Welcome to Moments Photography by Sandy's blog about photography and creativity. Always on the prowl for ways to keep learning, trying, inventing and shooting pictures. I will share my adventures, addictions, and antics below. Come visit often and share what you will. Live abundantly, giving, sharing and loving. . .
Be a Fork
In a world where so many people seem to prefer being spoon fed their health by trusting all doctors, I am a fork. I am mostly interested in making myself feel fine. I ask questions. I notice how my body responds. Most doctors are also trying to make me feel better, but they don't want to talk about the decision. Their strength lies in a prognosis and prescription. It took me getting recurrent sinus problems and being shot repeatedly with steroids to begin my journey of choice. This was "back in the day' before the internet. It wasn't easy to find information, never mind I was teaching school and raising two children. So to make a visit to the library in hopes of finding such information really wasn't on "the list". And I really didn't need research or a specialist degree to recognize that I gained 6 pounds every time this scenario played out.
When I mentioned my weight gain and steroid association to the doctors, I was corrected, ridiculed, ignored and even tricked. I had learned enough to pick out shots that had a steroid by the name. Even though I told them not to give me a steroid, they did. How did I know? Oh, the symptoms were easy to pick out. I couldn't sleep (mind you I went because I was sick, so this detail is miserable enough), and I gained more weight. There was an alternative medicine doctor in town who allowed me to look up the name and yes, it did have a steroid in it. I called the office and told them to destroy my records as I wouldn't be needing their services any more.
Flash forward, and we find that it is now common knowledge to gain weight from steroids. I have finally been able to verbalize the difference between going to the doctor and the practice of healing the body. A doctor may give you something to treat the symptoms that you express. You may heal or you may just cover up the symptoms. That doesn't make the doctor a healer. A doctor treats the symptoms. To heal you may need to use nutrition and or change your life style.
The body wants to heal and can be a powerful machine, given support. It really is your choice. Doctors are not trained in nutrition to support the body to heal. Most are classically trained to diagnose and treat. It is what it is. You can't know what you don't know. So it's not the doctor's fault they don't know nutrition. They didn't have time to go find the research on nutrition while studying what they were told to study. I have to say that in my newest research to help my mother heal from cancer, I am finding that these studies do exist and there are doctors who have learned about healing. Some date back to the 1940's. If your interested in how nutrition can help you, watch these movies on Netflix, "Food Matters" and "Forks Over Knives". Next week I'll be taking one more step towards my own healing by following the "Hot Belly Diet", a book using Ayurveda medicine. The "medicine" is food. This way of eating will reset my metabolism and help heal the digestion problems that have caused a thyroid issue. It can also turn back diabetes. Both illnesses caused by the digestion system. The doctor could give me a way to manage the body symptoms. Or I can choose to change my diet, modify life patterns and cure the problem. Again, choice.
Simple as a Daisy
Simple as a daisy. A daisy is not really simple. It is actually two flowers in one. The white that encircles the cluster of yellow, each technically a flower of its own. Well, that's not really complicated, but it's not really simple. Yet it does have a pleasing simplicity in its design. I like daisies. They are in every part of the world except Antarctica. I found these daisies in someone's front yard and made myself at home one day to photograph. Some days you just have to make a picture and that's the priority. I even put some daisies on the jean jacket. Yes, I found some time to visit and make pretties with thread.
Light Changes Everything
Love changes everything. Light changes everything. Love is from the light. Light breaks up the dark. Love breaks out of the heart and heals the mind with feelings, not words. Light shines and the appearance reveals differences. Differences can be good. It's not as if one is better or worse on a continuum . Observe. Reflect. Accept. Be light. This world is full of light. You are given the choice to choose light or not. Light is the opposite of heavy. We can all live in light, love, peace and harmony. It is all of the light. It feels good. I'm there. I hope you'll join this tribe.
Different levels of light - different, that's all. Embrace differences. Take home what you need. Allow others the same. It's really that simple.
Silence stops the noise.
Lemons Love Life
Sometimes when you are in the midst of turmoil in a life changing experiences, a breakthrough like the sun parts the fog, and appears. This appearance came in an email that explained the benefits of lemons. Lemons, the fruit fashioned in color like the sun is a killer of cancer and thus dons the title “Lemons Love Life”. It’s a small package of large impact. Here are the facts as I know them:
In the morning, put lemons in warm water to drink before breakfast. This will hydrate your body and flush out toxins. It increases digestion and liver functions. It regulates blood pressure and bowel movement. It battles inflammation, reduces joint pains and fights cancer by keeping the body alkaline. Whew – and so much more… Here's a link to more information from David Wolfe's website.
Additionally, you can add lemons throughout the day. Especially if you are in a battle with cancer, the simple process below may be just what your body needs to get healthy again. Lemons are alllegedly 10,000 times more effective than chemotherapy.
During the day, you can add lemons in cooking and drinking. I got this information in an email from the website: The Hearty Soul. If you subscribe to theheartysoul.com, you’ll receive a download with even more information about lemon, garlic, honey and how to use them for healing properties. Here is the website. I’ll summarize it below.
http://theheartysoul.com/why-you-should-freeze-lemons/?t=NSM
Take lemons, wash them and cut them in half to get the seeds out. Then freeze them. You then take them from the freezer to grind them up with the peeling intact. Put this ground up lemon in ice cube trays to freeze for use later. I added a little water to the blender to make it easier to grind up. The ice cube trays pictured are flexible and are smaller than regular ice cube trays. That is good because the flavor is more intense than just a squeezed lemon, so you don't need much. I put one in water and let it melt. Then I added ice to make a cool, refreshing beverage. If I didn't eat the lemon along the way I could make another 24 oz. container of water and still have the lemon taste. Goodness and Good-bye to toxins and cancer!
If your taste buds prefer a lighter version, try infusing water with lemon slices and letting it set for 3 hours. This makes a drink that replaces electrolytes (#11 in article below). Check out the recipes in the article listed below and the science behind the healthy habit of lemons. And remember to also drink plain water as noted in the negative side effects at the end of the article (really, it's not bad...just keep in mind your choices.)
https://www.jenreviews.com/lemon-water/
Photography inspired by an online class with
http://kimklassen.com/
Mom's Kitchen and a Recipe for Power Bars
Mom's kitchen and a recipe, begins this journey of compiling, mixing and baking. This is Carol's kitchen, designed by her and my Dad, the engineer. Among the new modern machines like blenders, pull out drawers and gadgets, lie the remnants of times past. There are milk bottles that used to be collected off the back porch. The towel is cross-stitched "Carol's Kitchen", by my mother. The recipe box and bowl in the image are from her mother. Great Grandma's sifter sits on the shelf, as does the butter churn. My task at hand is to meld the old, ie: natural ingredients with the new, ie: protein powers, quinoa, and chia seeds in a way that is really not new at all. It just takes time. And our priorities for using time have shifted away from baking to buying. I'm finding that so many of the new ways of eating have not served us well. As my body has aged, it is less likely to tolerate certain foods namely: almonds, soy, milk, sugar and eggs. This limits my ability to purchase packaged foods. However, with Pinterest to the rescue and a bit of persistence and determination, I have made a refined recipe to my liking. Each time I make it I change the fruit or nuts so I have never lost interest in making or eating these Power Bars for breakfast. I present the most recent edition of my recipe below and a picture of how I brought that recipe from my home (on Google Drive), 800 miles away to make it in Mom's kitchen.
Power Bars by Sandy Gates, adapted from Camilla @powerhungry.com
1/4 c. quinoa into 1 cup of water: bring to boil, reduce heat to medium and cook on the stove for 12 minutes
While the quinoa cooks combine the items below into a large bowl:
1/3 c. chopped nuts, choose any you like. I use walnuts, and/or pecans
1/3 c. more nuts, same or different
1/4 c. rolled or steel oats
1/4 c. protein power, your choice. I use pea protein, vanilla (some brands have sugar, so check ingredients)
1/4 c. coconut flour, unsweetened
1/4 c. chia seeds *see note below
By the time you have put all the ingredients in a bowl, the quinoa should be cooked. Turn off the heat. To this pot on the stove add:
2 Tbs. coconut oil
1/2 tsp. salt
(* you can add the chia seeds to the quinoa mixture if you like a dough like power bar; I really like to do this.)
Optional: add raisins and let them plump up before you cool down the mixture with the milk below.
1 c. unsweetened milk, I like coconut or hemp; after the milk is added, (almond milk is fine here for those who want/can) it will be cooled enough to add the following ingredients that are heat sensitive and can be damaged by high heat. A little warmth is okay.
2 Tbs. raw honey, or agave if you want to keep the recipe all plant based
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
Other options: dates, cocoa bits; etc.
350 degree oven, 20-25 minutes; After cool, cut into 10 bars
Bars will keep 4 days at room temp., 1-2 week in refrigerator, 4 months in freezer. I usually keep a few out to each fresh. I then put the cut bars on an aluminum pie pan and put them directly in the freezer for awhile. I take them off the pie pan and put them into a plastic bag. Now that they are individually frozen I can take them out as needed. I keep one bar in the refrigerator in a container, ready to eat for breakfast. In the morning I put the power bar in the toaster oven. I then replace the container in the refrigerator with one from the freezer. By the next morning it is ready to be eaten. And the circle continues. Yum.
To save time, make a double batch, using a 9x13" pan. This makes 20 bars.
Photography composition inspired by Kim Klaussen.com online photography class.
Macros: protein 11.61, fat 18.2 (walnuts = 10 of the 18), carbs. 26.97, calories 357.9
