Hiking for Health (mental & physical health)

Hiking for Health
both mental and physical

What you need:

Hydration back pack (or fanny pack and water bottle) 

Comfortable hiking shoes  

Wear layers 

Headband

Hat/Sunglasses/Sunscreen

First Aid Kit

Lots of water! Extra if you have kids or your dog! 

Collapsible dog bowl - if you have your dog with you 

Protein rich snacks (such as protein bars or nuts) (My favorite here -->

More water...

Lip balm 

Pepper spray (for bears, mountain lions and "bad people" - just in case)

Camera - I just use my cell phone 

Hiking sticks if you're on steep terrain is helpful 
Hiking app on your cell phone or Garmin watch

Benefits:

Enjoying nature while getting fit

Endorphins

Can go with friends, kids, pets - fun family activity

Fresh air

Fun

Increases endurance

Accomplish goals

Nature can help people's mental health

Vitamin D - sunshine

Awesome pictures
Affordable/free hobby

Seeing wildlife (like bald eagles! or turkeys, deer, squirrels, rabbits, etc..)

*if you're on a mission to lose weight, on average, someone who hikes 4 hours a week will lose about 1 lb per week, which is a healthy amount to lose per week. 

Where to go:

Depending on where you live - there are places EVERYWHERE!

Some awesome books on California hiking:

East Bay Regional Parks website has amazing places to go all over the East Bay! https://www.ebparks.org/

If you live outside of the East Bay or even outside of California - there are so many resources available all over! Don't want to spend any money? Go to your local library and check out books on hiking! You can invest as little or as much as you want into hiking! And you can go once a month or 3 times a week! 

Enjoy a few pictures of my hiking around the East Bay:

 Little Yosemite in Sunol Regional Wilderness

 Pleasanton Ridge - Sunol

 Mission Peak - Fremont

Pleasanton Ridge - Pleasanton

Cautions:
-Go with a friend if you can - at least let someone know where you'll be and when you plan to be back
-Bring pepper spray in case of Mountain Lion or "bad person"
-Bring lots of water and stay hydrated, bring a snack
-Be careful and watchful of: snakes, poison oak, ticks, mountain lions
-Stay on the path and have a map so you know how to get back
-DON'T eat any wild plants unless you are 110% sure you know what they are! 
-Take breaks when needed - don't overdo it

Go enjoy our amazing Mother Earth! And, always leave it better than when you found it! If you see garbage, pick it up! Thank you!

Peace. ☮

OAT MILK

Oat milk as our family favorite non-dairy milk! It is an amazing dairy-free alternative to cow's milk. It is also great for people who are gluten-free or have nut allergies! It has fiber, protein, calcium and vitamin D, making it better and healthier for you than cow's milk (and many other non-dairy milks as well) 
Oat milk can be expensive! That is why I decided to start making it at home! Check out how EASY this recipe is!

How to Make Oat Milk at Home

Ingredients: 
1 cup rolled oats
3 cups filtered water (plus more for soaking)

1. Pour oats in a container, cover with water.
2. Soak 30 minutes (or overnight)
3. Strain and rinse oats
4. Put oats and 3 cups filtered water in blender; blend for 2 minutes
5. Strain through nut bag or cheesecloth

6. Pour into glass bottle and refrigerate. Lasts up to 5 days in the refrigerator. Add sweetener and/or vanilla if desired. 

*for thicker milk, add more oats, for thinner milk, add less oats. Makes 24 oz. 

Easy, right?!?!? 

soaking oats overnight

blending strained oats with filtered water

straining through nutbag

voila

Enjoy!
Peace ☮

VEGANUARY - Try Vegan this January!

Try vegan this month! Start the new year off by helping your health, the planet and the animals!

Take the challenge! https://veganuary.com/
What is Veganuary? 

It is a charity inspiring people to try Vegan for the month January (and the rest of the year too!) 
Why try Vegan? 

There are MANY reasons, for many it is their love of animals. For many it is health as it is a healthy life style (although there are many UNHEALTHY ways to be a vegan as well). For others they want to impact the World! Being Vegan is one of the easiest and best ways to help with global warming and save our beautiful Earth. There is NO wrong reason to try being Vegan!

Myths of being Vegan! 

⭐ But, where do you get your protein? A very common misconception is that you have to consume meat to get enough protein. Yes, meat does contain protein, but it is NOT the only place to get protein! Green veggies, beans, lentils, grains and nuts are all excellent sources of protein! There are really SO many ways to make sure you have enough protein in your diet without consuming any animals! 

⭐ Doesn't soy/soya contain estrogen and known to lower testosterone? Soy has NO known effect on testosterone levels. Just make sure to get non GMO, Organic soy products. Soya beans contain isoflavones, which are members of a group of compounds called phytoestrogens. Because isoflavones bind to the same receptors in the body as oestrogen, a misconception has built up about soya. The bottom line is that isoflavones are not the same as oestrogen, and do not have the same effect as oestrogen.

⭐ Don't cows HAVE to be milked? Won't they explode or die if they aren't? A cow can only produce milk if she gives birth to a calf. The cows on dairy farms are impregnated every year so that they continuously supply milk. In a natural setting, cows would fall pregnant normally, calves would suckle from their mothers, and milking by humans would be completely unnecessary. On these farms, however, the calves are taken from their mothers only a day or two after they’re born. This is to maximize on the milk produced by their mothers for human consumption. Female calves are then raised as milk producers, slaughtered immediately or possibly sold for veal production. Male calves have only two options: they are transported for veal production, where they are confined in small pens or crates, with restricted movement and no natural light and then slaughtered at six months; or they are killed straight away and sold as low grade meat. Cows can live for up to 20 years. On dairy farms the average age of a milk producing cow is less than five years old.

⭐For more myth busters --> https://veganuary.com/myths/

Great cookbooks for starters! I will link some AMAZING Vegan cookbooks for those of you who want to take the challenge! These are cookbooks that I own in my kitchen that I LOVE and use on a regular basis! 

Hope you all will give Vegan January a try! Cheers to a Happy & Healthy New Year! 

Peace! ☮