Friend-spiration

I'm a very lucky girl...very lucky indeed. I have wonderful friends.

Today I received some 'friendspiration' in the form of phone calls from two of my favorite people. The first friend just finished his second week at police academy and called to give us an update. Yay C! We're so pround of you! Yes, it's going to be hard. But like you said, SO worth it for you in the end!

The second friend's call was health related. She's about to undertake a detox program and was calling to collect some info. Talking with her about the Master Cleanse Diet and raw foods was the inspiration I needed to get back to this blog. Thanks M!

My body has remained a bit of a science project since my past post, so I'll be posting some updates over the next few days before getting back to my regular posts.

Thanks guys! You were the inspiration I needed to get back on track.

The Sugar/Fat Fairy Stopped By Today

After a couple of weeks of 80-90% raw (sans the occasional Boca chicken patty, splash of soymilk, and a few assorted condiments) last night I completely stepped off of the raw food bandwagon and onto the Green Mill pizza truck while out with friends. The evening started late (10:30pm) with an invitation from friends to meet up for a celebratory glass of wine. The week preceding their upcoming nuptials, a.k.a their vacation, had officially begun. Yay for them!

In between going out and coming home, I hit upon a startling discovery. One glass of red wine on a tummy of raw food now quickly sends me into an alcohol-impaired orbit. So to avoid turning my car into the space shuttle (and truthfully, I'm not really much of an astronaut), I found myself eating a couple of slices of pizza and drinking a half a can of coke to sop up (and slow down) the wine. Okay, the coke was only because I was thirsty and I don't like drinking unfiltered tap water (I'm really turning into quite a freak). Anyway, it worked. I immediately felt "grounded" and back in control of all of my physical and mental faculties. (Oddly enough, I also felt nauseated at the thought of eating pizza-although more so at the horror of drinking soda at the same time) Because it's been -20F to -40F below here this weekend, it was awesome to have some HOT food for a change! I'm always SOOOOO COLD!!!!!!

To make a short story long, today's hangover had nothing to do with wine. Instead, I had cravings ALL DAY for simple carbs (sugar) and/or fats. I admit I felt a bit out of control when eating today, like I just couldn't consume enough food to feel satisfied. I did, however, have more energy for exercising than I've had in a few weeks, although that may be due to taking the past 2 days off. Here is today's wacky food log:

*NOT RAW
Meal 1
1 cup detox tea
1 cup kombucha tea

2 Boca Sausage Patties*
2 hardboiled eggs*
1 banana

In between

28 ounces water
12 ounces water plus 2 ounces Wheat Grass juice

Meal 2

1 Ezekiel Sprouted Tortilla
2 Ezekiel Sprouted Tortillas, each with 1 tsp honey*, 2 Tbsp peanutbutter* and sprinkles of cocoa powder :O (See? This is the out-of-control/wacky part)

Meal 3
1 cup Smooth Move tea
2 Tbsp Miso broth
Portobello mushroom cap stuffed with sunflower pate
(the pate is made up of soaked sunflower seeds, lemon juice, olive oil, dill and chopped red onion)
Moroccan Carrots
(carrots in a marinade of orange juice, lemon juice, cayenne, cinnamon, cumin, black pepper, and olive oil)
Mediterrannian Kale
(Kale in a marinade of olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper and tossed with black olives, pine nuts and diced red pepper)
Tonight's dinner courtesy of recipes found in Jennifer Cornbleet'sRaw Food Made Easy . Yummmm! I thought I'd share a picture because it looked so lovely....





This Is A Bit Weird, But Highly Convenient
Now debuting in the Organic frozen foods isle at your neighborhood "Fine Foods" grocery store is...






drum roll, please....













Frozen Wheat Grass cubes in a box!

Inovative idea or pure marketing hooey? Ahem. I am afraid to hear the answer that. (Just so you know, that is my kitchen table in the picture). Wheat grass IS considered a "Super Food". Unfortunately, it takes 1 pound of wheat grass (and a very specialized juicer) just to make 1 ounce of wheat grass juice. That's not exactly practical (or cost effective) for the do-it-yourselfer raw foodie. I've got my little flat to harvest for salads and spring rolls, but I was hoping to have some wheat grass in juice form once in a while, too. Due to the sticker shock ($17.99 a box for 10 2-ounce servings. EEEEK!!), I'll be rationing these little gems to ensure they last as long as possible. You can't put a price on being healthy, right?

Peace Is Every Step

I'm currently reading a great book called Peace Is Every Step-The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life. The books is by Vietnamese spiritual leader Thich Nhat Hanh (pronounced Tik * N'yat * Hawn), one of the best known and most respected Zen masters in the world today, as well as a poet, and peace and human rights activist. The book is profound in its simplicity. It talks about everything from the sacredness of washing dishes and eating a tangerine to the benefits of conscious breathing and thinking less. This paperback book is a short 134 pages and worth a read if you get the chance. It's helping me see that there are plenty of ways to fit meditation and mindfulness into my everyday life without having to sit cross-legged on the floor.

Here's a trailer of the 60 minute movie by the same name. The movie can also be found on YouTube. It isn't the same as the book, but still interesting. It's more focused on Waging Peace to avoid war and contains clips and interviews of Thich Nhat Hahn as well as people who survivied the Vietnam war, including American veterans.

Our Shiny Happy Sauna

We (actually, largely my husband Chris) have made more progress in recent days on the sauna. While I was out shopping for wedding guest attire, he insulated it and attached a paper-backed foil vapor barrier to the inside walls and ceiling. I think the whole thing looks a bit like it has been wallpapered with aluminum foil. It's also surprisingly toasty in there already despite not having the heater hooked up. This kind of vapor barrier isn't easy to find. We had to order ours from a sauna manufacturer online. It works great for saunas becuase not only does the foil stand up to the heat and moisture, it reflects the heat back into the saun just like an oven would.

Chris also hung a shelf in our laundry room (adjacent to one of the sauna walls) to support a stereo receiver and wired the sauna for sound. This is going to make listening to some relaxing music from our iPODs (or catching up on NPR/MPR) pretty slick.

Shelf for Stereo Reciever

We have also added some strapping to the walls and started on installing the cedar tongue and groove on the ceiling. The strapping is necessary, because we're installing the cedar boards vertically so we need something to nail them in to.

Strapping on the outside walls

Installing the T & G is a painstaking process. Every board has to be individually measured and cut to account for the sloping of our floors. It's a fun process though, because each board you put up generates more motivation to keep going and get the job finished.


(sigh) It won't be long now!

Cracked, But Not Broken

"There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in."

This is one of my favorite quotes.It hangs in my bathroom where I can see it everyday. It's from Leonard Cohen's Anthem Lyrics. I like it because it's all about self-acceptance. That's something I got a good dose of today when I went dress shopping for the wedding I'm going to next week. Ugh...

I'm pretty much right smack in between sizes right now so getting anything to fit properly is pretty much a nightmare. Nine stores and nine million dresses later, I did come up with something...well, actually three somethings. I really loved one dress, kind of liked a second, and the felt like my third choice was just okay. I coudn't decide at the store, so I decided I would solict an expert's opinion (my husband) and return the other two.

After a brief fashion show, Chris picked my #2 choice. He thought it flattered my figure the best and I could tell by the expression on his face that he thought I looked really good in it. That's why I love him. Even though he knew I really wanted him to like my first choice the best, he didn't. I think "too prom dress" was the phrase he used :) Thank goodness for his honesty. He's always got my back!

I would SO love to lose like 20 pounds by next week (even if it was only water wieght!). I know I could partake in a hard core fast and do it, but I REFUSE to give in to that kind of thinking. My body isn't perfect, but it is what it is right now. And it IS getting healthier every single day! I may always have cracks, but I'm NOT broken. Better health is my ultimate goal, right? At least I keep telling myself that :)

Today's Food Log:
* NOT RAW

Meal 1
1 cup vanilla tea
8 ounces Green Juice
Ingredients: kale, red chard, 3 carrots, 3 stalks celery

Meal 2
Salad
Ingredients: 1 head romaine lettuce, 1 spicy boca chicken patty*, 2 ounces raw cheddar, 8 black olives*,2 Tbsp caesar dressing*, handful of alfalfa sprouts, 1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds.
Meal 3
Tortilla wrap
Ingredients: 1 Ezekiel 4:9 tortilla, 1 tbsp of mellow brown rice miso, handful of sprouts, red pepper, 1/2 jalapeno, peelings from 1 carrot, 1/4 sliced cucmber, 6 black olives, chopped red onion.

Soup
Ingredients: 1 Tbsp miso broth with 1/4 cup of veggie pulp from today's green juice.

Snack (Dessert!)
1 Washington apple cubed, 1 tsp. of honey*, 10 pecan halves.

32 ounces water, plus 3 tsp of Ultimate Miracle Green
28 ounces of water
1 cup chai green tea

Eating healthy is a funny thing. After only a couple of weeks of eating 80-90% raw, I don't crave ANY simple carbs anymore. I mean nothing. No chips, no bread, no cereal. AND no sugar. Nada. Zippo. Zilch. I guess that's because I am eating plenty complex carbs with all of these veggies. It's just so wierd to not crave things like that anymore. They honestly don't even make my radar. All I seem to crave is more vegetables. What I probably NEED is more fruit.

Green Miracles

Here's a product I recently discovered at Whole Foods. It's called Ultimate Green Miracle Living Powder (Yes, I'll admit it. The name IS a bit cheesy, but at least I didn't pay $50 for it). Anyway, it's good stuff-good tasting (REALLY!) and loaded with nutrients. I bought it primarly to take along with me when I'm away from home and away from my juicer. It's no substitute for raw greens, but it's better than not having access to anything. You just mix 1-3 teaspoons in with water and shake it up. It tastes a bit like a freshly mowed lawn smells-EARTHY! (Or, like grass would taste it you put it in the blender). I'm going to bring some on my upcoming trip and sip away while I'm at the beach. Yummmmy!!!!!

Here's my food log today:

Meal 1

12 Ounces Green Juice
Ingredients: LOTS of assorted kale, dandelion greens, and mustard greens; 3 celery stalks, 2 carrots, 1 oriental radish, 1 beet, slices of ginger.

Snack
1 banana

Meal 2
8 ounces Fruit Juice:
5 apples, 3 carrots

Snack
2 ounces fresh coconut meat
1/4 raw walnuts

Meal 3
Miso broth with 2/3 cup of raw veggie pulp from this morning's green juice.

Also:
32ounces water with 3 teaspoons of Ultimate Green Living Miracle powder.
1 cup green tea
1 cut chai green tea
28 ounces of water

My tummy is finally settling down a bit, although I'm still feeling the occasional sharp pain in my abdomen, it seems to moving around and it seems much less frequent. I'm not sure if I've been combining foods incorrectly, if my insides are "fixing" something, or if I've just overwhelmed by body by suddenly eating well. (probably the latter!) At least things are starting to move through on a regular basis.

I am getting a sense that I need to eat more fruit. I'm also starting to suspect that I'm developing a sensativity to certain types of grains-specifically the Ezekiel 4:9 sprouted tortillas I've been eating lately. I did get another compliment on my face/skin today. Apparently I'm starting to "glow" (hopefully not in the dark from all the carrots I'm eating:) Hopefully the rest of my body will start to catch up soon!

Art as Meditation

I'm a lucky girl. Lucky enough to have a whole extra room in my house that is dedicated to nothing but creative pursuits-painting, drawing, sewing, scrapbooking, and any other kind of creative project I feel like taking on. We've lived in our current home for just under a year, and only recently have I starting taking advantage of this creative space.

Art is one of my favorite ways to meditate, that is, as long as I close the door and leave my inner critic out in the hallway. On those blissful occasions when I'm completely tuned in (or out, depending on how you want to look at it :) my mind is devoid of thought, time flys by and I have no awareness of anything-not even of the canvas in front of me. Sometimes I would swear that what I end up creating feels like it came from somewhere else.

Playing piano and running can work the same way for me. I think this kind of "moving meditation" is just as important as sitting still to quiet the mind. Here's what came out of my latest painting meditation...


18" x 28" Acrylic on canvas.

This is one of my favorite paintings by German artist Micheal Sowa. All of his paintings are whimsical and usually depict animals doing something quite unexpected (like a pig leaping joyfully off of a dock into a pond). We have 4 of his prints and all of them always make me smile. I wonder where Micheal Sowa goes when he paints? I think I would like to visit that place :)


Micheal Sowa's "Fowl with Pearls."

Wonderful Wheatgrass

Really. Sometimes I am SO slow. I've been buying and enjoying the virtues of wheatgrass for a couple of months now. I only purchase a flat occasionally (they are not cheap), and I usually just add it to my salads or Nori rolls, because my centrifuge-style juicer isn't very efficient at extracting juice from these type of greens. It was only this past week that I finally figured out I could keep a flat growing after I cut it. Sheesh! It IS grass after all! Clearly the mental clarity that comes from eating a lot of raw foods hasn't kicked into high gear yet.

Today's food log:
*NOT RAW

Last night-1 cup of smooth move tea (laxative tea)

Meal 1
1 cup of Chai Green Tea

Meal 2
3 cups spinach
1 cup alfalfa sprouts
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 Tbsp of Caesar dressing*
2 Tbsp Miso, 3 heaping spoonfuls of veggie pulp
2 ounces coconut meat

Snack
2 Ezekiel 4:9 sprouted tortillas
2 Tbsp peanut butter*
1 Tbsp Honey *

Snack
2 ounces raw aged cheddar

Meal 3
8 ounces Fruit Juice
Ingredients: 6 kiwi, 1 orange, 1 persimmon, 6 pears

I think I'm overdoing the cheese and certainly the tortillas. In a way, I think I'm using them as a way to feed my cravings for carbs and fats. It's wreaking havoc with my digestive system, though. I may end the day with another salad. I just dread drinking more laxative tea (and waking up to cramps), but the lower right quadrant of my abdomen has been tender all day and I feel like I need to empty out my colon some more. I had my appendix out a couple of years ago, and I swear I've had pain there ever since. Did they leave something in there? Damage some nerves? I'm not sure, but it's starting to get annoying. Ever since going on hormone replacement therapy (early menopause a.k.a. premature ovarian failure), I can hardly eat anything without getting bloated either. I suppose I traded hot flashes for bloating. At this point, I'm just not sure which is worse.

Today's tip: I recently came across some information describing how a person should eat salads at the END of a meal, rather than as a first course. Duh. Although this is contrary to what is considered customary, it makes sense when you think about the "sweeping" role fiber plays in digestion.

Walk'in-N-Work'in

I like walking and running on my treadmill, but even with great music the workouts can get boring. My work also involves keeping up a quite a few blogs-which can be a terrific time waster. So, hey! Why not combine the two? A few simple twists of a kayak strap, and Voila! I think I've found the solution to solve both problems! I actually got the idea after I googled "laptop strap for treadmills." My search returned a product called The Net Runner.


Don't try this while running :)


MINE'S a lot cheaper :)

Guilt-Free Treadmill Time

I do LOVE my Billy Blanks, and I've been attempting to get in at least 50-60 minutes of the advanced "Get Ripped" workout every day. So far so good, with the exception of the slow revival of a former running injury (the old stress fractures in my shins are starting to get a little cranky). On and off (mostly off) I've done a lot of Tae Bo over the years, and the Get Ripped Advanced II workouts still reign supreme for me. I always notice changes in my body almost immediately when doing these workouts, and they are a great way to burn a fast 600-700 calories.

Every so often I've been alternating Tae Bo with some pre-programmed speed and incline workouts on my treadmill.

Calorie Conundrum

I've been juicing a lot, which is good. My problem is calories. Am I getting enough, or too few? I'm just not sure. Either way (with too few or too may) I risk slowing down weightloss and the shedding of potential toxins if I don't figure it out. It's tough to determine just how many calories are in an 8 oz or 12 oz glass of juice, because once you separate the juice from the pulp, the nutritional content changes. So how many calories are left behind in the pulp? That IS the $64,000 question. I've been searching for help with this online, but still haven't found a site that can answer all of my questions. Until I figure this out, I'm going to watch my intake of nuts and cut back on the more sugary fruits and veggies.


How many calories are still in here?

I can't say whether or not I'm losing any weight, because unfortunately, I never bothered to write down a starting weight. I keep intending to step on the scale one of these mornings (really!), just so I can look back in a few months and mark the changes. I'm definitely firming up, but I don't really feel any lighter. In fact, if I had to guess, I say the opposite was true. I feel like I'm retaining A LOT of water. And I still feel bloated immediately after eating unless I eat only the tiniest amount of food. Hmmm....could it be these?


I've been adding a lot of seaweed, which is a good natural source of iodine. I eat the Kelp (covered in a dusting of natural sea salt) like a snack, wrap raw veggies up in the Nori wraps, and sprinkle Dulce flakes on my salads and in my soup. I've cut out traditional table salt (and pepper) altogether, and I've been avoiding Tahini, Soy Sauce and other "condiments" that I know are high in sodium. Maybe it's time to cut back on these, too.

Because I have a friend's wedding coming up in about 10 days, I'm considering substituting most of my meals over the 5-7 days with juice. I've got to get a handle on what food combinations are causing the bloating and try to dump some of this excess water weight before the big event. I read somewhere that for every so many excess carbs you consume, your cells retain X amount of excess water. In the case of excess protein, the cells retain almost zero extra water. I guess that means upping the high protein greens like spinach.

Today's Log:
* NOT RAW

Meal 1
1 cup raw rolled oats
1 Washington apple cubed
1/4 cup raw walnuts
1/4 cup soy milk*
2 Tbsp of honey*
All mixed up in a cereal bowl-delicious!

Cup of Chai Green Tea

1 quart water

Meal 2

12 oz Green Juice (plus 4 for my hubby :)
Ingredients: 1 cucumber, 3 stalks celery, 3 carrots, 1 radish, 1 bunch red chard, 1 cup dandelion greens, 1 cup mustard greens

Meal 3
3 cups spinach, handful of sprouts, 2 Tbsp of caesar dressing
2 Tbsp of Mello White Miso, 2 cups water, 3 heaping spoonfuls of veggies pulp + chopped onions.

24 oz water (while working out)
1 quart water

Snack
2 Ezekiel 4:9 tortillas with 2 ounces of raw aged cheddar and 6 olives*

Extra Pulp!


Extra Pulp & Miso Soup:)

We're Wired!

Now that our arctic cold snap has snapped (seriously, -20F to -30F plus wind chills for DAYS ON END!) we're starting to make some more progress on the sauna. The wiring is almost all roughed in. We actually ordered some marine (waterproof) stereo speakers that haven't arrived yet. We bought a cheap stereo receiver that we plan to house on a shelf just inside our laundry room (on the other side of one sauna wall). We considered just getting a dock for our Ipods, but NPR/MPR junkies that we are, decided it would be awefully nice to have a radio, too. After much monkey businesses, our heater has FINALLY arrived (directly from Finland, via Saunatec in Cokato, MN via A Touch of Finland in Marquette, MI.


So shiny!

BUT....thanks to an oversight on our part, we had to have a second circuit breaker panel added-the other was full! So basically we paid for an electrician ALL DAY LONG. (Ahem) Granted, we would have had to put a second box in anyway, but needless to say we hadn't exactly factored the extra cost into our overall budget. Eeek! I can hardly wait for that bill.

<
The sauna has it's own breaker box :)

The electrician also suggested using this rubber tubing over the wiring to reduce/exclude the possibility of corrosion down the road. Great idea!


We also picked up the rest of our materials (insulation, cedar tongue-and-groove, and misc.) so we'll be ready to forage ahead as soon as the inspector gives up the A-okay.


Yes, the basement (and office) are a complete disaster, but boy does it ever smell good down here!

Blogging On!

Okay...so it has been awhile since I've posted. My apologies. Thanks to an encouraging email from a daily reader and diehard fan (thanks, Mom), I've decided to press on...

As I mentioned in my last post, I was considering starting my juice fast last week to detox from the previous week's outings (I've been such a social butterfly lately ;)

CANCEL THAT!
I've decided to put it on hold until a least late February-for a few reasons.

First off, many of last week's social engagements are leading up to a grand finale-a friend's wedding in Key West, FL, on February 16th. I suspect there will be plenty of dancing, drinking, seafood, and sunshine to come down from upon my return. Hence my decision to hold off on fasting for just a few weeks longer. Second, things are humming along just fine with the raw foods. I'm not in any hurry to go and muck things up with a hardcore detox diet. My skin is shaping up (I have had the occasional odd breakout, and as bizarre as it sounds, my eyes are bluer and the whites-well, whiter. I thought this was just my imagination until my husband commented on it without my prompting. I'm also firming up from 40-60 minutes of Tae Bo and my daily walks with the dog. All in all, I have been feeling great and really getting into the raw foods, exercise and meditation. This is about total lifestyle transformation, not instant gratification, so I'm fine taking things slow and steady.

Daily Food Logs

I've decided that I'm going to start blogging my daily meals-if not daily, then I'll catch up every couple of days. This will give me a good chance to keep track of what is working and what isn't, and for those interested (Mom?), it will give them a peek into what it's like to eat 80-90% raw. I look forward to any and all suggestions from those more in-the-know.

Today's Yummies

* = NOT RAW

Meal 1
1 cup Chai Tea
12 oz Green Juice
Ingredients: 4 stalks celery, 4 carrots, 1 head romaine lettuce, 1 large beet, 1/2 jalapeno, 1 cup red and green kale, 1 cup dandelion greens, 1 cup mustard greens, 1 zucchini, 1/2 avocado, 2 small pieces of ginger.

Snack
1 Ezekiel 4:9 sprouted grain tortilla with 1 ounce of raw cheddar (YUM!!!! I'm not sure I could never go raw vegan, I just LOVE raw cheese SO much!!)

Meal 2-Soup & Salad
3 cups spinach
2 Tbsp Newman's Caesar dressing (admittedly, a weakness)*
1 boca chicken patty*
Small handful of raw walnuts
1 Tbsp of ground flax seed
2 ounces alfalfa sprouts
2 Tbsp Miso broth (Mellow White variety) with several heaping spoonfuls of veggie pulp left over from this morning's juicing and a bit of chopped red onion added in (!!!)

Meal 3
Fruit Juice
Ingredients: 1/2 Pineapple, 12 blackberries
1 banana

Other:
2 quarts water plus 8 oz of water with 2 tsp of Living Green powder
Caribou Hot Chocolate (I was on the shore of Lake Superior watching people (crazy people) take the polar plunge (jump in 32 degree water in their skivvies) to raise money for Special Olympics). I was cold (relatively speaking, of course :)

All Juiced Up About Fasting Again

Since breaking my Master Cleanse on January 11, I feel like I've done really well in cleaning up my diet. I've been eating A LOT better-incorporating A LOT more raw foods into my diet (although, admittiedly, I have more work to do on the fruit portion of the regime).

Where's the Meat?

Stuck in my colon, that's where :) Over the past two days I've eaten a total of 4 portions of meat (stupid, stupid, stupid!). I've had chicken breasts (2), ground turkey (1) and steamed shrimp (1). Despite consuming raw food along side of all of this protien, I'm feeling all "clogged up" again. I'm not much of a meat eater in the first place, but now I feel like I've thrown a wrench back into my digestive program. Arghhhh! What WAS I thinking? And So....

I decided today that I would embark on a juice fast next week-a much healthier alternative to the MC, but still effective at detoxing my system and giving my digestive system a break.

Why I didn't decide to start ANYTHING as intense as a juice fast this week is due to some tough timing. Here's how my week is shaping up epicuriously:

Wednesday: I have a birthday dinner/bowling party.
Thursday: Dinner with a friend who has come to town (all the way from Alaska).
Saturday: A bachelorette party (Damn...is wine juice?)
Sunday: My husband's holiday party for work (assigned sobriety among a sea of bar and restaurant workers...sigh).

As you can see, starting something as intense as a fast this week would just be setting myself up for failure. Besides, I'm going to really need some detoxing after this week anyway:) In the meantime, I'm juicing a lot and/or eating around 80%-90% raw at every meal.

Length: Undetermined thus far. Taking it day by day this time.
Colon Care: Like the MC, keeping your colon working is mandatory for clearing out the toxins your body dumps during a fast. With no fiber moving through, your GI tract shuts down so you've got to lend a hand. No daily salt water flushes this time. This time I'll keep the colon flowin with a combination of Lax Tea, enimas (another new experience), and mix in some salt water flushes.

I have been keeping up on my exercising, too. Right now I'm trying to fit in 40-50 minutes of cardio per day, plus a mile hike with the dog over moderately difficult terrain. What I'm still lacking is the strength training, but right now I'm more focused on detox and less worried about rebuilding.
Stay tuned...

Happy Birthday Hubby!

Today is my husband's birthday, and so far, nothing I have eaten has been raw-NADA. Today has been more about eating out, and tonight will be about happy hour drinks, appetizers and eventually, cake and ice cream. In a way that's okay, since on my birthday I was doing the Master Cleanse I do feel some sort of entitlement to eat and drink as I please today. The problem seems to be how it's making me feel-sleepy, puffed up and very full. Am I becoming over-sensitive, or am I just paying better attention to how food makes me feel?


This look is no where nearly as cute on me.

After only a week of eating mostly raw I was already noticing a positive difference in my skin. No more raccoon mask under my eyes and my skin looked more vibrant somehow. My husband even commented on it-even without my prompting him :) After only 1 day of eating "junk", the dark circles under my eyes are back, I look overly tired and I feel bloated. Perfect. That will be a nice look for the 40th birthday party we're invited to tonight. I'll be the 39 year-old who looks like the 40 year-old birthday boy's MUCH older sister...

A Great Use for Leftover Veggie Pulp

I made a green energy drink to go with my oatmeal for breakfast this morning. What a great way to get energized for the day! I'm not sure how other people's juicers work (I have an el cheapo from Target), but depending on what I'm juicing, I always seem to get plenty of pulp leftover. Today's pulp was a semi-dry mish mash of all kinds of great veggies (broccoli, kale, parsley, carrots, cukes, celery, red cabbage, etc.) If I had a food dehydrator (soon, just haven't gotten around to it), I might have added in some flax seeds and attempted to make some sort of dehydrated veggie wafers. Seeing as how I don't, I came up with another good solution. I refrigerated the pulp until lunch, and then added it into some warm broth I made from Red Miso and water. Viola! Yummy fresh veggie soup! If you've got leftover fruit pulp, you might try freezing it in ice cube treats for a healthy dessert :)

Frame Assembly

The sauna is finally starting to look like something! We attached the walls together tonight (and it actually stood upright afterwards!) and plan to drop in the ceiling tomorrow.

The french door (Home Depot) was my idea (claustrophobic tendencies) and still has to be cut down a bit to fit Hopefully the glass panels in it will hold up to the heat (they are not insulated, so I worry). If not, I guess we're out $120 and whatever it will cost for a replacement door, which is still a far cheaper than the $400-$1200 doors we've priced at sauna dealers. We took the dog for a wintery walk on the beach today (Lake Superior) and found some great pieces of driftwood to use for the door handles.

We're dealing with some height and space restrictions in this corner, which is forcing us to deviate quite a bit from the basic sketches we started with. What started as a 5 x 6 sauna is now a 4.5 x 5 sauna. We sort of forgot to factor in the width of the framing when doing our original calculations (oops, I should have known better Dad). This size will still work just fine, but now the heater we ordered is too big for the space. The heater we selected was designed to heat between 210 and 300 c ft. Now were only dealing with about 145 c ft. A heater too large for a sauna will heat up all of the air in the room before the rocks in the heater have the change to fully heat up. Ultimately, the heat inside the sauna will then feel less natural. No worries, though. The heater we placed an order for hasn't been ordered from the manufacturer yet so still have time to switch to a smaller size.

One Foot In Front Of The Other...I *Heart* My Treadmill

I'm easing back into exercise starting with a goal of 10,000 steps per day. So far so good. About 2,000 ( 1 mile) of those will come from my daily hike with the dog, and the other 8,000 will come off the treadmill. In a week or two I'll start walk/running, adding in weights and a few days of yoga. First things first-establishing a consistant daily pattern.

Thank goodness for our dog Buck. No matter the weather or temperature, I wouldn't dream of not getting him out for a walk. I'm adament about keeping him healthy (organic food, daily walks), now if I could only make my own health as much of a priority.



Buck in the park during one of his daily walks.

Mmm...Garden Fresh Gazpacho!

I tried my first bowl of cold soup today, and that's a pretty big deal for me, because in January in Minnesota, I like my soup HOT. Ooooh...now that was good!
(Next time I'll take a picture :)

Here's the recipe I used:

1 zucchini, chopped (1 cup)
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 green onion, chopped
1 tablespoon lemon juice (or to taste)
1-2 tablespoons miso
1 clove crushed garlic
1 cup spinach or chard
1/2 ripe avocado
1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of water to thin to taste

Add ingredients a few at a time to a blender and whirl away! Viola!

(additional ingredients from the original recipe-I modify everything)
1/2 ripe tomato (I didn't have one)
Dash cayenne (we're on a trial separation since the Master Cleanse)
Dash salt (I added a couple of pinches of Dulce on top for a salty effect)
6 fresh basil leaves (again, I didn't have any)

Yield: 2 cups, 2 servings
Original recipe from Raw Food Made Easy for 1 or 2 people, by Jennifer Cornbleet.

Learning to Love Fruit

My ultimate goal is for a diet consisting of 80-90% raw, but I still have a way to go. So far, only two of my three meals are raw-and only about 80% raw at that. My challenge is going to be developing a taste for raw fruit. Maybe it's because of the climate I've grown up in (Northern U.S.), or my Scandinavian heritage, but eating fruit has never been a big part of my diet. I don't dislike it, but beyond the occasional apple, orange or banana, it just never occurs to me to eat any of it. I guess that's why I've never really acquired a taste for it (that must sound so odd to the Floridians in my family ;)

I've got a mango, 6 kiwi and 4 pears in the fridge. I think I'll focus on eating them "as is" for now. I'll save dressing them up using fancy pants recipes until I get bored. How do you eat a kiwi anyway?

A Numbers Game

Here's a simple, but highly effective meditation I ran across while surfing the web. The URL of the website I found it on escapes me (I should have bookmarked it---maybe it will appear to me during a meditation :), but as soon as I find it I'll give credit where credit is due.

The meditation is a counting meditation. All you do is sit quietly and count from 1 to 10 as you breathe. Think 1 as you inhale, 2 as you exahale, 3 as you inhale, 4 as you exhale, etc. Do this until you reach 10 and then reverse and count back down to 1. Now repeat. Sounds simple, no? Umm....not exactly. The catch is that you keep the focus solely on your breathing for a whole 10 minutes. Ha!

Personally, my flabby, untrained mind makes it all of from 1 to 10 and back twice before I become distracted by a myriad of other thoughts (when this happens, just shift the focus back to counting and breating to get yourself back on track). I think this meditation seems like an excellent way to observe the thoughts of the beginner's mind, as well as a good tool for teaching it to stay focused. If you decide to try it, I would recommend using a 10 minute timer (cell phone alarm) to bring yourself out of the meditation. Otherwise, you'll start entertaining thoughts like, "How much longer?" or "Has it been 10 minutes yet?" There will be plenty of other thoughts to distract you anyway, believe me ;)