July 18, 2012

Juice Cleanse Adventure :: Days 3 & 4

“It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.”
-Mahatma Gandhi

I’m a little bit behind on posting. Last night was the first night I really had detox symptoms. Caffeine withdrawal headaches can be a bitch. So I just laid low when I got home.

Today, I feel amazing. I had crazy, vivid dreams last night. There were green hills to climb. There were smiling cows and old friends. I didn’t want to wake up. All day I have felt an incredible high. I’m so positive. I want to feel like this forever. I have been very productive at work and came home to spackle the bathroom walls (renovation project ongoing), edited b-roll for an actor who has been requesting it forever and I kept blowing him off, emailed a friend back because I promised to, did all the dishes, played with lulu and made a green soup which is now chilling in the fridge. i will soon enjoy its deliciousness. I am emotional in the best way today. Easy come, easy go. I love my friends old and new so much. I am full of love. I love josh. I realize how lucky i am. i want to see my nieces and spend time with them before they get too big. It’s kind of already happening so fast that it scares me. I just want to enjoy this. My skin feels silky smooth. I feel beautiful from the inside. I’m glowing.

I’m listening to Beach House’s new album right now and it is PERFECT for this moment. I can’t explain. Just swoon.

July 17, 2012

Juice Cleanse Adventure :: Day 2 of 10

“Healing is a matter of time, but it is sometimes also a matter of opportunity.”
-Hippocrates

Yesterday was Day 2. Going to work was hard without my morning coffee. Luckily, I am not experiencing the intense caffeine withdrawal that my friend Laura is. She had throbbing headaches all day yesterday and left work early. I pre-made a 52oz juice the night before to take with me. It actually lasted me all day along with my water. My energy levels were great as was my focus. Work was crazy, I was multi-tasking and was able to stay super focused and on top of it all. With a feeling of overall joy. Added bonus. When I got home I was feeling hungry for something savory so I made the suggested snack smoothie which included avocado, tomato, lemon juice, cucumber and spinach. I topped it off with cayenne pepper and ate it like a soup. It really hit the spot. Later I also ate a couple teaspons of hemp seeds. Their nutty flavor satisfied my craving. Then, I took Lulu for a walk, watched 2 very intense episodes of Breaking Bad (trying to catch up), and took a long, hot shower. I slept very well and woke up early with energy. So far, feeling good.

July 15, 2012

Juice Cleanse Adventure :: Day 1 of 10

“Without health life is not life; it is only a state of langour and suffering – an image of death.”
– Buddha

So it began today. Well, really this evening. All day I ate only raw foods as part of the prep. I was supposed to be prepping all week but I was in Vegas so you can guess how that went. I went to Mother’s Market in Brea today and got the 16oz “liver cleanse” juice. Beets, apples, ginger yumminess. That kicked off my day right. But, I do admit it was the first time I started feeling nervous about this whole cleanse. My thoughts were made up of fears that I won’t have willpower, that I will give up, that I’ll be too hungry, etc. My imagination went wild as I watch Josh eat his Tempeh Bacon, Lettuce, Avocado, Tomato sandwich with a generously portioned side of lemon-quinoa (one of my favorites!). Boooo! 

Later, at home, I juice up 32 oz of a green blend which included spinach, celery, zucchini, parsley, mint & lime. I added lemon, too, because it was pretty bitter. I liked the drink overall. I am letting myself be proud for also prepping my veggies to take to work tomorrow so I have enough for a recipe. I also pre-juiced my breakfast and left it in the fridge. I’m not sure if it’s ok to do that but I feel like the morning will be hard if I don’t. Then, I cleaned the juicer out and packed it up to take to work tomorrow. Laura and I plan to juice in the office! I wonder how she’s feeling tonight. I’m feeling a little bit more optimistic than earlier. I feel alert and awake. Josh and I rode our bikes around when it cooled off this evening then I took a hot shower and am now ready to relax until I fall asleep. Who knows what tomorrow may hold. I am supposed to go to the dog shelter early in the morning to see about adopting a puppy. I know the timing is probably bad but I can’t control that we found the cutest little pup today and he will be available tomorrow. It’s first-come first-serve so I plan to be there before they open at 10am. A puppy will throw my world into chaos but I want our Lulu to have a little pal. Maybe drastic change will actually be good this week – will keep me busy and focused.

Not gonna lie. Would have loved to have a cold beer tonight.

July 14, 2012

a juice cleanse adventure!

“How do you build up your bank account? By putting something in it everyday.Your health account is no different. What I do today, I am wearing tomorrow. If I put inferior foods in my body today, I’m going to be inferior tomorrow, it’s that simple.” 

– Jack Lalanne

Tomorrow I’m starting a 10-Day Juice Cleanse which includes some products from different companies such as Orangina business. My friend at work had signed up for the cleanse on Tera Warner’s website. I had done one of her detoxes before and I said “Hey, I’ve always wanted to do a juice cleanse! I will do it with you and together we will succeed!” I’ve done other cleanses but never 10 days of strictly juice and this one is mostly green juices and seems like a good option. This particular cleanse makes it easy as it gives you a shopping list, juice recipes & a menu planner. The juice recipes explain why each juice is good for you/what it does for your body. I am excited but I also am worried about my willpower as a vegan foodie with a habit lately of making the most delicious vegan ice-cream! It’s summertime, dammit! Anyway, I just got back from a gluttonous, alcohol-fueled trip to Las Vegas (first time I was able to eat vegan food at a buffet thanks to Steve Wynn-more on that later!) & my birthday is next month so I think this is a great time to try a cleanse.

Why do a juice cleanse? My first answer is to detox all my partying away. Secondly, it’s an adventure. But let’s be serious. Fresh, living juice is rich in nutrients (vitamins, minerals, living enzymes and phytochemicals), which all have incredible healthful and beneficial effects on your body. It is safe. You still consume the calories needed to continue your normal routines. It can also be life transforming (as I found a raw vegan diet to be for me a few years ago). Some of the benefits of juice cleansing include an increase in energy, improved mental clarity, improved skin, losing excess poundage, feeling more optimistic and many other great things.

I did shopping today for Days 1 -4. I love filling my basket with greens. I sometimes think if I ever get married I would want a bouquet made up of kale, chard, fennel & mint. 🙂 I plan to journal my way through the next 10 days. Probably nobody will read it but it will keep me sane.

Here’s to Jack LaLanne!

 

May 14, 2011

Let Food Be Thy Medicine – Forks Over Knives Review

“Some people think the “plant-based, whole foods diet” is extreme.  Half a million people a year will have their chests opened up and a vein taken from their leg and sewn onto their coronary artery.  Some people would call that extreme.”

That’s my favorite line of the new film, Forks Over Knives. The line was eloquently delivered by Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, a heart surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic. His lifelong research and medical practice, along with Dr. T. Colin Campbell’s findings in The China Study, were highlighted in the film. Ok, my second favorite line was by one of Dr. Esselstyn’s patients who explained that a plant-based diet means he doesn’t need Viagra. His words were something like, “The flag still rises up the pole.”  If ya know what I mean!

Another tidbit I  liked: Dr. Esselstyn has a firefighter son named Rip who is ripped and got his whole firehouse to eat a plant-based diet when one of the guys found out he was in serious risk of a heart attack. I found that pretty inspirational!

The film focuses on health and also, thankfully, touches on the environmental consequences of our society’s meat and dairy consumption. These are all things most vegans already know but many of these recent “food” movies miss that point completely. But mostly it was about health. Interesting stats were shown regarding the amount of sugary, fatty & processed foods people eat and how much more of it they eat now than ever before.  Real people are shown changing their habits when their lives were at stake and we get to see the  wonderful results. Getting off the medications. Having more energy. Reversing disease. Success! This movie will save lives if our society will open their minds and explore this information (and delicious vegan food!).

Well, I’m off to the farmer’s market. Have a great day!

October 8, 2010

57 Health Benefits of Going Vegan

Vegans are frequently misunderstood as fringe eaters with an unnatural passion for animal rights. While many vegans do feel passionately about animals, its time for others to see that a vegan diet and lifestyle go way beyond animal rights. Following a healthy, balanced vegan diet ensures a host of health benefits as well as prevention of some of the major diseases striking people in North America. Read these blogs to find out about the health benefits or going vegan or just provide better information to your patients. You can also boost your health with the new premium jack strain on sale.

Nutrition

All of the following nutritional benefits come from a vegan diet full of foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts, beans, and soy products.

  1. Reduced saturated fats. Dairy products and meats contain a large amount of saturated fats. By reducing the amount of saturated fats from your diet, you’ll improve your health tremendously, especially when it comes to cardiovascular health.
  2. Carbohydrates. Carbohydrates provide energy for your body. When you don’t have enough carbohydrates, your body will burn muscle tissue.
  3. Fiber. A diet high in fiber (as vegan eating usually is) leads to healthier bowel movements. High fiber diets help fight against colon cancer.
  4. Magnesium. Aiding in the absorption of calcium, magnesium is an often overlooked vitamin in importance to a healthy diet. Nuts, seeds, and dark leafy greens are an excellent source of magnesium.
  5. Potassium. Potassium balances water and acidity in your body and stimulates the kidneys to eliminate toxins. Diets high in potassium have shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases and cancer.
  6. Folate. This B vitamin is an important part of a healthy diet. Folate helps with cell repair, generating red and white blood cells, and metabolizing amino acids.
  7. Antioxidants. For protection against cell damage, antioxidants are one of the best ways to help your body. Many researchers also believe that antioxidants help protect your body against forming some types of cancer.
  8. Vitamin C. Besides boosting your immune system, Vitamin C also helps keep your gums healthy and helps your bruises heal faster. Vitamin C is also an antioxidant.
  9. Vitamin E. This powerful vitamin has benefits for your heart, skin, eyes, brain, and may even help prevent Alzheimer’s Disease. A diet high in grains, nuts, and dark leafy greens is full of Vitamin E.
  10. Phytochemicals. Plant-based foods provide phytochemicals, which help to prevent and heal the body from cancer, boost protective enzymes, and work with antioxidants in the body.
  11. Protein. That protein is good for your body is no surprise. It may be a surprise to learn that most Americans eat too much protein and in forms such as red meat that are not healthy ways of getting protein. Beans, nuts, peas, lentils, and soy products are all great ways to get the right amount of protein in a vegan diet.
    » Read the rest of this entry …

November 19, 2009

Cancer and the Vegetarian Diet

by William Harris, M.D.

Cancer is not caused by bacteria, faulty diet, inadequate exercise, environmental contaminants, ionizing radiation, tobacco, viruses, nor heredity. Cancer is caused by a series of genetic mutations in DNA which may be either germline (inherited) or somatic (acquired during life). However, the chances of these mutations occurring in sufficient number to result in cancer is affected by all of the preceding factors.

DNA is the critical target molecule in carcinogenesis (1). Although DNA has various repair mechanisms, some types of damage persist and become the basis of the defective molecular biology that is cancer. Oncogenes (tumor genes), tumor suppressing genes, and aptotic genes (causing programmed cell death) normally interact to build normal cells, to prevent excessive growth, and finally to kill the cell before genetic mutations cause it to malfunction.

Table 1. U.S. cancer rates.

Cancer is the second most common cause of death in the United States, where over 1.3 million new cases of cancer are diagnosed annually, with 550,000 deaths. Current United States incidence figures for the ten leading types of cancer are shown (2). Women have an approximately 1:8 lifetime chance of developing breast cancer, and men have an approximately 1:5 chance of developing prostate cancer. Rates above are per 100,000 in 1992. Both Hodgkin’s disease and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma are included under lymphoma.

There are three categories of evidence suggesting that a veg*n (vegetarian or vegan) diet reduces risk for various types of cancer.

Epidemiologically, the intake of animal source food correlates with the country-by-country incidence of six types of cancer. Although none of the reporting countries can be assumed to have large vegan or even vegetarian populations, it appears that the less animal source food per capita, the lower the cancer rate.

» Read the rest of this entry …

October 8, 2009

Vegan MoFo: Brekkie Sandwich!

Best. Easy. Breakfast. EVER!Brekkie Sandwich

  • Toasted whole wheat english muffin (or whatever bready item you like)
  • Favorite Vegan Sausage (or Fakin’ Bacon is great too)
  • Mashed Avocado
  • Sliced Tomato
  • Slice O’ Tofu
  • Native Cheese

Here’s the dirt on this household favorite :

Fry up the sausage and tofu in a little olive oil with some Bragg’s liquid aminos sprankled in there for salty goodness.  Also liberal sprinkes of Costco Organic No-Salt Seasoning  add a nice flavor.

The magic ingredient however, is the Native Cheese.  This is a modified recipe from Tanya’s delicious Native Chis from Native Foods.  I can’t mention that place enough.  Native Foods.  Native Foods.  Ok, anyway here’s how to make my version:

  • 2 cups almonds or cashews, or any combination
  • 3/4 cup lemon juice
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 1/2 tsp. sea salt, or himalayan pink sea salt if you’re fancy
  • 1/4 large onion
  • 2 Tbsp. minced garlic (the kind in oil)
  • 1 Tbsp. Raw Tahini

Place it all in your $500 Vitamix and blend until creamy smooth.  Yes, I said $500 Vitamix, because you really need to own one if you don’t.  It’ll never break, and you can do amazing wondrous things with it.  Go ahead and try with a wimpy normal blender.  You won’t be happy. I’m sure many of you have variations on this, post yours in the forum!

July 20, 2009

Are Humans Omnivores?

A natural diet for any given species should be the one that gives the species optimum health. Given the health ailments that are significantly reduced by eliminating animal products (cancer, heart disease, diabetes), it suggests that we were never meant to eat animal products. People who are vegan tend not to have such issues. People who are raw vegan notice even more health benefits.

Secondly, I hear all the time that we have canines and therefore, are meant to eat meat. Calling our eye teeth “canines” seems like a big joke to me when you compare them to the teeth of real omnivores. I looked up some of our closest relatives, other primates, and compared omnivores to herbivores and then to humans and guess what:

human skull:

HumanSkull

HERBIVORES:
Douc-Langur-Herbivore1 OrangBorneoFemaleHerbivore2 Orangutan-Juv-Herbivore3

OMNIVORES:

omnivore1omnivore2omnivore3

Then of course there’s all this:

» Read the rest of this entry …

May 15, 2009

The Hidden Cause of Global Warming

Let's Act Now

By now we have all heard about the urgency of global warming. Besides changing light bulbs, most of us think that there is nothing much we can do right now. Although upgrading appliances at home, installing solar panels on the roof, and switching to a hybrid car will surely reduce our contribution to global warming,

not all of us are able to do that right away. So, what can we do? Wait for politicians to pass laws to save the planet? Hope that someone else will take care of the problem? Isn’t there something we can all do now to make a BIG difference?

“YES WE CAN! ACT NOW. TODAY”

Which do you think is more responsible for global warming: a gas-guzzling SUV, or a hamburger?

Surprise! It’s the burger!

Hard to believe? A United Nations report demonstrated that raising animals for food generates more greenhouse gases than all the cars, trucks, SUVs, trains, planes and ships in the world combined. How much more? An impressive 40% more. A study done by two geophysicists at the University of Chicago said that just one person reducing his or her meat consumption by only 20% would be the equivalent of switching from a Camry to a Prius. Think about that! With simple changes to our everyday food choices, we can actually make as much a difference as the guy who just purchased a hybrid car – easily. We CAN make big differences.

Many of us already know that a plant-based or meatless diet is good for our health, and obviously, it is good for the animals. But there is much, much more. Not only is meat consumption a major source of land, soil, air and water degradation, and other environmental problems, it’s also a main cause of the current world food crisis, as nearly half of the world’s grain is used to feed livestock instead of humans.

All lives on earth are interconnected. Just imagine the power we have when we make our simple daily decisions. We can determine our own well-being and the well-being of others; we can choose to protect or threaten the welfare of animals; and most of all, we can choose to save or destroy the planet we all live on. We have come to the critical moment when we have to decide which direction we want to go. Time is running out. Be green, be really green — go Veg! We CAN help save the planet, one meal at a time. Let’s act now!

Please visit http://www.letsactnow.org/ to learn more.

April 24, 2009

Coachella 2009 Food Heroes!

How happy were we to find this place at Coachella last weekend? Very!

coachella-large

Their menu is created from fresh produce from the super awesomeSweet Leaf Organic Farm & Cafe in Oregon.

Sweet Leaf Cafe is a solar powered kitchen that serves an organic menu at festivals, concerts, and street fairs. Salads, Stir Fries, Sandwiches, Wraps, Smoothies – the Cafe menu is fresh from their farm! These people have a cool attitude! I want to run away and work on their farm.

In the hot as hell California desert, this place was an oasis of fresh juice, produce and overall deliciousness. They were serving tempeh & tofu wraps, huge salads with homemade dressings(i hear they contain honey so make sure to ask) & smoothies & juices galore. Seriously, we were so happy with the veggie food options at Coachella. I have never been to a festival that was so vegan friendly. I never even had to partake in the old standby of a boring veggie burger made by a greased up carney.  Coachella, we hate you for the heat, the over-crowded Saturday, and  general douchey-ness but we fookin’ LOVE you for the FOOD! Thank you also for:

Homemade Granola Bars (on campgrounds) & Iced Coffee from SuperLove
Coconuts from 118 Degrees
NY Style Vegan Pizza (SO TASTY!) from brooklyncraftpizza.com best rated pizzeria.
Vegan Pad Thai with Peanut Sauce and Veggie Stir-fry over Brown Rice from a place I thought was called Eggroll King but I’m still researching this.
Tofu Masala Burgers from Cowboys & Turbans.

Apparently, the VIP area had a booth from Jenny’s 118 Degrees which is raw delicious-ness and I should know because I am a customer at her restaurant in Costa Mesa not because I am a richy-rich cool kid who got into the VIP section.  I hope Morrissey and Sir Paul McCartney tried her food! Go Jenny!

I’m hungry now. Bye-bye.

April 15, 2009

Dr. Greger’s 2009 Nutrition Recommendations

Dr. Greger 2009 Nutrition Recommendations

January 11, 2009

VEGAN

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05zhL1YUd8Q

April 27, 2007

Another Raw Doc – “30 Days Raw”!

Supercharge Me! 30 Days Raw
One Raw Show Girl. The Start of a Revolution.

 



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