Health update...

One week on a mixture of the Raw Food diet and basic normal, healthy eating and I've officially lost One pound...and I've been eating more food throughout the day than I ever used to so go figure!

I think I'll start posting my favorite Raw Food-like recipes from now on. Here's one:

Open-Face Italian Veggie Sandwich
(remember to use fresh ingredients and organic/local produce if possible.)

2 slices of Ezekiel's Sprouted Grain sesame bread, lightly toasted
1 Roma Tomato, sliced
1/2 avocado, sliced
1/4 red onion, sliced
1/2 cup Seeds of Change Basil Marinara sauce
1-2 Romaine lettuce leafs

Divide everything between both slices of bread and enjoy!

Did You Know???

Did you know that Omega-3s show up in high concentrations in heart tissue? And, that they seem to help with regulating heart rhythm (wish I'd know this earlier)and preventing fatal arrhythmias? How about that they can dampen the inflammation response?

How about this: did you know that our current western diets are extremely high in Omega-6s but low in Omega-3s? Guess what Omega-6s do to our bodies...they tend to excite the inflammation response and one characteristic of these Omegas are to cause blood clots (hmmm, blood clots if you're not bleeding may not be a great thing, right?).

Here's another interesting tidbit -- the Japanese smoke more than Americans (in general) and tend to have higher blood pressure (by average) than Americans and our rates of death due to heart disease are 4 times greater than theirs. Wonder what their secret is?? Maybe it's the consumption of 3-times the amounts of Omega-3s in the Japanese diet (mostly in fish).

I don't know for sure but this looks like something to think about--oh and one of the things that has a good amount of Omega-3s (and NEVER, EVER contained any trans fats) that we Americans so easily booted out of our diets - good ol' fashioned butter! It's good for you AND tastes like friggin' heaven! But be warned, get the organic natural butter -- the butter coming from corn-fed cattle doesn't have as high amounts of Omega-3s...another bit of food for thought! (Ha! I crack myself up sometimes!)

Day 2--evening

Today was a bit more difficult for me on the raw food diet. My lunch wasn't something I'll ever make again but I ate it this time. Dinner always seems to take longer than I expect it to though tonight I actually had dinner before 10pm which is an improvement. Dinner was an unexpected yummy dish and I will probably have it again -- it was fake ravioli with fake goat cheese filling (ravioli was beet slices and the filling was a surprisingly delightful mixture with pine nuts, lemons, olive oil, & tarragon).

The most difficult parts have been when my family is making their dinner and it smells soooo good and I'm never done with making my dinner on time to sit with them...but I know that this is the beginning and I will get better at it. I mean, as it is, I can pretty much make my morning elixir without looking at the recipe anymore :D

Well, off to have a wee bit of a snack then bed.

Raw Foods Diet--Day 2 & General Stuff

I'm ready to meet the challenge today and see if I can make smaller amounts of the food in the recipes. Then it's off to work on my business website, the EventBrite site for the ABDA, study for PNF certification, do some stretching, and get some housecleaning done too! Busy, busy, busy...

Raw Foods Detox Diet...end of day

So day 1 is just about over for me. Didn't go too bad -- the only complaint I have so far is that there's too much food so I think I need to pare the recipes down a bit. I had my elixir for breakfast after my 2 cups of coffee, then 4 slices of sprouted grain sesame seed bread with almond butter & all-natural strawberry jam, for an afternoon snack I had a romaine salad with candied almonds, shredded carrots, some raisins & lightly covered with balsamic vinegar mixed with a bit of 100% maple syrup. Then finally dinner was 2 shiitake mushrooms marinated in a soy sauce/maple syrup mixture then oven roasted and placed into 2 sprouted grain hamburger buns, topped with tomato slices, some onions, and a dash of dijon mustard. A small greens salad was my side dish. Dessert this evening (& for the next 3 evenings) was a mango-lime parfait with an almond-maple crust. And in about 10 minutes, I'll be able to have my decaf Rooibos tea then call it a night :D

Mindful Menagerie: Raw Foods 21-day Detox---DAY 1

Mindful Menagerie: Raw Foods 21-day Detox---DAY 1

Raw Foods 21-day Detox---DAY 1

Today's the day I start my 21-day trip into a brand new world of eating fresh & whole foods and I can't wait to get started! I have already started introducing some raw foods into my diet as recommended so I hope my body doesn't go all crazy with the detox but I have to remember that it's just my body's way to rid itself of the man-made poisons that get labeled as "food" in today's supermarkets! I am excited! Now off to make my breakfast juice!