A continuation of all things "stepping out of the matrix."

With the ways in which I've looked at food lately, I've helped not only myself, but also many of the people close to me. In the food journey, I've decided to incorporate more raw living foods into my body on a daily basis. So far, getting fruits and berries hasn't been an issue. I tend to enjoy those raw foods the most, and I've made several smoothies for breakfast/lunch with them. This tends to give me plenty of energy in the morning so I've decided to continue with it. My biggest challenge has been getting more greens into my diet. I tend to make fruit salads or just overlook the greens in general so I think it's time to start reminding myself to work on that. My goals with this are to lose weight so I don't feel like I'm carrying excess around and to enjoy better health overall.

In researching ways to enjoy better health overall, I looked into something else that's a little more personal for me. Since going down this natural foods/natural healing path I've also had to look at some things in my life that don't involve food. Late last year I eliminated fluoride toothpaste and conventional deodorants from my life. My teeth appear to be just as healthy as before, and after some trial and error with deodorant I've finally settled on Tom's lavender. There are also some foods out there that help eliminate body odors such as parsely, cilantro, celery, and mint.

Head here for more information:  http://www.naturalnews.com/004417.html .

In going down this path of discovery and looking critically at my choices, I've also had to stare the only pharmaceutical dependency I have in the face... that's right- my birth control pills. I have NEVER been one to advocate methods like "pulling out" or  praying (haha), but as I learn more I have to ask myself if taking hormones is really necessary. Since I've been on the pill my body has reacted in weird ways. The first pill I took cause my periods to almost completely stop which led to constant pregnancy paranoia. The current pill seems to work better with my body, but in general since I've been on birth control I've noticed what seems to be an enlargement of my breasts (which some women would probably love), but they also feel tender and swollen much of the time which is typically what happens when one is pregnant. This makes perfect sense because the body on the birth control pill is fooled into thinking it's pregnant so it mimicks the signs of pregnancy. For the most part I've ignored this for the convenience of not having to worry about becoming pregnant, but I said to myself today: If there's a natural way that's just as effective as the pill I will consider using it.

This is when I stumbled upon Cycle Beads. Cycle Beads (http://www.cyclebeads.com/) are a natural way of tracking your cycle and your fertility days. In using cycle beads, a woman with a cycle between 26 and 32 days (only!) can use a color coded method with a string of beads to track when she needs to use birth control methods and when she is free to have intercourse without the risk of becoming pregnant. Do I trust this method? ...Not...yet... but I went ahead and ordered the beads anyway so I can begin tracking my body while I use the pill. There are some downsides to the pill I've read about such as a decreased libido, weight gain, and other health issues, and if I can manage to use the cycle beads system without any issues in cycle length, I just might give it a try. The website claims that cycle beads are 95% effective whereas birth control pills are 99% effective. Like I said before, I'm not completely sure about this yet, but I will keep you posted.