2 STEPS TO A HEALTHIER YOU

Why is it so hard for us to adopt a healthy way of living? why is it hard for someone to buy a book on healthy living but very easy for that same person to spend a whole lot of money on a plate of unhealthy food at a restaurant? or at a clothing store? Bad habits are hard to break. There is no other way for one to start eating healthy than to make a decision to start doing so. We usually wait till it's very late; a death in the family, a scary diagnosis etc. You can start eating healthier today, all that is stopping you is an EXCUSE. We spend so much money to dress the outside of our bodies yet very little attention on 'dressing' the inside. 

I love seeing all the celebrities who are RAW fooders or Vegan or both. My favorite of late is Demi Moore, okay she may be married to someone way younger than she is but one can hardly tell the difference. She is almost 50, yet she can compete with any 20 year old! She actually has grown younger over the years and I know why? you guessed right, it is all about what she eats. 

Growing younger gracefully

Another favorite of mine is Prince: Does he look like a man a day over 50? I love Prince, and totally in love with his music. He is a genius and yes, it's about all he eats. He grows younger everyday and even has a song about being vegan, quite interesting I must say :)

Beautiful Prince

The list continues with Sting, Woody Harrelson, Alicia Silverstone, Natalie Portman, Uma Thurman, Lisa Bonet, David bowie, Tobey Maguire aka Spiderman, Casey Affleck, Liv Tyler, Jason Mraz, Lea Michelle of Glee(the TV series), Erykah Badu, Zooey Deschanel, Emily Deschanel of Bones (the TV series), Ellen DeGeneres, Portia de Rossi, Andre 300 (of the group Outcast), Richard Gere (no wonder he is looking so young and handsome still), Kim Basinger (is it any wonder?), and the list goes on and on.


Okay, so you don't want to or have to be 100% RAW or Vegan, but how about adding more fruits and veggies into your diet everyday? That's a start, right? Yesterday I got so many beautiful compliments on a photo of me I put up on my facebook page:

Here's what someone sent me in a private message: "You look absolutely ADORABLE in your profile pic! My, my, my. You look like you are your own child! haha. You look no older than 13 in this picture. I'm not kidding or flattering! I'm being really honest."


of course I was totally flattered! Made me realize that what I am doing is good. I remember looking way older than my 31 years when I used to  eat an unhealthy diet. Thanks 'Anonymous' for that lovely compliment. Here are my two ways to starting a healthy lifestyle:


CLEANSING: I could write a book about this topic, oh wait! I already did! The FYR Lifestyle e-book is available for you to buy at the top right hand side of this site. Anyone who has ever done any kind of cleanse will tell you how much more wonderful they felt and looked after the cleanse. Our bodies are like a drainage pipe, they get backed up and we must constantly clean it up so it can function properly. Buy your copy of the FYR lifestyle ebook and the 90-day companion ebook and download in minutes. 


DISTILLED WATER: We bathe ourselves everyday so we don't smell, what about bathing your inner self, your body and your cells? We are made up of over 70% of water and our cells need to be clean in order to be healthy, so drink up!


Love yourself a little differently this year, don't wait till it's too late!


Remember to eat and drink to your health, you'll thank me later!


B

FYR™ Rising Stars--Winners don't make excuses, they execute!

I love to celebrate people and the people I will mention here today ought to be celebrated. When I started FYR™ a few years back, I was doing it to keep myself accountable and also to reach out to anyone who wanted to take part in my journey. I had hoped that word about the lifestyle would spread like FIRE(FYR) but never really thought of what that day would look like. Now I get emails from every corner of  the world, from people who want to love themselves a little differently. Nothing brings me more joy than to hear about their successes. Here is one success story from early this year:

Ms. Anu Goretti after her 21-day FYR detox

Ms. Anu Goretti is an FYR™ success story and you can read her personal testimony, and a host of many others, in the FYR™ lifestyle ebook available for sale now. You can also follow her on her blog at: www.prgoretti.wordpress.com

Our first rising star is Ms. Jennifer Omolu, who made her very first smoothie yesterday and has begun her FYR™ journey to loving herself a little differently. You see, I am very proud of her because the first time for anything worthwhile is always special and should be celebrated. She made a decision and executed it. Go Jenny!

Jennifer omolu

Jennifer drinking her first smoothie, YUM!

Another person we are celebrating today is Ms. Petronille Mahop. She not only has begun to love herself a little differently by adopting the FYR™ lifestyle but has started her own blog: www.beinggoodtome.blogspot.com to talk about her journey.

A photo of Ms. Petronille and her beautiful daughter, Manuella. 

Our final celebrity for today is my very own bundle of joy, 5 month old baby Ricky who had his first green food (sweet peas), and loved it!

Doesn't that look yummy?

...the debut of baby Ricky as one of the very first FYR Kids™

Please feel free to share your recipes, photos and success stories so that we can feature it on the site. Remember no success is too small!

Drink and eat to your health, you'll thank me later!

B

Food Inc.

Good morning FYR folks, lol. I hope you had a great and perfect day yesterday like me but if you didn't why not try to make this day the one? I woke up this morning very refreshed and well rested and decided to start my day with my FANTASTIC, GREEN, SLUSHY-NUTRITIOUS ELIXIR. This consists of

1 tbsp organic barley max
2 ripe bananas
2 ripe, golden pears
2 tsp coconut oil
12 oz water

I later juiced some fennel/apple/celery and ginger....mm, mm great! Not everyone at home (except for Rick, likes it so it's more for me.)

If there is one movie anyone should watch going into the new year, let it be 'FOOD INC.' I can't imagine anyone still eating animal flesh, or at the very least reducing their intake of animal protein, after this very important movie but to each his/her own, right? At least do yourself a favor and know how your meat is fed, raised/handled and packaged. Some people choose to live in ignorance but I choose to know and then make a choice after the facts. If you have netflix service you can rent it or watch it on your computer or TV.

I wish more people were as passionate about this planet and what they eat as they are with every other thing aspect of their lives. More passionate people means better communities, changes in laws, less sick people and a better environment for our children and those who will come after us someday. More passionate people means more organic foods and less processed foods, it mean lower rates of cancers and every other disease that plagues our society. More passionate people means more voices that are heard, more determined and decisive people who can make a change and start a revolution. More passionate people means less ignorance about what we choose to feed ourselves and our families, more passionate people means more happy people, more happy and healthy children, more happy and healthy children who can pass it on.....does anyone care to join? does anyone hear the cries? does anyone care to make a difference starting with themselves and their households and then to the communities and eventually to the world/planet.

Those who fought and dedicated their lives to preventive medicine have been ridiculed, bashed and forgotten. The selfless ones are the ones who are called tyrants and pushed away. So today I dedicate this blog to a few of my heroes and heroines:

Dr. Max Gerson (for his relentless efforts and commitments towards eradicating cancer--which he countless cases. You can purchase The Gerson Therapy at any local book store and online)
Dr. John R. Christoper: Herbal Legacy
Dr. Ann Wigmore: For her amazing discovery of the benefits of juicing wheat grass and more.
T. Colin Campbell (For his amazing contribution to nutrition and health. Read The China Study)
Victorai Boutenko: Green For Life

My gosh this list will never end if I continue but these are my heroes because they dedicated their lives to serving others in the most basic ways we often forget; food. We can become, pilots, doctors, teacher, farmers but we must all eat to live. We must all eat the right foods to have a full life that not only enriches us but everyone in our community. I thank God everyday that I was open enough to learn these truths and willing enough to incorporate it in my life and my loved ones and also to have this forum where those who seek can be inspired to open their ears, hearts and minds to dare something new. I applaud all of you who seek, the truth is right in front of you, reach out and grab it for yourself. It is your birthright!

"When the Student Is Ready, the Teacher Will Come." Are you ready?

~B~

On the 1st day of December...

Yesterday, we went out grocery shopping, healthy grocery shopping. We went to the farmer's market and got all out organic fresh fruits and vegetables. My mother is very excited and understand a lot of what it entails to be healthy. She already used to juice carrots back home and says she could live on it all day. She loves fruits and veggies and foods back home are not packed with hormones and antibiotics like they are here in the US. Back home, food is prepared from scratch with fresh veggies and spices so seeing all the pre-packaged food in the stores is as weired as seeing someone drinking milk directly from a cow's utter, lol.

Today morning started off great. We took record of her height, weight, arms, bust and everything we are going to be monitoring. It feels great taking care of my mother, it is exhilarating! I can't wait. She had a smoothie this morning for breakfast and lots of fruits. Later this evening we are going to be juicing some carrots, fennel and ginger. She loved my Beet-the-carrot-ap juice. We are going to be taking long strolls and walks as part of her exercise routine and it also gives us time to catch up and share stories. Nina is on board with this project and very excited about it as well. I took my mother's weight and told her by American standards she is close to skinny because the average overweight person here starts at 190-200 pounds and my mom is way under that size. The plan is to detoxify through the FYR plan and in doing so become healthier and go down to her healthy weight.

I made these hazelnut cookies and they turned out to be really good. I thought they'd last me a few days but they were gone by the next day.

Hazelnut Cookies:

1/2 cup coconut butter/oil

2 tbsp raw cacao powder

1 tbsp carob powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 Tbsp unsweetened dried coconut shreds

2 Tbsp agave nectar

3 Tbsp hazelnut

Blend to crunchy consistency and freeze for about five minutes....YUMMY!

~B~

Mama's Here!

I have not seen my mother in six years, so you bet it was an unforgettable reunion. I will never forget the moment at the airport when she wrapped her hands around me and held me for about 10 minutes while just praying, singing and praising God for that moment in time. I love this woman, she is unstoppable and has a strength like no other. I was looking at her face the other day, you know wondering where she hid all her wrinkles. 50 years old and looking like my older sister.

Before she came we had decided that whatever medications she was taking for her Asthma would have to be discarded by the time she returns in 4 months. I had to make my younger sister promise that she will go with my plan for my mother when she's living with her for a while. The plan is no dairy and absolutely no flesh food. My mom, Diana, says she will do what I plan out for her because she wants to lose some extra weight and lose the medications. I believe that she can overcome anything. I can't wait to record her progress.

The first day we all went out walking and soaked in some vitamin D. I know it's going to be a little hard for her but she knows it's something she has to do. I am very happy she is so open minded, it will make my job very easy. So, yesterday she tried her first green smoothie. I made it extra sweet:

Mom's Welcome into the green smoothie world:

1/2 head of green lettuce

3 ripe bananas

2 tsp coconut oil

1 cup of water.

She will get the hand of it, lol, I feel a little bad for her, she doesn't know what she's gotten herself into *evil laughter* She'll be fine. So we are taking before pictures, weight and all the whole nine yards. I am super excited to watch her get healthier....

Nina and Grandma Ara.....


To Make You beautiful Again...

(a poem I wrote a while ago before my mom came)

I can't remember how you smell
and it scares me
I can't remember how it feels to be in your arms
and it taunts me
When I hear your voice all weak and lost
my fragile heart bleeds just a little bit more
Time, time, time, time can be a cruel master
he has stretched you
and robbed you
hurt you and ridiculed you
oh, the things you've been through mama
the things you've seen
the ordeals you've endured
you've always been that pillar of strength for everyone
now it's time to take care of you
let me take care of you
brush your hair and make you soup
Embrace me, embrace me Mama
stain me with the scent of you
hug me till I'm out of breath
let me love you and make you beautiful again--
place a dozen lilies on the crown of your head
let me love you, your heart and even your bones too.

Copyright © 2009 Bernice Angoh

* I am so happy I have the chance to do all these things now and more..."

Natural Blood Transfusion

According to Dr. Ann Wigmore the consumption of chlorophyll (the green in plants) is like having a natural blood transfusion. Did you know that only one atom differentiates a molecule of Chlorophyll from a molecule of human blood? Makes you think huh?

Nina making some carrot juice.

Did you know that greens contain more vitamin A than carrots
- more vitamin C than oranges
- more vitamin E than whole wheat
- more vitamin B2 than milk
- more quality proteins (amino acids)

With the help of Victoria Boutenko's Green For Life green smoothies are pretty easy to make
You can drink your greens or eat your greens.

My favorite Mediterranean kale salad
Check the recipe on this site. You can add dried cranberries or even raisins to this. I love this so much that I eat this salad at least twice a week. I haven't met anyone who has tried it and not loved it, even the typical SAD (Standard American Diet) "I am a meat and potato person" will love this.

Give your body the fuel it deserves. Not eating enough greens is like filling the tank of your car with gravel.

Green is such a pretty color isn't it? Your body loves it even more. Three cups of green smoothies gives your body enough nourishment for a day.

Encourage your children to eat more greens. Nina's favorite thing to eat is fruits and vegetables.

~B~

Day 4 (30-Day Green Smoothie Challenge)

FROM MY KITCHEN TO YOURS: Bernice's Orange Gravy

I woke up feeling great this morning. Last night I was a little cranky, I think if I'd gone to bed early I wouldn't have felt that way, either way I had good night's rest. I went out for a 20 minute jog this morning and then was off to the kitchen to make my Spring Baby green smoothie.

Spring Baby Smoothie:

2 golden ripe pears
1 delicious apple
3 handfuls of baby spring mix (red lettuce, arugula and green lettuce)
2 tsp of flax seeds
2 cups of water

This has a delicious gritty feel in your mouth, so you can chew on it some or if you have a super blender, puree it to a smoother consistency. I usually blend, then puree. Yummy!

The picture above is a raw soup I made yesterday, surprisingly tasty. Rick had two bowls of it, he added some Bragg's aminos in his and ate it with almond butter sandwiches. Here is the recipe:

Bernice's Orange Gravy

1 celery stalk
2 medium carrots

5 ripe tomatoes
1 Tbsp lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
1 tsp of sweet basil, thyme and oregano
1 tsp agave nectar
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 cup of water
salt to taste

Blend to desired consistency and enjoy. You can also add some cayenne pepper later on if you choose.

A short note before I say "Arrivederci":
Health is your birthright and there's no one out there who will help you preserve that right but you. Take your health into your hands like you take your bills seriously. If you don't pay your bills you get in trouble; maybe the lights will get turned off, the car repossessed or you get foreclosed. The same is true if you don't feed your body right, sickness and disease will prevail and organs start to shut down because you've not been 'paying' your 'bills' to your body.

Day 3 (30-Day Green smoothie challenge)

PICTURE OF Bernice's Kale-Panana. FROM MY KITCHEN TO YOURS.

Good morning, rise and shine! You can tell I feel great right? Well, I do. When I woke up this morning I didn't feel groggy, it was almost like switching on a light bulb and click my eyes snapped open. After my usual glass of water first thing in the morning, I went walking in the early morning sun. I did circuit training with Jillian Michael's for 20 minutes and then I invented one of the best tasting smoothies ever.

Before I give you that recipe I want to tell you about a few changes I've noticed since day one. Day one and two I woke up with a little stuffiness and on day two especially I noticed a lot of mucus being expelled(from my nose, catarrh). Today I woke up not stuffed at all. You will realize as you go along with this challenge that you will sneeze and have a runny nose at times, sometimes even slight chest pains and headaches. Rest assured that your body is doing what it needs to be doing, these are detox symptoms and they will go away so don't throw in the towel yet. Even hunger pangs or cravings are detox symptoms, you might just want to drink more water or another smoothie.

When you've had a habit of eating all the time, it is hard for your body to not be constantly fed so you have to remember this the next time you feel hungry (especially after you've just had a smoothie). The reason for constantly wanting food is due to the body not having the nutrients its need, so when you keep feeding it those empty calories guess what it will still 'need' more food so that it can get what it needs from somewhere.

When you do green smoothies, your body starts to sing, yes, you feel full and energized. I hate feeling tired in the middle of the day but when you're constantly feeding your body the right nutrients you will notice a surge of energy. Here's my AWESOME recipe:

Bernice's Kale-Panana (nice huh?)

2 bananas
2 golden ripe pears
6 kale leaves
1 Tbsp Flax seeds
2 cups of water

This is so delicious and filling. Kale is one of my favorite veggies to use because it if packed with nutrients. It is high in Vitamins A and C and it's a powerful antioxidant and has high cancer-fighting properties. The benefits of kale are numerous. Just know that a cup of kale a day keeps sickness away.

Day 2 (30-Day green smoothie challenge)

HOW DELICIOUS DOES THIS RAW FOOD LOOK?
(photo from www.rawpower.com)

This is day two and everything has been going great so far. I woke up bright and fresh, went for a 20 minute walk. The sun was warm and inviting. My green smoothie today was so tasty

Spinach Delight (Nina's favorite)

2 bananas
1 cup of red grapes
2 cups of spinach
1.5 cups of water

This is one of the best tasting smoothies, no child can resist this one. That's going to be my smoothie for the day. I've been drinking my water constantly and don't feel hungry. Well, I made a peanut butter sandwich for my hubby this morning and couldn't help enjoying the scent of that peanut butter but I am strong and dedicated to this, I didn't even have a lick!

Been reading a most fascinating book (tops my list of health books to read and believe me when I say I have a library of health related books.) I will leave you with a passage from the author:

"A fundamental error of all schools of so-called medicine has been the assumption that disease is something at war with life and that it must be met, subdued, counteracted, cast out, killed or cured with substances that are antagonistic to the body itself. They have never adequately recognized the antagonism that exists between living organism and the chemical substances with which they seek to cure the disease. This is the reason they continue to fill the bodies of the sick with poisons (foreign or non-usable chemicals) which the body must resist and expel. Not only have such causes of disease been mistaken as remedies for disease, but in some cases they have been mistaken for food."

He goes on to state how all drugs impair the body's function. You might want to pick up a copy for yourself, 'Self Healing Colitis & Crohn's' by David Klein, Ph.D. Here is his site:http://www.colitis-crohns.com/ I don't have colitis or crohn's but this book is for everyone who seeks optimum health, it is simply amazing and I'm not even half way through it. The testimonies and reviews alone sparked my curiosity.

Later on tonight (before 8pm, my kitchen closes at 8pm sharp) I will have some raw veggie medley with my dressing being freshly squeezed oranges and olive oil.

Come back for more tomorrow. We shall discuss blood PH and what you must know about how it affects your body. Ta ta!

Day 1 (30-day green smoothie challenge)

PICTURE OF RAW DESERT FROM COURANT.COM

...Of course today was a breeze, it's only day one! I did do my 20 minutes of brisk walking and basking in the beautiful sunlight. This is my green smoothie for the day. Somdays I make more than one kind of green smoothie, this usually depends on how many servings I get out of a batch. Rick and Nina also do the green smoothies with me everyday (they still eat their regular vegan diet with cooked food included). We all have at least 3 glasses of green smoothie everyday.

Honeydew Melon Dream:

1/2 medium honeydew melon
1 small banana
1/2 cup of red seedless grapes
3 hand fulls of baby spinach or arugula (I used spinach today)
2 cups of water. For more thickness use just one cup of water. You can also add a few pieces of ice or just use slightly cold water. Blend all together and enjoy! I will drink this throughout the day and eat a banana or two for snacks and later a big green salad for dinner.

As I mentioned the last time there are some great benefits to doing a raw detox. Here are a few:

1) Energy: since your body has less to digest and a very small amount of energy is used for digestion of these simple sugars and enzymes, your energy bank is not depleted.

2)Digestion: Since your food already contains living enzymes it takes less time for you food to digest and so it passes through the body quickly and doesn't stay for days in your intestines where they can rot and putrefy.

3)Detox: It is easier for your body to detox on raw uncooked food. The raw food has tons of fiber which acts like a sponge and carries away mucus, toxins and waste materials from your body thereby helping you to lose weight faster.

4)Weight loss: It's very normal to lose weight on a raw food diet because your body is not accumulating junk and empty calories.

5)Nutritional Content: Raw, organic food retains all its nutritional value whereas cooked food loses most of its nutritional value. Enzymes and amino acids are denatured under high temperatures of more than 118 degrees Fahrenheit.

6)Anti-aging foods: If you want to turn back the hands of time and prevent premature aging, raw foods (you can still eat some cooked but let most of your foods be raw food) is rich in anti-oxidants and live enzymes which keep cells looking young and healthy by eliminating damages done free radicals in your body.

30-Days Green Smoothie Challenge

YES, THIS IS A RAW VEGAN PIE PICTURED ABOVE, THIS IS GOING TO BE FUN


I know I said I would start my 30 days of green smoothie challenge on October 1st but I decided why not add a few extra days for and extra umph? right?. I am a little nervous. I have been vegan but never gone completely raw for this long. I figure if I want something to chew on I have my salads and celery sticks. I need a detox and I'm willing to give my body the respect it deserves. I can do this, I just need to decide to and I have :-). Basically all I will be doing is green smoothies, salad, fruits and nuts (walnuts). The whole idea about the raw-vegan is not to eat anything that can't be eaten in its raw state, for example, we can't eat potato raw or plantains or rice. I am looking forward to seeing the changes in my body, mind and spirit. I have decided to go for a twenty minute jog first thing in the morning. The main component of healing the body is sleep, so I will sleep more and let my body heal itself. I remember back home Mom would make us take naps during the day or 'Siestas' as we called them.
I have two raw food cook books and I am looking to delving into them. My three basic rules are:
Lots of sleep,
sleep,
sleep. lol

I understand that the first few days will be cranky, nothing new to me, I've detoxed before. I know about the headaches, gloominess and mood swings. These are all good signs as my body will be depositing toxic wastes into my blood stream for excretion. Bananas will be my best friend because they are very filling and sweet. Okay, enough for now, I think I've pumped myself up enough. Tomorrow is the first day of the challenge, come back for my daily report. See you on Health road where Self-doubt street meets Decision ave.
And oh, I will be listening to alot of the Raw Vegan radio :http://www.rawveganradio.com/wordpress/ and visiting my raw food restaurant for more ideas.

Tomorrow I'll go into some benefits of raw foodism.

The Over-drugged America

When you hear a nurse say "There's no difference between inorganic and organic food, they all do thesame thing in the body." makes me wonder what people are learning nowadays. There is a vast difference between organic and inorganic. Organic means certain standards have been used to produce a certain food. In organic the use of on organic pesticides, insecticides and herbicides are strictly prohibited. Most non-organic foods have been grown with the above plus dyes, homornes and additives have been added to them to make them palatable.

I watched a PBS show some nights ago and it broke my heart to see this mother hearing these words from her child's pediatrician "That's the only way to go, we have to get him on these meds quickly. This is what he needs." and he pushed a tray of five prescription drugs infrot of her. Her son must have been no more than five or six years old. The mother had asked the doctor if there were other therapies her newly diagnosed child could try. The tears in her eyes broke my heart as I am a mother too and we always want the best for our children. I wanted to reach through the TV and say "Let me tell you a therapy you can try. Try a vegan diet on your child for sometime and see the difference it makes it his life." Her son had been diagnosed with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) and I'm thinking, he's just five, he should be hyperactive, he's a child, he's not yet a zombie like the rest of us.


'Tis not enough that kids and adults are on drugs even the animals and the fruits are on drugs too...what an abomination!

We have become a society that is so quick to medicate because we lack patience and are so preoccupied with making money that we would sell the life of a child for extra bonuses from the pharmaceutical industry. Everyday there is a new medication being advertised on Tv, actually, most commercials alternate between the gross food commercials and the extremely-disadvantageous medications. It's almost as if we have been brainwashed to believe any of them is good for us. On one hand they are making you sick with unhealthy food and then when you get sick they give you these "death sentence" or what they call them today, "Pills" to get you even sicker.

I am not saying discard all drugs, but most of them are really unecessary if we only ate right and ate the whole foods our bodies need. My mother, who is 50 years old has NEVER had a cavity! She lives in a world where everything is grown organically. I remember my grandmother making a little garden in the back of our house in Cameroon. She would enrich the soil with manure (peels of bananas, shells of eggs, peels of fruits etc) our trash was our wealth, we reinvested into our garden which later flourished with veggies and fruits that we used to cook.

The trash here is mostly cardboard, plastics and bottles, I don't think those can make for good manure. I want to leave a great world for the next generation so that my children's children can still see trees and animals and enjoy the sun without fear of cancer. It is the voices of reason that keep getting quietted but those who just want to make a profit at the expense of a human life, thrive. Our crime: greed. You can make a difference. Start with you. Love yourself a little differently.

Spinach-Cantaloupe Delight

1/2 a cantaloupe (or 1 small cantaloupe for more sweetness)

2 cups of spinach (3 cups for 1 whole cantaloupe)

3/4 water

7 cubes of ice

Blend and enjoy! You may use other greens too for this recipe (lettuce, endive, parsley etc)

Refreshing Monday

How about you start your week with this refreshing smoothness?

3 Celery stalks

3 Bananas

handfull of grapes

...and while you're at it, have everyone

around you try some, that is, if you really want to share this. Because you just might not, it is that good!

A LITTLE TASTE OF HEAVEN

My husband's creative deliciousness that left me speechless. Steamed veggies on a bed of quinoa and topped with a peanut/coconut milk sauce made with tempeh....

Want More Energy?

Do you feel tired all the time? Feel like taking a nap in the middle of the day? Do you feel tired everyday and can't seem to roll off the bed easily in the morning? There is a reason why we feel tired. Think about this, will a car drive good on an empty tank? well, the answer is no. Just like cars our bodies need fuel. But it has to be the right kind of fuel.

Just as a car will not run on water or veggetable juice, the body cannot run well on gasoline or soil. It has to be the right kind of food. Have you noticed that when you combine a starch and protein you get bloating, indigestion and you always feel lethargic? Food was meant to provide us with energy and not make us feel tired and weary. When you load the body with food that it does not need and cannot use, you are wasting the body's energy source. The energy that was meant for you is now diverted to trying really hard-- and most of the times without success--to break down the 8oz of steak you just ingested.

By the way, did you know that it takes about three days for a meat to be broken down in your system. By that time, you've obviously eaten other things and your dead meat is putrifying in your stomach and bad bacteria is growing around it. I don't mean to gross you out but the truth sometimes is a bitter pill to swallow. For the body to have more energy, we have to feed it with live fooods that require little or no energy for the body to break them down. By incorporating more fruits and vegetables and properly combining our foods, we help the body conserve more energy it may need for things such as repairs and maintenance.

The easiest way to make sure you get the right servings of fruits and veggies everyday is to add green smoothies to your diet. Don't be suprise if you stop craving those sweets and actually start eating less. When your body has the nutrients it needs, you start to crave more of the good stuff and less of the bad. Green smoothies are complete foods, very easy to digest and they leave you feeling very energized. Here is a thought: Make a mental list of all the animals who live on greens alone and then ask yourself this, these animals hardly get sick living in the wild on roots, fruits and veggies why then don't we humans--who are 99.4% genetically identical to them--eat like that?

Here are a few recipes:

1 cup of spinach, 2 pears and 1 cup of water (how easy is that? you can be creative.)

1 cup of spinach, 10 finger bananas, 2 cups of water (Nina's Favorite. Kids love this)

2 mangos, 1 bunch of parsely, 2 cups of water

4 apples, 1/2 lemon, 5 leaves of kale, 2 cups of water

Have fun!!!

Train Your Body to Talk Back to You

Learning how to listen to your body is wonderful. Your body can talk back to you when and if you treat it with respect, it's no different than human relationships. If you treat someone wrong long enough there is enough resentment for that person to start ignoring you. The thing about the body is that it is much more forgiving than humans in their relationships. How do you listen to your body? You first have to mend the broken relationship of years aof abuse and the best way to do that is to do a detox. Go to archives in the month of July and you will find the 21-day FYR program.

FYR 21-Days Detox Program

Foods to Eat During the 21 days of detox:

-All Fruits
-All Vegetables
-All Nuts
-Legumes (beans, lentils, etc)
-Water(Distilled is best)
-Brown rice, whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta, whole wheat flour
-Cold-pressed extra virgin olive oil

*Detox is recommended quarterly*


Foods You Can Eat After 21 Days:

- All Fruits
-All Vegetables
-Legumes (beans, lentils etc)
-All nuts
-Water
-100% juice, no sugar added, no preservatives or additives
-Brown rice, whole wheat bread, whole wheat pasta, whole wheat flour
-All natural spices, herbs and seasonings
-Bragg Liquid Aminos(Good alternative to soy sauce)http://www.bragg.com/
-Tofu
-Fish (Halibut, salmon, tilapia)
*Not to be eaten more than once a week*

-Soy milk, rice milk, almond milk
-Sweeteners: Stevia: http://www.sweetleaf.com/, organic grade B maple syrup, pure wild honey, raw sugar cane
-Teas

-Poultry(If you must); hormone-free, dye-free, antibiotic-free (chicken, turkey)
*Not to be eaten more than once a week*

***Plus you can only eat either fish or poultry in a week and only once per week.

Foods To Avoid: (Slow Poisons)

- Red meat, Pork
-All Diary including eggs, milk, cheese etc (Highly mucus forming)
-White sugar and everything made with or from it
-Bleached grains (white flour, white bread, white rice, white pasta etc)
-Coffee (Very acid forming) substitute with Cafix
-All Fried foods
-High fructose corn syrup (found in almost everything)
-Foods that contain additives and preservatives
-Sodas(All sodas), soft drinks and carbonated drinks
-Artificial sweeteners including splendaâ, sweet ‘N lowâ etc.
-Hydrogenated oils
-All artificial products (Highly processed)
-Alcohol