Goodbye 2009!

     This will be my last post of the year, WOW! It's hard to believe this year is just about gone, but  with the days flying by so fast  it's to be expected I suppose. I hope you all have a grand year in 2010!!

In 2010 I shall strive to:

1. Take things less seriously. Sometimes. .  . ok MOST of the time I have a hard time lightening up around my family when their goofing off, I need to just push back my life pondering and just enjoy the company of my loving family.
2. Take constructive criticism better. The perfectionist in me seems to always raise its ugly head whenever I feel threatened by what someone is saying to me. I am striving to stop down my overly defensive nature. I have to remember that when my family and friends are criticizing me about something, that they are doing it to help to get better at whatever it was that I made mistake about. So instead I am going to work on taking other people's criticism with a positive attitude.
3. Build muscle mass! Don't get me wrong, I am more than happy with my body. It took me most of me high school to get over my body image issues, so the reason I want to get some more lean muscle mass is for the health benefits. Face it, people, women in my case, benefit from having SOME muscle tone (not looking to be a body builder here). I just think that if I were stronger that I could do more amazing things like rock climbing and garden tilling! Also I want to see if by obtaining some more muscle over my patellas (knee caps) might help give them better support since they haven't been the same since I accidentally dislocated both of them during high school.
4. Move out of Georgia. I lived in Hawaii for the first year of my life and then California until I turned five. Despite that, most of my life memories involve Georgia. I have lived in the same place for the past thirteen years and I am ready to find a new place to put some roots, preferably in a place where for a majority of the year it's warm and sunny (what can I say, Hawaii and California spoiled me).
5. Blog and youtube more regularly. So many times i've come up with good ideas for a post or video, but half the time I don't bother to do make the video or write the post. I am being inconsistent and I don't like that, so in this new year I plan on writing and youtubing on a more consistent basis. Hopefully I can come up with some good stuff that you guys will find useful.

Banana Bonanza!!

     Today, as is you can see, I bought a lot of bananas! My family and I go through quite a few bananas throughout any given week, and I was just getting tired of running back and forth to the store JUST to buy bananas. So today I drove down to my local Kroger and bought every ripe or almost ripe banana bunches they had. I think I can now be confident that I can grab some bananas to devour without worrying that my mother or brother might want one because there is plenty for all!


     I have had quite an eventful week. I created some new recipes, my special superfood order came in, my friend Terra moved back from Oklahoma, I've looking at potential property with my mom, I've been working on CSNN and college applications, and helping out my lovely mother any way I can. Lot's of stuff and I'm loving it all! I really enjoy keeping busy, especially these last couple of days as I have been feeling steadily euphoric. I don't know why but for the last couple of days I have been feeling so good both physically and mentally. I hope it lasts.

     So let's start with my superfood order. Now, since my raw plant based diet is basically the exact same thing as the rv80/10/10 diet, I don't really do superfoods anymore. However, with the economy the way it is today, it doesn't hurt to stock up on nutritionally dense supplements that are as close to a whole food as possible. Bananas, I believe, will always be relatively cheap and available, but other fresh fruits and greens (especially organic) might become more difficult to afford and/or obtain. So, my mom and I decided to stock up on cacao powder (my brother loves this stuff), spirulina (because it contains B12), and a sample pack of some other superfoods to try to see what we like.


All Raw and purchased from http://livesuperfoods.com/:

• Organic Cacao Powder
• Organic Spirulina Powder
• Organic Yacon Powder
• Organic Purple Corn Extract Powder
• Wildcrafted Green Papaya Powder
• Organic Pomegranate Powder
• Organic Acai Powder
• Organic Mangosteen Powder
• Wildcrafted Acerola Cherry Powder
• Organic Noni Powder
• Wildcrafted Mangosteen Powder
• Organic Green Stevia Powder

     For the last couple of months my mom and I have been looking around online for plots of land for sale within our price range. We both would like to be able to have enough land to start a garden, have a goat and a horse, and start a bee farm, and living in suburbia puts a clincher in this dream. Last Friday we discovered a 10 acre plot with a barn and a small lake up for sale, and only 45 minutes from where we live. My mom and I went out to take a look at it and found it had potential. I don't think we will be making an offer on it anytime soon because we do want to see what else is out there, but it was nice to actually SEE something that could give us a better idea of what we're looking for.

The stairs lead to a living apartment. Basically if you lived here you would be living above the barn. :D

     As for recipes, I have created the most AMAZING raw Cinnamon Apricot Jam. It's a big hit with my mom. She and I can polish a batch of this stuff of in about 4 days, so I have to have dried apricots on hand all the time. Seriously everyone, this stuff is now officially a staple in my household for the rest of this winter. My mom likes to spread it on her nine grain toast in the morning, and I like to have it as a dipping sauce for my crispy sweet apples.

Cinnamon Apricot Jam

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1 1/2 C. dried apricots, soaked in water for 6-12 hours

1 1/2 Clementines or Tangerines

1/8 tsp. Cinnamon

1 tbs. Raw Honey or 3 Medjool Dates

Blend until thick, smooth, and creamy!

This recipe is so good and SO easy to make, that I plan on making a recipe video on how to make this, just look for it sometime within the next week at - http://www.youtube.com/user/Rawaholic.

     Today I tried two new recipes that I've been meaning to try but haven't ever got around to it because I never was able to have all the ingredients on hand at the same time. The first one was a recipe that I got from joannabanana (check out her blog at - http://acupofjoanna.blogspot.com/) on the goneraw.com forums. She has ranted and raved about this green smoothie and I just had to give it a try today for my lunch. OMG it was the BEST green smoothie I have ever tried. I put like a TON of spinach into this smoothie and I didn't taste any of the greens.

Green Grape Smoothie

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

2 C. red Grapes

1 C. frozen Bananas

4 1/2 C. Spinach

I will be making more of this tomorrow only with even MORE spinach now that I know the taste won't be coming through anytime soon. Grapes and bananas do wonders in dominating the flavor of this luscious concoction.

Then for dinner I made a lovely raw fruit cereal out of 2 large bananas, 1 1/4 C. blueberries, and 1 C. raspberries with fresh coconut milk (just the water and meat of 1 Thai coconut blended with a splash of vanilla). I haven't really had any overt fats in the last week (i.e. oil, avocado, nuts, & seeds) so this was a real treat for me, and man did I love it!  So good. . .

Am I making you all green with envy yet? Hehehe! :D

     I think that's about it this time, it's getting late and I get up at 5:50 a.m. every morning to I need to get some sleep. Posted below me are a video that I found on youtube that I think are worth sharing with you. Feel free to make comments on anything that you read or watch on this post or my blog in general, and I hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

Cold No More!!

     Ok, ever since last Friday the weather has been feeling WAY more like winter, and as a result, I have been feeling so COLD! I tried eating warming foods (ginger, hot peppers, greens ect.),drinking tea, and wearing warming clothing, but I couldn't lose the chill. 


     Today though was when I found a remedy. Since it has been much chillier outside I have avoided exercising outside, but today I gave myself a kick in the butt and told myself get out there and MOVE! So I bundled up, grabbed my iPod, hooked it up onto my brother's bike (he's so nice to let me borrow it whenever I want), and hit the road! 


     For 20 minutes I peddled as hard as I could before it started to rain and I had to go inside. But do you know what? Half way through my ride I actually wanted to take my jacket off because I was becoming quite warm. For the rest of today I haven't felt cold, at all! 


      I think the reason that going outside to exercise (even though it was cold) actually warmed my body up was because 1) exercising increases blood flow in the body which makes your body warmer and 2) going outside in the cold allows you body to start adapting to the colder environment after experiencing 4 months of warmer weather. I think I'm going to be exercising outside for the rest of this winter!


     In other news, I think I may have turned my brother Benjamin onto kombocha! He tried his first glass at our Thanksgiving dinner and he loved it. In fact tonight he came to my door and asked me if he could have the rest of my grape flavored kombocha. Of course I told him yes. Kombocha is loaded with antioxidants, probiotics, B vitamins (B12 included), and essential amino acids. I'm hoping that it will help him fight off his cold. I love my brother to death and just makes me so happy that we can both enjoy something that's healthy! :D

     I think that's all for today, except for a couple of pictures of what I had for lunch today. It was just so beautifully simple, bright, colorful, and delicious that I just wanted to share it with you all. My lunch just reminded me how refreshing and satisfying a raw plant based lifestyle can be.

Butterhead Lettuce, Orange Bell Pepper, 

Greenhouse Tomatoes, and Cucumber

A Sweet, Crisp, and Juice Gala Apple 

with a Handful of Dried Apricots

Long Hard Day, but Fresh Persimmons Made it All Ok

     Hello everybody! Like the title says, it has been a looooong day! I had to get up at about 5:30 this morning to drive into Atlanta to retake my SATs. I figured that since I was taking a gap year to study nutrition, it wouldn't hurt to try and up my score a hundred points or so. All went smoothly and I'm feeling pretty good about the test!
     
     So this morning before the drive up to Atlanta, my mother and I started out our day with a lovely smoothie (which do to my tight time schedule I was unable to photograph.) It consisted of 2 cups pomegranate juice (juiced the night before), 3 bananas, two cups frozen wild blueberries, and a heaping tsp. of raw honey. Mom and I wanted to give our minds and bodies powerful fuel (I was going to need it!).
    
      The test seemed to last FOREVER, but I managed to get through it by refueling with a snack of organic dried mulberries (yummy!). These delicious berries are high in fiber, protein, iron, and calcium so eat up! Eventually the test was over and I was out of there, at 1:20 PM. : p
     
     Afterwards I went with my mom to Rainbow Natural Groceries (where I got myself a nummy salda) and The Farmer's Market to restock on food. When we got home I got to croon over my beautiful booty of grapes, apple, pineapple, tangerines, dried apricots, coconut water, celery, cauliflower, kale, tomatoes, banana, frozen berries, 3 bottles of kombacha (they were on sale!) and an entire BOX of of Hachiya Persimmons!! 

ALL MINE!! :D:D:D

     Spent the rest of the day doing house work until it was time for dinner. First I made my brother a nutrient and enzyme packed smoothie to have before he made his stir-fry because he's been saying he feel like he's been coming down with something. When my mom found out she asked me to make enough for her as well as she wanted to make sure her immune system was in top form. Here's what I came up with:

       The Immune Allies Smoothie

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1 C. chopped pineapple

2 tangerines, peeled & deseeded

1 C. fresh or frozen bananas

9 frozen strawberries (or handful of fresh)

1/2 Tbs. Raw Honey

1/4 C. Water

Blend until smooth.

                                                

  Later, for myself, I made a nice big, thick, and creamy delight!

Dreaming of Paradise Smoothie

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1 mango

1 1/2 C. chopped pineapple

1 1/2 ripe bananas

1/2 Tbs. raw honey

1/2 C. fresh thai coconut water

Blend until smooth.

  

     At the moment I am snacking on some globe grapes while surfing the internet. I am just so relieved that this day is finally done. I can stop worrying about the SAT and focus on my CSNN studies again. I hope everyone has a beautiful day, and that your life will be much blessed. 

Thanksgiving in the Raw 2009!

     Well the lovely autumn day where people gather together to feast and give thanks to God has finally come and gone. This year was my first raw Thanksgiving and it was probably one of the best Thanksgivings I have ever, or will ever have.


     If you will remember, my mother is on a high raw plant based diet, and my brother is vegan/occasional vegetarian. Anyway, my family and I had also invited over a couple of friends to join us for our Thanksgiving meal so we wanted to be sure we had enough cooked and uncooked food to go around. To make this happen, it was decided between my mother and I that she would do all the baking and the cooking, and I would do all the uncooking.


     Thanksgiving morning I got up and went to work in the kitchen. My mom had been in there the night before, baking some vegan bread for stuffing and vegan pumpkin pie, so it was my turn for the kitchen. I washed all the fresh produce, and over the course of about three hours proceeded to make:

1. Raw Cranberry Sauce  

2. "Not Pumpkin Pie" from www.goingbananasblog.com via Swayze Foster's suggestion (kudos to both you guys!)

 

3 & 4. My signature Rawslaw & a big bowl of mixed greens (butterhead, romaine, baby spring mix, dandelion, & alfalfa sprouts)

5. A nice veggie tray: red/yellow/orange bell pepper, corn, peas, shredded carrot, cucumber, radishes, and soaked edamame beans.

6. Tomato Bruschetta (forgot to take a picture of this)

     After cleaning up the kitchen when I was finished, my mother came in to finish up her cooking and made stuffing (from scratch) and smoked Tofurky, cashew gravy, green beans, and golden baby potatoes.

     When it was all done, my mom and I put everything out on the kitchen table.

     Not long afterwards, our friends arrived. We all piled the food onto our plates, and headed off to the dining room to enjoy our food with some Synergy Strawberry Kombocha! My plate looked like this:

     For dessert I had my "Not Pumpkin Pie" with a side of cranberry sauce (my memory card was full at this point. So no picture). It was so good!! Yummy yummy. . .  I went back for seconds. LOL :D 

     The Rawslaw was a big hit and our friend Scott said he really liked how it wasn't greasy, oily, or "heavy" like traditional coleslaw. Everyone (besides my brother because he didn't want to try it) really liked my pie, and LOVED my cranberry sauce. They all agreed my cranberry sauce was better than the canned stuff. This made me so happy!!! :D

      In summation I would say that my fist raw Thanksgiving was a success! Yaaay! Later everyone, and I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!!

My 48 Hour Juice Fast

     For this past week I had been really bad and gone back to drinking soy cappuccinos on a regular basis which I think many of us would agree isn't a very good thing (decaf or no decaf). Eventually it started getting to me as my appetite decreased, my face (which is currently recovering from acne) started to slow  in the clearing process, I became thirsty often, and in general I just felt "heavy."


     After giving it some consideration I decided that my colon needed a break and my body needed to rehydrate, so I decided to go on a short fast. Now, being 18, active, and already on the lower end of a proper weight for my height, I have to be careful as it is quite easier for me to lose weight than it is to gain it. Also, I wanted to make sure that I wasn't depriving my body of the crucial nutrients and simple sugars I need to function throughout my days. With this in mind I decided to attempt a 48 hour juice feast.


     In the end the juice fast went magnificently well! From 7 p.m. Monday night until 7 p.m. Wednesday night I drank nothing but water, kombocha tea, herbal tea, and fresh fruit and veggie juices.


     All through out Tuesday I had an increasing good mood with loads of energy, and the later it got through the day, the lighter I started to feel. The general good mood I had reached its zenith that night when I went to karate where we focused on stretching, forms, and drills. Moving around, getting the blood flowing left me with a boisterous smile on my face until I went to bed.


     Wednesday I didn't have quite as much energy as the day before, but my mood still remained steady/positive/uplifting for the entire day, and my skin began to clear up considerably. I also experienced a great sense of focus and was able to get through my CSNN studies much more easily as my concentration was better.

Throughout the entire 

fast I drank about 2 of the Volvic water bottles a day (which is 68 liters) and 1/2 a bottle of Synergy kombocha (8 oz. a day). Keeping me really hydrated and maintaining good intestinal flora.

My first juice Tuesday morning (bottom left pic) was pomegranate/orange/

grape juice blended with ice and raw honey.

My second Tuesday juice (top right pic) was

pineapple/carrot/beet

juice blended with ice.

Tuesday night, before my karate class, I made my mom and I each a 2 oz. shot of wheatgrass in lovely little martini glasses. We joke about having sweet green martinis. LOL. Cheer! :D

After downing that sweet grassy treat, I proceeded to make myself a nice big green juice made up of apple/pear/celery/lemon/kale blended with spirulina and ice. Yummy!

This green juice really gave me a good energy booster for karate. I really needed it considering the instructor had me punch the living daylights out of punching bag until I broke the skin on my knuckle. Ouch!

Now you see it . . . 

Wednesday morning I got up and my lovely mother an Raw Orange Julius for her breakfast on the go. You juice two oranges, add a tbs. of pineapple juice (optional), 1 small very ripe banana (fresh or frozen), 3-4 ice cubes, and blend! It was gone before she could even make it out the door!

Now you don't!

My juice was a simple orange/pineapple juice blended with some raw honey, ice, and a dash of cayenne pepper. It think this was my favorite juice out of all the ones I had.

For lunch I pulled out the watermelon. I wasn't able to juice the rind since it wasn't organic (going to have to wait until next summer to try that), but it was still a lovely juice. My mom made a beeline for some of the cut up watermelon as soon as she saw it. She was so exited, "You got watermelon?!" :D

Eventually on Wednesday 7 p.m. rolled around and it was time to break my fast. I had prepared a lovely low-fat nutrient rich RAWslaw for my mom and I. I hadn't expected to be all that hungry until I took the first bite. After that I really had to concentrate on pacing myself and chewing well as not to overeat.

     Overall I would say that I enjoyed this experience and might actually for a longer one at the beginning of the summer when more fruits are available and when it's warm enough to soak up lot's of sun! Since this really seemed to work wonders for my physical and emotional well being I may do a few 48 hour - 2 day juice fasts through the winter months if I feel the need to clean out my system and boost my immune system. I also realize that reigning my coffee drinking back in and keep consuming lot's of raw fruits and greens will help keep the "heavy" feeling and dehydration away. We all have our vices that we struggle on and off with, coffee just happens to be mine. 

Hello From Sunny Florida!

     Well, my family and I made it!  Things didn't run as smoothly or as exactly as we planned, but in the end we actually managed to make it in time to drop my brother off in time for the wedding rehearsal (he's a groomsmen in our friend Corey's wedding, which is the reason why we're here in Florida). Why don't I start from the beginning so you can get the full picture.

 Part 1 - Takeoff! Stall. Takeoff! Stall. Takeoff?!


     It's about a 7.5 hour drive from my hometown to Tampa Springs, Florida; adding on about 2 hours to this estimation for bathroom brakes and traffic, my mom and I figured we would leave the house at around 6 a.m. Friday morning. So we wake up at around 4:30 a.m., get dressed, pack up the car, and leave the hose a couple minutes after 6. Half way to our neighborhood entrance, my mom realizes that she forgot her jacket! LOL. So we turn around, get her jacket, and THEN we see the light for the tires is on, so we have to stop off at a gas station to put air back into the tires. Finally we get onto the freeway and it's about 6:25 a.m.



Part 2 - Headaches, Nausea, and Shivers, Oh My! 


     Now the night before the trip, I had started feeling "off" but I just figured it was the traveling jitters. This morning I felt it a bit more intensely and still shrugged it off again to nerves. It wasn't until my family and I were about an hour into the trip that I began to really feel terrible. I suddenly got a headache, stomach cramps, the shivers, and bouts of nausea. 


     My family was kind enough to make several stops for me to use the restrooms. Actually it wasn't until about 10:30 a.m. that I felt sick enough that I couldn't put on an act anymore and told my mom how I was really feeling. As soon as she could, my mom stopped at another gas station, where I commenced with being sick. When I came out, my mom had me sit in the front seat where the sun could hit me and gave me a vitamin C, vitamin D3 (liquid form), and a zinc.


Part 3 - Recovery


     An hour later I awoke from a nap and to my great joy (and physical relief) found myself to be feeling almost almost 100% again. My mom chalked my sudden sickness to the bug she had caught and recovered from within 24 hours this Wednesday. I had experienced pretty much the same symptoms as her. 


     See I don't think that people who eat a raw plant-based lifestyle are immune to illness. We are exposed to so many different germs and viruses, nutrient dense fresh produce is harder to come by, and people have fewer opportunities to obtain enough vitamin D3 from the sun, it shouldn't come to much of a surprise if you DO get sick, even if you do everything within your ability to live a healthy lifestyle. 


     The difference between a SAD eater and raw plant eater, is the speed of recovery, the ability to bounce back. If a SAD eater gets a mean bug, their body's organs that are used to detox of foreign entities are already hard at work on digesting all the animal products (which is food for many viruses and bacteria) that it takes them awhile to dispel the bug. As a result, SAD eaters can be sick anywhere from 3 days to 3 weeks! A raw plant eater, however, only eats plant foods, so it's quick and easy for the body to digest. This leaves the body's organs and immune system strong and able to quickly rid itself of the bug.


Part 4 - Traveling and Food


     While on the road, how does one stay away from all the fast food places when the tummy begins to cry? Simple, pack raw foods that travel well (i.e. apples, bananas, dried fruit, nuts, and seeds). If it sounds dull and boring, think again. You can make all kinds of yummy combos. My mom for example had apples and bananas with walnuts and pecans. I had apples and bananas with dates. Pop either of these combos in your mouth and it simply emanates autumn in it's thanksgiving flavors.

Part 5 - Arrival and Dinner


     As soon as we dropped my brother off at the wedding rehearsal (about 4:35 p.m.), my mom and I set off to the nearest store that had fresh produce, Publix. I bought some precut fruit to bring to the weeding, some mixed berries and some more bananas for breakfast tomorrow, and some mangos for dinner tonight. Sadly when I got back to our hotel room and cut up the mango, I found them to be quite bland. Not wanting to waste it I made a cacao vanilla agave syrup to pour on top off it. The concoction turned out so well that I saved some to share with my mom for her dessert. 

Part 6 - Today's Conclusion


     This day has been a crazy one, but I've managed to keep it a healthy one. I spent the whole day with my family (who I love very much) and was able to see a experience a little bit of Florida. What will happen tomorrow? I'll let you know.  ;-)

Extra


     I just want to wish my dear friend Michael a very Happy Birthday! You did it Michael! You turned 18, and you are still incorrigible! :D

Take an Autumn Stroll With Me

Thank you for joining me! :)