Wednesday, December 8, 2021

My Journey to Health-Day 8

 Tuesday, Day 8, November 7 2021


I was feeling FANTASTIC today. No pain, no inflammation, lots of energy. I had coffee and a sweet potato for brunch. I ate garden salad with seeds and nuts for lunch.  Then I fucked it all up and ate a big processed dinner.  I helped my brother cook dinner and we roasted a whole chicken.  Added a can of baked beans to the menu.  Made sliced potatoes and onions in the oven and I roasted brussel sprouts.  Long story short, I ended up eating two plates of everything, including the processed chicken and the canned beans. It tasted delicious but I am wary of how I'll feel tomorrow...

My Journey to Health-Day 7

 Monday, Day 7


Feeling much better today! Was tempted to drink wine and eat processed food but I didn't. 

Decided to add fresh local deer meat to my diet and see how I feel. Tonight I'm cooking venison cube steak.  We'll see!

I had black coffee this morning. I ate a roasted sweet potato and my last avocado.  Yum.

Skipped lunch.

Dinner was venison cube steak - no side dishes.  I wanted alcohol but drank a Dr. Pepper instead. 12 oz can. Meh.

Sunday, December 5, 2021

My Journey to Health-Day 6

 December 05, 2021

Today I feel like shit and I don't want to blog but here I am. Ugh. Everything annoys me, nothing satisfies me. I'm exhausted.

Breakfast was an avocado with a baked sweet potato. Black coffee.  Water.

Lunch was apple cinnamon oatmeal with some granola and blueberries tossed in. Water

Dinner was a mistake. Bear Creek Potato Soup. I can now confirm that I am indeed lactose intolerant and I regret the soup.  Gave the rest to the big dog.

Made herbal tea with turmeric and ginger.  Still not happy.

Finally got ONE CAN of Dr. Pepper from the fridge. At least it's not booze, wine, or beer.  Or meat.  If the worst I do is have a soda today, so be it.

Took a hot shower and washed my hair. Going to bed early. Very irritable and antisocial today.  This day is almost over.  Happy to get through it in one piece.  Might test the gym out tomorrow, might not.  Gut still tore up from beans and now the potato soup.

Bye y'all - goodnight.

Saturday, December 4, 2021

My Journey to Health-Day 5

 December 05, 2021

Today is day five and I am feeling GREAT! 

It's only 11am and I've had black coffee, orange juice, and water to drink.  For breakfast, I made a baked sweet potato using NO OIL and I had one small avocado with it.  I love that combination and the colors are gorgeous and satisfying too. I just gave it a little salt and pepper and now I'm full. 

I'm excited about going to try out the gym on Monday.

My brother is gone all day today so I'm watching my nephew and doing a little housework, but otherwise I'm free to watch documentaries and plan meals and write.  I think I'll do some online work today as well.

TO BE CONTINUED...

Friday, December 3, 2021

My Journey to Health-Day 4

 December 03, 2021


Today is Day 4 and I feel AMAZING! I still haven't mastered the "good night's sleep" yet but I'm succeeding in so many other areas. I still had a little tummy trouble today so I sliced some ginger root and boiled it, then used that water to make herbal turmeric ginger tea.  I'm 2/3 finished with the very large mug of it and I feel great.  I haven't even taken any pills today and my back and body feel better than when I was downing the Advil.  I think it's poison, tbh. When I lived in Thailand, I had a hard time finding ibuprofen and someone recommended turmeric capsules to me.  I was very skeptical but I tried them and they worked wonders. It's shocking how easily one falls back into bad habits.  Well, I'm a turmeric gal for life now!

I started moving my body today.  I put Hang Massive on and watched their 2019 live from Samsara performance and just VIBED. I wasn't able to do a lot but I did stand and stretch for a bit, then used the chair for support, then finally sat in the chair and moved my upper body.  I still feel like I got a workout and I moved my body in ways that it hasn't moved in a shamefully long time.

My brother went to the grocery store to pick me up some more fresh and frozen veggies for the weekend.  He's being very supportive! He's taking me to the gym on Monday so I can use my free day pass and talk to them about a membership. Last night I made over $8 online and I'm going to work all weekend so I'll have enough to join. I'm really excited!  I'm making an investment in ME!


TO BE CONTINUED...


To finish out the day, I fixed a salad of lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers. I topped with a variety of seeds and nuts and dressed it with my FAVORITE pomegranate dressing. It was very satisfying but my stomach cramps returned.  I wasn't sure what the problem was, but after I had about 8 french fries, my tummy calmed down! Miracle cure LOL! My brother grilled burgers and cooked fries in the oven.  I wasn't even tempted by the burgers but I had to have some fries - so I did! After that, I was still feeling like I wanted something else to eat so I got a small bowl of red grapes.  I drank water all day and I had a glass of orange juice at some point. I added melatonin to my regimen and I slept really well last night. I went to sleep around midnight and woke up at 6 something with no middle of the night wake ups! I actually felt GOOD when I got up! I am not in pain like normal. I would wake up in pain daily, stiff, sore, barely able to get up, numbness in my feet and sharp pains in my lower back and legs.  Today it's barely noticeable and I bounced up off the bed like a 30 year old! I don't know if it's the elimination of alcohol, ibuprofen, meat, or breads, or the combination of all the above, but I feel GREAT!



My Journey to Health-Day 3

 December 03, 2021


Yesterday was day 3 and it was terrible! I skipped breakfast and just had some black coffee.  Later in the day, around 4 pm, I had two bowls of my 15 bean soup and the rest of day and night was spent in agony with horrid gas pains. I was in a lot of pain and I finally took some Benadryl around 7pm just to go to sleep once the worst of it had moved through my body. I woke up again around 11 pm and was starving, so I ate a small bowl of red seedless grapes. I was still uncomfortable from the beans, so I took a shot of Nyquil to knock myself out.  I woke up around 3am and had the brilliant idea I should now join a gym so I searched for local gyms and printed out a 24 hour day pass for the 24 hour fitness place by my house. I fought sleep and finally got up at daybreak, around 6 something and made coffee. Ugh.  I don't feel like using the day pass today!  One positive thing though, I did manage to work online and make around $8 in a couple of hours!


That was my Day 3.

Thursday, December 2, 2021

My Journey to Health-Day 2

 December 02, 2021


Yesterday was day two of my journey back to healthy eating and living.  


What I ate:

Breakfast: A small cup of black coffee. 9-ish AM

Lunch: Mango and mixed berry smoothie in the Nutri-Bullet 12 noon

Afternoon snack: About a cup and a half of seedless red grapes and a mini bowl of 15 bean soup just to taste test it. Around 3 pm

Dinner: 15 bean soup with one roasted sweet potato, one half of an onion, roasted,  and a two roasted cabbage steaks. I had an additional cabbage steak and a few pieces of onion left over and I simply put them in the crock pot and added them to my bean soup!

Snack: About a cup full (small plastic bowl) of seedless red grapes. 


PICS OF FOOD


Supplements:

Here is a list of the supplements I currently take on a daily basis:

Women's 50+ Multivitamin

Glucosamine and Chondroitin

B-Complex

Magnesium

Zinc

B-12 Drops

Immuneti (garlic bulb, elderberry, zinc, echinacea, vitamin C, vitamin D3)

www.Immuneti.com

Melatonin (at bedtime)


 


Wednesday, December 1, 2021

My Journey to Health-Day 1

 December 01, 2021


Yesterday, I woke up and decided to change my life for the better.  I'm not sure what exactly came over me, but I was sick and tired of being sick and tired.  I'm only 51 years old and I feel like I'm 81 most days. I'm in constant pain, always tired, and I usually end up drowning my sorrows, feelings, and emotions in food and a whole lot of wine. No more. I'm also incorporating IF 18/6 (intermittent fasting where you fast for 18 hours a day and only eat during the 6 hour window).

I'm no stranger to health and nutrition. I've lived and worked on several organic farms around the world, mostly in the Hawaiian Islands, and I've learned a great deal about food, nutrition, and healthy eating.  I've also traveled internationally for seven years and eaten a wide variety of local dishes and I paid attention to how other people cooked around the world. The only time I ever felt fat and sick was when I was living in the United States -- Hawai'i being the exception. The typical American diet is HORRIBLE.  Our food is contaminated with things that are actually illegal in most other countries. Healthy foods are expensive but there are $1 menus on every fast food place lining most towns and city streets across the country. Access to healthy foods can be problematic and expensive.  

I'm not here to preach about the failure of the American food system.  Go watch "What the Health

What The Health free on YouTube (opens in a new window) for a ton of great information about that and much more.  I'm here to explain and document my new direction in life and to hopefully inspire one other person to give it a try. I'm here to answer questions to the best of my ability and to offer whatever advice I can give you. Disclaimer:  I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV.

So, November 30, 2021 was DAY ONE of eating clean and vegan. I've chosen to adopt a WFPBD or whole food plant based diet. I've eliminated all animal products (no meat, fish, eggs, cheese, butter, etc.), as well as eliminate all processed foods, sodas, and pre-made juices or bottled drinks.  No alcohol or ibuprofen either - I was taking entirely too much of both, often times together.  Yikes.  I owe my liver an apology. Sorry liver.

I originally decided to do this for two weeks but I've now committed to 30 days.  This is my journal of each day on that journey, the good and the bad, the important information and probably so bitching and moaning too.

Yesterday, for day one, I ate:

Breakfast: Black coffee

Brunch: Strawberry puree made in the Nutri-Bullet with organic granola and seeds, fresh blueberries.  I made the puree from frozen strawberries. It turned out like a sorbet and was delicious.  I'm new to using a Nutri-Bullet so bear with me. The strawberries alone were too dry and frozen so I had to add a liquid.  I hate milk and this is all vegan anyway, so I added a cup of orange juice (processed, I know!) and some pomegranate seeds. That worked. I poured the puree into a bowl and added the seeded granola and topped it off with fresh blueberries. DELICIOUS.  

Lunch: Filtered water with the juice of one lime.

Dinner: Long grain rice with quinoa topped with spinach dal and chickpeas.  Confession: These were pre-packed meals I already had in my kitchen that I wanted to use up.  They were non-GMO, totally vegan, organic, and actually made in India.  They weren't cheap, so I thought I'd go ahead and use them. It was really tasty so I'll be incorporating the remaining packets into my home made cooking over the next month. 

More lime water.

Snack: About two cups of large white seedless grapes.

I was finished eating by 6-7 pm and only had lime water the rest of the night. 

I broke my fast today around noon by having a mango and mixed berry smoothie, nothing added. I have a pot of 15 bean soup in the crock pot and so far I've added garlic, onions, and spices. I've ordered sweet potatoes, cabbage, and avocados from the store so I'll be making a vegetable dish later in the day to accompany my beans. I'm aiming for a 6-7 pm final feed daily. 


Quotes I like to think about:


Let today be the day you give up who you've been for who you can become. 

-Hal Elrod


A habit cannot be tossed out the window; it must be coaxed down the stairs a step at a time.

-Mark Twain


Discipline is choosing between what you want now and what you want most

-Abraham Lincoln



Thursday, September 12, 2019

Adventures in Boca de Tomatlan, Mexico


Boca de Tomatlan
Recently, I've settled in Boca de Tomatlan, a small fishing village on the Pacific coast of Mexico. Although it's only half an hour south of the internationally famous city of Puerto Vallarta, it still retains its quiet, old-world charm. Aside from having electricity and wifi, the village is pretty much the same as it's always been. The main industries are fishing and tourism. This sleepy little town is nestled in a valley, surrounded by lush, mountainous jungle and fed by the Horcones river.

The Horcones River coming from the mountains.


The Horcones River flowing into the Pacific Ocean.
My hotel sits on the far bank of the river. I have a room on the second floor with a balcony that overlooks the water and the footbridges that connect to the opposite shore. On the side where I live, it's all residential.  Across the river are the tiendas, restaurants, and schools, situated on the bottom of the cobblestone road that snakes uphill to the main highway. That highway takes you to the city of  Puerto Vallarta to the north and to the ancient town of El Tuito about one hour to the south. Beyond El Tuito lies vast open stretches of desert, rugged coastlines, and steep mountains.

La Posada Pacifia, my home for a while.
Early morning sunrise in Boca.

Last week, I walked through the village on my way to the bus stop at the top of the hill.  Due to me being broke and having an ongoing issue with my bank, I needed to get to a store that accepted debit cards, as none here in the village are set up for that. There are also no ATMs here, which didn't matter because it costs too much for me to extract cash on a regular basis.  Anyway, about halfway through town, I sat down on a set of concrete steps which were across from Ana's Tacos, a local taqueria. Outside, in front of the shop, was a man with a long thin knife filleting a large fish on the top of a red plastic table.  He was casually standing in front of the restaurant cutting and gutting a fish on a table top!  How cool, I thought.  Intrigued, I got up, crossed the street, and watched him work.  We started talking in Spanish and then he switched to English, much to my relief (I don't know much about fish terminology in Spanish!). He fileted the fish and showed me the different sections, telling me what each part was.  He got to the belly and sliced it open, revealing another fish!  It was like Inception!  A fish inside of a fish!  I mean, we all know that big fish eat smaller fish, but to actually SEE it cut out of the belly was very cool. We chatted a bit more and he asked me if I wanted to eat fish tacos. I told him thanks, but no, I had to go to town and had no cash on me other than my bus fare (no mas pesos) but that I'd eat there one day in the future. And I will, soon. I'll write about it too!

I arrived at the top of the hill, hot, sweaty, and craving something other than water.  I had a few pesos to spare (if everything went well in town and I caught the correct bus home) so I decided to take a chance and see what was being sold at the little market stand beside the bus stop.  Right in front on the counter before me was the most beautiful plastic cup filled with sliced tropical fruit!  YES!  That's what I wanted, but could I afford it?  I asked her how much (cuanto cuesto) and when she told me it was 24 pesos I was thrilled.  Just then, the bus to Puerto Vallarta (PV) pulled in, so I quickly counted out the pesos for her, grabbed my treasure of fruit, and got out the 10 pesos for the bus driver.  I paid the fare, sat down near the front, looked out the windows at the mountains and the Pacific ocean, and ate every single piece of fruit in that giant cup.  There were mangos, pineapples, and papayas, all sweet and ripe. It was a great ride into "PV".

I took the bus all the way to the final stop in downtown Puerto Vallarta. The last stop is in front of an OXXO, which are literally everywhere in Mexico.  OXXO is like 7-11 on crack. Anyway, I know that OXXO has groceries and they take debit cards, so I decide to go shopping in there, then hop back on the bus to Boca.  It was really hot and humid that day, I was pretty broke, and my back was acting up so I thought a quick shopping trip and another nice bus ride would be sufficient for the day. As I'm about to go into the OXXO, I hear familiar voices talking in English coming from the stoop just beside the doors to the store.  Who in the world could that be?  I literally know no one in this region of Mexico and I could only see the sides and backs of their heads.  Then it hit me - these were the Kinetic Kennons from YouTube!  (They're an American couple from Texas who moved to Mexico a couple of years ago and they make vlogs about their travels around the country.)  I'd been following them for quite a while and was a big fan.  All this time in Mexico I'd been hoping to bump into them and then I did - almost literally - bump right into them.  I walk over and say hi to them and they were just as nice and kind in person as they were on camera.  We had a short talk and went our separate ways, but it was really cool to meet two of my favorite YT vloggers.

I came home and made some homemade pinto beans and rice, chilled in my hammock, and ... well, that's about it for the day.

I've signed on to assist the English teacher here and at the time of this writing I've completed my first week of classes.  I love it here, I love the kids, I love the town, I love my "apartment", and I really like the lady I work with and her family.  I'll be writing about my adventures in the classroom soon.

That's it for this post. Thanks for reading!  Comments, questions, and feedback are always welcome.

Tammy




Saturday, May 24, 2014

Magda Goebbels Grandchildren are BMW Main Stockholders





The article excerpt below will explain the relationship between former Nazi Propaganda Minster Joseph Goebbels and the modern day company of BMW.

If you'd like to read more intimate details of the lives of WWII-era Goebbels, click HERE for my post about Nazi Sex Scandals.


By David de Jong  Jan 28, 2013

In the spring of 1945, Harald Quandt, a 23-year-old officer in the German Luftwaffe, was being held as a prisoner of war by Allied forces in the Libyan port city of Benghazi when he received a farewell letter from his mother, Magda Goebbels -- the wife of Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels.

The hand-written note confirmed the devastating news he had heard weeks earlier: His mother had committed suicide with her husband on May 1, after slipping their six children cyanide capsules in Adolf Hitler’s underground bunker in Berlin.

“My dear son! By now we’ve been in the Fuehrerbunker for six days already, Daddy, your six little siblings and I, to give our national socialistic lives the only possible, honorable ending,” she wrote. “Harald, dear son, I want to give you what I learned in life: Be loyal! Loyal to yourself, loyal to the people and loyal to your country!”

Quandt was released from captivity in 1947. Seven years later, he and his half-brother Herbert -- Harald was the only remaining child from Magda Goebbels’ first marriage -- would inherit the industrial empire built by their father, Guenther Quandt, which had produced Mauser firearms and anti-aircraft missiles for the Third Reich’s war machine. Among their most valuable assets at the time was a stake in car manufacturer Daimler AG. (DAI) They bought a part of Bayerische Motoren Werke AG (BMW) a few years later.

While the half-brothers passed away decades ago, their legacy has endured. Herbert’s widow, Johanna Quandt, 86, and their children Susanne Klatten and Stefan Quandt, have remained in the public eye as BMW’s dominant shareholders. The billionaire daughters of Harald Quandt -- Katarina Geller-Herr, 61, Gabriele Quandt, 60, Anette-Angelika May-Thies, 58, and 50-year-old Colleen-Bettina Rosenblat-Mo -- have kept a lower profile.

The four sisters inherited about 1.5 billion deutsche marks ($760 million) after the death of their mother, Inge, in 1978, according to the family’s sanctioned biography, “Die Quandts.” They manage their wealth through the Harald Quandt Holding GmbH, a Bad Homburg, Germany-based family investment company and trust named after their father. Fritz Becker, the chief executive officer of the family entities, said the siblings realized average annual returns above 7 percent from its founding in 1981 through 1996. Since then, the returns have averaged 7.6 percent.

“The family wants to stay private and that is an acceptable situation for me,” said Becker in an interview at his Bad Homburg office. “We invest our money globally and if it’s $1 billion, $500 million or $3 billion, who cares?”

Wartime Profits

Together, the four sisters -- and the two children of a deceased sibling -- share a fortune worth at least $6 billion, giving each of them a net worth of $1.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. They have never appeared individually as billionaires on an international wealth ranking.

Nazi Connections

In 1918, Guenther Quandt’s first wife died of the Spanish flu, leaving him a widower with two young sons, Hellmut and Herbert. He married Magda Ritschel in 1921, and the couple’s only son, Harald, was born later that year. Hellmut died in 1927, from complications related to appendicitis.

Quandt and Magda divorced in 1929. Two years later, she married Joseph Goebbels, a member of the German parliament who also held a doctorate degree in drama and served as head of propaganda for Germany’s growing Nazi party. After the Nazis took power in 1933, their leader, Adolf Hitler, appointed Goebbels as the Third Reich’s propaganda minister. Hitler was the best man at the couple’s wedding.

Guenther Quandt joined the party that same year. His factories became key suppliers to the German war effort, even though his relationship with Goebbels had become increasingly strained.

“There was constant rivalry,” said Bonn-based history professor Joachim Scholtyseck, author of a family-commissioned study about their involvement with the Third Reich, in a telephone interview. “It didn’t matter that Goebbels didn’t like him. It didn’t have any influence on Quandt’s ability to make money.”

His stepfather also sent him a goodbye note.

“It’s likely that you’ll be the only one to remain who can continue the tradition of our family,” wrote Goebbels, who served as Chancellor of Germany for one day following Hitler’s suicide on April 30, 1945.

Over the next decade, the brothers increased their stake in Daimler; Herbert saved BMW from collapse in the 1960s after becoming its largest shareholder and backing the development of new models.

Harald died in 1967, at age 45, in an airplane crash outside Turin, Italy. The relationship between his widow, Inge, and Herbert deteriorated after his death. Negotiations to settle the estate by separating assets commenced in 1970.

The most valuable asset that the Harald Quandt heirs received was four-fifths of a 14 percent stake in Daimler, according to the biography. In 1974, the entire stake was sold to the Kuwait Investment Authority, the country’s sovereign wealth fund, for about 1 billion deutsche marks, according to a Daimler-Benz publication from 1986 celebrating its centennial.

Inge Quandt, who suffered from depression, died of a heart attack on Christmas Eve 1978. Her new husband, Hans-Hilman von Halem, shot himself in the head two days later. The five orphaned daughters, two of them teenagers, were left to split the family fortune.


To contact the reporter on this story: David De Jong in New York at ddejong3@bloomberg.net