Back to Raw
Hey I'm back! And more excited about raw foods
than ever. If you remember my last entry I confessed I started
eating some cooked food and boy did I begin to feel the
difference. About two weeks ago I went back to 100% raw and it
was so amazing. I'm even grateful that I was able to experience
the contrast of what it's like to go from cooked to raw again.
It was almost as exhilarating as the first time I went raw 5 and
half years ago! I started becoming excited again about food, my
energy increased, and I started feeling the high feeling that I
only get when I do 100%
Green Smoothies
Lately I've been living off green smoothies. If
you don't know what green smoothies are read this article:
http://www.rawglow.com/greensmoothies.htm
Basically it's when you blend fruit with greens in the blender
to make a smoothie. I even go one step further by adding green
powder and wheatgrass sometimes. The picture on the left is a
picture of one of my favorite smoothies to make. It has young
coconut water, bananas, dino kale, celery, wheatgrass juice, and
spirulina. You can use any fruit or any green that you like. I
prefer to use dino kale because it's my favorite green, I just
love the taste. You can also use any fruit you like. I've
experimented with bananas, apples, peaches, nectarines, figs,
and blueberries so far. I find that adding at least one banana
gives it a really good flavor. The smoothies are so satisfying;
I feel super charged and they keep me fuller for longer than
just plain fruit smoothies. It's such an awesome way to get your
greens because the nutrients are easier to digest and the
smoothies are so sweet you barely even taste the greens.
Green Powders and Seaweed
I'm also a big proponent of green powders, there
are many out there but I just started using a new one that I
really like. The thing I like about it is that it's mostly
organic, raw, no fillers, the grasses are grown in volcanic soil
and most importantly for me: the powder doesn't contain added
digestive enzymes. Unfortunately, I can't take digestive enzymes
because they really hurt my stomach and most green powders
contain them. The taste is pretty good as far as green powders
go.
Here are the ingredients:
Ingredients: Dulse*, Norwegian Kelp*, Acerola
Cherry (iuice extract)*, Kale Powder*, Spirulina*, Barley Grass
(iuice* and solubles), Oat Grass juice powder*, Kamut Grass
juice powder*, Parsley*, Wheat Grass juice powder*, Spinach
leaf*, Bio-Life organic sprout blend: Broccoli Sprouts*, Mung
Bean Sprouts*, Oat Grass Sprouts*, Sunflower seed sprouts*,
Wheat Grass Sprouts*, Bio-Life organic spice blend: Fenugreek
seed*, Turmeric extract*, Ginger*, Anise Seed*, Fennel Seed*,
Cardamom seed*: Artichoke extract*, L. Plantarium. Other
ingredients - Stevia*
* 100% Pure Organic
Here's the website if you want to check them
out:
http://www.biolifenaturals.com/
Green powders are especially great for people
who don't have time to juice or even make a smoothie. You can
add green powder in a little bit of lemon water with a pinch a
stevia and get the wonderful alkalizing and mineralizing
benefits of greens, not to mention the essential fatty acids and
the easy to assimilate protein. If you want to learn more about
the benefits of green drinks I highly recommend the
Wheatgrass Juice, Green Drinks, & Sprouts
Chart.
Speaking of greens another type of green is
called a sea vegetable and I'm so lucky that the best sea weed
company in the world has started selling at the local farmer's
markets in my area. ( Santa Rosa and Sebastopol) Check them out:
http://www.ohsv.net. They harvest their seaweed on the
Mendocino Coast and sun dry it, unlike other companies that
tunnel dry their seaweed. They also carry my ultimate favorite
seaweed in the world. It's called silky sea palm. It is crunchy
and can be eaten as is, like a snack. On the right is a picture
of a trail mix that they made with almonds, sea palm, and
currents. When I got home I made a trail mix out of mac nuts,
goji berries, sea palm, and cacao nibs. It was awesome! I'm sure
you could make it out of all kinds of combinations of dried
fruit and nuts. I've also been using it in salads. I prefer it
crunchy, so I'll add it on top of my salads. Two of my amazing
creations are on the left:) Silky sea palm literally makes any
salad taste better. Not only do sea vegetables taste great, but
they can be used as a substitute for salt and they contain all
the wonderful minerals of the sea as well as iodine and
chlorophyll. Iodine especially is good for people with thyroid
problems.
Farmer's Market Frenzy
Summer in Sonoma County is a utopia for
organically grown fruits and vegetables. It's definitely a raw
foodist's paradise and playground: This past week I think I've
been to 5 different farmer's markets! As usual, I've discovered
some unique heirloom produce. On the left are a few pictures of
my finds. One is a unique french heirloom strawberry called
Moschata. It is so aromatic and tastes like a fizzy strawberry
hard candy that I remember eating when I was a kid. You won't
find them in stores because they have a super short shelf life.
The next picture is of black raspberries, aren't they pretty? I
bet they have a bunch of extra antioxidants because of their
dark blue color. Cool:)
Flower Candy?
A friend of mine showed me that you can eat the
petals of the pineapple guava flower and that they are super
sweet and taste like candy. I love edible flowers and have tried
many of them and I can honestly say that the pineapple guava
tree flower petals are the best tasting flower petals I've ever
eaten. What an awesome discovery!
The Magic of Flax Powder
Here is cute video about using flax powder while traveling
to improve digestion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRB1LmYjVAk
Need Some Inspiration
Here is a very theatrical movie about being raw.
It's over the top but definitely inspirational:
http://www.gorawnow.com
It actually made me go back to 100% raw when he
said that our cells are made up of what we eat!
|
Redwoods at Armstrong Woods
in Guerneville
Chalk
Drawing at Festival in North Beach, San Francisco
Sea Lions at Pier 39 in San
Francisco
|
Playing the Tourist
On the left are some pictures I took when I was
playing the tourist when my boyfriend's parents came to visit.
I'll have to write about it later, for now I'm going to bed!
Best Wishes,
Cecilia
I'm back, one day late but I said I'd write
about my adventures in San Francisco. It was so awesome meeting
my honey's parents. I adore their son, so it was natural for me
to absolutely adore them as well! It is so fun to see your state
through a visitor's eyes. We took the fairy from Larkspur to San
Francisco and it was awesome because we landed smack dab in the
middle of the San Francisco farmer's market! There were actually
two vendors selling prepared raw food. One of them was
Alive,
a raw restaurant in S.F. I was so busy foraging for blueberries
and kale that I forgot to take pictures! I promise next time.
They were making some cool juices with kiwi that looked like
those tapioca drinks. What an awesome idea. Now that I'm back to
100% raw, am planning to eat at Alive one of these days, will
give you the full update of course.
Anyways we walked through the city and it
seemed like things just flowed our way. We stumbled across an
arts festival and had an awesome time on Alcatraz island. Even
though it's my third time there, I love the stories from the
audio tour. Makes you feel like you were there and part of the
action. I still wonder what happened to the two escapees. I'd
like to think they made it to Mexico and spent their days on the
beach like in The Shaw shank Redemption.
The next day as you can see we visited the
redwoods, old faithful geyser, and a petrified wood forest. I
must say California rocks and sometimes I feel like my journal
is an advertisement for it:) I guess it's a good thing to love
where you live. Especially since I've traveled all over and I
still am so proud to call Northern Cali my home:)
Ode to Love
This is my last entry for June and well instead
of raw foods I wanted it to be on something that's been on my
mind a lot lately. This entry is purely self indulgent I guess.
I don't talk about it much but I have alluded to the fact that I
met, 5 months ago, the most amazing man who has filled my life
with so much joy and love. I mean I've never felt so loved,
adored, treasured, cared about, or taken care of. It's the kind
of thing you only see in movies or read about in romance novels
but it is so much better cause it's for real. I always dreamt
that I'd find someone that would look into my eyes and I would
just know and feel from their look how much they loved me. I
mean when he holds me in his arms I feel like he is truly there
for me and that I'm not alone. It's what I always wanted more
than anything, I mean you can have someone right next to you and
still feel worlds apart. Now, however, I feel an amazing
connection to him like I've never felt. I mean I used to hear
people talk about soul mates and well I kinda didn't buy it, but
now that I've experienced it I think there might be something to
it. It's this easy familiar feeling like you've not only known
the person before but that maybe in some weird way they're part
of you. Like you're made from the same stuff.
The awesome thing about it was that it was so
effortless to meet him. I just would look at my vision board and
imagine what I would feel like with his arms around me every
night for a few months and he appeared almost magically. That's
it. I didn't date or anything. It's funny because with what I've
been through in my life you think I might be bitter or resentful
but strangely enough all the trauma in my life has opened me and
my heart up even wider. I mean I hear people saying negative
things about the movie the
Secret.
Trying to find all it's flaws and all the reasons why it's not
true or it doesn't work and maybe they are right, but I know
that when I watched it I believed in it 100% and I practiced
everyday what it taught: gratitude, appreciation, feeling good,
focusing on what you want, visualizing, acting as if it's
already yours and well 9 months later I have a new life. A new
place to live, a new car, a new job, an amazing new man in my
life, more money, improved health, and most importantly a new
outlook on life. I'm not saying it's easy to change your
thinking but I know that it's possible, because believe me when
I tell you that I was a worry wart and the worst things that
happened to me happened in my head:) I just take it one thought
at a time, one day at a time.
Anyways, back to love, what I wanted to say
about love is that when a woman is truly loved by a good man she
just blooms and and opens up and there is this glow about her.
When I'm around him I just light up and it's funny because I
used to worry about my body and if it were perfect or if I need
to loose 10 pounds or whatever. But now I never care if my
stomach is completely flat because I know my guy adores me and
when I'm around him I feel like a goddess. I think if you
radiate self love it can have the exact same affect. It's just
not raw foods that can make you glow, it's love and joy and I
actually think that the best medicine that you could ever take
is happiness. One of my favorite quotes is "Love and
Gratitude can Dissolve any Illness." In my twenties, gosh I
was so harsh on myself and I see it in other young women and I
believe that one of the beautiful gifts you get when in you're
in your thirties is self love and feeling comfortable in your
own skin. I mean life is way to short to worry about a few
pounds. It's true that raw foods will make you more attractive,
but the only reason I would ever do raw foods is because I love
it, it makes me happy, and it makes me feel good. Period. I'm
really not against anything. I'm for raw foods, health, and joy~
Next month is coming soon I promise:)
