Back Tracking
Hi sweethearts I know it
has been awhile. I feel like since Thanksgiving to until about a
week ago I was just in this holiday daze! I ended up having the
most amazing holidays with my friends and family but the stress
leading up to the holidays was pretty rough this year. I do host
Thanksgiving and Christmas so it can add extra pressure, but for
some reason this year was extra stressful.
Thanksgiving went
smoothly though because I ordered a Thanksgiving box from
Seed Restaurant. Look at the pictures to the right if you
want to see what I got. The box contained dehydrated sweet
potatoes which were very yummy, butternut squash soup, zucchini
casserole, Waldorf salad, stuffed mushrooms, veggie loaf, fresh
pesto and flax crackers, cauliflower mashed potatoes, mushroom
gravy, and the grand finale was a sweet potato pie! My family
tried a little of the raw food, but since it was too much for me
alone, the next day I had a purely raw food Thanksgiving
celebration with some close friends. I was so happy with the box I
recommended that my friends order the box for Christmas and they
were very happy as well.
Seed Restaurant also has boxes available every week, not
just for celebrations.
For Dog Lover's Only
In between Thanksgiving
and Christmas I did something I have never done before. I
adopted a dog from the shelter. On Dec 3rd, 2008 I brought home
my sweet angel, a 1 year old, 6 and half pound white shorthair Chihuahua
mix, named Dancer. I named her Dancer for the Holidays and the
fact that she is long and lean and tends to prance; it
reminded me of a graceful dancer. She has something fairylike
about her. Rescuing her from the shelter was very fulfilling. She
had been in the shelter for about a month or so and was very
nervous and skinny when I got her. To see her relax and put on a
little healthy weight has been awesome.
At first, I was a
little nervous about the extra responsibility of a dog, but now
I can't imagine my life without her. She has the sweetest
disposition and not an aggressive bone in her body. I had been
searching the whole month of December at about 5 different
shelters for a small female adult Chihuahua mix. I wasn't having
much luck until I met Dancer. I could just tell she was my
little doggie soul mate and that her energy was going to fit
into my family and lifestyle. I even telepathically asked her if
she wanted to come home with me!
She is goofy, stubborn,
sweet, smart, shy, and just a gentle soul like her human mom and
dad. Darrell just adores her. She's my walking partner, my
copilot, my errand runner, my snuggle partner, and when we're
not out, you'll find her either on my lap or cuddling next to
me.
With 8 million dogs that are homeless and
3-4 million dogs and cats killed each year at shelters, I
just don't understand why everyone doesn't get their dogs and
cats fixed and why everyone doesn't get their pets from
shelters. It breaks my hearts that millions of pets die each
year just because people are uninformed. I have been to about 6
shelters in the last few months and let me tell you, the dogs
are as sweet and beautiful as any, they just need a little extra
TLC and are usually so grateful to receive it. It might take a
little longer to bond with a shelter rescue than a puppy, but
I've heard and experienced that it only takes about 30 days or less for your new
pet to settle in and then they are yours for the duration of
their lives. With some patience you can find the animal you are
looking for. I dare anyone to tell me that my dog is not as cute
or as good as one that
didn't come from a shelter.
Click here
for some more pictures of my beloved, Dancer
Dancer is my first pet so you have to realize
that it is only natural that she is completely and utterly
spoiled. I was actually fearful of dogs until recently so this
whole experience has been very healing. She has different
outfits, a special car seat, toys, treats, and I practically
make her food everyday. With raw foods I feel that I know a
thing a two, but with taking care of a dog I am just starting
and am learning along the way. I'm trying to do things as
natural as possible like using neem oil for fleas and staying
away from overly processed dog food. My dog is a super picky
eater so it's been challenging to feed her as natural as I would
like, so right now I'm just learning and trying different things
to see what she'll eat and what she won't.
My First Christmas with Dancer
Christmas was fun having Dancer around. My
friend and I dressed our little dogs up in Christmas sweaters
and went around downtown passing out organic lollipops to anyone
who wanted one. We also came across the lovely Mr. and Mrs.
Claus which was a bonus. We called it Project Reindoggie:)
It also gave me a chance to do some Christmas
shopping downtown. Because of the economy I decided to support
small and local businesses in downtown Petaluma. I believe
that supporting
small businesses makes the world a better and happier place:)
My sister came up from Chicago and it was
awesome to get some sister bonding time. I had an awesome
Christmas with my family. For our yearly tradition I had them
paint ornaments for my tree. My step mom is an artist so hers
was amazing. She painted a mermaid out of a dolphin. I painted
my dog, of course!
I had a blast decorating the house for Christmas
and all those wedding shows I watch on cable really came in
handy for decorating the table. (At least they are good for
something!)
A New Approach
My Christmas dinner was a raspberry spinach
salad and a cooked sweet potato. I've been going back and forth
on whether 100% raw or 80% raw works best for me. As of now I'm
happy with 90% raw by volume. I'm raw all day but at night I
have a huge raw salad with maybe some steamed broccoli, peas, or
other steamed vegetable on top. I find that this lessons the
chance that I'll overeat on nuts or avocado which wreak havoc
with my stomach. So as of now I'm pretty happy with this system,
but I'm still experimenting with it so I'll have to let you know
how I feel about a little later. As of now, so far so good.
I decided to try this after a lecture I heard
from Dr. Goldhammer the director of True North Fasting
http://www.healthpromoting.com/ He has fasted thousands of
people and sees many vegans and raw foodist's in his practice. He
said that the healthiest patients he's come across are the ones
who get the most vegetables into them whether it be by blending,
juicing, or steaming. He also advocates only getting 10-20% of
your calories from fat and he definitely advised all to get
their B12 and Vitamin D checked because he sees this to be a
common issue, especially in vegans. I just read his book, The Pleasure Trap,
and highly recommend it. It will give you insight into what motivates us as a
species to eat the way we do and how to avoid the traps that
could make us sick.
Speaking of Fasting
It's the beginning of the year and I know that I'm feeling
the urge to do some cleaning externally in my home and
internally in my body. Fasting can be a great way to gently
cleanse your body of toxins while giving your digestive system a
rest. If you want to do a water fast I highly recommend
True North Fasting Center
http://www.healthpromoting.com/ in Santa Rosa, California. I
also just got an e-mail about a green juice fast at the Tree of
Life Rejuvenation Center
http://www.juicefastforpeace.com/ It looks great!
And for those that would like to make some juice at home below
is one of my favorite juice recipes. Happy new year! Lets make
it a great one:)
P.S. For those of you that live in Northern
California, I will be speaking at Cafe Gratitude Feb. 2nd.
Click here for more information.
Granny Smith Apple Elixir
