High Raw Detox Day 3

Mid Morning:  Green Juice consisting of broccoli stalks, lemon, bunch of kale, cucumber, ginger, stevia.

Lunch:  Big Salad with cucumber, smashed avocado with lemon, onion powder, stevia, salt and pepper. Steamed broccoli with coconut oil, lemon, s&p.  Yam with coconut oil, s&p.

Note:  I was completely hooked on whipped Earth Balance and worried about being able to give it up.  How will I eat steamed broccoli without my EB, I thought.  Well--coconut oil to the rescue!  I've been substituting with Navitas Naturals coconut oil and I'm doing just fine!  Not only that, but I need only a fraction of what I was consuming with the EB.  A tiny little bit goes a very long way and it's a much cleaner oil.

Pre-Dinner:  I'm not supposed to eat (dark) chocolate until after dinner, but I started getting that weak, shaky feeling and just grabbed it and ate it.  It's weird because I don't feel hungry when that happens, but eating helps to take that feeling away.  Juice probably would have too, but I wanted something immediate.  And also sweet plays into it as well.  Hopefully my body will adapt soon, I really would like to reserve chocolate for more of a treat than a stabilizer.

Dinner: Salad--red leaf lettuce, cuke, shredded carrot, mashed avocado, lemon, seasonings. steamed broccoli w/lemon and coconut oil, s&p, half a sweet potato.  (ate half of sweet potato, doubled the broccoli and salad portions).

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High Raw Detox Day 2

This is Day 2 of my cleanse via Detox 4 Women by Natalia Rose.  Nothing significant to report, happy and grateful to be on this adventure.

Mid Morning: Green Juice (ginger, lemon, cabbage, broccoli stalks, whole bunch of kale, cilantro).

Lunch:   Southwestern-ish Big Salad:  red leaf lettuce, avocado, lime, cukes, tomato, cilantro and raw corn chips.  The corn chips are sweet and pair really well with the avocado, lime and sea salt. The cucumbers and tomatoes are chopped into a sort of salsa-fresca and I use a ton of cilantro.

Raw Corn Chips:  Using Matthew Kenney's  recipe from Everyday Raw as inspiration, I put a bag of frozen corn in the blender with juice of one lime, salt, a tiny pinch of chipotle pepper, One small red pepper, and sea salt, and about a half a cup of water, blended til smooth but not too smooth.  Spread thin on Silpat, put in dehydrator over night and had chips the next morning!  Just cut into triangles. Yaay!

Dinner: 
Big Salad (red leaf, cuke, avocado, lemon, onion powder, stevia, salt and pepper), baked sweet potato with coconut oil, salt and pepper.

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Green Valentine Find: Alex and Ani Love Bracelet

Here's a green valentine find for you--cute, affordable eco friendly jewelry.  Alex and Ani uses recycled metals and keeps it local to the US.  I love the LOVE bracelet which is expandable and customizable to each wrist.  This is great for me as I have small wrists and bracelets tend to slide right off.  I also love that it is light weight--you hardly know it's there.

I think this would make a great Valentine's gift for friends and family or sweethearts, I'm sending one to my mom.  Alex and Ani have a great selection on their website with many meaningful charms and jewelry options. They even offer an opportunity to help others with their Charity By Design collection. Another great feature--design your own bangle at their Bangle Bar.  You pick the metal, charms and stones.  Fabulous!  For 10% off, use the promo code: IC2010.

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High Raw Detox Day 1

Recently I had the pleasure of reading two of Natalia Rose's books, Raw Life Force Energy and Detox 4 Women.  I was so inspired that I wanted to embark on her cleanse, however I felt I needed support.  After going to Natalia's website, I found the contact information of her protoge, Ana Ladd-Griffin and got in touch with her. She is warm and encouraging, knowledgeable and very down to earth.  I will be working with Ana through the next few weeks as she coaches me along this cleanse.  Ana helped me get started and has made me feel as though I have support and someone rooting for me, it's a huge comfort.  If you would like to reach Ana, you may do so at analaddg@hotmail.com.

For the course of the next few weeks, I will share with you my journey by posting my food intake and relevant information.  I'm filled with excitement and also a little trepidation.  I'm exuberant over the prospect of feeling better and having more energy.  I'm a little bit scared (I don't know why exactly), but I am going to do this.  If anyone else is doing this, I would Love to hear from you!  If anyone wants to join me, welcome!  Here we go, day one.

                                          Morning wake up:

Lemon and warm water with a little stevia.

Mid morning:
Green juice consisting of broccoli stalks, lemon, spinach, celery and carrots and a tiny dash of stevia.  Normally I put apples or pears in my juice, but no fruit for now.  The stevia added that slight sweetness I wanted.   I almost forgot to take a picture!

Lunch:  Big Salad with carrots, cucumber and a smashed avocado with lemon, salt and stevia, sweet potato with just a smidgeon of coconut butter, salt and pepper.


I was so full after this I thought I couldn't possibly be hungry again later, but around four I felt like my blood sugar was dropping.  You know that irritable slightly shaky state?  (blood tests have shown there is nothing wrong with my sugar levels but...).  So I had four squares of dark chocolate while another sweet potato was baking.  

Dinner:  A repeat of lunch.

(image credit cocoon: papasan)

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Valentine's Day Meal Idea: Raw Ruby Ravioli

Need an idea for your Valentine's Dinner?  The Beet Ravioli from one of my favorite raw food books, Living Raw Food by Sarma Melngailis would be an awesome choice.   I have made this before and it was delicious!  It looks difficult and makes a beautiful presentation, but it was really super easy. There's plenty of time for getting supplies (nothing too fancy or hard to find) and even doing a trial run.  Highly recommended.

Image Credit:  Living Raw Foods

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GreenSewn Upcycled Sari Scarves

Check out this creative way to add some color to your day.  These beautiful wraps from GreenSewn are hand made using upcycled vintage silk saris.  Sections of old saris are pieced together by hand and given new life. You can view a slide show of the process on the GreenSewn website.   They come in many lovely saturated colors like greens, purples, reds and oranges.  I find these blue hues so soothing and tranquil.

I love the variety of color, the blending of different designs, and that they are using recycled materials.  They have two sizes. The thinner version scarves I think would be wonderful worn as a hair tie--turban style, a scarf, or a belt.  The larger ones can be worn as shawls or scarves.  They're vibrant, versatile eco friendly fashion and  I think they would make a wonderful and unexpected Valentine's Day gift.  A portion of the proceeds go toward planting trees in places where deforestation is a threat.  Find them HERE. 

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Should you give your Valentine perfume?

When I think perfume, I think instant headache.  I'm okay with essential oils, in fact I love essential oils, the fragrance that comes directly from the plant.  But most perfumes are synthetic and contain carcinogenic substances.  More and more, people are realizing that chemicals don't actually smell that great, and that they are dangerous.  When something can cause cancer, it doesn't matter how pretty the bottle is or which celebrity endorses it.  Toxic does not equal sexy.  For more on this, the EWG is a great source, check their website and this video, detailing the dangers of fragrance.

(Image Credit: Katch)

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