Raw Food Pics!

Raw Pizzas (dehydrated crusts, 'barbecue' sauce, peppers, olives, fresh basil):

Salad greens with Ani Phyo's Breakfast Scramble Pate on top:

Tomato stuffed with Sundried Tomato Sunflower Herb Pate (from Jennifer Cornbleet's book):

California Rolls (from Jennifer Cornbleet's book) - avocado, carrot, red pepper, cucumber with Nama Shoyu for dipping (and some pickled ginger):

Raw vegan lasagne (from Jennifer Cornbleet's book) - one alteration: I used a full cup of marinara sauce in it, not 1/2 cup (you can see it oozing out). But it was really really tasty. Zucchini 'noodles', blended spinach, mashed avocado and marinara sauce.

Day 34

I managed to get up early and row and make enough juice for the day before heading off to volunteer this morning. I was humming and hawing last night about whether I ought to continue with this volunteer position in the new year, especially since I would then have 5 different organizations I volunteer for (not including donating blood), and that seemed like a lot. But this morning, my co-leader was so awesome, listening to my concerns and she has offered to step up her end of organizing the meetings and taking on some of the administrative duties which were getting me down, so I feel like now I can continue... for the time being. ;) I was so glad she was understanding of where I was at.

The juice feast is going great - it's so hard to believe it's been over a month. Days are just flying by and I could easily go 90 days, I think. One day or 90, it doesn't really matter much at this point. Having said that, I will be ending it at 45/46 days - Dec 1st, breaking the feast on the 2nd and then taking at least a week to ease myself back onto solid food and slowly decrease the juice intake. I want to be back to eating meals by Christmas time. ;) But I can definitely see myself doing a feast of 30 days or even longer at some point in 2009, if it all worked out.

Took our van in to get its windshield repaired and then had to bus (and cab) it back to where our car was parked, with a carseat and two kids in tow. Hmmmm. It wasn't a big deal, but it took over an hour in the rain (& $12.55) to go what would have been a 5 minute drive in the car, so I am feeling very grateful for the car and the ease of transportation it provides. VERY grateful. Did I mention the new car has heated seats (and mirrors) and I am just so thankful for both of those features? The heated seats alone... how did I ever live without that?! LOL

Hoping you have a wonderful day. I'm now going to try and upload kiddie pics onto dropshots.
~namaste~

Day 31

Having hard-drive problems with the computer lately (never mind the dial-up connection problems on top of that). It's a bit of a challenge, but I think everything's backed up on the external HD so if/when it does crash completely, I don't think we'll lose much. Technology, eh.

Weekend went very well juicing. Been rowing daily. Did Tai Chi outside in the misty fog this morning, surrounded by GREEN (you can't see another house from outside ours - very rural). Just beautiful. Hummingbirds flitting about, winter wrens, black-capped chickadees, the sound of the surf rolling in at the beach, the foghorns sounding on the ships coming up the Straight.

Watched a movie on crop circles on Saturday night, which I found very interesting. And another movie last night on the mystical yogis of Tibet - fascinating. My son's enjoying watching them with me, too, which is nice (to share something I'm interested in with him).

Made bread yesterday, which I always enjoy doing; there's something about making something like that from scratch, the kneading, the waiting while it rises, the delicious aroma, and that my family really enjoys the finished product! :) I also completed a large section on the cross-stitch, which felt amazing to accomplish. I mean, 11 yrs working on it, and to finally see the end in sight! Wahoo!

Working on developing an attitude of gratitude: learning to stay present and enjoy things like washing dishes (dishwasher's been broken for MONTHS) and even things that would normally annoy me - a child interrupting me in the middle of tai chi or meditation, a disagreement between siblings... these things I am now learning to use as reminder bells to stay mindful and present in my own body... to not react, but to respond with lovingkindness and compassion. And yes, it's VERY challenging to do sometimes. ;)

Anyways, that's where I'm at today. I'm going to go make some juice now. Hunger pangs. hard to ignore.

HUMP DAY!!!

Today marks the half-way point on my juice feast! Day 23. Another 22 days to go (I'm planning on 45 days). I cannot tell you how RELIEVED I am to be half-way. The past few days have been very challenging for me mentally. I am struggling to stay liquitarian and away from solid food, and I'm moody. A serious grumpy pants. And nobody enjoys being around someone like that. Thank goodness my children are super-unconditionally-loving and understanding.

Today, to honour myself, which has been a struggle lately, as I've been feeling some pretty serious anger towards myself (what's THAT all about I have to wonder), Today I rowed 5 kms, I did a set of tai chi, nice and slow and really really concentrated on it, I gave myself Reiki this morning for a solid half-hour, I took time to be really present while preparing my juices, asking for blessings upon the ingredients as I washed and rinsed them, and then while consuming the juices. It was a nice break from the self-berating, ranting and tirading I'd been inflicting upon myself and my surroundings. Aye-aye-aye. Or "OY" as my sister would say.

Had tea with my daughter's godmother (and namesake) this afternoon. She's in her late 80s and is perfectly delightful and I really enjoyed her visit. I nearly completely forgot about spraying the entire kitchen earlier with juice (I forgot to put the lid on the VitaMix, hit the power button, and wowee, a full half a litre of juice sprayed EVERYWHERE - all over my clothes, my face, the counter, the window, the curtain, the ceiling... Quite comical after the fact, to be sure, but in the moment, as I was trying to get out the door to go for tea, well, not so comical just then).

I have more to write about my mental struggles as of late, but it'll have to wait until tomorrow (sorry to keep you hangin') :) DS is waiting to peruse sears.com as apparently they have more toys on there than are in the Wish Book. LOL (Don't get me started on how we really don't need more toys in this house)

Just before I sign off, let me just take a moment to say that I am truly grateful for the challenges I've experienced today, for their lessons in patience, self-discipline, and self-awareness that they've brought.
Namaste,
~n~

Day 20

I was re-reading Angela Stokes' A Juice Feaster's Handbook (an essential resource!), and in it, she writes to expect some "big changes" around Day 20. Well, last night, I cleaned my laundry room. Might not seem like much to you, but let me tell you... it was BIG. It is also our recycling area so I sorted through all the recycling (soft pastics, cardboard) and got it all ready to leave the house on recycling day. Then, when I was through with that (and that took QUITE some time), I still had an abundance of energy, so I started cleaning... the oven. I mean... WHOA. My children wanted to know who stole their mom. Even I admitted to them it felt very strange to (a) have so much energy and (b) be interested in decluttering and cleaning my house. Very strange indeed. I tackled a few different rooms and then woke up early this morning (like, before 5 a.m.) and was up and about by 6. I made vegan organic peanut butter muffins (sounds odd but they're good) for the kids for breakfast, had the woodstove going and spent some time working on my counted needlepoint. I mean REALLY people - what more evidence do you NEED that life changes are happening around here?!?!? LMAO Let me put it in perspective. I began this particular counted cross-stitch in Dec 1997. Over a DECADE ago. Mind you, it's a very large and complicated piece, and in the intervening years there has been grad school, children arriving, life... so it's not like I work on it regularly. In fact, I can't even recall the last time I pulled it out. But all of a sudden, as I'm detoxing my body here, I have this insatiable need to start decluttering my house, to finish unfinished projects. It's probably not surprising to most people, but it is very very strange to have such a strong desire to clean/declutter arise in me. LOL I spent time doing Reiki this morning and it is very centering and grounding an really gives a good intention for the day.

THEN... we're over at Grampa's and a little wren flies into the window and is, seemingly, departed on the ground below. He goes out to see and it is not; he holds it in his hands to warm it up, help it shake off the shock, and I gave it Reiki, and within minutes, it flied off on its own. Heart-warming, especially on Grampa's birthday. :)

So yes, extended family are here - 10 of us in all for dinner - only I'll be having a litre of juice. Celery, fennel, lime, rainbow chard, cucumber, arugula, ginger, pear, apple, and carrot, with E3Live, to be precise. It's an odd combination, I know. I juiced the first three together, then the next three, then the last four, then mixed them all together (possibly not the greatest idea; I'm only beginning to grasp the concept of "simple combinations" LOL but I have not yet warmed up to the possibility of green juices without SOME kind of fruit in them). Still, the juice feast, here on day 20, is going fantastically well, and although I do *think* of food occasionally, that's all it is. A fleeting thought. I am looking forward to making some raw pasta with a nice tomatoey sauce or pesto after this is all over (maybe over the holidays), or a nut burger with portobello 'bun' and jicama fries and some raw ketchup... mmmmm..... but for now, that will all have to wait. 'Cuz I'm full of energy, I'm in a frightfully hilarious mood, and I'm a juicing FIEND, my friend.

Peace.
Out.

Day 18

I spoke with computer guy last night (he DID move!). I left the computer in the cold car overnight and this morning plugged it in (as he & I were going to walk through the BIOS set-up and see if it was still recognizing the harddrive). When I brought it in and set it up, it started just fine. As if nothing had happened. Bizarre. But I am so very VERY grateful. And I will be running out to purchase an external HD today to back up all my data onto. And a UPS at the same time, for that matter.

I was just telling my sister that last night I awoke in the middle of the night with my root chakra just alight with energy. For well over 10 minutes, honestly, it was just alive. Very neat sensation. I have been self-treating with Reiki morning and night since the attunement on the weekend. Will continue to do so as it certainly helps me remain more mindful and focus my intentions. I am enjoying, and grateful for the blessings in my life. And for blessings disguised as challenges. :)

Day 18 going fabulously well so far. Had a litre of lettuce, pear, and ginger with some flax oil and E3Live to start the day. Still not loving the flavour of the hemp oil (thankfully finished off the bottle, and no, it wasn't rancid at all), but have moved onto a new bottle of flax oil. Much more subtle flavour. So I make the juice in the VitaMix blender, strain it through a nut mylk bag (or actually a paint strainer bag from the local hardware store), and then put it back in the blender to really blend in or homogenize the oil. After that, I stir in the E3Live. I am actually REALLY enjoying the E3Live in my juices, which a few weeks ago, I really did not. At the moment, I'm probably having several tablespoons of the algae every day. I'm hoping it will turn my increasingly gray hair back to light brown, or even blonde?! LOL

OH! MOST exciting thing to share - the excema that I developed on the back of my left hand is going away on its own!!!! This is SOOO exciting! So apparently whatever toxins my body was releasing have now gone on their way (with very little or no treatment necessary - just a little lavender essential oil on it occasionally) and I'm feeling fantastic about that. I just love the idea that my body is releasing things that it has been holding onto for many years. Here we are, Day 18, and that is (quick math here: you cleanse 120 days for every day of juicefeasting, so that is.... um.... oh geez.... someone help me out here.... okay, so that's now 6 years I've gone back. WOW. 6 years ago, what was going on in my life? What kind of negative emotions and thoughts and toxins was I storing up - and I'm now releasing?).

When I think of how much *I* have changed in the past... decade... it really astounds me. I am in SUCH a better place now. I feel good about myself. I like me. I like who I have become and I am happy and content and more self-aware. I like to think I handle stress a lot better now (although maybe the recent computer troubles shows differently - LMAO) and am generally more pleasant to be around. ;) I really have to give thanks to my family, my children especially, because they have taught me SO much about staying present and about unconditional love... towards yourself and and for others. They are such a blessing in my life.

Well, I ought to sign off and get on with things. I'll check in again soon.
Adios.

Day 17

The past week has FLOOOOOWWWWWNNNN by. What with Hallowe'en and the kidlets, we were busy getting costumes ready and anticipation and excitement were building (as you can well imagine!). Hallowe'en night we had 13 trick-or-treaters, and for those who know where we live, that is certainly a record! Our kids went to about 8 houses locally, then to some friends' on the way to Grammy & Grampa's - our final destination for the evening. They had a rousing good time and both ended up with upwards of 5 dozen pieces of candy from just 10 houses. One house handed out candy from China, which was confiscated, what with the recent melamine media reports/etc.

On the weekend I took Reiki Level One, which was... Fantastic. Absolutely incredible. I felt highly energized Saturday night, but also once in bed, slept like I've never slept before, awakening refreshed and ready for Sunday. My Angel Card at the end of the course said Purification, which I laughed about. I mean, here I am, in the middle of a CLEANSE and I blindly pick a card that says Purification. Too funny. Just before I picked the card, I asked, "What will I use Reiki for now that I have completed this course? How can I use it to benefit my life and the lives of those around me? Where do I go with it from here?" And that was the answer: Purification. Love it. There is so much about the universe we truly cannot ever understand, eh.

Sunday night I was on our computer and in the midst of typing three different emails simultaneously when the whole thing just went black and rebooted itself... or attempted to. Apparently ds (who I asked not to) had left his Sim Theme Park CD-Rom in the drive and without FAIL it ALWAYS causes serious computer crashes. I tried several times to reboot with no success, even leaving the power supply unplugged overnight - to no avail. Trying to get ahold of computer techy this morning was interesting as his email is on the computer, and his phone number came up "not in service". AARGHHHH. So I call 411 and they give me the same number I just called that said NIS. (Is Telus completely stunned?!?!) I had a brainwave and went on the old computer and managed to get online and find the company website and yes, his # has changed (probably to a Shaw # which is why Telus 411 doesn't know anything about it. I mean, REALLY - how helpful is 411 if it only gives you Telus #s and not also Shaw?!?!). I also grabbed his cell # and email. So here I sit, at the computer at the library, attempting to send him a distressed email. After all, I can't imagine "Boot Disk Failure; Insert System Disk and Press Enter" is a good message to get when booting up. To make matters worse, ds feels terrible that he forgot to remove the disk, and I feel crappy b/c I haven't yet backed up our vacation pictures... since the last time the computer crashed. (not good not good NOT GOOD) I even tried to Reiki on the computer, but that too, did not revive it.

But Just for Today, I Will Not Worry. Just for Today, I will not Anger.

Juicing is going very well. Day 17 today. The past week has been good; nothing major to report. Into the groove, getting juices made ahead of time if I'm going to be out on the road running errands/etc. and that seems to work just fine. I think it helped immensely that I had been cleansing for 2 wks previous to the Reiki attunement, and that I will continue to cleanse for the next 4 wks afterwards. Certainly I am abstaining from meat, dairy, all cooked food, nuts/seeds/etc. and am just having raw, organic vegetables and fruits juiced.

Received some concern last week from well-meaning people in my life (who I know love me very much and are simply concerned) that this juice feast is dangerous. I am working hard to accept that their opinion is different from mine; I feel more educated on juicefeasting than they are and have not embarked on this cleanse without forethought. Besides, as I said to someone else in my life, if at any time I felt like it was no longer benefitting me, I'd stop. Simple as that. I mean, I'd hope that those close to me would know me well enough to trust me on this one. Do I generally behave irresponsibly? No, I do not. I believe I am achieving optimum health through juice feasting. But apart from their concerns, everything else is going well with the juicing.

I'll try to post a little more regularly this week; hopefully I can get the 'puter fixed asap.

Today I am grateful for the lessons in patience I'm learning.
Namaste,
~n~

Day 12

It's Wednesday, and everything's fantastic! I juiced up: red leaf lettuce, parsley, cucumber, celery, carrot, apple, pear, ginger, lime, and fennel this morning and mixed it together to make 4L of juice. That will last the day; I might need to make another L later; we'll see.

The last couple days I've developed excema on the back of my left hand; it's terribly itchy and I keep telling myself it's a detox reaction and that my body will heal itself when it's ready. The other detox symptom I'm having is roseacea on my face; at times my face will be fuscia - REALLY bright and red. I'm glad to be going to Reiki Level One this weekend; perhaps that will help my body release the toxins it has stored up and make this a gentle detox. :) Got a body fat/body water scale yesterday and was a little surprised at the reading, but it is good to have a baseline. Interesting that the naturopath has done as much as he feels he can in terms of helping me cleanse; I'll continue with the juice feast as long as I feel it's helpful (probably 'til Dec 1st or so), as I think there is more that *I* can do. And the one big big key that is missing in my daily life right now is daily exercise. A year ago I was rowing 10 kms a day, 6 days a week. The past year (partly because of surgery; mostly because of laziness), I haven't rowed hardly at all. I really need to exercise regularly and I think it will help immensely for detoxing.

Went to Tai Chi class last night which was good; although I dreamed about it afterwards, too. LOL

We're just at story hr at the library (the kids are in Hallowe'en costumes - very cute!) and are heading to swimming this afternoon (I'll swim a km while the kids are in lessons). We are also putting together two shoeboxes for "Operation Shoebox"; another homeschooling family's church supports this cause - the filled shoeboxes are collected and distributed to underpriviliged children around the world. And then we're off to pick-up our weekly produce box at the local organic farm.

Yesterday we were at the local Nature House for the annual salmon run. Thousands of salmon come up the river to spawn; it's quite something to see (and smelly, later on in the season!). We had an organized fieldtrip with a park naturalist who told the children lots of stories about local First Nations' history and the salmon. It's a beautiful, protected park area and is a joy to take the children into nature (reminding me of Richard Louv's book, Last Child in the Woods - excellent read). We are very very fortunate where we live to be surrounded by large expanses of natural beauty.

DH is home in 53 days. woooo hoooooo.

Story hour's nearly over. Have a great day! :)

Day 10

Things are going great. At the moment I'm printing off Hallowe'en colouring pages for my youngest, getting the oldest set up on a computer game (I'm hogging it right now, LOL), making veggie stirfry & brown rice for the kids for dinner, and juicing (yes, all these things at once - multi-tasker-extraordinaire!).

Today's Juices:
Romaine Lettuce with a little Pear and ginger (1.5L)
Carrot-Apple-Ginger with Spirulina added (1L)
Cucumber-Pineapple-Celery-Red Pepper with just a little carrot (1.5L)

Yesterday I spent the afternoon outside in the glorious autumn sunshine with my daughter, in the garden/greenhouse, harvesting corn and planting garlic. Afterwards we made pumpkin pie from scratch, and I tried a juice that was pumpkin, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. I guess I'm not used to the taste of raw pumpkin; it was alright, but not outstanding, imo. I'll have to give myself time to adjust to the flavours of raw foods in their entirety. ;) And yes, it was a little hard having a pumpkin pie in the fridge, staring me in the face every time I opened it. LMAO Tomorrow we'll take it to Grammy & Grampa's for dessert. They'll appreciate it and it will be out of my fridge.

That's all for now. DS is waiting (fairly patiently) for the computer.
ttyl
~n~

Day 8

I had a post from Day 6, but something was up with Blogger that day so I'll have to post it later when I get a chance. So today's Day 8 and I am really into the swing of thing with juicing. I have had 3L of juices today and 1L of water and I have another L of juice prepared for dinner already. I am working on sourcing affordable, organic greens and will start growing sprouts at home as I have everything I need for that already. But everything's going really well overall. People look at me like I have three heads when they see me drinking out of a mason jar and when I tell them I'm on a cleanse/juice feast, but I'm not letting strange looks bother me. ;)

I'm really starting to get a sense of... well, it's hard to describe. A few months ago, during tai chi class, I had this moment of awareness where I saw everyone in the class as their skeletons. (Sounds weird, I know) It was this thought of "Wow, underneath whatever we look like on the outside of our bodies, we ALL have the same internal structure! And when doing tai chi, I can really see now how we are working to maintain the flexibility and health of our bodies." It was a really powerful insight for me and stayed with me for many days. Well, now I am starting to feel... not like a skeleton, for I'm no where near that thin, LOL, but more like I simply have an awareness that I'm no longer a plus-size person, I'm no longer obese. I have a real sense of my skeletal structure, of how it supports me. It's no longer covered with as many extra inches. And that is a huge change in my self-perception, as you can imagine.

Today's juices:
Juice#1 (1L) - yam, carrot, apple, ginger, cinnamon
Juice #2 (2L) - chard, celery, carrot, apple, pear, ginger
Juice #3 (1L) - spinach, celery, carrot, apple, ginger, lime
(Wow, that's carrot/apple/ginger in each one. But the ginger is soooooo nice this time of year when the weather is cooling off, especially with the cooling, cleansing effect of the greens on the body.)

Oh, and the herbal supplement Cascara Sagrada has a VERRRRRRYYYYY strong effect on my body. WOOOOOOOOOWEEEEEE.


'nuff said. ;)


To Your Health,
~n~

Day 4

Good day of feasting today. We have been out/on the road since 8 this morning so I will be GLAD to get into bed tonight. I took the cooler and juices out of the freezer with me today and I can't say I enjoyed the kale-cabbage-green bean-celery-carrot-apple combination. Green Bean does NOT make for a delicious juice, imo, at this moment. Maybe it'll grow on me. Anyways I did enjoy the celery-carrot-apple combination and did get my whole head of celery and 2 lbs of greens into me already, which is great.

Other great news is that my checkup with the naturopath went fantastically well. I'm on homeopathics at the moment, simply to assist the cleansing process (I started them 6 weeks ago). 6 weeks ago I needed 1 amplification on the vega testing. Today: none. Which means that my system is running more optimally, essentially. Also, all previous indications have improved significantly. WAHOO!!! I was pretty pleased.

Feeling a little hungry at the moment, but it's probably just that I consumed most of the juices earlier in the day, as opposed to yesterday, when I left them until later in the day (4-7 p.m.; not a great time to be downing 3+L of juice). Definitely, I must try too be consistent throughout the day - sipping a little every hour or two, for sure.

Overall, though - no detox symptoms and I'm feeling great. I'm heading to Tai Chi class tonight and will continue on this feast with vigor! :)

Juice Feast Begun...

Well, officially I have begun my juice feast. I am now on Day 3 (if you don't count the two days previous where I drank 4+L of juice daily but still ate minimal amounts of food - a banana and some carrots sticks one day, for example... so really, those are nearly juice feasting days as well). Anwyays, the past two days I have had no solid food whatsoever. I am making some really yummy juices, including one that I just LOVE that is from Angela Stokes' book, The Juice Feaster's Handbook (available at http://www.rawreform.com/): Pineapple, celery, and red pepper. who KNEW this would be such a delicious combination?! (well, Angela, for one - LOL) I am SO grateful to have her book to turn to. It is such a wealth of knowledge and experience packed into it. I'd highly recommend having it beside you if you attempt to juice feast.

So far, no massive pangs of hunger. I did go on a nutritional analysis website one day and calculate out if I was meeting my RDAs through juicing and was delighted to see that I am, with just a few minor exceptions (my fat intake was low (I had 10g; they recommended 73g), and my sodium was half of what the RDA is(1000mg:2400mg); protein I had 30+ grams and they recommended 50). I was 1500 calories, where they recommended 2200, but I know that 1500 is not overly low. I have read various research that indicates people live longer on lower calorie lifestyles - like 1200-1500, not the 2000 generally recommended in North America. But good things were that I am meeting the RDAs for things like iron, calcium, potassium, riboflavin and thiamine, vitamins C & A. Oh, and OOPS, my cholesterol intake was only 0.57mg compared to the RDA of 300. I guess my raw vegan juicing diet isn't as unhealthy for you as the standard North American diet (I can't remember the last time I had Hamburger Helper or Kraft Dinner or a Twinkie).

And I had a moment of panic yesterday morning when I realized there was only one apple in the house. LOL I thought, oh noooooo, how am I ever going to get through the day without more apples?! But I did. In one juice I used pomegranate, in another I used frozen blue and blackberries, and of course there was that pineapple. So I managed.

I had considered adding my beginning measurements on here, but I'm not going to. I don't want this to the juice feast to be about weight loss. I want to maintain the focus on general health and well-being. So while I know what my measurements are, I won't be sharing them. I am planning, at this moment, to feast for probably 30 or 45 days, but will remain open and listen to my body. It may be that the best decision will be to end it early. In any case, on day 3 already, I am successfully juice feasting as we speak. :)

I am making sure I get an entire head of celery juiced and into me each day, as well as lots of greens (I'm aiming for 4 as the magic number: 4 bunches daily of kale/chard/spinach/lettuce blend/parsley - dark leafy greens). Apart from that, carrots are cheap here this time of year, generally. I bought two large boxes of org. apples recently and have them in cold storage at a friend's. I am finding cucumber juice is really helping clear my skin up (one long english cucumber juiced daily), but certainly do find the green juices very cooling on my body, so I am using ginger in the juices to warm up, and am not opposed to a glass of warm water with lemon juice and a little cayenne as well. That, and a hot bath or shower. :) I realized that pomegranates are quite expensive to be juicing at $2 each, as are pineapples and cucumbers, really, as well, at over $2 each. I calculated one day at nearly $30 of produce that I juiced, so that's not really affordable for many people on a long-term basis ($900/month per person for groceries?!). So I'll have to remember how affordable celery and carrots are. :)

Other than juicing, I completed the first half of the Taoist Tai Chi internal arts and methods Instructor Training on the weekend and really enjoyed it. I also did 10 minutes of sitting meditation both morning and night and a set of tai chi daily for the past 4 days and am amazed how effortlessly the discipline is coming to do this, and how much I'm enjoying it.

My favourite new kids book is called Peaceful Piggy Meditation by Kerry Lynn MacLean , that we picked up in Halifax at Drala Books on Grafton St (http://www.dralabooks.com/). Absolutely LOVE this book and so do the kids. A must-have, imo, for families. :)

Namaste

~n~

Creative in the Kitchen...

[2nd post of the day] Today I have made some really yummy juice combinations. One was pineapple, red pepper, and celery (with E3Live). Another was carrot, beet and pomegranate. And another was lettuce mix, celery, apple, beet and ginger. I've really enjoyed the ginger in the juices today - it's so warming. And I recreated Doris at home: yam, carrot, apple, ginger and cinnamon - only I put too many apples in and not enough ginger or yam. Still, it was very good. One thing I'm struggling a bit with is drinking straight green juices. I am having a hard time letting go of fruit in all my juices. Anyone have any suggestions? I realize it's just a thought - and I can change a thought just be being open-minded. I'll have to sit with that one. ;)

The day is going great; I can't say I'm on a total juice feast - both yesterday and today I've eaten a few things - an apple, a banana, some veggies; but I am enjoying the juices and it is so nice to be home.

Oh, and I just wanted to add that it IS possible to run errands all day and still eat raw/drink raw juices. Yesterday we were out from 9 a.m. until 10:30 p.m. I made 4L of juices and put them in the cooler in the car and had an extra 1L jar that I used for drinking from. When it was empty I'd just refill from the cooler. Worked very well and while it may be second-rate to drinking freshly made juices as soon as they're made, it must be better for you than drinking pasteurized store-bought juices.

Namaste
~n~

Raw Juice

Today is a raw juice day. I've had (so far) more than 5L of raw, organic, fresh juices... 1L each of kale, celery, carrot, and apple (well, actually it was probably 1L of kale, 750mL each of celery & carrot, and 1.5L of apple). I stopped by Cafe Bliss while in town and ordered up a L of "Doris" - yam, carrot, apple, ginger, cinnamon. DEEEEEEEElicious. I really need to expand my horizons at home making juice. I usually just make simple combinations: apple carrot ginger, or my usual like I had today: greens, celery, carrot & apple. That's a staple juice for me. But checking out their menu (www.cafebliss.ca) there are some delectable combinations they've come up with that I'm yearning to try soon.

I'm off to Tai Chi class tonight - in jeans since I forgot my comfy cotton yoga pants at home :(
This weekend I'm doing the first part of the Tai Chi Instructor Training program and am looking forward to that.

Feeling great today; a little tired since I was up from ~3-5 this morning. I woke up with a moderate to severe leg cramp in one leg and was wondering how it could possibly be that I was deficient in potassium (which I've heard is the source of leg cramps like that) since I ate three bananas yesterday in an ultimate smoothie for dinner. LOL I got up and walked it out. One of my eyes has been twitching all day (you know how when you're tired your eye pulses, and you think EVERYone must be able to see it, but it's not outwardly visible?). A good sign I'm tired and probably still recovering from the travel & time change. (I must be over 30; this paragraph sounds like I'm falling part! LOL) Not a big deal; I'll sleep super-solid after class tonight and wake up refreshed tomorrow.

Namaste
~n~

Morning comes extremely early sometimes...

Well, with the time change the kids were up at 5 this morning. (I laughed that this seems really early for us, but is really normal for other families we know) They had slept for 10 & 13 hrs, so they did get enough sleep, I think. Our house was chilly this morning; I'm too cheap to turn the electric heat up much, so by 6:30 I had the woodstove going and although it's still going, my teeth were actually chattering about half an hour ago. Part of it is that when I drink cold liquids (water, juices), I feel really cold. And this morning I've had about 1L of water so far. I'm amazed how quickly 12 oz of water go into me. I found it very challenging on the trip to drink enough water each day - when you're spending hours each day driving you don't want to have to stop every fifteen or thirty minutes for bathroom breaks, so I am really appreciating being back at home and getting back into the routine of drinking lots of liquids.

I've been reading a new book: Buddhism for Mothers of Young Children: Becoming a Mindful Parent, by Sarah Napthali. So far (and I'm not very far into it yet) it's really enjoyable. I'll comment more as I read through it.

Other than that, I've noticed my hair coming out lately (and graying, as well). It's been 5 and a half months since I've gone raw, and the same thing happened after going vegan - about 5-6 months after initially changing my diet, I noticed hair coming out whenever I'd run my hands through it - maybe just 3 or 4 or 5 at a time, but the number of times I run my hands through my hair, well... I know they say that we lose on average 100 hairs a day, maybe it's not that I'm losing more than anyone else, I'm just aware of it right now. Anyways, from experience I know that this is temporary and my hair resumes its thickness (I have always had quite thick hair, so a little thinning isn't the end of the world for me) in due time - when it happened the first time (after going vegan), I read that it was a body's way of displaying "shock" at the new, healthier regime, and it's not like it's clumps coming out, it's definitely just a general thinning. I have also read that some people as raw vegans experience a darkening (not graying) of their hair and a thickening as well, so I'm sure that with more dark leafy greens, seaweeds, and algae in my diet, things will balance themselves out.

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to drinking lots of green juice and water in the days ahead, and embracing daily movement and meditation into my life. On with my day!

My One-Day Juice Feast

I'm very pleased to say that I made it through an entire day yesterday on juices (yes, it really CAN be done!). Officially, I guess I did a one-day juice feast! :) I made a lot of juice in the morning so that I would be able to just get something whenever hunger struck throughout the day. I made different mixes of kale, celery, beetroot, romaine lettuce, carrot, apple, and plum juices (nice rainbow, eh). I feel really good about the amount of greens that I got into me.

In Dr. Walker's book he says that kale juice, like cabbage, can cause gas to bubble up in the intestines as it allows the waste matter to release and be carried out. I don't know that I could actually drink a glass of it straight (but what he says is quite true)!

It was amazing to me, that even just one day of juicing could cause such massive change in my body - not only the effect of the kale juice, but also the mucous that came pouring out (sorry if that's tmi)... I couldn't decided whether it was the cold I thought I'd been fighting off or a detox symptom. I'm quite sure it was detox though because the odd thing is that there was a little sleep coming out of my eye corners (during the day) and my sinuses were quite plugged by the end of the day, but fine this morning (and if it was a true cold, I'd expect it to be the opposite).

The other minor thing was that I was so COLD. I know it's only 14 C outside and our house is a cool 13 inside (might be time to fire up the woodstove soon), but I was chilly. This is not the first time lately I've experienced this, and at the advice of a good friend, a nice hot bath warmed me up. The naturopath has me on this white 'alkalizing powder' (heaven knows what it really is) which I take with warm water twice a day - it feels really nice to have something warm to drink when you're chilly.

Monday night I stayed up until 3:30 making travel plans. I simply wasn't tired and felt invigorated after having a pink bath (which aids in releasing anger and aggression, helps to build compassion and loving kindness) with rose essential oil and rose petals - sounds extravagant, doesn't it! And despite staying up half the night, I was up at 8 without too much struggle. Last night, however, I slept solidly from 10:30 until 8:30 this morning - a solid 10 hours. Usually I'll get 8-10 hrs of sleep, but it'll have been disturbed at least once, between the children & the dog. It felt wonderful to have an uninterrupted sleep of that length. I used to have issues with sleeping in (thoughts like "what a waste of your day! get up and get going!") but I have since learned to see it as very restorative and important for good health and well-being, and I must admit I live a rather pampered life that I rarely get up to the buzzing of an alarm clock.

I haven't yet "broke the feast"; this morning I'll be having some cantaloupe juice to start the day. Maybe I'll just keep going on this fast for the time being. Just taking it one moment at a time...

Spinach, Celery, Carrot & Apple juice. Mostly there's celery & spinach in this.

Juicey Juice

I have been reading again (I'm sorry, was that a collective groan I heard? LOL)... I read Angela Stokes' The Juice Feaster's Handbook and I must say I really enjoyed it. I picked it up after reading Aleesha's rave review of it (http://www.timelessspirit.com/). There are some really practical tips on juice feasting, she shares her experience with her 92 day juice feast, and it was really really well-written and comprehensive. My one comment would be that the typset is quite small (no, no, I don't need glasses) and if she ever reprints it, I'd vote for a larger sized font. And one other thing I would enjoy seeing is it printed on environmentally friendly (100% post-consumer recycled?) paper. It may be; at a quick glance I didn't see if it said anywhere what it's printed on. But overall, those are really petty things and I am not going to distract from the wonderful message of which Angela writes. It is a really valuable resource.

The other book I am reading I picked up at Angela's talk last week in Victoria - it's Fresh Vegetable and Fruit Juices: what's missing in your life? by Norman Walker (Dr.). I was amazed that it was originally published in 1936 and printed annually until 1970, and this copy was a 1978 print. Isn't it amazing how people have known about the benefits of juicing for so many decades already? Another really good, practical book. Goes through each individual juice and talks about the benefits each juice brings. Also has guidelines for combining juices (eg. 10 oz spinach to 6 oz carrot). I'm still reading about the benefits of each juice. Another excellent resource (but Angela's writing is easier to read, like a friend having a pleasant conversation with you, imo).

Angela-la-la-la-la's Talk

Last night I headed into town to hear Angela Stokes, of www.rawreform.com, talk about her experiences on raw food for the past 6 1/2 yrs. I had planned on leaving my children with a friend, when at the last minute, she decided to come with me, so her husband (to whom I'm very grateful) took on the childcare responsibilities for the evening. It was wonderful for her & I to get out together as we haven't had the opportunity in far too long.

Angela's talk last night was fantastic. She is well-spoken and appeared at ease in front of the larger (~50) crowd. She shared her story, her journey to raw foods, shared her top tips for staying raw, and talked about the emotional journey that can accompany a diet of raw foods. I think for me I was really glad to hear her experiences with travelling and raw food (especially with our upcoming holiday and knowing how I struggled to stay committed to raw foods on the road trip in the summer - lack of planning there) and also the social issues surrounding raw food - how do you have a social life on raw foods (check it out on you tube; she's a very good singer!). All in all, a really inspiring evening.

I remember before going raw, I had already been vegan for 2 yrs. I had taken the occasional day in there to go raw, so I knew, while contemplating going raw (and I was very much inspired reading Angela's site & blog), that I could manage for a day. But more than a day? an entire week? well, I wasn't sure if I could make it that long. In retrospect, knowing I could go an entire day on raw foods has saved me. Every moment, I am reminded that yes, I can make it through just one day, just one meal. And what is life but not a series of days or of moments? That's all there is to it - just one meal, one moment, one day at a time. Next thing you know, I've been raw for nearly 5 months and counting....

Thank-you Angela for your inspiration and for being a role-model. So nice to meet you! :)

the Ultimate Smoothie

Last week I watched some YouTube clips with David Wolfe, who was making "The Ultimate Smoothie". It's actually delicious. I will share with you here what I've made:

water, I suppose I put in 2-3 cups. David used the water & meat of 2 young coconuts; they're hard to find around here and they're not local produce -LOL
1 tbsp raw cacao nibs
1 tbsp raw cacao powder
1 tbsp raw cacao butter
a handful goji berries
a small handful (~12) raw cashews
1 oz/2 tbsp acai liquid
~1 c frozen blueberries (local)
~1 c frozen raspberries (local)
2 bananas
2 frozen wheatgrass juice cubes (from ZenZero in Courtney)

Blended in the Vitamix, this makes 1.5 L of smoothie; enough to last 2 "meals".


Today I am grateful for the warm sunshine
I am grateful for a weekend alone with my daughter
I am grateful for my raw diet
I am grateful for my very nice car
I am grateful for my marriage and a loving husband