The Battle Between Body and Mind...is Juice Feasting an Answer?

Its funny that my body is smarter than my mind sometimes, especially when it comes to eating habits. My body is saying: "you're full, you don't want that!". But my mind is saying: "just eat it anyway, it'll make you happy!". These are the same battles I went through two years ago when I quit smoking (actually, this battle was quite long-it lasted seven years).

I've been reading a lot of juice feasting blogs lately and I feel drawn to this challenge because I want to break my mental addiction to food. I am very happy with the shifts that I have made to a healthier diet through juicing, eating primarily raw, and choosing a vegan diet. At the same time, I know that there are issues I have not overcome in terms of my relationship with food. I want to look at food as nourishment, not as comfort. Maybe a juice feast would help me make this transition...If you are interested in learning about the life of a juice feaster, check out these blogs:

Philip at Loving Raw
Angela at Raw Reform
David and Katrina at Juice Feasting
Penni at Real Juice Daily
Courtney at Radical Radiance

Ups and Downs...

I've been journaling my mood/food journey over the past six days. Its pretty eye opening. I lost count of the number of jelly beans and chips I consumed at our bbq yesterday. At least I resisted the ice cream sandwiches and cake...it wasn't easy, but I'm dedicated to staying vegan:) I got back on track today, but I am feeling tired and a little frustrated with my attachment to food. I feel full, but still unsatisfied.

On a lighter note, my hubby and I had a wonderful afternoon. We went for a walk at 10am, not knowing where we were going. We ended up at One World Cafe for brunch (carrot-spinach-ginger-apple juice and vegan pancakes!). Then we wandered through the John Hopkins University campus and ended up at Baltimore Museum of Art. Here is a picture of Steve in the Modern Art Exhibit:

My One Hundredth Post! Happy Birthday Veggies:)

This is my one hundredth post at Baltimore Bliss. It was around this time last year that I became a vegetarian. Its funny that I took a step further recently by transitioning into a vegan diet. I am dedicated to continuing this journey. Next year, I'll be writing my 200th post and remarking upon the new healthy lifestyle choices I've discovered. It just keeps getting better.

Thank god for blogs. Sometimes I get a little blue, unmotivated, blah, whatever you want to call it. After reading a few entries by bloggers like Kris Carr, Bueller, LolaBloom, Bunny Berry, the crew at We Like It Raw, and many many more, my mood lifts and I feel motivated to get off my butt and do something productive (or at least be more positive and thankful)!

I think there is a Vitamix in my future...My hubby knows that it is at the top of my birthday wish list, so I'll let you know in a few weeks if he delivers! Hopefully, I'll be in Green Smoothie heaven soon:)

It is my fourth day on Natalia Rose's 21 day Life Force Energy Plan. So far, so good. I am keeping a food/mood journal and I hope that this exercise will help me realize patterns in eating and how certain foods and habits effect my well being. I am sticking to Rose's food combining guidelines, which has helped with digestion and general comfort throughout the day. Although breathing exercises are something that I became familiar with through yoga, the fact that these exercises are part of her plan help me to make time for them throughout the day. I am also paying special attention to my sleeping patterns and the amount of time between meals. Overall, my diet has become more raw and vegan over the past few days. I have integrated 70% organic dark chocolate into my diet because Rose states that 50 grams per day is ok...we'll see. Its difficult for me to stop at 50g! I am eating more fruit in the morning also.

Its too soon to tell how this new lifestyle has effected me, but I'll let you know over the coming weeks!

ps- Oprah is doing a 21-day vegan cleanse, check it out!

A Weekend in Asheville

This past weekend was wonderful! My hubby and I drove to visit our dear friend Pepper (aka Jed) in Asheville, NC. Asheville is a GREEN city:) Lots of juice, vegan cuisine, earth-friendly businesses, and hippies! I enjoyed fresh veggie juice at the Green Sage, raw food and the Laughing Seed Cafe, UliMana's Raw Dark Cacao Truffles at the Grove Corner Market, and vegan cake at Rosetta's Kitchen! We watched lots of movies, walked around for hours, took a nap in the park, and spent time browsing local bookstores and shops. It was fantastic!




I picked up Natalia Rose's book: Raw Food Life Force Energy at Malaprop's Bookstore. The whole weekend supercharged my motivation to move forward with a healthier lifestyle. I started Natalia's 21 Day Program today. My favorite part was dinner, which was so simple and easy! I picked up organic tomato sauce (ingredients limited to organic tomatoes, spices, and olive oil) at Whole Foods today along with an organic zucchini. I heated up the sauce and used a peeler to slice the zucchini into linguine-like strips. I topped my pseudo-linguine with the sauce and added a few ak-mak crackers and voila! It was delicious:) today was about 90% raw. I feel great. I'm going to end the day with a hot, Epsom Salt bath. I'm documenting my progress in a journal, noting my diet, moods, exercise, etc. I'll keep you posted!

xoxo
Sundari

Lovely Saturday at Roots Market and The Great Sage!

This morning, I slept until I could no longer sleep and it felt fantastic. Usually I feel guilty about sleeping in on the weekends, but this morning it just felt plain good. My hubby and I decided to take a trip to The Great Sage and Roots Market, which is in Clarksville's Conscious Corner:) I had "A bowl of body-and-soul-warming three bean chili served with brown rice, vegan lime sour cream drizzle and vegan corn bread," and "Green peppers, plum tomatoes, red onion and cucumber tossed in lemon herb vinaigrette over romaine lettuce with kalamata olives and lemon wedge". My hubby had a "Down-home" vegan version of your favorite meatloaf: seasoned lentils, walnuts and grains baked with and apple-barbecue sauce and topped with onion gravy. Served with roasted potatoes and vegetable of the day". We both loved every bite.

Afterward, we visited Roots Market. It is a raw vegan's paradise! I could have stayed there all day, but Steve dragged me out after I walked around starry eyed for at least a half hour. I did manage to buy some goodies and I'll be back soon! They have all of the hard to find ingredients that can make a raw vegan's life much easier (not that I am 100% raw vegan, but this place will help me get there!).

New Articles in Smart Woman Magazine: Ashram Visit and Swimming!

The May/June issue of Smart Woman is out! I have a couple articles in this issue:

Something New: A Weekend at an Ashram

This past winter I spent a weekend at an ashram nestled in the Catskill Mountains of New York. The Sivananda Yoga Ranch is a spiritual community that teaches meditation and yoga to everyone, from beginners to experienced practitioners. Guests ranged in age from 18 to 70 and came from all over the United States and Canada. Ours was a diverse group: fashion designers, writers, business people, college students, teachers and retirees...read more.


Learning: Swim School

As a frequent visitor to Soup’s On in Hampden, I have often marveled at the energy of owner and chef Cynthia Shea. It was she who told me about Masters swim classes...read more.

The First Crazy Sexy Meetup in NYC (plus some reflections on raw vs. cooked food)!

The first Crazy Sexy Posse Meetup was in NYC this past weekend! On Saturday afternoon, 60 Crazy Sexy Lifers met up at Bonobo's:) You can read all about it and see some pictures at Kris Carr's blog. The conversation, community, support, and food were fantastic. It is so exciting to think of events like this popping up all over the country and spreading wellness to so many more people! If you haven't already, check out the Crazy Sexy Life forum!

I missed my juice this weekend. I loved making the trip to Whole Foods this morning to pick up my veggies (I picked up some Tom's of Maine mouthwash and Nutiva Coconut Oil too!). Switching between mostly raw to mostly cooked days, helps me realize how much cooked food slows me down! I had a very large cooked meal for dinner tonight and I feel tired, unmotivated, and a little down-in-the-dumps. Its a learning experience. Tomorrow will be all 80% raw and then maybe a fast on Wednesday to wipe the slate clean.

I've also been trying to switch to 100% vegan (probably 90% now). Its not so easy at restaurants! I'm going to continue to work towards this goal.

If you were on the fence about becoming a vegan, here are a few more reasons...

I just read an amazing blog post by Dan Paul at Kris Carr's blog. I wanted to email it to every person I know, but thought it might be better to post it here. I touched upon the issue of animal treatment in this post concerning a Human Society video released in February. Although I am probably 80-90% vegan (ice cream always gets me!), this post has inspired me to take the 100% vegan plunge.