Weight check-in + acne status

I weighed in at 151.8 - i'm trying not to get excited yet because it is still within the 5 lb range of my starting weight but it is certainly setting a trend.  And it has been only 2 weeks since I started the water.  

BTW, not so good on the acne front.  Last couple of days i've been breaking out - nothing cystic, thank goodness!  but i am noticing many small spots on my cheeks.  I was also sick this past week with sinus infection and the fever that goes along.  I'm not sure if that is relevant but thought I'd mention it.  I will also say that i've been skipping a little on the green drinks and the last couple of days I had some soda.  Most likely this is the cause of the break out.  

Anyway, working on getting back on track.  And i made another yummy a couple of days ago.  It was basically garlic bread but with zucchini instead of bread.  

Roasted zucchini with garlic:

2 medium zucchini

2 tsp olive oil

2 cloves of garlic

1 tsp parsley flakes

salt and pepper to taste

sprinkling of cheese (any kind you like)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Quarter zucchini lengthwise and arrange on a baking dish skin side down.  Mix oil, garlic, parsley, salt and pepper and brush on the zucchini.  bake until almost fork tender (approx 15-20 mins).  Remove from the oven and sprinkle on the cheese.  Place back in the oven until the cheese is melted (I liked mine when the cheese had crisped up a little).  Remove from the oven and let rest for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Note: I used jack cheese which was okay.  Next time I will use Parmesano Reggiano because it will probably become slightly crusty.  

1st Weight Check-in + Diet and Exercise

Its been about a week and half since I've been drinking the alkaline water from Athena filter and my weight today is 152.8 lbs - I have to admit, I did not expect to see a change in weight right away.  Although, this is within a 5 lb range of my weight from last week so I'm not sure I should count it.  It is normal for your weight to fluctuate with a 5 lb range.

Exercise: I exercise very regularly and do the 8-Step Exercises taught by Master Del Pe/MDP BElife and these exercises are specifically designed to rapidly boost your oxygen levels in the blood and activate the metabolism.  I've been doing these exercises for 2 years now and have noticed a significant difference.  I've also noticed that my stress levels are lower with these exercises and they help with any back strain I get from sitting in front of a computer all day.  I do a form of martial arts called AMAYS, also taught by Master Del Pe.  I don't keep with the martial arts regularly though.  Hoping to change that soon as that is very good for me.

Diet: I have been a strict vegetarian for the past 2 years.  Now say what you will about vegetarians but I lost 5 inches around my waist in the first two months of becoming a vegetarian! I rarely eat fried food.  I drink green smoothies regularly - you can google lots of recipes for green smoothies but I will be posting some recipes here soon.  I prefer to drink green smoothies than munch on a salad for an hour, this is my personal preference.  If you like salads, great! They are not for me.

I'll give more details about my diet soon but for today I want to share a recipe.  I made roasted asparagus tonight, right before I started writing this entry.  I brought my plate up to the office and started typing this post when I tasted the asparagus, it was so good!  I actually had to stop writing and eat all the asparagus because it was just too delicious!

Ingredients:
1 bunch asparagus, cleaned and ends trimmed
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp rosemary, crushed
2 pinches ground nutmeg
Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Arrange the trimmed asparagus on a cookie sheet or baking pan in a single layer.  Mix the remaining ingredients well and pour over asparagus.  Toss to coat evenly.  Bake for 8-12 minutes depending on the thickness of the stalks.  The ends should be fork tender.

Settings on Athena

One of the features of the Athena is you can select the level of alkalinity you would for your water to be filtered at.  Setting 4 is most alkalinity - pH 9-10, setting 3 is very high alkalinity - pH 8-9 and so on.  I was testing the water at these different settings but was finding that all the water was testing at pH 9.5-ish.  I contacted Ionways and they said two things:

1) The filters are brand spanking new and need some time to settle in (yes, I added the "spanking").

2) There is too much power going into the unit - I live in TX and he suggested a certain voltage setting for this state.  I have to figure out how to change that setting.

Current weight and about Athena

My current (starting) weight is 154 lbs.  I am hoping to lose about 15 lbs and the water should help with that.

I realize i did not explain much about the Athena water filter so here's the skinny: The Athena filters water so that it is highly alkaline and antioxidant.  The water we drink from bottles or tap is extremely acidic and in order to have healthy function (90% of blood is water), we need to have alkaline water in our system.  You can look up the tech specs on how this filter makes water alkaline by checking out the website: www.ionways.com they have different models also. 

So when i checked the pH levels of the different waters (bottle, tap, filter), I was checking for the level of alkalinity or acidity in the water.  So for example, the bottle water came up as pH level 4 - acidic! Tap water was pH 6 - neutral.  Athena water all came up around pH 9.5-10 - very alkaline.  this is very healthy water and causes your body to detox.  One of the reasons for weight gain is acidity in the body (not just the stomach but the blood) and it can be healed by drinking alkaline water along with diet, exercise, etc.  Acne is another issue that can be triggered by acidity in the blood.  So my purpose here is to document if the alkaline water from the Athena filter does affect these things.  

pH levels

I checked the pH levels of the water this morning (pH levels explained here):


pH Levels of water:
Tap Water: 6
Bottled Water: 4
Athena setting 2: 9
Athena setting 3: 9
Athena setting 4: 10

The strange thing is, that all the levels on Athena were testing out 9-10.  The fact that the Tap Water is at level 6 means I need to add the calcium to the filter which i did after i had already tested everything.  So maybe the pH levels will make more sense after that has been in place for some time.  or it could be the filters need some time to settle in ... or something?  I'm going to email Ionways and check what they say about this.

Getting Started

I just had installed the Athena water filter by Ionways, the benefits of which are detailed on the website but the quick summary is: Athena is a water filter and ionizer that produces highly alkaline (or acidic if desired), antioxidant water that is rich with trace minerals.  The reason for the purchase was to improve my health - i suffer from acidic blood which shows in the symptoms of:

-Cystic acne
-Weight issues (approx 15 lbs overweight)
-Water retention
-Headaches
-Muscle fibers issues (i forget the name at the moment)

These are just ones i know of.  I'm going to post soon my stats (weight, inches, current acne status) and also going to post the pH levels of the water from the filter vs tap water vs bottled that i've been drinking so far.