My New Toy

And of course Choices Market has my favourite ice cream on sale this week....

I ate the same salad as yesterday plus two organic gala apples, a mango, some cashews, a brazil nut, some more orange juice, lots of water, and I think that's it. I had some naps too. All the Vita-Mix excitement tired me out.

Yes, my Vita-Mix arrived today! Twice. The first time I had stepped out for under 10 minutes when the CanPar guy came by. He'd left a sticky note on the building door saying he'd be back on Tuesday. I was really hoping he meant Tuesday as in today. So, as I was expecting him at some point today, I stayed in my room and talked to my Mom and Grandma on the phone for 3 hours. The Vita-Mix showed up mid-Mom conversation and so she got to share in my excitement. The older delivery guy was very nice and genuinely pleased that I was home to receive my much-anticipated blender. I like people like that.

The blender came with a manual and a recipe book to showcase all the types of foods the blender owner might want to try if they ever get around to it. The sections:

Appetizers
Soups
Beverages
Sauces
Fondues
Salad Dressings
Syrups & Batters
Pureed Foods
Desserts

Most of the recipes are for people who eat everything including dairy and meat, so I'll use some of these as a guide and just make some tastier substitutions. I went through the recipes that looked good and made a list of the produce I want. Then I ventured out into the crisp night air and walked down to Safeway with my headphones in my ears and a "no, sorry" on my lips to the guy who asked for change at the store entrance. I always feel slightly ashamed when I say I'm sorry, 'cause I'm really not sorry (it's just the glaring incongruity between my thoughts and actions that bugs me).

La la la. I've noticed that my breathing is better and my lungs feel strong. There's no hint of that childhood asthma I was supposed to have. Lots of heart palpitations though...not a recent development... I think it might be that mitral valve prolapse. I don't know what my resting heart rate is these days. I remember that in highschool I was so out of shape during the running tests (where we had to measure our heart rates before/while/after running for 12 consecutive minutes, then report it to the teacher in front of the class), that I lied about my resting heart rate and said it was 60 bpm when it was probably 120 bpm. The teacher measured one kid's HR herself and his was 49 bpm even after doing a few suicides (running exercises). I never understood how my heart could be working so hard compared to everyone else when I was more active than other people in my class and they all had lower resting heart rates. Or maybe I never learned how to count. Or I need(ed) magnesium. My highschool diet consisted of french fries and pizza every day with ketchup and mayonnaise. Oh yeah. My heart is palpitating just thinking about it.

Wait! It occurs to me that today I was having a craving for cashews -- and my body is a smartie... so on a hunch, I did a search just now for "cashews magnesium" and found this:

The cashew nut's high magnesium content also takes the credit for its healthy heart qualities. In their raw form, cashews contain 82.5 milligrams of magnesium per ounce, or 21 percent of the daily recommended value of the heart healthy mineral, which also protects against high blood pressure, muscle spasms, migraine headaches, tension, soreness and fatigue.

Magnesium also works with calcium to support healthy muscles and bones in the human body. [http://www.organiccashewnuts.com/cashewbenefits.htm]

Also, I had a mango -- I never eat mangoes -- and mangoes are a close relative of cashews. I'm the only one that finds this fascinating.

This post was going to be about the Vita-Mix but as I haven't done anything but stare at it and place my pineapple and fruits around it as in its publicity shot, I will post more tomorrow.