Celebrate good times... come on! Let's celebrate...

(Remember that song? Celebrate good times, come on! Let's celebrate...) I guess that's revealing my age, eh. LOL Well, 2009 is officially here! We rang in the new year surrounded by family although it wasn't the raucous celebration you'd expect - LOL - far more subdued than that. So nice to be together, especially when you bring people together from across the country and beyond.

Just as we're settling in to having dh home for the holidays, he is gearing up to leave once again. This year he starts his new job and we'll be adjusting to long-distance commuting. Moving to a new city and starting a new job will be pretty stressful, even if it is good stress in many ways. It's been so great to spend time as a family over the holidays, but the time has just flown by. The house is a disaster; dh unpacked and now is trying to pack but there is stuff EVERYWHERE, in amidst the holiday decorations. I laugh at myself because while he was away, I (of course) had things where I wanted them, and everything in my field-of-vision was ticky-boo. Now that he's home, and unpacked all over the place, I've really had to breathe DEEEEEEP not to get upset with his stuff everywhere, even though I've found it slightly irritating, not having things exactly in the spot where I want them. One of my friends says I'm OCD (which I assure you, I'm not... clinically speaking, that is, LOL); I'm just organized, or tidy. In some respects, anyways. All about keeping up appearances, I guess... which I'm working on getting over, believe me. (Have you ever watched that show - Keeping Up Appearances - ? Sometimes I get teased that I'm a little too much like Hyacinth for my own good. Having said that, dh is like Onslow, sitting around unshaven, in his underwear, drinking beer in front of the telly. LMAO) TMI, right?! ;)

I enjoyed a pink colour bath last night - pink is the colour which is associated with the heart chakra (so is green). Pink helps release unwanted aggression and negative thoughts/feelings. It is the colour of love, compassion and kindness. I added some essential oil of rose. The pink bath helps us to feel the support of the universe that is always available to us all and also compassion for both ourselves and others. A nice intention to end the day with.

Eating raw is going well, although I'm struggling with not over-eating (probably quite common after a juice feast) and emotional eating; this is something I've struggled with for years - what IS a normal amount of food to eat in a day, anyways? Many of us have such a warped sense of appetite with the availability of super-sized portions. Another thing is the thought others have shared: 'We only live once, so why not live a little? Why do you have to be so strict/extreme in your food choices? Just have a little...' That's something I come up against regularly enough, usually from people who may feel threatened by my choice to eat raw. However, not once have I declared that everyone around me must eat raw as well. Not once have I gotten up from a table where meat/dairy/cooked food was being served and rebuked it all. It's not like I've forgotten that less than a year ago, I was eating cooked food, or not 3 yrs ago I was eating a standard north-american diet as well (and was substantially heavier and less healthier than I currently am). But I guess some people are threatened by others making different choices. I realize the raw food lifestyle is a choice I'm making and I'm certainly not trying to make others feel uncomfortable by sticking with my choice in front of them. One of the biggest challenges I've found with raw food is planning ahead when going out - not necessarily to restaurants, as they are usually quite accomodating with a salad or fruit bowl, but more often in the homes of friends and family. I guess, despite having been raw for 9 months now, there are people who have not yet realized my dedication to this choice and who go out of their way to make something vegan (and cooked) and then feel slighted if I choose to make my own raw meal. That can be somewhat awkward. (I'd love to hear how other raw vegans handle situations like that - how do you stick to a raw vegan diet when your host declares they have gone out of their way to accomodate you with cooked vegan food?).

Anyways, it's officially a month since the juice feast ended and overall, the month has gone very well. I've been able to slowly wean off of the feast and have slowly introduced solid (raw vegan) food back in. A month later, I'm up 9 lbs from the lowest point on the feast, but have maintained a very healthy, balanced raw vegan diet overall. This time of year (with the cold weather) I'm enjoying more nuts and seeds and 'warming' foods than in other seasons, but I'm able to eat raw throughout the winter, which has been a goal.

Got a book called Raw Food Celebrations out from the library (can't recall the authors); it has a 'traditional celebration dinner' menu that would rival the best turkey dinner. We were chatting about it being a milestone birthday in 2010 for me and I was asked how I wanted to celebrate; I think it would be extra special to celebrate with a special raw vegan menu (LOL of course, we wouldn't want to impose the raw vegan lifestyle on anyone coming to celebrate, so I guess I'll have to make it potluck and people can bring what they want?! LOL). We had a DEEEElicious flourless chocolate cake the other night with raspberry coulis (from Jennifer Cornbleet's book). The other 3 in the house (one vegetarian, two omnivores) all agreed it was super-yummy. You know, I don't think I've tried one recipe from Jennifer Cornbleet's book that we didn't enjoy?! If I had to choose one raw food 'cook'book to have, I think that might be the one. Simple, quick recipes that enjoyed by nearly all (I say that because there have been one or two things that the omnivores have balked at).

New Year's Eve I had a delicious meal of zucchini spiralized 'pasta' with raw pesto, followed by "Violet's Violent End", a recipe from David Wolfe & Shazzie's book, Naked Chocolate. It looked scrumptious, and was easy to prepare ahead of time. I should've taken a photo. We enjoyed the blueberry/chocolate filling, but I wasn't overly crazy about the crust which had oat groats & apricots in it... next time I'd probably put it on that coconut crust recipe from Jennifer Cornbleet's book. Anyways, it was really good, and having raw food to eat made ringing in the new year special - I wasn't tempted by the cooked food, despite being surrounded by it. I had made yam chips/crackers in the dehydrator and had those with some pates - pecan pate, sundried tomato sunflower herb pate, and 'not tuna' pate (all from Jennifer Cornbleet's book) - and there was also some yummy raw salsa there, so there were lots of options. I got a few funny looks at breakfast as I had a salad with avocado and pecan pate on it, rather than the 'traditional' eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, toast, etc.

(That's a lot of talk about food when I haven't ingested anything yet today, so you know where I'm headed now...)

A toast to you in 2009 - may it bring you health, happiness, and conscious living.
Namaste
~n~