Blog: 17th March 2008 More
Before and Afters
Struggling to control my weight early 30's
Happily Raw, almost 41years
As the photo in the main page is probably 2 years old at least
now, I thought I may as well put in a more recent photo. Eventually
I'll get round to doing it properly. The most inspiring before and
afters are seen here
http://www.welikeitraw.com/rawfood/raw-food-before-and-after-photos.html
in case you are still debating on whether or not a raw food
diet is for you.
Well, I still seem to be a total disaster in the blogging area and
find myself stumped for words as it still seems such weird thing to
do, but maybe it's time to get over it, so here we go.
I have had the most amazing opportunity to get better acquainted
with THE WORK of Byron Katie
www.thework.com via
www.theworkingcompany.nl and have been attending Janaki's working Coach course.
and have been incorporating aspects of this into my coaching in
1-2-1 classes. The wonderful thing about the work is that it is
totally free, everything you need is easily accessed on The works
website or in Byron Katie's book 'Loving What is'. The work is an
amazingly simple tool that helps you to address stressful thoughts.
It works well with ALL stressful thoughts and is incredibly easy to
learn, it's simply 4 questions and a turnaround. And as so many
people have stressful thoughts about eating, it just so happens it's
great to use within raw food coaching. Now it's 2am, so more on this
another day...meanwhile I hope I get the opportunity to do The
School - 9 days totally immersed in the Work, and hope I will be
able to do more of Janaki's courses.
Blog: 8th Dec 2007
Terre á Terre Vegetarian Restaurant in Brighton
www.terreaterre.co.uk/
If you are looking for a wonderful raw vegan meal out... look no
further than Terre á Terre in Brighton. They will accommodate you
with a raw meal if you pre book and are soon to be putting a
permanent raw option on the menu. I was lucky enough to eat there
today, and even though only three of us had ordered a raw meal, I
was amazed that the chef had bent over backwards to spoil us, so
much care and consideration had gone into our meal, with alot of
forward thinking as they had obviously been sprouting beforehand.
Well, I really don't know where to start trying to describe this
meal,
and I honestly will not be able to do it justice
(I am someone who has never really been a fan of eating out as I see
most restaurants as a mugs game - you pay them your good money, and
they feed you crap that makes you feel ill - bah humbug!) - You just
have to go there to have the whole wonderful experience for
yourselves, in the meantime I will start with the menu:
Starter
Uzu coated bean sprouts and Shiso Cress stuffed in a Kohl
Rabi Tower with a Red Pepper, Umboshi and cashew dressing (served
with a vegetable shot - but I forget what this was...)
Main course
Celeriac, Pine Nut, Caraway and Dill Mousse served with
watercress, Radish and Shallot Salad and Avocado And Fresh Soya Pea
Smudge, Bitter Carrot and two Pepper emulsification.
Unfortunately I got so excited by the food, I forgot to take a
picture of the main course, but it looked beautiful and tasted
amazing. My camera does not really do the food justice any way. The
mousse was so light and the Dill and caraway were just wonderful,
the sauces complimented the mousse and salad so well - by this time
we were seriously falling in love with the chef.
Dessert
Prunes stuffed with Apple and Pistachio Lemony Remoulade,
with Orange Granita and a shaved Fennel Citrus salad.
The dessert was
as amazing as the other courses, really light food, nothing nut
heavy or trying to replicate cooked food. The stuffed prunes added a
nice wintery feel to the dessert, the combination of the mint with
the orange was so simple, yet so perfect. the fennel and grapefruit
and orange was gorgeous, and the whole thing was not too sweet which
suited us very well.
All of the food was perfect in every way, clean and light, just the
right amount, it left you feeling energised and really happy. I
cannot recommend this restaurant enough, I will definitely be
popping down the motorway again at the slightest excuse. And the
great thing is that as it also serves the most amazing vegetarian
and vegan food, along with a great kids menu so you can happily eat
there with cooked friends.
Apparently the restaurant will soon be adding a permanent raw option
onto their menu, so great to know you can go eat out somewhere, get
fantastic raw food and not have to make do with a double side salad
and a squirt of lemon juice.
They also serve a selection of fresh juices and smoothies, we asked
for pear juice and asked (we thought) for some celery to be juiced
with that ( to tone down the sweetness and slow down sugar
absorption), we were in absolute stitches when it arrived with a
stick of celery in it instead, we couldn't imagine what kind of
plonkers they must of thought we were asking for that... still you
can never get enough celery!
I have to honestly say this was the best meal out I have had in
years, the last one was when I went to Terre á Terre and had a
cooked veggie meal. - just a fab, fab resturant, and I honestly do
hate eating out. We sat there jawing for at least 3 hours with no
waiters hovering or hurrying us and the service is charming - you
will not be disappointed. Booking is advised with pre- booking
essential at the moment to request a raw meal.
Blog: 27th Oct 2007
Have been meeting some lovely people at the sustainability show
this weekend, thank you to all of you that have been dropping by to
say Hi and book classes.
As promised here is the fudge recipe:
1 Cup Raw cashews
1 Cup dates
1-2 Tbs water
A little shredded coconut or raw cacao to roll the balls in.
Blend these together in a food processor until the nuts are broken
down, then add the water untill a doughy/fudgy
texture is formed.
Roll this mixture into small balls, about a teaspoon worth per ball.
Then Roll in coconut or raw cacao powder.
WARNING: Some people can be sensitive to raw cashews, so do not
overeat on them, if you have lots of allergies.
Personally I have reacted to cashews only
twice, once after drinking cashew nut milk for the first,
and only time, which brought me up in a rash and the second time
when REALLY eating far too many cashews when I didn't have time to
eat properly, which bought on mild IBS type symptoms.
I hasten to add that I LOVE raw cashews, and these couple of
reactions were out of the norm after just overdoing the
cashews. I Love the cashew fudge recipe above, and in as with
everything, in moderation, it is a wonderful treat, I do not suggest
eating a whole cup of cashews in one sitting, which is what happened
when I had the reaction to cashew milk.
Back to the show... I had a bit of a spend up as I found the most
divine organic cotton skirts, incredibly flattering (bearing in mind
I am normally a jeans and t-shirt person), girly and swingy - so not
me, but I love
them...http://www.seasaltcornwall.co.uk/acatalog/womens_skirts_and_pants.php
There is also so yummy fair trade
clothing range there, oh yes, and of
course planet saving techie stuff... greener vehicles, yummy
recycled bags, and one of my fave stands there
www.dutchbike.co.uk
OOH, Really girly panniers (not on their website, but available at
the show) for your bike and the most AMAZING kiddies carriers to
transport your little darlings about in that carry up to 6 kids!!! I
will definitely try to squeeze in some xmas shopping there
tomorrow... I won't be investing in
http://www.naturalburialcompany.com/2007/07/arka-ecopod---t.html
just yet I hope... Oh, but when I gotta go, this certainly is one of
my options... I fancy the gold one...
Blog: 25th Oct 2007
If you are at a loss for what to do this wet and wintry weekend,
why not come down to the Sustainability show at the London O2 Arena
http://www.the-sustainability-show.co.uk/visitorsshow.html
it is free entry and I will be there to talk to you about raw and
living foods with
http://www.passionfortheplanet.com/
the UK's only Green/ Environmental wholistically oriented
radio station.
I have been busy making tonnes of fudge balls for you to try at
the show, so do come and have a chat and a taster. There will
also be the opportunity to buy Living on Live Foods, Alissa Cohen's
book without having to pay postage, plus a few other raw related
goodies including Spiral slicers for a mere £20.
Any one who signs up for a class that day will receive a FREE nut
milk/sprout bag! There is also a FREE prize draw, with
prizes including a copy of Living on Live Foods book & DVD worth
a whopping £56 and a Pure DAB digital radio, the draw will be
running untill the end of the show, for chance to win, just
turn up and say hi!
I really look forward to meeting you there and having a good old
natter about raw fooding.
Blog: 15 Oct 2007
What goes on in your Smoothie?
One of my favourite foods is my Green Smoothie, (I will be
eternally grateful to Victoria Boutenko for making them popular
again - see BLOG April 28th, below) and I always love that when I
take it out and about with me people cannot but resist asking
why I am drinking pond water or Shrek snot. For anyone unaware of
the totally delicious and amazingly quick way of getting tonnes of
greens painlessly into your diet; green smoothies basically cut out
hours of chewing some of the two big bunches of greens we should be
eating daily. They are much more filling than the equally important
Green Juices, and you have the added benefit of non abrasive fibre
(Which is good news for IBS sufferers). Green smoothies
contain both soluble fibre, which increases bulk to aid elimination
and insoluble fibre. Soluble fibre from the Pectin in apples and
guar gums in Mangoes slow down sugar absorbtion, so are good for
protection against diabetes and tackling sugar/starch cravings (in
fact ANY cravings, they totally eliminated my dairy cravings).
Insoluble fibres which are sponge like and carry out toxins to
keep your colon clean, carrying out dead cells, bad bacteria and
yeasts, so creating an environment promoting the growth of friendly
bacteria.
Green smoothies also have the added benefit of:
(In a very simplified
explanation...)
-
Alkalizing the body, so aiding weight loss and fighting
disease
-
Improving Hydrochloric
acid levels in the stomach, so improving digestion
-
Containing plenty of
cleansing chlorophyll (chlorophyll is very similar to human
blood, only the metals they contain differ: human blood contains
iron, whilst chlorophyll contains magnesium, an element many
people are deficient in; the same deficiency that draws women to
chocolate during PMT/PMS, so get your greens in instead! The
chlorophyll also oxygenates the blood.
-
Being full of
essential amino acids, the building blocks of protein. Amino
acids are needed
for many functions in the body, and it is essential to eat a VARIETY
(
of greens to meet these needs,
including; weeds, sprouts and herbs). Lack of various amino acids
can lead to addictions, depression and attention deficeit
syndrome.
-
Supports the body's homeostasis which lends to rapid healing.
So in today's yummy smoothie I had:
-
2 Small organic bananas
-
1 Mango
-
1/2 A cucumber
-
A hand full of
wheatgrass
-
Most of an organic
romaine lettuce
-
1TBS Maca
-
1dessert spoon Mesquite
-
1dessert spoon Spirulina
-
1dessert spoon cacao
nibs ( I find I have do not experience any of the negative
effects of cacoa when combined in a smoothie).
Blog: 03 Oct 2007
Sarah Calothis of
www.uktherapy.info/ has done a
great review of Living On Live Food by Alissa Cohen :
GO
RAW , or in other words ‘EAT LOADS AND LOSE WEIGHT QUICKLY!'
I just
love this line: "
As a result my husband
is now 50% raw and has lost 2 stones and looks ten years younger."
Here are some excerpts:
"...This book has been written with the aim of
introducing people to what raw eating is, the
benefits of raw eating and a four-week
introduction plan so you can ‘go raw’. It also
contains a wide variety of recipes which even
seasoned 'raw foodists' will find
mouth-watering...
...Alissa then lays out a four week ‘step by step’
plan to move you over to raw eating. She writes
you a shopping list for each week and menus for
each week. It is clearly stated that there is
no limit to the amount you eat
and that if you feel hungry eat
something. It is clean, clear and simple...
To read The full
review click here:
http://www.uktherapy.info/readarticle.asp?ID=69
You can also buy the DVD from The Raw
Life, just email me for more details. There is a £5 discount when
buying the 2 together and no extra postage for the DVD!
|
Blog: 25 Sept 2007
What did you have for dinner tonight?
Snow Fungus Salad
I have been
loving the thread on
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/rawfooduk/ on what
people have had to eat that day. If you are looking for inspiration,
or just wondering what different foods people eat, it is a great
thread to dive into.
So, after a day of mainly fruits, a litre of smoothie and a couple
of handfuls of pumpkin seeds and Chinese red dates, I was a starvin'
Marvin come the evening!
I'd had the pleasure of spending the day (rare for me to take time
out!) with my good friend and Bowen practitioner Wen Chi Lucas
(She's amazing at Bowen and totally eradicated all the last remnants
of back pain and sciatica that I had suffered with for years.) But
back to the food! Wen Chi is also my 'dealer', she introduces me to
the most amazing Chinese, Malaysian and Korean seaweeds, lots of
strange root things (I'm sure some of them might be maggots!) and
ginsengs. A while back she had fed me the most amazing white fungi,
called Snow fungi
(Tremella
fuciformis, also known as white fungus or silver tree-ear fungus).
This fungus has the most amazing crunchy/jelly texture and is said
to stimulate the immune system, be anti- carcinogenic, good for the
lungs and great for the skin, other
recent studies have indicated that it lowers LDL cholesterol,
protects the liver, is an anti-inflammatory and may slow the aging
process. Some people even say it gets rid of freckles...personally I
love freckles!
Today was my lucky day, today Wen Chi presented me with booty from
her recent trip to Malaysia... two whole bags of snow fungus, a bag
of a big round crinkly type of fungus, yet to be tried...Mmmnn,
tomorrows treat? And a bag of red dates (jujube), which are not at
all sweet and are good for the cardiovascular system, (gets more
oxygen to the brain, normalizes blood pressure), is good for the
lungs and coughs, calms nerves... Ooh, and the scent is supposed to
make teenagers fall in love according to Wikipedia!
If buying these products from Chinese supermarkets, do check that
the dates are not smoked, as a few of the berries etc. I have bought
from Chinese wholesalers have been smoke preserved.
When choosing snow fungus, the colour should be yellowy white, the
pure white one has been bleached. Snow fungus only needs to be
soaked in cold water for a little while.
Dried Snow Fungus
Soaked Snow Fungus
After soaking, cut the darker bits of the fungi off the underneath
and rinse well before use.
In the meal I had tonight I made noodles by finely slicing soaked
kombu seaweed and added sliced avocado, tomatoes, spring onion,
garlic, chilli and sesame seeds and dressed it with a drizzle of
cold pressed sesame oil, pepper and a teaspoon of nama shoyu
(unpasteurized soya sauce). And damn, was it good! The crunch of
this fungi is a real sensation - just don't ask me what temperature
it's dried at, coz I haven't got a clue!
Blog: 24 Sept 2007
Chocolate Fest!
Ok, hands up, I'm obviously not a born blogger... Whilst I love
reading other people's I still feel a bit of a wally writing one,
however recently re inspired by a visit to
http://veganbear.blogspot.com/ which is a really wonderful
resource for raw beginners - kind of what I had in mind when I
started blogging... but never got round to... however, the Vegan
Bear does such a good job of it - great unbiased information on
equipment, and do look out for him blogging his 30 days raw journey
in October. Plus he used to be a cooked chef and has some beautiful
recipes on his site, which brings me to why I m writing this...
I had been looking forward to making the Bears Chocolate
Banoffee Tart, I made the chocolate up in preparation only to find I
had no avocado's left, darn, and all this chocolate to play with!
Over the summer, I had meant to blog 'Staying Raw on a wet, cold
camping holiday, when everyone else was tucking into Double caramel
magnums!! Arrgghh!' (normally wouldn't bother me, but ... the
weather was SO crap!) I didn't get round to that blog either, but
now, I had all this yummy chocolate and memories of Rolo's and Fudge
bars and Curly Wurly's so this is what I was doing in the wee hours:
A Happy accident or Anna's
Raw Choc Caramels above and below Anna's Vanilla Fudge Chocolates
(see recipe page)
Ok, So I'm not the world' best photographer or chocolatier,
but it was 2am in the morning! And I still can't get the hang of a
digital camera...
Well I am well and truly chocolated out, so won't get round to
making the Chocolate tart for a while. I found I had to taste a heck
of allot of these chocs for quality control.... My youngest son who
normally hates my raw chocs was rather partial to these. I must say
I seem to be rather sensitive to the Theobromine in raw cacao, and
it makes me a bit speedy...well very speedy. David Wolfe suggests
combining vanilla with the chocolate to combat this and Liz Bygrave
the puddings lady extraordinaire
http://www.lizbygrave.co.uk/healthysweettreats.html advises that
you can chew cardamom seeds to bring you down. I do think I
exacerbated it by having a mainly green juice day too, which of
course is like drinking rocket fuel! Well, all in moderation eh?
The lower serrated edge chocolates were made in paper petit four
cases, you can get some really pretty foil ones from specialist cake
shops if you do not have a silicone chocolate mould. I wouldn't use
a silicone ice cube mould in case the fats react with the rubber
when warm ( I have seen Ice cube moulds that state they are not for
food use.). I can never manage to get chocolate out of the metal
moulds.
For those of you unfamiliar with the superfoods Mesquite and Lacuma;
Mesquite gives a lovely sweet taste and means you can use less agave
to sweeten chocolate. It is Low GI and full of amino acids, so
actually makes you feel full. Lacuma is a golden yellow powder from
a dried flower, it is the magic ingredient that gives a 'chewy'
texture to chocolates, in this cases it is especially yummy for the
fudgy effect. If you have no Lacuma, substitute with more mesquite.
All these ingredients are usually available at my classes or you can
buy them all easily from
www.detoxyourworld.com
Blog: 06 June 2007
Day 7 of cleanse
Food, glorious food! I must say I have enjoyed eating today! I
thought I might do another day fasting as I woke up without any
appetite and still detoxing with a slight cough (trying to shift
mucous), which wore off, only to return in the afternoon (again only
on speaking) after another manic day. I was a little tired in the
morning, but did only have 5 hours sleep – I promise my poor body
that next time I detox I will do it in a ‘quiet’ period and let it
rest and heal properly, in the meantime I have to squeeze in what I
can.
I came to life mid morning after walking the dog and broke my fast
with a pint of blended whole lemon and a little apple juice – YUM!
Later on an apple; for lunch a pesto ‘esque’ salad of: 1 Tbs pine
nuts, tomatoes, cucumber, garlic, mixed fresh herbs, sea salt,
pepper and a little chilli all pulsed in the food processor and for
dinner a liquid salad of lettuce, tomato, chilli, sea salt, pepper,
garlic and a tiny bit of chilli and a dash of olive oil – no
guessing what my favourite ingredients are! I also munched on a few
raw cacao beans in the afternoon.
I had plenty of energy, which is just as well, as its 10.30pm and I
still have much work to do tonight.
The detox has definitely made it easy for me to tackle my sugar and
fat addiction which escalated over the winter and has the added
bonus weight loss – a whopping 10lbs! If you really are having
trouble transitioning to a raw diet; this is such a handy tool to
use. I finally cottoned on to juicing large amounts in one go so
that I wasn’t at the juicer 5 times per day.
A friend I have been doing the detox with finishes it tomorrow; they
have been mainly sedentary and have been having the odd little
nibble of dates/fruits/nuts here and there. They finish the detox
tomorrow with a weight loss so far of 5lbs and they did not have any
severe detox symptoms, although they did experience grumpiness in
the first few days. Every one has a different reaction to this
cleanse, each of mine have been quite different. I will definitely
do this as an annual cleanse.
Blog: 05 June 2007
Day 7 of cleanse
My body has really started to detox, shame I’m nearly at the
end of this ‘Blessed herbs detox’, just shows me how much more
cleansing needs to be done. I had a wee bit of a sore throat today
which disappeared within an hour and I came up in some nice zits,
one near my throat which kind of compliments the mild cough and sore
throat nicely! About 9pm started coughing when I speak
(which is an old ailment that I haven’t had for years) - just what
I need before my 40th birthday! Still, better out than in. I’d love
to carry this detox on for another week or so to get a bit deeper
seeing as how all these symptoms have cropped up, but the time just
isn’t right, and now that I have made the decision to break the fast
tomorrow, I have started dreaming about what to eat… after my
breakfast of a well chewed apple, I’ll have a green smoothie
mid-morning and lunch will be my beloved Courgetti pesto with lots
of coriander and garlic and green juice for dinner, Mmmnn! I think I
will definitely try to keep my diet very clean to see if I can
deepen the cleanse ( with a wee break for the b’day) – greens will
rule the day and chocolate brownies are definitely on hold!
The day was fine, as busy and hectic as usual including an evening
smoothie making session with about 25 cubs – they all brought their
favourite fruits in and made some delicious smelling smoothies,
unfortunately I couldn’t taste them! Although I have to admit to
having the most miniscule taste of the melon ‘milk’ (melon blended
with water) to try and figure out why it wasn’t so popular – we
added too much water…
Normally day 8 of the cleanse would be the last day of fasting,
however I had only done 3 days of cutting down food due to the rapid
toxin release after my winter of dried fruit and nut and avocado
fest. Another reason for stopping is that I have Funky Rob of Funky
Raw coming to take me on a wild food walk on Thursday, and I’d like
to have full power of speech and my wits about me.
Last night I took time out to watch Al
Gore’s Movie ‘An inconvenient Truth’ about climate change
http://www.climatecrisis.net/ I thoroughly recommend it. If only
he’d been President… maybe this time round.
Blog: 04 June 2007
Day 6 of cleanse
As predicted, a much better day today – maybe due to the fact
that I forced myself to go to bed before midnight, had a much less
physical day, didn’t get much work done, but c’est la vie! Finally
that grumpiness gone and feeling very unstressed about all the work
I have to do this week and trying not to look at the bigger picture
as I can’t possibly achieve all I need to do on my own and have any
resemblance of a life or sanity.
I wasn’t at all hungry, not even hungry enough to take today’s last
sachet of toxin absorber, but will I do as I want to do the full
programme. A length of plaque like stuff came out as long as my arm,
but not nearly as sinister looking as the first cleanse - I’ll spare
you any more details.
Haven’t managed to squeeze in that long jog, or even a short one…
Blog: 03 June 2007
Day 5 of cleanse
Yesterday I tried to have more juices with the toxin absorber
powder instead of water, I was mainly at home, so this wasn’t too
difficult so I only had one of the ‘shakes’ with water. Me and the
dog only managed a 30 minute jog on day 4, my legs felt quite heavy,
it was too hot for the dog, and I had too busy a day to spend too
long exercising. However, we did manage a mini sprint on the last
leg, unfortunately not due to a burst of energy, but only having 5
minutes to get home! Then I had another full on day and plenty of
energy. I was getting a little ratty again, I think more due to the
fact that I am not going to bed until the wee hours, and I’m just so
busy.
Today I woke up OK, and then turned into an ogre, the kids were
driving me nuts, there is too much work to do here, the place is a
mess and I am detoxing!!! I need to be alone today – to be grumpy
and detoxy. I didn’t get out for a jog, another full on day, the sun
shining and the garden needs working on – and If I don’t get out in
the sun I will go insane. Then whoosh, I didn’t stop all day, I
blinked and the day had vanished. I wonder if I am keeping going so
much to distract me from food. Today the hunger came, having to
prepare food for the kids is getting to me, I just want mangoes and
pineapple and something with coriander in it, perhaps because that
is what the kitchen is full of. The grumpiness waned off towards the
afternoon, as did the hunger. Tried to take a little extra juice
after each toxin absorber shake and I’m going to make a huge effort
to get to bed earlyish. I know pushing my self, being so busy during
a detox is a foolish thing – but next week gets even busier…
I had a bit of plaque like stuff come away today. I’m not expecting
too much as I had such a deep cleanse the first time. If I remember
rightly, things really start happening on day 4 of the ‘fast’ (day 7
of the whole cleanse).
I am expecting the hunger to diminish totally tomorrow, in
fact I am due a toxin absorber now and am not at all hungry and all
the grumpiness of earlier on has all gone – I feel I could go for a
jog now, but the kitchen needs cleaning, juice needs making and the
packed lunches don’t make themselves!
Blog: 01 June 2007
Day 3 of cleanse
After 2 days of cutting down on food to prepare for the fast and
start ‘clearing the path’, so to speak, I have to say I found day 2
of the cleanse the hardest so far. Not too hard, but I had to think
more about what I ate for a change. After a long period of eating
far too many nuts, avocados and dried fruits (keep me away from
those chocolate brownies!!!) Plus no exercise worth speaking of, in
fact becoming very sedentary whilst eating those large quantities of
fats and being glued to the computer has meant getting into the old
jeans became more of a challenge. In fact whilst the weight gain has
been minimal, it has really been the lack of physical activity that
has been most damaging as I feel like I have completely changed
shape. Whilst I know perfectly well how to eat healthily, seems like
that old sugar addiction was allowed to creep back in and take over
for a while.
So, day 1 involved cutting food intake down to 75% - Not very
difficult, a very easy day.
Day 2 saw me feeling quite ‘ratty’ as the sugar withdrawal kicked
in, it was tolerable, but boy was I hungry! By 6.30pm I was getting
a headache, by 7.30pm I was having waves of nausea, was feeling like
I had a hangover. Rather foolishly I tried to eat, too late in the
evening and whilst feeling nauseous! I had a slight temperature, a
very suddenly runny nose and projectile vomiting by 8pm (luckily I
hadn’t managed much food!). I made a rapid recovery after that, even
the nose stopped running, but was tucked up in bed by 8.30pm with my
lovely new copy of the “Get Fresh” magazine and fast asleep by 9pm!
For someone who normally never retires before 1am, that is rare!
With so much sleep, I was wide awake by 4.30am and felt great. I
managed to get back off to sleep for a little, then got up and took
the dog for a wee jog. On day 2 we managed 50 mins, not bad for
someone who has been so inactive. Then today, day 3 we only did
about 30mins. Seeing as I had had such rapid detox reactions ( to
some it may look like food poisoning, but nobody else who ate the
same food got sick). I was expecting detox, but when it hit me I
didn’t have the strength to do any thing to alleviate the symptoms,
especially when you’ve got to just ‘get on with it’ and carry on
doing supper etc – even managed to tidy the kitchen before bed! I
think the reaction was much faster as I am raw. I have to say I saw
this as a really good quick detox, 1 ½ hours was no trouble really,
and you always know that it won’t go on for ever. It was really good
for me to feel detox symptoms again, as a reminder of what my
clients often go through.
After last night, I decided I was ready to go straight into the
fast, as I really didn’t fancy food and was raring to go now I had
the detox symptoms over and done with, and now all that lovely extra
energy from fasting kicks in. The only slight symptoms I got today
were occasional word scrambling in speech and late in the evening I
had to concentrate more whilst driving, both things caused by not
having time to make juice to give me some calories and taking the
shake just with water. ! Making extra juice between shakes would
have helped, but alas, I had a full on day and evening and just had
to grab water and go! I was also really shocked to see a white
coating on my tongue this evening (nice) all that Candida coming out
(darn that sugar addiction and all those handfuls of dates I’ve been
quaffing!). Still, here I am, 12.30 am and feeling great! So, day 3
– really easy and I still think Blessed Herbs Colon Cleanse is the
best thing since raw living breads!
Blog: 30 May 2007
My Favourite Cleanses
So I figure this blog may only be a monthly affair…
I have been doing a little cleansing, unfortunately just on the body
– the house is still permanently strewn with muddy football boots
and piles of paper work that I really am just about to get on
with…
I started with a couple of liver cleanses see
www.curezone.com/cleanse/liver for recipes. I did the cleanses
loosely based on ‘Hulda Clarke’s’ recipes, but in a much simpler
way. I have done about 5 liver cleanses previously over the last
couple of years, all with great results. This cleanse was brought on
by me having a tender gall area, and after the last cleanse earlier
in the year, I could literally feel that larger stones had moved
forward and really felt like a blockage . My wonderful homeopath
Veronica Rage had been giving me remedies, including chelodinium and
checking I wasn’t jaundiced and I plunged into another cleanse – I
never make the time to prepare for cleanses, and tend to squeeze
them in when I can. As I had predicted the big mammas came out. In
previous cleanses the stones had been mainly pea sized, moving up to
the size of my little finger on subsequent cleanses. This time I had
a whopping 5 big ones the size of the top of my thumb. The biggest
one coming first; the one I had felt in there blocking my ducts. I
can still feel I have more there, it doesn’t help that I have been
eating FAR too much fat in my diet since the winter – too many nuts
and avocadoes and not enough green juices. (I read somewhere; sorry
can’t remember where that gall stones don’t even take very long to
form, so my fats fest hasn’t helped the situation). Pleased with
these results, of the flush and still ‘being aware’ of my gall
bladder (it doesn’t hurt, I can just feel something else there), I
decided to follow with another flush a week later. As I said before,
I don’t tend to prepare my body for the flushes, and I was a bit
lazy and gung-ho about it after the previous good results. With late
timings and eating ate too late, the next lot of stones were l
different. The first batch was covered in a crunchy (calcified?)
casing, with pea green cholesterol inside. I have put the picture
in, sorry if you have a delicate constitution! I have NO idea what
the big lump of unchewed! Never mind undigested food is! And as the
saying goes, "You should have seen the ones that got away!!"
The second, even more rushed batch were literally just the bright
green lumps of fat, which makes me wonder if the second lot were not
stones, but just the olive oil I had drunk mixed with bile – who
knows without lab analysis? If like me you have trouble processing
fats, you really might want to try this. I will try my next
liver flush after a juice fast with lots of apple and grapefruit
juice to break the stones down. Maybe after my next colon
cleanse…Which I started today – I do love this cleanse, my favourite
cleanse of all
The amazing blessed herbs cleanse.
I did my first BH colon cleanse a couple of years ago and had
utterly amazing results, culminating in a length of thick black
plaque like tyre rubber as long as my arm!!! (Also had the bonus of
losing 9lb of intestinal gunk!). I followed this a few months later
with another colon cleanse and the Internal cleanse.
There are 3 ways of doing the cleanse:
1) With a 5 day fast – the deepest and best cleanse. 2) With a
modified diet – mid to high raw, vegan preferable, but possible with
vegetarian/meat diet, and 3) A mild cleanse with no dietary changes.
I feel the last one may be a great transitioning tool for people
wanting to change over to a high raw diet.
The colon cleanse could not be easier. It simply requires 3 days
prep of gradually reducing your food intake to prepare for the fast
and starting to take the digestive stimulator so you get a chance to
find the correct dosage and slowly start cleansing. This is followed
by 5 days ‘fasting’ on apple juice taken with a sachet of toxin
absorber 5 times daily, then more digestive stimulators before bed.
This ends with 1 day easing your self back onto solid foods. The kit
comes with full instructions and a timetable to help you to get into
the routine of taking your toxin absorber drinks. It really is as
easy as making a fresh apple juice, pouring it into your mixer jar,
then adding the sachet of toxin absorber – shake and drink. When I
was out and about, I would just take a jar of juice or put the juice
into one of those big ‘protein shake’ type bottles and take the
sachet with me to have at the right time. The shake comes in two
flavours, ginger which I have tried, and spearmint which I will try
for the first time tonight, I’ll let you know which one I prefer,
and try to do a colon cleanse blog diary ( I can feel my husband
cringing now – but I promise NO photos!). I’ll let you know how I
get on…Maybe it will be a daily blog whilst I am doing the
cleanse...
Blog: 28 April
2007
Ok Finally I am starting a blog of sorts for those of you that kept
asking! I’m not yet sure how regular it will be, or indeed what
direction it is going in, we’ll see.
After a manically busy couple of weeks of teaching I managed to
squeeze in a couple of Raw food promotion events, one for The London
Vegans, which was really well attended by a great lively and
friendly bunch, I felt like I was practically preaching to the
converted as of course most of them are already practically there,
being Vegan already. However, the response was great with a huge
variety of questions that really kept me on my toes! I had a ball (I
love my work!) and was pleased that all the recipe demonstrations
and tastings went down so well, although for some reason I kept
talking about ‘Beefing up’ recipes (for transitioning people), which
almost developed into a nervous tic!
I also did a promo in my children’s school which went down
brilliantly with lots of people rapidly converted to green smoothies
instantly. I always stress to people if they are only going to make
one simple improvement in their lives, make it be a ‘green smoothie’
(check out Victoria
Boutenko's ODE TO GREEN SMOOTHIES). I have witnessed
massive health improvements with some clients just by taking this
first ‘baby step’ into ‘raw fooding’. If you are struggling with
addictions, whether dairy , sugar , bread or booze, the intense
nutrition you are getting from the green smoothies WILL make your
journey SO much quicker and easier, as well as improving your
hydrochloric acid levels. My favourite breakfast is 1 ½ litres of
green smoothie to carry me through lunch time and in the early days
of ‘rawing’ will help start you off on the right foot each day.
Also as seaweed tastings had been going down well at my classes I
decided to try my fave seaweed salad on the public, lo and behold
they loved it – see my recipes page. It kind of reminds me of
whelks, which is really just the taste of the sea, apple cider
vinegar and pepper, topped with guacamole I find it TOTALLY scrummy!
One interesting question that came up at the London Vegans Talk was
from an incredibly vibrant raw vegan lady who had cured her cancer
with her diet changes. She asked if she REALLY needed to include
‘superfoods’ from the vast array that are now easily available
online. This Lady looked AMAZING and shone with health. I asked her
if she felt there was anything lacking in her diet, and she said she
felt great. If you are managing to get great quality foods and can
grow some of your own and include some wild greens and don’t feel
you need them, then why fix what ain’t broken?
However for myself I often know the quality and freshness of my
foods is not always what it could be and I really notice the
difference when I haven’t taken my beloved Maca for a while. I love
the convenience of grass and green powders, especially when
travelling and in a hurry. I adore Natures Biotics, especially for
my kids and E3AFA, or even better frozen E3Live supplements (available
from
www.kiki-health.co.uk).
Please feel free to email me about this blog (sorry I cannot
guarantee to reply) or contact me if you would like to arrange a
demo/talk / class or event in your area.
