MARCH: In Season

What the hell is growing in March? Apparently there are several things that you can buy (or grow) in season even in March.

cabbage in our garden that wintered over

Now I know that we live in modern America and we can literally get anything we desire because we import fruits and vegetables from other countries that are in summer when we are in winter. But...it is my firm belief that it's better to eat in season as much as possible. Here's what is available in March:

• broccoli
• lettuce
• cabbage
• mushrooms
• pineapple
• mango
• oranges

You would have to be pretty crafty to be able to come up with a month's worth of recipes that used nothing but  the 7 items above. But that isn't necessary.  As long as you can incorporate these in more then you are on the right track. And don't worry about trying to eat the veggies 100% raw. If you are still at the stage where you like your food cooked then that's what you should do: eat cooked veggies!

I always say it's more important to get vegetables into your mouth than to worry about whether they are cooked. If you are eating a salad, make it taste good by loading on the dressing if that is the only way you will get the in your mouth. The only unacceptable way to eat vegetables is fried- sorry french fries don't count! Neither does vegetable tempura (although it is soooo tasty!)

What's your fave way to eat vegetables? Or do you absolutely despise them?

RANDOM: 8 things I've never done

Crossing my fingers that I will continue to have good fortune!

1. I have never had to go to court. I don't know how this is humanly possible, but in the 29 years I've been on this earth I have never had to go.

2. I have never had to pee on a stick. I guess if it were to happen unexpectedly now it wouldn't be such a travesty. I worried so much until recently when I realized that I was actually old enough to take care of a kid.

3. I have never and will NEVER go sky diving. Period!

crackheads!

4. Up until recently I had never eaten Taco Bell- and I wish I had never. It was disgusting.

5. I have never broken a bone- or even come close.

6. I have never been to Europe (which I hope to change this summer)

7. I have never been on a public bus. Quite frankly they skeeve me. I would rather walk or pay a ridiculous cab fare than get on a bus.

8. I have never been in a hot air balloon. I think it would be nice.

9. I have never lost my cool and told anyone off...hahaha just kidding. I try but sometimes I just can't control it.

Tomorrow... updates on juicing and eating raw food. 

Chugging Vegetable Juice

So Monday morning I started drinking dark green leafy vegetable juice- convenient timing considering how I am also working on starting a business that sells dark green leafy vegetable juice. Let me tell you...it is amazing (I added alot of fresh pressed apple juice!). If I didn't get full after a giant glass, I would drink more. I was literally chugging it like I had been deprived of water in a desert.

These are the veggies that I used:

• kale
• collards
• spinach
• broccoli
• parsley
• dandelion greens (sooooo healthy for you!)
• cilantro
• celery
• carrots w/ their tops

I wrote a few weeks ago how I literally  have been craving vegetable juice now for a few weeks. I watched Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead (again) and was like I NEED VEGETABLE JUICE!!!!! Well now I have it and I am taking advantage. I'll let you know if there are any breakthroughs along the way. Psst...I don't want to speak too soon...but...in the past week that I have been mostly raw and drinking this green juice my skin has majorly cleared up. Crossing my fingers! The real test will be when I get my EPISODE which is due to destroy me within the next week or so.

When I was first introduced to the dark green juice many many years ago by my grandfather (who's 87, still physically healthy, and drinks this stuff everyday!) I was completely grossed out. It was dark and pungent smelling and unbearably undrinkable. That was when I was in college and I'm sure I was slightly hungover, had just finished McDonald's (or similar), &/or wasn't the slight bit interested in the benefits of dark green leafy vegetable juice.

Fast forward 6 or 7 years and I have a whole new perspective. Plus I am mixing the dark serious stuff with fresh pressed apple juice which is what makes it drinkable (at least at my stage in the game). But after reading all about the health benefits of incorporating more dark greens leafy vegetables into your diet it doesn't matter to me what you have to mix it with to get it into your stomach- so long as it gets into your stomach. I know plenty of people who are afraid of fruit because they have been brainwashed by mainstream that it is high in sugar, and are going to be afraid of mixing it with fruit juice. But seriously, even though fruit juice (I'm talking fresh pressed not the junk you buy in stores) is sugary they are 100% natural and all of the vitamins and healthy stuff is still there and hasn't been cooked off. P.S. all fruit juices you buy in a grocery store have been cooked so there is not much nutritional value if any.

This brings up a whole new idea that I had which is most people are going to need to mix fruit juice into this stuff so they can actually drink it....

Should we sell different strengths? Like one for beginners which is mixed with say 75% fruit juice, then the novice which is 50% fruit juice (I'm somewhere in between those two), then the serious level with 25% fruit juice, and finally the master level at 100% full strength dark green leafy vegetable juice.

So I ask you...if you were buying this stuff and you needed to mix it with fruit juice in order to actually drink it and get the health benefits, would you rather buy it pre-mixed OR would you rather buy the full strength stuff and mix it yourself?

My thoughts on "occupying" things

Yesterday was Occupy You Food Suppy day #OFS. I get it that people are fed up with how things are being run- I am too. The government is in bed with big dairy, big business, big agriculture, big banks & everyone else who loves free money.

While generally I think it is a good thing that people stand up for what they believe in, "occupying" anything other than a job is really not going to benefit anyone- including yourself.

I agree that the food industry is a F'ed up. I agree that we are fatter and sicker because of it. I agree that something needs to be done. But what I don't agree with is "occupying" anything- except maybe the White House lawn (b/c whether you want to face it or not, all this bullshit wouldn't be possible without a big government, handouts, and lobbying). The Occupy Movement that started with Wall Street (which was in my humble opinion a bunch of misinformed, wanna-be hippies that had no real agenda and no work ethic) was such a time and money suck that I am not going to waste any more time talking about it. Now the Occupiers are occupying what? food stores? Monsanto's corporate headquarters? Who knows. As far as I could see it didn't make the evening news.

Here are some actual things every ordinary person who cares about themselves, their health, their wallet, and their families can do without having the I'm-a-hippie-and-I-need-something-to-cry-about stigma:

• buy more produce, it doesn't even have to be organic
• stop buying the junk that's making you and your children fat monsters
• buy seeds and start growing some of your own food (instead of spending hundred of $'s on pretty flowers for your garden)

It doesn't have to be this big to-do to make changes. All you have to do is vote with your fork and your dolla dolla bills yo! We don't need more farm bills or Occupy Movements. Get the government/evil food industry out of your food by changing the food that you buy. 

Going RAW: Part Deux

It has been almost a week that I have been eating a mostly raw food diet. Wohooo! Even though it is not my goal to cut out cooked food cold turkey I feel like I have a pretty good handle on it. I am not going to stress about it if I absolutely want to eat something cooked every once and a while. I think that my body will take care of what it needs over time and I will want it less and less.

I hired help of course. Lisa was kind enough to fit me into her schedule and help a sista out by making her heavier "transition" raw foods. I can handle fruit salad, smoothies, and green salads (although she does make me a few of these) but I asked her to make me things that are going to be as close to cooked food as possible like her zucchini pasta with creamy basil pesto!

Everything is awesome! I am finding that even with raw food I really love savory (salty) food over sweet. I have always been one for salty things- especially potato chips.

What a change since the last time I tried to do this! If you don't remember (or weren't reading my blog yet) I tried this last November when we were just getting into winter and I was crazy busy with work. I found myself completely freezing and wanted nothing but soup. So I parked it for a few months. Now we are over the hump and spring is around the corner. I don't have the insane need for hot things anymore. I am ready!


Why am I doing this? Well, after last month's EPISODE followed by a bad cold, I was fed up and felt like the next thing to do was to completely change my diet. Enter raw food. I have been reading about people who have made the change and am amazed by their testimonials about how much their health improved. So I thought I would give it a shot. I want to try to maximize the amount of vitamins and minerals I am getting from my food.

Most people, when I tell them what I am doing, say 'oh, I could  never do that', and you know what they probably can't. Because when you say you can't do something you are right. You are putting limitations on yourself before you even try. I used to say that I could never give up meat. Oh how far I've come!

Anyone out there considering going raw? or has and has some advice?

Raw Generation Juices Coming Soon!

I swear....we are really going to be able to show something for
all this work!

We (my father and I) have made quite a bit of progress over the past 3 weeks. For a while I was overwhelmed  because there were a million things to do, but now we are at a point where things are really starting to come together.  First huge accomplishment...we decided on the name Raw Generation (which I think I told you about), second...we decided on a logo after about 18 different variations. Ta-daaaaah~

I know this wasn't even one of the original 9 that I asked your opinions on. We had settled on one of them, but then had some issues with how to apply it to our marketing materials so we went back to the drawing board (Photoshop) and it morphed into this! Hope you all like it as much as we do!

Third...on to the website. I have a love hate relationship with creating websites. A few years ago I decided I wanted to learn HTML/CSS so I could make my own websites. I bought one of those Dummies books (300+ pages) and started from scratch. The basic stuff worked when I did it, but as the code became more complicated I realized that I am not a natural nor do I have the patience/time to study PHP, Appache, JavaScript, & MySQL to figure out what the F was going on. So I Google'd "webesite creator" and found Wix.com. 

Wix.com worked (except on Apple computers) and it was right up my alley because it is drag and drop much like I am used to with Photoshop. Then I got into blogging, which Wix didn't have at the time. 

Enter WordPress. I HATE WORDPRESS! I spent literally the entire summer last year trying to build a blog/website in WordPress and after 60+ days of fudging around I had a glitchy site that looked nothing like I wanted it to. So I gave up and started this blog on Blogger. It has most of the functionality that I was looking for and I could customize it enough to be happy with the way it looks. If you know me you know that I am almost OCD about the way things look- my house, my websites, my graphics, the food I take photos of...aesthetics are ridiculously important to me. 

When it came time to start the Raw Generation website I needed something more powerful that included eCommerce. I did some looking around and found Shopify.com which was the only website creator I found that had a shopping cart, blog, and looked super easy to customize. It's also set up like a smart phone with apps you can download and they almost seamlessly integrate with your website. You don't have to fudge around with complicated code (like with WordPress) unless you want to. 

I think I literally started on this Wednesday of this week (2 days ago) and I already have more than half it done!!! Here's a sneak peak:

I am amazed at how easy it is to work in Shopify.com! WordPress should take some notes; they could really learn a thing or two from Shopify.

Have a great weekend!

Conflicting Information About Raw Milk

Yesterday I was contacted by two different family members about news reports of people supposedly getting sick from raw milk. This coming after the news of the Feds shutting down a raw dairy farm in Pennsylvania because they sold their products across state lines. Frankly, I think it is udderly (pun intended) ridiculous that the United States Federal Government is so concerned with dairy farmers who run clean farms and provide a healthy product that is in demand by people who are disgusted by conventional dairy. 


I realize the problem in question is food born illness, but seriously there are spinach recalls and peanut butter recalls. No one ever hears of the feds raiding spinach farms or peanut butter factories, with guns, and forcing them out of business. 


No. The company does a recall and life goes on. Why is it that the Feds have such a penchant for eradicating raw dairy farmers? 


I just did a quick Google search of "raw milk recalls" and "milk recalls" and guess what? There are recalls of regular (pasteurized) milk due to contamination too. It's not just the raw milk that supposedly contains the bad bacteria. 


Here are the two articles that I was emailed last night. One is from The Washington Times and the other is from Natural News. 

Feds: Fresh milk 150 times more dangerous than pasteurized dairy

The federal government said Tuesday that fresh milk is 150 times more dangerous than pasteurized milk — a finding that bolsters the government’s argument as it goes after farmers who sell unpasteurized milk across state lines.

After a 13-year review, the taxpayer-funded Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said states where so-called “raw milk” is available had twice the rate of dairy-related disease outbreaks as states where those sales are banned.

And disease outbreaks from fresh milk are more serious in nature, according to the study, which found 200 out of 239 hospitalizations during the study stemmed from cases of fresh milk.

“Restricting the sale of raw milk products is likely to reduce the number of outbreaks and can help keep people healthier,” said Dr. Robert Tauxe, director of CDC’s division of foodborne, waterborne and environmental diseases. “The states that allow sale of raw milk will probably continue to see outbreaks in the future.”

Fresh milk devotees say pasteurization — the process of heating food to kill off bacteria — removes some of the health benefits of milk, and argue that when consumers know their suppliers, diseases from raw milk are not an issue.

But the CDC and the Food and Drug Administration say pasteurized milk has all the same benefits as unpasteurized dairy.

Sales of raw milk are governed by states, but the FDA has jurisdiction over sales across state lines and has banned them.

The issue has come to a head in recent months after the FDA sued to shut down an Amish farmer in Pennsylvania who sold to eager customers in the Washington metropolitan region.

After a judge ruled against the farmer, he said he would shut down entirely, including in-state sales, rather than fight the regulators.

(Original Source) 

Pasteurized milk 150 times more contaminated with blood, pus and feces than fresh milk - videos the CDC won't show you 

The vaccine-pushing, disease scare-mongering agency known as the CDC has put out a stunning piece of propaganda attacking fresh milk (raw dairy), claiming it is "150 times more dangerous" than pasteurized milk. This is all part of their anti-American agenda to crush food freedom and criminalize fundamental farming practices upon which this very nation was founded. (Yes, George Washington and the founding fathers drank raw milk, grew hemp and even smoked a little weed as medicine.) 

But what the CDC won't dare reveal to the public is the far more horrifying truth: Pasteurized dairy is produced in the dirtiest milk factories imaginable, where blood, pus, e.coli and other truly dangerous pathogens are routinely bottled into milk containers and fed to consumers.
That's the whole point of pasteurization, you see: To kill everything that might be alive in their ultra-dirty milk. The real purpose of pasteurization is not to simply "make milk safe" as is claimed by the CDC, but rather to allow the dairy industry to operate DIRTY. It's so much easier to just cook the crap out of the milk (yes, there's fecal matter in it) than to clean up their operations, get it? 

Thanks to pasteurization, conventional (non-organic, non-raw) dairy operators have no need to thoroughly wash their milking machines, no need to sterilize any milk containers, no need to wash their hands, and no need to maintain a clean milking environment whatsoever. It's just total filth with festering diseased animals dying on the floor and being physically abused by the corporate dairy operators (see video links, below). 

Dairy cows are routinely abused and left to suffer in total filth. 

Want to know how conventional (pasteurized) dairy cows are really treated? Here's something the CDC won't show you. 

Watch this highly disturbing video of dairy cows being kicked, tortured, abused and injured by conventional dairy workers. 

This was filmed with an undercover spy cam (WARNING: DISTURBING IMAGERY):  Video 

When you buy pasteurized milk at the grocery store, you are supporting an industry that tortures cows and produces a dirty, filthy product! 

Of course, the dairy industry would much rather force everybody to pasteurize their milk and outlaw clean raw dairy than to clean up their own act. That's the whole point of the CDC going after raw dairy: To destroy the raw dairy industry and force everyone to drink dirty, contaminated pasteurized milk that's extracted from tortured cows. 

Here are some other short videos you may want to view (WARNING): 

Dairy Cow Abuse - "Mercy For Animals" hidden camera in New York:
video

The disgusting treatment of (conventional) dairy cows:
Video 

Dairy cows with injuries and infections:
Video

ABC Nightline - Dairy farm abuse:
Video

So get it through your heads, folks: If you buy pasteurized, homogenized milk, you are supporting an industry of filth, torture, infected animals and dirty, dirty milk. 

Blood, pus, bacteria and fecal matter - drink up, kiddies! 

The reason all that milk has to be pasteurized is because it's strongly contaminated with:

• blood
• pus
• bacteria
• fecal matter 

In addition, conventional dairy cows are:

• Pumped full of bovine growth hormones
• Fed masses of antibiotics
• Fed tons of GMOs such as corn and soy
• Heavily contaminated with chemical pesticides

That's what you get when you buy "Pasteurized" milk. Plus the feces in the milk, of course.
So the next time somebody gets mad at you in bumper-to-bumper traffic and they scream out the window: "EAT SH*T!" just hand them a glass of pasteurized milk. Let them drink it, huh?
The cleanest milk in the world? RAW, fresh milk! 

You want to see a super clean dairy operation? Go to a raw dairy farm and check out their operation. It's the cleanest, most pristine dairy operation you'll ever find. And why? Because it has to be. If you want to produce clean, fresh dairy without pasteurization, you have to run a super clean facility with healthy cows, stringent cleanliness practices and a commitment to producing wholesome food. 

Only raw milk dairies have this kind of commitment to cleanliness. 

View this powerful comparison between pasteurized milk and raw milk:
http://organicpastures.com/whyraw.html 

In fact, if you took a gallon of unpasteurized milk from a conventional dairy and you compared it to a gallon of unpasteurized milk from a quality-certified raw milk dairy, I have no doubt you would find that the conventional dairy has at least 150 times the level of blood, pus, feces and dangerous bacteria (if not more).

In contrast, raw milk from a reputable dairy operation such as Organic Pastures (www.OrganicPastures.com) is the cleanest milk on the planet, bar none. Sure, it has friendly bacteria in it, but that bacteria is good for you -- it's probiotics. The CDC, of course, is so clueless about infectious disease that they hate ALL bacteria and want to destroy them all with chemicals or heat. 

The CDC won't dare discuss any of this, however. Instead, the CDC has resorted to what can only be called a raw milk fear mongering campaign using the exact same tactic they used to promote vaccine sales by pushing false swine flu fear. 

The only thing dirtier than pasteurized milk, it seems, is the CDC itself, which has degraded from a once-respected group of actual scientists to a cabal of junk science fear mongerers and political prostitutes who drop trow and bend over for Big Business (Big Pharma, Big Dairy, etc.) at every opportunity. Instead of doing something important to stop the spread of infectious disease (like promoting vitamin D, immune-boosting nutrition and improved sanitation), the CDC is now a total sellout to the interests of the corporate giants who feed us filth and call it food. 

So it's no surprise to see the CDC promoting pasteurized milk -- the very product whose digestive enzymes have been destroyed so that it causes allergic reactions in those who consume it. 

Pasteurized, homogenized milk also promotes heart disease, obesity, autoimmune disorders, constipation, sinus congestion and many other chronic health conditions. It is the perfect food for the uninformed masses who the U.S. government seems to be trying to keep in a state of lifelong disease and medical enslavement. 

Keep reading NaturalNews to learn more about what's wrong with conventional pasteurized dairy products. We're working on several articles covering this topic. 

And remember: 

Pasteurized milk is so disgustingly dirty that if they didn't kill everything in it with heat, the liquid would probably kill YOU. 

Sources for this story include:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/feb/21/feds-fresh-milk-150-t...
http://organicpastures.com/
www.RealMilk.com
www.WestonAPrice.org

(Original Source) 

If you watched any of those videos, or have viewed any previously, you know how horrible some of these people are that are responsible for the milk that you drink. I don't know about you, but knowing what I know, I am not okay with spending my money on conventional milk products. 


I am going to continue to buy raw milk products.


If you are interested in finding out more information please visit Farm to Consumer Legal Defense Fund.

Chicken Soup for the Cold Jessie

Remember yesterday I mad the squash concoction? Well this would have been a perfect pair, except I cooked it after the fact. In spite of the fact that the chicken was to large for my dutch oven, I ended up with a lovely chicken soup that I completely did not intend to make.

I seasoned the chicken with garlic powder, onion powder, & pepper; put some water in the dutch oven; cut up some carrots, red onions, and threw in rosemary sprigs. Set it in the oven at 350 degrees for an hour to hour and a quarter (depending on the size of the chicken). Voila!

All you have to do is pick the meat off the chicken after it has cooled and you have soup! I had anticipated being able to get a lot more meat off this bird, but it was small so I only got enough to use in the soup. But...if you get a larger bird you could do both- soup & pick the meat off.

My favorite, favorite, favorite, thing is a chicken breast sandwich. I just use a good whole grain bread w/ A LOT of mayonnaise and some lettuce and tomato.

Next up! Chicken liver....yum!!!!

Haha, this chicken came with it's liver and I have been reading about how healthy it is to eat liver because it contains Vitamin A & D which are the vitamins that allow your body to utilize all other vitamins and minerals. Without enough Vitamin A & D the nutrients just pass right through and never get absorbed.

We'll see how this goes. The verdict isn't in as to whether I will actually like liver.

Comfort Food Redefined

It's not spring quite yet...still time for some squash recipes. Although we have had a relatively mild winter, it is still winter. Comfort food is key...but tradition comfort food is bursting with tons of cheese, white flour, processed junk out of a can, you get the point. 

This recipe calls for acorn squash, although you could use any type. Acorn is nice because you can cut them in half, roast them, add a few ingredients and you have two individual portions. Squash is great because, if stored properly (in a cool & dark place), it will last for months. Sounds gross, but that is mother nature's way of providing vegetables in the winter. Same with other fall vegetables: potatoes, onions, sweet potatoes, pumpkin, etc. 

Sweet Roasted Acorn Squash

• 1 acorn squash
• 1/4 c. quinoa
• 1/2 c. water
• 1 tab butter
• 1/2 c. raisins
• almonds
• garamasala spice

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
2. Cut squash in half, lay face down on pan.
3. Roast 40 minutes.
4. In pan, mix quinoa and water, bring to boil, lower heat & cover for 15 minutes.
5. When squash is done, fork out pulp and mix with quinoa, raisins, and nuts. 
6. Sprinkle spice as desired.
7. Stuff back in roasted squash shell.

This could be done as a savory dish too by adding sauteed mushrooms, carrots, onions, garlic, & grated Parmesan cheese. Hope you try this one out! It's super easy, inexpensive, and can be done pretty much any way you want. If I had thought of it earlier I would be roasting one of the chickens I picked up from the farm. But, it slipped my mind. You can use walnuts, dried cherries, pecans, brown rice, barley, thyme. Just look in your kitchen and experiment with what you have!

Anyone have any other suggestions for squash dishes?

Revisiting my goals

Lately I have been focusing on eliminating as much from my to-do list as I possibly can. I ask myself:

• Will this bring me closer to my goals?
• Do I really want to work on this?
• Do I really need to work on this?
• Will this improve my life?

I decided a few weeks ago that I was not going to pursue a business that I had thought up. At the time of it's inception I thought it was something that could really take off. But after getting curbed for a few months, I realized that it was not something I was in love with and it would just be a distraction for me right now. 

I put quite a bit of pressure on myself for not launching right away, but in hindsight I think that when delays like that happen, they are for the best. I would have spent countless hours building something that I ultimately would have lost passion for, and would have distracted me from the things that I love doing. This is the first time in my life where I can honestly say that waiting actually paid off. 

I figured I should make it a habit to re-evaluate my goals every once and a while because I tend to have extreme enthusiasm for projects at first, and then once I am knee deep they tend to become burdensome. So I am taking a second look (6 weeks later) at the goals I set out to conquer at the beginning of this year.

Dec. 30, 2011: 

I am on to bigger and better things. My specific goals for 2012 are:

• finish my book (I just finalized scope)

• figure out which publishing route I am going to take

• grow my readership to 10,000 reads per day (I am at 1900+ this month)

• create and sell and app for android/iPhone (details TBD)

• work towards seeing 40 health counseling clients per month (starting in March)

• vacation at least once (Rincon, PR is calling my name)

• start saving $ to buy land/design & build a house (not ready yet, but want to have $$ by the time I am)

My thoughts after settling into February....

• I am putting the writing a book thing on the back burner for a while. I realized that #1 I am still in school and I need to focus on that right now, #2 everything that I wanted to put into a book I can put in my blog, #3 I thought I finalized my scope, however, I keep changing my mind so I am going to wait until someone approaches me or I am absolutely sure of what I want the focus to be.
• My readership is growing by leaps and bounds. It is amazing that the littlest things can catapult you so much farther than you ever expected. There's that 80/20 rule again! You will get 80% of the results from 20% of the work...so true!
• I still have creating and selling an app for the android/iPhone market in my radar. It isn't #1 right now, but it is something I think will pay off.
• Right now I have a trip to visit friends in Los Angeles coming up (never been!) and I am planning a trip to Paris and the south of France with my sister over the summer. Two blonde American girls in France- look out! Ha! I am so looking forward to eating and drinking, taking photographs and writing for a few weeks in France. Ahhhh! That is my calling!
• As far as saving money is concerned, I am incapable right now. However, I am working on finding more freelance graphic design work so I can start bringing in the big bucks! I'm also promoting my health coaching business...if your life/health is a mess and you need some help digging yourself out don't hesitate to contact me. I've been there before. I am an expert on getting yourself out of shitty situations/feelings/health concerns.

So there... I have made some progress on a few of my goals. That's good for only 6 weeks into the new year. I plan on doing this every month or so, so I'll keep you posted. Also! Still working on the juicing business! I know that wasn't in the plan for 2012. That's because I wasn't sure if we were going to pursue it until after the New Year. Still working on branding, but will be sure to keep you updated on the progress. 

What keeps you motivated? or helps you get it back?