Rise and Shine

I felt so good this morning (waking up at 6am) that I wanted to spread the positive energy here. Three days in a row of waking up refreshed and ready for the day! There must be a connection between my mood and refined/processed sugar detox. Hooray!

Its amazing how remarkable the difference is in my feelings about the rest of the day, my perspective on work, and general happiness. I hope that this keeps up! I'll be noting my progress here:)

Composting and Smoothies

I have wanted to spiff up our backyard since we bought the house a year ago and I am especially excited about the possibility of composting. Since we live in the city, I was skeptical about whether we could pull this off without inviting every critter in the neighborhood for a nightly feast. I came across a few encouraging articles and websites, one from Urbanite and the other from NYC's Compost Project. I'm sure I've only skimmed the surface of the resources that are out there. I'll keep you posted on this composting/gardening journey. My hope is to have a nice vegetable garden this summer and to put the pulp from my juicer and other organic materials to use, rather than throwing them in the garbage.

So far, so good with the refined/processed sugar detox. I am still eating natural sugars (honey and fruit). Today I made a nice smoothie, loosely based on a recipe from Raw Food Real World by Matthew Kenney and Sarma Melngailis. I threw the following ingredients into a blender: a bag of organic tropical fruit medley (frozen Whole Foods Brand), 1 tbls. raw almond butter, 1 tbls. raw honey (Lord Byron's Honey), 1 tsp. Bee Pollen (first time eating this, couldn't taste it in the smoothie!), 1 tsp. organic vanilla extract, 1 cup unsweetened almond milk, pinch of celtic sea salt. It was sooooo good! I also experimented later in the day with Carob powder. I heated up 1 tbls. of Carob, 1 tbls. raw honey, and 1 cup almond milk. Although the powder wouldn't dissolve completely, it was still very good.

I'm feeling better overall. This morning, I awoke naturally at 7:30am and I didn't feel groggy for the first time in weeks! I really hope that this continues. I'm very excited to receive my new dehydrator in the mail! It should be here in a few days. Hopefully I'll be "cooking" (dehydrated food cannot be cooked over 110 degrees or the enzymes will begin to break down in the food) lots of goodies this weekend:)

Addiction Part II

I'm feeling better today than I have in about a week. The culprit: sugar overload (and me of course). For a while I had my sugar addiction under relative control with dark chocolate, but in reality, I was still overdoing it. The first few bites were never enough! Once I had some, I couldn't eat enough of it! I know it sounds crazy-Chocolate? Get a real problem, right? Unfortunately, these are the same emotions, thoughts, and actions I experienced with cigarettes and alcohol. Just because the substance is "less harmful", the internal struggle still drives you bonkers. Needless to say, I was down in the dumps for days as I "sugar crashed" and beat myself up, over and over again. Bottom line: refined sugar (and even too much natural sugar) makes me feel like crap, so I need to take it out of my life. That means brownies, cookies, muffins, pies, ice cream, and the list goes on.

Here is the catch, I recently ordered a food dehydrator in hopes that I can make some sweet treats that won't turn me into an obsessive maniac. I've read about these healthier options on the We Like it Raw blog. Its worth a try, right? The dehydrator should be here in a few days. I'll keep you posted on this little experiment. In the meantime, I'm steering clear of all sugary sweet delights and cutting back on my fruit intake. More veggies!! David Wolfe's website has a nice overview of sugar here.

Less is more

I never would have thought that too much knowledge was a bad thing until I realized that all this information is making me crazy! I am ashamed to say that I check my email while driving. How can we find peace if we have 10 windows open on the computer and we are darting to one web page while the other one is loading?

Last night I was at the end of my writing and editing "rope". I felt frustrated by every sentence that I pounded out of the keyboard. Finally, I decided to just go to bed and it was only 9:30! The world didn't come to an end. I got up this morning and the words flowed onto the page. We are all a work in progress. I don't know if any of this makes sense, but its all I have. I'm off to teach some yoga!

A New Earth and In Defense of Food

I picked up two books today-A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle and In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. I've already dived into both of them. In addition, I will be discussing the books with two wonderful communities . Kris Carr's blogging community is reading The Defense o f Food and Oprah's Book Club is reading A New Earth.


I'm so confused about food right now and I can already tell that Michael Pollan's book will set the record straight in a simple way. I'm also struggling to stay positive, focused, and in the moment. Eckhart's book, The Power of Now helped me make some positive changes in my everyday life and I hope that A New Earth will take these changes a step further.

Juice Analysis, Organic Produce, and Inspiration

I've been a little worried about my juicing habits lately because my urge to juice was dwindling. Even this morning (after two days without juice) I was questioning whether I could keep this up. After doing a full yoga practice, it was back. I went downstairs and juiced away! The picture to the left is what I started with.

I was curious about which nutrients I was benefiting from in this juice, so here the analysis I came up with, using The Complete Book of Juicing by Michael T. Murray. I listed the key benefits of each vegetable, fruit, and root.
Celery:

• Potasium
• Sodium (electrolyte replacer)
• Coumarins (increases activity of certain white blood cells, tone vascular system, lower blood pressure)

Carrot:

• Highest vegetable source of provitamin A carotenes
  

Cucumber:

• Skin contains Silica (strengthens connective tissues, i.e. muscles, tendons, and ligaments)

Ginger:

• Excellent Carminative (promotes elimination of intestinal gases)
• Anti-inflammatory

Lemon:

• Rich in Vitamin C and Potassium
• Contains Limonine (promising anti-cancer properties)

Apple:

• Pectin (improves the intestinal muscle's ability to push waste through the gastrointestinal tract)
• Ellagic, chlorogenic, and caffeic acids (anutrients with significant anticancer properties)
  

And here is the result of those veggies and fruits plowing through my Breville juicer:

I am going crazy trying to figure out where to buy produce and which produce to buy. Until yesterday I thought that any produce bought at Whole Foods was organic. Not true! Anything marked "Conventional" is not organic. Bummer.

Also, I wonder about the integrity of companies like Nature's Promise. Nature's Promise is easy to find at the cheaper, chain grocery stores in Baltimore: Giant and Super Fresh, but how great are these fruits and vegetables really?

I am excited that Kris Carr has brought up the idea of a book club in her blog. I am interested in reading, Michael's Pollen's book, In the Defense of Food and it would be nice to share the experience with her community.

I am working on a fiction novel at the moment, but my interest in writing a creative non-fiction novel is increasing as I become more inspired by my pursuits in alternative health and wellness. Also, I feel inspired each day by information coming from blogs and books that I am drawn to make a contribution as well. Its like the idea is at the tip of my tongue, but it hasn't come to fruition yet. I am going to have faith that it will come in its own time and I just have to keep on this path. With that thought in mind, I should get back to other writing projects. Peace and love:)

Balance

I've been playing with my balance lately and discovered how easy it is to fall, especially when it comes to my diet. I fell off the deep end with half of a medium sized Papa John's Garden pizza (more cheese and white flour than I've consumed in months). I couldn't sleep- heart racing, cold sweats, scattered thoughts. I was miserable! I had a pizza hangover the next day. In college, half a pizza, a six pack of beer, and half a pack of smokes were a regular part of my diet and my body surrendered to this pattern. Now, my mind and body revolts!

Thank goodness I had my green juice to fall back on the next morning. Since experimenting with a juice fast, becoming vegetarian, and adopting other healthy habits (dry brushing, tongue scraping, neti potting), I am comfortable with giving my stomach a rest in the morning. I used to throw food in my mouth as soon as my feet hit the ground in the morning. Now, I'm ok with waiting until noon to eat if I don't feel ready, although I usually drink my juice around 10am.

I am also finding balance in my yoga practice. For a few months following my stay at the ashram, I was putting all of my energy into teaching and ignoring my personal practice. Over the past month, I have found new joy and confidence in my personal practice. I've also taken it up a notch and I am working my way toward the handstand. This is a pose that my mind tries to tell me that I cannot accomplish, but I am ignoring those thoughts and focusing on the handstand a few minutes each day. It was the same situation when I approached the headstand. My body simply did not have the strength at first, but everyday I tried to get a step further in the pose, until eventually it just happened. I feel as fulfilled by achieving this pose as I do about getting my Master's degree. It taught me that I can achieve things that my mind perceives as impossible and that is priceless.