A Brand New Start

I bought this book a few days ago and I've been glued to it ever since. The past few weeks I had already been talking about getting back on a healthy mostly raw diet after months of not eating very healthy.  I had been getting heartburn regularly and just hadn't been feeling very well at all.  I had narrowed the cause of the heartburn down to three suspects.  White sugar, white flour or dairy? I don't eat a lot of dairy so I decided to first try cutting way down on all three.  I'm already heartburn free.  I've also made the change to all natural body products and I really do mean all natural (more on this later.) My most recent thoughts are this: I'm going to follow the Crazy Sexy Diet for one year.  If the Crazy Sexy Diet says to do it, I'm doing it.  So far in reading I have agreed with everything, and if I happen to get to something that doesn't sound quite right obviously I will research that information.  I'm planning to make an appointment with a doctor in the very near future, I would like to know what my current health status is so that I can compare it to my status after following this program for one full year.

So that is where this blog is headed and you are more than welcome to join me for the ride.  Let me know if you've read Crazy Sexy Diet or if you are following the program as well.  I would love to talk with you and share ideas and inspiration. 

If you haven't heard of Crazy Sexy Diet here is a summary from Goodreads:
The author of the best-selling Crazy Sexy Cancer Tips
and Crazy Sexy Cancer Survivor
takes on the crazy sexy subject of
what and how we eat, drink, and think. 

On the heels of Kris Carr’s best-selling cancer survival guidebooks and her acclaimed TLC documentary comes her new journey into a realm vital to anyone’s health. Infused with her signature sass, wit and advice-from-the-trenches style, Crazy Sexy Diet is a beautifully illustrated resource that puts you on the fast track to vibrant health, happiness and a great ass!

Along with help from her posse of experts, Carr lays out the fundamentals of her Crazy Sexy Diet: a low-glycemic, vegetarian program that emphasizes balancing the pH of the body with lush whole and raw foods, nourishing organic green drinks, and scrumptious smoothies. Plus, she shares the steps of her own twenty-one-day cleanse, and simple but delectable sample recipes.

In ten chapters with titles such as, “pHabulous,” “Coffee, Cupcakes and Cocktails,” “Make Juice Not War,” and “God-Pod Glow,” Carr empowers readers to move from a state of constant bodily damage control to one of renewal and repair. In addition to debunking common diet myths and sharing vital tips on detoxifying our bodies and psyches—advice that draws both on her personal experience as a cancer survivor and that of experts—she provides helpful hints on natural personal care, how to stretch a dollar, navigate the grocery store, eating well on the run, and working through the inevitable pangs and cravings for your old not-so-healthy life.

Crazy Sexy Diet is a must for anyone who seeks to be a confident and sexy wellness warrior.

-Peace-
Shari

Daily Log 4/6/2010

Down 1.3 lbs. this morning! Finished a thirty minute wii workout and am planning on an hour walk this evening while Al is having soccer practice.

So far today we've had a strawberry, blueberry, banana, pear, and coconut water smoothie for breakfast and I blended up some tomato, cabbage, spinach, red pepper, onion, garlic, carrot, and mushrooms added a bit of cajun spice, a dash of cumin and some veggie bouillon along with about 3 cups of water to make a lovely soup. When the soup was done blending and getting just warm enough I threw a little corn and crushed tortilla chips in there for some chew factor. I love that the vita mix will blend and warm this just enough to keep it raw. I forgot the pictures today but will add them next time I make the soup. Which knowing how much we all love it could be very, very soon:)

Now I'm off to order some more Aubrey Organics face wash. I love that stuff!
Have a healthy day.

Monday's Culinary Delights

Down .2 lbs this morning, hey I'll take it:) Especially after yesterday's Easter indulgence!

While I was playing around on the computer this morning waiting for the kiddies to bless me with their presence I drank a wonderful cup of Teeccino Herbal Coffee. It's not really coffee and it's so much better for you than coffee. I've recently made the switch and haven't regretted it for one minute. It really is awesome. I brew it just like coffee, add a little bit of sugar and some So Delicious Coconut Creamer then I sit back and enjoy. GOOD STUFF!

The kids and I started off our morning with a yummy if not a little ugly, Swamp Sludge Smoothie, named after it's appearance. This is a slight variation on another smoothie that Green & Crunchy does over here.

For lunch we enjoyed a favorite of mine and the girls, handmade guacamole, which is really just a couple of avocados mixed with some of Kirkland's Organic Salsa, a squeeze of lemon, a little pink Himalayan salt, and pepper. We used sliced mushrooms to dip with. Delish!
Through out the day I also snacked on a handful of pistachios and a handful of grapes, and a couple of bites of boy-boy's corn.

Exercise today was a thirty minute wii fit work out.
For dinner we all just raided the fridge for Easter left-overs. I enjoyed that three bean salad all over again. For dessert I threw four carrots, a cup of rice milk, a pinch of nutmeg, about a a half teaspoon cinnamon, some honey, and some ice into the beautiful Vita-Mix and out came the yum! Of course I'm the only one here that likes this but likes it I do. Now off to get some beauty rest.

My Steps To The Raw Diet

I started this journey a little over two years ago. It started with me hearing that the Skinny Bitch diet was working for some people I knew for weight loss. Me wanting to lose weight as usual rushed out to my local Borders to purchase my copy of this wonderful, miracle diet book. Little did I know that it would change my life. After reading the entire book in one night, being completely grossed out and crying for a few hours over the poor tortured animals, I gave up meat. Right then and there I was done. My Alli said "me too" as soon as I told her what I was doing (she had been wanting and trying to give up meat for awhile). Jess and Hubby laughed and thought it would never last. A little over a year later and Alli and I went vegan (except for honey). We still weren't eating all that healthy and I actually gained weight through all of this. There is just plenty of vegan junk food out there let me tell you! Getting fed up with having been over weight for oh thirty years I started looking at how to become a healthy vegan. High raw seemed like the next logical choice and it is working!! Just this past week I've lost about 5 pounds and I feel great.

I'm always playing catch up with this thing!!!

It seems I am not very good at keeping up with a blog. I have the best of intentions and then life just takes off with me chasing it and falling more and more behind here. Oh well it 's suppose to be fun right?
Today we went to an alpaca farm and feed them and watched them get sheared. It was a beautiful day and we all had fun. Jack and Alli both made felted soaps that they got to bring home with them. If you haven't felt alpaca fur you are missing out on feeling one of the softest furs ever! They were really sweet and cute. Of course Jackson wanted to know if you could have them as pets...uhhmmm no WE can't:)
All three of the kids have auditioned for parts in the homeschool drama club's play and we are just waiting to see if they get the parts that they auditioned for. Keep your fingers crossed for them.
This coming up week is a quiet one as far as the planned out schedule goes so maybe we will plan a field trip of some type. I also need to look up how to make felted animals (yikes) Jackson really liked the examples he saw today and is ready to make some of his own.
Until next time have a sun shiny day.

Sunshine in January

I woke up to cuddles from my little guy this morning and after we wiped the sleep from our eyes I was ready for a morning smoothie but not just any smoothie, no I wanted a super healthy, yummy green smoothie. What makes it yummy you ask? Well I just threw a handful of spinach, one banana, 1/2 cup of orange juice, and one frozen peach into the blender and YUM instant energy. Now that I was awake J man was hankering for a game of trouble. Alli joined in and I promptly kicked their little butts, I am the TROUBLEMAKER:) Then we realized hey it's sunny outside so we stepped out and hey it wasn't cold so we decided to take a walk down to the lake. Let's get some exercise and burn some calories!


Once we got to the lake the kids threw rocks onto the ice, climbed trees and just enjoyed being outside in the sun.


When we got home Jack played with his new Yoda in the house that we built for him on Saturday. We actually had a whole birthday party for Yoda on Saturday complete with presents for the little guy.
Then we watched a video of Martin Luther King Jr.'s I have a dream speech and talked about why today was Martin Luther King Jr. day. I was surprised by how much Jackson had remembered by the time daddy got home. The only thing he had forgotten from our talk was the man's name:)

Last week when we started the raw foods diet experience I made cauliflower couscous and it was so tasty that I made it again tonight. I meant to take a picture of it and was so hungry that I totally forgot. However I will share the recipe so you can enjoy the deliciousness for yourself.
Cauliflower Couscous
1 head of cauliflower
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup olive oil
parsley
scallions
garlic
cherry tomatoes
red pepper
olives (we used black once and kalamata once both were good)
salt and pepper to taste

Throw the cauliflower into the food processor using the 's' blade and chop it up to resemble couscous. Then move it to a big bowl.
Next squeeze the lemons until you have 1/3 cup and mix it with the olive oil. I also added dried basil and oregano to the mix but you can add whatever herbs you like or you could use fresh.
Next I put three cloves of garlic (we really like garlic) and some scallions in the food processor and chopped them up and added them to the cauliflower. Chop up your red pepper and add it to the cauliflower. Now pour the lemon, oil mixture in and stir. We add our own tomatoes and olives once it has been served because some of us like them and some of us don't. Side note: I wanted to make extra of this for leftovers but I didn't want to use that much oil so I only used the 1/3 cup of oil but used two heads of cauliflower and doubled the lemon and everything else. Now we have lunch for tomorrow too.
If you make your own version of Cauliflower couscous please share.

Since I started trying to lose weight back in August I've lost 20 lbs. I was really happy that I hadn't gained any weight over the holidays and I figure I lost about an average of 1 lb. a week. I was strictly following weight watchers in the beginning and then I slacked off and was just being really careful about how much I was eating. Then I became vegan and that helped to keep the weight down. So far since only eating raw foods I have lost another 5-7 lbs. I officially weigh in on Wednesday so I'll let you know then how my week went. Aside from losing weight I have to tell you that I feel AMAZING. Truly I have more energy than I remember ever having EVER!

Catching up from 2009

Well it seems I wasn't as good at blogging in 2009 as I had intended to be. Oh well let's try it again for 2010. First though I wanted to throw some pictures up to remind myself of all the fun we had last year. It was definitely a GOOD year.

Jessica and I went to the midnight party for the Twilight dvd release at Hot Topic and had a blast being silly and meeting other Twilight fans.

The kids LOVE watching the blend tech guy on youtube and one day while shopping at Costco we saw one and all three kids wanted their picture taken with it. I swear we can have fun ANYWHERE!!



We visited a nearby Children's Museum.


We went to the Chili Cook Off and saw Framing Hanley, Trapt, Hollywood Undead, Pop Evil, Amberlin, and Searching for Timothy. J-man stayed back to play with his cousin so everyone was happy.

Unfortunetly my Grandma got sick this past year and had to stay at a Rehabilitation Center luckily the courtyard was pretty and had some neat art that kept J-man occupied for a little bit while we visited her.

We got a huge tin of Tinker Toys from our local Freecycle and J-man and Alliroo had a great time building all kinds of cool stuff with them. Hurray for Freecycle.
We went to a local botanical gardens and had so much fun playing in the trees, making art in the kids learning center and J-man loved playing with the worms from compost bin!

well blogger doesn't seem to want to let me load anymore pictures tonight so I'll continue the look at 2009 tomorrow. Until then Happy Sun Shiny days to ya:)