OOOOOHHHH-WWEEEEEEE! Today was juice day 1. Gues what – I was starving but I feel pretty good now (10:44 p.m.) You know what’s even better? I am plotting & planning other group cleanses. To top it off I decided that my next personal detex/cleanse will be all raw and juice! It’s so cool to have friends, business associates, facebook friends, co-workers, and others expressing interest in learning more and in tryiing a natural body detox for themselves. Can it get any better than that?

Group & individual detox will be offered as part of our holistic wellness consultations for my new business launching in 2010 for sure!

So what am I doing now:
Reading uo on various versions of detox programs including variations for men & women. If I find a great gems of information I’ll share them with you later for sure. As for those of you who are checking in to see what’s on the daily menu – this is what I had today:

Breakfast Smoothie with random fruit and Orange Juice
Peppermint Tea
Water
Carrot & Pear juice (per the juicing that Madam B Fly did for me!)
Water
Cinnamon Tea (and at this point in the day I was starving – i never looked forward to green juice ever in life)
Kale/Pear & Apple juice (again courtesy of Madam B Fly)
Smoothie with banana, cranberries, nut butter, frozen peaches & soy milk – it was a little too thick but decent.

So great day! My goal to improve the health & well being of my community is being accomplished 1 lifestyle change at a time! WOW!

Yes – days 6 & 7 of my diet cleansing journey were quite interesting. My system should be getting a well-deserved nourishing of a lifetime. For sure the hubby’s has – he’s been to the bathroom every few hours since day 3 or 4. I haven’t seen such obvious changes but I have to say that I do feel okay!

The past two days were RAW days in which we were only supposed to eat raw – fresh – uncooked – living foods. The biggest part of this challenge is trying to figure out what I CAN eat – how I can get some variety. Of course Madam B. Fly gave some suggestions of which tomato and avocado salad was my FAVE for sure! The other leaf salads that I made weren’t bad either – they all had a base of heart of romaine lettuce then the other ingredients varied and included: onion, avocado, tomato, radishes, sprouts, broccoli, mango, green pepper, cucumber and mushroom. I couldn’t believe I had forgotten one of my salad faves – olives – but that’s okay cause I usually by the canned ones anyway.

A chopped salad that looks great but wasn't mine - didn't have a camera handy!

In addition to all the salad, I did have several different fruits, water, tea, juice and or course a smoothie. (I even had a wheatgrass shot as an added bonus –burps that smelled of grass after that. )
My husband and I watched Food Inc together – I am hoping that helps shock us into more permanent dietary changes. There’s something very…GROSS about watching cows hanging from conveyor belts. Seeing chickens smashed into “hamburger filler” and the multitude of “corn” products! I do live in Indiana but I think there’s more than corn in most grocery stores – maybe?

Speaking of stores – I have purchased some items that have never seen the likes of my kitchen before. Among them are: hummus, tabouli, ginger root, whole radishes, fresh parsley, pita bread and fresh pears!

All in all I made it – I am learning tons and can’t wait to continue to share my journey with others.

I am strug-gle-ing!
Pinpointing the problem: frustration + boredom = I want a chocolate/sweet snack!
I can now pointpoint the feeling I get when I am in my office most weekday afternoons. Question is will I be able to redirect those emotional cravings to something more healthy??? Today – yes; In 14 days – I hope the answer will still be yes!
I need a snack & I don’t think oranges and water can cut it. I am about to try it though.
I do have some anxiety in relation to the next four days of this journey in which the challenges is eating raw (live) foods and juicing. I have no clue of I am going to have for dinner right now – let alone a full 2 days of raw cuisine. So in addition to work frustration – I am an now frustrated with not knowing what to eat – BOOO!!!!
But in case you are wondering what was on the menu up until now…
Breakfast: smoothie (I could have this EVERYDAY!) Ingredients: soy milk; fresh bana, flax seed with blue berries, frozen strawberries, and soy strawberry yogurt.
Lunch: Naked Burrito Ingredients: black beans, rice, lettuce, tomatoes, olives, onions, guacamole, 2 kinds of salsa and a few chips on the side
Snack: fresh fruit from home – raspberries, tangerines, apples
Drink: H2O but is it – I had a Smart Water – what is THIS about? I have to admit, I bought it only because of it’s large cute bottle (see?)

But now that I am drinking it all I can this of is what a waste of plastic this is. Then to top it off – one of my students said that drinking this ‘educated’ water was like drinking a sports drink – yep electrolytes were added. What the heck does that mean? What is that doing to my body? What happened to water that tasted like metal faucet and was laced with fluoride and more importantly was FREE???

Today’s Challenge: Vegan cuisine! I think I aced this challenge, but it wasn’t without a few hiccups!

Breakfast: Smoothie take 2: I started with a basic recipe: nut butter, a fresh banana and soy milk – instead of ice I used frozen peaches. I blended – I tasted – I didn’t like it. So I made a second batch to add to the first and voila – it was good! The second batch I used another banana, more soy milk, fresh raspberries, and more frozen peaches. MAIN HICCUP HERE: 1/3 of it ended up in the seat of the car =(

Drink: Raspberry Green Tea

Lunch: Now lunch was a treat. I have only had one type of hummus in my life that I ever “liked” all the rest – gross!! I’d thought I’d try to introduce it since I was on this new journey. The result – deliciousness!!!!! I had 3-4 baby portobella mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, and pita bread with hummus and tabouli!! It was so good & surprisingly filling! I practiced not drinking while eating which Madam B Fly says aids in better digestion and absorption of nutrients into your body!!! HICCUP HERE: Carrots are too loud and crunchy for a working lunch meeting – I had to eat the rest for my afternoon snack.

Drink: Tea and water

Snack: a few bites of a new trail mix – it was gross – had wasabi peas in it – wasabi is only for sushi (at least for me!)
Snack 2 (while cooking dinner): Soy chocolate milk -about 2 oz. then about 15 minutes later another small taste of hummus and tabouli with pita bread and one mushroom

Dinner: Baked sweet potato with soy butter and honey, green beans with onion and garlic, and soy nuggets (mainly for the men of the house). HICCUP HERE: I forgot the nuggets were in the oven and overcooked them – they weren’t black – every morsel has been eaten!

Dessert: A few spoonfuls of raspberry sorbet to satisfy my sweet tooth!

FLAVOR of the day???? Raspberry it seems!

Lesson of the day(lesson from yesterday – but there’s not enough hours in the day for me to truly chronicle all of the journey): BE PRESENT DURING MEALS!!!
Madam B. Fly says to be present and experience your food – I tried! I worked really hard to not eat standing up – almost succeeded in this until the snack while I was making dinner and the second helping of green beans I ate hovering over the kitchen counter. Oh well – I’ll try that challenge again tomorrow.

Happy Cleansing!

Read this this am on sparkpeople.com:

Easy Ways to Boost Fiber Intake

Fiber is one of the easiest nutrients to incorporate into your diet, and one of the most important. However, many Americans don’t reach their much-needed daily requirements for a healthy diet. Adults need 25 to 35 grams daily. Generally, children under 18 years require less. Using the “age plus five” rule will help you determine your child’s needs. For example, a 5-year-old would need 10 grams daily (5 + 5 = 10), and a 10-year-old would need 15 grams (10 + 5 = 15).

Insufficient fiber intake can increase your risk for many health problems, including constipation, high cholesterol, weight gain, irritable bowel syndrome, and even cancer of the colon. Here are more fiber-rich tips:
•Choose fresh fruit and/or vegetables over juices.
•To get more fiber and nutrients, eat the skin of cleaned fruits and vegetables.
•Include bran and whole grain breads daily.
•Drink more water to accommodate your increased fiber intake and reduce indigestion.
•Eat fewer processed foods and more whole foods.
•Try to meet your fiber requirements with foods rather than supplements.
•A large increase in fiber over a short period of time could result in bloating, diarrhea, gas, and all-around discomfort. It is better to add fiber to your diet gradually over a recommended period of about three weeks, to avoid abdominal problems.

Well, well, well – Day 3 I felt terrible – I had a headache from the time I went to bed on Day 2 until I FINALLY gave in and took ibproufen (sp?) around 7:15 p.m. Could have been caused by many things – weaning from caffeine, not enough water, blood pressure out of whack, and the list goes on!

For today’s challege we had to limit dairy and eggs. I had my last hoorah with milk in my cereal, the sprinkle of cheese that was served on my lunch (i’ll tell you what that was in a sec) and the cream that was probably in my tomato soup from lunch and dinner.

What did I eat all day?
Breakfast – only about 5 spoonfuls of Kashi cereal with dried strawberries and a little honey (the rest vanished by way of M. O.)
Lunch – NOODLES & COMPANY – this could possibly be my first or second favorite fast food – it’s a toss up between this and Qdoba. Anyways I had my usual – whole grain tuscan linguine with tofu and tomato bisque soup! HMM MMM GOOD!!!
Snack – Some sort of pretzel bread from Trader Joe’s
Dinner – Panera Bread – You Pick Two -Half of the Mediterranean Veggie Sandwhich (was not as great as it sounds they were stingy with the veggies) and tomato soup.
Drinks – green tea, ginger & mint tea, water, water and mo water!

My family and I spent about 2 hours grocery shopping to stock up for the next two weeks. We bought tons of produce for eating and juicing at Costco! They have the best non-local produce in large quantities and good prices!!!! We then ventured to Trader Joe’s to get all of the other things that I couldn’t get. (oh yeah – i did try their sparkling cranberry juice – it was SOOOOO GOOOD!)
When were finally checked out the cashier asked it we were buying anything new! I had to think and look – why yes we were! I hope to incorporate most of the items as regulars including my rasberry sorbet for my sweet habit, and several soup purees – he said the Black Bean one was great – I can’t wait! *NOTE TO ALL BUSINESS OWNERS – good customer service goes a LONG WAY!!!!!!

For those of you saying well dang I can’t afford to go to THAT place and I don’t have a Costco’s membership – you can do this exact same thing with some substitutions at Marsh, Kroger, Meijer or even Super Target! For instance Frozen veggie are 77 cents each, you can get 5 avocadoes for $5 and 5lbs of pears?apples?(one of these) for $5 with your fresh idea card this week!
Being healthy doesn’t have to be expensive like most people think – especially if you catch deals and shop local! Check out Indy Winter Farm Market on Saturdays!
Okay – this is getting too long for all text – so i’ll catch you later for a post on Day 4 and other randomness. For those of you that joined in – TODAY AND TOMORROW ARE TOTALLY VEGAN – DITCH THOSE ANIMAL PRODUCTS!!!!

We eliminate processed foods and meat!!

Found this article about what processed foods are on about.com – enjoy!

Question: What are processed foods?
I am having a hard time understanding what exactly is considered to be “processed food.” Do you have a list or something that would help me?
Jen – About.com User

Answer: Processed foods have been altered from their natural state for safety reasons and for convenience. The methods used for processing foods include canning, freezing, refrigeration, dehydration and aseptic processing.
We tend to think of processed foods as bad, but it turns out that many processed foods are not unhealthy. For example, milk would be considered a processed food because it is pasteurized to kill bacteria and homogenized to keep fats from separating. While some people prefer to drink raw milk, most of us should consume the “processed” version we find in our grocery stores.

Another healthy example of food processing is frozen vegetables. While fresh may be best, freezing vegetables preserves vitamins and minerals and makes them convenient to cook and eat all year around. Fruit and vegetable juice is also an example of a healthy processed food. In fact, some orange juice is fortified with calcium to make it even more nutritious.

Of course, there are a lot of processed foods that aren’t good for you. Many processed foods are made with trans fats, saturated fats, and large amounts of sodium and sugar. These types of foods should be avoided, or at least eaten sparingly.

Processed foods that may not be as healthy as fresh foods include:

•canned foods with lots of sodium
•white breads and pastas made with refined white flour, which are not as healthy as those made with whole grains
•packaged high-calorie snack foods, like chips and cheese snacks
•high-fat convenience foods, like cans of ravioli
•frozen fish sticks and frozen dinners
•packaged cakes and cookies
•boxed meal mixes
•sugary breakfast cereals
•processed meats
Processed meats might be some of the worst of these foods. Eating these meats may increase your risk of colorectal, kidney and stomach cancer. Processed meats include hot dogs, bologna, sausage, ham and other packaged lunch meats.
These processed foods and prepackaged meals are very convenient and popular. If you do shop for these foods, be sure to look for products that are made with whole grains, low in sodium and calories, and free of trans fats. Make sure you pay attention to serving size, too, and balance out the processed foods you eat with a delicious fresh salad and some whole grain bread.

Sources:

Larsson SC, Wolk A. “Meat consumption and risk of colorectal cancer: A meta-analysis of prospective studies.” Int J Cancer. 2006 Dec 1;119(11):2657-64.

Faramawi MF, Johnson E, Fry MW, Sall M, Yi Z. “Consumption of different types of meat and the risk of renal cancer: meta-analysis of case-control studies.” Cancer Causes Control. 2007 Mar;18(2):125-33. Epub 2007 Jan 22.

Larsson SC, Orsini

So this is day one of my dietary – mind – body – soul cleanse! I definitely had to embark upon this experience AFTER the soulfood thanksgiving weekend, however this was definitely too important to my life transitions to wait for a new years cliché.
The great Madame B Fly is assisting myself and a few others through this 14-day process of ridding our bodies and thus our minds of the toxins we often call “good food”. Today I am to only eat one meat for the day. This is part a gradual weaning from the bad. This won’t be too difficult for me because I have been fairly successful in the goal this year of becoming vegetarian.
I guess technically I am a pescatarian but who’s really keeping track, but the social labeling snobs! You know who I am talking about. Those often arrogant folks that correct you on the generally accepted technicalities of labels. “I am not vegetarian, I am better than that a vegan.” “I don’t use a PC , I drool over my Mac.” “I don’t drive just any car, I drive a Prius!” You know who I am talking about. I am thoroughly amused by these types, but secretly envy them during my capitalistic rages(well basically just the MAC users – especially when my PC is infected with a Trojan).
Why do we do this to each other? Can’t we all just get along? Can’t we all just be ourselves – whomever and whatever that may entail?
Oh yeah – well this wasn’t meant to become a social commentary. I digress. Back to my point, I am going to document my 14-day experience doing this cleanse. Given that I don’t really have a blog following, it will be more for myself than for the masses. But if you do find yourself following melodramatic saga (yes – I AM being sarcastic) I hope you will comment and have dialogue with me!
Stay tuned for more about the cleanse!

Here is another interesting message from my e-mail in-box and the reason why I must go see FOOD INC ASAP!

This is interesting . ..
Margarine was originally manufactured to fatten turkeys. When it killed the turkeys, the people who had put all the money into the research wanted a payback so they put their heads together to figure out what to do with this product to get their money back. It was a white substance with no food appeal so they added the yellow colouring and sold it to people to use in place of butter. How do you like it? They have come out with some clever new flavourings….

DO YOU KNOW… the difference between margarine and butter?
Read on to the end…gets very interesting!

Both have the same amount of calories.
Butter is slightly higher in saturated fats at 8 grams compared to 5 grams.
Eating margarine can increase heart disease in women by 53% over eating the same amount of butter, according to a recent Harvard Medical Study.
Eating butter increases the absorption of many other nutrients in other foods.
Butter has many nutritional benefits where margarine has a few
only because they are added!
Butter tastes much better than margarine and it can enhance the flavours of other foods.
Butter has been around for centuries where margarine has been around for less than 100 years .

And now, for Margarine..

Very high in Trans fatty acids.
Triple risk of coronary heart disease .
Increases total cholesterol and LDL (this is the bad cholesterol) and lowers HDL cholesterol, (the good cholesterol)
Increases the risk of cancers up to five fold….
Lowers quality of breast milk.
Decreases immune response.
Decreases insulin response.

And here’s the most disturbing fact…. HERE IS THE PART THAT IS VERY INTERESTING!

Margarine is but one molecule away from being PLASTIC..

This fact alone was enough to have me avoiding margarine for life and anything else that is hydrogenated (this means hydrogen is added, changing the molecular structure of the substance).

You can try this yourself:

Purchase a tub of margarine and leave it in your garage or shaded area. Within a couple of days you will note a couple of things:

* no flies, not even those pesky fruit flies will go near it (that should tell you something)
* it does not rot or smell differently because it has no nutritional value ; nothing will grow on it. Even those teeny weenie micro organisms will not a find a home to grow.

Why? Because it is nearly plastic . Would you melt your Tupperware and spread that on your toast?

Share This With Your Friends…..(If you want to ‘butter them up’)!

Chinese Proverb:
‘When someone shares something of value with you and you benefit from it, you have a moral obligation to share it with others.’
Pass the BUTTER PLEASE

So last week I went to a mainstream (my name for anything that’s “normal” to most people) grocery NOT a health food store to get the staples I needed to create my new vegetarian recipes.  One recipe calls for Kale.  Although I had never purchased it, for some reason I knew I was going to find it with other greens – collards, turnips, cabbage, leaf lettuce, etc. 

 I made my way through the produce section marking items from my list.  Carrots – check.  Bananas – check.  Mushrooms – check. Then I walked up on what I was really after the Kale!!!!  YEA!!! On the road to vegetarian bliss. I was too excited to add this to my new list of grocery staples.  I browsed and decided against the “normal* looking bunch and opted for the darker, larger (ok-what am I talking about?) organic  bunches of Kale.  You know – the darker the more nutritious right? So I threw it in my cart and made my way to get the other items on my list.

  Tomatoes – check. Whole wheat bread – check. 

I was on my way to get chedder cheese and milk (vegetarian not vegan yet) and that’s when I heard the first comment.  Went something like this:

“Excuse me”, says the nice lady in a wheel chair.

“Yes?”, says the beautiful woman that obviously cares about her health (j/k)

“What is that?”

“This?”, I asked pointing to the Kale she was nodding towards.

“Yes. What is it?”

“Kale”

“What?”

“Its like a type of green”, says the lady’s adult daughter

“Oh – okay”, says the lady with a nod

Okay – that’s when I politely walked away smiling but wanting to scratch my head…isn’t it a green? (My healthy friend agreed – ‘it’s not LIKE a green it IS a green’ – duh!

Then it happened again.

I was waiting in the SLOWEST line ever (about 20 minutes with only 3 ppl in front of me).  I had just witnessed a woman purchasing not 1, not 2, but 11 bags of onions?  What do you do with all those? Make THESE then what?

Anyways, I FINALLY get to the front of the check-out and the nice older black woman makes small talk…she rings my items - then she gets to the bag of green leafy-ness, then asks, “What is this?”… I explained. I paid for my groceries and as I put the final bag in the cart, the clerk says, “Whatever you’re making looks like it MIGHT be good.”

Thanks?

So if you are wondering – what the kale?  Check this out!

But I am still wondering what you do with 11 bags of onions…