Thrive On Live

My week with Indigo Foods!

2011-05-31T22:14:00.001-07:00

So I am still carrying around more baby weight than I'd like to admit! I've used pregnancy and taking care of a baby and family of five as an excuse to not eat as well as I have in past years. I'm still eating quite well but I eat way too much, thinking that while nursing I need to eat way more than usual. Not correct! In order to direct my energies into the right frame of mind I purchased an
Ethical Deal a couple months ago to receive one week's worth of raw and living food from Indigo Food. For a mere $95 I would receive a week's worth of organic, raw, living food! Breakfast, lunch, snack, dinner and dessert. How could you say no to food like http://ethicaldeal.com/vancouver/deal/52-off-1-week,-all-inclusive,-raw,-organic,-vegan-meal-delivery-service-($196-value)-and-30-off-next?

On Monday James, myself and baby Logan drove out to Kitsilano to pick up my package of food which will last me three days. I didn't want to pay the extra $20 to have it delivered - but may well do that on Thursday (when the next three days are ready) as our drive out was not a good one...the baby cried most the way out and back! It is free delivery in downtown, the West end, and Kitsilano.

The owner, Lovena, lives in a very pretty part of town. Kits is a hip, stylish and well-to-do area. Her home is nestled in the tall trees that line the street. She answered the door and our package was ready for pick up. She is super friendly and answers any questions you may have. The aroma that filled our van on the way home was intoxicating! I could not wait to start eating it all up, but would wait until morning.

This morning I woke up, excited to start my new, prepared foods. For breakfast, I had granola and fresh almond milk. It was very tasty. I was so full after finishing about 3/4 of my serving that I was not able to finish it. So filling!

For lunch I enjoyed a Mermaid Salad. Absolutely incredible tasting! Loved every morsel.

Then for dinner I had one of the collard wraps along with a soup. Oh gosh, the wrap was curried veg and it was to "live" for! The veggie soup was so delicious, and the dill was very refreshing.

I was so full I had to wait a couple of hours before eating my dessert! For dessert I had a chocolate mousse/pudding that was on a bed of sliced strawberries and whole blueberries with a sprinkling of chocolate pieces on top. Mouthwatering, my kids were begging for some. Will post that photo tomorrow!

I was full all day long on this food and enjoyed it so much. I am a little hungry right now and although it's late I'm sipping some of the leftover almond milk from breakfast and that's helping. Guess that means it's time to go to bed! Good night!

Yummy Drink

2011-04-07T22:41:00.000-07:00

Just concocted a very yummy drink tonight...

Water of young coconut
meat of half young coconut
1/2 cup home made almond milk
1 frozen banana
1 cup frozen blueberries
1 tbsp. coconut syrup
1 sample package of Sunwarrior vanilla protein powder

Blend on high and enjoy! My kids even loved it! Kept me full for a very long time.

Next time I make it I'll get a photo to post.
Good night!

Seattle in the Raw

2011-03-29T16:50:00.001-07:00

I always get asked, "How do you travel and stay eating a high raw diet?" and my answer is simple...I plan ahead.

Before we left I took stock of all the produce in the house and planned a green juice, a green smoothie, and made some yum cups. That morning I made a quart of smoothie (blueberry, celery, spinach, banana, water, green powder), a quart of juice (apple, carrot, celery and spinach) and eight yum cups (coconut butter, coconut oil, green powder-I like Vitamineral Green, honey, and hemp seeds). I also brought along two bananas. This food lasted me the whole trip down!

I also made sure I had the addresses for raw food restaurants in the Seattle area. Two good ones I've eaten at and enjoyed are:
Chaco Canyon, and Thrive. I also found that Whole Foods is right around the corner from Thrive. My sister also has me pick up a dozen vegan donuts from Mighty-O Donuts each time we go down...and yes, I have to try one! :) For smoothies and juices on the road I sometimes bring my blender if I don't know of any juice bars but in Seattle they have Emerald City Smoothies and there are some raw options/high raw options there.

Most restaurants have a salas and I just bring along an avocado and some home made dressing to put on. I really love Vega's EFA oil blend as the fat for my dressing. I also bring along plenty of spring water and there are some along the way too, you can check out the springs website, to find one in your area!

Think about your last road trip, what did you bring along to keep your body fueled?

Protection from Radiation

2011-03-15T15:32:00.001-07:00

Today my Facebook page and my email accounts have been bombarded with information about protecting ourselves from possible fallout from the nuclear plants in Japan. So much tragedy there although there have been some amazing survival stories as well. I tend not to watch the news/read the newspaper as I find that negative energy draining.

I have read a number of articles today pertaining to the protection of our bodies from radiation and felt that I should link them here.

Jon Barron's take

Susun Weed

This is taken from the email I received from David Wolfe et al.

In light of the meltdown of Fukushima: How to protect yourself and your thyroid against radiation:

kelp, ginseng, ashwaganda (recently found to regrow nerves), chlorella, zeolites, fulvic acid, nascent iodine, reishi mushroom, sea salt (also salty miso), botanical (plant-derived) or lipo- vitamin C, magnesium (chlorophyll), selenium (brazil nuts), coconut butter (coconut products), Megahydrate, Crystal Energy. Spread the word."

Start small, but increase your dosages rapidly and dramatically if you live in Hawaii, Western Canada, and the Western USA. Start now. Fallout will descend upon North America sometime around March 22.

Take what you will from the information here. I'm also going to be visiting my naturopath to discuss possibilities for nursing mothers as there is some conflicting information. Hopefully she can shed some more light on this for me and others. I can post about that after I see her. She is expecting in the next month as well so she too must be interested in how this will affect her pregnancy and breastfeeding.

In health and happiness!

Melinda

Another link here...just arrived on my FB page

Here's yet another from Jinjee at The Garden Diet. Lots of similar info.

Although there are mixed reports and reports-still-in-progress about the seriousness of the nuclear reactor damage in Japan, it can't hurt to protect yourself from radiation through eating lots of cilantro and seaweed! We eat lots of seaweed anyway for the B12, which is especially high in Laver, also called Wild Atlantic Nori, which we order in bulk from Maine Seacoast Vegetables at http://www.seaveg.com

David Wolfe podcast.

Even more here

Here's yet another post that's come through: The link is here.

Here's the Radiation Network's site. They show the radiation levels around the country (US, but there is one in Vancouver) it's run by volunteers with geiger counters around the country.

My Favourite Juices at the moment

2011-03-09T22:41:00.000-08:00

I've been doing a whole lot of juicing the past few months. Juice became a comfort food for my after I did my juice fast in September 2007. Ever since then when I make a juice I feel like I'm "coming home". LOVE my juice.

Here are my three favourites at the moment:

GREEEEEEN Juice!

Anything green that I have in the house

Cucumber, kale, romaine, pea shoots, sprouts of any kind, collard greens, celery etc.

1 lemon

1-2 apples

Juice in juicer, and usually cut it with some spring water to mellow it out a little. Play with the amount of greens you can handle. With this recipe I usually use 1 whole cuke, half a bundle of kale, half a container of shoots or sprouts, half the bundle of collards, and about 4 to 6 celery stalks, depending on how big they are.

And the Beat Goes On

2 Apples

1 Beet

4 carrots

High in natural sugars, so half and half with spring water. Be careful when juicing beets, they are very cleansing of the liver and you need to work up to more and more beet juice.

Celery, Celera

6 stalks of celery

2 apples

4 carrots

Cut it with a little water too, sometimes.

I feel SO much energy when I juice. It is important to drink your juice on an empty stomach. That's why my juice is the first thing I eat/drink after my lemon water/tea in the morning. After my lemon drink I wait about a half hour (which at times is how long it takes to make a juice when you're trying to make breakie for the kids, and take care of the baby!) and then drink the juice. It's a great way to start the day and I'd say it rivals drinking your cup of joe!

So, what are you waiting for, try it!

Eat Raw, Live Well!

Melinda

Back to Basics!

2011-03-06T22:44:00.000-08:00

Has it truly been over a year since I've posted here? So much going on and so much I want to talk about! I've also started up two new blogs so that I can focus on raw/living foods here and about my exercise and baby info on other blogs. My exercise blog is called Up The Creek Run (this is where all my training info will go - and I've got some lofty new goals. Will post there soon!)

The second one I started when I thought I was pregnant two years ago...however when I really did get preggers I didn't write there?! AND, seven months ago we were blessed with another little being. His name is Logan Alexander and he's such a precious "L'il Sprout" as I lovingly call him. Everything about him and my kids will now be written about under the new blog Little Sprouts Big Ideas. My daughter has asked to guest blog there, and I'm sure she will do an excellent job! I'm trying to link these in as for some reason I'm having difficulty combining my blogs from different email addresses...if any of you know how to do that if you could say so in the comments - I'd greatly appreciate it. I'd love to have them all under one umbrella instead of juggling each of them. I created the blogs ages and ages ago and didn't know at the time that I'd done them under different emails?!

I've been working on a couple of other projects as well, other than baby building! Those blogs and entries will be here, Raw Rituals and Total Health Concept. My goal is to blog in one of these areas each night. I'll consider it my night job. Once the kids are tucked in bed, and I've got some quiet head space I'll sit down at the computer and write about all the things I've jotted down in my big idea book! :)

Sunday: Tonight, Thrive On Live but from now on it'll be Up The Creek

Monday: Little Sprouts Big Ideas

Tuesday: Raw Rituals

Wednesday: Thrive on Live

Thursday: Total Health Concept

Friday and Saturday I may take a little break, but if I've got the time and subject matter then I'll write in one of the previous areas again. Or if there was a blip and I missed an area I could catch up on those days.

James has promised to help me spice up the blog a little too...he is only the IT guy at his school, I think I should get some free tutoring in this area, as it is much needed!

In the meantime, Eat Raw, Live Well™ and we'll see you again MUCH sooner than the last time!

Melinda

On Line Resources

2010-02-14T21:53:00.000-08:00

Hello to those who've joined me from the Coquitlam Professional Day presentation! I've been filling up on Olympic magic this weekend and have now remembered to put this info onto the website here. Happy reading! Any questions, don't hesitate to call or email me!

On Line Resources for Raw and Living Foods

www.thriveonlive.blogspot.com

This is my site, which is a great resource for people who are local that would like to read about living a raw food lifestyle in the lower mainland and a more northern latitude! Lots of ideas, information and inspiration!

http://rawfoodrehab.ning.com/

This is a great website to check out for many ideas and to join forces with many others who are on their raw food journeys. I was in the original Raw Food Rehab and Penni is so wonderful and full of ideas!

http://www.lovingraw.com/

Philip McCluskey is the sites’ community leader. He’s compiled a great selection of information for you on this site!

http://www.giveittomeraw.com/

From their website:

GI2MR is community for people who are passionate about harnessing the power of raw food and holistic living. Our community is a place for support - a place to share and grow.

http://kristensraw.blogspot.com/

Kristen’s put together a great site with lots of recipes, insight and links. Check her out also if you’re pregnant or wanting to have kids as she’s almost half way through her first high raw pregnancy and loving it!

www.thegardendiet.com

This is one of the first and most inspirational raw food internet sites that I came across. It is a family of seven. Storm is 58 but looks more like 40 and his wife Jinjee is 40 but looks to be in her late 20’s. They have five beautiful raw children who are thriving!

Jinjee has something called the “Raw Daily Inspiration” that you can subscribe to, I highly recommend it, as it’s kept me inspired this past year.

www.rawreform.com

Angela Stokes has a great site here. She also has a blog that you can subscribe to for daily information. I love getting her updates in my in box.

www.rawspirit.org

Angela’s fiancé, Matt Monarch also has a great website. He has just started his own blog this last month and it too has some great updates and information. I also look forward to reading this each day.

www.goneraw.com

Amazing website filled with delicious recipes. Any time I am looking for something quickly I go here and search in their user-friendly side bar.

www.rawbc.org

I am a member of Raw BC and they have many resources linked to this site. This is a great way to find local and nearby places to eat.

www.gorillafoods.com

Aaron Ash is the owner and head chef of this take out window at 422 Richards St. between Hastings and Pender. He is great! Always ready with a smile and your order. The food is absolutely delicious. I try to treat myself by visiting once a month for something great to eat!

www.living-foods.com

I visit this site often too for some new recipes or for some inspiration. There is so much to look through that I still haven’t seen everything on the site yet…

www.alissacohen.com

Here is Alissa’s site, full of information. There are some videos you can watch and stories and photos of people who’ve gained back their health while eating a raw food diet.

www.realrawfood.com

This is a raw food store, where I get a lot of my nuts, seeds, honey, Nama Shoyu, etc. You can order by phone or over the internet. They are pretty quick with delivery also. They are based in Naramata, B.C.

www.upayanaturals.com

This is another great Canadian site for ordering raw foods and other equipment for a healthy home. I have also found them to be quick with delivery and good to deal with. They are based in Ontario.

www.rawganique.com

These guys are great. They have hemp clothing and lots of raw goodies for sale. They are super quick with delivery and have been extremely friendly and helpful in my orders with them. They are based on Denman Island, B.C.

www.youtube.com

If you want to know how to open up a coconut, watch other raw foodists talk or do recipes, this is a great site to SEE it done. I really enjoy typing in names like David Wolfe, Angela Stokes, Matt Monarch, Storm and Jinjee Talifero and words like raw foods, living foods, vitamix blenders etc. Have fun with it, time flies when you’re on youtube!

www.rawfoodrightnow.blogspot.com

This is a blog that I enjoy reading daily. They are a couple who live in the states who are really down to earth. Heidi is currently a third of her way through a juice feast. Lots of info on this blog, it’s great.

www.shazzie.com

Great site, she’s done lots for the raw community in the U.K.

Exciting News!

2010-02-10T09:50:00.000-08:00

I am pregnant! I am in awe! That's right, my first high raw/raw pregnancy. Goodness only knows how I made beautiful children the first two times, with what I was eating! This time it's all about how much nutrition I can get in my belly for this little one. I am also far more relaxed about the whole thing so stress hormones are much less this time around as well! I'd let Penni in on the fact that we were going to try for our third baby but have been pretty quiet about it so far as I didn't know how long it would take to get pregnant.

With our first two kids we got pregnant the first month we tried, with both. This time it was month two we got preggers, not bad for a 38 year old I guess. It is still extremely early on, I'm only 5 weeks along and have not shared this info with anyone but my husband, my naturopath, and this trusted group. We will share it with family at Christmas time. We are so excited, as this is something we've talked about for two years now and it is finally a reality! It may not have been Thanksgiving up here in Canada this past weekend, but there was a lot of thanks being given around here, that's for sure.

So far this is what I've been doing for food:

Lemon Water to start off the a.m.
Fruit in the a.m.
Water throughout the day.
Green smoothie for lunch (fruit and green veg based)
Snacks have been nut smoothies (nuts, flax oil, and superfoods etc.) or some raw grawnola
Salad and steamed/baked veg for dinner. Vegan dinner also a couple of times.

I am taking the following vitamin supplements:
B12
Prenatal vegan (whole food) vitamin
Vit. D
Probiotics

Superfoods I've been adding to my smoothies:
Vitamineral Green
Earth
Sproutein
Coconut butter (not sure if it's considered a superfood, but it's sure super tasting)

These are other superfoods I'm taking as well (just ran out of chlorella, so need to order more):
chlorella
chlorophyll

I'm also following Kristen's Raw, as she is about five or six weeks ahead of me in her raw pregnancy. She has done a lot of research, and is writing a lot about what she's doing in her pregnancy. I have also followed Jinjee Talifero since my earliest days of raw, she has had five kids, either vegan or raw vegan.

I've not had any morning sickness with this pregnancy. I attribute it to my supplementing with a B complex and my diet being far better than when I was pregnant the last two times. Last week I heard the heartbeat for the first time, and I almost cried. I've also been feeling baby's movement for at least three weeks, maybe earlier but I thought it was too early to feel anything. It is especially active right after I eat fruit!

Eat Raw, Live Well!

Melinda

Great Martini Party!

2009-11-20T14:24:00.001-08:00

Got your attention, didn't I?!

I attended a martini party last weekend, and took with me the following:

1 HUGE pitcher of green smoothie - frozen peaches, banana, kale, 2 tbsp. agave (to make it sweeter for the others) and water.
1 small pitcher of green smoothie - parsley, Vitamineral Green and apples.

Raw chocolate nut clusters - home made
Raw sweet nuts - home made

Two lovely martini glasses.

Well, after arriving with my huge bin of stuff and taking ALL the ribbing for not drinking the martinis, things actually worked out GREAT! I couldn't believe how much people joked with me about being "hard core" with my diet. Why didn't I bring wine, wine's raw (I may have a glass every now and then, but right now, while losing weight etc. I want to abstain). Why don't I just have "one" martini?

Well, as they got tired, and feeling terribly full, I was feeling great. Then, it happened...one person took the chance and tried some of the green smoothie, then another, then another and before I knew it, at 11pm I looked around the room and all 8 had green smoothies in their martini glass except for one! That's pretty good! I know it was late at night, but WOW! I was so happy to see this. Should have taken a photo!!

Not only were they drinking them, but they were enjoying them. I couldn't believe it. They were going back for seconds as well. It was a great night of conversation and because I was prepared (see previous blog post) I was able to stay true to me and help my friends get some quality food into their bellies! :)

Happy Sunday to you all!

Socializing Raw

2009-11-20T14:23:00.000-08:00

So, it's that time of year again when we come out of hibernation for about five weeks in the winter! With socializing on an all time high this next while I've been busy in the kitchen preparing some things to help me remain raw while still being able to socialize with my friends!

For example, las Friday night it was off to a MARTINI party! Of all things! I only work part time teaching and never get to socialize with the ladies so I agreed to attend this party but wanted to go prepared. As well I want them to experience some raw goodness while we're there!

So today I was busy in the kitchen making some raw nut/dried fruit clusters. It is completely raw and delicious! I'll post the recipe in the recipe section! I also made some of my sweet nuts as well. These will be nice to nibble on while we drink. But never fear, I will not be partaking in the martinis...instead I will be sipping on my GREEN smoothies that will be prepared just before I go. I am going to take it in a big Mexican pitcher and share with whoever is willing! I'll also serve them in martini glasses just to stay within the theme.

It is good to remember:

"By failing to prepare you are preparing to fail."
-- Ben Franklin

It is very true in most cases! I love to feel prepared and a little pre planning is all it takes. In order to succeed, we need to take steps that will help us to feel prepared, especially during this holiday season. Who knows, by living our truth we may help someone else find theirs!

Checking in - Finally!

2009-11-20T14:21:00.000-08:00

Alright, it's been many weeks and I've yet to write a blog post. During the original RFR I wrote almost every night - and spent lots of time on the site...being a teacher I had the summer off and the luxury of time. Being back at work it's more about carving the time out to look through the new RFR site and revel in the fact that it is such an amazing place to be!

I have been working on my routines, as they tend to help me stay on track. Here's a look at a typical day so far:

5:15am wake up (make my side of the bed)
5:15 - 5:30 eye massage and palming (Bates Method of natural vision improvement) Conscious breathing technique at this time also.
5:30am - 6am guided meditation
6am -6:30am yoga (video at home)
6:30 - 7am - rebound, dry brushing and shower, get ready for the day.
7am-8am - get family ready for the day, laundry load in washer

First thing in the morning I begin with a lemon water. Usually about a litre of water to a half lemon's worth of juice. If I am hungry then I eat some fruit. If not I wait until I'm hungry to have my fruit. Favourites include apples, pears and bananas at the moment.

On my work days I leave for work at 8:15am I teach at a local middle school. I did a green smoothie demo last Friday and it was a hit. We also have Fruitful Fridays where everyone in the class brings in a piece of fruit and we make a Friendship Fruit Salad to share. They LOVE it!

At work I can sometimes come home for lunch and I will have a green smoothie, or else I bring in some nut butter and some banana or celery to much on at lunch. Usually I'll have more fruit for a snack after school.

On my days off I usually play taxi most the day and do our family's shop for the week on Tuesdays. I also spend a lot of time decluttering - decluttering my body has lead to mass decluttering of my home as well.

Each time I eat a meal I do the palming technique for my eyes again, working on improving my vision without surgery - on my own...but there is a practitioner close by who I may be seeing for her 8 week program as she has great success...just saving up the money for it.

Then evenings consist of tidying the house, dinner is usually a salad, or steamed veg (in the winter months) and possibly a vegan soup...I'd say I'm raw about 95% of the time and if I eat anything cooked it's at dinner but it's not much at all anymore. I just feel better raw!

Something I've done differently this last week and a half is going to bed early so that I can rise early. I used to go to bed at 1am or 2am and get up at 7am. Now I'm going to bed at 10:30pm at the latest and it is amazing the difference it has made for me and how I feel. If you can get yourself to bed early I highly suggest it. I've read that the hours you get before midnight count as double!

I also do conscious breathing before bed, more eye massage and palming my eyes and visualization. I find the breathing techniques especially helpful in falling to sleep quickly!! I've enjoyed reading everyone else's blogs on here and apologize for taking SO long to get in on the action. It's Monday and my work week is over due to the holiday on Wednesday and this Friday being my Friday off so I plan to spend a lot of time in here offering recipes, positive comments and blogging!

Hope you all have an amazing week! I'm getting juicy this week, been missing my juice! How's your week been so far?!

Living Simply

2009-10-17T00:09:00.000-07:00

When eating simply begins to shape your habits around food, you start to look around you a little more and realize that living life simply is the answer to less stress, more time for quality in our relationships, and that less is more.

Well, I am currently reading, called "Living Simply With Children". A lot of things they suggest, we already do in our family. Family nights, game nights, movie nights, eating dinner together, making time for each other and many more are talked about in this book.

I highly suggest that if you are looking for some great ideas (and resources - suggested throughout the book) then you pick this one up. I know our local library has one but after reading only a couple of chapters I knew that I wanted to have this one to refer to in my home library (nothing grand, just a bookshelf or six throughout the house!).

Check out a sample of the book here.

What can you do to simplify your life today?

Live Well!

Melinda

Kids and Eating at School

2009-10-15T21:55:00.000-07:00

I haven't written here in a long while. I find little time for extra-curricular stuff once the school year (and my part time teacher work) starts up. I have noticed a number of things about kids and their eating habits at school and wanted to talk a little about it here.

Before the bell goes in the morning: I see students in the school, snacking on slurpees, pop, candy and the like that they have purchased at a nearby store. When I comment about it, the usual remark is, "Who Cares, it tastes good." They have also mentioned that they need a sugar kick to be awake enough for class, somewhat like a number of friends and family members who need a caffeine kick first thing.

Recess snack: Gone are the days of a piece of fruit for recess. Now it is packaged goods, in wrappers that are polluting our landfills. I too have fallen prey to this as my daughter gets bugged about carrying around her tupperware during recess time when they are playing outside. So, a couple times a week I will throw in something that may have come in packaging...even though it's against my grain.

Instead of going outside in middle school, the kids sit in the classroom, stand in the hall or talk beside the vending machine. So they are eating junk before school, not so great snacks, and getting little or no exercise. Most are driven to school, and the only exercise they get in a day is their Phys. Ed. class.

At lunch, I have to admit that I'm somewhat impressed with about half of the lunches that the kids come into my classroom with. Most are balanced according to the "Canadian Food Guide", and are mostly "whole foods" but still about half of them are certainly not. Two or three come without lunches because they didn't feel like making one. Another five or six purchase their lunches from the cafeteria on average, and the choices there are not great, but supposedly improved from past years. You'll still see yam fries, slushies, and the like as they make loads of money from these things. Yam fries are better than the other fries they were serving only a few short years ago.

Where my challenge lies, is making lunches for my daughter. Although my family is not totally raw along with me, we do eat fruit for breakfast, and I usually give them vegetarian or vegan options for snack and lunch. It's difficult as in most schools, nut butters are banned. I actually asked her teacher if there were any allergies and if not, could she have nut butter and was told yes. I do use raw almond butter, macadamia nut butter, walnut butter also, as peanut butter is not my favourite to give. I also give her sprouts, avocado, salad, plantain chips, and some other "not so mainstream" items in her lunch. From the first day of school, she has been teased about these items and I'm at a loss as to how to change this without giving in to the "norm" for lunches. I see myself asking if "this item" will cause any ridicule, or if "that item" will cause heads to turn. Even with things I thought would not be a problem she comes home saying that she was teased again today.

I have tried to give her the tools to help, and she's really quite good about it, but I know that it's causing her some distress. I asked her how she thinks we can help the situation, and her ideas are great. First, I come to the class and do a raw food lesson with them and let them try the food. This way they will see that her "weird" food is actually tasty (they are not allowed to share lunches in class time due to allergy concerns, etc.). She also suggested teaching the parents at a parent meeting so they could make these foods for their kids. Another great idea. She also wants to open up the "Lizard Sauerkraut Cafe" in our house. She said that she tries to ignore it, but it doesn't seem to be going away. I spoke to the teacher regarding this, and to keep an eye out, but often the teachers are not in the room when kids are eating. She also said that there is no time for "extra-curricular" stuff like a raw food lesson as there is hardly time for the "core" subjects. So I'm kind of at a stand still with this.

Does anyone else have any suggestions?

Love to hear your take on things like this and if anyone else has experienced the same and what they did.

Thanks!

Busy in the Kitchen

2009-10-09T20:58:00.001-07:00

So, it's that time of year...in a few months and some of us over at the Raw Food Rehab unit are putting together a little Holiday e-book. I'll let you know when it's available!

In the meantime you can drool over a couple of my possible recipe submissions! The first is the Raw Nogg, The next is a Pumpkin Pie Smoothie and the third is a Minty Dark Cocoa.

This weekend is Thanksgiving here in Canada and I have so much to be thankful for.

In early September we started "Gratitude and Attitude" journals with our kids. Each evening we ask the kids to tell us three things they are grateful for and one thing that they feel they can do better the next day. Some examples from their books include "Thankful for their family, our house, friends who speak nicely to us, their blankie", etc. I noticed that often they were relating thanks for people and experiences, not so much about material things which I feel is great!

Some things they say they can work on are listening the first time when being asked to do something, sharing better with each other, having a positive attitude when we have to leave an activity, etc.

It really has them thinking, and they are very appreciative children. I've also noticed that they are thankful during the day more as well for things that they would normally take for granted. So, on this Thanksgiving weekend, my suggestion to you is to start a Gratitude and Attitude Journal! It's amazing how much we are blessed with and we need to appreciate what we have NOW, and abundance and happiness will find us!

Three things I'm thankful for:

Normal tests that I had done at the Doctor's Office.

Appreciative friends

Children who make me laugh on a daily basis and make me SO proud with all they accomplish.

One thing I can improve on:

Staying calm, at all times.

How about you? What are you thankful for? What can you improve about your attitude?

Happy Thanksgiving!

Oh My - Onion News Network

2009-08-31T22:00:00.000-07:00

Now I know why they call it the Onion News Network, I laughed so hard, I cried!

New Wearable Feedbags Let Americans Eat More, Move Less

The Blue Zones

2009-08-28T12:36:00.001-07:00

Now here's a video explaining the book I'm about to read, it's called "The Blue Zones". I would like to create a Blue Zone in my home, why don't you?! Tell me what you think. I'll periodically talk here about changes I'm making to my daily rituals, to incorporate some of this information.

Take a listen:

Holy HOT Batman!

2009-08-20T20:53:00.000-07:00

It's smokin' hot here today. I've been sweating like crazy in the house getting things tidied up so we can leave on Sunday for our camping vacation. Another short one but it is in the desert part of British Columbia so it will be even hotter than here on the coast!

We've been eating out of the garden a lot lately, it's so incredible just to pick through and eat tomatoes and greens and carrots that grew right here. We're very proud of our little garden!

Today I ate:

32 oz. lemon water
16 oz. water with Vitamineral Green
32oz. Green juice: chard, celery, cucumber, parsley, collard greens, lemon - every time I drink a green juice, it's like coming home. Since I did the 32 day juice fast two years ago this September I always love drinking them and thinking about that time.

Banana Mash:
1 banana
1 tbsp. dried coconut
1 tbsp. pecan butter
1 tbsp. agave
1 tbsp. raisins

Put in bowl and mash it all together. I ate this for energy for when I went to bootcamp. Ended up resting on the couch with my daughter, lost track of time and did not make it to bootcamp!

Corn Salad on Kale

Chia/buckwheat Pudding:
1 date
1 tsp. cinnamon
Dash or so of nutmeg
1 banana
10 hazelnuts
1 cup water

Blend in a blender and pour over 1/3 cup of sprouted buckwheat/chia mix.

YUM!

ps. David Wolfe is coming to Vancouver in October for the Body, Soul and Spirit Expo...check out the details here.

Brian Clement Lecture

2009-08-17T23:37:00.001-07:00

Impressive of course! LOVED all he had to say and YES, Penni he was in his suit and looked quite dapper indeed. He is a lot funnier than I would have guessed, and had us laughing throughout the lecture. I wore my "mango addict" t-shirts and a number of people loved it. I also had a bag that says "green" in all sorts of languages...had a guy ask me to take my photo as he loved the message on the bag and my shirt and the greens and all that...and I was just waiting in line to get in! Talk about a great start!

I wish I could have eaten, there were all sorts of vendors who were touting their wares and here I am on a water fasting day! Anyhow I ended up purchasing a spiralizer like the one that I saw the Hoppa's using. How much did you all pay for that? Not sure I got a great deal, but it looks so much easier to use than the one that I have currently so we'll give it a try! Even got a free zucchini to go along with it from the supplier's garden! :) She's taken Alyssa Cohen's course and sells these to her clients etc.

Back to the man of the hour - or two hours - Brian Clement.

Let's see if I can summarize some of what he talked about.

Three things you need to do in order to live the life you want:

1. Do what you LOVE.
2. Live with integrity, eat pure, exercise, and connect with the universe and/or God.
3. Contribute - giving is the only way to true happiness...it's what we're here to do.

You have to be happy with yourself first. You have to believe that you deserve health. Disease is a state of mind.
Call your mothers and thank them for everything, mothers are so important...heal that relationship if you do not have a good one at the moment!

Life is a Process, every second you can choose to do something BIG, most of us choose to do nothing or do something small and manageable. Choose BIG! Penni did and now look at us! Ripple effect!

One of the biggest things I took from his lecture tonight is this:

H.O.P.E.

Why eat Raw Food? H.O.P.E.

H = Hormones - messengers, cellular communication found only in raw foods, cooked no longer has them. Hormones balanced means happy person.

O = Oxygen - Food based oxygen, helps raise hemoglobin, regulates metabolism, plays role in nutrient ingestion. He wants to write a book, Eat Oxygen, Get Skinny. Raise your levels of oxygen and you'll lose weight. Get it from raw and living foods. Get it through proper breathing. Get it through exercise! If there is enough oxygen in the body, cancer cannot exist.

P = Phytochemicals - protect body from disease, can destroy disease, some good places to get this are:

Wheatgrass, speltgrass, kamut, barley grass, millet, amaranth, buckwheat, broccoli, garlic, onion sprouts, sprouts of all sorts.

E = Enzymes - allow and enhance body's electric abilities, we're all energy, from the moment of conception (A Life is Born - was a movie he said everyone should watch, shows this electrical start we all came from) to the moment we decompose, we are energy.

Finally he states that with Antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and trace minerals, protein, electrical enzymes ingested in a raw and natural form is the best way to live longer, as is eating less...over time, don't rush it. Constant steps forward. Keep learning as changes happen, embrace change and continue on your path.

Take 100% responsibility. Those who come to HHI who heal are people who are willing to do it themselves, not give themselves over to others in order to be healed.

Supplements he suggests for sure are:
B12
Algae - fixes DNA
Enzymes - he takes 20/day!

Some may benefit from:
Pollen
ginsing or gotacola (the second one is a female ginsing? Not sure on the spelling) Also Summa.
Stabilized oxygen
Sodium or sliver nitrate when you are on planes
Rescue Remedy in purse at all times!
Cayenne helps circulation and emulsifies lipids.

If you ever go to Hippocrates, they follow you for LIFE. They always get updates from you and will keep a file on you for years to come. This helps them in their research for long term. It's a great idea as both you and they benefit!

I now want to take not only their three week program, but the three month one! Time to start savin'!

I hope that my notes make some sense to you all! I sure am glad I made the trip out and took the time to go.

I only drank water and lemon water all day today, so nothing to report for eating.
Feeling full of energy! Big, busy day tomorrow! Night all! Oh, I'll post a photo as well!

Been a While!

2009-08-11T22:52:00.000-07:00

Well, back from camping and leaving again soon for another camping trip but had to catch you up to speed on my trip to Victoria! It was great, family time and blissful eating time at the raw food cafe called Cafe Bliss. If you want to see there website, click here.

I feasted for four days! It was purely amazing food and the people were great.

Here's what I wrote for the RFR group:

I have not been able to blog for a while here! I have missed it! When I was camping the internet became sketchy and I figured it was the universe telling me to enjoy the moment and do the computer stuff when I got home.

I ate raw gourmet while I was away. I did smoothies and juices for the first four days of the week last week. I blended all my food for the trip over on the ferry and the drive. It was perfect. I had all my jars ready to go. Smoothie for breakfast, smoothie for lunch, smoothie for dinner - which was good because we missed the open hours for the raw food cafe!

Then on Friday I had berries for breakfast, and a smoothie for brunch! We went to Cafe Bliss (http://www.cafebliss.ca/) for lunch. I had this for lunch:

Creamy Green Smoothie:
pear, apple, orange, almond ylk, hemp hearts, Vitamineral Green, Bee pollen tocotrienols, maca, lucuma and vanilla
I LOVED IT! I'll have to play with it and make my own, it was a great start to the meal while I waited for my salad and cracker plate.

Summer Salad:
Made with locally sourced, fresh ingredients that are in season. There was lettuce, sunflower sprouts, blueberries, and a few other things I can't remember five days later. It had a lemon tahini dressing.

Baja cracker plate:

Yam crackers served with guacamole, cashew-macademia sour cream, and fresh cut salsa.

I had this cracker plate each day it was SO good! LOVE it!

Had a lemon bar for dessert. More food in one sitting than I've eaten this whole 10 weeks! :)

So the whole time I'm sitting there with my mom for lunch, there is this guy who I kept making eye contact with. I thought he seemed familiar and he and I had some talk at the "raw stuff" area where they sold items like kelp noodles (got some) clear agave (got some) and jungle peanuts (got me some of those too!) along with lots of other great items. Afterwards when my husband and dad and kids came by, they got talking to this guy and his friends - our sons made fast friends on the side walk outside. James introduced me to all of them - visiting from the States he said. He also mentioned that this guy Bruce does classes and travels talking about raw foods. I said Bruce Horowitz? He laughed and said "Ya". His friends were impressed I knew who he was. When I wanted to get a photo with him they all laughed and told him he was a celebrity now! :) I'll post that photo later for sure!

I then ordered these things to go, for later at the campsite:

Hawaiian Pizza - buckwheat crust...like no other Hawaiian pizza I've ever had!
The Baja cracker plate which I shared with the family.
Lemon Square
For my snack (like I needed one!!) I had a Mylk Shake, orange creamsicle

I felt light, great and NOT like I'd eaten that much in one day, for sure! Good thing I'd done smoothies during the first part of the week for this feasting! Food Feasting I'll call it!

We walked a LOT that day which also helped burn off any extra food intake. We saw the Miniature World, Undersea Gardens and I even bumped into an old College friend - and didn't feel embarrassed to see him as I am no longer overweight. In fact I hope he tells his brother that I look great, the last time I saw his brother he tried to pretend he didn't know me and then asked if I was pregnant! (I did have a five month old at home, but it still hurt!)

Saturday August 8th:

Fruit bowl for breakfast.

Another feast at the raw food cafe, after walking downtown Victoria for a while. We saw an amazing castle, and can't believe that people used to live like that. I also can't believe how well made everything was...we are all about quantity these days and not quality!

My daughter chose to eat with me today instead of getting Mexican food with her daddy and brother. She said she would rather eat the raw food for lunch.

I must continue this later as I have to take the kids to swimming lessons! Back soon!

OK, back at it here. I have some photos to upload as well before bed tonight. Burning the midnight coconut oil!
Just finished the questionnaire as well so will post that separately.

Now, where was I? Ah yes, lunch on Saturday at Cafe Bliss:

Baja cracker plate
Bliss Salad
Creamy green smoothie

My daughter had the Kids' plate:
You get choices of crackers with any three of these carrot sticks, celery sticks, cucumber slices, avocado slices, cherry tomatoes, almonds and raisis, olives, apple or orange slices, berries. She chose the yam crackers, with avocado, cherry tomatoes, and olives. Sprouts came on the side and she loved that too! Go girl!

One sad note here...I was chewing on pitted olives when I crunched down on something hard - half of my tooth cracked off. I mean it, a whole half a tooth. It's a tooth that was on it's way out, and I've been putting off the dentist but holy crap, I could not believe I didn't feel a thing. This tooth would have probably been gone long ago but I really do believe that raw foods have helped me keep it just that much longer. No infections either. Probiotics and salt water rinses have helped to keep that away too. Luckily.

Took for dinner:

Baja Cracker plate
Bliss Pizza
Goji Creamsicle: almond mylk, pear orange, goji berries and vanilla.

Also had fruit salad...after all that and had an attack of the gassey in the evening. It was terrible. I NEVER eat fruit after a meal anymore...and will continue that after this episode. I did not like having to get up in the middle of the night to go to the washroom in the dark!

Sunday, August 9th:

Checked out some outdoor stores in the morning. Mountain Equipment Coop is across the street from Bliss...so you guessed it, another day of great prepared food!

Got a green lemonade - cucumber apple lemon and kale to start
Creamy Green smoothie for the road.
Baja cracker plate for lunch
Had dinner at home, just a blender drink. Seemed to pale in comparison!

Monday August 10th -
Lemon water in a.m. - 2 cups
smoothie - blueberries, banana, greens - 5 cups worth but drank 1 cup for breakfast, 2 cups for lunch and another 2 cups for a snack...we were out all day long.
Dinner - nut butter - pecan and some honey with hemp seeds and flax.

Tuesday August 11th -
lemon water in a.m. - 2 cups
2 cups water with 1 tbsp. Vitamineral Green
1/2 pound of cherries.
1 litre of water.
2 tbsp. pecan butter.

Feeling a little bloated today. Will be eating very lightly the next few days...juicing and blending and lemon water and vitamineral green and some chlorophyll in the water. Somewhat nervous about a tooth being pulled...my root is being reabsorbed by my body...said he'd never seen anything like it and wondered why I didn't experience any pain. When I went in he noticed that it was more involved than he thought and now I have to have half a tooth for another month - he leaves on holiday tomorrow!! All well, he says that no pain, no infection, means it will be ok and just to keep it clean. I certainly will!

An interesting day to say the least! Now I'm off to add photos of our trip and Cafe Bliss!

Day Two Smoothies and Juices

2009-08-05T22:19:00.000-07:00

Forgot to publish this last night...

Loving this smoothie and juices beginning to my week. It's so freeing when you aren't really focussed on food! It's been more smoothies than anything else today.

16 oz. lemon water
Rebounder for a little bit - finding my knee hurts a little when I rebound every day...anyone else have that issue? Suggestions to help it? I rebound barefoot, so possibly I need shoes on? I thought rebounders were supposed to be better on the knees than running, and I run without a problem?!

Brunch:

Frozen banana and cherry smoothie - it was more like ice cream it was so thick!

Dinner: Pumpkin Pie Soup. Delicious! Half the recipe made about 4 cups of soup.

Bootcamp for one hour, it was a great workout this evening.

Drank about 2 litres so far today but will be drinking some tea and water this evening as well.

There are some detox type things happening for me. The pasty tongue is there, bad breath in the morning (could also be the garlic from last night's soup!) no body odor, a little moody, but not hungry much and eating only when I am hungry.

Better energy though, we'll have to see about the weight loss, I'm up a couple pounds today?! Seems weird as I'm eating less and much better! I'll give it some time to settle as I'd had too many raw macaroons this weekend!

Enjoy the night!

Off on an Adventure!

2009-08-05T22:12:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

I'm off tomorrow, bright and early to catch a ferry to Vancouver Island. Camping with the family! There's also a raw food retreat up in Courntney further up the island. It's being sponsered by Raw BC, and the Raw Family, the Boutenkos are the ones putting on the event. I hear that Ann Marie Gianni is also up there! So close but yet so far away! (3 hour drive...that's after the six hours it takes to get to the island!)

So I'm going to rev my engine - my Vitamix engine early tomorrow to make up some smoothies and such so that I am taken care of on the road. I also have lots of fruit to nibble on as well. I have a few nut bars etc, (not including family) and some other staples - greens in the cooler, nut butters, and no nuts and seeds...why you may ask? I will eat way too much fat if I take nuts and seeds!

I have also researched around and found a few raw option cafe's and juice bars as well as Cafe Bliss which is an all raw affair! Can't wait to try them all out. I will take my camera/video camera with me and give you updates when I return.

Here's what I put in my tummy today:

2.5 litres water.

Raw Instant Breakfast:

Coconut water and meat
1 tbsp. chia seed
1 tbsp. honey
1 tsp. vanilla
1 heaping tsp. cacao
ice

Very filling. More like a brunch! Made about 3 cups.

Lunch:

Smoothie:
1 banana
2 peaches
3+ cups of spinach

Delicious! (made 5 cups) Shared with my mother in love, one cup. She enjoyed it.

Snack - Pumpkin Pie Soup, made fresh, but it's the
same as yesterday, used the rest of the yam. Made about 4 cups. Shared half a cup with my mother in love. She liked it a lot! I ate it again before I could take a photo. It is such a brilliant orange. I'm going to start turning orange if I consume this daily!

Dinner:

Smoothie:
1 lb. strawberries
4 brazil nuts
1 tbsp. hemp
1 date
1.5 cups water

Delicious, really thick! Milkshake consistency. Would have liked it colder, but it was awesome. I like to use brazil nuts every once in a while to increase selenium! Make sure you don't overdo brazil nuts, too much of a good thing is not always better!

My activity here will be lessened while camping but will be back in full force Sunday night!

Bright and Early

2009-08-02T08:27:00.001-07:00

This is a photo of my garden...

So last night around midnight, I wrote that I wanted to start getting up earlier, and going to bed earlier. Well this morning I woke up at 6am to a little guy crying hard about a nightmare...and never went back to sleep. Because I could not sleep I decided that no time like the present to start getting up earlier. Now I will just have to work on the getting to bed earlier idea!

I had time this morning to do lots! I took some photos of my garden and posted them, I entered the David Suzuki Digs My Garden Contest. It's all about gardening without chemicals.

Here's what I wrote:

Hello!

I am a gardening newbie! This is the first year I have had a garden, but in fact I have two! I'm a teacher at a local middle school and a raw food enthusiast who wants everyone in our community to know that our food can grow without pesticides or other harmful chemicals! My students and I began a garden at our school this year, and have three boxes growing there with potatoes, lettuce, amaranth, chard, lemon balm, and some herbs. At home I was inspired to do a whole backyard makeover and create an edible landscape. I've planted cranberries, fig trees, apple trees, a kiwi tree, and logan berries, and herbs along with two garden boxes full of squash, corn, kale, carrots, tomatoes, onions and beets. The compost bin is also a new addition and we look forward to using it's mineral rich soil next year!

Thank you for considering our garden(s)!

Melinda Gill
(Voluminous Vegetables Entry)

I sent in the photo of my veggie garden. I could win a cool t-shirt, or a David Suzuki Garden Gnome! I also found this video on his website, and though it was suitable for this group! I'll try to embed it here:

So far today I've had some lemon water! Live your day with JOY!

Cooling Off

2009-08-01T23:53:00.001-07:00

We were in the high 20's today...that's about 82 degrees for you guys south of the border. Much more agreeable for everyone!

Today I had a bowl of strawberries and blueberries for breakfast.

Cherry "Rawcia" for lunch

Hulk sauce for snack

BIG bowl of melon for dinner - watermelon, cantaloup, and honeydew. Followed by a spicy thai salad...all of it was raw except for a few corn kernels that may have gone into my mouth. I tried to dodge them as the dressing was raw!

Snacked on some pineapple later in the evening. Ate late tonight...9pm stopped.

1 glass of white wine.

Hey, I've been meaning to ask all along, if there is anyone on Facebook? I've got Penni on mine but wondered if anyone else wanted an add? I'm at Melinda Howlett Gill. I'm also on Twitter: @thriveonlive feel free to add me! You're all so supportive and great friends in and around here!

Socializing, got a little razzed about how I'm eating at one party, at the other party, a nutritionist wants to connect with me regarding her research into raw foods. Very cool!

How are everyone's sleep patterns? I find I am just not tired at night. I'm wanting to get more into waking early and doing my work then while everyone sleeps. I find I'm more of a night owl and need to switch my timing. I have to make a conscious decision to go to bed each night. I'd like to be tired so maybe if I start getting up at 5am my body will tell me to get to sleep at 10pm. I find 7 to 8 hours is optimal but can work just fine on 5 or 6 without a problem. I just want to give my body what it needs. You?

Drivin' Miss Crazy

2009-08-01T00:40:00.000-07:00

Well,

Started off the day great. Drank a litre of water, got the kids to swimming lessons. Dodged the wasps once more at the pool - I had a minor allergic reaction the last two times I've was stung. Swelling that I had to use antihistamines for. That was 20 years ago and 10 years ago. I've always carried an epi pen since the second swelling incident but haven't been stung in ten years. I am wondering if I'd even have a reaction now, after being 2.5 years high raw. Anyone have info on this? Experienced anything like reduced histamine responses to previous allergens?

Then I was supposed to make my Tour De Fraab video while the kids were at bike camp this afternoon and instead I spent it on the road. First getting them there took a half hour longer than usual due to a stalled vehicle. Forgot their helmets so had to go another route home and retrieve that. Then to do errands for my hubby and got into that traffic mess again. Long weekend up here so roads were super bad. In the end I didn't get to do the video. Have some time on the weekend and will do it then. I've so enjoyed the others and want to be able to offer one as well. I needed an attitude adjustment this afternoon for sure. I could have reacted calmly but instead got myself worked up! I was better after 3pm. :)

Today I ate:

Cherry Rawcia (you know, like the Cherry Garcia of Ben and Jerry's) - I made my own version up. I have these incredible organic cherries and they are SO juicy. Put the banana through the Champion juicer to make the ice cream.

2 frozen bananas

1 cup cherries (to put on top)

1 tbsp. raw cacao

1 tbsp. raw agave

Put bananas through juicer. Pit the cherries and put them on top of ice cream. Mix cacao and agave in separate bowl and spoon over the ice cream.

Pure decadence. This is the photo above. The green bowl of yum is Hulk Sauce, had that yesterday.

Late lunch, after that breakfast I was not hungry until 2pm!

1 cup blueberries
1 cup strawberries
1/2 a cucumber

Dinner:

HUGE salad at Sweet Cherubim. Local vegetarian/vegan/raw options restaurant. Had the "California Salad"
greens
carrots
green cabbage
purple cabbage
cucumbers
sunflower seeds
pecans
pumpkin seeds
raisins
avocado

with Tahini ginger dressing - also raw. YUM.

It was SO filling. But of course there was the dessert option! Raw Raspberry cake. Not sure of the ingredients, but for sure raspberries, sunflower seeds, apples and kiwi. I could not make out anything else but it was GOOD.

Got a bliss ball for tomorrow as well.

I'm stuffed still and it's midnight here on the west coast!'

Also drank 3 litres of water today. I'm trying to up my water intake as my weight seems to be going up again and I've been eating really lightly this last week (other than today of course!) Looking at doing one of the cleanses in the next weeks.

Bliss out!
Me.

Sweatin' it out!

2009-07-28T22:34:00.001-07:00

Well, without moving I've landed in Greece, Hawaii or Mexico, Turkey, Southern France, you name it if it's SUPER HOT, that's where I'm living right now.

Read something last night in my in box that said:

"Joy does not simply happen to us. We have to choose joy and keep choosing it every day." -Henri Nouwen

I noticed that this last week I've not been "feeling the joy" in my heart. I feel like I'm going through the motions and know that deep stuff is coming up and through me because I'm no longer using food to stuff it back down again. Fears, angers, disappointments, guilt, you name it, I've experienced it this week. Instead of choosing joy each day I chose to wallow in these negative feelings. Well, after receiving this message in my in box, I CHOSE JOY today and what a different day I had. I had much more patience. Instead of getting upset at little things, I chose to laugh at them and deal with them. Things happen, either we can choose to despair, or choose joy. Things will still happen, but our reaction to these things can be dramatically different. It's a lot more fun to laugh than to get upset.

CHOOSE JOY!

Today I ate:

1/2 apple

1/2 pint raspberries

2 litres of water - need more in this heat!

Smoothie:

1 tbsp. vitamineral green

1 banana

1 date

1/2 apple

1/2 cup cherries

Deep, dark green yum!

Smoothie:

1 banana

1 date

1 cup frozen strawberries

1 tbsp. almonds

1 tbsp. hemp seed

2 cups water (this is half the recipe, the other half my sister and son drank!)

I also added 1 tbsp. vitamineral green and 1 scoop of sproutein to mine - will post photo of me drinking this!

Dinner:

Salad - yellow pepper

avocado

mixed greens

dill

cilantro

carrots

cucumber

with Vega oil dressing recipe Dessert:

1 banana

1 tbsp. shredded coconut

1 tsp. honey

1 tbsp. raisins

1 tbsp. almond butter

I ate too much today again. Trying to figure out why I want to keep eating. Sometimes I have cravings, other times it's no trouble. I'm trying to track it down, but believe it has to do with my cycle. I'm mid cycle right now and find my cravings and over eating happen more mid cycle and just before menstration...anyone else experience this type of thing?

Well, it's 30 degrees Celcius in the house right now, that's 86 degrees Fahrenheit. It's 10:30 in the evening! Windows are wide open throughout the house and there is no air movement.

Did 5 min. on the rebounder this morning but felt it was too hot to do any outdoor exercise today...no wait, did about 25 min. walking with helping daughter on two wheeled bike and walking to the river to go for a dip! So did get some minor exercise today. Bootcamp on Thursday night. Yoga tomorrow morning!

Night all!

Hot enough for ya?

2009-07-27T23:19:00.001-07:00

Wow, we've got one heck of a heat wave hitting the West Coast of B.C. right now! We were up around 35 degrees Celcius which is about 95 degrees Fahrenheit! That's pretty hot for around here. Tomorrow's supposed to be even hotter!

Drank 2 litres of water today, could have used more in this heat!

Not hungry in the a.m.

Did a 20 min. walk

Had some raspberries and a banana for lunch

Snacked on strawberries, blueberries and a nectarine

Dinner: Huge salad with raspberries, apple and the Vega oil dressing recipe.

Dessert: one small live bar with "icing" - 1 tsp. honey mixed with 1 tsp. coconut butter.

Did errands and drove kids to bike camp this afternoon. My daughter is now much more confident on two wheels - she knows how to stop and start better. The pedaling was already pretty much there. She is so excited. Cleaned up the deck outside some more.

My Zen Zone is almost complete!

Took my daughter to a friends' place to have her hair cut. She's donating it to a local company that makes wigs for kids who have lost their hair due to alopecia, traditional cancer treatments, etc. She's been growing it for over a year and a half and was very excited to get this done today.

My daughter's new "do" is quite cute. There were 9 inches taken off so she's left with a cute little bob.

SO hot, and I'm really not hungry in the heat. Hotter tomorrow, supposed to hit 100 degrees F. I'm off to the sauna, oops I mean bed. I just love to sweat out those toxins as I sleep!!! :) Night all!

Hot and Humid

2009-07-27T00:07:00.001-07:00

I remember a blog post here not so long ago when I said that the heat no longer bothered me since I've been raw. I take it back! I was irritable today, for seemingly no reason except the fact that it was 30 degrees Celcius (hot for around here) and the current humidity is 83% - that's unheard of around here! I can't sleep so figured I'd get a post in for today.

We started our day off at the market. The fruit and veggies were out in force, as were the wasps! Luckily we dodged them while getting our raspberries and some greens!

We polished off the first pint of raspberries on the way home! I had a bowl of blueberries just before we left to go to the market.

Here's all I ate today:

Bowl of blueberries

3/4 pint of raspberries

1/2 cup of chocolate almond shake: banana cacao almond milk

Small bowl of yum: 1 banana cut up into "banana coins" (my kids' term for sliced banana)

1 tbsp. almond butter

1 tsp. shredded coconut

1 tbsp. raisins

Swirl together and enjoy.

Huge Salad. I eat from a salad bowl the size of one you'd bring to a potluck.

Mixed greens with some herbs 1 tomato grated carrot (1/4 cup about)

1 tbsp. cashews

Balsamic/olive oil dressing

Raw Ice Cream:

1 cup soaked cashews

1 cup coconut meat

1 cup coconut water (used most of it)

2 tbsp. vanilla - found this a bit much...

1/2 tsp. sea salt

I think that was all. Blend and then put in ice cream maker. It's so hot here though it was more like soft serve ice cream. My hand crank ice cream maker could not compete!

Not enough water today. Need more water! Had about 1.5 litres but probably sweat out about 2.

Worked on my "Zen Zone" in the back yard. I'm recreating the Tree fort deck, it's an area where all the kids' toys used to live all over the place. Now we have three deck boxes that they fit nicely into since I decluttered a heck of a lot of the toys. Freecycled most and others will go to charity. Have you checked out Freecycle.org?

It's going to have a nice covered fire pit that I can move so I can also do yoga out there as well. So excited to get that finished soon!

Other than being hot and cranky today it was overall a great day. Lots accomplished and good food going in! Time to try and sleep - maybe my Zen Zone will be a good place to sleep this week, there's no end in sight to the heat wave we're having!

Cheers!

My Daughter on RFR!

2009-07-25T23:06:00.001-07:00

I hope Penni doesn't mind, but I had to copy this into my blog to show you all what it said! Proud mamma talking here!

Talk about a Day Maker! Here is Melinda Gill's radiant daughter as she creates her first salad...how could I not feature this as the Photo of the Day?! Be in awareness of the impact that your choices have on those around you.

Made My Day

2009-07-25T22:32:00.000-07:00

How exciting to see my daughter's precious smile on the main page of RFR today! She was amazed and felt so proud to be on the website. She's heard me talking so much about this site, and seen me on it from time to time during the last two months, so she knew how special it was to be a part of it! Thanks Penni!

Today was another field trip to Fort Langley, B.C. We visited the B.C. Farm and Agriculture museum. It was incredible how many artifacts they had there. They need about three times the space to give their items justice! It really hit me how much people really knew about their food back in those days, when they grew a lot of their own food, made much of their food from scratch and knew exactly what was in the food they were eating, so unlike our lives of today.

Children would not have time to be bored, or need stuff to fill the void/extra time...they had not extra time. They were busy in their studies, helping out around the house, learning how to farm, keep house, and fix things. If they were lucky their family owned some type of instrument and they would learn about music. Family was the most important thing, and everyone pitched in because if they didn't they would not eat or have a properly running home. Makes me think of Little House on the Prairie, which my husband is currently reading to our kids. Life was simple - or at least seemed a lot simpler back then. Simpler in ways but harder in others.

I find often I yearn for simpler times. Simplifying life. I just took a book off my shelf, and will have to dust it off...it is brand new and I've only read a chapter or two but it's all about living simply with kids. Some important messages for us there. My kids would give up all their worldly belongings for more time with mom and dad. So often children are given stuff to occupy them when in reality all they really needed was US!

On this sunny day we also had our last ride on the Albion Ferry, a ferry that runs across the Fraser River. It's free to ride, but now that a big, swanky new bridge has been built 20 min. up river, they are forever closing this ferry. I actually cried when we drove off for the last time. I didn't use it all that often, but again, it's the end of an era for that little ferry and 60 people will lose jobs because of this closure.

The beautiful sunshine gave way to dark ominous clouds and then the skies opened up to all of our senses! Rain, wet on our skin, the electricity could be felt on the hairs of our arms, the claps of thunder had the bravest of souls running for cover and the shocking white/blues and purples of the sheet, chain and fork lightening burned in our retinas! It was a most incredible thunder and lightening storm. The kids loved it, as did I. I actually get giddy when storms come this way as they are not a common event here. The rain was coming down SO hard!

A haiku to mark the event:

Blinding light flashes

Tearing thunder rumbles on

Wounded sky opens

Here's what I ate today:

1 banana with 1tbsp. almond butter and 1 tsp. shredded coconut

1 litre of water

1 small bowl of cherries

1 live bar (size of half my thumb) with "icing" (1 tsp. coconut butter, 1 tsp. honey)

1 Kelp dish - boo hoo, kelp's all gone now, must buy more!

Lots of carrots, celery, orange pepper, cucumber, and such at my mom's place.

Raw ice cream:

Small bowl of strawberry, small bowl of maple walnut

So, as the rain softly taps down on the rooftops nearby I sign off to spend some time with my man who's feeling a wee bit neglected. How are all of your significant others dealing with time you spend on the computer learning new things about raw foods? I didn't think anything of it until he said yesterday - seems like you have more fun on that computer than you do sitting with me these days. Ouch. Just a gentle reminder to give those you love a hug today and let them know how important they are to you!

Cheers and Green Smoothies to you all!

Melinda

Cooling down

2009-07-23T22:10:00.000-07:00

First day of cool weather in a while, a nice reprieve but the heat is not bothering me much this year. While others are constantly complaining that it is SO hot, I've noticed that since I've been eating this way and weight has dropped off, the heat is a welcome friend!

Today I ate:

2 litres of water

1 apple

Smoothie:

1 scoop of Sproutein

1 cup frozen strawberries

1 container of pea shoots

1 banana

1.5 cups of water

1 date (I think that was all)

I juiced today! First time in a LONG while. It was not my favourite juice but you have to get creative when you're almost out of greens.

1 small head of broccoli kale from the garden (six or seven stalks, small)

4 stalks celery

1 bunch parsley

1 lemon

It made about 1.5 cups and I watered it down with another cup of water, as it was SO strong. Next time some cucumber would be helpful!

Kelp dish: This is going to be my new favourite until the kelp noodles run out! I used the recipe on the package as a guide, but made it all raw. All measurements are approximate.

2 cups of kelp noodles

1/2 cup broccoli

1 carrot grated

2 green onions cut up

Sauce: 1 tsp. brown miso paste 3 tsp. raw almond butter

1 tbsp. agave

dash of sesame oil

dash of raw apple cider vinegar

Put it on the top and mix it into the kelp dish and oh my gosh is it GOOD! It's very asian tasting, and I gobbled it all up!

1 Live bar with home made icing (1 tsp. honey mixed with 1 tsp. coconut butter)

I'll be making that kelp dish again tomorrow, for sure!

I also went to bootcamp tonight and we did a 1 mile run, and a yoga/pilates/ab workout tonight. I sweat more during this class than the other ones, it is hard work! I love being back to exercising outdoors. I've been once a week for the last three weeks and plan to do twice next week. Love it!

Hope you are all enjoying the week as it comes to a close. What are some of your plans for the weekend...we're always talking about food here, how about what you do for recreation? I'll be going to a museum of agriculture, taking a ferry that's closing at the end of the month for the last time. We are also going to dinner at my parents' place, so I'm going to bring some great dishes with me. On Sunday we're going to be enjoying some more family time.

Eat Raw, Live Well!

Melinda

Raw Food Rehab answer

2009-07-15T22:47:00.000-07:00

In my Raw Food Rehab group they asked us a question:

Do you feel that you are counter cultural by eating raw and living foods? She also talked about how many do things in moderation so as not to upset the "apple cart". Here's what I had to say:

Being a teacher, I do not see moderation at work. I see children eating what's available to them...crap! The stuff that they eat at school is terrible. The school board here is trying to change things, but it does not happen in reality. There's slurpees, french fries, yam fries, burgers, sometimes sushi and then there's the vending machines. How do we expect children to learn when they are feeding (numbing) their brains on this "filler". I cannot bring myself to call it food.

I do not see moderation in the staff room either. Here are some examples from our school: Every single meeting that happens has donuts, cake muffins, coffee, and other sweet treats...this is how people are enticed to COME to the meeting! We have Popcorn Wednesdays where you'll see people trip over each other to get there first to get the most buttery and salty popcorn. There are children being stampeded upon when it's Treat day Friday! A few years ago they even did a spoof video regarding this particular weekly event! I should get my hands on it, it was SO funny! Then there's those on staff that also take part in "Fat Friday". This group gets together and goes out to one of the local fast food joints. They know what it's doing to them but they do it anyway, "Hell, you only live once, may as well enjoy it!" is often quipped if they get a sideways glance from anyone.

The culture around food in our schools (at least the ones I've seen here in B.C) is S.A.D. indeed.

Enter Melinda...that granola girl who is SO granola now, they don't even know what to call me. Most of my staff has been there and seen me go through the changes I have gone through. Thin and 25 years old starting my job, steadily gaining weight for the next 10 years until I hit 222 lbs. at the end of my second pregnancy...to holding steady at 196 for the longest time even with Bootcamp 4 days a week! They've seen me go through a breast biopsy, endless stomach issues, injuries, depression, anxieties, you name it...and they've also seen me healing one day at a time since I made the decision two and a half years ago about what I put in my mouth to nourish myself.

All of these sweet eating, meat eating, beer swilling, partying people I work with have seen this amazing transformation from 196 to now 140. From depressed, ill and aging to energetic, happy, enthusiastic and healthy! Yet, even though I receive many compliments about how I look I am teased and tormented on a DAILY basis about what I bring to the staff room. I'll admit, there are a few who really admire that I eat like this but say they could never do it. There are those that are interested in what I eat and ask me for more information...but these are the exception, not the rule. Some applaud that I make green smoothies for my class as a "smoothie start to the week". Or that we have Fruitful Fridays and everyone brings in a piece of fruit to cut up and put in our Friendship Fruit Salad. Others balk that I am taking up "curriculum time" to do such trivial things. "They won't eat that stuff!" They tell me. Well, the kids do eat it, they are so open about trying new things in this environment and I am so passionate about getting the word out to the youngsters as they can help change the way their family does things. They all begged for recipes each time I made something for them so that they could make it at home with their parents.

So, no matter how counter cultural we may be, eating raw and living foods, and no matter what the teasing and torment we may experience...when you've found something that works so well, and makes you feel so great, you just want to sing the praises of it to the world.

That being said...it's not always easy, but if it was easy we wouldn't appreciate the journey nearly as much! Cheers to all of you for being a part of something great! You'll never know how many people you will touch with your inspirational spirits!

Here's what I ate today:

Feeling good, weighed myself this morning and I'm two pounds lighter than Sunday! Ya!

What I ate today:

July 15, 2009:

1.5 litres of water
Apple
Raw ice cream:
Banana/walnut/maple syrup (I meant to use agave, poured the maple syrup on it and figured it'd probably taste pretty good, which it DID!) None went to waste, my son even ate some.
Licked the spoon with raw chocolate, coconut butter, agave on it from a recipe that I did. (Now there's some brutal honesty for you!)
Ran about 45 min. (5 min. run, 1 min. walk)
Huge salad, same as last night. I LOVE this herb salad, it's so simple and so tasty...but they had more dill in the last package I had, liked it with more dill.
1 piece of raw chocolate. It is smaller than a reese peanut butter cup. Ooh, I could put some raw almond butter on top and it might taste close to that...will try with my other chocolate tomorrow.
2 cups of camomile tea

Still riding the roller coaster of a dental ride with my daughter's teeth but we have one more consult before we decide which route we're going to take. I want minimally invasive, no amalgam, no anesthesia, but I also want her safe and unhurt by the whole situation. There were not as many issues with her teeth as we'd been told by the previous dentist, and I have major trust issues with them now. We'll see how next Wednesday plays out.

This is the first time I've dealt with anything stressful and not turned to food to help me through it. I'm experiencing the frustration, sadness, pain and such in real time. I cry if I have to but know that it will all work out and we'll be a stronger family unit because of it.

Family day

2009-07-12T20:14:00.000-07:00

My husband and I always try to have at least one or two family times during the week. It's important to be together and enjoy each others' company. Today we went out with my parents and had a great time with them and the kids. Our kids are very lucky to have all four grandparents living as well as living close to us. They are our daycare for the kids so the children have grown up with them and are very attached.

July 12, 2009

142lbs. Scale didn't move this week. Too much fat, too much of the sweeteners this week. No exercise. Will try for two bootcamps, some rebounding and at least one run and a couple of yoga sessions as well. Less fat, less sweetener (agave, honey, dates, etc.)

1 litre of water

bowl of strawberries

carrots

avocado

lara bar

1/2 litre of water

huge salad - mixed herb green salad, with green onions, pumpkin seeds (1 tbsp), generous sprinkle of kelp granules. Dressing was 1 tbsp. braggs raw apple cider vinegar and cold pressed olive oil (1 tbsp).

three stalks of celery with 1 tbsp. macadamia nut butter and 1 tbsp. raisins

Banana with 1 tbsp. macadamia nut butter.

1/2 litre of water

tea - a few cups of acai berry, touch of honey.

I LOVE macadamia nut butter. I usually have to purchase one container per week with the amount that I eat, but having cut back on my fats, I've only used a half a container in 2 weeks. That means a container will last me 1 month instead of 1 week. That's very helpful in the cost department. Actually by eating less food, I really am doing well money wise for my groceries...until I start purchasing specialty items on line...

Got lots accomplished in our carport, in dire need of being tidied up. Lots to give away and lots to pass on to friends, and the garbage, recycling, and green waste to be picked up tomorrow! I can actually park there again!

Teaching my daughter to bike on two wheels. Today was our first day out, for 45 min. There were lots of tears (hers), lots of encouraging words (me) and she did really well for her first time out without training wheels. Her confidence is not there at all yet, but she was much better on the bike in that short time, it helped her to gain at least a little confidence in what she is doing.

Off to go look for kelp noodle recipes! I can't wait to try this stuff!

Night all!

Sun's Shining...

2009-07-11T22:47:00.000-07:00

Today was a day of temptation in the sun! Here's how I coped! Drank a litre of water while getting ready for the day. Made a chocolate shake from the Gianni's daily video post. You can find her doing the recipe here: This is the recipe (I used 2 tbsp. cacao - then forgot to put in carob to substitute for the other 2 tbsp. and it's supposed to be 2 tsp. of maca. I also only used 1 tbsp. of lucuma and half the agave...I'll write it in the recipe below, as this is kinda confusing...)

Delicious Chocolate Dream

2 Bananas

1 small avocado

1/4 cup raw cacao (I used 2 tbsp. and meant to put in 2 tbsp. of carob)

1/4 cup agave (I used only 2 tbsp.)

1 tbsp coconut oil (I used coconut butter as it's all I had) 2 tbsp lucuma powder (I used only 1 tbsp.)

2 tbsp maca (2 tsp. maca) 1/2 tsp cinnamon (forgot this one...)

1 cup water -maybe more if you want the consistency thinner (this makes it more like a pudding instead of a drink, but either way it is great.) Blend and enjoy

OK. So looking at this now it seems that I didn't really make the same shake at all like the one she made on the show...I always fiddle with things depending on what I think I need or my body will tolerate. However, my son had at least a quarter of the drink, he absolutely loved it. Usually he can taste the avocado in anything but just kept asking for more. My daughter who isn't a lover of bananas did not like this particular drink/pudding.

I was super full, brushed everyone's teeth and we were off to the park for our annual family reunion picnic. SUPER fun, by the ocean, lots of exploring and playing of sports, talking to people who have been travelling all over the world, some volunteering in Africa, one who'd been fighting in Afghanistan and just got back, one who'd just arrived home from Bahrain. World travellers these are!

The table was full of food, but I was not hungry and so did not eat. I drank another litre of water about two hours later though as it was HOT today.

The next party was a year old birthday party with the usual fare. Lucky for me there was a fruit tray. I ate about a 1/4 cantaloupe and 1/4 honey dew melon. That's it there.

At home I had a huge salad with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

Mixed greens

grated carrots raw dried cranberries sweetened with fresh apple juice (store bought)

1 tbsp. cashews

two green onions cut up

Later on I had three stalks of celery with 1 tbsp. macadamia butter.

Later after that I had 1 tbsp. macadamia butter with grawnola with a touch of honey swirled in.

Finished eating at 8pm. I do not feel I've been low fat enough this week. I do not think the scale has moved, and I have not exercised much either with my bootcamp instructor away for the week.

Next week I will go twice and have two run days. Yoga in the mornings about three times this week. Rebounded about 3 times as well. Off to spend some time with my other "honey". =)

New Day, New Outlook

2009-07-10T23:08:00.000-07:00

Had a rather good day today.

Drank 1.5 litres of water

Ate: apple

kale chips (shared two bags with my two kids - those things are addictive!) for lunch and a

snack

bowl of strawberries/blueberries - LOVE berry season!

Living Nuts - about 2 tbsp. worth. They too are great!

Late Dinner: half a cantaloup and half a honeydew melon. How can you tell that my order from Upaya Naturals came in today?! I have to learn how to make kale chips myself.

Here's a great recipe that I found on line and will use the next time I would like to eat them. My son, the "do not go green" guy (4 yrs) LOVED them. My daughter always loves to try anything and likes most foods. My son will water the garden but not eat from it! So the kale chips will be a great way to get some green in him. I found it on Raw Food Talk by Raw Knitster

CHEESY CURLY KALE CHIPS

1 large bunch green curly kale***, washed, large stems removed, torn into bite size pieces COATING: 1 cup cashews, (soaked 2 hours)

1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped

juice of 1 lemon

1 T. nutritional yeast

2 t. agave (opt.)

1/2 t. himalayan pink crystal salt

Put coating ingredients in Vitamix. Blend until smooth. Using your hands,(same as with Awesome Goddess Chips which are indeed AWESOME), spread coating on kale pieces getting it inside of curls. Put on teflex sheets and dehydrate at 105 overnight or until coating is dry. Slide onto mesh screens and dehydrate 12 hours, or until very crispy. That seems like a long time to dry kale chips. The kale was very curly, and the coating very thick.

I will be trying it soon and let you know how it worked for me. Was at a retirement party most the evening and LOTS of temptation there, there were at least five main dishes and about 15 side dishes - one of which was raw, a veggie platter. There were 14 different kinds of desserts. I think I ate most of the fruit tray myself! That's where the melon count came in on my food for today! I enjoy parties much more now that I stick to the raw foods, as I don't feel sick or tired when leaving a party anymore. That's a nice feeling, for sure! Tomorrow it's off to a family reunion picnic (should be interesting!), and a one year old birthday party for my friend's daughter. More temptation, but the more I resist eating it, the less it appeals to me. One day at a time.

Hope you're all doing well out there!

Melinda

Uncomfortably Numb

2009-07-09T20:37:00.000-07:00

That about describes how I'm feeling today. I'm having trouble feeling anything as I feel so numb. I'm shutting out feelings, and trying NOT to do it with food. Fasted on water (about a liter) until 4pm as I was too upset from news at the Dental Specialist this morning regarding my daughters teeth situation. 1 peach 1 bowl of strawberries 1 banana Ate two raw bars Salad - same as last night but with balsamic and olive oil. Seems my hemp oil, flax oil have gone off and my Vega oil is finished, until next week shopping. Macadamia/honey/grawnowla mixture. Currently feeling bloated, and numb. Gave my daughter a massage today, she's feeling my strain/stress, and is super worried as well. Here's a six year old who has never had a cavity and now has a mouthful. She's not a happy camper, but lives for the moment and seems only to be sad when I am. So I've decided not to be sad with her around, right this moment that's how it's gotta be so that she doesn't take on my emotions. Will not eat any more tonight. Stopped eating at 7:45pm. No exercise, although my heart rate has been high with stress all day. Perhaps I should go for a walk after I get the kids to bed. Hope you all had a better day. Looking to start fresh tomorrow morning with some yoga. Have to get those garden pix up as well this weekend! Good night to you all! Me.

Winnie-the-Pooh

2009-07-08T22:58:00.001-07:00

I've been playing a lot with honey in the past few years and truly enjoy it and feel that it does have amazing qualities...however, I am Winnie-the-Pooh when it comes to honey. Once my honeypot is open, I like to have more than a small smackeral of it! My waist starts to expand and before you know it I'm wearing yellow with red! I also think that honey has something to do with my kids' teeth issues! I give them natural vitamins with natural sweeteners instead of the pills made from synthetic chemicals and chemical sweeteners. I also found out two months ago that the toothpaste that we've been using for about a year and a half was sweetened with honey. How I missed that on the list of ingredients all that time I am unsure...however, now we've got major tooth issues to deal with. Of course I see everything that happens through the eyes of "food", while my husband is very traditional in his thinking (we used non flouride toothpaste, so that must be the reason) while my mother in love (feeling more like "law" these days!?!) feels that we are doing our kids a disservice by not feeding them milk and milk products. She feels that they are calcium deficient and that's why they have cavities. No matter the reason, we need to deal with this and it's going to cost a lot of money and time not to mention the trauma to the poor wee ones! We need to re-examine what we've been doing and change things (already changed the toothpaste, anyone know of a good natural toothpaste with flouride - we're going to brush with it once a day to help the teeth for now). We are trying to use this situation as a learning experience, and hopefully we'll all come out of it better people! Tuesday July 7, 2009: Yoga and Breathing exercises Lots of water, 1 litre before 10am apple macadamia nut butter - 1 tbsp. two raw bliss spheres from Nature's World - date, carob, coconut, cinnamon. Went out to dinner for anniversary to a cute restaurant called "Wilbur and Sebastian's". Wilbur for the pig in Charlotte's Web and Sebastian is the lobster in Little Mermaid. It's a cute place, the owner was raw for about six weeks she told me but could not continue, found it too hard to do. They do homestyle cooking, everything is fresh and most is organic...my husband's back was hurting badly so he was in so much pain he could hardly eat! Poor guy! I keep telling him to go raw, maybe it would help but alas, it hasn't happened so far! Amazing tea at "Cafe Divine" and even bought some it was so good, reminded me of spiced mulled wine or apple cider! With honey of course! :) Had huge salad that they made especially for me. Nice! Mixed greens, red onion, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, tomatoes, cucumber. Oh and a glass of wine... Had about 2 litres of water total today. Exercise, housework only. Wednesday, July 8, 2009: Today at 12:34:56 07/08/09 was a neat time, I was somewhere on public transit I believe, went on a "field trip" with the kids today!) to see dinosaur exhibit. Only 1 litre of water today Apple raw bar mini carrots Bliss Sphere Huge salad: mixed greens, spinach, broccolini, pea shoots, clover sprouts with the vega oil dressing. Bliss Sphere with 1 tbsp. of macadamia nut butter Camomile tea at Cafe Divine - LOVE their teas, they come from NY somewhere and are packaged here. YUM! The fat is creeping up again and I'm eating more emotionally this week so far as my daughter's specialist appointment for the dentist is tomorrow morning. I know that "all is well" and that everything will work out in the end, it is just the unknown that I focus on. Trying to focus on the positive and not have my emotions affect her or my son. They are troopers and I know they can do this with style! Now I just have to follow their lead! I'm off to bed early as it's an early wake up call. Cheers to our half way point, have we come that far already! Looking forward to the next five weeks, must find that book! It is not available new from our Canadian online book company, so will go looking! Night all!

Inspired...

2009-07-05T21:25:00.000-07:00

End of a long weekend of enormous amounts of work in the back yard. I know I've been writing a lot about this but it has literally consumed me for three days, like nothing else recently! Today it was all about watering and learning more about the plants and what they need and where they should (or should have) been positioned. Some will have to be replanted, but in the meantime I'm thrilled with how our back yard is coming along. I must think of this as a journey, not a destination of "garden's done". Today while talking with my sister outside, I mentioned that on our raised wooden patio area I (it is triangular against the fence of two different neighbours, shaded by big pine trees) would be a great space for socializing if we had somewhere to sit. I asked my hubby to make some benches along the fence, and make them storage benches as well, with a simple hinge lift top. He likes that idea...and we could also get one of those covered outdoor fire pits, and make it a real meeting place for our neighbours. This way too I'd have a place to put all the kids' outdoor play stuff and not have to worry about the eye clutter when I look out the door. There's even room for a small garden shed (just one foot deep, five feet tall and maybe three feet across) where I could keep gardening tools at the ready). So tomorrow after the kids' swimming lessons and some dinosaur learning (we do theme weeks in the summer this week is dino dig week) we'll clear the deck off, decide what to keep and give away and go looking for some nice cushions that we can use on our new benches. That's next week's building project. The other idea that I had is that it would be the PERFECT space for outdoor yoga for one or two, so I'm working on making it a very calm, soothing place, maybe a fountain somewhere, for a trickle of water effect. Any other suggestions? I'm really starting to have fun with this now, progress, not perfection! Here's what I ate today:

Sunday, July 5, 2009:

Fasted on water until 2pm. Hulk sauce: 3 apples 1 tbsp. vitamineral green 1 bunch of parsley 1 scoop of sproutein 1/4 cup water (or more to help blending) Blend in vitamix and ate out of an old fashioned milk shake glass. I always enjoy my food more if I eat them from a beautiful vessel. Dinner: HUGE salad. One head of romaine lettuce One container of pea shoots 1 container of alfalfa sprouts 2 tbsp. cashews (Fat?) 1 bunch of broccolini (I think that's the name?) Dressing: 2 tbsp. vega dressing (28g fat) 1 tbsp. stone ground mustard 3/4 tbsp. agave 1/2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar Snack: 1 tbsp. macadamia nut butter (12g fat) 1 tsp. raw cacao 1 banana Mash together and eat! Hmmm...looking back, that's more fat than I wanted to eat today. Start of a fresh week tomorrow, looking forward to it! Sorry for the squished writing, I'm having trouble copy and pasting into blogger from another site I write in?! Melinda

Soil Toil

2009-07-04T21:54:00.000-07:00

It was another hard day in the garden but not without its rewards! It's really starting to come along out there and we got so much planted today. I was blessed to have my mom here to help me today and it looks great! We planted loganberries, cranberries, an apple tree, too many herbs to name here, peas, tomato plants, salmon berry, and some hostas, ferns and other decorative bits and pieces. I'm still on the lookout for a huckleberry tree as it was my favourite as a kid and I'd like to have one back here. My friend said she could get one from her yard, so perhaps tomorrow...it brings back memories of when my sister and I would spend hours picking huckleberries for hours to make a huckleberry pie (the non raw variety!). I'd love to try making a raw version soon. Tomorrow it's more herb planting, two fig trees going in the ground, and I must thin out my veggie garden so I'm going to put in some of those veggies into the other garden beds we've designed.

The family also got to spend some time at the Maple Ridge Farmer's Market. We haven't been to this market in over two years and they've really improved and have a lot more farmers and artisans there. There's even a stage with entertainment. That's where we got the ferns and hostas.

This evening it was time to face temptation again with my neighbour's son's birthday party. I ate A LOT of fruit there, and lots of celery and some romaine leaves (meant for their burgers, but hey...) We had a great time and I did not feel deprived at all. "Food, not Filler" is my mantra these days. It's amazing how much I used to fill up on stuff that had no real value and the fact that I spent money on that before is astounding to me now. Instead, I made a purchase from upayanaturals.com, a Canadian company that sells quality raw and living foods. Can't wait for my "present" to arrive in the mail shortly. It's FREE shipping all this long weekend in honour of Canada Day (which was July 1st). Which reminds me to say Happy July 4th to all of those celebrating today!

What I ate today:

July 4, 2009

3 litres of water. I'm drinking so much water in this heat. We've had very hot weather this past while.

Breakfast: Pint of blueberries

Lunch: Green smoothie (that was more blue than green!):
1/2 cup blueberries
2 cups water
1 banana
green lettuce
celery
five strawberries with the tops on of course! :)

Later, about a half hour after lunch: 1/4 of an avocado sprinkled with kelp granules (my daughter begged for the rest!)

Snack:

Cacao pudding:

This made 3 servings (one for me, one for daughter, one for son)

2 bananas
1 avocado
2 tbsp. agave
2 tbsp. cacao
Processed in food processor and yum!
My kids liked this so much that I'm going to add a tsp. of green powder next time and see if they notice! :)

Dinner:

Handful of blueberries
pint of strawberries
small bunch of grapes
two rings of pineapple
5 celery stalks
4 leaves of romaine lettuce

I think I ate higher fat today than I have in a week. I guess it's about 2/3 of an avocado...actually that's way lower than I used to eat fat wise. I have to admit, that I'm feeling clearer, way more energy, and my digestion is amazing at the moment. I've also noticed the clothes possibly getting bigger?! I've also done a lot of exercise in the last few days...I'm interested to see what the scale says tomorrow morning.

Cheers!
Melinda

Blood, Sweat and Tears...let me explain...

2009-07-03T23:26:00.000-07:00

Quite an emotional day here today.

Blood = from my son's head.

Sweat = mine from working so hard on the back yard garden.

Tears = mine, my son's and my daughter's.

First here's what I ate:

4 litres of water

1 apple, one plum

Blender shake: 1 tbsp. maca, 1tbsp. cacao, 1 banana, 2 cups water, 5 strawberries, 1 scoop of sproutein. Didn't taste great so you may want to adjust if you try this one...

Coconut water from one young thai coconut. 1.5 cups

I can't believe that's all that I ate today?!

Spent the WHOLE day outside digging, shoveling, wheelbarrowing soil, building up the beds for the edible garden. I will not need to work out this weekend!

Now, let's get into the Blood, Sweat and Tears portion of our day...

Blood from my son's head - this happened twice today! First he was climbing on my friends' wheelbarrow while she was busy helping out and fell out of it, hitting his head on the cement patio. No concussion, and no abnormal tiredness or tingling so we waited it out. Then an hour later he was rolling around on the grass out front and when he got up, bashed his cheek, beside his eye on the wheelbarrow again! Magnet!

Sweat - I got an amazing workout today...Outside working from 9am until 7:30pm. We took a half hour break twice in the day. My clothing was soaked so I soaked in a long shower and a bath afterwards. Sipping my coconut water which was diluted with water.

Tears - My son's, due to his two injuries! Mine and my daughter's tears were due to the news from the dental visit she and my son had today. NOT good news, many cavities. I'm in shock and dismay. I do not use flouride toothpaste and my husband has placed the blame on me for this news. My kids are not raw, they eat all types of foods, but we are very strict at home about a whole food diet. They do not eat much sugar at all, except fruit sugar. They have fruit for breakfast every day and for a snack each day in the afternoon. We brush two to three times a day and floss every night. Has anyone had this type of situation happen to them? Their kids? How can I turn the situation around?!? My husband is adamant that we now use flouride toothpaste every time they brush. I am very against this but he believes that my no flouride way has gotten us into the situation that we have now. I'm sure that it's not the only factor but it's hard to argue against this when my husband is so mainstream! So my day has been one of many ups and downs.

The garden beds are ready, but the plants have yet to be planted. I'll include some pictures when it is all done.

One positive is that when I'm stressed, I usually eat and eat and eat. I managed to eat very little today because I was SO busy in the yard. Felt very grounding working out there in the beautiful sunshine with a great friend who was amazing to have with me and helped support me with the issues that arose today.

Thanks for reading my rant. Looking forward to a fresh new day tomorrow!

Eat raw, live well (remember to brush your teeth!)

Celebrations!

2009-07-02T23:54:00.000-07:00

I am truly blessed to live in Canada, especially the West Coast. Our small community has so many great things that we can get involved in on Canada Day. We did some things at the park with the kids, relaxed in the back yard most of the afternoon and then had my parents over for dinner. Then it was off to the fireworks. They really put on a great display this year and the turnout was as incredible as the show!

Today we planned out all we need to do for the edible forest garden in the back yard...it's going to be a lot of work but the rewards will be great! Again, I will post before photos and then some as we go along tomorrow. We'll get most of it done then and add to it as the months progress.

Here's what's been sustaining me this last couple of days:

Wednesday, July 1, 2009:

2 litres of water today

Breakfast: Apple with cinnamon sprinkled on

Plum and 2 apricots

Lunch: 1 Thai wrap with chutney from Gorilla Food

1 slice of watermelon and 1/4 cup blueberries with a handful of grapes

Dinner: Soft fruit salad: 1 plum, 1 peach, 1 nectarine, 5 strawberries, 1/4 cup blueberries

Snack: avocado

Stopped eating at 7:15pm

Thursday, July 2, 2009:

Breakfast: Peach

1/4 of a watermelon

Lunch: Warming Chia Pudding - 1/3 cup chia/sprouted buckwheat mix, 1 cup water, 5 brazil nuts, 1 date, 1 banana, cinnamon and nutmeg. Blend everything and pour on chia mix and let set for 10 to 15 min. if you can wait that long! YUM!

1 hour bootcamp today! Boy did it feel GOOD to be back exercising. It was a circuit day. Interestingly enough, I was 4th in from the run around the lake, and the 4 ahead of me were all 16 year old hockey players. All the regulars were behind. Not tooting my own horn here, but look what raw foods can do for your exercise! Also, finished first on the sprints! I do have to work on my abs though! Flexibility seemed good. Sweating felt great!

Had a huge green smoothie when I got home - spoonful of sproutein, alfalfa sprouts, pea shoots, a banana, 1/2 cup blueberries, 1 pint strawberries (with greens still on of course), 2 cups of water. Blended in blender!

Stopped eating at 8:15pm.

I've also done yoga at home for 20 min. both days, as well as some rebounding, only about 5 min. a day so far and will build up to 15min. per day.

Here's to having the most amazing day ever! Chat more soon!

Eat Raw, Live Well!
Melinda

No more shying away from photos

2009-06-29T23:44:00.000-07:00

I used to shy away from having my photo taken before I went raw. Since then I've made sure that we have an annual family photo session. I love to get photos taken by a professional so that the whole family can be in the picture. I'm the photographer in the family so usually I'm not in too many photos. It is so nice not to be concerned about my weight, seeing my face glowing when I get my photos back. How refreshing!

I'll include a few photos

I'll also post on my page as well...

Here's what the day looked like:

June 29th, 2009:
1 litre of water
Bowl of strawberries for breakfast
Cup of blueberry tea
HUGE salad for lunch, all picked frrresh from the garden! (various lettuce, and some chard)YUM, had it with my usual dressing - dang, said I wasn't going to be doing any sweeteners! Had half tablespoon of agave in that dressing...
Grawnola with hemp seed milk (1 tbsp. seed and one cup water)
Lara bar for dinner with
Celery and one tbsp. cashew butter and 2 tbsp. raisins
Lots of energy today, which was great.
Spent 40 min. sunning self while I read, half on front, half on back.
Did about 30 min. yard work as exercise.

Listening to the Raw Mom Summit again...such late nights! Good night!

Back Yard Edible Forest Garden begins!

2009-06-29T00:06:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a day! Spent most of the day outside today. My weight stayed the same this week. Goals for week to come is to eat from garden more to save money, no sweeteners - honey, agave etc. less nuts/seeds. This has to be the answer to my weight loss, less fat! We were gifted a whole lot of plants from my brother-in-love. I cannot believe he's giving all of these to us! Three fig trees, mini kiwi tree, strawberry plants, wild cranberry plants, comfrey, and more that I cannot think of immediately. I am overwhelmed at their generosity! So he came to drop them off and ended up helping us prune two huge trees in our backyard...well he ended up in the trees for 8 hours! I also spent time thinning out our garden, as so many seeds sprouted there and we have many mini plants. I ate out of the garden all afternoon long...kale sprouts, some beet leaves, some lettuce, and some strawberries. I had woken up with a headache after eight hours of sleep so didn't actually eat anything until after noon. Water fasted all morning long and the headache was gone by noon. That's when the garden noshing began! Made a green smoothie later in the afternoon from blueberries, bananas, young kale leaves, and two apples. Shared that with the monkey in the tree! We were outside ALL day today and it was so energizing. I also went barefoot (unless it was dangerous - only about a half hour today) almost the entire day. That too was energizing. I LOVE my feet on the earth, it's so grounding! In more ways than one! This evening I ate a Lara bar and two of Bunny's brownies. Then I made a recipe of Storm Talifero's raw strawberry shortcake and ate two servings! It was SO good! The youtube video is here. Argh. Should have stayed outside out of the kitchen and in the garden! :) The trees look amazing and alive now, not dead wood all over. My dream of a backyard edible forest garden has begun. This has been something I wanted since we moved in here six years ago. The learning curve is steep, but I'm enjoying every barefoot step! This week is dedicated to turning our simple backyard into an amazing, whimsical edible forest garden...

Dancing while I clean!

2009-06-27T22:12:00.000-07:00

Got through my father-in-love's birthday party tonight. My father-in-love and mother-in-love are very much SAD eaters and not too open to eating anything raw except some salad and will periodically try something I've made to be polite. They are resistant to my way of eating and scared crazy that I'll make my children eat this way consistently. They do undermine me with the treats and such and I find it very frustrating (they are part time caregivers while I work part time)...but we're working towards a better understanding for them about this way of life. SO, the dinner, my husband made, but I made a huge salad, as well as a raw dessert for those who would like to partake in a healthier eating experience. Here's what I ate today: June 27, 2009: Bunny Berry's raw brownie, (had two small squares) Lots of water Lots of tea - acai berry an apple HUGE salad for dinner - although I shared with the others! Three heads romaine lettuce two apples cut up 1/4 cup cashews 2 tbsp hemp seed 1 container of pea shoots with dressing: (from Brendan Brazier) 4 tbsp. Vega antioxidant oil 2 tbsp. agave 1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar 1 tbsp. stone ground mustard sea salt and pepper to taste. 2 more raw Bunny Berry Brownies! Yum! My kids were scrambling over each other to have more, lick the spatula, and everything. They kept asking to be my test tasters. Love it! My son especially liked it and he's not one for anything "raw", so very excited that he loved the recipe. Had a blast cleaning the kitchen floor today. Got our fuzzy socks on, got a bin of warm soapy water, soaked our socks and skated around the kitchen floor. The kids thought I'd gone off the deep end, but saw me smiling and we danced to "Blessed" by Brett Dennen while we cleaned that floor! Very uplifting song and experience!

More Raw Mom Summit and Natural Vision Improvement

2009-06-27T00:13:00.000-07:00

I'm still listening to the Raw Mom Summit and my time here has been limited. I've forgotten to write down what I'm eating but will write what I ate here today.

Friday June 26

1.5 litres of water
Bowl of raspberries and strawberries for breakfast
Banana for snack
Another bowl of raspberries and strawberries for lunch (LOVE BERRY SEASON)
Bowl of grawnola with hemp seed milk (just hemp seed and water blended)
One avocado with sprinkle of sea salt for dinner
Most Amazing Shake Ever! 1 frozen banana, 1 banana, 2 dates, 2 tbsp. hemp seeds, 2 cups water (or a little less for thickness), 1tbsp. maca, 1tbsp. cacao. Blend and enjoy!

Exercise:

Something I have not been entering on here for exercise is house work. I think that when I'm sweating and doing the housework that I should enter it here, as I'm obviously burning calories. I've got to look up what kind of calories are burned by what types of housework.

Did 2 hours of cleaning today, felt like it so did it!

Ran around the playground and grass field chasing the kids all over the place! So much fun. I need to get back to exercise as Nature intended. Sweating it out in a gym does not appeal to me like it does for others. So one hour of running around with the family!

Off to hear more of the summit!

OH, forgot to mention that I went to a seminar last night on natural vision improvement! Amazing information! I am SO going to do this as I've got only a small prescription and have had since I was 17. I know that this information has come into my realm at this time because I'm ready to accept and use it! Take a look on the internet, about it...the possibilities are incredible!

I did the palming activities today and some eye massage. My eyes were very tired by the end of the day as I also didn't wear my glasses today. I had a short nap with the kids when they went to bed and this helped tremendously. When you think about it, with the invention of the light bulb, we no longer go to bed when it gets dark. Instead we use our eyes far longer than we did over a hundred years ago! We are also reading more than ever before with computers, books etc, than ever before. So, over worked eyes working overtime = tired eyes that need a break, not a crutch or a cast, like glasses. It all makes so much sense. The Bates method is the one that this practitioner uses. www.joythompson.com is her website, I suggest if you have glasses you check it out!

"If the rest of the body can heal when ill or injured, why not the eyes?"
- Wm. Bates, author of "Better Eyesight Without Glasses" and creator of the Bates Method of Natural Vision Improvement.

In health,

Melinda

Happy Father's Day and Happy First Day of SUMMER!

2009-06-22T21:30:00.000-07:00

Wishing all the Dads out there a very happy and wonderful Father's Day. This last few days has been challenging! We've attended many functions and I've managed to stay 100% raw! I have not put a morsel of cooked food into my body for the entire duration of this experiment! It is really great for my self esteem as I tend to berate myself when I eat cooked, let alone some of the cooked food choices I was making before this group.

Here's What I've eaten this last couple of days:

Friday June 19th, 2009:

2 litres of water (8 cups)
pint of strawberries
2 apples
1 banana

Huge salad for lunch with raw dressing
Romaine lettuce
raspberries
apple

Snack - avocado with sprinkle of sea salt
Dinner - avocado in a salad of romaine lettuce with raw dressing
Snack - bowl of grawnola with cashew milk

Stopped eating at 7:15pm
No exercise today

Saturday June 20th, 2009:

1.5 litres of water (8 cups)

Raspberries and strawberries for breakfast - big bowl

Bowl of grawnola with cashew milk for lunch

Lots of veg and fruit at a kids' birthday party.

Green juice (YAY!):
pea shoots
alfalfa sprouts
black kale (whole bunch)
one cuke
three stalks of celery

Dinner: macadamia nut butter with hemp seed and raisins on celery

Snack: another bowl of grawnola (seems to be my go to food right now!)

Stopped eating at 8pm...latest I've eaten in a week!

No exercise today. :(

Sunday June 21st, 2009:

2 bananas for breakfast
fruit salad (raspberries, pineapple, watermelon, grapes, blackberries, on a bed of tossed organic greens with freshly squeezed oranges as dressing)
Also had some carrots on the side.

That was at the restaurant we went to for our brunch with the extended family. It is SOOOO tempting to want to eat so many of the items at a buffet. I think that was the most expensive salad I've ever eaten! :) I was able to enjoy what I ate even though I miss the other food I felt light and not overstuffed like the others, when we left. Even my kids were eating lots of fruit and not much of the other fillers. They did have dessert and some sweets, but nothing like what I've seen them eat before!

Snack: macadamia, hemp seed, celery combo again with a few raisins sprinkled in. (Loving this combo right now...)

Dinner: large salad - romaine, spinach, raw dressing, avocado and alfalfa sprouts

Snack: macadamia nut butter swirled with grawnola, and banana and a tbsp. honey.

Stopped eating at 8pm tonight. The weekends seem to be later for eating, will note that and try to end eating earlier in the day on the weekends. 7pm seems to work on weekdays for me, as hard as it is I don't get hungry until about 11pm or 11:30pm so then it's bedtime and there's no worry.

Great energy today (June 22nd)

Roller Coaster Days...

2009-06-18T23:39:00.000-07:00

Woke late, feet hit the ground running today. No time for breakfast. Day off running errands, while kids at school in the a.m.

Thursday June 18, 2009:

6 cups water (1.5 litres)
Pint of strawberries as snack
Lunched on smoothie:
Blend together the following:
tbsp hemp seed
15 almonds
1.5 cups water
pint strawberries (with greens on - my daughter laughed thinking I'd forgotten to take them off...since reading Victoria Boutenko's suggestion to leave them on and add a little green to the drink, I do so)
1 date
1 banana

Dinner was simple due to many time factors:
6 stalks of celery
1tbsp hemp seed (aka aphids)
2 tbsp macadamia nut butter
1tbsp. raisins (aka ants)
Made ants and aphids on a log! Doesn't sound that appealing, will have to come up with some other name in the future!

Finished eating around 7:30pm as I wasn't at home before then to have anything.
No exercise again today...this must change as I don't think the scale has done much moving this week. Must also eat less nut/seeds.

Soaked and made cashew nut milk for tomorrow, pre-made my dressing for lunch, cut up some veg and pre-packed what I could for lunch tomorrow. Morning will be a lot smoother for sure!

Roller coaster of emotions today, been feeling a little off this last week, detox? Think that my T.O.M. is coming earlier/later? Haven't been keeping track, but if that's the case, no cramps or indicators that it's coming which is something new for me recently. Maybe my emotions today were due to mild PMS? Almost made a big purchase, tent trailer, but it fell through so that was stressful (at least that's how I reacted) but when it didn't happen I actually felt relieved after the initial disappointment. BUT the whole night all I wanted to do was eat, that's why I spent the whole night in the kitchen making stuff for tomorrow...keeping my hands busy! I managed to get through the evening without eating and that feels good!

Here's to an amazing day tomorrow!

How's everyone else out there doing?

Store Wars Video

2009-06-17T22:46:00.000-07:00

Wednesday June 17, 2009

2 litres of water
1 bowl of strawberries for breakfast
1 banana for snack in a.m.
1 Avocado mashed with dash of sea salt, on top of romaine lettuce (ate a whole head at lunch!) with pea shoots on top of that. Yum! I LOVE eating with my hands!
Snack - more avocado and pea shoots
Dinner: four pieces of nori, HUGE salad right from the garden that I am growing with my students at the school, YUM! and some grawnola with cashew milk.

Snack - banana cocao honey macadamia mixture. (emotional eating, not hungry this time but it sure tasted good.)

Finished eating at 7pm today. By stopping how late I eat, I've been feeling much better in the mornings. I do need more sleep though as I've really been sleeping in later than usual. Going to bed at 1am up around 7am. I know I'd feel much better with more sleep. Goals for next week starting to solidify in my brain.

By the time I figured out I hadn't had a juice today it was much too late to ingest anything. Juicing, although I LOVE it when I'm drinking it, I just don't make the time for it like I should be!

Entertain yourselves with this one! I've never tried to embed before so hope this works!

Here's a humorous video about organic farming with Star Wars themed foods!

Raw Food Rehab

2009-06-16T20:22:00.000-07:00

Two weeks ago I joined up with Penni Shelton from Real Food Tulsa. She's running an experiment with a bunch of us who signed up to be guinea pigs. We eat as well as we can, talking, blogging, experimenting and listening to her ideas on diet, exercise and well-being. I lost 5 pounds the first week and none the second. Hope to tweak a few things for this week. One is to do a food journal and see where I may need some improvements. I'm also trying to stop eating earlier in the evening...as I was eating pretty late before and would wake not feeling so great. So I finish eating between 7pm and 8pm.

Here's what the first three days this week look like:

Sunday June 14th:

2.5 Litres of water (10 cups)
Hulk apple sauce (three apples, small bunch parsley, tbsp. Vitamineral Green
2 bananas
Green Juice (parsley, kale, romaine, mixed baby greens, cuke, lemon
Chocolate Pudding: 1 avo, 1 banana, 1tbsp agave, 1tbsp cocao
Stopped eating at 6:45pm
Exercise: 8 km walk

Monday June 15:

Water - 2 litres or 8 cups
2 strawberries, 1 banana, 1 apple
Huge Salad - apple, half cuke, greens and Vega dressing (4 tbsp vega antioxidant oil, 2 tbsp agave, 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar, sea salt and pepper to taste).
Chocolate pudding leftovers
half cuke
Exercise - none today :(
Stopped eating at 6:45pm

Tuesday June 16:

1.5 litres of water
Lime Lara bar
Grawnola with maca powder, macadamia nut butter, lucuma powder and 1tbsp. honey
Raw chocolate ice cream
4 sheets of raw nori
Yikes, not my usual day but was fiddling with recipes today and ended up eating more than I should have. Very dense foods, but energy level was high today!
Stopped eating at 7pm
Exersice: 20 min. walk

Carrotmob is coming to Portland Oregon if you're there this week.

http://carrotmob.org/

Kevin Gianni and Annemarie are also there speaking this week, on Thursday:

http://rawmatrix.net/events/

Matt and Angela (Mangela) hold their wedding in S. Oregon (it's the week to be in Oregon, isn't it?!) this is the link for more info: Raw Union

If you can get there it'll be amazing. My work schedule could not accommodate my travel plans there but get there if you can! Drop by and see Kevin and Annemarie on the way!

Eat Raw, Live Well!

Melinda

Getting the message out

2009-06-02T09:16:00.001-07:00

Getting the message out to a larger audience is not as easy as I thought it would be. Here I am, having read over 50 books on the topic, taken the Creative Health Institute's home study course, completed the Raw Food Nutrition 1 Course, completed a raw food chef course as well as having taken numerous courses and been on many informative calls on the internet. Because I am not a registered dietician I cannot speak at a local rec centre about health and raw food nutrition.

SO, it's about doing this myself. I keep thinking it'll get easier but have yet to experience that when it comes to getting the word out about raw and living foods. Of course I speak to my students, parents, community, etc. about these things but more people need to know about this way of life and just what it can do for your body!

I'm working on the yahoo group still, being a perfectionist, I want time to make it just right! I am still working on the book, so that too will help...but unless you're a published writer, or have mainstream certifications you will not be able to go the mainstream route.

It'll manifest just as it's supposed to but this is the best motivation I've had for a while now. I don't like being told "no". Have you ever been in this position? How did you deal with it? Did you just sit back and think "Well, it wasn't meant to happen" and give up? Or did it motivate you like it has motivated me. 15 min. a day will change the world one small increment at a time.

Be bold!

Eat Raw, Live Well!

Melinda

If You Build it, They Will Come...

2009-05-15T20:11:00.001-07:00

This statement rang true today, for the breaking of ground on our Edible School Yard. There was a lot of planning, preparation, and many hours that went into this particular adventure. Today though was only the beginning of the journey.

A few months ago I was watching a DVD, today I forget the name, but at the end they talked about an edible school yard project that some inner city schools had done to "pretty up" their schools as well as give the teachers and students an amazing learning environment. The seed was planted, so to speak. From then I was devising how we would begin such an adventure in our school's courtyard, which has long since overgrown from its original beauty.

Then a few weeks later I received an email from a co worker mentioning that a past student was interested in doing some gardening with the students at our school. She put us in touch and what a blessing he's been! He came in and did about six hour long presentations about where our food comes from and this was the springboard to our Klub Kway activity day.

Students choose activities they'd like to be involved in and they get to have an afternoon doing something different from the ordinary. Students were playing a ball hockey tournament, others were enjoying a spa day, some played chess, while others scrapbooked, or did digital photography. Our group of 25 helped us embark on our gardening journey.

We showed them a clip from the "Edible School Yard" video, and the great thing was that it was from two schools in B.C. that had begun their gardens a couple of years ago. Then they decorated some pots that will be part of the herb garden.

Kyle, the great volunteer made us some garden boxes in which to grow our veggies. Our principal, Bryan made sure the soil got delivered. Sam, a fellow teacher was everywhere I could not be and the teamwork really paid off. We now have three boxes planted with various veggies, a whole box full of potatoes, and others full of greens. We can't wait to see the results.

It was SO energizing to be a part of this. I had numerous individuals, students and teachers come up to me and say what a great idea this was. Students that were involved today want to hang out in the courtyard to be sure that none of their hard work gets destroyed by other students. This was my suggestion:

Invite students over to take a look, don't make it out of bounds, but draw them in...get them involved! I bet if they started talking gardening to those individuals that may be a problem, those students would be out of there so quick they wouldn't have time to do any damage. But I have faith in our students that when they see what a cool project this is turning into instead of wanting to damage the area they will be drawn in and become the ambassadors of the garden!

I still have the excited feeling in my tummy that I used to get as a child when I knew that something cool was about to happen that day. The seed has been planted. We built it and the students will come.

Eat raw, Live Well
Create a Garden, Connect to the Earth!

Melinda

Health and Wellness Conference at Moody Middle

2009-05-06T21:00:00.000-07:00

I had such a great time presenting to three groups of 20 students at Moody Middle's first ever Health and Wellness Conference. The students were keen, interested and listened intently to everything I had to say. I began with a power point presentation illustrating my journey into raw and living foods. I spoke to them about what these foods were and were not, what I ate and choose not to eat anymore.

In the first session, the students were very attentive, and had lots of great questions. The second session was good, the group had a lot of energy, but were willing participants in the tastings. During the third session two students made a very good impression on me. Later my husband (who teaches computers at the school) told me that these two students were part of the Student Council and that they'd commented about how they are very intrigued with the whole idea of raw food and want to look into it more.

What I loved is that later, students were coming back to ask if there were any extras that they could eat. Some asked for the recipe sheet even though they had not been in my session. Others were asking how they could find more information on this way of eating and the lifestyle. I'd created some handouts with recipes, as well as websites that were great for learning more about this way of life.

Of course I told them about the blog - Hello Moody Middle - if you're reading this! Thanks for coming by. Thanks for a great experience at your school. I really enjoyed this and my energy levels were very high the rest of the day. When something feels right, it just flows and this is how this whole event felt like! There are more middle schools in our district that are going to do the same type of event. I know that I want to be a part of those now as well. Also, it's such a great thing for the kids to be a part of, I'd like to get one going at my middle school next year!

The best thing is, I've exposed another 60 kids to raw foods and got them talking and that's what it's all about!

Until next time,
Eat Raw, Live Well!

If you haven't added me on twitter yet, do so! Thriveonlive!

Raw Fu - Day three

2009-04-16T16:22:00.000-07:00

Well, the first few days of Raw Fu 100 Day Challenge has been going GREAT! I feel amazing, dropped a total of 6 pounds and have been eating less and experiencing lots of energy!

I water fasted for 63 hours, almost three full days. I had a green juice yesterday for lunch around 1pm. Everything I mention eating is organic unless otherwise stated. I drink about 8 to 10 cups of pure water each day, so this food is above and beyond that.

April 15th, 2009:

four celery stalks
one bunch of green kale
one cucumber
two cups of alfalfa sprouts
four large leaves of chard
one lemon (peeled)

I also add pure water to my juices to make them less strong tasting. It feels like coming home when I drink green juices and I remember how great they make me feel when I haven't had them in a while. It was so filling and tasty! I drank it in class and the kids were curious. I asked if anyone wanted some and some joked about trying it but none did.

In the evening I had:

1 pint of strawberries
one apple
five kiwi with the skin on.

A friend of mine at work eats them this way and until recently I'd not had the guts to try it! Well, I LIKE it, who would have imagined. I'm all about eating whole foods and why not eat the skin if it's organic and clean?!

Today's been great. Sun is still shining on us here in the Lower Mainland and we're spending as much time outside as possible. I also received my package from Upaya Naturals with my Vitamineral Green powder, Sproutein Powder, and some Chlorella tablets as well as some raw olives! It's like Christmas when the raw food is delivered to the door!

April 16, 2009:

Hulk Pudding: 4 apples, handful of parsley and 2 tbsp. Vitamineral Green. It is the darkest green you've ever seen and it's packed full of nutrients!

4 kiwis

It's movie night with the kids tonight so I'll update more once they're in bed. Here's a quote from Raw Food Nation that I got in a Twitter Feed today:

If we eat less we live longer therefore we eat more :o)

Until later! Smiles and Sunshine!
Melinda

Ran my last training run today and went to the pub with the group! What would I eat in a pub you might ask. Well, I had water (not filtered) and a large salad (not organic) oil and vinegar for dressing. Usually I make my dressings in advance so I know they are at least organic, and completely raw. These were not organic. Pretty good for pub food if you look at the alternatives. The other runners I was with chose to eat regular pub fair. I could not believe what they ate and drank for that matter. But that's their choice and not mine. I'm good with what I ate and that's what counts.

So, we're updated here now and I'm off to bed early as the kids are up early with their ten to eleven hours of sleep!

Ciao for Now.
Eat Raw, Live Well!

Melinda

Raw Fu - 100 Day Challenge

2009-04-13T13:23:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a while since I've written. Probably because I've been neglecting myself a little this past month and a bit. With my birthday quickly approaching at the end of this month, the focus is again on needing to be a healthier, happier, blogging me!

I was looking around the internet for some inspiration and found it at Raw Fu. It's a great raw community on line that was started by Bunny Berry. She's so down to earth, and honest about her own raw food journey that I was immediately drawn to her and what her site has to offer.

They are beginning a 100 day Raw Food Challenge. I have to say that although I'm very high raw, I've not been focussing as much on what types of raw foods go into my body, and along with the 10 to 20% cooked that I eat, that too could improve! So all you have to do to join like I did was go to this website.

Once you've become a part of the community, you are a part of the challenge. Let me know how it goes for you and I'll be updating this more often while the challenge is on. This is a perfect time to be a part of the challenge, as it's the beginning of spring, the weather is improving and we've got more and more fresh fruits and veg coming into season!

Today I'm getting prepared with a water fast. I began about 10pm last night (see, I ate late, which is something I'm trying very hard NOT to do!) and will go through until I eat breakfast tomorrow morning. What I'll probably do is juice for the day tomorrow and then have a huge salad for dinner. Heck, why don't I keep track of my diet here and you can see what I'm eating. That will also keep me accountable for what I choose to put in my mouth. It's not about being perfect, but about making the best choices for our own body!

Good luck, and please post and let me know how you are doing!!

100 days Raw, here we come!

Melinda

My favourite smoothie

2009-03-28T16:11:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note for a smoothie to try. You can do this with frozen ingredients, or not.

1 pint strawberries (I use organic and wash them and keep the greenery on for some "greens")
1 banana
1 date
1 cup of water (don't freeze this part)
1 tablespoon of hemp seeds
5 brazil nuts (could be any nuts, really - sometimes I use almonds (10), cashews (10), or macadamia nuts (10))

Blend away and yum! If you freeze it, it's more like a milkshake, unfrozen more of a smoothie but it's really creamy with the nuts and seeds in it. Love it.

Try making your own concoction today. Play with it and have fun.

Eat Raw, Live Well!

Melinda

I also had Artisana's walnut/cashew butter on my celery - the last few had a couple of raisins on them for some "sweet" taste. It's a great way to get some celery in!

A Birthday...

2009-03-28T16:03:00.000-07:00

My daughter attended a 6th birthday party for a friend of hers at a local rec centre pool. I was super impressed with the instructors that led the party and they did a great job with the kids in the pool. They kept everything calm and orderly...a hard thing to do with 15 youngsters in a pool!

There were two other things that impressed me. The little girl celebrating the birthday decided to go along with a tradition that others had begun a while ago. She asked that people bring money instead of a gift. Half of the money would go towards a charity and the other would go towards a nice gift from all her friends. What a great solution to getting loads of toys that they 'll only play with for a couple of weeks. What a great way to show our kids how to give back. What a great way to help out those less fortunate.

Then, for the "goodie bags", which I loath - with all the candy and cheap dollar store items that break in a few days - they had planters that they got at Home Depot for 5 bucks. Most of the kids were surprised, asking if that's all they got, and if there were any candies, etc. Others were thrilled, asking if they could plant them when they got home. My daughter fell into the second category.

We got home and within five minutes had the package taken apart, and we added the water so the peat could rehydrate. 15 minutes later we were planting seeds. It was great. We enjoyed planting the seeds and now we'll watch them grow.

Happy to say that I came home from this party feeling more fulfilled than at other parties, that's for sure. And, I've got some great ideas for when my kids' birthdays roll around again!

What types of things do you do at your kids' parties that are helpful for parents, the environment, and others?

In joy,

Melinda

Vitamix Blender

2009-03-18T09:36:00.000-07:00

I've been using my Vitamix almost daily since I purchased it at Costco about two and a half years ago. Some days I even use it three to four times! Well this morning I was making applesauce for my little guy, and I noticed that one of the plastic parts that keeps the lid on the container had snapped off. Not sure when this happened, but I am sure it was ingested at some point (the blender is so powerful it was liquified?!) as I never found it on the counter before today nor today.

I made the applesauce and then called Vitamix. They have a seven year warranty and we've only had the machine two and a half years. My husband called (he's the one with the magic touch when it comes to returning or repairing items). The customer service rep we had was not the kindest person, but was straighforward and to the point. We expected that we'd have to send our container in to them and then we'd get one in return when they saw the flaw. Well, as it turned out we are going to have a new container wihin 12 business days. She confirmed our address and said that they'd send it right away.

Nice. Here I thought it was going to take a lot more red tape to get this taken care of and it was easier than taking a bandaid off my little guy! :) I have to say I am very pleased. I've always sung the praises of the Vitamix for health and wellness, and now after my first experience with their customer service and warranty I am going to recommend the machine once again!

Go out and get one NOW! It will help anyone who is trying to eat more raw and living foods. There's so much you can do with it! I'll be posting some smoothie and other recipes so that you can try them. You've got 12 days and then it's recipe time!

Eat Raw, Live Well.
Blend away!

Me

Celery

2009-03-07T14:31:00.000-08:00

I've never been much of a celery fan. It always had too strong of a taste for me. Turns out, by putting more vegetables into my body, my taste for this (and cilantro) has changed. I actually crave celery now in some ways. I love to add it to my juices, blender drinks, smoothies, and energy soups. It's also one of my favourite snacks.

Here's my current favourite. I just Twittered about it as well.

Nuts about Celery recipe:

Celery
Macadamia nut butter (but really any nut butter will work)
Toppings: (choose one or more of the following)
Goji Berries
Sun dried raisins (usually with seeds - more nutritious, and not GMO)
hemp seeds
Or anything else you can think of.

Put nut butter into the concave part of the celery
Sprinkle toppings on.
Eat and enjoy.

In snow and sunshine - yes, it snowed here again!

Melinda

Tricity Green Drinks Group meeting

2009-02-26T21:26:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago a neighbourhood friend had us over for dinner and we got talking about raw and living foods. A couple days after that I get a message introducing me to Peter...he commutes with this neighbour of ours. He is also a vegetarian...vegan...and thinking about raw. He's also a very strong advocate and activist on the environmental front. He invited me to join the social this past Wednesday.

It was really great to sit in a room with many like-minded people. I had great conversations with a number of the people who attended. The environment was always something I considered, but not something I really went out of my way to protect...until I found raw and living foods. I am much more aware of situations around the globe, especially ones pertaining to my food sources. When you start to eat this way, lots of new ideas and information make their way into your psyche.

I'm now asking myself, "What have I done for the environment lately?" "What can I do for the environment?" "How can I know more about my food sources?" I also know another neighbour who would be interested in talking with this group and I'm definitely going to get him involved! I'm also going to serve a Green Drink at a future get together. I was actually surprised that no one showed up with a "green drink" to a meeting with such a name?!

I want to sponge up all they have to say and start to get involved locally with the environment and somehow help make things better so that my own children can inherit a world that's not on the brink of excinction.

What have you done for the environment lately? How much do you know about your food sources? Take 15 min. to see what you can do to make our earth a happier and healthier place. If we take small steps, it's amazing where it can take us if we're on the right path!

In Green Goodness,

Melinda

Blessed is this life

2009-02-24T15:23:00.000-08:00

Hey there,

Jiving to a great tune by Brett Dennen. It's called Blessed. He is my new favourite singer! I've listened to a number of his songs over the last week or so (thanks to Angela Stokes mentioning him in her blog!) and have really enjoyed all the songs I've heard. You can listen to Blessed as well, enjoy!

He's also playing at Richards on Richards on March 12th. Check out info and tickets here. I know I want to go!

Rumour has it that Great Big Sea is coming out to the West Coast again. They have only released a Victoria date, but I'm holding my breath that they'll also be coming to Vancouver as well! Why come all this way and not do more venues!? Seems they missed Victoria when they were here in December...

Fat Tuesday today, thinking I may give up something for the Lent season. I was brought up Catholic, and although I am not practicing any particular religion, I have never felt more spiritual since taking up raw and living foods. I will practice Lent this year as I feel that it is good to show yourself some self discipline. I'll update when I have figured out just what I'm going to do for sure. I still have a few hours to think about it.

What is something that you enjoy that you would be willing to give up for 40 days? Tell me about it...

Eat Raw, Live Well.

Melinda

Decluttering with kids

2009-02-22T20:33:00.000-08:00

I've been trying to go through our stuff recently. It seems that more comes in than goes out but there's a constant flow in the house of "things" and "goods". Andrew's birthday is coming and it's time to do another toy overhaul. My kids have had more toys in their short years than I had in a lifetime, if they only knew.

I used to get the kids to choose items to give away and keep. Well, the keep pile was always SO large and the give away wasn't so big. They have gotten better over the years, but...what I found works best is for them to choose what they definitely want to KEEP. They get a box, fill it as full as possible of things they want to keep for sure and the rest is fair game for me to give away.

It works like a charm. We got rid of a lot of stuff tonight and we'll keep getting more out of the house. The Gaby Davis Foundation...helps families affected by childhood cancer will be taking donations as of April so now I just have to store them until that time...maybe in the carport, as there's very little room around here!

Off to box some up!

How do you help your children let go of things that they no longer need? How do YOU do this?

Here's hoping you have a smoothie start to the week! Here's a recipe for a great smoothie! The amounts are completely up to you! Here's what I do:

Frozen strawberries
Frozen cut up banana
Hemp seeds
Almonds
Water

Blend until smooth. It's more like a milkshake and it's a meal all on its own. I usually cannot mix my fruit with nuts and seeds, but this one agrees with me no problem. Play with the amounts each time you make it until you have your perfect smoothie shake.

It's my take on the amazing Strawberry Cloud from Gorilla Food on Richards St. in Vancouver. Aaron has great food, definitely check his place out if you're in town.

Eat Raw, Live Well
Melinda
ps - three blogs in one day, it's amazing what I can accomplish when I set my mind to it. I have so many topics, I don't know how I'll get through them all!

Thrifty's

2009-02-22T16:27:00.000-08:00

I saw in the Thrifty's flyer that they had organic kumquat. I have never tried them so went to purchase some. It was amazing, I didn't realize just how many types of organic produce that Thrifty's keeps stocked. I was in raw fruit and veg heaven! So I went around and picked out three new fruits. I'm going to do the same for fruitful Friday at school next time. We've gotten away from that this last couple of months so it will be fun to start it up again with all sorts of different fruits available.

Unfortunately there were no kumquats. I will have to go back to get them, but I am sure excited that I have somewhere new to go and get organic produce!

If you live near a Thrifty's go check them out.

Short and sweet.
Eat Raw, Live Well
Melinda

Kids not feeling well

2009-02-22T14:27:00.000-08:00

This last week I've been caring for sick kids, knowing that it's been birthday party season here, it was no surprise when my kids got sick. I like them to make their own choices when out and about. I do not want to force the raw food lifestyle I live onto them, especially since my husband is not anywhere near the raw realm. I feed them as wholesome a diet while at home and then when they are out with friends, they choose what they will eat. Sometimes they make good choices, sometimes they do not, but they are starting to make the connection...hey, I ate a lot of junk food (which doesn't have to be much to affect them) at that party and I'm not feeling well now. Or they will have a couple of parties in one weekend, and then come down with a cold that week. My daughter experienced an upset tummy last weekend at a party and then both kids got a fever and a slight cold this week...my son on Sunday night, my daughter on Thursday night.

Fevers are not common in this household. We probably haven't had one here for at least two years. When they do get one, it is usually mild, as these ones were. I am not a big believer in throwing medication into them at the first sign of a fever, because fever is the body's way of fighting the invaders. When you put medicine into them at the first sign, you are not allowing the body to take its natural course. They both came down with their fevers in the early morning hours, and when they are hot, they wake up. We gave them lots of water, and cuddles and took some clothing off to regulate the body's temperature.

I always sleep with the kids when they have a fever, so I can keep a close eye on things. If it gets uncomfortably high then sometimes we will medicate. This was not the case this week. They had their fevers, that caused them to slow down, drink lots and rest. When you medicate, the kids act like they don't have a fever for a few hours (6 to 8 depending on the medication given). They run around, expending valuable energy and the body loses it's rest time to heal. So my kids were couch potatoes for two days, it was actually good for them to slow down for a bit. They were also not hungry at all. Instinct tells them not to eat, because digestion takes away from the healing as well. So often again, in our society we're so concerned that if our kids aren't eating they'll starve, and won't get the nutrition they need. So often I hear my mother in law saying to the kids you have to eat so you have energy...forcing them to eat in the mornings. My daughter isn't a big morning eater, where as my son loves to eat in the morning. My daughter's appetite picks up around noon and then she makes up for it as the day goes along. She usually just has fruit for breakfast, and a light snack at school.

When in fact, I feel best on my runs when I haven't eaten beforehand as all my energy can go into running instead of digesting and running. Most people who exercise heavily will agree that they feel sick if they try to exert themselves after a big meal.

So often in our society we rush from this activity to the next, worried that we want to get our money's worth, or that our kids will miss out on some opportunity. So many people send their kids to school when they are quite sick for many reasons, maybe some don't want to take time off of work to take care of their child, maybe they don't want to deal with a cranky, tired, sick child. Maybe the parents too are sick. This will only lengthen the illness and possibly make it something worse. So far everyone I know who had kids with this same fever and cold have told me to watch out as it goes into a very bad chest cough.

When my kids are sick, they have a very strict meal plan, and they are good about it because they know it works. There is no refined sugar allowed. They must eat whole foods. For example, sprouted grain bread, steel cut oatmeal, and of course plenty of fruits and vegetables. We stay clear of most meat (unless my hubby has cooked) and refined grains. That's the way it should be all the time, really!! They drink lots and lots of water and fresh juices, and get lots of rest and sleep. It's been working for us and hopefully some of this will work for you as well.

Of course none of this is meant to diagnose or take the place of a doctor's or health practitioner's advice. It is meant as a way for me to tell you what works for us. That's how we learn. Don't take my word for it, research it for yourself, try things out and see what works for you.

Do you listen to your body? Do you try to eat a cleaner diet when you're sick? Try it out the next time you feel something coming on. Juice for a day, eat fruit and veg and greens for a few days, eat lightly. See how it works for you and let me know!

In the meantime, Eat Raw, Live Well.

Melinda
ps. find me on twitter @thriveonlive! I'm still working on that aspect of my computer knowledge. It's fun as more and more people start to follow! In joy! Me.

Fruit and Veggie Deliveries

2009-02-09T23:12:00.000-08:00

It's been quiet around here this last few weeks...I've gone into a more introspective mode and haven't been active with my blogging. Time to get back to writing.

Our Fruit and Vegetable program at the school is going along extremely well. I am so satisfied with how things are running and the positive feedback is incredible.

We get our deliveries on a Monday and they are stored until my class has an opportunity to sort and deliver the bins to each division. We practice proper hand washing and the students sort through the produce and then deliver the bins to each classroom. On a delivery day (serving one) we do this in the early afternoon - when we would usually be silent reading - and then at the end of the day after finishing our last block and planners the students go to pick up the bins.

We have a pair of students who are responsible for getting to each of the non-enrolling teachers and other staff in the school. They go around for about 20 min. offering the food to this part of the staff and the deliveries are so appreciated!

Our first delivery was organic apples. They were the most amazing tasting apples ever! The students were begging for extras, not only in my class but in others too. It was so incredible to see the students working and munching on apples. This is a pretty regular occurrence in my classroom as the students are allowed to eat fruit and veggies anytime, but for other teachers they are amazed at how much the students are enjoying the food. Perhaps they too will eventually allow students to eat whole fruit and veg anytime!

This week the delivery was sugar snap peas. I wasn't sure how this would go over, a few of my students were making "yuck" faces when they heard what was coming their way. Delivery was very simple, one large bag per class with some paper towels (to use as plates) and the teacher in each class was asked to give it out to their class, or choose a student to do so...of course they were to wash hands properly before doing so.

Well, we were glad we had so much extra! The students were supposed to have about 4 to 6 pods each, but ended up with about 8 to 10 each and they were happy about that. They were so fresh, and delicious...I know I had my fair share too! Even those who had balked at eating them were partaking in this frenzy!

My students are getting excellent experience by being the delivery people and they are constantly asking "When is the next delivery day?" and "What's in the delivery next time?" They are truly invested in this program and it's great.

There has been a great deal of positive comments regarding the program. Teachers are excited to see students bartering over the last of the produce, helping around the classroom to get any extras that might be left over. The produce is so fresh, the students can't believe how good it tastes. One comment today was a complaint that they wish they had a bag each of the sugar snap peas! Now that's a lot of peas.

A parent spoke to the principal about how he really appreciated that students were being exposed to this type of food at school and that he thought it was great that students were allowed to eat whole fruits and vegetables in the classroom at any time (this is a parent from my class). He said that by offering some foods in the classroom to his child that his son was trying foods he'd never eat at home. Positive peer pressure at its best!

Anyhow, that's how things are looking in my world at the moment.

Oh, hurt my back terribly while ice skating on Friday (It's Monday today) and it was its worst yesterday. I hadn't been 100% raw in my eating for about a week, so tried that today to see if some energy could be spent on healing the back rather than on digestion...and tonight is the best I have felt in three days. I'm going to continue this through for a few days and see if I can't get back to running by Thursday. Bootcamp next Monday. I miss the workouts! As the old saying goes, you don't realize how much you use something until it's not working properly. It's been a long time since I've been in this much pain - well, about two months ago with the tonail injury!! But a long time before that. I don't believe in medicating it, which just masks the issue and doesn't allow my body to rest in order to heal. So I'm taking it easy - relatively - and with a massage tomorrow and more rest I'll be back exercising in no time.

Is there anything you can do to improve your diet? Exercise regime? Take 15 min. today and write about something you'd like to improve, then talk to someone about it...studies prove that when we share our plans with someone else, it makes us accountable for our actions, and we are more likely to follow through.

In the meantime,

Eat Raw, Live Well.

Melinda

Dental Issues

2009-01-15T20:47:00.000-08:00

This is a topic most raw foodists want to steer clear of. Many people talk about the fact that a lot of raw foodists tend to have teeth problems. It seems that most problems in this area tend to be in the fruititarian category of raw food eating but in all raw food areas there seems to be some mention of trouble with teeth.

I've had a tooth that's had multiple fillings, fill ins, because it was mishapen, and basically had lots of work done on it in the past. For some reason the fillings never took in this particular tooth (I subscribe to the white fillings, not mercury ones (amalgam)). I noticed shortly after having my son almost four years ago that this tooth seemed a little grey in colour but my dentist never mentioned anything when I went in for my regular checkups, so I thought that it was fine.

Well, in the last month I've had some very minor pain associated with it. I wonder just what may be causing that but figured I'd get a dentist appointment when I could...which never materialized until I had to call them yesterday. I was eating some absolutely delicious gRAWnola from Real Raw Food (where I order most of my raw nuts, seeds and such), when I bit down on an almond and it felt like I split my tooth in half! It was all still there, and I made it through my work day, barely, and then fasted from 3pm on. I actually fasted on water and tea for just over 26 hours, and it made a world of difference in how I felt.

So I called the dentist - I still see a traditional one but am looking into finding a holistic doctor. I find everyone is trying to sell you something these days and just want to be able to figure it out somehow myself! Anyways, I went in today and this is basically what happened:

OK. I am nervous going in, not knowing what to expect. Knowing they have to take x-rays...I have three done. Side note: I haven't had any x-rays for six years - although I go for a check up every six month- since I was preganant with my first child...didn't want any x-rays while preggers or nursing. They talk the whole time about how safe X rays are now and that there are no issues with them, etc. The whole time they kept telling me this, over and over again! Whatever. I am not really buying that.

This dentist today, is not my usual one but the partner of my usual dentist. So then he talks to me, does a cold test, tap test, bite test, etc. Seems one side is more sensitive to the tooth than the other so figures it's a crack in the tooth that's happened. Says that he has to freeze me and asks when I was last frozen. I said I had three small holes filled in my teeth in the summer of 2007...with no freezing. He was amazed that I did it without freezing. Actually it wasn't so bad.

Anyhow, I'm in a hurry because I have to pick up the kids in an hour but he said he'd have me out in no time...this is all before he got the films back from the x-rays...so freezes me up with two vials of the stuff - have I mentioned how much I hate chemicals in my body?! No adverse reaction from what I can tell so far. Freezing is all out of the mouth area now, of course...but how long does it remain in the body?!

WELL, the x-ray comes back and his original assumption is terribly wrong. Sits me up and has to tell me that I'm going to lose the tooth. (So now I've had freezing I didn't have to have, for a procedure that now did not have to happen!! I am NOT happy about this, that's for sure!) I'm also a freak of nature! It seems that my body is reabsorbing my nerve and tooth...he described little pac man men going around chomping it up. Says that if I'd had x-rays sooner that they could have stopped it in time...of course, x-rays. The tooth has been discoloured for years but my dentist had never suggested that we check it out so I thought nothing of it as there was no pain. It's not decay, it's something different. It is just something that he has rarely, if ever seen at his practice before. The dental assistant had also never seen it, ever. He said it was a "presentation worthy" dental situation. Very rare.

SO, what I'm wondering is maybe the tooth is completely dead, and could a new one be growing in, could the disconnected roots be the start of something new coming up? Just wishful thinking perhaps, as he is talking major dental surgery, a tooth implant. He said that the crown, if they were to do one would be a lifetime commitment for the other two perfect teeth and would not last a lifetime, whereas the implant would.

Do you have any information regarding implants? Issues surrounding implants? know of patients who've had them and their experience? Medical grade titanium, is it safe? Of course he's all for it, and tells me it's what they use in hip replacements and such, so it's been around a while I suppose. Still need to do my own research on that.

So he is going to refer me to an implant specialist to get the ball rolling. In the meantime I have to chew on the right side, and not clinch my teeth (which I do often!).

And, there's my story. I really think this problem started many, many years ago and is not related to how I eat now. I probably would have lost the tooth a lot sooner had I been eating the traditional, standard diet. Actually, I am sure of that. Perhaps they could have saved it if I'd done x-rays sooner? We'll never know but hopefully everything is as it should be and this is where I'm supposed to be at this moment!

NEVER a BORING moment,

Melinda

ps. I'm going to eat low sugar, that seems to help. I'll also do the salt water and probiotic rinses as well that my naturopath has suggested to do. I'll keep you up to date on the happenings surrounding this. It also reminds me of a blog by Heidi Ohlander, she's got major dental issues and has been very outspoken and honest about them. You can see her story here, and you have to scroll down about three quarters of the page and you'll see her video screen...she has pink hair, it's hard to miss! My dental story is minor compared to this one!

Eat Raw, Live Well (and remember to brush and floss and get regular dental check ups...find a holistic dentist if you can!)

Me.

Biggest Loser

2009-01-13T21:00:00.001-08:00

I must admit that I do watch the Biggest Loser pretty regularly. I'm not a big T.V. watcher and usually I'm multitasking while it's on. Who has two whole hours to spare on any given night?!

Well, what a rollercoaster of emotions I've gone through tonight! First thing that really hit me hard was the immunity challenge. The contestants had to pedal a kayak to land then hike up a very steep hill to reach the finish line. For people who are over 200 and 300 and 400 pounds, this would be terribly hard. Heck, for those people without extra weight this would be a challenge of sorts.

The winner was a woman who really talked herself into staying with the leader, a guy who seemed a little too confident. She made her move and he thought she'd lose steam but she didn't. She really dug deep to finish it the way she did. I was so proud of her and she was proud of herself. I love that this show really pushes the contestants past their comfort level and allows them that amazing feeling of success, self belief and confidence. So many people are overweight and eat emotionally for these reasons.

What really got me though was the last guy, a very overweight teen who was coming in last and knew that he would have a one pound penalty but said all he wanted to do was finish. He only gave himself positive self talk the whole way up. I started to cry though when all his team mates went back down the hill to encourage him. They cheered him on and even gave his back some support but one said that he'd reach the finish line on his own and that he could do it. He did. I LOVE that they were so supportive! What an amazing group of people.

I am not sure what made me cry so hard. Perhaps it was the fact that it reminded me of the first time I climbed the Coquitlam Crunch. It's a very steep hill in our area and we did it with our bootcamp instructor. Some people ran it and I was in the middle but pushing hard, not wanting to be left behind. For someone that was about 200 pounds at the time, not having exercised except for about three weeks (of bootcamp) before that, it was extremely challenging. All I really remember, wasn't the pain and sweat, but the great feeling I had while standing at the top, admiring the view. I'd done it. That was my way back, for exercise at least.

The food thing was something else entirely. Even now I find it a daily challenge to put the best food ever into my body. Our society is so entirely NOT built around a solid whole foods, let alone raw and living foods. I just have to keep telling myself to believe in the process and believe in myself and that I can look temptation in the eye and know that it is just that, tempting. I choose to put the right foods into my body these days. I am also working very hard on not over eating. Even many people on raw food diets will over eat raw foods. It's pretty hard to over eat on fruits and vegetables and greens and sprouts...but add in sweeteners and nuts and seeds and suddingly it becomes very easy. At first it was fine when I ate that way. My body was so thankful that I was not putting in the garbage that I had chosen to eat before.

Then, I noticed that I was getting tempted to eat cooked foods, and not the good kind like steamed vegetables! When I did try some, each time I would wake up the next morning and I'd feel like I had a hangover. Then the cravings got so much more frequent and I would not make the best choices. So I decided to do a water fast which then turned into a juice fast. I didn't have anyone overseeing the fast and didn't want to damage my body. The juice fast allowed me to lead a regular life while giving me the nutrition I needed. I dropped 20 pounds in my first month at 100% raw, and then another 25 when I did the 31 day juice fast.

With all this success you'd think I'd be able to continue this inevitably. But I was addicted to things like sugar, fat and I could get too much of that in the cooked or raw way of eating. I began overeating and problems began to occur. More cravings, weight gain, other health issues, an inability to deal with stress, depression.

Only when I hit rock bottom did I realize that I needed to so something. I knew that raw foods wasn't a complete answer. It is a huge piece of the puzzle, but it's the lifestyle that you need to adopt as well. Over the next year I began putting together a health plan that works for me. Once again I am feeling better than I've felt in ages. I'm not as addicted to food as I used to be. I'm using it responsibly and for nutrition, not for other reasons. I'm eating much less in the day but it's nutritionally exceptional. Exercise, getting involved, volunteering, giving back, detoxing, and all the rest that comes in a raw food lifestyle...I've made health a habit, one small step at a time. SO, what I'm currently doing is writing it all down, and most of it I will be posting on my new yahoo group, called Thrive On Live. I will be sending out daily, weekly and monthly messages, that you can follow as you wish. Do what feels right, delete the rest, but if you want to make your health a habit then start with one small step. Are you ready?

Wow, did I ever get off focus...

The show was so emotional. Some got to call home, that's always a tear jerker. Bob went off on Joelle for her inability to give it her all. There are millions who would LOVE to be in her place, and she's not willing...he let her know how much he didn't like it. I'm sure it's up on YouTube already! If you don't want to know the ending then don't continue reading past here...

In the end, the oldest contestant and the youngest contestant end up below the yellow line. How do you make that choice, the oldest, Jerry really needs the medical attention and the push from Jillian. The young teenager has his whole life ahead of him and has never been a thin child, doesn't know what it feels like really...such a hard decision. Jerry ends up going amidst huge amounts of tears, but we're all relieved when we see his current condition. He's lost 80 pounds and is continuing to lose. He's got such a great attitude.

In the end, it's a choice. Will you choose to make your health a habit?

I have...finally.

Fruit and Veggie Program

2009-01-12T17:53:00.000-08:00

I announced to our school's staff that we were accepted into the BC Agriculture in the Classroom program. It is a great initiative that they've got going currently, where fresh (albeit, not organic) locally grown produce is delivered to schools and students are encouraged to eat the fruit or veg in a classroom environment. Background information on the food is given and can be discussed while the food is being eaten. Best thing is, there is no cost to the school for this program. The great thing about that in our area is that we are located in a fairly low income area and many of our students do not get a lot of fresh produce at home.

It is estimated that about 2/3 of children in British Columbia are NOT getting the required fruit and vegetables each day. Those that are, probably count french fries as a serving of vegetable as well!! It astonishes me how parents neglect their childrens' needs in this area...mostly due to convenience or such. How easy is it to have fresh fruit and veggies available to kids at home for them to snack on? How about adding some fresh produce to dinner?!

Well, we're going to help in this area and each child, every two weeks will receive two servings of a fruit or vegetable, during class time. I am the coordinator for this program at our school and had to take the Food Safe Course in order to hold this position at the school. I am proud to say I received 100% on my course final assessment! Eating fresh, raw food and a run at lunch before the test helped me accomplish that, I am sure!

So we'll be receiving our first shipment in late January. I am curious as to how the students will react to the food when in the company of their peers. I know in my class on Fruitful Friday, they all try each of the items I bring in and are at least open to trying it. Most end up liking it although there are a handful that may not like this or that.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Is your local school doing something like this? If not, mention it and ask if perhaps your school could get involved. If you don't live in B.C. check out the website and perhaps you could suggest that your government or school district look into doing something similar.

On a side note, I've got the ball rolling for the yahoo group. Check it out.

Eat Raw, Live Well.

Melinda

The Future of Food

2009-01-11T11:17:00.001-08:00

WOW! Saw a very important documentary last night and went through some of the extras on the second disk this morning. I have always heard that our food is being controlled by only a few mega giants, but I really didn't realize the depth and breadth of this control.

The movie is called "The Future of Food". It is in local video stores here in the Lower Mainland, and if you can get your hands on a copy I highly suggest it.

Already I have taken two actions due to the information I received in this documentary.

1.) I have the phone number of the local community garden coordinator and I am going to get on the waiting list to get a plot or two of land there so that I can start growing my own food. The land where I live is not great, and there I can learn from others who have been doing this for a long time.

2.) I have begun plans to start up a garden club at school. I of course will have to talk to the principal about this but what better way to teach the kids about sustainable living and where our food comes from but to grow it ourselves! Wish me luck!

Is there something you can do to increase your knowledge base about where your food comes from? Do you have enough land to create your own garden? 15 min. at a time, create your own food...start the planning now and you'll have an amazing garden by summer!

My Yahoo! Group should be up and running by later tonight. I'll keep you posted!

Eat Raw, Live Well,
Melinda

Decluttering My Space

2009-01-07T21:45:00.000-08:00

There are many areas of our life where decluttering is needed. If my home is not tidy and clutter free, I am not a happy person. I am downright cranky! We all get hurt on toys not picked up, trip over bags that weren't put away, and a number of our dishes were broken this last few weeks due to the untidy space in the kitchen.

My son told my mom today that his room was full of space. He'd been socked in with all of our Christmas boxes and it is heartwarming that he appreciates his space, but at the same time, heart wrenching to know that it must have been bothering him subconsciously before then.

Since Christmas, all the decorations have been taken down, routine is back in our lives, every room has gone through a major decluttering and tidying and we are all breathing easier because of it. In fact, my son is even sleeping better and behaving better as well. Nothing else has changed but the routine and tidy spaces. This speaks volumes to me.

My daughter and son love to play in the new space created in our family room. Everyone is making an effort to keep our space clean. The only thing is, to keep it clean and declutter like I want to is cutting into my beauty sleep. Usually late to bed and early to rise, recently it's been very late to bed and somewhat later to rise. This is problematic when you want to accomplish something in the morning before the kids wake up. 15 minutes at a time I keep telling myself, but once I start a project I want to finish it. There are two items still on the to do list for decluttering...the house's storage areas (and we have many!) and my scrapbooking desk. I have not kept it tidy in over 3 years...since my son was born, I do not believe I have scrapped a single day!

So, with small steps I'll be digging through what's in the storage and on that desk. Is there a space in your home that you'd like to reclaim and feel it's a lost cause? Just take 15 minutes right now and tidy and declutter. You'll be amazed that if you do this consistently for a month you will have a new, clutter free space for yourself. Your energy will rise, you'll be happier and no longer cranky and unhappy.

I feel so much lighter now and hope that you will too.

Remember to Eat Raw, Live Well.

Melinda
email: thriveonlive@gmail.com if you ever have questions...or comment here.

The Story of My Stuff

2009-01-04T23:21:00.001-08:00

Wow, marathon day of tidying and cleaning up from the holidays and I am far from finished. About six months ago I watched a movie called "The Story of Stuff" and you really have to check it out. Many of us have WAY too much STUFF and it really disrupts the our flow! Usually I declutter at least a grocery bag full of stuff each week, and more if I can. It seems that there is a constant flow of goods in and out of this house.

I love Christmas and winter time (while it's here) and have collected a good number of very expensive Christmas decorations. I like to take it out on Dec. 1st - give or take a few days, it has to be a weekend as it's quite the ordeal. Then we (I) take it down the last weekend before we go back to work after winter vacation. Well...this year I got lazy. I only took out about half of the items, and my poor son had his room packed with boxes that never got put back in the attic in the meantime. He had about a month where he could not do anything in his room due to the number of boxes in there. So instead of enjoying my evening cuddles with him, I kept feeling guilty each night I put him to bed.

He kept talking about having and wanting space this last month, but never referred to his room, he always wanted it in the livingroom - which he probably sees as my space and wanted to disrupt it a little?! Unsure of the motives, it is not until I write this that I realize that he was probably telling me in the only way a 3 year old knows how to, that he needed me to tidy my stuff up in his room.

Yesterday, I decluttered my daughter's bedroom as I could get around in there and it's so peaceful for her now. Today I managed to get all the Christmas stuff down and boxed and into the attic and tonight I vacuumed his new, spacious bedroom. You should have seen the smile on his face when he saw how much "SPACE" he had. He loved it. My daughter also said how much she liked things tidy. We all made an intention to keep our bedrooms tidy this year. We will help each other with this intention with a quick tidy up before going to bed at night. We are also going to put out our clothing the night before and that will take the guess work out of things in the morning.

I find that we live in such a disposable society. I admit that I too am trying to curb my spending and making more purchases second hand where I can, and donating many things that still have lots of life left in them. We still have too much stuff! Every weekday I am going to do a quick look through my home and try to fill a shopping bag full to donate. I was doing this once a week last year, now it's time to take it up a notch and let's see if I can get rid of at least five times that.

Instead of doing things I'd like to be doing - or going to bed at a reasonable hour...I am tidying and cleaning up stuff...organizing stuff. This must come to an end, one small step at a time! Flylady.com is a great resource for this, you should check it out also.

Do you have too much stuff cluttering up your life? Is it stopping you from doing things that you'd like to be doing? Take 15 min. today to gather a shopping bag - or more - full of items to donate. Today I took out 3 garden bags full that I was able to declutter in the massive marathon clean up I did this weekend. Good luck! Remember to fuel yourself with as many greens as possible to have the energy to get this stuff done! How are your goals coming along? I'm about to do my 15 min. of book writing...the outline is almost totally complete!

Eat Raw, Live Well,

Melinda

It's been a year - changing of the seasons

2009-01-03T23:54:00.000-08:00

Today was the most amazing day ever!

Today was thick with snow, from the moment we woke up until the time we put the kids down to bed. It snowed so much, all day long. I really do like the snow and had no other plans today except to host a brunch and take down the Christmas decorations.

Brunch was great. Tempting food all around...but I resisted temptation, and had apples with cinnamon and some agave. There's a lot of talk around agave at the moment, but I use it so little hopefully there is no ill effect.

After brunch we got the kids outside and played in the back yard, unearthing some of their toys that had been buried in the snow, then did some shoveling out front and then we went for a walk to find a good hill nearby to do some sledding on our crazy carpets. We had an absolute ball. I haven't seen smiles on my kids faces so big in a long time, not even on Christmas day. It's true that the best thing you can give your kids is your time. I'll be doing a lot more of that in the new year as my daughter is always talking about wanting to be a baby again because I spent more time with her then. Nothing like a mirror being put up in front of you for you to take notice of your actions. That's why a lot of my posts will be in the evening, once the kids go to bed. I would like to spend less time at the computer when they are awake.

We also took a long walk along the river nearby and also walked to the lake and saw it frozen over mostly with some ducks looking for handouts! The snow was coming down in torrents the whole time and it was such a winter wonderland. I am so happy that my toe had healed enough for me to go out and play in the snow today.

I love the changing of the seasons. I told my hubby today that I would miss the seasons if we went to live somewhere tropical. Perhaps not at first, but eventually. I love the west coast of Canada, it has all four seasons and we are experiencing them in such a great way this last while. This past fall was the most mild, sunny fall we've had in ages. This winter has proven to be quite snowy so far! I am sure spring and summer are also going to be great!

Better get myself to bed, time to get back on "work" hour sleep times now.

Snowy dreams to you all...
Where would you like to live? Are you living there now? If not, what can you do to get yourself there soon? Think about that for 15 min. today and take action!

Eat Raw, Live Well,

Melinda

One Year Anniversary...

2009-01-02T23:27:00.000-08:00

It will have been one full year tomorrow, that I've been blogging. My goal was to blog at least once a week, and although I have not done one each week, I believe that I've written about 52 entries, so that would average to one a week. This year I'd like to do at least two a week...and learn more about how to manage my blog and make it look great.

The reason I began my blog entry so late tonight was due to the fact that I began my 15 minutes of writing for the book and then it was an hour later all of a sudden. Do you ever get that vacuum of time when you're doing something you love? I experience the vacuum when I'm surfing the net, talking raw and living foods, at certain movies, playing with my kids, etc. I feel like only 15 min. has past and when I check the time over an hour or more has passed.

Blogging has been a great way to make sense of my experiences, and hopefully has helped a few people along the way. I used to be a HUGE journal writer in my pre-teens, and teenage years. Then I moved on to poetry when I attended university. When I began working as a teacher, my writing almost completely stopped, how ironic is that? I wrote the odd poem - The Mystery Gift was an annual poem that I wrote to honour my Grandpa. Each Christmas my Grandpa would purchase an inexpensive item, write a poem that hinted to the wrapped item and we would have to guess what was inside of it. When my Grandpa died, I wanted to continue the tradition but felt that it wouldn't be the same with the family so began this in my classroom. The students love it!

I really lost touch with writing and how it really helped me through some difficult times as a young person and while going through university. Turning to pen and paper (or computer and keyboard) didn't appeal to me much until I found out I was pregnant with my first baby. I wrote the baby a journal during the pregnancy, but stopped once I had her. I also wrote a very cryptic journal - on the computer this time - to my second baby but again, stopped once I had him. It wasn't until I began blogging on January 3rd of last year that writing really became a part of my life again. And now, a book in the works. Usually you don't realize what you've lost until it's gone, but this is different. I didn't realize how much I'd lost until I started it again!

So, what could YOU start doing again that will make your life more fulfilling? Is there something that you have not done in a while that you'd love to start up again? Why not take 15 minutes tomorrow and begin that journey. Remember to use 15 minutes also to work on your goal or resolution as well. Small steps to success, we're on our way!

Until next time,

Eat Raw, Live Well!

Melinda

Small Steps To Success

2009-01-01T11:12:00.000-08:00

A shiny, fresh, brand new year. It's awesome that we can start fresh each new year. Being a teacher I get two fresh starts to the year, and am thankful for that. But this calendar year, I have such a feeling of positivity and wonderment about what lies in the year ahead. To some it may seem a little daunting thinking about all that may go on in this next twelve months, to others, they may be overwhelmed, thinking yet again that they will fail with their new year's resolutions. But, I'm going to let you in on a little secret, something I've been working on getting started...Thrive on Live's Small Steps to Success.

Think about it. There's no need to look at the end result just yet. It is great to have a goal in mind but if you are too anxious to take the first step, you will never make it to that goal. Instead, do something each and every day that will lead you in the right direction towards that seemingly elusive goal. If you do something, even if it's just for 15 minutes...you'll get there eventually! You can do anything for 15 minutes, just like my good friend "Flylady" states! So here's to working towards our goals and aspirations, 15 minutes at a time.

I'm working on a book and will be following this 15 minutes at a time rule in order to complete it. For one year I have put off starting it, because the task seemed too big, but if I tell myself that I will write a minimum of 15 minutes per day, then it doesn't seem so scary to start. If I write 15 minutes per day, then I'll have written one hour and forty five minutes each week!

I'm also starting up a group (more details to follow...hopefully I'll have it up and running by January 11th-15 min. at a time) that will help people move in the right direction in their health and vitality and joy in their life experience. It will be a free, internet based group. It's time to give back and in the process help others begin to experience their Most Amazing Days Ever!

M.A.D.E. for YOU!

We'll follow small steps to success, fifteen minutes at a time!

In the meantime, choose one of your goals/resolutions and decide how you'll take that first small step today and then do the same tomorrow and again the next day. Do this 15 minutes each day and see how much you can do in such a short time!

Until next time,

Eat raw, live well.

Melinda

Do you see any happy people?

2008-12-29T15:09:00.000-08:00

We were at the mall today, picking up items with our various gift cards from Christmas. We didn't get too far when the kids got hungry and we stopped for something to eat. It is extremely difficult for anyone to find healthy food in a mall food court, but if you search it out, there are some healthy choices. I like to get a fresh salad, with lemons as my dressing, or else you can get a Booster Juice; my favourite is the Green Hornet, with parsley, spinach, celery and carrots. I do find that they put in too many carrots, but it's the greenest offering on the menu other than the wheat grass shots. So usually I have a shot of wheat grass then follow it with a Green Hornet.

While we were sitting there, I smiled, thinking about what most people were ingesting and hoping that one day they too would see what these food choices were doing to them. For example, I asked my husband: Do you see any happy people? Here we are in the middle of the holiday season, and everyone looked angry, sad, disappointed, or indifferent. They were there with their families, the most important people in their lives. They were probably buying stuff they really felt they needed or wanted. They probably just got a bunch of stuff as well, and they think that maybe buying more will help them find the happiness they are searching for.

The only people I heard laughing - rather loudly at that - were two groups of people. One group was a number of people who obviously had mental challenges, yet they were super happy and laughing about something. Even with all their challenges, they were SO happy and showing it. Then there were two girls, walking along laughing really loudly about something one of them just said. EVERYONE else was in some sort of negative emotion. I found that rather sad myself, but feeling so happy and blessed at that moment, let the sad feeling be felt and pass.

While eating raw and living foods, I have never felt so alive, and happy in my entire life. The moment I eat anything that doesn't fall under that category, I begin to see fear, anger and sadness re-enter the picture. If everyone would just eat better, the billions of dollars we spend on shopping therapy, drug therapy and other therapies would slowly decline, I am absolutely sure about it!

Here's to a healthy and happy New Years for you and your family. We'll talk more about resolutions next blog entry...I'm working on a few, to be sure, but this year I am looking at them more as goals, instead of resolutions. I'll explain next entry!

Eat raw, live well (and happy)
Melinda

Christmas Presents

2008-12-27T14:51:00.001-08:00

What an amazing holiday season. We are so blessed in our family and our children are certainly spoiled. They are the only grandkids on both sides of the family and they were very fortunate to get some incredible gifts. My personal favourite was a gift that will not clutter the house and that they are super excited about asking each day if we can go...a visit to the Planetarium here in Vancouver. They have never been and outer space is a place they both love and want to see more of.

Anyhow, my husband is always worried about what to get me at Christmas. He knew that I spent my winnings (from an office pool) on a new digital camera, but wasn't sure what HE could get me. He is so worried that I may not like it and be thrilled. This year though, he was super excited about the two gifts that he bought me. He would not stop talking about them! So Christmas morning he was so excited to give me my gifts. Well...one was a pair of boxing gloves. You may not think this is very romantic, but he got them so that we can work out together on his heavy bag. He's always complaining that he has no one to punch the heavy bag with and that he'd love it if we could work out together. Now that's romantic. :) Hey, they are even girlie pink! :)

Then for the drum roll.....the big present he got me was a bar fridge. Now you may ask yourself, why would he get me a bar fridge, well, here's how he explained it. He wanted to be thoughtful and supportive, he wanted me to have my own space for my raw foods. This was his answer. The logistics, as to where we'd put it came later, but we've since found a mutually agreeable place for it in the family room just on the other side of the kitchen wall. SO, now I have a place to put my nuts in their mason jars, somewhere to put my greens, etc. It's actually a great gift, and one I never would have thought to ask for. It was very thoughtful. Thanks hon!

I was somewhat out of commission with a toe nail that I ripped almost all the way off...it was showing signs of infection, but I think with some hydrogen peroxide bathing it's on it's way to recovering just fine. I also laid in bed last night willing it to heal, sending healing vibes that direction. Power of thought!

Even with all of the foot and a half of snow, we still had our family gatherings, it's nice that we all live so close together. We also managed to get to a party on the 26th that was in our neighbourhood. It's amazing how much snow fell again, another foot! It's been 37 years since we had such a snowfall!! I'd love to be able to play in it all, but my toe has kept me mostly indoors and sitting! I have sat outside, watching the kids LOVE and PLAY in the snow!

It's raining today and we have a slushie out there presently...with more snow expected. Blessings to you and your families.

Stay tuned for some things I've been working on...
Melinda

-10 degrees and a foot of snow

2008-12-22T23:53:00.000-08:00

It's cold. I'm cold. I've been sleeping more with the cold weather. Some sort of hibernation perhaps? Vancouver can get cold, but not usually for this long, and at these temperatures. The snow is blissful though. I LOVE snow and had an amazing time outside with the family today.

I find it funny that in the summer everyone is out and socializing and having a great time. Neighbours are always on the street talking and such. Then the rainy fall season hits and we all begin our winter hibernation. The only time I really see my neighbours in the winter is if we have a gathering - like our annual Solstice Party - or if they have a gathering at their house...no talking on the street and loitering in the driveways and byways of the neighbourhood.

That is until the snow arrives. In Vancouver we get about two to three snowfalls each winter season. In recent years, these snowfalls have stayed a day or two. Last year there was snow on the ground for most of January - I remember in mid February there was still snow when we had a pony party for my daughter and had to walk on it.

This current snowfall - over a foot of the white stuff...has been piling up for over a week now and it's great. Cold temperatures have kept it from melting and we're going to have our first white Christmas in a very long time. How exciting.

I love the snow for the reason that it gets people out of their hiding places inside and forces them to go and shovel, I see neighbours helping each other with their driveways, sidewalks, getting their cars to move over the huge pile of snow the grater left behind. Having a common goal or need brings us together again. The kids are all out in force, sledding, snowballing, building forts or snowmen or huge snow slides. Smiles are on everyone's faces - well mostly everyone! Spirits are up and it's amazing to be outside again. I believe that the more time spent outdoors in the winter, the less chance you have of catching a virus. Of course eating well and staying away from simple sugars is also extremely helpful. How many times do you go socializing and blame someone else for the "cold they gave you". Think back to how you ate at that event, think about what you drank...possibly if you'd refrained from simple sugars and a bunch of alcohol your body wouldn't be having to work so hard to rid itself of the virus that was also present.

Eating simply in the winter is helpful. Staying away from simple sugars, refined flour products, baked goods and the like can be extremely helpful. Most people won't completely refrain, but limiting it as much as possible is going to help you in the long run. If you do get sick, realize it's your body's way of getting things out of the body that it does not want there and be sure to eat and drink simply and it too shall pass (more quickly).

Now, if only I could get my sick husband to listen to this advice. That is another funny thing. I can talk until I'm blue in the face, but unless he hears it from some reputable source on the internet he's not likely to try it. If I could only get Men's Health Magazine to write about it...there's a challenge.

In white winter wonderland, eating my green goodness (current favourite is anything I can stuff into a nori roll!)

Melinda

Christmas Gifts

2008-12-19T23:48:00.001-08:00

As a teacher we sometimes receive gifts for Christmas. I have a lovely stash of candles, mugs, chocolates, etc. Every once in a while you get a gift that really speaks to you, lets you know that the child is taking in what you talk about, knows you well and relays that to his or her parents. Last year it was a gift certificate to Booster Juice, where I can get freshly made juices. This year a family really went out of their way and it was so thoughtful. They were extremely generous in that they gave me a Starbucks gift card (I still get tea there...), a home made bird feeder, and a bath bomb. The part of the gift that really struck me was a home made sprouting jar with a package of seeds in it! Not only have I been talking about the courses I am taking and plans to do this type of thing in my home, but this child is listening and taking it all in as well as talking about it at home. I was really impressed by this as sometimes I wonder if this guy is really listening. Just because they aren't actively listening doesn't mean that they aren't taking it in!

So, I'll keep on talking and who knows what the ripple effect may be.

Here's to making waves.

Eat Raw, Live Well.

Green Smoothie Goodness Experiment

2008-11-24T22:52:00.001-08:00

Here's what I wrote the Raw Divas regarding the CHIdiet home study course that I won in their Mother's Day contest...

After having a couple of months to begin to digest the information I've studied so far in this course, I know that I have only scratched the surface of all it entails. The information is very detailed and wide in scope. It begins with talk on enzymes, chlorophyll, and the life of Ann Wigmore. It goes on to talk about how to set up your raw food kitchen, benefits of this lifestyle, as well as how to transition to a living foods diet. Eating simply and sleeping well, drinking pure water and the power of thought are all touched upon...and this is just the beginning.

Being a teacher by trade, my thoughts kept turning back to how I could introduce this lifestyle to my students without turning them off the idea of eating healthier. They are a group that lives on sugar, processed foods, and the traditional SAD diet. I have a new class this year and they were not fully aware of how I eat, or why. I am very open about what I eat and they see me in class, eating my raw, fresh, ripe, organic fruit and salads. They also see me with various concoctions - warming chia pudding, and the like. Something they haven't seen me eat is my green smoothie. I began bringing my green smoothie jar to the school instead of drinking it at home in the mornings...I wanted to pique their interest, and pique it did! They've always been curious about how I eat and I always tell them, if they ask.

The green smoothies were really the turning point! Every day they'd ask what I put into it and wanted to smell it and were so extremely curious about the whole idea of eating a drink that was so green. In fact one student asked if I had my "Shrek" drink, when it was missing from the desktop that day. We'd been enjoying "Fruitful Fridays" each week, where I bring in a different fruit for the students to try. The students bring in fruit to include in our Friendship Fruit Salad and we all have our class meeting while learning about a new fruit each Friday as well as enjoying a great fruit salad that we all made together. The first week we did that, the students made me swear not to tell their parents that they "enjoyed eating healthy" or else they'd be made to do so by force instead of choice...a valid point! However if you make this type of food available and tasty, they are bound to make a good choice!

Because of their interest in the green smoothie, I decided last Friday morning to bring my Vitamix to class and have a demo on how to make a green smoothie. The students were aware that I was going to do this and were full of anticipation when I opened the classroom door that day. First, they could not believe how huge the blender was, then their eyes became as big as moons when they saw how much kale I had ready to put into the drink! It was amazing how interested they all were! They are so impressionable at this age and this seed of an idea that was planted that day will reap rewards in the months and years to come.

I told them about the benefits of each food that I put into the blender. We made a very simple smoothie. Here's the recipe I made which fed the class a small dixie cup each:

2 cups blueberries
2 bananas
2 apples
1 stick celery
4 huge leaves of kale
3 cups of water (or more to assist in blending)

The blueberries made the smoothie more blue than green, however the colour helped a lot of them around the idea that there was so much green in there in the first place. We talked about the blender as well, and how it breaks up the cell walls and does the "chewing" for us so that the nutrients are more bioavailable.

Then it was the moment of truth: The Taste Test!!!

I began pouring the drinks, not really knowing what to expect but figured the great taste of the smoothie would encourage even the most finicky in the class. Some comments made include:

"I can't believe there's like a whole salad in here, you'd never know it!"
"It doesn't taste bad at all!"
"If I didn't see you put those greens in there, I'd never know they were there, it tastes so good."
"I have to get the recipe!"

There were so many positive comments made that morning that I had each student write a testimonial on a cue card for me to reference. Here are some of what the cue cards said:

"I was not nervous to try (the smoothie) but it was better than I thought it would be." - Rhylan, Grade 7

"When Ms. Gill was putting in the fruit, it looked pretty good. But when she blended it it looked bad. It smelled like bananas and when I took a sip it was very good." - Kody, Grade 7

"Before I tasted the smoothie, I was concerned about what it would taste like. After I tasted it, it was delicious! It tasted like blueberries and bananas with a hint of a peppery taste. I would like the recipe" - Michael, Grade 7

"I would ike the recipe! Watching it blended, I almost didn't try it, it looked slightly unappealing. And well, it kinda was. Drinking it tasted ok but there was a bit of an after taste. Overall, pretty good!" - Rozi, Grade 7

"When I saw my new teacher eating a raw green smoothie I thought 'Wow, what is she eating?' So we asked her and she said she was a raw foodist. Now if you told me I would be trying some, I wouldn't have believed you. So I was pretty nervous when I got a cup full of "slush". I took a sip...tasty, but yet kind of bitter. I love my smoothie. Yes I would like the recipe." - Mitchell, Grade 7

"While I was watching Ms. Gill make it, it kind of looked like "unmentionable" and I also thought it would taste like that, but when I tasted it, it was "greenalicious", yummy, yummy! Yes I would like to try it again!" - Simran, Grade 7

"I really liked this drink because it was really good and I would love to get my mom to buy the ingredients so I can have more." - Matt, Grade 7

There were only two students out of 29 that said they really didn't like the smoothie but would be open to trying different combinations if we ever did this again...which we are!

As you can see it was a very successful endeavor. Afterwards, the students asked if we could do a green smoothie every week. I said we could call it our "Smoothie Start to the Week". The students will bring in 25¢ every Monday morning to help offset the cost of the ingredients and we're going to have a green smoothie each Monday morning to get our week off to a good start. So in our class, we will begin the week with a green smoothie and we will end the week with a fruit salad. Baby steps, is all I keep thinking. As I absorb more information through the CHIdiet course, I will slowly incorporate this in my teaching in a fun and informative way.

The message to take away from this is that children are open to trying these things in the right circumstance, but the long term change has to include the the whole family. I especially liked the comment Matt made about getting his mom to buy the ingredients so that he can have more. It's true, I can plant the seed, but kids need encouragement and help at home too. I can only hope that his mom WILL buy him the ingredients and that he will enjoy green smoothies for a lifetime!

This gave me another great idea! Get the parents involved! That leads me to my next adventure...the PAC (Parent Advisory Council) meeting. Stay tuned and we'll hear how that one goes.

In closing, here's a short poem I wrote in honour of Ann Wigmore:

Raw and Living foods
Ann Wigmore knew it the best
Green simplicity

In simple green goodness,

Melinda

TRAWvelling on the Road

2008-11-09T16:17:00.001-08:00

Raw on the Road. I got a crash (not literally) course in this during our summer vacation.

Here are some things that I did in order to stay raw on the road:

Buy a great cooler

Bring along my juicer (if at all possible) and for sure I bring along the blender

Google the places we will be driving through. I look for juice bars, raw food restaurants, vegan restaurants, farmer's markets and organic stores to shop at.

Pre make a number of my favourite recipes to pack up and bring along. Dressings and desserts are my favourite to pre make.

Nuts and dried fruit packed and ready to go.

Lots of fresh fruit!

We went on three road trips this summer. Our first was to Vernon, B.C. for four days. After only three days at home, it was off to Powell River, B.C. Lastly we travelled for nine days through the interior of B.C. over the Rocky Mountains to Calgary and eventually Drumheller, Alberta. It was much easier to be successful than I had originally thought. It just took a little planning on my part.

Let's start with Vernon, B.C.

I ate prepared foods and fruit during our drive up. The universe aligned for me in that our motel was walking distance from a Booster Juice. I did not have my juicer on this trip so I was thrilled to have a place with wheat grass juice and other juices so close. The first day I arrived there to get my juice, their juicer broke! It would be out of service until further notice. At least I had a wheatgrass juice. The second day I came in and they were out of wheatgrass! So that was the end of that!

I did get a chance to use my blender though. Vernon has an amazing farmer's market, it's huge! We got greens, organic fruits and I was blending my lunches up with green smoothies. So great. I ate salads mostly in the evenings and some nuts/simple veg and fruits for snacks. I did not do any eating out there.

Powell River, B.C.:

Five hours, two ferry rides and about 2 hours on the actual road. Again, I did the pre pack of many items like I listed above so that I could be able to eat on the road. Once in Powell River I knew that I would be set up for juices as there's Big Robbies Hemp Products and Juice Bar. His address is 4691 Marine Ave. and the phone number is 604-485-7671. They have a wide variety of juices as well as wheatgrass juice. Shop for some great hemp clothing while you sip on your drink.

I was able to blend foods for meals and eat salads for dinner with prepared dressings I had made. Again, easier than I thought!

Road Trip to Drumheller, AB:

Here's where things got a little more tricky! More on that next time...

"Relentless Hope" Conference in Hope, B.C.

2008-10-24T23:10:00.000-07:00

A day of incredible alignment!

Two weeks ago I was trying to decide which conference to attend during this Professional Day for teachers. I decided to attend "Relentless Hope: Educating for a Better Future", the PAGE (BC teachers for Peace and Global Education) group put this on and it had a raw food presenter so my interest was piqued.

I was supercharged with energy when I awoke today. I was so excited to be driving up to Hope (1.5 hour drive from my home) on my own. It made me think about all the road trips I took in the past. How my road trip eating habits have changed! In my pack I had three apples, 2 litres of water, my chia seeds (dry) and some smoothie mixed up to soak the chia in.

Driving along the highway I was shocked at the amazing colours of the leaves! They were so orange, and colourful and beautiful against the dark green of the evergreen trees and grass fields. I had Neil Young playing on the stereo the whole way up, just one CD that went that long. It also brought me back to my past road trips down the pacific coast down to Oregon, California and beyond. I was in such a good space and had such a good feeling about the day.

I got there late as I couldn't leave before 8:30am...so Michael Byers presentation was just ending when I arrived, unfortunately I didn't see enough to comment on it.

My first session was the raw food presentation. So we waited 15 minutes. And waited...and finally got in the room only to find out that in fact the presenter was a no show. I was somewhat disappointed but knew that this must have happened for a reason. So instead I went to the "What Would Gandhi Do?" presentation by Pummy Kaur. She has written a book by the same name which I have added to my bookshelf of must reads.

I really appreciate her "realness". I know it's not a word, but she was so real, taking ideas from the people in the session regarding what we think are major problems in the world today. We had an extensive list! Then she asked us to label them with an A (for those that we are directly influence) B (for those in which we indirectly influence) and C (for those over which we have no influence). I could see that in every aspect, we could directly influence every one of those problems in some way.

Asked, "If you could do one thing to stop your negative influence on all of this, would you?" Well of course we would (so long as it was easy and didn't ask us to give up anything we love)

In my mind I said "DIET" and also wrote it down. That one thing, if most people changed small things to the large things...that would have a profoundly positive impact on all the negatives currently being experienced in our world today.

OK...then she goes on to talk about her "raw vegan thanksgiving" dinner that she made for her family. I knew then why my first presentation had been cancelled, because I was supposed to be here in this session with Pummy!!

She gave us a potato chip example. Think about what goes into creating a bag of potato chips. Really think about the impact that every stage has. It is mind boggling what type of energy, waste and all sorts of awefulness goes into making this item. That could be any type of processed food in reality!!

The closer to raw that we are, the closer we are to a more sustainable world. Hard to refute a truth like that! We talked about how just making little changes can have a ripple effect - like the slogan for a couple of high school students I was talking to from Mission. As Gandhi says, "Be the change you want to see in the world".

I got her book because I want to delve into this more and think she's got some really amazing things to say. I can't wait to start reading it. I also met a couple of teachers from Coquitlam and one of them is into the raw foods lifestyle, amazing. I hope that we can stay in touch as it'd be nice to go to Gorilla Foods out in Vancouver with someone who will actually fully appreciate the food!!

I was totally pumped even before I ate my chia seed soaked in smoothie. Here's the I think I wrote the recipe here before, but it's from goneraw.com

1/4 cup chia seed

1 banana

1 date

1 cup of water

nutmeg (you decide how much)

cinnamon (to taste)

4 brazil nuts (but have used small handful of pecans, almonds, walnuts, etc.)

Blend all together except the chia. Pour blended drink over chia seeds and allow to set for 15 to 20 min. Then it's like tapioca pudding! LOVE it!

The afternoon session was great too! The Art of Living Wellness presented a great session on how to find calm and peace so that you may be stress free. I'll have to write about that at another time as my eyes are telling me enough computer time!

Also further posts...Rawkathon 2008! It rawked!

Carrotmob

2008-10-09T22:00:00.000-07:00

These guys have the right idea. Their video shows the power of consumers when we band together for the right reasons! Environmentally friendly solutions with mass purchasing. Collective mind is at work here...

Carrotmob Makes It Rain from carrotmob on Vimeo.

Raw Nogg

2008-10-09T21:03:00.001-07:00

Oh, my...did I ever come across something delicious today! I've been reading all sorts of recipes and decided I needed something tasty tonight and decided to make a shake. I wanted to make something that would sustain me for my workout tomorrow morning. I have been going to bootcamp in the mornings now as it's the only way to fit it into my busy day. When the workout starts at 6am, I get up at 5:30am but there is no way I can eat. I have been eating something around 9pm so that I can work out in the morning and have energy throughout the strenuous workout. This is what I put into the blender:

1 frozen banana
1 tsp pure vanilla
2 tbsp. macadamia nut butter
1tbsp. honey
couple shakes of nutmeg
dash of sea salt
1 cup water

What came out was the most amazing taste sensation! I could not believe how much it tasted like egg nogg. It was exactly like it, even the consistency. I'll have to get my parents to try this one. My husband doesn't like bananas or egg nogg but agreed after tasting it (with much coaxing from me!) that it did in fact taste like the dairy version of egg nogg.

Perfect timing of course! I'll have to whip this one up for our Solstice Party in December.

Time to go nogg off, in health and wellbeing,

Melinda

RAWKATHON 2008!

2008-10-02T21:39:00.000-07:00

Word is spreading like wildfire regarding Kevin Gianni's newest venture...Rawkathon is a free seven day event that Kevin will be hosting, and it starts October 19th. It's FREE! Now is the time to join in the fun. You can join by going to Rawkathon.

You will hear from the likes of:
Victoria Boutenko
Angela Stokes (who was recently profiled on CNN - also big news this week.)
Matt Monarch
Dr. Gabriel Cousens
Dr. Douglas Graham
David Wolfe
Mike Adams
Viktoras Kulvinskas
Nomi Shannon
Cherie Soria (who is coming to Vancouver to share her chef skills in a class she's offering...more info to follow)
David Rainochek M.A
Frederic Patenaude
Dr. Rick Dina
Karen Knowler
Dr. Jameth Sheridan
Happy Oasis

What a line up! I'll be quite busy that week, listening in on all of these knowledgeable people. You can watch on the net (webcast) or listen by phone. It's FREE. You also get the Health Book Summaries...another amazing free service that provides great, easy to read books about health and raw and living foods. It's like a Coles Notes version of these amazing books!

Don't wait any longer. You'll really be glad you listened to these. Let me know how you enjoyed them!

In health and rawness,

Melinda

Summer and Blueberries

2008-07-25T21:49:00.000-07:00

So I'm loving summer, the sun, swimming, lots and lots of kid time, heat, fresh, ripe fruit and being able to relax without work constantly on the mind.

I'm juicing daily, doing smoothies daily and trying to keep my sugar (ie dates, honey, dried fruit etc.) to a minimum. I've also been back at 100% raw now since July 19th. It isn't as rough going 100% now, since I've done it many times before but I still get some detox like symptoms, like some minor acne, body odour, coated tongue, bad breath but these are occasional and not constant like the first time I went up to 100%.

I've also been back to bootcamp. It feels good to get some great exercise. Walking and such is great but this is where I can push my limits. I have also enjoyed swimming almost daily at our community pool. I am concerned about pool chemicals but so far don't seem to be experiencing any ill affects that I can detect. Excersise is great and making time for it is SO important. When I get stressed that seems to be the first thing I let go of, and then it's what I put in my mouth...not always the best option.

Summer has been great for me though and I love spending so much time with the kids. They amaze me daily with their reflections on life and our world. I'm going to start a blog up with all of their little daily insights and will post more on this in the near future.

I've also begun the Ann Wigmore home study course. That's another blog unto itself, so keep an eye out for that in the very near future.

There are a couple things of note in the raw food world. The CHIdiet.com website is releasing more of Ann Wigmore's home study course, that was not the original plan but after much coaxing it looks like this will happen soon (if it hasn't happened already!).

Also, Gabriel Cousens is putting on a "Reversing Diabetes" workshop which you can check out HERE. Even if you just watch the "Raw for 30 Days" trailer that they have there, it's worth a look. It's a definite if you are pre-diabetes or diabetic already, it will be really eye opening and give you some options other than insulin.

Blueberry season is upon us. I've already started eating too many berries! They are in my smoothies, my raw ice creams, whole berries, and so much more. I ate so many the other day that I woke up with a bluish black tongue and wondered what had happened...thinking maybe it was a totally random and weird detox thing...then my husband asked me how many blueberries I'd eaten...and that was it, my colourful tongue was due to the amount of blueberries I'd eaten!

Anyhow, that's all for now.

In raw summer goodness,

Melinda

Before and After...

2008-07-17T18:16:00.000-07:00

Melinda Cooked...
Melinda Raw

Before Raw food...and after one year eating a high raw diet. My skin tone also seems different. My eyes are brighter and I am truly happier than I have been in ages! I still have to work on the "Chandler" smile!

I was looking for before and after photos this week to send to Paul Nison for use on his website...and it took me a long time to find a photo. I never liked people taking my photo because I knew that I was overweight and unhappy about that. I found this one which is a photo from March 2005. This was the heaviest I was ever at...probably around 215. I had given birth the week before to my second baby, my son. I had never broken the 200 pound mark with my daughter's pregnancy, but never lost all that baby weight and had started heavier than I should have even with that first pregnancy, not to mention the second.

So then came this photo. I also have one from December 2007 where I had leveled off from my juice fast that wend for the month of September. I gained about seven to ten pounds back after losing 25 that month. So I weigh about 135 lbs. in the Dec. photo.

Just an amazing realization of what raw food have done for me. Who knows what I'd look like or feel like had I not discovered raw foods.

Keep an ear posted about International Green Smoothie Day, which is August 15th. The Raw Divas are declaring this and I'm joining in! Green smoothies daily for a month again. I'm also doing a green juice a day for a month as well. Put those two things together and I'm powered by green. Lean Green drinking machine!

In great green goodness,

Melinda

Kids say and do the Darndest things

2008-07-16T22:58:00.000-07:00

I've been listening in on my kids' play whilst cleaning or making meals. Other than the usual squabbles, there has been some really interesting vocabulary coming out of their mouths.

They were playing with some of the play food and they were arguing about what this brown pattie like item was. In the cooked food world we'd know it as a hamburger pattie. Well, these two were arguing about whether it was raw fudge or raw chocolate cookie dough. They had this argument for a few minutes and finally decided that it was raw fudge. I love it!

I always lay with my kids in each of their beds, for a few minutes after we've read our evening books and given thanks for our day and we talk about our favourite moments of the day and those which we found challenging. The other night my daughter commented how she has trouble getting to sleep sometimes...maybe because we've put her to bed earlier than her normal time (as was the case that particular evening). I taught her what I do each night when I lay down and upon waking. I do a breathing exercise that I learned in David Wolfe's book The Sunfood Diet Success System. It goes like this:

Deep breath in (to the count of six)
Hold that breath (to the count of six)
Exhale all the breath out (to the count of six again)
Hold all breath out (for the count of six)

Repeat.

I do this pattern 20 times.

I taught her how to breath like this and she did it with me that evening as a practice.

Well, I had completely forgotten about this little teachable moment and today in the van she said to me, "Mommy, I did your breathing exercises last night and I hardly did any and I was asleep." My heart was so full of love when I heard that statement!

My son used to love green smoothies but more recently has not taken to them. I haven't had one for over a week (YIKES!) and made one last night. He got all excited and clapped his hands and begged for a sip. It was only bananas, hemp seed and spinach...but he liked it and kept asking for more. They also love the raw strawberry shortcake from Storm Talifero's site. He has a Youtube video for it, click here if you'd like to see it. It is delicious, especially with local, ripe, organic strawberries!

My daughter commented the other day that I'm like the leaf eating dinosaurs. Well, she's not wrong in that thought...

She says that she wants to be a raw foodist when she gets older, like eating this way is a profession or something. It's so cute. She also says that she wants to eat like me, more often.

They both go to the grocery store and ask for me to get dinosaur kale (black kale) and my son did a happy dance when I put it in his mini cart. They know more fruits and veggies than most my 7th grade students for that matter. They talk about durian and love to watch me open one and then look repulsed by the smell and go running from the room. Speaking of running from the room, this has become a new game whenever I am preparing food in the processor or in the blender. They scream, run into the family room and shut the door. The blender can be especially loud when it gets going.

They really are watching and taking it all in. If that isn't motivation to eat well and to feed my family well, I don't know what is.

There are challenges though, being raw in a cooked food family. My husband is concerned that I will want the whole family to go raw. I am learning that people need to find their own way to this way of eating. I just have to keep being the good example! I will always offer and make raw items that my family enjoys.

In the meantime I have cauliflower ears, listening in on my kids' play as raw food words are incorporated into their every day vocabulary.

In playful fun,

Melinda

My Most Amazing Day

2008-07-16T21:13:00.000-07:00

I've been thinking a lot about what the most amazing day in my world would include. David Wolfe's book, The Sunfood Diet Success System talks about this in a way and he has a website called "The Best Day Ever". I also hear Kevin Gianni talking about the "Perfect Day" and "Perfect Weekend" recently and have written down some thoughts on this for myself.

I am sure these things change over time but as of the last three months when jotting things down, this is what I have come up with so far. This is in no particular order either. Just a stream of consciousness.

Sunshine
Fresh air
Lots of outdoor time
Clean, organic, raw food
Playing and learning with my kids
Seeing the wonders of the world through the kids' eyes. They are amazing!
Talking and spending time with my husband
Yoga
Roubounding
Reading
Running
Other forms of exercise
writing my book
Decluttering my space
Business planning
Journal writing
Breathing exercises
Imagry
Dry brushing
Sauna
Swimming
Juicing
Green Smoothies
Monomealing
Computer time (limited to neccessary items)
Salads
Bath time
Gratitude
Time and conversation with friends
Having a positive impact on the people I meet
Teaching kids to have the best day ever, and to become lifelong learners
Of course I'll try to squeeze in some sleep in there too!!

We all have 24 hours a day, it's just how we decide to spend them.

What would your perfect day look like?

I'll add to this from time to time as things come to mind. In the meantime I'll strive for an amazing day. It may not include all things on my list but it would come close!

Write down a few things you'd really like to spend time doing in your day. Are you doing any of them? If not, why? If so, what things can you add to make it even better?

Have the Most Amazing Day tomorrow and for all the tomorrows after that!

Melinda

Paul Nison's Visit to Vancouver

2008-07-15T20:15:00.000-07:00

Wow, how can you tell that reports are done, the sun is shining and Melinda's never at home enough to blog...but finally I'm going to talk a little bit about the talk that Paul Nison gave in Vancouver at the end of June.

In a few words...inspiring, amazing, incredible! I am always buzzing after a raw food talk but never like I was that night. Filled with new information and ideas I actually ended up driving another attendee home and we talked the whole way about how we'd incorporate some of Paul's ideas into our lifestyle.

I had an number of favourite moments...like the one where he just "happened" to move to West Palm Beach Florida so that he could get healthier. He talked about a van with a word he didn't know how to pronounce and I knew immediately he'd moved near to the Hippocrates Institute. No coincidence there, me thinks! The universe was obviously working towards getting Paul close to the institute so that he could heal and then help spread the Raw Food Word!

I also appreciated the "knowledge without action means very little" comment. It has been ringing true even before this lecture, but especially since I heard him say it. It's one thing to think it but a whole other thing when someone puts it directly to you. Acting on new knowledge is so important. Making sure our values and beliefs are in line with our actions helps to bring balance to our lives. I've been noticing this in all areas of my life in the past year, not just in eating but in relationships, and much more.

He also hit on a couple of other pieces of information that I have been thinking a lot about:

Overeating
Undersleeping

Even eating a mostly raw food diet I still tend to eat too much and too late in the day. I have more energy so tend to go to bed later. I also have trouble sleeping if I eat nuts or seeds late at night due to the energy they give me, but pay for it the next morning when I have more of a "roll over day in stead of a roll out (of bed) day". I wasn't listening to my body really well in this area until this information was brought to light for me, again, by Paul that night.

So here are some things I have tried to incorporate into my life since that night.

I now subscribe to Paul's Blog. You can too...click here. There's a subscription box on the top right.

I am eating less than I did before, and trying to be more consistent in this area.

I am not eating late at night and will try to bring the time back from 9pm, to 8pm to 7pm each month. Paul actually only eats two meals a day. One around 9am and one around 3pm or a bit earlier each day. He calls it the NDD or No Dinner Diet. It gives the body's digestive system a break and allows the body to do the cleansing it really needs to do. I tried it for two days and noticed a HUGE exit of toxic buildup from my body and decided that it was too fast for me, plus emotionally I was not ready for such a drastic change so I have gone back to eating dinner and a light snack around 8 or 9pm. 9pm is still too late for me. When I first made this change, I saw a difference and now, a few weeks later I have to be careful about what I eat at that time or it keeps me awake. So I may try 8:30pm for a while and see how that goes.

I'm also eating slower, chewing well and trying to eat in a calm state. This is challenging with a 5 and 3 year old at the table but doing my best. It is also good for them to see slow eating. They tend to inhale their food and not chew well but with practice we're making some headway!

The fact that it is summer means that I am eating simpler meals as well. I am blending, not juicing as much as I would like but am working towards one or two juices a day as I feel best doing that...especially after the 30 day juice fast I did in last fall.

I am cutting back my sugar intake. I used to think that eating six bananas a day was fine...and I could get away with that when I first went raw as I was no longer eating the processed sugars...but I have found some health issues creeping up this last six months and I believe it's because I got so clean with juicing for a month that all the natural sugars I was intaking has been a burden to my body, so I am again listening to what it's saying and also to Paul's suggestions and realizing that this must happen for me to live a long and healthy life. I am addicted to sugar and I just substituted refined sugar with dates, bananas (and other high sugar fruits), honey, and agave syrup. So I do indulge in these occasionally but not for every meal as before!

I am also going 100% raw again as I have not been as rigid with this in the last six months and also feel the effects. I am about 80 to 100% raw depending on the day and really feel much better after a few days at 100% so I there is the knowledge that I have to act upon!!

In health and happiness,

Melinda