Cleansing...again

So I decided to do this cleanse for the solstice. Not sure how long I'll do it and I'm not going to stress it. I just have to get over the hump of today I think. So far I've had my water, a mason jar of ginger tea, and I'll be drinking some coconut water in a minute. The reason that I haven't had much so far is, because my money was/is super tight and I couldn't get a case of coconut water in time for today so I'm doing what I can. I have oranges in the house so I'll juice them after the coconut water if my husband isn't back with the coconut water. I am even thinking of doing a couple of day with the MC lemonade (sans the smooth move and salt water). I need to get my body back on track, because I look and feel like shit.

As for Christmas, I am thinking or ordering dinner from Zizi's so that I don't fall all the way off the wagon...again. I'm thinking about it.

That's all for now. ;)

Hard Head Soft Behind...Bad Food Combining = Indigestion

So, I am a mentor for a girls group at the church we used to attend. Tonight we had a cooking class to show the girls how to make basic dishes, teach sanitation, and oven safety. The food was SO GOOD!!! I also tend to eat more when I'm around other people. I didn't over eat this time, BUT I did do some HORRIBLE food combining. I did not stick to my vegan ways and I am paying for it. I felt nauseous, bloated, was burping, and my bowels were threatening me all the way home.

I am miserable and shame. I am telling you all this so that when the path gets rough you will know that it's not just you. For some reason I am one of those people that doesn't half way do anything. If I am going to be undisciplined I'm going all in. I have gotten lazy because my workout buddy hasn't been around, then I hurt my back gardening, then...hell I just got lazy. My plan is to get back on track Sunday or Monday doing SOMETHING. I have got to put an hour in doing some kind of something. Doesn't matter what it is as long as I de-ass my couch for at least an hour.

Just try to be mindful of what you do while you are doing it. You are going to get paid back whether your decisions are good or bad. I can't even lay down right now, because even after 3 Tsp of vinegar I still have indigestion really bad. It's better than it was, but it's still REALLY bad. I'm going to do better. MY body needs to be vegan and it's won't act right until I comply...

Lunch: Homemade Pizza

Sunshine had a bright idea for lunch. My job was to make it was it healthy. I made their's vegetarian and mine vegan. All of them looked really good. Mine was delicious. I used that oval shaped flat bread that we already had in the fridge. I guess you've noticed by now that I'm no longer on the cleanse. My husband is hanging in there though, but he always does well when it's something that was his idea in the first place.

This lovely creation belongs to my sun. He asked for broccoli, spinach, and jalapeno. 

These are mine. I knew I wasn't going to make another one later so I made both and will just warm the other one later. It has broccoli, spinach, red onion, red, yellow, and green bell pepper, olives, mushrooms, hot peppers, and vegan cheese. 

Sunshine had red, yellow, and green peppers, and spinach. She loved it!

Overeating + unhealthy eating = pure misery

Y'all, I ate at Mama's today. I ate vegetarian, not vegan. I am literally miserable right now. I drank 3 Tbsp of vinegar to help break this food down and I will be taking a laxative shortly because this is ridiculous. I feel like crap. One day I'm gone learn to just eat raw vegan as often as possible and refuse to put myself in this situation. I have been feeling wonderful all week from drinking smoothies and water, and now I feel like crap.

Just wanted to purge myself of my sin of consumption to hopefully help you all along your way.

Jackfruit and Sweet Lemon

Today we went to a local grocery store that is more like an international food store called Compare Foods. As fast as they are spreading, you probably have one in your area. Anywhoo, the kids and I have been doing mono-dieting when money is short or when we feel like it. They funny thing is that they request it. Mari's fruit of choice is cantaloupe while David's is mango. Today we went to Compare Foods because I knew they would have a wider variety. They did NOT disappoint. The first thing we tried was something called Sweet Lemon.

Sweet Lemon looks like a yellow orange with a little green tinge. When you cut it open it is an extremely pale yellow, almost white. The peel is very thin and easy to pull off and the flesh pulls away from the filmy thin skin on the inside much like a grapefruit does. It taste clean, almost watery with a very slight sweet taste. I can imagine that this would be DELISH on a hot summer day and it also would travel and keep well since it is in the citrus family.

I think the first time I heard about Jackfruit was from an vegan-master blogging-guru-down-to-earth-sistah by the name of Evelyn. Today we tried it for ourselves. First of all this thing is the size and weight of a watermelon, but it has this very prickly skin. To get to the flesh, I took a large knife and cut it like I would a watermelon. You will meet with some resistance in the middle as it does have a type of firm/soft core. Once you cut it into pieces that you can work with you will find something that looks like pods throughout the fruit. This is what you want to eat. They are hollow because the seed is in it. The seeds are surrounded by a stringy flesh. They part you eat has a light sweet taste. It's not a juicy fruit. It has a fleshy rubbery feel to it, but it isn't unpleasant at all. It does take a little work to eat, so it's not something to eat when you are in a rush. It seems like something that would be good to take on a picnic. I really enjoyed it and will be going for another slice when I'm done blogging.

Whole Jackfruit

Sliced in half.

Flesh & fruit pods

This is the part you eat, but be careful of the seed. If you squeeze it, you can feel where it is inside. 

Inside of the fruit pod. 

I'm glad that we enjoyed the fruit that we tried today, but the truth of it is that you should always be willing to give new fruits and veggies a try. Sometimes you will love what you try and sometimes you will hate it. Sometimes you will find that you have to try it again at a later date to give it another shot. Either way variety is indeed the spice of life, so spice up your life and your plate with new foods. Try something new at least once a month and be sure to involve the children. If you have picky eaters make it an event and involve them in the process. Let them pic the new fruit/veggie and help prepare it. Eat and enjoy!!!

Vegetarian Relapse, Food Combining, Big Starchy Mistake, and Mono Dieting

I always seek to be as transparent as possible...even when it is somewhat humiliating. There are lessons in all things.

First of all I at a sandwich from a place called Jimmy Johns that was SO good!!! OMG! It had mayo, Dijon mustard, tomato, onions, sprouts, and cheese all on French bread with a HUGE dill pickle on the side with a large lemonade. *lick lips* I am proud about one thing. I chose the smaller sandwich rather than the one with all the extras. As I reclined in my chair to enjoy the lingering flavor in my mouth a familiar feeling began to resurface. *BUUUUUURRRRRRPPP* Here we go with the burping...again. Bless my husbands heart, he is so understanding because there is NOTHING sexy about the man sized burps. I am finding that I don't do well when I have too many different kinds of foods in one sitting. Hence my entertaining the whole mono-diet idea.

On to a short lil diddy about food combining. See the chart I posted here. I think that I am either becoming more sensitive OR I am becoming more aware of when I have made bad decisions with food combining. I still think that I was just less aware of all the burping, farting, and bloating before because people make it seem like that is a normal part of eating/overeating. I think in near future, as a become more disciplined, I will eat sandwiches with a lot less stuff on them.

About that starch. Today, I found myself again trying to figure out what to eat with less then $20. Well we had some pretty strange combinations in the freezer, but they were mostly starchy. I didn't have a lot of money so I decided to just eat what was in the freezer. Well, after eating it I found my blood sugar ALL out of whack. I haven't felt like this in a VERY long time and I do NOT like it at all. This will not happen again. I should have gone and bought $20 worth of fruits and veggies. Live and learn, and when you learn teach.

I am looking into something called Mono Dieting. It's just like sounds, you eating only one thing. Now, I read one site where the lady ate the same thing for an extended amount of time...like months. I was thinking more like eating one thing all day today and then something else all day tomorrow. I think this will be a really good break for my body. Of course I will post about it when I try it. I also plan to do it according to what's on sale. lol I might even start or finish with a coconut water cleanse.

Edit: I found this site and she did a wonderful job explaining and exploring mono meals.

Super-fast Update!

Current Weight: 157.6

This is my green smoothie. I think it had bananas, apples, spinach, and blueberries. I do remember that it was delish!!!

I bought some crystallized aloe under the suggestion of one of my clients. The website is http://www.aloeferoxonline.com/  . You can go check out everything they do on your own. You should and probably do already know that it has something to do with bowel health.   

Just wanted to give you a close up so that you know what to look for. 

This is WONDERFUL!!!. You know I'm a dump cook, but I'll just give you the ingredients. Potatoes, onions that I shredded like noodles with my spiralizer, garlic, curry, kale, vegan bouillon cube, and salt to taste. After everything is cooked and tender take about a 3rd of it out (you decide) and blend it until smooth. Once blend it add it back to the soup pot for a creamy delicious meal that will be both satisfying and healthy.

Now for the highlight of the day. I didn't get to take a picture because my daughter and I were to busy trying to sneak and eat it. My daughter loves kale in any form, but especially kale salad. Well, when we got our delivery today the avocado wasn't ripe. IMPROVISE!!! I cleaned the kale and chopped it rather finely. Put it in a bowl. I added onion and garlic powder, lime juice, horseradish mustard, soy sauce, and nutritional yeast. OMG!!! HONEY!!! That kale had us in the kitchen whispering, chewing, and dancing!!! I thought it could use a little ginger, but baby girl said no to that. Anyway, I really hope this helps you with some meal ideas. 

I'm exhausted btw. I stayed up late fooling with my husband. I only walked a mile on the treadmill this morning. I'm scared I'm going to get bored with it, so I'm going to try and get the weighted hoola hoop sooner rather than later.

Peace, love, and regular bowel movements!!!

All over the place...

I'm all over the place. I still don't know exactly what to do concerning this cleanse. I have been doing the enemas I haven't eaten any meat products to include dairy. I am finding it extremely hard to eat raw with the cold weather. I just can't do it.

The reality for me is that I despise cold weather and eating less-than-hot food is not working for me. Now I'm starting to think soups and smoothies and making sure that I incorporate a salad with each meal. Btw, I also have, and have always had, sensitive teeth. That means when cold hits these lovely chompers it just doesn't go well.

I have come to realize that I have had to start back at square one. I had a headache last night through to this morning and I really shouldn't be having them from just eating raw. Why am I having them? Because I started eating meat again over the holidays. Now, I realize that while it was delicious and fun, my body is mad as hell at me. I am going to give myself 7 days to get used to vegan again, and then hopefully I will be ready for adding more raw. Hopefully by the end of it I will be doing raw soups or something. Who knows? I really am simply playing this one by ear. I guess one of the major lessons of this cleanse is that I am learning to listen to my body...

2nd Enema & Today's Weight

Weight: 162.2lbs

First of all I am so very excited about the continued weight loss. Especially after during a homeschool activity the children took a pic and put my second chin all on front street!

At least I have pretty teeth...maybe it will distract people from my supplementary chin

On to the good stuff. So, last night I didn't get to do an enema because I had a client kind of late in the evening and by the time I was finished I didn't feel like doing it. I drank prune juice this morning and didn't get ANY results. I also drank fresh cranberry juice, water, lemon water, and an apple/kiwi smoothie...nothing. Idk what was going on. I did the enema during a time when the chirren are doing independent work. This time I added the juice of two lemons and decided that I was going to hold the water until I couldn't hold it anymore. I also decided to take my Dick Gregory book with me to help me relax. It's called "Dick Gregory's Natural Diet for Folks Who Eat: Cookin' with Mother Nature". Good stuff. I have to admit that having something else to focus on really helped. It still took my 3 separate times to empty the whole bag, but I feel that it was more productive than it was yesterday.

I realize that some may still have an aversion to enemas and to be honest my body still involuntarily clenches at insertion, but like I explained to my children it's worth it for your health. It's funny that we will eat until we have stomach aches, eat mucus causing foods during sickness, eat food that will cause us indigestion, etc., but will not do something like this that could improve all of that. Now, I'm not saying that you should just eat whatever you want and then do an enema. I just mean to say with all of the other discomforts that we cause ourselves that don't benefit us, let's try incorporating one that does have endless benefits.

6 days 'til 366

Hi family!!! I am so excited about starting my 366 days to health. Now, I will warn you in advance, if you aren't already aware, I am not the most consistent person so this is going to be a BIG lesson in discipline. I am going to make my best effort to apply and try everything I know about health to my own life.

Like many of you I have completely over done it and thrown caution to the wind this holiday season. I have even been eating meat *gasp* and yes I enjoyed it. The results of my negative dietary turn have been as follows:

• Weight gain
• Sluggishness
• Mucus build-up
• Coated tongue
• Stinky poop
• Constipation
• Skin Eruptions
• Headaches
• Painful Periods
• Longer Periods
• Indigestion
• Gas
• Bloating

Although I don't push other people to be vegan I know that my body functions MUCH better when I am a well balanced vegan. The reason I was able to notice all of the symptoms listed above is because they went away on a vegan diet.

My change will start with a cleanse. I'm thinking MC because it is the best for getting fast results. Then I want to move on to a combination of smoothies, juices, teas, and of course water. BTW, my husband bought me a Vitamix blender which I am SO excited about. It comes with a ton of recipes that are SUPER simple. I am SO excited about feeling better. I am also going to add exercise back into my day EVERY day in some way...well that's my goal. I want a rebounder too. They look SO fun.

I will be uploading some vids, pictures, measurements, and updates on how my health is improving.

Fell off...again

Here's the story/excuse. Our children have been involved in this wonderful 10 week program and between the 2 of them they have been taking 3 classes. One of the classes was an acting class. My son LOVES to be seen, thrives off of attention, and has no concept of what it means to be embarrassed. My daughter likes to be seen on her own terms, likes getting attention in familiar settings, and is easily embarrassed. Somehow in this play my son ends up with a non-speaking part and my daughter with a speaking role. He was a munchkin from Munchkin Land and she played the OZ!!! What is the world?! When I found out I went with it. They've seen The Wiz, but never the Wizard of Oz, but they are similar enough that my daughter knew that she had a pretty major role. Last night as we sat in the pews and watched the displays from the other classes my heart began to ache for my daughter. I watched my dichotomous children as one smiled endlessly while the other fought back tears. I wanted to save her. I wanted to sit on the front row and rock her, but I knew that my hug would release a river of tears. Tonight would have to be the night that she learned what kind of women she is birthed from. I, for once, wouldn't be her savior. Well the first time she had to go on stage was for her photography class. To my surprise they had to stand up and read from a card about the various type of photography they'd learned about. Her voice and articulation were AMAZING!!! As of late we have had to ask her to stop mumbling so I was in a state of pure bliss. Not to mention, this child is gorgeous. Beauty AND brains? Um...yea...that's how we grow 'em in our family. Thank ya kindly. Anyway, when she sat down she went back into panic mode and I went back into savior mode. We both fought our respective battles in silence. The play began and when her part came I kept sending her "you-can-do-this-because-you-come-from-strong-women-and-3-of-us-are-here-to-support-you" vibes. Her part began behind a curtain because as you recall The Oz is hidden at first. When her voice boomed through the sanctuary I started to tear up and swell with pride. HONEY!!! That's MY BABY!!! Then in the play when they discovered that The Oz was just a person, I braced myself because now she was in front of the audience. HONEY? She played that part like only a sista could. I thought I was watching The Wiz with a strong female leading role!!! Tears flowing, I look at my husband who is fighting tears too. Y'all don't understand. This child didn't break out of her shell. She melted that that bad boy and was bathed in feminine flyness when she emerged. I was just so amazed my her.

At this point I know you are wondering what all this has to do with me falling off right? Well, as I've told you we eat for every occasion. Don't judge me. We went to Razzoo's and they are NOT known for vegetarian ANYTHING!!! Okay plus, I was ill prepared and was eating out of raw emotion. Shoot, I was crying while I was typing this post. I have got to learn how to separate food and emotion.

Getting started...Again

Don't know if I ever told you, but you should always prep for a cleanse if you don't want to suffer crisis. Now, I'm talking about a "real" cleanse, not just giving up a little something. A cleanse where you are going totally raw, juicing, smoothies, teas, etc. I am doing a 21 day cleanse January 1, but my body was like, "Well, you at least need to get back on track a lil bit first. Don'tcha think?" So I'm doing just that. I'm not making any major promises because we are still in the throws of the Helladay--I mean Holiday season. I don't hate the holidays, I hate how people act during them...and I hate how I eat!

All that to say, I am going to get back on track with my striving for vegan, but settling for vegetarian lifestyle until the cleanse. Wait. Did I forget to tell you that I ate turkey for Native American Holocaust Day--I mean Thanksgiving? Yea, I did. Not only did I eat it, I carved not one, but 2 birds up!!!

This morning I started my day with a double dose of detox tea. About 10am I ate quinoa that I cooked in veggie broth. Toward the end of the quinoa cooking I added some mushrooms that I marinated and dehydrated last night. For my greens I had 2 dishes. I steamed broccoli and carrots that I chopped up last night. I also wilted some kale with sundried tomatoes and green bell pepper. Last but not least, I made a lil dipping sauce for no reason other than I felt like it. It was made of horseradish mustard, Worcestershire sauce, avocado, lemon juice, vinegar (because I didn't have enough lemon juice), cayenne, and a lil salt. DA BOMB!!!!!!!

Please excuse the little smudge on the side of the bowl. I was trying to create a pretty presentation, but I was too hungry.

$5 and no groceries

At first I was embarrassed to post this, but I think that it may serve as an encouragement to others at some point. We are not, in my humble opinion, truly suffering from the recession but we are feeling it.

Here's the story. I was ordering my veggies weekly from the organic delivery service. Well, that ran me about $50 a week. Sounds like a lot, but we were mainly only eating what came in the box which meant that my grocery bill was vegan, organic, and regulated for the most part. My husband suggested that we change to receiving orders every other week to save money. Even though I didn't like it I did it, recognizing that I can be a little spoiled at times. I am the only one that shops for grocery or cooks, thus, I am the only one that knows what it costs to feed the family. He, however, is the one that pays all the bills. This was a lesson for me in balance and learning to figure things out together. Last week was the off week. If not for Thanksgiving leftovers we wouldn't have had any food. So today I kept looking in my cabinets feeling discouraged and stressed because feeding my family falls to me. As I looked in my cabinet I saw pintos and boxes of cornbread. In the fridge I found 1/2 of a very large purple onion. I decided that I was going to make pintos, purple slaw, and cornbread. I didn't have eggs, cabbage, or mayo. Remember I had $5.

I went to the store and bought a small head of cabbage for $1.29 and then there was a problem. The smallest jar of mayo was $3. As I stood there trying to figure out what to do, I saw that there was a large jar of mayo that was 2 for $6 WITH A $.35 coupon!!! I took my two items to the front and with the coupon my total was $4.94.  As I drove home disappointed about not having eggs for cornbread I remembered something wonderful!!! I have egg replacer!!! Basically it is a vegan way to replace eggs! It's a flour and basically you just use 1.5 Tbsp replacer + 2 Tbsp water to equal 1 egg.

Long story short, too late I know, the meal was delicious AND healthy. Unfortunately my husband, the one that I was most excited to impress, got sick to his stomach and didn't eat any of it. I was so disappointed. I still popped my collar a bit at my ingenuity.

Cancer, cancer, and more cancer...

I don't know if I ever mentioned this before, but my family has a history of cancer. A LOT of cancer and seems to start at every young ages such as 30s and 40s. It consist of just about every kind you can think of. Recently, my aunt went and got genetic counseling done and found that she carried a gene for breast and reproductive cancers. One of her 2 daughters got tested also. One daughter tested positive while the other tested negative. Now, of course, my mother wants my sister and I to go. I haven't talked to my sister, who btw has already had breast cancer. Wait, maybe she doesn't even have to go because she already had it. Anyway, I am a little leery about getting tested. If I don't have the gene it also means that my daughter is free and clear, but if I do have it then the saga continues. I have decided that I'm not going to have cancer because I'm tired of seeing what it does to people. My cousin is dying from it as I type. I'm full of regret, but it doesn't matter now I guess. The best I can do it glean from what she told me and move forward.

I feel more pressure than ever to dive into a vegan life style and eventually move toward raw. The problem is simple. I am petrified of what I see going on around me in my family. What do strong emotions do? They make me what to eat!!! Eat what? Starch.

I just needed to vent. I don't need any answers, not that anybody reads this. lol I have to find a way to preventatively heal myself and my family.

Look What I Made!!!

As you know I am making an effort to do the Lifeit Raw Food Detox. Today I made what I consider to be my first complete meal. When I tell you it was delicious, I mean every word. You must try these recipes!!!

Creamy Kale Pre-massage. I could have eaten it right then and it took all I had not to eat it. SN, don't add any extra salt. 1 tsp is plenty as it turns out. You are going to love this dish!!!

This is the Creamy Kale after being "massaged". David begged to have more after a little taste. Mari really loved it too. I want to see if my carnivorous niece likes it. Then I will know it's the bomb!!!



I can't even express how good this tastes. You just have to take 15 minutes out of your day and make it yourself!!!

Here it is all plated up. I knocked the chill of the marinara as suggested at the end of the video above. It tasted so flavorful and fresh. It feels good to know exactly what is in your food.

I know. I know. You hate okra. Well, I hated okra until I grew and made my own last summer, and now I'm sold. Anyway, this dish actually had me addicted...literally. It is totally raw and totally packed with flavor. This is from the Lifeit detox.

I was so excited to find organic stuff for cheap at my local Food Lion grocery store. I use the ground flax seed along with ground chia seeds in my banana smoothies. It makes them really thick and tasty. I made on for dessert today and used coconut water in place of my usual almond milk.

Yea, I know it's not organic, but it IS cold pressed and it IS available at my local Food Lion. Oh, AND, it was ON SALE!!!

The evening of the 1st day of MC 2011

Okay, so as you can tell from the vids I've been posting, I want to eat already. lol I've had a headache already, and in the spirit of transparency, yes I took something for it. Hell, I couldn't see. It was better for me take something than land in the emergency...again. I need to do this though. I really do. I can't wait to get started on the Lifeit Detox.

I am really excited about getting this vegan thing right finally. The main thing I need to focus on is planning and preparation. I totally messed up Sunday at Mama's house. I ate 2 plates of mac and cheese, broccoli casserole, white beans, string beans, sliced tomatoes, and bread. Oh, and I also ate some strawberry delight. Oh, and I also drank some Appletini before the prune juice before going to bed. lol

Now that we've had true confessions, let's move forward. So, I'm going to drink my prune juice before I go to bed again. I'll try to do it literally before I lady down in hopes that I don't have any interruptions in my sleep.

Master Cleanse and a lil bit more...

So, I think I'm going to MC tomorrow. There will be some changes this time. I am going to start with prune juice tonight and in the morning. The reason? Because I don't have time to get the tea and prune juice works better imho. I have a client in the morning and will be starting the prune juice early enough to "get it all out" before starting her hair. I will do the "lemon" as directed. I will be doing it for a minimum of 10 days as usual.

After completing my 10 days on MC, I will go raw for a minimum of 7 days with the Lifeit Detox. To be honest idk what I will do after that. My goal is to go vegan. This time of the year makes it a lot easier. I do, however, have to plan ahead for winter because that is when I have strong cravings for dairy and starch as my comfort food.

Another goal of mine is to back off the starches. The only way to rid myself of this belly is to lessen my intake of starch. I have noticed when I take this step, I don't really lose weight, but my stomach is flatter. Trying to keep from looking and feeling like this again.

 I wanna get back to looking and feeling like this...

These pics came from this post.

Breakin' breakfast rules...

This morning I was supposed to do my 3 mile walk, but hubby wanted to sleep a lil late. I was hungry and decided to drink some water, because I didn't want to walk with food on my stomach...something I read. I drank my chlorophyll water. Of course that's when hubby decided to rise. He told me that I should be okay for a 45 minute walk. I doubted it, but tried anyway. At the .5 mile marker, I already had to pee. I called and told him I was on my way back.

That being said, I don't know I why I said all that, but I've decided not to eat cereal, oatmeal, or fruit. I know I should eat something like that, but I'm not. I'm eating quinoa with California veggie mix. I burned on pot of quinoa trying to type out this post, but I put another one on. lol Do you think that was an omen from the vegan breakfast gods?

Black Bean Burgers take two.

Okay, so I tried the black bean burgers again. This time I used the second recipe found here. They turned out really tasty. I did add mushrooms because I have a mushroom addiction. They fam said they enjoyed them, so I'm happy. The toppings I offered were tomatoes, broccoli sprouts, tomatoes, pickles, and spinach that never actually made it to the table. I will try to remember to take pics when we eat the rest tomorrow. Anyway, if you want a good dependable recipe for burgers, that is a good quick one.

Sista doin' vegan and doin' it well!