Ready...Set...Go!

The human body is phenomenal. To think that with all the abuse it gets from us through living an unhealthy lifestyle, it can still be transformed to what we want it to become is simply phenomenal. Our bodies easily adapt to what we put it through--but not without consequences like in the case of not eating the right foods.

Pilates

We have all been to that place of fear, where you think you can never do what I am doing in the picture above. But I tell people they can, you can do it with persistence and consistence in your daily routine. No matter what we do we can find time to squeeze in a little exercise, if it is a priority of course. Ten minutes of exercise is better than a day of no exercise at all. By exercise I mean physical activity; it could be working around the house, walking, squats by the sink when doing the dishes or actually setting time to do it. Eating right without exercising could be as detrimental as eating the wrong food and exercising. Those two components, eating right and exercising are both beneficial to ones health and you can do it!

Nina and Mommy with their bunny aprons

It is always helpful to have a support system at home and at work. Let your family and friends know that you've made a decision to start living and eating consciously and if they are good friends and family, they will support you. My daughter, Nina, keeps me on my toes, when I have my lazy days and don't feel like exercising, she reminds me that I cannot give up on my myself and that I must keep my words. If you are a mom you know that alone is enough motivation to do something-- we want to be a good example. If you have no one at home or at work, keep a log book or a diary.

Our Youngest FYR member: Nina Lakota

I have heard people say "Yuck, green smoothie, never will i put that thing in my body." I know they say this because they don't know any better but my friends, ignorance can kill you. Ignorance can be the difference between living and dying. When I watch them eat hot dogs , I want to say " Yuck, do you have any idea what you 're putting into your body, how that was made, what it is made of and what havoc--overtime--it can cause to your system?" but most people would be offended if I said that. On the other hand, people have no restrain when you tell them how you've chosen to eat live foods as opposed to dead and decayed foods, they have many 'wise' things to say to you and you can imagine that they think you are a freak. I have had that before but all I felt was sympathy for that person...If only they knew better, if they only could accept the truth.

The New Year is almost here and many of us write long lists if resolution that we must keep, but after March most go back to doing what they used to do and it is not because they don't want to achieve everything on that list. There is only one main reason why people fail: Discipline is the main reason. There may be winners who aren't disciplined but there are no disciplined people who are not winners. By winners I mean in different aspects of their lives. You have to learn how to like reading, to be a leader you must be a reader.

Make friends with those whom you want to emulate. Be disciplined and tell you what, it is boring but it is those boring, redundant little things you do everyday that will get you to achieve your goals; little things like waking up and starting your day with a glass of water instead of coffee, eating fruits or green smoothies instead of eggs, bacon and sausages, choosing to go for the stairs instead of the elevator or walking to the corner video store instead of driving there. We must all make choices and those choices will determine your outcome.

I hope this gets you motivated to start this New Year right. I am ready to work with you, I am ready for another FABULOUS FYR year. Don't give up on yourself, your body rarely ever gives up on you except when you treat it wrong. Love yourself a little differently! Be the next FYR success story

Good things come to those who work hard, there are no free rides in life!

~B~

Food is Spiritual

There are certain things in life you wish you could wish upon those you love; like the day you found/understood/accepted the love of Christ, or how much different you feel being vegan, or happiness or peace of mind. But like political and social views one cannot do such things. Certain things can only be experienced and we are all at different points in this journey of life.

Nina and Savi

You wish you could recommend wonderful experiences like you recommend a favorite restaurant or a shoe or a dress because you know them and kinda' know they might enjoy it too. But food like most things is a spiritual thing and spiritual things are emotional things and emotional things are personal. At the end of the day you have to face yourself and hope you sleep well at night with the decisions you've made. You may be asking what this has to do with food but it has everything to do with food.

Our great dinner

We are our belief system. Our belief system controls how we act and react. What we eat, who we date and how we behave are all based on what we believe to be true. Your belief system can either make or break you because it determines your thoughts and your thoughts determine your words and action. Am I getting very philosophical? I hope so. If we want to be a well balanced people and stay Forever Young, all aspects of our lives have to be in harmony.

My beautiful friend Wanneh, her daughter Savi and our Nina

Sometimes starting a new lifestyle can be very scary and isolating but thank God for friends and family who understand and for great support from communities of people who are practicing the same lifestyle. Don't be surprised if you feel a little sad, almost like a separation anxiety, it is normal and it will pass. Nothing beats eating consciously, healthy and mostly raw; more greens,more nutrient dense and high water content foods--our bodies are made of over 70% of water. I was talking to my friend Alexa and we both agreed that the reason why people over-eat is because they are feeding their bodies empty, nutrient-deficient foods.


I remember back when I used to eat like a pig. I would find myself going to the fridge almost every hour to find something to eat. I felt like I was possessed, I couldn't stop eating and I couldn't feel satisfied with anything I ate, now I know why. When you eat mostly raw your body gets satisfied with even a single stuffed bell pepper and this is because you are giving your body the right nutrients it needs to function. If you looked at a SAD (oh, I love this so much. My favorite Acronym so far) person's plate, most of the times the only veggie is maybe a sprig of kale or parsley that was used to garnish the food.

Alexa's delicious Miso dressing

3 tsp white mellow miso

1 tsp Tahini

1 Tbsp freshly grated ginger

dash of black pepper

1.5 cup of olive oil

Then may be a little fruit bowl to have after the improperly combined food. To add fruit to this is a practice most of us learned from when we were little. Fruits should always be eaten on an empty stomach for proper digestion or 30 to 60 minutes after a meal (depending on what kind of meal it was, a flesh meal usually takes over 48 hours to digest at which time it has already begun o putrefy). When fruits get in contact with a meal it ferments (fermentation is an anaerobic conversion of sugar to carbon dioxide and alcohol by yeast)

My Rick, Wanneh, Savi & our Nina
One thing that ties all men: Love.

My husband once said to me "Never change who you are. Never compromise who you are for anyone not even for me." At the core of each one of us there is a shinny person waiting to emerge. Somethings are very logical, some things are very true, some things are very basic and uncomplicated like eating right and eating to live. Live foods make for live people, dead foods make for dead or dying people. Let your food be as alive as you can have it be. There is a vast difference in the way you feel and view the world when you eat a more natural/raw diet. Spiritually there is also a vast difference. You cannot be at a certain level of spirituality with your body still haboring tons of toxins, we are all connected and I think what separates us--if we have to get down to the nitty-gritty-- has everything to do with they way we view food.

My Yummy Salad with Alexa's Miso Dressing

I still say one of my worst foods on the SAD list is milk. There are quite a few others on the list but Milk has been so glamorized--as long as a celebrity has a milk mustache it must be good for you--and popularized by all the big shots who control the money in the government. What difference is there from drinking a rat or a horse's milk? or even worse how controversial would it be to have lactating mums fill out gallons of their milk for sale by inducing them way past their lactating period? what is the difference from doing that to cows? I don't know about you but I love the green mustaches from my green smoothies better, plus it is environmentally friendly :-)

Raise your carrot juice and let's make a toast...CHEERS!

Day 45 Sweet Tahini Dressing

POMEGRANATES

I devoured this pomegranate today with Nina, yummy! Doesn't it amaze you that such a thing exists, look at how well designed and structured it is...I always find such things fascinating, always.

Someone asked me today if I was a dancer :-) you betcha' I took that as a compliment. Sure i was wearing a tiny tank top (Completely decent by the way) my dancer shoes and my spandex double folded around the waist. I sure looked like one, especially as--thanks to my circuit training--some little muscles or should I say lean muscles have started to pop up on my arms and gluts, lol, they still call me J.Lo but again isn't that a compliment too? I figured whatever someone says to me, I will find the positive and use it as a compliment. That is something we can all try to do. We are all beautiful in our own way and that is precious.

Anyway, I had this great salad I made with some baby spring mix, 1/2 red bell pepper, diced, and extra arugula(I like it) I also julienned one yellow squash for the color into the salad bowl. I wanted something different today for a dressing so I came up with this sweet tahini dressing:

4 Tbsp raw tahini paste (or less if you don't particularly like the taste of sesame paste)
1/4 cup agave
1 tsp lemon juice
1/2 orange juice, freshly squeezed

You can always save the remainder of the dressing for another salad on another day. It reminds me of peanut butter. I like this and you can add to make your own version.

p/s I made my own coconut butter skin lotion today, do I ever smell and feel yummy, hope no one eats me by accident, lol.

~B~

Day 39 (30-Day Green Smoothie Challenge)

WELCOME TO ALEXA'S RAW FEAST DINNER!

I had the most incredible dinner last night at Alexa's and George's house. I won't lie I have been secretly waiting to eat some of her food for a while; the girl has got SKILLS! and I do learn alot from her. Walking through the door, I immediately found the kitchen, I was curious to find out what she had made and yes my eyes did FEAST before my belly did. Seeing the different vibrant colors of live food got me very excited. I brought some of my coleslaw to add to the feast as well.
Not only did she make a variety of uncooked food but she also catered to the vegans and non-vegans with a delicious, heart-healthy, colorful and rich lentil soup. She also homemade some sprouted Eziekel flat bread! What did I tell you? THIS GIRL HAS GOT SKILLS :-)

Now, I must show off my plate of course: This is Alexa's Raw Food Dinner Menu
Flax seed bread-priceless
Cashew-Cilantro cheese-Amazing and priceless
Honey plantain with carrots-okay remember I once said you couldn't eat raw plantain, well, I didn't know better, you couldn't even taste it in this dish because it was diced up very thinly and small and oh, this dish too was priceless.
Olive tappenade-Yumilicious and priceless
Sprouted chickpea hummus-smooth and very delicious and priceless
Salsa-what a refreshing dip this was and oh so priceless
Clover Sprouts--I just love sprouts , I should have made a wrap with the lettuce she had but that flax seed bread got a hold of me, lol...hmm did I forget priceless too?
Basil Pesto--Hmm, Hmm fantastic. you may think I'm being overly dramatic but wait till you try raw foods and the slightest tastes start to explode in your mouth...you will need more adjectives like hmm, let me see, priceless?

Here's our gracious and lovely host, Alexa with her beautiful baby Ilusha.

Nina and April enjoying some lentil soup with sprouted Ezeikel flat bread.

Okay, I want you to focus on those tall bottles with Green Magic in them, lol. That's how I started my dinner, with this refreshing elixir of apple and fennel, the greener one has more fennel and ginger, that was my favorite. Homemade juices rock!

Here's me and Deidre and Ilusha in his high chair that looks like his own personal space station. The thing with raw food is this, you don't have to over eat to feel completely satisfied because you're eating nutritionally dense foods.

Alexa, Me, Rick, George, April and Nina

Enjoying our bounties...

Ilusha:One of the healthiest babies I know, just look at that face!

What did you think, that we were gonna go without unveiling the best for last? OMG, okay, let me take a breather before you run off this page: This is the best tasting raw/vegan chocolates and truffles EVER!!!! What a healthy alternative to what you buy in stores, what a healthier choice for our children and us! She gave me some to take home, yeeeeeeeeeaaaaH. Needless to say my night was nothing short of spectacular. I love being raw, the possibilities are endless, the creative juices behind every recipe, the beauty of touching and making food with love knowing it is only going to add to the betterment of your wellbeing. What a way to live, what a joy to experience this lifestyle. I am truly blessed. Thank you Alexa and George and Ilusha. I have a different love and respect for all things living and to have found the versatile nature of fruits, greens, nuts and seeds is purely magical. GO GREEN!

Day 38 (30-Day Green Smoothie Challenge)

PHOTO FROM: http://www.naturemoms.com

I think finding the book that will become your favorite raw uncooked book is like finding the person you will be with for the rest of your life. Yesterday my wonderful hubby bought me a great pre-Christmas gift; RAW FOOD REAL WORLD by Matthew Kenney and Sarma Melngailis and I must tell you I haven't been able to put this book down since yesterday.

I am in love with everything about this book, the colors, the photographs, the personal stories of the two very beautiful people (who happen to also be a couple) who wrote it and of course the recipes are to die for! For those of you who know me personally or at least know of me through my book Lemonade Street, you must know I am a die-hard romantic, so yes, I am stating (and forsaking all other books to come) that I have found my favorite raw uncooked book and I am only on page 37 out of 367. It is like an album of never ending warm and fuzzy feelings; a love story. And what a wonderful way to be connected with the one you love by sharing something you're both passionate about: that is one of the secrets to a happy and fulfilling marriage. Rick and I talked about this years ago, no wonder we're still together and still so in love with each other.

Anyway I just wanted to share this with you guys and hope you get a copy for you plus what I wouldn't give to get a gift card from her organic beauty site http://www.oneluckyduck.com/

This is a link to their restaurant in NewYork http://www.purefoodandwine.com/

I have to run now, will share some pictures of our dinner tomorrow. We've been invited to dinner by some good friends and I can't wait to see what's to eat. Come back tomorrow for more.

~B.

Day 29 (30-Day Green Smoothie Challenge)

FROM MY KITCHEN TO YOURS: MY MOCK CEVICHE. This was incredibly deeeelicious!

Good evening everyone. I am so happy so many of your responded here and even sent me private messages concerning my topic about milk being the worst food for you. There are too many things we put into our bodies without knowing and my friend Alexa brought up another culprit called 'sugar'. The very addictive and highly poisonous processed sweetener. I don't want to put her on the spot but it would be great if she can write about it here on the blog. Alexa, would you please? :-) Okay, we'll wait and see, lol (she will kill me for doing this...) I have a great topic for you all tomorrow, hope you come back for more healthy insights.

Today has been a great day. I started it off as usual with my delicious green smoothie.

Gorji-Lettuce Smoothie:

1 bunch of green lettuce

3 ripe bananas

1 ripe pear

2 Tbsp of Gorji Berries

2 cups of water

Blend it all together and feel your body soar.

Anyway, I made me favorite raw oatmeal and Nina ate almost all of it.

Whole Oatmeal Breakfast:

1.5 cups oat groats, soaked overnight

1 chopped apple

A handful of raisins, soaked and rinsed

1 tsp cinnamon

2 Tbsp organic grade B maple syrup or agave

pinch of salt

1/4 cup of water

1 banana

Except for the raisins and banana, blend ingredients until smooth. Add raisins and sliced bananas and enjoy. You may add some raw almond milk too if you choose. I like mine without the milk, it is thick and creamy.

~B.

Day 28 (30-Day Green Smoothie Challenge)

FROM MY KITCHEN TO YOURS: MY CREAMY SOUP OF ZUCCHETI :-)

I was just having a very interesting conversation with my husband yesterday about milk and we both agreed that cow milk has got to be the worst food out there. I would rather nominate a banana as a perfect food than cow milk and if you disagree with me, please take no offense just do more research and come to your own conclusion--mine is certain. I guess part of my conclusion is based on my very own experience, the experiences of people I know and indisputable research from distinguished professionals through out the century and beyond. Man/humankind was NEVER meant to drink the milk of another but from its mother as an infant. My youngest brother who never drank milk his entire life is now a 6 foot tall basketball player and he's yet to have a broken bone or falling teeth, so you tell me, where is the calcium defficiency and retarded growth in this case? I challenge you to try a month without milk, no wait, I take that back, try a week and you will tell the difference. Milk is the most mucus forming food. It is only the 'perfect food' when it is for the baby calf and not for humans.

-Consider all the hormones, pesticides and antibiotics fed to the cow, then think of casein--the milk protein-- which is used as industrial glue in carpentry and used to make plastics and adhesives, ever wondered what it does to your insides? By the way, 80% of milk protein is casein.

-Consider the pus in the milk caused by forcefully enlarging the mammary glands of these cows in order to overproduce due to the high demand of milk.

-Consider the fact that these cows get their own calcium from eating plants and you want to get yours from eating them? why not just go for the plant too and avoid the poisons from herbicides, pesticides, dioxins, up to 52 powerful antibiotics, blood, pus, feces, bacteria and viruses. (Cow's milk can have traces of anything the cow ate... including such things as radioactive fallout from nuke testing ... "It's not how much calcium you eat. It's how much calcium you prevent from leaving your bones."--Robert Cohen

read this for yourself: http://www.notmilk.com/igf1time.txt

and this http://www.notmilk.com/deb/030799.html..…

-Consider that it takes 10 pounds of milk to make a pound of cheese so each slice of cheese has 10x what is in milk, every bite of ice cream has 12x that and butter 21x whatever is in milk.

-Consider the fact that milk consists of almost 50% fat and it goes across the board for milk products as well.

-Consider that although milk is hailed as 'Liquid protein' it is just very expensive water because 87% of milk is water.

-Consider the fact that countries with the highest consumption of dairy have the highest rates of osteoporosis. This is because the protein in dairy inhibits the absorption of calcium.

-Consider that milk is allowed to undergo pasteurization to 'kill' the bacteria and feces found in the milk but this also makes it into a non-food. And since pasteurization does not kill all the bacteria milk tends to go bad rather quickly, sad huh?

-Consider that apart from milk not being Kosher, it's level of cholesterol is alarming and to think we some nutritionists recommend 2-3 glasses of milk a day. The cholesterol in those glasses of milk is equivalent to that from 52 slices of bacon...can you see yourself eating that daily?

Here are a host of problems that dairy may cause:

1) Obesity (Over 50% of Americans)

2) Leukemia

3) Diabetes

4) Crohn's Disease

5) Heart disease

6) Cancer, please read this :http://www.notmilk.com/deb/062198.html

7) Allergies (Ever wondered why there are so many lactose intolerant folks?)

8) Digestive problems

9) Asthma

10) Desensitization to antibiotics.

11) Toxicity of the human body due to ingestion of ingestion of dioxins, herbicides, pesticides.

12) Pollution and environmental degradation (we have only one planet)

To read more about milk visit http://www.notmilk.com/ and read more from author Robert Cohen.

Have a very blessed day.

~B.