Halfway~ Water Day

Today is the midpoint of the 21 day raw food cleanse; a water fast. I really like how my body is responding to this cleanse. I keep thinking back to the when I did the Master Cleanse, and I can safely say that I will never do that one again. It was an interesting experience in discipline, but 10 days of nothing but lemonade... blehh! All that lemon juice could not have been good for my teeth. The worst part was coming off of the cleanse, because I could NOT stop eating, and wasn't necessarily drawn to anything especially healthy.

In contrast, over the past week and a half on the raw food cleanse, I have felt so good! I've eaten my fill of really good food. I've exercised. I haven't felt hungry, nor have I had any cravings to speak of. I've been feeling really light and energized. Healthy. Strong. To be honest, there have been a couple recipes that I will not make again, but over all I have really enjoyed the meals. I feel much more balanced and grounded than I ever did on the Master Cleanse, and yet the cleansing action is totally comparable, if not greater than what I experienced with the lemonade cleanse.

I'm in heaven.... blended watermelon juice

Water only has been a little tough, but it's doable for just the one day. I am looking forward to tomorrow and starting other liquids again, like the blended watermelon juice that's been on the menu for several days. I'm such a watermelon junkie, and lately they have had really, really good watermelons at our Kroger. I can't believe I had never stuck a watermelon in a blender before; it is so delicious! Cantaloupe is also divine, and I'm eager to try the honeydew melon I bought today. Raw food makes me happy!!  Not having to clean my juicer also makes me happy! :D

Raw Food Cleanse, cont.

I've just wrapped up my first week of the Raw Food Cleanse, and am feeling really good! Most of the recipes have been really good (good enough that I have just scarfed them down without taking pictures- what is wrong with me!?!?)

This week we are heading into the most intensive part of the cleanse, which culminates with a day of just water. morning's breakfast: watermelon juice (made in the blender). Sooooooo good!!! So good that I made a second batch so that I could take a picture and forgot AGAIN!!

I'm looking forward to tomorrow's green day. And one of these meals I will remember to take some pictures!!

Wordless Wednesday: The grass is always greener...

Day 11-12: Easing Back

Many of you were impressed that I did this cleanse and consumed nothing but the lemonade for 10 days, but I'm finding out that was actually the easy part!  Coming off a cleanse is harder than being on it.   I know I was supposed to drink nothing but orange juice for the first 2 days.  The folks on the Master Cleanse forum seemed to think it would be alright to have the cantaloupe juice as well.  I am blaming it on my broken foot, but I admit that I had a small bowl of plain, baked spaghetti squash last night.  It just seemed like it would be something simple, good, easy to digest.  I'm starting today with some herbal tea and then making some watermelon juice.

Now, off to release my fruit flies!

Getting Greener....

I was hoping to relieve those of you who have been wondering if I've gone off the deep end with all this talk of raw food, and write a post about the breads I've been (secretly) baking in the meantime.
I will get to that, I promise!

However, I felt inclined to post again about the amazing effect raw greens have had on me. I admit it: even though I have been veg*n for the majority of my life, I have really not been that good about eating dark, leafy greens on a regular basis. There have been times when I bought big bunches of kale with the intent of making it a regular part of my diet, but all too often I would end up with a bunch of wilted yellowing leaves in my refrigerator. I really hate wasting food like that, but I never had a really good recipe for kale. I got excited about a recipe I found for "kale chips" last fall, but I found them unpalatable, so sauteed with a little garlic and lemon remained my go-to, though boring, way to prepare greens.
 I don't think I expressed the extent of my joy to discover a recipe for Raw Kale Salad. Most of the people I mention this to give me a weird look and say, "RAW kale? Really?".  If you massage the kale a bit, it wilts and becomes so tender and tasty.  I posted a recipe in my last post, and you can find another version on my friend Brandy's blog.  I also discovered that green smoothies are also a really easy and tasty way to pack in my daily greens!

A couple weeks ago I was making at least one green smoothie a day, but out of convenience, or perhaps having not gone to the grocery store in a while, I started slipping back to cooked foods again. The first couple of meals were great; they were soft and comforting, but I quickly realized that I didn't feel as happy or energetic as I did as when I was eating a diet of about 80% raw food.  The situation got dire when I ran out of greens for a few days over Memorial Day weekend, and I really started noticing the difference --my body started demanding fresh greens. 

As luck would have it, an old friend mailed me a couple of her raw food books the other day and I got yet another recipe for a green drink.  Apparently this is a pretty common concoction in the raw food world which goes by different names: it's "Green Lemonade" in the Raw Food Detox Diet, and there is a similar recipe in  Raw Food Real World called "Basic Green".

When I get the ingredients out of the fridge to make this, my 1 year old finds a cup and brings it over to me!  She sucks down this juice like it's going out of style! I crave it as well. (My 3 year old prefers smoothies to juice, but she will sip this a bit, too.)

Edited to add:
Since I published this post, this thought has been running through my head: "Basic Green Lemonade" is way too boring a title for this juice.  Let it be henceforth known as:
 
Basic Green "Lemonade"  
Emerald Love Elixir of Life :)
1 head of romaine and/or
a couple stalks of celery
8-10 large leaves of kale, chard, or collards (or a combination)
1 whole organic lemon
1-2 organic apples

Run all ingredients through a juicer. Yum!

What’s (Not) Cooking?

Although I have been a veg*n (by which I mean vegetarian of varying degrees, occasionally vegan, but for the most part lacto-ova) for more than 20 years now, over the past couple of years my diet has slipped a bit from the whole foods my body craves towards "quick and easy" (read: processed). I subsisted almost entirely on string cheese for the better part of a year when Kiira was just over a year old, and now that I have two young children the situation has, in some ways, gotten even worse. Since Kiira is still such a light eater, it barely makes sense to cook up a whole dinner each night, and we have gotten accustomed to snacking all day and often not even having a proper meal together. Not that grazing is all that bad, but this did make me want to make some adjustments and get back into a routine of family mealtimes. I also recently I noticed my skin breaking out more than usual and realized that a more serious dietary overhaul was probably in order. I decided to focus on cutting out the processed stuff and buying more whole foods, and in effect, force myself to prepare more wholesome foods. I considered eliminating dairy, but due to the B12 issue I will (probably) never be completely vegan. Although I am not opposed to taking dietary supplements, I want to be able to get all my necessary nutrients from the food I eat. Although some would argue with me, I have seen enough evidence that B12 is not readily available from a 100% plant based diet to make me think that it is not a perfect diet, especially for children (I'd rather them have a little milk or cheese rather than pond scum spirulina or chlorella). I have dabbled in and researched some more extreme diets over the years, but in the end I am a believer of moderation and a super natural path. For instance, I recently read The pH Miracle
and found it a little too drastic for my tastes; so many wonderful fruits and veggies get cut out in that diet and it seems to me that God wouldn't have put them here if they weren't meant to be eaten.

That being said, as the weather warms, I am starting to explore raw food again.

I unintentionally started this a few months ago when I was gifted a juicer that I have been putting to very good use (thanks again, Megan!!!). I think that daily dose of living enzymes worked to prime my system and give me a newfound craving for more raw foods. Around the same time that I started juicing regularly, I started making other changes in my life as well, such as the feng shui that I mentioned in my last post, and starting to exercise more regularly. As I was getting my priorities in order, I decided to drop one of my classes so as not to get as stressed out as I was in December, trying to finish two intense classes on top of taking care of my girls and building my fledgling business. A few weeks later I found a check in the mail, a refund for the class, and I decided to splurge on a kitchen appliance that I have wanted for many, many years. (Ironically, it is a food processor…)

My Vita-Mix (yay!) arrived a couple of weeks ago and I absolutely love it! What a great investment! I have been using it several times a day on average, and have made everything from hummus to smoothies to bread to hot soup in it. Not everything I have made in my Vita-Mix is all raw, but the machine is so versatile that I just had to mention some of the cooked recipes as well, because even cooked food prepared in a Vita-Mix is so much fresher than anything you could buy premade from the store. Speaking of recipes, I have been scouring Paperback Swap, Amazon and Barnes & Noble for good raw food (un)cookbooks, but found that many of the recipes are too complicated for everyday eating; they often require days of preparation and sprouting, not to mention ingredients that are not easily obtained here in rural Virginia. For a diet to be truly sustainable, it needs to be based on local, seasonal produce. Years ago when I first tried an all raw diet, I found it hard to plan meals and have all the ingredients on hand and ready to use (sprouted, fermented, etc), and eventually went back to cooked foods. I am now realizing that it is possible to eat a raw diet with minimal preparation and planning, simply by buying seasonal produce and having a few staples on hand. I am seriously considering creating my own recipe book of the easiest and tastiest foods I discover. One of my favorite recipes so far has been the Caramel Apple Breakfast Pudding from Vibrant Living, a living foods recipe book that I rediscovered on my shelf recently. It consists of shredded apples topped with a "pudding" made from sprouted wheat berries, soaked almonds, apricots, banana and a dash of cinnamon.

  
If you're hungry for lunch, here is a recipe for a Raw Butternut Pecan Salad, adapted from a salad I discovered at our local co-op.  Please note that the given amounts might have to be adjusted a bit, since I was given this recipe without the exact amounts (and for a much bigger batch!). As a guideline, the squash should make up about half of the salad, and the pecans, onion and raisins combined should make up the other half. This makes a big batch!

 Raw Butternut Pecan Salad

2 lbs butternut squash, grated

2 cups pecans, soaked in water for at least 2 hrs

1 small onion, finely chopped

1- 1 1/2 cup raisins and/or dried cranberries 

A couple handfuls fresh cilantro (or parsley, in a pinch), chopped

2 Tbs ground cumin

2 Tbs ground coriander

Salt & pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl. Enjoy!