Baltimore's Vegan and Raw Food Stores and Restaurants

I haven't been updating as often lately because I've been exploring the wonderful vegan, raw, organic stores and restaurants in Baltimore and enjoying the outdoors! Here are a few of my newest discoveries:

The Health Concern is a small independent store in Towson. Many of the vegan, raw, and organic goodies that are difficult to find, even at Whole Foods, can be found at this little jewel! The vibe here is fantastic, please support this store:)

Zia's Cafe is also in Towson and is filled with healthy goodies: fresh coconut water, spelt/vegan pizza, fresh juices and smoothies, wheatgrass shots, and much more! Zia's is also hosting a Raw Dinner Event on June 28th! Make reservations soon:)

I have also made a habit (with my hubby) of visiting Waverly's Farmer's Market on Saturdays and Jones Falls Farmer's Market on Sundays. Waverly has a wheatgrass juice vendor (B-More Alive!) and Don & Renee Gorman at Harmony's stand offer lots of vegan treats! Jones Falls has many organic farmers (its where I get my kale and romaine) and a fresh juice/smoothie stand!

I have also visited Liquid Earth twice in the past week:) Liquid Earth offers a large raw food menu, fresh juices/smoothies, and wheatgrass shots! Almost the entire menu is vegan too.

My next stop is Yabba Pot...I've visited Yabba before, but not since beginning my juicing, mostly raw diet! I'll report back soon.

xoxo

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

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.

NYC Vegan Restaurants and Raw Vegan Chocolate

I had the pleasure of visiting two raw vegan restaurants earlier this week in NYC. The first was Bonobos at 18 E. 23rd Street. Bonobos is named after the Great Ape that lives in Africa. We share 99% of this ape's DNA. Bonobos website explains:

"Wild bonobos are happy pleasure loving creatures whose lifestyle is dictated by instinct and Mother Nature. They are very healthy and live long lives, dying from old age, accidents or predators. There is no evidence of degenerative disease like there is with their human relatives. Instinct is responsible for their diets instead of social custom and food manufacturers. Their diet is predominantly raw, wild and plant based: fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. Since there is so much discussion about the correct diet for humans, bonobos can give us tremendous insight into what we are meant to eat and what kind of lifestyle we should have."

The food was fantastic! I enjoyed coconut water with my meal of a big green salad, lots of raw veggies and a yummy nut meat pattie:) I felt wonderful after my meal. There are so many tasty options for raw vegans that are packed with the good stuff we need to be healthy and vibrant. Check out Bonobos' menu here. If you live in NYC, be sure to stop in! I'll be back at Bonobos for the first Crazy Sexy Posse Meetup on May 3. Check out the Crazy Sexy Life forum here, you may want to join us!

The second restaurant I visited was Pure Food and Wine at54 Irving Place. This restaurant is the creation of Sarma Melngailis who wrote Raw Food Real World (a raw cookbook that I've mentioned in previous posts). The restaurant was a cozy and inviting place to settle in for a 3 hour meal! We enjoyed: Spicy Thai Lettuce Wraps with Tamarind Chile Sauce, Marinated Shitake and Avocado Sushi Rolls, and Rawviolis for starters. For the main dish, I ordered the Zucchini and Roma Tomato Lasagna with Basil-Pistachio Pesto, Sun-Dried Tomato Sauce, and Pignoli Ricotta (picture from flickr.com). Last, but NOT least, I savored a raw mint ice cream sundae, topped with unbelievably rich cacao truffles. To die for. I also enjoyed coconut water with my meal:) Its a good thing that I do not live in NYC, because I would want to eat there every night!

I had a wonderful conversation with a new friend that evening about raw vegan food. I've struggled with following a mostly raw, vegan diet in social situations, especially with family. My wise new friend helped me regain my confidence in my choice to follow this path. She helped me turn my insecurity into pride! Next time I feel like compromising my diet to "fit in", I am going to bring a delicious raw food dish to share with friends and family.

Lastly, I was just at Whole Foods picking up some greens for the weekend, when I got a hankering for chocolate. I'm not someone who can have a bar of chocolate hanging out in my cupboard without devouring it in one sitting, so I was looking for a single serving, organic dark chocolate treat. I was pleasantly surprised to find 100% Organic Vegan Raw (single serving) Chocolate bar! The chocolate (70% cacoa) is made by Love Street Living Foods. You can read an article about this company here. The article explains:

"The chocolate, made with a low-temperature (melted below 108 degrees) process, contains no processed sugar or hydrogenated fats or chemicals. The ingredients list starts with organic raw cacao (70 percent), which they source from Ecuador (cacao typically is roasted for chocolate). The rest: Organic raw cacao butter, organic raw coconut oil, organic raw agave nectar (the sweetener), organic raw whole vanilla bean, organic raw maca (powdered South American root vegetable), organic raw cayenne (a subtle touch of it) and Himalayan crystal salt."

The texture is more gritty than traditional chocolate, but it is still delicious, rich, and flavorful. Not to mention very satisfying:)

I am more and more motivated each day to continue on a (mostly) raw vegan path...people keep telling me I'm getting "the glow". Its not just the food, its part of a lifestyle, which I discovered through Crazy Sexy Life (CSL), Sivananda Yoga, and numerous spiritual teachers. Since returning from NYC, three friends have approached me on how to start on the CSL path and I love sharing my knowledge and resources. Thanks CSL!

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
– Margaret Mead

p.s.-I picked up Alba's Body Sunscreen (30 S.P.F) today at Whole Foods! I'm ready to enjoy the sun (safely).

xoxo,
Sundari:)

Green Juice, Kris Carr's Documentary, and A New Earth

I am drinking my Green Juice as I type this entry. Today's juice consists of:
1/2 cucumber (peeled because it is not organic)
1 head of celery
3 handfuls of Mixed Spring Greens
1 Lemon
1 Apple
1 Mango

I forgot the ginger this morning! Side note: I find mixed spring greens to be more palatable than Kale or Romaine (alone), so if you are struggling with drinking your greens, try this option. Extra tip: It is best to drink your green juice within 15-20 minutes of juicing. The juice will begin to oxidize and lose much of its nutritional value if you let it sit longer.

I feel like I'm back on the juicing band wagon. I received Kris Carr's documentary yesterday in the mail and watched it with my husband last night! It reinforced many of the habits I've adopted over the past year (juicing, dry brushing, yoga, eating raw as much as possible, meditation, etc.). This is a documentary for everyone! It will open your eyes to so many ways of improving your mind and body health.

I also would like to share a passage that I was reading yesterday from A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle:

"A vital question to ask yourself frequently is: What is my relationship with the present moment? Then become alert to find out the answer. Am I treating the Now as more than a means to an end? Do I see it as an obstacle? Am I making it into an enemy? Since the present moment is all you ever have, since Life in inseparable from the Now, what the question really means is: What is my relationship with Life?The question is an excellent way of unmasking the ego in you and bringing you into the state of Presence." (Tolle, A New Earth, p. 203)

I find this "exercise" to be very effective and I wanted to share it with you.

Be Well,
Sundari

Humane Society Video

Words cannot describe how shocking, sickening, and saddening this video (secretly filmed by the Humane Society) is, so watch at your own risk. Background on the beef recall can be found here. I was deeply disturbed by the footage, but at the same time, where did I think hamburgers came from? Baltimore Sun reporter, Rob Kasper, said it best when he wrote:

Longtime vegetarians are, Cunningham said, "somewhat bemused" by the reaction of surprise to the video. "As a friend of mine said, 'What did people think happened at a slaughterhouse? Did they think the animals got tickled to death?' "

This video shows the reality of food sitting on most American's kitchen tables. If I wasn't already a vegetarian, I think seeing this video would make it difficult to take another bite of meat. We don't need to eat meat to be healthy. Its becoming more and more evident that animal-based protein is not the best source of protein and it is actually harmful to our health. So why do so many people eat it? I hate to sound like a conspiracy theorist, but the more I face the facts, the more I realize that the government and "food" corporations have brainwashed Americans to think that vitamin-infused Coke, hormone-injected meat and dairy, and calcium-fortified cereal will make us strong and healthy. Have you seen commercials for Special K Protein water???

All of this information is obviously not spontaneously entering my brain. Currently, I am reading In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan, and today I picked up The China Study by Dr. T. Colin Campbell. The China Study is fantastic. Its easy to understand and based on decades of research. Over the past six months, I've been scouring the web for information on vegetarianism, raw foods, organic foods, ayurvedic nutrition, and macrobiotics. Kris Carr has also offered a wealth of information and resources. I guess what I'm saying is, educate yourself before putting packaged and processed foods into your body! I have just skimmed the surface of understanding these concepts, but the changes that I have made (i.e. vegetarianism, raw foods, juicing, organic produce, food combining) has made a huge impact on my mental and physical health. More later on all the fascinating and relevant things I am learning from Pollan and Campbell.