the way, if you're interested to partake in this photo-a-day challenge, check out the day-to-day assignment below. It can get really addicting and, just like what I did above, ponder on some matters. Join us!

Photo A Day April Challenge! Created by Fat Mum Slim.

#MarchPhotoADay Challenge! Day 25: Breakfast

My colds just turned 8-day-old today. And it's not something to celebrate about. Typically, I just suffer from colds for 2-3 days and then move on to coughs and/or fever. When this occurs, I let things happen as I refuse to be dependent on prescribed drugs. Since earlier this week, I've been contradicting myself and started popping the green pills in hopes to prevent what's yet to come.

Yesterday, my grandmother bought guyabano (otherwise known as soursop) from a vendor outside our home. We shared this between the two of us and, in between mouthfuls, I promised to buy her more guyabano and, another common favorite, avocado. Before lunchtime, I went to the grocery to fulfill this promise. Upon my arrival, we both prepared the ripe fruits and I decided to have more guyabano and I'll have my share of avocado for breakfast. When I woke up this morning, I noticed there were guyabano leftovers in the fridge (proving we're the only herbivores in the household) so I decided to have both fruits for breakfast.

Day 25: Breakfast

I know, guyabano (possibly sub-acid) and avocado (starch) is an odd combination. But guyabano is an excellent source of Vitamin C, very fitting for my current need. I even had real calamansi juice (acid) to go with them. Did I just hear you gasp? I admit, this is a very bad example of food combining.

Have I told you how my stomach proved to be highly trained in surviving bad combination of food? It had a track record of no complaints for Indian mango-and-soda combo, spoiled menudo, among others. I'm grateful for this gift as it allows me to stuff myself anything all the time, but I must remember that it's not a good way of treating my body. Proper food combining paves the way for good digestion; the easy-to-digest (light, water-based food) had to wait for the hard-to-digest ones (heavy proteins) before making an exit in our system. The longer it stays in our stomach, the bigger the possibility of fermentation which sadly leads to high acidity.

Since the onset of this journey to wellness, I learned facts that debunked food-related guides that were passed on from generations to generations. For instance, my guyabano-and-avocado-loving grandmother coached me NEVER consume fruits in an empty stomach and it's best eaten as dessert. In reality, fruits are our best bet in breaking fasts and it should be eaten first, salad second, finally the main course. Fruits play a key role in absorption of nutrients and they are the easiest to digest and, naturally, should be eaten 45 minutes before any meal.

Sorry if this entry sounds too rigid and heavy. But it's something we really need to know so our bodies would feel better. On the lighter side, the #MarchPhotoADay challenge is still ongoing! Here's the mechanics:

[Camera Phone] Photo A Day Challenge! Created by Fat Mum Slim.

#MarchPhotoADay Challenge! Day 9: [Puta] Red

I've been worried sick what to blog about since the start of the month. I've got a tall pile of backlog to work on plus I haven't really thought of anything cool to write about aside from the [tooooooooot]. Wait, something's creeping up.

I heard about this camera phone photo challenge on Facebook 2 days ago and, as you can expect from a camwhore like myself, I'm so thrilled to start right away. I was momentarily hesitant to join; I'd like to begin on the first day of the month. But, hey, who says I can't start posting photos today? If you're interested, check out the mechanics below.

[Camera Phone] Photo A Day Challenge! Lifted from Fat Mum Slim

Today's assignment is so close to my heart. As you can tell in my prior entries, I am such a big fan of screaming reds. Red lipstick makes me want to go panic buying even if most people think it looks best in fair-skinned women yada yada. I think I look sexier in red, too. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels that way.

So...I brought out an old blouse with argyle design, my trusty puta red lipstick (thanks, Revlon!), my souvenir hat that I am yet to world premiere (thanks, Ina!) and my red pumps from Solemate (not seen in this photo). Enjoy!

Day # 9: RED