Just What I Needed Today

Sorry All (if there are any even out there, who knows...) for I have been amiss-ing lately. I have 6 weeks until I get married and that has been taking up my time. Also. I don't know what to write. It's sad. And I always seem to drop off the planet when I get stuck in cooked food-ness. This was such a little pick-me up this morning:



Yay Dave! He's definitely a hero of mine: he gets me so excited and inspired to live better.

I made more of Penni's Jalapeño Corn Chips (forgot the jalapeño: that was my blonde moment for the week. They still taste wonderful, I just prefer the little kick) and I really need to like triple the recipe because they just go too fast; so good.

How does one bite the bullet with raw? I don't know if I can do the slow transitioning -- I know full raw is a little bit (understatement) hard on the body but what do or did You do (out there) to not slip-slide into the cooked food doldrums?

Eating According to Our Nature

I have to apologize for stealing this from A Waxing Wellspring blog from this past January: but I thought it brought up a brilliant avenue for discussion and I wanted to share it:

Rav Azulai in Hesed l'Avraham explains that our role in this world is to perfect ourselves in the service of HaShem, as well as to perfect the world to the same end. Adam HaRishon, through naming the animals, raised the animals up to such a level that he wasn't permitted to eat them, they were so holy. He had no tikkun, no rectification left to perform with them, and so there was no reason for him to eat them.

After eating from the tree of knowledge [of good and evil], all the animals ate as well, and they were brought to such a low extent that Noah and his sons were permitted to eat as a means to raise the animals up once more. Through eating animals, they become part of the human body, as they nourish us, and so they are raised from the level of animal, of living, to the level of man, of speaking.

However, because of our lowly level, eating doesn't completely rectify the animals back to the level of Gan Eden, for our bodies are on a lower level than the animals of Gan Eden. Which means that we must try with all our might to use the energy and life we get from consuming animals to do HaShem's will, perform mitzwoth, learn Torah, pray, and think holy thoughts. Only in this way can we return the animals to their original level. Otherwise, when we consume animals we become more animal, rather than turning the animal into man, we turn into animals ourselves.

I find that this is an interesting take, and I have heard it alot -- But I just don't think that eating animals is the way to go about it. I don't know why filling ourselves with death is a way to rectify the Fall into death: but uplifting life with kindness and peace; to strive (instead) to attain the levels of consciousness before the Fall -- then according to Kabbalah, the mineral, vegetable and animal kingdoms will be pulled into ascension with the collective soul. I think it is best to cultivate love and peace and life. As he writes, when we consume animals we become more animal, "rather than turning the animal into man, we turn into animals ourselves"

_____________________________

On a separate note: I can also report that I have tried Penni Shelton's Jalapeño Corn Chips of Real- FoodTulsa, and admit that there's not much left: and that they were excellent with a mango-pineapple salsa! I promise I will take pictures next time (soon). I was able to finally perform this great feat because my Excalibur 9-tray dehydrator arrived this past week and I currently have Ani Phyo's Black Sesame Sunflower Bread un-cooking away in there!

Puppetji

I have just discovered the "wizdumb" of puppetji, thanks to Beth of Bunny Berry. She has been on a 100 day Raw Food Challenge and is nearly at day 40! Huzzah! I just wanted to give her the

Because she truly is an inspiration and is so gorgeous, so sincere, so present in her experience and so I feel that this award must be hers, and frankly, am astounded she has not received it already. And so Bunny Berry! This one's for you, keep your chin up; you are wonderful and amazing, and brilliant and all those other good and glorious things! In honor of you, I am stealing your post from yesterday. Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti: Puppetji!

Another Reason to Go Vegan

These days you have to do more than closely read labels to keep from poisoning yourself and family. From the New York Times:

A federal judge has ordered Tyson Foods to withdraw advertisements claiming its chickens are “raised without antibiotics that impact antibiotic resistance in humans.”

Two competitors said the ads were untrue because Tyson injects it eggs with antibiotics and used antibiotic molecules in its feed.

Tyson maintained that its claim was truthful, and intends to appeal the decision. “The claim we’re making is ‘raised without.’

And our consumer research would say that ‘raised without’ in the consumer’s mind, is from hatchery to when they buy the chicken in the store,” said Dave Hogberg, senior vice president for consumer products at Tyson.

The New York Times April 23, 2008

Last Night the Rain Spoke to Me

Last night
the rain
spoke to me
slowly, saying,
what joy
to come falling
out of the brisk cloud,
to be happy again

in a new way
on the earth!
That's what it said
as it dropped,

smelling of iron,
and vanished
like a dream of the ocean
into the branches

and the grass below.
Then it was over.
The sky cleared.
I was standing

under a tree.
The tree was a tree
with happy leaves,
and I was myself,

and there were stars in the sky
that were also themselves
at the moment
at which moment

my right hand
was holding my left hand
which was holding the tree
which was filled with stars

and the soft rain -
imagine! imagine!
the long and wondrous journeys
still to be ours.

-Mary Oliver, from What Do We Know

So, question: What has the rain been saying to me (and it rained for two days here, so the poem and theme is justified)?

Answer: My body likes juiciness, it likes rawness much better than cooked-ness.

What has been so interesting is the anger. By Day 4 of juice, my emotional detox had begun... and it continues. For those who don't know, I am one of those few who actually has a thyroid condition. I have blogged about this before ... and so, no matter what I have done for the past year, my weight doesn't really budge much. The juice makes me feel lighter and more flexible but weight is slow to move. And it's very frustrating. Here's why: I eat better than anyone I know. And there is a fury in me that wants to be normal, to eat whatever I want (cooked or not, meat being entirely excluded on all accounts) and be happy and healthy. But my body, which has always been sensitive and spiritually inclined is pushingpushingpushing to raw and the energy of Mother that I am so good at pushing out. And the raw thing, I know is good, I know that raw is good for me, and even Gabriel Cousens' book Conscious Eating, says that being a Kapha/Vata person (which I am and he is himself, actually), do best on 80% raw. And when I read that, I KNOW it's true and correct, but...

it doesn't mean that the addictive emotional turmoil of past food foibles surrenders easily or even willingly. It's hard. And the anger and hurt I am feeling, I KNOW is emotional because all I want to do is just stuff my face like I have in the past to quell emotional pinches that I would rather numb out, than deal with. Well, now I am having to deal with it. It's hard, but I also know that it's good. It's just hard.

As soon as I have some cash, I am booking it to the Tree of Life and get my RAW on.
*sigh.

Here's to dreaming of Patagonia.

Juicy Day #1

Yesterday I did Juicy Day number one. Huzzah!

The first two days, I find are always the hardest. It takes the body (at least, mine) about 3 days before it gets used to using liquid as the energy source. But what's also amazing is that I feel the urge to have some sort of energy boost every 3 hours or so. By day 5 I am feeling wonderful and amazing: body feels light and limber and invincible.

I am what Gabriel Cousens describes as a Fast Oxidizer. I require more protein, less sugars and smaller more frequent meals.

So whenever I feel the hunger urge, I just go make some more juice: and wow! This juice just tastes soooo good! And it's been so warm up here in the Rockies the past few days, in the high 60's and 70's... sunny days and juice feasting, what could be better than that? My last juice feast was in October -- half a year ago: I can't even believe it...

In October I was 100% new to juice feasting and did it for 10 days. This time I am going to at least double that -- maybe triple and maybe longer... We'll see. I am really trying to get out the habit of setting limits for myself. And I am notoriously out of touch with my body. I just need to set my ego straight, and if need be -- put it in the corner with the dunce cap on facing the wall. No, not today Ego, sorry: you need to learn to play nice.

I also know that when juicing you should be simple with your combinations. And last time I started that way -- I started out (since I was a rookie) doing high fruit based combos. And after 4 days my body was dreaming about green things. So I added in the green and the rest took care of itself. This time, I am only doing fruit for 2 of my 5 juices a day; more so I get enough calories than anything else. I am a celery-cucumber juice lover, and they may be full of water, but not enough energy to live on.

But since I have been enviously following the
Global Juice Feasters, I have seen so many wonderful concoctions that I hadn't ever thought of. And so I have been a bit more adventurous and a bit more complex (already) with my combos. But I don't find it unusual that at the beginning, one craves more complex flavors, but gradually simplifies over the course of the entire Feast.

So you must be wondering: What did she have??
Well, I'll tell ya :

JUICE # 1 (8am)

Watermelon
Cucumber
Cilantro
Ginger

very light and refreshing, and no too sweet. The Cucumber diluted the Watermelon nicely.

JUICE # 2 (11:15)

3 Carrots
Fennel
Cilantro
Garlic
Basil
Celery
Cucumber
Udo's Omega 3 Flax Oil
Kelp Flakes

This was a nice and savory lunch-y drink. I try not to do more than 3 carrots ever, because of the sugar, and always make sure to dilute them. Plus things like fennel (which also makes a very light flavored juice) garlic or ginger help encourage proper digestion.

JUICE # 3 (1pm)

1 small shallot
1 Large golden and juicy Heirloom Tomato
Cilantro
1/2 sm. r. bell pepper
Lime
Celery
2 garlic cloves
Cucumber
Basil

This was my Homage to Penni Shelton's blog: Real Juice Daily, most specifically her "Italian Day #63" where she made bruschetta juice -- and so I was inspired by the savory fresh idea of really taking something to the next level, and Boy! Was it yummy! Fantastic and filling: I recommend highly. Mine was probably more sympathetic to gazpacho than bruschetta, but ehgn: What're you-gonna do, eh?

JUICE # 4 (5:30p)

2 Valencia oranges
1 handful of raspberries
a small handful of cilantro
16 oz. fresh coconut water

Oh.my.god. By far, my favorite juice of the day!
It was absolutely divine...I recommend high beyond high-highly.

JUICE # 5 (8pm)

Red Leaf Lettuce
Romaine
Cilantro
Baby Kale
Escarole
Lemon
Cucumber

Very light and clean tasting... I think I need something to spike this up though, maybe more lemon or more cilantro, or maybe 1/2 a tomato. Very nice though.

And that was my day. I will say that my theme seemed to be cilantro: it ended up in everything yesterday. Which is wonderful apparently because cilantro is an excellent form of oral chellation therapy; meaning -- it detoxes heavy metals and mercury, in particular, from the brain and spinal cord. Plus, it tastes really good.

Stay tuned for Day 2, already in progress!

Myth of Protein

I know, I know: I have been a very bad blogger. It's been 11 days or so since my last little post. I haven't even written regularly since creating my new blog, and this is shameful. And I'm sorry. It stems from a lot of things; one being that I feel I do not know what to write. I haven't been feeling particularly insightful and had backslid into cooked food oblivion for a few months. I was all set to do the juice feast in March, and didn't juice the whole month (guilt, guilt).

So what do I have too offer now? A new and clearer perspective. I have been feeling that my life too date has been a series of reactionary efforts and rarely (I realized) did I make choices based with any kind of authenticity of intention. This time off from school -- as I withdrew for the spring semester, been a whirl-wind of emotions and discoveries: I really had to throw wide the closet doors and clean out the stuff that's been causing the distress, the stuff rotting in the corner since age nine or ten or eleven. (I started having memories of abuse...which have been) The single throttled event that I had conveniently misplaced into some back alley of the brain and yet still the stage I performed from ever since. I will not go into ANY of that here... but it has led me to a realization of how and why I act the way that I do. And remembering, is healing. Even if it feels like you're going to die first.

So, that is my excuse for not writing. *smiles. It has made me more inward and less apt to share or express for fear that it would all come tumbling out. Whew. So that being done. Onward me beauties, onward!

I have really been falling in love with Raw all over again, its like this amazing love affair; the most uncomplicated and freeing relationship, because it suspends you in blissful certainty and unravels decades of pain and sore muscles. I have been enjoying an abundance of coconut water, which I usually charge with a pinch of Celtic sea salt -- I don't know why I am compelled to do this, as coconut water is like the top top for electrolytes, but it tastes good, so I do it. Lovely. It's so hydrating. If you haven't wacked your way into a young coconut yet, and I will admit it was daunting at first, trying to predict the fell of the knife into hard shell (Thank god I have good knives that won't chip of dent), but please try it. It is different than dried or sweet coconut, or coconut milk even-- so unravel expectations: they only work to deminish joy.

However, what I wanted really to share with you today was this short video about the myth of Protein. And I don't know why I never thought of this before, but he is absolutely correct. Even taking a college nutrition course (where they are grossly misled anyway) they tell you that the reason you need protein is the construction of amino acids... so you can build body tissue, what Tim is describing: "taking out the middle man" -- This video is speaking an exceptional truth. Enjoy.

I'm Back, Baby!

I'll explain that title later, but I do feel that I must pass on what We Like it Raw has already posted this morning -- the Truth. Now in a new documentary called FOOD MATTERS.



On the We Like it Raw site, they write (and thank you for doing the work for us about this):

What is Food Matters?
Food Matters is a documentary film informing you on the best choices you can make for you and your family's health. Helping you save time, money and effort.

In this day and age with so many companies interested in profiting from our misfortune and ill health this film will help keep your money in your pocket and your health in your hands

In a mission to uncover the truth we have tracked down several of the world’s leaders in nutrition and natural healing from around the globe in order to provide you with the most up to date information on curing disease naturally.

When can you watch it? The film is coming soon and will initially only be available through foodmatters.tv so make sure you’re the first to know by registering your name and email address here