Raw No Caffeine: Day 11 take 2

Let's try this again lol So, besides two little pieces of Danish candy last night, 100% raw for 11 days. This week I have been starting my day off with a bok choy lemonade juice:

20oz bok choy juice

1 lemon-juiced

Bok choy is my new best green friend. It is so crisp, juicy, nutrient dense, and delicious! I have been removing the greens from the tops and juicing the white stalks. This is the best way to get our water; through mother natures filter. Forget a $20,000 Klingon water filter...just eat more fruits, veggies, and drink spring water! Anyway, I juice the stalks and then use the greens for my lunchtime green smoothie. Organic bok choy is only $1.29/lb at Whole Foods. So for $2.00 a get my morning juice and my green smoothie! As a comparison, a lb of kale is about $9.00 and nowhere near as juicy as the choy! So save the choy greens and the kale for the smoothies and juice the Bok!

After I drink the lemonade, say some prayers, meditate, and digest the juice, I drink my brAVO-Carotenoid Smoothie. This has been modified to:

10 carrots juiced

1/2 an apple juiced

1 lemon juiced

then blend the above with 

1 avocado

This has become my all-time favorite tasting smoothie creation! It is amazing! 

After 1-2 hours, I make my green smoothie:

40oz water

1 avocado

2 Tbsp flax seeds

1 Tbsp bee pollen

Blend until consistent then add

2 large handfulls leafy greens

3 frozen bananas

Blend and drink up!

this makes 64oz and you may need to add more water. I drink half, then bottle the other half for work. I have beeb packing little superfood snacks for work:

1 handful raw cacao nibs

1 handfull bee pollen

1 handful walnuts

1 tip of the jar of raw unfiltered unstrained wildflower organic honey

I mix this up and munch it in the afternoon. It's energizing and very satisfying!

I didn't make this today though. Today for a snack I had spicy raw flax crackers, 18oz fresh organic pineapple, and then a spinach salad and a large bag of dried mangos for dinner.

Everyday I have been making another bok choy lemonade for a midnight snack, but tonight I just munched:

coconut butter(whole ground coconut)

cacao nibs

raw honey 

bee pollen

Today was different. I had, in this order:

9:30am:

Green Smoothie

Raw homemade sprouted hummus

12pm:

Bok choy lemonade

brAVO Carotenoid Smoothie

5pm

Fresh Organic Pineapple 

Spicy Flax Crackers

9:30pm

Spinach salad

large bag dried mangos

12am:

Coconut butter/cacao/pollen/honey mix

1 fuji apple

I'm writing all this because people always ask me what I eat and to show that you can be raw and eat very well. I have learned this time around that I need more protein, fats, and acidic foods while eating raw. The lack of grounding some report when only eating raw food may be from an extreme alkaline high. I am so nourished and mentally balanced between the raw oil-free food and the no-caffeine that this time around, the raw path is without speed bumps and is immensely more rewarding. 

Raw No Caffeine: Day 11

Also, of course, totally oil-free. When I say oil-free, I mean no added oils. As in the extracted, packaged, pure fat, low nutrient, no fiber, no protein, added oils. This includes the oils: olive, coconut, flax, hemp, canola, etc. Some people claim that oil is good for us, but facts are facts...it isn't. I have heard many people cite the Mediterranean diet as an excuse to continue pouring oil onto their salads and into there frying pans...so here is an article with the truth about olive oil:

http://www.thevegetariansite.com/health_oliveoil.htm

Another truth about oil is your food tastes so much better without it! I stopped using oil in all of my cooking and raw food creations since January and I have consumed less than a half cup of oil since then. I used to eat a half cup of coconut oil in one salad. I would eat it and need a nap immediately after. Now I skip the middle man and go right to the source, using fresh avocado, nuts, seeds, coconuts, oilves, and so on. In other words: HEALTHY FATS!!! When we use these types of fats for cooking, salad dressing, ice cream, chocolate mousse, we actually taste our food the way it was intended to be eaten: fresh, whole, and in it's natural state. We get the fiber, the protein, the flavor!

But the proof is in the avocado pudding...that I feel soooo good after eating a salad without oil, or a no-oil stir fry, or a cashew mint chocolate chip ice cream. I feel light, nourished, and beautiful on the inside! I know I wrote about all this in a previous post, but it's something that needs to be repeated. I feel more of a difference after giving up oil than after giving up dairy. So the oil-free path is healthier, tastes better, you'll feel better, and your skin will look better! These are the facts. I will be leading a group on an oil-free plant-based 28 day challenge at the end of January with a weekly cooking/educational class. All are welcome and encouraged to join. It will be free and open to the public.

Raw Food..Hold the Caffeine: Day 2

I'm back on a 100% raw foods...Day 2. Every time I do this it gets easier and easier and the food gets better and better. The huge, earth-shattering difference between this and my other raw-ventures is that I have given up caffeine. No YERBA MATE!!!  I was drinking a LOT of mate...enough to kill a small chihuahua. The equivalent of at least 4 cups of coffee first thing after opening my eyes...then whatever after shock satellite mates would ensue. So, to substitute the mate rush is....LEAFY GREEN JUICE! LOL I was eating two full heads of greens everyday and today I munched 3 bunches and then juiced 2 bunches. I was given a juicer by my amazing boss yesterday and lit up tonight with quite possibly the best drink I've ever made. I turned the juicer on, tuned in, and let my body dictate the ingredients:


brAVO-Carotenoid Smoothie

1 decent size garnet yam or sweet potato
6 thin carrots
1 lemon
juice these things then blend with:
1 avocado and maybe a little ice

It was soooooooo freaking delicious! At first I made a bok choy, collard green, broccoli juice. It was awesome and I got a buzz from it, but it didn't tickle my sweet tooth. The garnet yam is loaded with carotenoids and vitamin A and so are carrots, giving them their orange hues. As I've mentioned everyday!!!and in previous posts...Avocados are the best thing to pair with a carotenoid. This drink gets:
double high five and five stars
energy spent: 4 due to cleaning the juicer