Aloha from Wednesday! ;)

It is a happy day :) This morning I made a delicious breakfast smoothie:

almond milk (soaked almonds overnight)
1 banana
small handful blueberries
1 tsp maca powder
1 Tbsp chia seeds
1 Tbsp flax seeds (ground this morning)
1 scoop Alive! brand supplement
3 Tbsp E3-Live
1 capful flax oil w/ vegetarian DHA
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
2 Tbsp hemp seeds
mmmmmmmmmmmm yummy and ridiculously filling.

I used the almond meal left over from making milk on my face, with some raw honey.
I am going to be juice-feasting again starting June 22 - for 9 days. Pretty excited about that! And I'm doing lots of promotion for my event in July: Matt Monarch & Angela Stokes (who are about to get married!) will be doing a talk here in Houston about nutrition and the raw food diet...very exciting!

I just started reading a beautiful book: Tree, A Life Story by David Suzuki & Wayne Grady

I love trees!

Feast Breaking

That's me & my guy, on a recent trip to Florida!

Howdy! I'm breaking out into solid food yeeehaw :)
It's time to stop juicing for a little while, so I can eat out this weekend in celebration! You're SUPPOSED to slowly come out of juicing with blended juices, greens....yikes. I did good at first: blended juice & light soup (the soup, btw, was Yummy! I simmered vegetable broth - Imagine brand - with a large piece of Kombu seaweed, and added garlic, onion, Bragg's aminos & hot pepper sesame oil. mmmmmmm.) But then, the darned simple processed carbs sang their siren song and Boom, I was chowing down on bread & hummus. Really good hummus. :) Still having juices during the day; tonight's meal will be marinara on kelp noodles, and tomorrow night we will have brown rice & steamed vegetables. So, it's not ALL bad. I'm making good on my commitment to try to eat 80/20 (80 % raw, 20% cooked), and I made sure to eat some greens with my meal last night. On May 11, Kris Carr's Adventure Cleanse begins...I'll be part of that, with a commitment to eat 80/20, or raw until dinner...and NO processed white sugar, NO processed white flour, NO oils other than olive, flax, hemp or coconut. It's a 28-day cleanse program that also involves juicing every Wednesday (or whatever day you choose), and you can read about it at http://www.crazysexylife.com/ Somewhere in there J. will JuiceFeast for a week in preparation for his annual physical & blood profile, so I'll be joining him in that. Next JuiceFeasting go 'round we'll keep the juices more simple...I tended to concoct drinks too full of variety. Simplicity is the key. I did manage to get processing time down from an hour and a half to just one hour in the morning - veg. prep at night helps. I'll need to drink more additional water, I was kind of bad about that. And last night while working out, I was reminded of how much my joy in life is connected to my ability to move & groove, so we re-committed to staying active and working out more during the week. On a lark I decided to do something I've read about as being really healthy, and I've seen other people doing it but never thought I'd bring myself to do it too - I hopped from the mucho caliente hot tub to the really-kinda-chilly swimming pool, and back again - twice! A little hot / cold therapy for the immune system. And it was way fun! :)
Yay for new experiences!

Ah, cravings!

(That's Boyfriend kitty in the garden)

All this time with no food cravings, but 10 days in and I got 'em, big-time...for veggie meatloaf and mashed potatoes! And last night, for no apparent reason, for refried beans. My whole life I was crazy for carbs. Nothing's more comforting than processed simple carbs...right?! After I went veg, I pretty much lived on processed carbs. That was something like 25 years ago! I only really started eating vegetables and fruits in any appreciable amount about 2 1/2 years ago, and now, on my JuiceFeast, I ONLY shop the produce section. It's the most wonderful revelation. And yesterday I missed my cooked carbs, but not enough to want to change anything. This adventure just keeps getting better! The benefits of the JuiceFeast are amazing: I have lost almost all the extra weight I have carried since I was 15, my skin glows, my crow's feet & some of the extra lines on my face have disappeared, I'm eliminating waste from all the years of SAD eating (Standard American Diet), I'm loving learning about the diversity of incredible vegetables & fruits, and about nutrition and health...my hair is thick and oddly, getting curly?!!...I feel light and, when I get enough sleep, energized. I've had NO trouble with my gallbladder, and I've reduced my thyroid meds. And I'm only 10 days in...I can't imagine going back to my old ways. I plan to eat an 80/20 vegan diet when I end my fast. That's 80% living foods ("raw") and 20% cooked (like, vegetables, brown rice, quinoa). I've got incredible cookbooks with amazing recipes for totally healthy treats, so I won't have to do without desserts :) Every recipe I've tried from raw food sites & blogs and my recipe books has been truly wonderful.

Ok enough about the wonders of JuiceFeasting. Juices today:
*spinach / apple
*rasperry / apple / grape / watermelon / ginger
*carrot / mixed lettuces / watercress / radish / pear / celery / cucumber
*lettuce / tomato / basil / carrot
MSM water w/lemon

No add-ins other than E3-Live...didn't feel like having anything extra or any spices.

ps: JuiceFeasting ROCKS!

What day are we on? :)

They're all running together... ;)

Today's juices:
*apple / ginger / grape / lemon / blueberry
*spinach / parsley / apple
*mixed lettuces / celery / cucumber / garlic / tomato / watercress / dandelion / sprouts
regular add-ins

Detox-o-rama right now, and low energy. Last night we took a lovely walk and that felt great...it's a beautiful day too. Tons of work to do here at the office, so will post coolness later. Have a great Thursday!

***How cool is this?!! http://www.dailyjuice.org/blogs/nutrition

One Week JuiceFeasting!

Today is officially the one-week mark on my JuiceFeast! :)

I am feeling really strong & good. Seeing enough changes to want to continue for a while. The pic is me with a stuffed giraffe at a conference I attended last year, haha! Last night I juiced some oranges, had some mmmmmmm delicious coconut butter, & J. & I went shopping for more vegetation. Tried Kroger this time, definitely won't be going back there for these items. So far, Whole Foods surpasses everyone else for produce. In a pinch, Randalls will do; they have a growing organics section, but the quality is kind of poor. And Central Market has lots of veggies but few organics. After my feast, we are going to the Asian market so I can try durian for the first time! Today's juices are:

raspberry / watermelon / apple / lemon / ginger :)

apple / parsley / spinach (aka "the pipe cleaner")

celery / dandelion / cucumber / mixed lettuces / cilantro / garlic / kale / carrot / tomato

And all the usual suspects:

maca / Vitamineral Green / kelp / E3-Live / hemp oil / DHA & MSM water w/lemon

It's another pretty day here, hope to get outside with my kitties mid-day.

I just learned about Bioresonance, and its use in comforting people who are in pain or dying. Extremely cool!

It's definitely a Monday

long day at work yesterday, detox symptoms last night, woke up late this morning! BUT, managed to juice:

apple / grape / lemon
kale / mixed lettuces / carrots / celery / cucumber / ginger / parsley / bok choy / apple /
red bell pepper
watermelon / cherry / blueberry
& the usual add-ins + msm water

today, just not feeling like drinking anything :(
in better news, i'm in love with the most awesome man on the planet :)

ok to wrap this day up: i drank all my juice! yay. detoxing away today, but that's a good thing. and it's a beautiful day here in houston, so all is well! going home to do a brief workout & visit the steam room & hot tub...and dream about all the lovely live food creations i'll be concocting soon! last night i had out my cookbooks...ani phyo, cafe gratitude, gabriel cousens....can't wait!

Wow, I can't believe it! Day 5! And things are going SO well :) J. is breaking his feast today, but said this morning that he can't imagine going back to life without these juices...YAY! I am feeling incredibly good - and my skin is amazing...I keep staring at my hands when I'm prepping vegetables, thinking, wow, how can there be such a difference? Courtney Pool has it right..."Radical Radiance" for sure! Many things are changing for me; I'll do a detailed list soon. My scientist brain hesitates to get excited too quickly! So, I'll keep JuiceFeasting for a while to get more proof ;)

Today's feast:

tomato / basil / cilantro / romaine / celery / jalapeno / garlic / spices ... mine juiced, J's blended

for feast-breaking

romaine / heirloom lettuce / celery / cucumber / bok choy / dandelion / beet / carrot / broccoli
sprouts / sunflower sprouts
oranges
pineapple w/ core MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM crazy good

MSM water w/ lemon

add-ins: hemp oil / flax oil w/DHA / kelp granules /Vitamineral Green / maca powder /E3-Live

Day 3

Pic is of a park in Big Sur, California. :)

Wow, ok....spoke too soon! Detox mania last night. I won't list everything ;) but suffice to say everything they say happens in detox, happens in detox! I'm proud though to say that I didn't throw in the towel, I'm determined to keep going and get past this into the wonderfulness. I know I have a few days to go in this phase, too...patience.....THANK YOU David & Katrina Rainoshek, Kris Carr, & Angela Stokes for providing so much information & knowledge...without them I would definitely not be trying to achieve my best health. Inspiration is a great thing! Other fantastic resources for me have been Tony Robbins, Matt Monarch, David Wolfe & Mike Adams. Wonderful people! Check out their work when you get a chance. So, last night I juiced oranges after I picked up my car from the shop, then ran errands. Felt pretty bad, so made the last juice of the day a comforting one: tomato / green leaf lettuce / garlic / basil / cilantro / pinch of sea salt / pinch of cayenne with Earth added in. Yummy! Then a cup of Good Earth tea.

This morning, we made way more juice. 2 quarts of red leaf lettuce / green leaf lettuce / carrots / watercress / celery / cucumber / red bell pepper / radish / kale / apple / pear with maca powder, Vitamineral Green, kelp granules & hemp oil added in. 1 quart spinach / apple. And the most exciting (& expensive) juice I've made to date: raspberry / watermelon / lemon / ginger / apple mmmmmmmmm can't wait. MSM / lemon water & a cup of green tea started the day.

I've just read about an exciting adventure on Kris Carr's blog...a 28 day Adventure Cleanse to start within the next couple of months...sounds wonderful and perfect timing for me, coming off my Juice Feast! Kris ROCKS. Check out the posting at www.crazysexylife.com

Global Juice Feast

:)

I'm on day 2 of my Juice Feast; if you haven't heard of it: http://www.juicefeasting.com/. I am Juice Feasting to "go further"! I have a couple of major health concerns that I want to address in the feast: a large gallstone from a lifetime of eating SAD (Standard American Diet) that the only offered treatment for is surgical removal of the gallbladder, and Hashimoto's Thyroiditis (autoimmune disease of the thyroid), which is conventionally only treated with medication to sustain hormone levels. I believe this feast, if done long enough, and subsequent lifestyle changes will re-set my physiology and give me the gift of perfect health. And the cosmic consciousness doesn't hurt! :) I plan to eat mostly a living foods diet after the feast...I've been building up to this way of eating for a couple of months and LOVE it!

Here's my post from day 1:

Day One of my Juice Feast! My guy is feasting with me too, for a few days - yay! Yesterday we went to Central Market and loaded up on veggies...I have never seen so many vegetables in a shopping cart in my life. We made a lovely farewell dinner of portobellos, asparagus, avocados &....tater tot crowns! Well, we wanted to eat them before feasting, so they wouldn't call to us from the freezer! Ate way too much and ended up feeling really happy that the feast was about to start ;) This morning we drank our MSM water w/ lemon and juiced about 3 quarts each...we will make our fourth quart for dinner, after work. Used a vitamix and nut milk bags. It took only about an hour, which surprised me because I really didn't do enough prep work. Here's what we created: celery / cucumber / parsley / romaine lettuce / red leaf lettuce / carrot / apple / lemongrape / applecelery / cucumber / parlsey / romaine lettuce / red leaf lettuce / carrot / apple / tomato / beet / radish / cayenneSo far so good; I am having herbal tea to combat the enticing smell of coffee here at work, and J. reports turning down breakfast tacos & strawberry shortcake at his office. Woot!

And about today:

Things are going really well. Last night J. and I juiced oranges after work, had a great workout & hit the steam room, went home and had a last juice of celery, apple, spinach & carrot (with 1 tsp. Earth added in)...and a cup of Sleepytime tea. I did a lot of prep-work before bed, which made this morning SO much easier. Which is good because we had to take my car to the shop! So today's juice for the workday is: 2 quarts each of celery / cucumber / tomato / apple / pear / romaine lettuce / red leaf lettuce / kale / / radishes / carrots, with hemp oil, E3-Live, maca powder, Vitamineral Green & kelp granules added in. Also 3/4 quart each of pineapple juice. And of course, we had our MSM / lemon water while juicing. Some detox symptoms coming up, but fairly mild so far. :)