My New Favorite Thing

So last weekend my family was over for dinner and my mother told of something that one of our Ecuadorian nannies made during their stay with us as kids.

ONIONS MARINATED IN LIME JUICE!

As soon as I heard it I had to try it. SUCCESS! I cut up 1/2 an onion, juiced 12 limes (probably could have gotten away with 8), and let it sit all day. O-M-G people...O-M-G! haha so amazingly good. I put them on steak fajitas I made and was amazed at how tasty they were. I was literally eating them plain after we were finished.

This is one thing I am going to make all the time because it is that good. I'm about as obsessed with this as I am with mint.

Try it this weekend people! If you like onions but aren't to hot on eating them raw this is a great alternative that doesn't give you stank breath. Enjoy!

Healthcare VS Selfcare

I had been wanting to write about this topic for a while now, but seeing as Obama and the US Supreme Court just brought this issue to the front of everyone's minds I have some much needed motivation.

I have thought for a while now that our healthcare system is broken. It is too expensive for average people without health insurance to be able to afford anything other than the bare necessities. I could conjure up dozens of reasons why healthcare costs are skyrocketing- government intervention, illegal aliens taking advantage of the system, too much bureaucracy, too much paperwork, too complicated, etc, etc. I don't think it was one thing in particular, but a whole bunch of things that created the perfect storm we are in now. 

And to top it off, the people who don't feel the need to spend thousands of dollars on health insurance are now going to be taxed- like myself.

I don't have health insurance and I don't feel the need to have it right now. I had a policy that I paid for myself a few years back. But after I realized I was spending $3000 a year on insurance I didn't really use, I cancelled it and now I pay out of pocket if I have to go to the doctor. I average less than $800 a year with the visits like my dermatologist (who doesn't take insurance anyway), gyno, and dentist. I am 29, healthy thus far, and have no reason to need to spend $3000 a year on a policy that I can't even use at my derm and dentist.

This new "tax" that Obama proposed and the Supreme Court passed will effect people that are already struggling financially and/or are taking care of themselves with alternative remedies who didn't see the value in paying for a policy in the first place. Now we are going to be forced to pay- they think.

Why Obama and other "free healthcare" advocates think government run healthcare will work here is beyond me. It doesn't work anywhere. Anything run by the government ends in financial ruins, and healthcare is not the exception.

Friday, June 22, 2012 

The economic situation in Greece is only continuing to worsen, as reports indicate that hospitals and care centers throughout the nation are running completely out of medicines, and many healthcare workers are now voluntarily providing care services without pay.

Strapped with spiraling debt, the Greek healthcare, which is government-run, has had to receive gobs of international financial aid just to keep operating with some semblance of normalcy. There has also been plenty of IOUs issued, and desperate patients quietly forking over cash "gifts" to doctors to receive treatments. All in all, the healthcare situation is in utter chaos, save for those that have sacrificed their own time, often free of charge, just to help those in need.

(Source: Natural News) 

So what do we do? Well, for starters I'm not paying a FUCKING penny (excuse my French) to the government for healthcare that is being forced on me. Secondly, it's time to give serious consideration to doing everything you can to make sure you don't end up sick in the hospital. An apple a day isn't going to cut it anymore. And if you are already on meds or multiple meds, grossly overweight, suffering with allergies, whatever! you need to start thinking about changing around your lifestyle to make yourself healthier. Get off the meds because they are not going to cure you of anything- they are bandaids. Make it a priority to lose the weight because weight gain leads to diabetes, heart disease, cancer, etc. Get rid of what's stressing you, stop running yourself into the ground, take time to eat something healthy even if it takes longer or costs a little more.

The government is acting like they are doing us a favor by forcing us into mandatory health insurance, when the reality is that they are taking away our options. Well until the day comes that they restrict us from buying healthy food (fruits and vegetables) we still have that option. And as far as I can see eating healthy is the best one- health insurance or no health insurance.

Who's as pissed off as I am about this?

Stop Monsanto

I'm back! The last week was such an amazing week off. I totally needed a mental break from all of this stuff. But I'm ready to start writing again and I even cooked quite a bit (will tell you about that later)!

So I have something important to share that I hope you will all take a few minutes out of your day and contribute. A fellow raw food / healthy food advocate, Blythe Metz of Blythe Raw Live is working with producer Brad Wyman and actress Mariel Hemingway on producing a feature film #stopmonsanto. 

"We’re fed up with Monsanto and how they’re treating farmers and consumers, so we decided to make a movie about it. Our hope is for the movie to educate viewers and open their eyes to the problems Monsanto is creating and what the company stands for. While the movie will raise awareness about Monsanto, the story contains plenty of twists and lots of humor. Once the film is finished we plan on taking it to festivals, conferences and eventually streaming it online in order to inform as many people as possible about Monsanto."

If you don't know anything about Monsanto then listen up. The Monsanto Company is a multinational agricultural biotechnology corporation. It is the world's leading producer of the herbicide glyphosate, marketed in the Roundup brand, and in other brands. Monsanto is also the second largest producer of genetically engineered (GE) seed; it provides the technology in 49% of the genetically engineered seeds used in the US market (I personally think that number is grossly underestimated).


Monsanto's development and marketing of genetically engineered seed and bovine growth hormone (used to make animals grow faster than nature would intend so they have a faster turnaround and therefore more meat- F-ed up if you ask me), as well as its aggressive litigation, political lobbying practices, seed commercialization practices and "strong-arming" of the seed industry have made the company controversial around the world. 


Many of Monsanto's seed products are specifically genetically modified to make them resistant to Monsanto produced agricultural chemicals, such as "Round Up" herbicide. In a study published in the International Journal of Biological Sciences, researchers applied a different statistical analysis on raw data obtained from Monsanto and concluded that these GM corn (maize) varieties induced a state of hepatorenal toxicity (chemical driven liver damage!). They suggested that the presence of the new pesticides associated with the inserted genes were responsible, although the possibility that this could be due to a mutation during the transformation process was not excluded. (It doesn't matter if it is from a mutation or the chemical itself...it is known to cause liver damage!!!!)


WTF?


President Obama knows that agribusiness cannot be trusted with the regulatory powers of government. On the campaign trail in 2007, he promised: We'll tell ConAgra that it's not the Department of Agribusiness. It's the Department of Agriculture. We're going to put the people's interests ahead of the special interests. 


But, starting with his choice for USDA Secretary, the pro-biotech former governor of Iowa, Tom Vilsack, President Obama has let Monsanto, Dupont and the other pesticide and genetic engineering companies know they'll have plenty of friends and supporters within his administration. 

President Obama has taken his team of food and farming leaders directly from the biotech companies and their lobbying, research, and philanthropic arms:

Michael Taylor: former Monsanto Vice President, is now the FDA Deputy Commissioner for Foods.

Roger Beachy: former director of the Monsanto-funded Danforth Plant Science Center, is now the director of the USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture.

Islam Siddigui: Vice President of theMonsanto and Dupont-fundedpesticide-promoting lobbying group, CropLife, is now the Agriculture Negotiator for the US Trade Representative.

Rajiv Shah: former agricultural-development director for the pro-biotech Gates Foundation (a frequent Monsanto partner), served as Obama's USDA Under Secretary for Research Education and Economics and Chief Scientist and is now head of USAID.

Elena Kagan: who, as President Obama's Solicitor General, took Monsanto's side against organic farmers in the Roundup Ready alfalfa case, is now on the Supreme Court.

Ramona Romero: corporate counsel to DuPont, has been nominated by President Obama to serve as General Counsel for the USDA.

(source)

DOUBLE WTF?

I think this movie is a great idea and have offered my services in which ever way I can help. So, I thought I would shout out to all of you loyal readers and ask for your support as well. If eating real-food-that-isn't-loaded with-chemicals/pesticides-and-is-known-to-cause-liver-damage-and-is-controlled-by-giant-corporations-that-are-in-bed-with-big-government is something you are interested in please take a minute and visit their fundraising website, Stop Monsanto. Even if you could just give a dollar it would be much appreciated and you would be contributing to something that is going to make an impact in all of our lives. 


I wouldn't be asking for support if I didn't fully stand behind what Brad, Blythe, Mariel and their team are doing. I think the more aware we all are of what happens to our food the better off we will be in the long run. I am excited to help them out and just donated $10 to support their movie. Every dollar counts!


We would love to thank anyone who is generous enough to donate to this project so drop a comment below if you donate- even if it is $1- every little bit helps! Thanks in advance xoxo!

I'M TAKING A BREAK

For the past week or so it has been a struggle to eek out my daily posts. I've been pulling whatever I could out of my ass just so that I didn't leave you all hanging. I'm assuming I'm just in a writing rut right now and I will find my flow once again. So I've decided to take a small break from writing. I need to get my head out of all the seriousness that I've been working on. Don't be alarmed if you don't hear from me until next week.

I'm signing off and going to spend some quality time with myself, my family, and my friends. Everyone should take a mental break every now and again. It's no good to be so serious all the time. Get out and enjoy the beautiful weather.

Until next week...

From seed to plant in 2 weeks

peas & kale

It's amazing how fast things grow. I planted everything just about 2 weeks ago and already we have major growth on some of the vegetables. It amazes me when you start out with a big patch of dirt filled with seeds and in a few short weeks you have plants you can eat. I'm really looking forward to being able to eat fresh veggies right out of the ground in a few short weeks.

mini tomato plants

I highly recommend everyone plant at least something of their own whether it's herbs, a tomato plant, or an entire garden with a variety of stuff. It is so important to get a wide variety of fruits and vegetables in every color. Each color is associated with different nutrients and all of them are equally as important from collard greens down to potatoes. I put together this little chart to show some of the nutritional info for each of the colors of fruits and vegetables... 

Some of that language is kindof technical, however, for those of you who need to know all of this stuff here it is. I have been reading about all of these different phytochemicals and antioxidants since I started researching how to eat to prevent cancer. While I am no expert, I have gathered that it is not as important to know exactly how everything works, but just that it does. I personally believe that most scientists don't even fully understand how all of these individual chemicals work together to do the magic they do.

TIME TO START PROJECT GET THE RAINBOW OF FRUITS AND VEGETABLES IN YOUR FACE!

How much damage can you do in 36 hours?

(source)

Apparently a lot.

We had a friend's bachelorette weekend and it was by far one of the most fun weekends I've had in a long time. 10 girls in a beach house, Friday & Saturday nights, lots of beer, wine, and jello shots. We all had to bring food and supplies since it was a rental, and I made some "healthier" options- potato salad, tuna salad, watermelons and other fruit, hummus.

Guess what I ended up eating?

Cheez-its- lots of them. Potato chips and dip. Italian subs (with white bread). Peanut butter filled pretzels. I pretty much survived on snacks and refined carbs Friday night and all of Saturday until dinner at 8:30 PM, and then housed some more snacks when we got home from the bars at 2 am.

Needless to say, yesterday morning when I woke up I felt like a tornado had been tearing up my stomach. That was by far the worst I've eaten in a long time, probably since I started caring about all this stuff 2 years ago.

Time to start over. I feel like Mondays are the perfect start-over-because-I-destroyed-my-life-this-weekend day. It's literally 12:30ish right now and I haven't felt hungry until about 30 seconds ago.


We'll see how long that lasts, but I am actually looking forward to taking a partying break because the last month or so of summer weekends have really been taking their toll. This happens every summer. I go nuts for about a month and burn myself out. I'm over it! Time to get some S-H-I-T done.

This is my bold statement of the day: I am not capable of drinking like I used to and am going to take it easy for the next month (until the wedding). 

Whoever says they can't afford healthy food...

(source)

I hear this over and over again. "I would love to eat healthier, but I can can't afford it." This infographic is pretty damn accurate. So all of you who think you can't do it... think again. If you use whole foods like in the bottom example you will be surprised at how far they stretch (and how good they make you feel).

Not to mention, when you eat healthier overall you get sick less which is another expense that people don't factor into the cost of food and living. Eating healthy now is way cheaper than having a chronic disease later on in life. 

Who's going to start eating healthier?

My FAVORITE! Juice Recipe

I have been making a whole variety of different juice recipes over the past few weeks for an e-book I am working on for Raw Generation Juices and I wanted to share with you my absolute favorite one that I have made thus far.

RED ROOTS (about 16 oz)

• 1 beet
• 2 red apples
• 4 carrots
• 1 lemon
• 1" piece ginger root

This combination is sweet, earthy, tangy, warming, and delicious all at the same time. It's also instant energy. I have tried it a few times recently when it's the middle of the day and I'm dragging ass. Instead of drinking coffee I drink a juice and within a few minutes I am feeling revived. 

Bet you didn't know that beets:

• act as a medicine for liver and gallbladder
• help lower cholesterol
• destroy tumor cells and cancer cells
• strengthen the function of blood and overcome Anemia
• produce red blood cells
• clean and neutralize toxins in the body
• strengthen the circulatory system and immune syste
• fight against inflammation, infections, and kidney stones
• give power and balance to the body

Even if you only do one juice a day, I highly recommend incorporating some form of juice into your everyday diet. The benefits of getting all of these fruits and vegetables in your body outnumber the effort it takes to make. This juice takes all of 4 minutes to make and is enough to fill you up. And BONUS! You are getting roughly 8 servings of fruits and vegetables in one shot!

What are your favorite juice recipes?

The difference between eating raw foods, cooked foods, and processed foods.

Since experiencing many days of eating all raw foods over the past several months, I've had some time to reflect on the differences between eating raw foods, cooked foods, and processed foods. There are a few.

Raw means not cooked at all- fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, sprouts.
Cooked means when I cooked my own food using whole grains, fruit, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and spices.
Processed means I bought it at a store, restaurant, or fast food.

The first difference that I realized was that when I eat 100% raw foods I have zero problem with overeating. As soon as I am satisfied I am able to put the food down and I NEVER overeat. This is the same when I am eating salad, veggies and dip, or nuts. So the composition (carbohydrate, protein, fat) doesn't seem to make a difference. As long as it is not cooked I have no problem with overeating. When I cook my own food this is a little more of a problem, especially when the food is highly spiced. When I eat out or eat fast food (it's been months) I find myself never being satisfied and always want to eat more- especially when I ate Mc Donald's.

The second is that I don't actually feel the raw foods in my stomach. This is a weird thing to try to describe but when I am satisfied on raw foods I don't feel anything. When I am satisfied on cooked food I can feel the food in my stomach, and forget it with fast food- my stomach is varying degrees of upset.

The third thing I notice is that when I eat raw foods I don't have that it's-2 pm-just-ate-a-huge-lunch-and-now-I'm-ready-for-a-nap-feeling. I have so much more energy when I eat raw foods and even when I eat mostly raw with a little cooked or processed mixed in. When I eat a meal of all cooked foods I get a little tired afterwards, and when I eat heavily processed foods that is when I feel like I need to take a nap.

And probably the best response I have noticed is that when I eat mostly raw I consistently lose weight. When I eat mostly cooked/processed foods I gain weight. It's like flipping a switch.

RAW- lose weight
COOKED- gain weight

So, I'm still constantly trying new ways of eating raw, and trying to be as raw as possible as often as possible because I definitely feel a difference. But sometimes life gets in the way, and I feel the need to eat like a "normal" person.

Slow and steady wins the race!

Good health makes a lot of sense....

(source)

...but it doesn't make a lot of dollars. In the past few years since I have become aware of what it is to be healthy, and what our options are for treating disease, I have come to realize that the people that control our options are out of whack. I mean that there is a huge push to take pharmaceuticals for anything and everything. And the more I educate myself on this subject the more I realize that our regulatory agencies (i.e . the FDA) are in bed with the pharmaceutical companies and the pharmaceutical companies are in bed with our doctors.

This is a perfect storm. We are directly advertised to on television by the pharmaceutical companies. Prescriptions are pushed on us by our doctors. Nutrition is RARELY if ever brought up by our doctors. And when we try to find alternative therapies that may help our situations, the FDA puts up road blocks.

In all of the hours and days and weeks I have been researching since Nani was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March of 2010, I have come across stories of people who have had to jump through hurdles to get the treatment they believed they needed. People who have tried the conventional (chemo, radiation, surgery) therapies that failed them and their family members, people who have tried to get an alternative cancer therapy who have been denied access to something that may help cure themselves or their family members.

Why does this happen? Well, in my (humble) opinion, it is because there is big money in pharmaceuticals and no money in promoting nutrition. We are a sick country that relies heavily on drugs. Those huge drug companies have a vested interest in keeping people sick and on their drugs. I hate to be all conspiracy theory on you, but it's true. It's out there and there are people that are willing to talk about their experiences with all of this.

If you have a few minutes, please watch the video below of an interview of a father who went through a tragic experience when his daughter was diagnosed with a very serious, very rare brain cancer. It's about an hour long, but even if you can watch 5 or 10 minutes, his story is very inspiring.

People Against Cancer is a website where you can go to find additional options for your cancer treatment. They review your medical records and recommend any treatment- conventional or alternative- that has ever had any success treating the type of cancer you may have. It would be a good place to start if you or someone you know is dealing with cancer and wants other options than the big three- chemo, radiation, & surgery.

From what I have learned, there are non-toxic treatments out there that have pretty good cure rates (depending on the type of cancer). I do not believe that the big three are our only options, and (bold statement) I've said it before and I will say it again, chemo and radiation would not be my first choice if I were to discover that I had cancer. I believe wholeheartedly that the body has an amazing ability to cure itself if given the proper nutrition. And there are doctors and clinics out there that believe the same thing and treat cancers with nutrition therapies.

If you want more information on alternative therapies, I wrote about some of the ones that I am aware of in my post Alternative Cancer Therapies. 

My new obsession with dehydrating

Last Friday I set up the dehydrator we purchased for Raw Generation and started testing it out. So far I've made apple chips and fruit leather. Both were pretty successful! I still have a ton of apples left over from the last juicing batch we did a week or two back. Lucky for me apples last forever, because there is no way otherwise that I could finish them all before they spoiled. The dehydrator is perfect for this!!! Hence the apple chips and fruit leather made with apples.

BEFORE

AFTER

And fruit leather! It's a little weird different, but it's a healthy option for a fruit roll up (great for the kiddies!). If any of you are interested in adding more raw foods into your diet, a dehydrator can be a great appliance to buy. 

BEFORE

AFTER

So here's the deal with fruit leather. It's really simple. You take whatever fruit you have, put it in a food processor or blender, blend it into mush, add a little water if necessary, spread it on a dehydrator tray w/ liner, and a few hours later you have fruit leather! I made two different kinds- apple w/ cranberry and apple w/ lime and cardamom spice. I lightly sweetened the apple cranberry with raw agave because cranberries are very tart. I didn't sweeten the apple lime which I think was a little mistake. Also, cardamom is a very different flavor and it's very strong...I think I used too much of it. All in all pretty good for the first shot!

Next up... raw crackers and what do I do with all of the vegetable pulp we have from the juices?

GOAL: Live to 110 years of age

Cutest centenarian ever!
(Source) 

I just finished a book called The Blue Zone that talks about the four areas around the globe where there are the highest percentage of centenarians (people who live to 100 years of age). The four areas are Sardinia, Italy; Okinawa, Japan; the Nicoya Pininsula, Costa Rica; and the Seventh Day Adventists in Loma Linda, Southern California. This book interviewed many centenarians and their families over the course of several years to figure out what were the characteristics that set them up for a long, healthy life.

I am interested in this because of a couple of reasons. Just recently I realized that I want to live to be a centenarian. I wondered how does one do that? Also, even if I don't end up living that long, I want to have the best possible quality of life for as long as I can.

This book touches on both of those topics.

In a nutshell, here are the principles that people in these Blue Zones lived by:

• Surround yourself with family and friends. Almost all of the centenarians interviewed lived with their children and grandchildren and also had a consistent social obligations from playing cards with friends, to morning group exercises, to going to church. Each area had different customs, but all of the four areas were consistent in that they all put a great deal of emphasis on being with other people everyday. 
• Don't let stress get the better of you. Maybe it comes with age, maybe these people were born with a stress-free attitude, or maybe it is part of their cultures. One thing is for sure, the centenarians had a very care-free way about them. They also had downtime, either everyday or every week. It was built into their lives. Costa Ricans would rest everyday in the late afternoon. The Seventh Day Adventists would have a day of rest every weekend. No work, no homework, just family and fun activities.
• Be active every day. The stories of the centenarians in this book tells of them chopping wood into their late 90's, riding bicycles, walking for miles everyday, gardening into their 100's, sitting on the floor cross legged and getting up and down with ease and grace. (How many elderly people do you know that can do that?) 
• Eat unprocessed foods. All of the four cultures ate completely differently. But they ate real food, food that was culturally theirs. They didn't eat fast food. They made just about everything. The centenarians in Costa Rica ate eggs, coffee, tropical fruits, corn and beans. In Okinawa they ate fish, rice, seaweeds, sweet potatoes, and vegetables. In Sardinia, the people ate a diet of whole grain breads, beans, garden vegetables, fruits, and goat's milk. The individual foods were different, but the principles were the same- whole foods cooked at home.
• Spend time in the sun. When the sun touches our skin it starts a chain reaction in our body that ends up producing Vitamin D. Vitamin D is not actually a vitamin but a hormone that controls the absorption of all other vitamins and minerals as well as the function of our immune system. These centenarians all lived in temperate to tropical climates that allowed them to get outdoors and get Vitamin D for a large majority of the year. Since they were accustomed to working outdoors (farming, shepherding, relaxing) their entire lives, they were inadvertently making plenty of Vitamin D. 

This book really struck a cord with me. It's so SIMPLE!!!  How did we stray so far from what seems to create a happy and healthy life? I feel like I have been getting back to basics as of late. I feel the need more so now than ever to be happy and healthy. I have been thinking recently that health is about much more than the food you eat. It's the whole picture. 

"People talk about curing cancer and heart disease, and of course it is an important and worthy goal that can happen soon enough. But there are simple things everyone could be doing right now that would save so much money and suffering- like drinking enough water everyday, exercise, and eating healthy food. But hey, " Wareham said, suddenly catching himself in is fervor, "everybody has his own idea about these things- it's their lives, after all. You can tell somebody what to do, but it's up to them whether they do it. But you can tell them how good you feel."

~quote from The Blue Zone 

I miss cooking

oh mussels... how I miss you!

I recently realized that with all of this juicing and eating as much raw food as I can, that I haven't been cooking or even preparing anything worth blogging about. As much as I love juicing... I'm over it! I know I said I was going to try to juice majority of my diet for 30 days, but I'm done. Like 1 or 2 max per day. I need to eat real food. I don't know how people do this longer for a week. Maybe that's why all of these juice cleansing companies are popping up. Well, I'm in if for the long haul so I'm going to just drink juice in the a.m.

On the "cooking" front, I came across a wonderful gal, Blythe Metz, and her online raw cooking show, Blythe Raw Live, a while back, but I hadn't really taken the time until the past week to actually watch her show from beginning to end, 10 in a row to be exact. I had contacted her to get her permission to put some of her shows on our Raw Generation website because she talks all about why it's so great to include as much raw in your diet as you can, and BONUS! raw food recipes that are simple and fast.

I was bummed for a while because when it comes to raw food "cooking" I draw a blank. Put a pot on the stove, show me where the pantry is, and I can create anything. So, I am going to use her shows to inspire a new side of my cooking abilities. AND! My dad bought a dehydrator so I'm going to be testing out a bunch of raw snacks for myself.

I'll keep you posted! 


And P.S. don't burn yourself out with a juice cleanse. It's much better to be consistent and drink one everyday than to go APE S-H-I-T for a week. It's all about slowly adding healthy things in to improve your lifestyle.

Smoothie or Juice?

(Source)

My humble opinions about whether to juice your fruits and veggies or whether to smoothie. Some people say that juicing is better because you can consume more poundage in one shot so to speak. Others say that smoothies are better because they contain the whole fruit and/or vegetable. 

To me, if you are doing one or the other or a little bit of both you are way ahead of the curve. Most people don't eat ANY fruits or vegetables. So if you like a smoothie in the morning, DO IT! If you don't like the consistency of smoothies but you want to juice, DO IT! If you want fresh pressed juice but you don't want to make it yourself, PATIENTLY WAIT A FEW MORE WEEKS UNTIL WE (RAW GENERATION) CAN GET OUR S-H-I-T TOGETHER AND OPEN FOR BUSINESS! (PS. you can sign up for our newsletter on our homepage)

But in all seriousness, smoothies are good because they are LOADED with fiber and you can literally add in a whole day's serving of fruit in a blender. They are also more filling than juice because of all of the fiber. 

Juices are also good because you can get A TON of dark greens in one glass, where as it would be almost impossible for most of us to consume that many dark greens in one day. Maybe if we weren't addicted to McDonald's and potato chips. In one 16 oz glass of juice that I make myself I can get 1 whole head of kale plus some apples and lemon to sweeten it up. And I promise it tastes good. I wouldn't drink it if it didn't. 

Dark greens are literally the one thing that I tell everyone to increase in their diet- usually by adding them to smoothies or juicing them. 

So... smoothie or juice...doesn't matter...get it in your mouth!

Falling in the Rain & Rolling Around in the Grass

Funny story. So Friday night we all went out for one of my bestie's birthdays at this really fun bar/club close by. I made the point of telling everyone to wear flip flops because they have an outside area with gravel (picture a camp ground with boccie ball and picnic tables). Long story short I fell in the gravel a few weeks ago because I was wearing crazy insane heels. So, I gave everyone fair warning.

After hours of dancing (in my flip flops) and drinking prosecco (yes I drink champagne when I go out) we were about to leave. The only problem was that the gusty wind turned into gusty wind + monsoon like conditions. Picture a hurricane minus the dangerous flying debris.

BEFORE

On the count of three we all sprinted to the car. I took a graceful leap off the curb to try to hop over the river puddle that was not draining into the over-flooded sewer. Well, have you ever miscalculated how deep something is? Haha, I did. I thought the puddle was about a foot shallower than it really was which sent me palms first, fully submerged under water. (OMG I can't even type I'm laughing so hard). I stood up and looked down at myself in complete shock that in 15 seconds I went from being doused with raindrops to looking like I jumped in a pool. Makeup running down my face, perfect hair turned stringy mess. COMPLETELY SOPPING WET!

AFTER

(PS...I'm almost 30 years old. When does ridiculous S-H-I-T like this stop happening?)

And the kicker was that my flipflops came off and were floating down the street. AWESOME! So apparently flip flops do not protect you from falling when you are falling into water. Take note of this.

So not only did I get wet, but so did everyone else with me as we were all paralyzed with laughter while they were trying to collect me and my things. I wish we got it on video so you all could've seen it. PRICELESS!

Anywho, when we got back to the house I got the great idea that since we were already soaked we might as well go play in the rain. And by play I mean roll around in the grass like we were 6 years old. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT. 

When was the last time you played in the rain? Or took off your shoes and sat in the grass. If you are a beginner I would work up to rolling around. You might go into shock.

Anyway, it was so refreshing (not to mention fun) acting like I was a child again. Maybe that's why people drink? So they can feel okay about letting loose. If you watch kids play, and then watch adults drink, sometimes it's pretty similar.

The moral of this story...feed your inner child and have fun. There is no point in eating healthy if you aren't having fun at the same time. Assignment: take off your shoes, go outside, lay in the grass, then start rolling around (rain optional). 

IN SEASON: June

Summer is here! Which means that so much great produce is in season. No excuses! We should all be eating a lot of fruit and veggies right now. I just finished planting most of our garden so the only thing we have been getting a lot of is strawberries. Better late than never I guess! But in a few weeks we should be in business with some of the things we planted. 

apricots

                                                 

corn

lettuce

watermelon

coconut

strawberries

cantaloupe

cherries

blueberries

peaches

As the weather gets warmer it is better to eat more fresh and cooling foods. No one wants to be a hot, sweaty mess! Take notice the difference in your body temperature and the way you feel when you eat a steak vs. a salad. I don't really have a problem with profusely sweating, but in the winter I am constantly freezing. And I don't eat much more than hot soups, stews, sauces, and more meat because that really keeps me warm. The type of food you eat really does make a difference in how much you sweat. 

Eat more fruits and vegetables!!!

To cleanse or not to cleanse

ahh Natalie Dee how I've missed you!

This seems to be the new fad diet- CLEANSING. There are companies popping up all over the place that offer very expensive all juice or part juice/part raw food cleanse programs. While I totally believe in the benefits of juicing and drinking juice everyday, cleansing is a short-term diet outlook. It implies that you can undo the damage of an unhealthy lifestyle in a few short days, and then when you feel good and have lost a few lbs. you go back to your old habits.

This will prevent nothing. It's a diet mentality.

What would be better is if you were to drink 1 glass of juice a day for the rest of your life. And in addition to that slowly replace the junk with whole foods (fruits, veggies, nuts, whole grains like rice and quinoa, beans, etc). And then increase the amount of fresh juice you drink- especially containing dark green leafy vegetables.

It's all about making small changes over time that you can stick with. That is what makes people healthy.

Hope you all have a fun weekend and get some much needed sleep....like I will be doing- still recovering from last weekend :)