First cleanse day!

My boyfriend Ryan and I are starting a 30 day cleanse today. We'll be having fresh vegetable juices in the morning for our breakfast, a leafy green salad with unlimited organic vegetables and a whole avocado for lunch, and for dinner we have a small salad along with some of of the following: fish, eggs, and starchy veggies like sweet potatoes, squash, etc. The goal is to cleanse the blood cells and bowels. A cleansed body digests food much more efficiently, and so cleansing from time to time helps when we're not able to eat an ideal diet, which we all know, is much of the time.

Many people immediately ask - where do you get your protein on this cleanse? Americans are a bit obsessed with protein. We tend to think in terms of animal protein, but in fact, there is protein in green leafy vegetables and nuts, not to mention the fish and eggs we'll be eating in the evenings. But surprise, surprise - 1 cup of spinach yields 5 grams of protein. One cup of peas has 9 grams! A 1/4 cup of almonds has 8 grams of protein.

What I like about this cleanse is that we're eating organic, fresh foods. You could ask nearly any medical doctor in America, and they'd say as a whole, we all need to eat more greens. Over the past year, I've begun to think of food in a whole new way. This is not a fad or crash diet. One of the speakers I heard recently asked the question "Are you eating for energy or for entertainment?" And as I look at foods now, I often ask that question. If you're choosing to eat for energy, you're eating veggies, whole grains, lean proteins like fish and eggs, etc. I'm choosing more and more to eat for energy, and my body is feeling the difference big time.

This morning, I'm making a carrot, beet, cucumber, kale, ginger blend. I've been learning a lot about beets, and how beneficial and cleansing they are for our bodies. However, you never want to drink pure beet juice. It is way to potent for the body to handle. It should be used sparingly and with other vegetable juices. My juice this morning is beautiful and delicious!!!

AMAZING RAW RECIPE!

Wow, I am blown away by this recipe! This is a soup recipe from Natalia Rose's book called "Detox for Women". She raves about this recipe. I was skeptical, but now I'm a believer. It's called "Pumpkin Pie in a Bowl Revisited" I changed the proportions just slightly, so I'm going to put mine here:

• 20 ounces fresh carrot juice
• 1 cup raw sweet potato, peeled and cubed
  
• 1/4 teaspoon Stevia powder (more to taste later if you like)
• 1 whole avocado
• 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Put it all in a blender and blend! This is seriously the best raw recipe I've tried so far. Thank you Natalia! The pumpkin pie spice is a bit hard to find, but they have it at Whole Foods. It's really worth getting.

LUNCH!

If you check my other blog - about my outdoor mosaic project, you'll see it is a busy day here. I wanted to have a spinach salad with avocado and soaked almonds, however, I was anxious to get back to my mosaic work, so I made a smoothie out of it instead. In this smoothie, I used:

• 2 cups packed organic spinach
  
• one whole avocado
• 1/4 cup soaked almonds
• 1/2 cup filtered water
  
• 1/2 cup organic vanilla soy milk

Put the almonds in a food processor until they are very finely chopped. Put all ingredients in the blender, and blend it up!

A note about the almonds - they can be hard to digest when raw and dry. Soaking them in pure water for at least 8 hours before eating them not only makes them easier on your system, but sweetens them up, and begins the sprouting process to boot! It's the best way I've found to have almonds in my diet. Just put them in a plastic baggie overnight with just enough water to cover them. Store them in the fridge to make them last longer. For this smoothie, I ran them through the food processor to further break them up.

Juicer!

I love, love, love fresh juices. Really nice juicers are expensive, but so worth the investment. I went to a yoga retreat where we had wonderful fresh juices every morning, and they used a Champion juicer. I did notice that it extracted a huge amount of juice per fruit or veggie, and I quickly put it on my wish list. At $245 new, I wasn't loving the idea of spending quite that much. Well, a few days ago inspiration struck, and I decided to look on Craig's List for a "pre-owned" Champion juicer, and lo and behold, I found a vintage Champion juicer for $50! Did I mention that I love Craig's List? It works beautifully - these juicers were built to last. This morning I made carrot, spinach, cherry juice! (Beware - you much de-pit the cherries before juicing them.) This juicer is also a breeze to clean.

Hi there!

This is my first post for my new blog - Raw Food Time! I've been making a slow transition over the past several months, adding more and more raw food into my diet. I've found it so satisfying that I wanted to share my experiences in a blog. My intention is to blog 5 days per week about my new raw food recipes, tips, and recommendations. I will also be making instructional recipe videos and posting them on YouTube.

The main reason I'm creating this blog is because my gradual transition from processed foods to raw foods has been life changing for me. As I progress, I continue to see a drastic difference in nearly all aspects of my life. My physical body is leaner than it has ever been without adding any exercise. Cellulite and excess fat are melting away effortlessly. My skin has taken on a glow that it has never had before. I feel more clear minded and my stress level has dropped significantly. I have more energy. Also, I'm really enjoying it!!! I've really begun to appreciate what this earth has to offer. Organic fruits and vegetables that fill your body with nutrients - what could be better? I love experimenting with new recipes, and shopping at the farmer's markets for wonderful, organic, local produce.

I've still got a long way to go, and I should be clear that my goal is not to have a diet of only raw foods. My goal is to have a diet of 75% raw food, and 25% cooked food. I enjoy fish(cooked and raw), goat cheese, baked and grilled vegetables as well as raw, and even baked goods made with stevia and organic ingredients. I want a diet that embraces raw foods, and doesn't deny all of the wonderful options this earth offers! If you'd like to learn with me, come along!