Dry Brushing 101 – For A Better Monday Style

Dry Brushing 101

My Personal History with Regards to Dry Brushing

Dry brushing is one of the practices I’ve included at the very early stages of my lifestyle change in April 2016. As of April 2018 it has been exactly two years that I have been dry brushing regularly. As opposed to other starting points, I haven’t been experimenting extensively with this actual practice. So far it has been a pretty straight forward practice that I happened to include in my weekly routine. I have no real evidence that it is specifically helping me in my regeneration process, other than seeing all the dead skin falling out of the surface of my body, and feeling more energized after each dry brushing session.

As with sunbathing and other starting points that I’ve been sharing on this blog, one should adapt this practice to her own reality in order to be safe and get the best results. As I mentioned earlier, my approach is fairly simple and hasn’t changed much since the beginning. That said, there are plenty of different approaches, information, and opinions about dry brushing on the web. There seem to be plenty of room to get more involved than I have been with this practice and experiment more extensively with it.

While browsing through the information that is out there, I have to admit that I was a bit surprised to see articles and posts about dry brushing on many beauty websites. I personally see dry brushing as practice to support well being more than beauty. The positive effect in beauty is a sort of a byproduct of getting healthier in my opinion, but obviously there is a lot of emphasis out there on the superficial benefits of dry brushing.Continue reading

Three Week Challenges 101 – For a Better Monday Style –

Three Week Challenges 101

The Lab

This starting point could be seen as a sort of a laboratory to quit old habits and embrace new ones. The approach of challenging myself into quitting things, or doing things differently from my routine, allows me to experiment and learn more about myself and see how my body functions under different circumstances. The idea is to embrace or quit a habit for at least three weeks. The most important part for me is to approach the challenge period as a game and try to have fun in the process. In this post you’ll find the stories of two challenges which started as three week ones, but the enjoyment I got out of them was such that they ended up lasting a longer period of time. After the stories, I have listed the things I was able to quit temporarily, and the things I was able to quit for good.

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Disconnecting 101 – For a Better Monday Style –

Disconnecting  101

Creating Zones for Disconnection

After near two decades of being exposed to connected technologies, at one point I decided to embrace a certain discipline to allow my brain have some resting time on a regular basis. It all started while I was actually working for a tech company. Communication via e-mail and ticketing systems were an important part of my job. I didn’t mind working overtime when needed. What mattered the most to me at that time, was to know at one point the workday was over. Back then I was working full time.  What tended to tire me the most wasn’t that much the actual work, but the constant state of being connected. I started by deleting my work mailbox from my personal phone. I know this can not always be possible depending on the situation, but for me it actually worked pretty well. My rational was that there was no need for me to access work related information, if I wasn’t going to be able to act on it immediately. That way I was only doing work related activities while I was physically at work. I was often the first one to make it to the office, and last one to leave.  For real emergencies, I could be reached on my cellphone. I was able to work this way for several years. I don’t think anybody actually noticed that I wasn’t accessing work related e-mails outside of work, since I was able to respond to all work related communication in a timely manner.Continue reading

Sunbathing 101 – For a Better Monday Style –

Sunbathing 101

Lets Be Careful

Before sharing any of my personal experience regarding sunbathing, I would like to start this post with a word of caution. As with all starting points, one should always introduce change in an adapted way to her reality. I think even more so when it comes to direct exposure to sunlight. This is one of the most mysterious starting points for me, since I am barely starting to understand some of the mechanics and chemistry behind it. Besides the positive effects of sunbathing I’ve been benefiting from, I have no idea of the possible negative consequences. So far, exposing my skin to direct sunlight has done lots of good to me, but who knows maybe in the long run what I am doing could also have some negative effects as well. I decided to take that risk, because the immediate benefits are truly helping me in my journey towards a healthier living. I can only be responsible for myself. If you are planning on exposing your skin to direct sunlight, please take the necessary precautions which are adapted to your own reality.Continue reading

Exercising

Exercising –

Not 101

I did not want to name this starting point Exercising 101. One, because I think that exercising is already way more accepted and integrated to the western culture than the other starting points on this blog. Two, what I actually have been doing as physical exercise, has been out there for several years, if not decades already. I think the added value I can bring as far as exercising goes, lies in the approach of finding the most appropriate way of exercising for oneself. In addition, observing the exercise sessions  as sort of a metrics to evaluate how other starting points are affecting the body.Continue reading

Raw Food 101 – For a Better Monday Style

Raw Food 101

My Personal Background in regard to Raw Food

Switching to a raw diet was the very first step I took in my attempt for a healthier living. In April 2016 I considerably increased the amount of raw food in my diet. I never went 100%, but for the first eight months straight, I ate about 95% raw. I was even eating meat and eggs raw. In addition to eat uncooked food, I also quit dairy products, cereals, processed sugars and alcohol. After the initial eight month period, I started to occasionally consume dairy products, and cooked food, but with alcohol, I haven’t consume any since then. I would not recommend to quit everything at once the way I did, but rather approach change progressively. Today (Nov 2017) I am eating for about 75% raw. I think having a diet made of higher percentage of raw food is probably the main pillar of the sustainable change I was able to make.Continue reading

Dry-Fasting 101 – For A Better Monday Style

Dry-Fasting 101

What is dry-fasting?

Before getting started, I thought it would be a good idea to give you my definition of dry-fasting. When I dry-fast, I don’t eat any food nor I drink any liquid. In addition, I don’t brush my teeth, and try to reduce as much as I can the number of time I wash my hands and take showers. Even though dry-fasting can sound as something extreme, I personally find it way easier than water or juice-fasting.Continue reading

Juicing 101 – For A Better Monday Style

Juicing 101

Introduction:

Juicing has been a key element in my journey towards a healthier life-style. It requires some time and money investment. As far as I am concerned, I don’t regret any minute or a single dime I have put into being able to make high quality juices at home. The benefits have surpassed my expectations. To juice, I use a slow juicer, and try to get organic produce. It’s not always possible to get everything organic.  As far as my personal access to organic produce goes here in Buenos AIres, I was able to spot a couple places in Belgrano which sell organic fruits and vegetables. One of them makes the trip directly to the fields in Hudson near La Plata three times a week. This means that on specific days of the week, I am able to juice organic produce that has been harvested a few hours earlier on the same day.Continue reading