Margo's Ruff Life

The sweetest.

Nature's Decor

"It is better to be small, colourful, sexy, careless and peaceful, like the flowers, than large conservative, repressed, fearful, and aggressive, like the thunder lizards; a lesson, by the way, that the earth has yet to learn."

All of these photos were taken this morning (June 11) just after 6 a.m. When the lighting is this good, and you have a pup who loves to walk next to you, it just makes sense to explore.  Even if we don't make it past the driveway. 

Fast & Slow: my week without food

Most people from my region in the South Eastern US don't know too much about fasting.  It's not part of our culture, religious practices (Bible belt, y'all), spiritual preferences or medical treatments.  So I think it's safe for me to assume a lot of people haven't researched or studied fasting.  I have.  Hence, why I took on a week-long experiment (originally only for 3 days, but then... go big or go home, right?).

I looked into fasting because I was experiencing many problems that store bought products couldn't fix.  My eyes were constantly irritated and blood shot, even with the doctors rx, they would not heal.  My skin was flushed with bumps and the all natural homemade remedies: coconut oil/aloe body scrubs failed miserably.  My hair became straw-like and was falling out at alarming rates.  I was gaining weight even though I swam all the time and my (mostly) vegetarian diet remained unchanged.  So a lot of things didn't add up.  Some of these factors had to have been linked to stress and the environment, nonetheless, I was tired of zero progress.

So I became obsessed with how fasting works and who supported it in the past (Hippocrates, Socrates, Plato, Gandhi, Upton Sinclair, and many modern doctors/scientists).  It is found all throughout history, especially as a religious tradition for detoxifying the body.  There is a ton of research on it, books explaining how it is linked to nature, people beating cancer with it, animals living longer when scientists put them on fasts, and so on... I watched youtube videos of people going through it, read blogs of their experience, got my doctor's approval, read Sinclair's book and it all made sense.  I can do this and I should do this.  Everyone who has has benefited from it.

I got some negative feedback when I was explaining my ordeal.  People told me that it's not good to starve myself, I need food for fuel, lack of vitamins only makes things worse and so on.  But they were all wrong.  And I told them so, but it hard to explain so much information to people who are set in their lifestyles.  Something so off-the-wall is hard to accept.

The week I became a plant: sunshine and water for all.

So I began my water-only fast feeling good- it's 90% mental anyways.  Not that I had to prove to anything to anyone, but I wanted to know for myself.  If all the research I did was true and it could work.  I'm naturally a hangry person so it was a real test to myself.  

I spent the week drinking lots of water, resting, watering my plants and writing articles.  When my stomach started to growl, I hushed it.  And it worked.  Real hunger is felt around the 35 day mark (we can go without food for 40 days) and it's not by a growling stomach.  Throat pains tell you you are really hungry and running out of reserves.  My squeaky grumbles were no problem and I felt full off of all the water.  It was much easier going without food than I imagined.

My biggest struggle was my mind.  I would get a slight headache from time to time, but the thoughts of food were endless.  This is also because I am cooking and experimenting with food everyday, so I am always thinking these thoughts anyways.  The funny part was that I remained clear-headed and creative.  Others have spoken about "mind fog" that is frequent... not for this girl.  I had trouble sleeping because I could not shut my mind off.  An increase in creativity was noted as a common side effect, and for this I was happy.

To wrap this up, it was a nice little fast and I'm glad I did it.  I broke the fast on the sixth day as I was losing too much weight. I am already a lean girl, and with all my muscle gone, I called it a week.  My skin cleared, my eyes have yet to act up (it's been over a month now), my hair is healthier but still falling out.  Maybe I'm just old now?  I was also having a leg pain for a few months, but that has stopped as well.

The greatest part was what I learned after breaking the fast.  Once I started introducing foods into my system again, I could directly see how they affected me.  I've known dairy upsets my stomach, but I didn't realize meat did the same and then some.  Sugar makes my skin break out and I feel drained/gross after eating it.  So now my senses are more heightened to my bodily reactions and I can understand what they are saying.  I read that most people feel more in tune with their bodies and desire foods less.  Which is good. 

There is a lot here that I haven't said.  I would encourage anyone to try it out, even intermittent fasting, or just juice fasting one day a week.  I would like to do a week-long fast once a year with intermittent fasting throughout.  "The Fasting Cure" by Upton Sinclair and "Eat Stop Eat" by Brad Pilon were good resources.  This lady: personalexcellence.co/blog/fasting-series/ explains and records it very well.  Youtube also has tons of day by day videos and reviews.  Your body deserves a break from digesting so it can focus its energy on the parts of us that need healing.  Sometimes we just need to slow down and fast.  

Blog Dog

May 30th marked the official adoption of Margo.  After going back and forth between shelters, not agreeing on one, debating pros and cons of life... we settled.  Margo was found in the dumps of Saint Martin 4 months ago by the rescue team.  She had been living at the shelter ever since and thought to be around 10 months old.

The shelter called her "Choupette" meaning something obscure in French and which is also the name of Karl Lagerfeld's cat...  I had to change that immediately.  (Since all my pup picks were denied for being too big,  I at least got to choose the name.)

She is full grown but you can tell she has puppy instincts left in her.  Like the tendency to pee when she is afraid or excited.  Margo has yet to earn entrance into the living room.

We took her on a test run for a few days to see if she could handle the boat life.  The future didn't look so promising because she was so afraid of everything. We couldn't even walk her with a leash or play with us.  But she's smart and a quick learner.  To all our surprise, Margo championed the sailboat experience (even though she was scared) and thus we initiated our 2nd Mate the next day.

It only took two days for her to not need a leash, run next to me, jump in the water and start swimming.

Also, she is not barky or whiny or aggressive or hyper.  We are on to something with this one.   A dump dog might just be the best one I'm to raise. 

ilovemyislanddog.org

Plant A Better Life

Week one back on the island.  A reset of sorts since I've decided to settle in...  it's officially time to upgrade the standards of life.  Focussing on sustainable living and eating.  Welcome to my porch and kitchen.

Being on an island of Dutch, French, English and German speakers, seed packages come in various languages.  So to avoid any confusion,  Andi has so thoroughly given them name flags with each country's translation.  The French garlics don't seem to get along with the German basil, however.

My avocado after a month of sitting in a jar of water.  Finally greeting us!  Now only about six more years till she fruits.  Patience is a virtue, they say. 

Plants increase happiness- fact.  And if food also makes me happy, surely food grown from the earth will double up on that happiness.  So win/win, yeah?  Plants and vegetables rule this house. 

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Slow cooked spaghetti squash with steamed broccoli, fresh basil and topped with a light peanut sauce (roasted sesame seeds, finely chopped peanuts and amino acids- soy replacement).

Slow cooked eggplant and carrots, seasoned with cayenne, curry, salt, pepper and turmeric. Topped on a bed of sautéed spinach with homemade chia tortillas.

"Mexican Cauliflower Pizza" (cauliflower, egg, oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, salt, pepper) with tomato sauce, kale, onions, peppers, and black beans.

Homemade gluten free (+ wheat germ) chia tortilla wraps with homemade hummus, cucumbers, kale, carrots and beets.

It's a lot of the "homemade" business, but when you live on an island that imports everything and uses the Euro... it starts to make sense.  Not only do we save money,  but the foods are much less processed, contain no added sugars, preservatives, or any bad additives that make foods taste so good and last so long.  Health is life, so make it the best possible.

Surprise Dives

Back story: My Olympus Tough Underwater camera started leaking water halfway through the trip. I managed to dry it out and using white duct tape, I covered every possible cranny. It looked like it had barely survived war.  Then for some reason the settings on the camera changed to an old school program that I still cannot explain. So the rest of the trip, from Saint Lucia down to Grenada and back up to Iles Fourche, I used a bandaged camera on the default 1990s settings. I also swam with one arm out of the water to try to avoid any excess water getting in... but I'm used to looking ridiculous and it all worked out.

Grenada's Underwater Sculpture Park 

Grenada's Underwater Sculpture Park was designed and built by Jason deCaires Taylor, Troy Lewis and a few others. It doubles as a tourist attraction and a synthetic reef. As you can see from the creatures growing on the statues, it has created a little mossy ecosystem. With over 80 pieces you can spend all day there, but after an hour of diving 10-20 feet, exhaustion hits. Quick.

Iles Fourche Nature Reserve

The nature reserve, a mere 30 miles from Saint Martin, was one of the best places to snorkel for wild life. Firstly, it is not a popular destination. It is a tiny private island and not one for beach-goers or for bad DJs to set up and blast "music." It is far enough away that locals will not be trying to sell you their goods, thus making it safer for swimming and only a few charter boats came around. The water was significantly colder than the other bays, but c'mon it's the Caribbean, doesn't get near chilly. Anyways, immediately after anchoring a baby sea turtle approached the boat. Thus prompting me to jump in and find two more turtles lying in the shade of our boat, 20 feet below. Barracudas, stingrays, fish and coral were found around every bend. Unfortunately, no sharks.

Sunsets of the Caribbean

Jalousie Bay, St. Lucia

 Tyrell Bay, Carriacou

 Rodney Bay, St. Lucia

 Tyrell Bay, Carriacou

Tyrell Bay, Carriacou

 Jalousie Bay, St. Lucia

 Terre-de-Haut Bay, Iles des Saintes

 Rodney Bay, St. Lucia

Nettle Lagoon, Saint Martin