Day 5 (30-Day Green Smoothie Challenge)

FROM MY KITCHEN TO YOURS: My Honeydew Heaven

FROM MY KITCHEN TO YOURS: Bernice's Creamy coconut butter with tempeh

I am constantly amazing myself, yes I am. Last night I created this wonderful recipe for Rick and Nina. I am not doing cooked food but I do cook for them. In Rick's own words "This is by far one of the best tasting foods I've ever eaten." and my husband is a phenomenal cook. So I am going to start by sharing my beautiful recipe with you.

p/s I did save some in a container for the freezer, that way I can try some when my 30-day challenge is over :-)

Bernice's Creamy Coconut butter with Tempeh

Ingredients:

1 can 13.5 oz organic coconut milk
2 Tbsp almond butter
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tbsp peanut butter
1/2 tsp sweet basil
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp curry powder
1 Tbsp agave nectar
1 pack 8oz organice garden tempeh
1/4 green pepper, thinly sliced
1 cup of water
1 cup of quinoa

Method:

In saucepan on medium heat, add olive oil and coconut milk. Stir in almond butter, sweet basil and black pepper. Add garlic powder and curry. Then add 1/2 cup of water and then add peanut butter and mix evenly. Add agave nectar, cover pan with a lid and cook for 5 minutes. Add tempeh and the rest of the water and let cook for another 15 minutes. Add thinly sliced green pepper towards the end for a more crunchy taste. This make s a very think and creamy sauce. Add on a bed on cooked quinoa and serve, listen for the "umph" and "ah". DELICIOUS!

I started my day with 46 minutes of Taebo; cardio and strength training(resistant bands). After that I made this delicious smoothie:

Honeydew Heaven:

2 bananas

1/2 bunch of parley (or if any greens of your choice)

1 celery stalk

1/4 frozen honeydew melon

2 cups of water

I love parsley because it does wonders for my skin and it 'wakes' me up. You can substitute it with lettuce, spinach or kale. Yummy!

I am having a blast with this raw challenge, I swear I never thought I would. I have joined a meetup here in Atlanta and can hardly wait for their next potluck and ofcourse i will contribute--been studying my raw cook books. There are so many raw deserts I can make to satisfy my sweet tooth. This is just too good.

Arrivederci!

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 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.

30 Days Green Smoothie Challenge

Are you ready for the 30 green smoothie challenge? I discovered green smoothies not too long ago and in that short time I have seen some marvelous changes in my body and especially my skin. My skin is SHINNING, for lack of a better word. I noticed it in the first three days. Now I have my daughter, my husband, my mother in-law and a few of my friends all doing it now. The book that got me started was Victoria Boutenko's Green For Life. I used to do a lot of juicing before but now I do more of the green smoothies. They are the best way to get your daily requirement of fruits and veggies and they are filling and delicious too. Don't let the green liquid fool you, once you try it you will never go back.

So I am throwing out a challenge out there, a 30 days green smoothie challenge starting October 1st. It is a great way to detox without feeling starved. So yes, you can only eat salads and smoothies or juices and water. One month only and your body will love you for it. You can eat sea veggies like kelp, seaweed salads etc. Get your shopping list ready and head to the market. Here is an essential list of veggies you will need for your green smoothies:

Spinach, endive, red lettuce, romaine lettuce, parsley, cilantro, kale, collard green.

For fruits you can get all your favorite fruits.

Here are a few of my favorites:

1 cup green grapes
1 (130 g) orange, peeled
1/2 Bartlett pear
1 (120 g) banana, fresh or frozen
1 cup kale
1/2 cup water
2 cups ice cubes

and this

2 bananas
3 oranges, peeled, quartered
1 head romaine lettuce
4 cups cold water

and this one too:

4 cups of spinach

1/2 a cantaloupe

A handfull of red seedless grapes

2 cups of cold water or 1 cup of ice

Nina's favorite

10 finger bananas

3 cups spinach

1 cup of cold water

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)

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