Better than Chocolate!

     I wasn't kidding when I said that all my Sapote ripened at once. After I got back to my room after making the video I posted last Friday I checked on my Chocolate Sapote again to find every single one of them ripe and ready to eat! To try and keep them from rotting I lined them up on my window sill so that the cold being radiated off of the windows would keep them cool. Needless to say I broke my fast the next day (Saturday) with some delicious "Chocolate" pudding; and oh man was it INCREDIBLE. Who needs cacao when you've got Chocolate Sapote? It was so good that the only thing I ate yesterday was my sapote.

     The recipe for my "Chocolate" pudding will be in my recipe book. I have all my recipes typed up. At the moment I'm just trying to get pictures of some of my best recipes before publishing. One of these pictures I am definitely going to use in my e-book. 

     And like I promised I will give you guys another juice recipe that I came up with during my juice fast. I created more than one but you will have to wait for my e-book to get the rest. However, the following juice I am posting was probably my favorite juice out of all of them; it was mostly because I love the taste of tropical fruit and also because it was probably the simplest and easiest juice to make.

Pineapple Greenie

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

- 2 ripe pineapple 

- 2 lbs. Organic spinach

Cut pineapple into long strips about an inch wide. 

Leave the skin on if your pineapple is organic and/or 

you have a juicer that can handle the skin, otherwise remove the skin.

Juice the the pineapple and the spinach my alternating between 

a couple spears of pineapple and a large handful of spinach (the pineapple

spears will push the spinach through). Strain juice and enjoy!

Juice Fast Day #4 - The End

Juice Fast Day #1

JUICE RECIPE OF THE DAY

Jingle Jam Juice

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

8-10 medium sized carrots*

4 small gala apples* 

1/4 inch knob of ginger

1/4 of a lime (with peel)*

1/4 C. coconut water (optional)*

a dash of cayenne pepper (optional)*

*Organic ingredients

Time to Cleanse and Renew

Georgia Publix Half Marathon: Go Vegan!

     Well I did it again! Yesterday morning I ran my 3rd half marathon, and although it didn't turn out quite the way I wanted it to, I still had a blast! =)

     This was the first race I got to run wearing my "Go Vegan" Organic Athlete's running outfit. All throughout the course I would hear "Go Vegan, woohoo!" being screamed from people on the sidelines. I also met several other vegan runners during the race and I had to pleasure of running across (pardon the pun) one of them after I finished the race, and she said that she would be visiting Organic Athlete's website to buy her own "Go Vegan" running outfit. It feels really good when you can encourage others to promote a healthy lifestyle.

     The weather Sunday morning was overcast, but the temperature (approx. 62-63 degrees) with a slight breeze made it the run very comfortable. My goal for this half was to finish in 2 hrs. or less, and halfway through the run I was running strong, and it looked like I was going to reach my goal, and that's when tragedy struck. During a particularly narrow and congested part of road, a runner tried to pass me, and accidentally bumped me, causing my to stumble and strain my ankle. My ankle hurt so badly, but I pushed through it and kept running, but I was forced to slow my pace down considerably in order to finish the race. It didn't help that this injury also affected my running form, which also led to irritating an old knee injury. My knee doesn't give me any problems when I run, unless my technique is poor.
Alas, the injury meant that I didn't meet my PR goal for this race, but I keep reminding myself that I was lucky to be able to finish the race at all, and I am grateful for that.

Just before the race.

After the race. In slight pain, and favoring one leg, but very happy indeed.

I so happy to see a fruit stand at the post-race festivities. It was the California Cuties Clementine Company. The employees were handing out free clementines, some to eat and some to snuggle with.

Stopped off at Whole Foods on the way home and picked up a Orange Blueberry juice to go. Nectar of the gods in a cup.

     My estimated race time given to me after I crossed the finish line was 2hrs. & 10 min. Today the results were posted online, and my official chip time turned out to be exactly 2:11:15. I was amazed that even though I didn't make my 2 hr. finishing goal, I still managed to set a new PR for myself even though I ran the last half of the course injured. I'm one lucky fruit loving girl! 

Sunday, Georgia ING Half Marathon!

     So yesterday was the long awaited and pain stakingly trained for day. Saturday I spent the whole day resting (with the exeption of going for a light walk in the sun) and drinking about 14 cups of freshly juiced OJ! For my dinner juice I deciede to experemint in creating a new green juice, and boy was it ever delicious! I did this in order to rest and cleanse my internal systems while still carbo loading for the race.

Salty, Sweet, and Sour Green Juice

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

- 1 medium Pineapple

- 2 small Gala apples

- 2/3 stalk of Celery

- 1 medium Lime

- 4 leaves of Dinosaur Kale

     I turned in around 9:30 that evening and depite my anxiety for the coming morning, was able to fall asleep rather quickly. However, I must have subconciously been paranoid that I would accidently oversleep and miss the race because after fallin asleep, I woke up periodically every hour with the overwhelming urge to check the time. LOL! My fears turned out to be unecessary, as my alarm clock went off precisely at 4:40 on Sunday morning.

     After getting up I managed drink a quart of water, shower, get dressed in my racing clothes (with my racing bib firmly in place), and my gear bag packed in time to leave. Since it was early in the morning and the race was taking place in downtown Atlanta, where the roads incredibly difficult/dangerous to drive on if you are still a novice driver (like me!), my mom was kind enough to drive. 

     We departed and approximatly 5:30 (a little bit later than originally planned) and while my mom drove, I polished off the rest of my pre-race breakfast. I know some people advice against eating at all before a half marathon, but I've always experienced some serious blood sugar problems when ever I have tried to undergo intense exercise without atleast some form of fruit sugar in my system (e.g. shakes, weakness, and dizziness). So for breakfast I blended 4 ripe medium bananas with 4 medjool dates (no water) into a pudding. It was light enough that it wouldn't bog me down during the race and blended for easy digestion/quicker assimilation, while still giving me my much needed glucose energy.

     We arrived at the race around 6:10 and parked in a parking garage about 1/4 of a mile from the ING racing area. The walk was a good warm up, and helped me manage my adrenaline jitters from my nerves. The ING racing area had a Gear Check tent, Information tent, Result tent, and plenty of porta potties (haha)! A little tip for any runners new to half marathons, always make sure to have plenty of time before the start of the race to wait in line to use the facilities because let me tell you, 18000 runners, most of them wanting to use the facilites at the same time as you do, equals long lines.

Needless to say I made it to the starting corrals just in the nick of time as the race started just a couple minutes later at exactly 7 o'clock. 

My mom managed to take a couple of photos of me heading towards the starting line.

(My Bib number: 17437)

            

     The whole race was so much better then I expected it to be. I started training for this half marathon mostly due to boredom. I wanted try something different so I could challenge myself. I just didn't expect this half marathon to be so much fun! I also didn't expect to preform as well as I did. Despite all my training, I still hadn't been able to run for more then 20 minutes before having to slow down to a fast paced walk to catch my breath. But on Sunday morning, as I broke into a run upon crossing the starting line I kept on running for 10 miles non-stop without any problem! The last three miles I only had to walk about a total of 5 minutes (mostly so I could rehydrate).

     The hours and pavement just seemed to flow by, and before you know it the finish line was in sight! When it was over I actually cried a bit when it sunk in that I, Amanda Jane, had just completed a half marathon! A year or two ago if someone would have told me that I would have done this, I would have though they were nuts.

     After finishing I met up with my mom before spliting up with her again so that I could head over to the results table to find out my clocked race time. Now I had estimated from my training that it would take me atleast 3 hours to finish the race, so you can imagine my suprise and utter delight to find out that I had run 13.1 miles at a clocked time of 2:25:55!! 

     On the drive back home I spent my time relaxing my sore legs and ankles while rehydrating with Penta water and eating the most sweet and juicy red delicious apple I have ever had in my life! :-) Once I arrived home I showered, got into my comfiest sweats, and plopped myself infront of the TV where I proceeded to watch Leave It to Beaver and Voyager episodes while consuming 2 large honeydew melons, a large smoothie (7 bananas + 4 dates), and a HUGE salad over the course of the day. Afterwards I crashed into bed at around 9:25 and was dead to the world for 10 hours straight.

     This half marathon has given me a new passion that I am eager to continue. Running is my new addiction and I can't wait for my next half marathon. My goal is to keep running halfs until I can finish one with a clocked time of approx. 1:20:00 before trying to do a whole marathon. 

     This is a shout out to all you other runners out there, as well as anyone considereing taking up running! Running is amazing and our creator gave us brilliant legs to do it with, so don't waste those legs, GO RUN!! :-D

Just finished crossing the finished line. 

Walking back to the car.

Note: I'll be posting more photos of the half marathon event, possibly with som video as well, as they become available through the Georgia ING Marathon website.

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. 

Living Life to the Fullest

So October has not brought it many posts for this blog so I am going to make this one as long as possible to make up for it. This shouldn't be to difficult as I have kept myself quite busy this month. My CSSN studies have been going quite well. It's given my mother and I cause for some intense discussion about health. The two most recent topics being:

1. Starbucks Coffee
2. Food Combining (finding what's best for you)

The first topic discussion started when my mom and I decided to take her car in for an oil change on our way to the mall since it was right next door. While waiting we walked over to the mall with nothing to do and time to kill, so we decided that it couldn't hurt to have a Starbucks just this once while we sat at a table to read. Two words: BAD IDEA. By the time my mom had finished her soy chai latte and I my soy decaf cappuccino, neither of us were doing to good. My mom said it just made her feel weighed down both physically and emotionally, while I experienced light headiness and muscle weakness. After that my mom and I both swore off Starbucks FOREVER.

This experience really did surprise me since before I became raw I would drink up to 3-4 grande, fully caffeinated cappuccinos from Starbucks with extra shots of espresso, and I wouldn't feel a thing, not even a little buzz. I think when your body is able to function properly and goes without intense energy stimulates for a while, that it becomes more aware of telling you when something just is not good for you. My mom and also believe that the caffeine content of Starbucks coffee is much much higher than other coffees. For example: when I was in Europe this summer and my mom came over for the last week of my time there I decided to have a little vacation treat and had a soy cappuccino with my mom every morning at a local cafe called Puccino's and not once did I get a experience and physical or emotional problems, and neither did my mom. I think that the difference is the objective of the business. Starbucks is in the business of selling people a beverage that will keep them going all day even if their running on empty so they will make sure that their coffee beans will contain as much caffeine as humanly possible. Cafe's like Puccinos on the other hand, are in business to provide an enjoyable beverage for people who wish to come together to socialize so they are not really concerned about "pumping up" their customers so to speak.

The second topic actually came up when my mom and I were out running some errands and our friend Corey called with a question. He wanted to know what we thought about combining carbohydrate foods with protein foods. From what I have learned, all food, even fruit, has some amount of protein. One could then conclude from this that if carbs already have some protein in it then it should be fine to combine any type of protein with carbs. This is not the case however. Foods with a high amount of, or concentrated dose of protein usually have a high fat content as well (i.e. olives, avocado, nuts, seeds, coconut meat, oils). Carbohydrates for the most part (with the exclusion of vegetables) are relatively high in sugars, the bodies primary source of fuel. After having done some research I read that when you eat sugar rich carbohydrates (fruits) with fats ,you drastically slow down the rate of digestion and energy release which can lead to feeling sluggish and bloated. Also, this slow down of digestion can cause the fruit in the body to ferment in the stomach, not good! Fruit already contains the amount of protein that it can handle to still digest properly, you don't need to add more to it. Vegetable carbohydrates, however, go better with the high fat/concentrated protein foods because their low sugar levels and insoluble fiber allow the fat/concentrated protein to more easily digest.

My mom and I debated over food combining rules and information that we had read and came up with this conclusion, it all depends upon the individual. I truly believe that everyones body is different. We have all have different body types, activity levels, lead different lifestyles, and have been exposed to different toxins in the food and the environment. I say whatever works best for you! Like my mom drinks a raw banana chocolate hemp smoothie with Udo's oil almost everyday and she says that it makes her feel really good to the point that she notices the difference in how she feels on the days that she doesn't have one. My brother drinks this same smoothie and gets the same sort of energy kick. For myself though, I don't do so well with fruit and fat put together, in fact I find that little to almost no extra fat is better or me. I might have some avocado, green olives, cold-pressed oil, or hemp seed in a salad (not all of them in the same salad, yikes!) once 1-2 weeks depending on how I'm feeling and I do just fine, no protein problems (get most of it from the fruit).

Everyone has to march to the beat of their own drum when it comes to healthy living. Listen to your body and learn what it runs best on. If things change and you start to not do so well, do the research, experiment, and adjust until you feel happy and health again. If everyone could take responsibility on learning at least the very basics of real nutrition, and then learning to apply and adjust their diet and lifestyle to fit their personal health needs, I whole heartedly believe that the only time anyone would be visiting a hospital would be from physical injury, or a rare genetic disease or virus.

Moving on, this month was my Mom' s birthday, on which she proudly turned 56, and people (including myself) say she looks ten years younger (seriously she does)! For her birthday my mom wanted a chocolate cake so I whipped one up for her with sliced up strawberries on top for decoration instead of icing. She told me it was one of the best birthday cakes that she ever had but she doesn't think she would want to have it again. Apparently the taste and texture buds on her tongue have changed after being about 75-80% raw for about seven months or so. This makes me happy because it means she loved my cake but she would prefer raw homemade ice cream from now on!! I hope you guys get that. LOL.

Other than that, this month I have baked some oatmeal raisin cookies for my mom, and a couple of pumpkin pies for my brother (he can eat a whole pie in one night that kid! Don't know where he puts it. LOL).

Another wonderful event of this month was when my mom and I decided that for one of our weekly grocery shopping trips we were going to buy everything at the Whole Foods in Atlanta. It was such a treat! We got starfruit, passion fruit, blood oranges, kiwi, pineapple, banana, papaya, globe grapes, medjool dates, pears, strawberries, lemons, pears, persimmons, pomegranate, cranberries, limes, blueberries, bell pepper (red, orange, and yellow), cabbage, asparagus, radishes, celery, dried mulberries, and raw honey. Jackpot! I made so all kinds of fruit juices, smoothies, and a raw jam! Let me tell you I was, and still am in heaven!! :)

I made this fruit salad for my mom. Pineapple, mango, banana, kiwi, papaya, and grapes. The dressing was coconut meat and strawberries blended with some agave. She chowed this breakfast down in record time.

Pomegranate and red globe juice.

Blood red oranges, cranberry, lime juice blended with ice and raw honey. This is my new favorite juice. OMG, I never wanted the glass to empty!!

New favorite smooothie: 1 starfruit, 1 passion fruit, l mango, 1/2 cup chopped pineapple, a banana, and a wee bit of stevia. It's like a tropical explosion in your mouth. That's what I'm going to call it, "Tropical Taste Bud Explosion!"

This was part of my dinner last night. Two bananas cut up with raw persimmon jam on top.

Ok, the last thing I want to cover in this post is my workout and physical appearence update. Since I have now gotten into a workout schedule I have noticed a difference in how I look and feel. My energy levels are off the charts almost all the time, putting me often into positive and productive moods. Physically my stomach is flatter and more tined, I have gained 2 pound of muscle mass in 2 months, and my arms, oh my arms!! :) Ever since I can remember I have had no trouble with obtaining good muscle tone in my legs, but my arms have always had almost no muscle to speak of. Finally though, it seems I am well on my way to getting some well toned arms. This is how they look right now.

From now on I think I am going to take a picture of my arms every 1-2 months to see if I can see any significant improvement as I keep up with my workout which consists of:

Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays:

30-40 minutes lap swimming freestyle and backstroke

35-60 minute walk (3.5mph)

Tuesdays and Thursdays:

35-60 minute walk (3.5 mph)

60 minutes martial arts

Saturday:

15 minutes stretching

50 jumping jacks

50 crunches

50 push-ups

10-15 minutes punching bag

30 minute walk

Sunday:

Rest day.

At the end of each month I'll post my fitness progress and we will see how that goes. I hope everyone out their has a blessed Autumn day.