"Good-Attitude Girl"

I read this article in the NYT today about the craziness of being "Bikini Ready." They made mention of a picture of Marilyn Monroe in a 1940's fashion book "looking smashing  in a blue-and-white striped two-piece, a roll of pale flesh at her midsection."  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/26/fashion/the-bikini-as-a-badge-of-fitness.html so of course I had to see it. Fat roll?!

The title of the article is "Bikini Ready? Who's Judging?" My first thoughts? Everyone. How sad is that? If a picture of me in a bikini with a roll showed up on FB, I would be mortified. I've avoided bikinis, beaches and shaving in general just to make it clear that it was not an option. What is this strive for perfection that we desire to attain? If I eat right and work out, shouldn't I look like Giselle? Don't I deserve to look like Giselle?! Creme brulee can never be jello?!

We are so confused and misguided into what "healthy" is and what "normal" is. Just look at the difference of these two photos taken nearly 70 years apart. 

Sir Henry Royce said, "Strive for perfection in everything you do. Take the best that exists and make it better. When it does not exist, design it.” And design we have. Billions of dollars in plastic surgery, liposuction, work out dvds and overly air-brushed glam magazines all say to us, "Better work harder. You're not there yet." No wonder we're confused.

My favorite part of the article:

"Not all women let the camera-phone-wielding bikini police (or their own self-criticism) stop them from enjoying a two-piece. Ms. Mills calls this type a 'good-attitude girl.'

'She is a phenomenon and totally inspiring,' she said. 'She is of any age, any body, she has a totally great attitude, because she has had a come-to-Jesus moment with her body.'"

Amen to that. God Bless Marilyn Monroe and may I continue to work on being a good-attitude girl.

I'm Obsessed with Derek K. Miller

And now my fiance is too. If you're not familiar, I suggest you get acquainted. He's dead now, but you can read his archived blog at http://www.penmachine.com/. Last night in the apple store, I was playing around with the ipad2 and it was set on youtube so I thought, "Why not?" I searched him. I watched his videos. I watched him sing and play guitar. And I cried. Right there in the store. Then I pulled up the website to show Rumil and as his eyes got teary reading Derek's last post I had to hold myself together so my tears didn't turn into another sob fest.

"Does it remind you of your mom?" He asked. "Do you think it's why it makes you sad?" I think it's just the untimeliness of death. Never that it's good timing but at least if someone lives over 80 you can say, "well, they lived a good, long life." Well not Derek K. Miller, and not my mother.

In case you have no idea what I'm talking about, he was a blogger like before blogs were blogs. This guy has been blogging since 2000, the year I graduated high school, about all things techy and the reason why I now only use one space after periods. I had read about it but he solidified the fact.

In 2007 he was diagnosed with cancer and while he never turned his techy blog into a cancer blog, he does chronicle his experience of living through treatments and eventually dying. So over the past week or so I have read his blog from the diagnosis to the death and let me tell you, it sucks. He has two daughters, a wife, a dog. He doesn't believe in God, or spirits or after life or Heaven or hell. He compares death to a shriveled up flower, there's nothing left.

Towards the end of his life people were sending him diet cherry coke, which apparently you can't get in Canada, and that cheese whiz stuff. Earlier on in the blog he talks about how much he loves McDonald's.

Although not over weight he always had a big appetite. He was diagnosed with Diabetes and has been insulin resistant since the early 90's when he was in college. He always brought up that if they hadn't figured out how to make synthetic insulin he wouldn't have lived past '91, or met his wife, or had his children. But what astounds me is that in a blog entitled "Bring me Diet Cherry Coke and Easy Cheese he says, "And if you say that those are horrible food-like substances that will give me cancer, I will just laugh and laugh." http://www.penmachine.com/2011/04/diet-cherry-coke-easy-cheese

I mean, if you're already on your way out, eat whatever you want, I guess, but I can't help of thinking of the fact that while he understood he was poisoning himself with chemo and radiation, he never understood that had been poisoning his body with food and drink for far longer. It pains me to even say that.

Watching my mom die, reading about him dying, knowing that they both loved diet coke...I don't know. I just think it's weird, you know, the coincidence. Watching my future mother in law drink it now while my future father in law wipes chunks of butter over a piece of lavash after he's already eaten 6 tortillas, mashed potatoes and mac n cheese...I'm at a loss.

I tried to get one of my clients who had chronic headaches for years and years and years off diet coke. She resisted. I don't know what happened but one day she woke up and decided she was over the pop. Hasn't had a headache since. Oh, I remember, she read a website about aspartame poisoning and decided she was poisoned. Moral of the story: she hasn't had a diet coke or a headache since and this was someone that was practically crippled several days out of the month by migraines.

What a crock

I am always dumbfounded by what clients bring in from supposed diabetes experts. Let me quickly review sunday's diabetic menu from a nursing home that was given to me last week: Tomato juice, cereal and french toast w/ syrup and margarine for breakfast, salad, honey turkey, risotto, a french roll and sherbert for lunch followed by cream of spinach soup, corned beef and swiss on rye, fried potatoes and chef's choice for fricken dessert.

And you wonder why his blood sugar shot up to 300 and he had to be put on insulin?!?! If you had one single iota of awareness for blood sugar and/or any knowledge whatsoever of nutrition you would know this is the farthest thing from being diabetic friendly. Read between the lines of what they are serving these diabetic patients: sugar, salt and fat. Are you kidding me? My diabetic grandpa was psyched to be eating mac n cheese after his triple bypass surgery. It makes me sick.

As you can see from looking at this picture on the cover of a daily meal planning how to, her thumb is over the most important part: the ingredients! This is serious. The RD who gave this to my client also told her that you don't have to "count" your sugars and that wine doesn't effect your blood sugar, it only effects your triglycerides. Be serious. This is what happens when your trusted health professional is in it for the money, not because she gives a hoot about your health. Blasphemy.

Transformed

It is with much delight and happiness in my heart that I can report to you that my fiance is a changed man. After he ate and drank whatever he wanted to Friday night, all of Saturday and Sunday at brunch he didn't want to eat much of anything come Sunday afternoon and evening.

When we met his brother's and friends at The Kickin Crab to catch the Bulls game, neither of us ate a thing. Not surprising for me since I don't eat animals pulled out of plastic bags (or animals in general, although the corn and potatoes looked good -they were soaked in Cajun fish oil and most likely GMO) but very surprising for my fiance not to even eat so much as a fry.

He has finals this week and his very kind office manager has given him Mon-Thurs off to study, which is amazing. So yesterday he was around the house studying (for Statistics and Trig mind you) and ate all of the strawberries, a banana, some ikra (Assyrian dish consisting of grilled eggplant, tomatoes and spices) which was good but not as good as his uncle's.

When I got home from work, I quickly blanched some broccoli in my vegetable broth, sauteed a few cloves of garlic while the broccoli dried on a towel, threw it into a pyrex with some chopped tomato (Rumil helped with that), cilantro, feta cheese and of course, fresh cracked pepper, cayenne pepper and salad sprinkle and he ate some salad as well.

Today he studied a bit before heading to school to continue to study for his class and a final tonight. When he text me that he was about to head out I said, "Don't forget to take some snacks! Bar, banana, etc."

His response: "I did :) You transformed me ;)"

Of course that makes any Nutritional Counselor/health nut fiance extremely happy, especially after we watched Up last night and balled our eyes out starting within the first 15 minutes. That movie is not for children. Of course I couldn't stop crying thinking of my dad, my grandpa, my fiance, myself, and every widow out there.

I sobbed. And continued to sob for a bit even after it was over. Rumil cried with me. Life is scary. Death is scary. I don't want to die and have him live the rest of his life alone. What a roller coaster. It reminded me of when my mom died in the hospital when I was 21 years old and I decided I wanted to be alone forever because I didn't want anyone to have to lose a lover, a mother. Rumil is the first man I have loved since her death and that was 7 years ago. Somehow he penetrated my soul, broke my walls down and I love him deeply for that, forever.

Between that movie and reading Derek K. Miller's Penmachine blog http://www.penmachine.com/ which is sort of like the movie My Life only far longer and way more drawn out, I was a bonafied wreck. I tried to hide myself in the bathroom but I couldn't stop crying, plus I left the door open (bad habit) and he came and gave me hug as I was a hysterical mess on the toilet. He rubbed my back to console me and in between sobs I said, "I just want a good life for us." He agreed.

As we were standing there brushing our teeth I asked, "But what if I get the disease my Mom had and can't wipe my own ass?"

"I'll wipe it for you. And I'll wipe the tooth paste off your mouth. Wouldn't be that much different than now," he said with a smile.

I think we both are transformed; in our own ways we have let the love in and let the poison out.

Skinny Bitch

You know what confuses me? That Skinny Bitch, Bethenny Frankel. You know why? She's built a 240 million dollar empire and her drink tastes like shit! If you want a skinny margarita get a shaker, pour a nice tequila in there with a few squeezes of lime, shake it up, pour and enjoy.

Do you really need to buy it prepared? What is this? Skinny slash Lazy Bitch? I respect what she does and I might be a tad jealous, but no bitch ever got skinny drinking a prepared alcoholic beverage with agave nectar and triple sec. It's sick. And who can drink one 4oz cocktail anyway?!

Over the weekend my future Mother in Law, who calls my future Sister in Law Martha Stewart (it's true...it was a graduation party and one of the many things she did was roll up napkins with ribbon like little diplomas) was trying to figure out who I could be compared to since I am the designated salad maker.

All they could think of was the Skinny Bitch. I make bomb salads and I like to drink tequila on the rocks or vodka with soda water and lime so I guess Bethenny is my go to girl in the world of cooking and drinking who I would most aspire to be like. I don't watch her television shows but I hear she's annoying as all get out.

My fiance had a fun weekend of eating and drinking whatever he wanted and was asleep by 7PM on Saturday. Shocker. I can't believe I gave him till 9:30. I should have known better. I will say, having just come off the cleanse, it was nice to be super duper aware of my limits. Friday after dinner, everyone stayed up drinking and I went to bed. It was after 10 and we had to be up at 5 and after 12 days of cleansing I needed to rest. I slept like dookie because of course I gave into "vegetarian pinto beans." When will I learn?

Saturday I stuck with white wine at the party and intermittently drank waaaay to much Assyrian tea. So much so everyone was calling me Fred...that's my fiance's dad. He can drink that stuff and go right to bed; normally I avoid it after 3PM. I left with my FSIL's, aunts and one uncle for a nice walk on the beach and when we got back at 7, I realized, I'm done. I hung out with my future family people, and about 9 PM when the crew decided to hit the bars, I decided my esophagus was burning and my head hurt.

Needless to say I slept like dookie. Bad way to come out of a cleanse. Now I need to get right all over again.

Called It!

Its seven o'clock on the dot, I'm on the bed top fast asleep. I got a real pretty pretty young thang taking pictures of me....

I can't believe I gave him until 9:30! He was so proud of his nacho plate...ahh well.

So What?

I just had a quick chat with my Raw Food Chef (creator of Brackers and Super Stevia)/RN/Mentor. I told her 12 days of  vegan, high raw diet and nothing. My fiance never had a solid poop.

She said, "So what?"

So what? SO WHAT? Janice? Of all people, say so what? Now I really feel like a N-A-Z-I.

"Does he poop?" She asked.
"Yes. It just doesn't float." I said.
"So what?" Was her answer.

Again, So what.

She said men can handle meat, women can't. I said I'm worried about his sister's graduation party tomorrow and she said something along the lines of me chilling out on the whole food police thing.

"Does he feel good?" She asked.
"He feels great." I said.
"Let him eat what he wants tomorrow. Don't worry about it. After cleansing, he's gonna feel it. Or, he may not. Tell him to knock himself out."

And I'm sure that's exactly what he'll do. Knock himself out right into a food coma and be asleep by 9:30 at the latest. I'm calling it now. I'll let you know how it goes.

Day 11 Look at me now, oh!

My fiance is down to 181.9 in weight. Mind you he started at 200 and is 6'3". I consulted my Height/Weight Chart at the office and even for a large frame at 6'3 the weight range is 176-202. So the good news is, he's not dying.

I survived my first climbing class at rockreation last night in Costa Mesa.  I feel like such a thug!

For today's salad, I thought, let's get crazy.
Chopped broccoli
zucchini
white onion
plum tomato
cilantro
over a bed of lettuce w/ fresh cracked pepper and a dash of cayenne, topped with the last of kale n a krunch cheesyies and tostada brackers. Braggs's ginger and sesame dressing on top.

The infamous sammy...

That apparently my fiance is over! I just casually brought up perhaps having a sandwich on Friday before we drive to San Diego for his sister's graduation (more on that later) and he raged.

"I just can't see eating a sandwich for dinner." Mind you that's what we just did. "I feel like we keep eating the same things."

"When was the last time you had a sandwich?" I ask, he shrugs. "I keep getting more zucchini and cilantro in the box which is why I made the pasta again. That's what happens when you eat seasonally."
"I love the pasta. This is hard. I'm just saying. I've been eating meat and cheese for the past 25 years. No one else in my family would do this."

I can respect that.

Like presto! Alacazam!

I had so much cilantro I ended up throwing some fresh stems and leaves in there for the last 15 minutes or so. Delicious!

Easy Vegetable Broth

Get your scraps!


I keep mine in an air tight bag in the freezer unless I know I'm making a broth within a few days.

Just like with Sip n Sweat, you can really add whatever you want. http://beginwellness.blogspot.com/2011/05/day-3-damn-it-feels-good-to-be-gangster.html

Here we have:
brocolli stems
rainbow chard
celery
LOTS of garlic
white onion (I read somewhere that red makes it weird)

The rainbow chard gives it a beautiful rose color.

Place in large pot. Cover with water, bring to a boil and season. In this case: cumin, cayenne, sea salt and mexican seasoning (for fun).

Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for an hour. Pour thru strainer and enjoy. Keeps for over a week in fridge. I've kept it around for two and used it to make rice or steam vegetables.

Celery, Mustard and Almonds

Crunch with a zing? Yes please. Some hard core raw enthusiasts don't "do" mustard. Well I'm not one of them. I love mustard. Its so creamy and delicious. I usually have 2 almonds per piece of celery and it looks like today I am having 9 pieces of celery. That's a lot of almonds but today, I'm alright with it.

Sometimes I put my celery in the produce bag that had onion in it, so its kind of like celery infused w/ white onion. That is also fun.

Day 10 Like A Log

I what I am referring to actually is sleep.  Body sans sugar = sleeping like a log.  It is so amazing and energizing. Even Twiggy seems to be benefiting from it, who btw, is also on a raw food diet. She loves the goose! Stella and Chewy's freeze dried patties...they don't come cheap but neither does health.

My fiance seems to be withering away which was not my plan. I mean, he looks terrific but he's down to 183 today and that was pre poop. Mind you he's 6'3."  He is excited that this whole weight loss thing coincides with his DMV appt. so he can put 185 on his new license; that's down from 200!!! And we thought only girls worried about that?! He actually just informed me that he weighed 235 in 10th grade.

My fiance was worried about his fat content being to high, which is funny. He thought that the pistachios, almonds and avocados were all too much.  If you think about all the processed cheese, meats, fried carbs, etc. his was eating before, you know he has only replaced bad trans fats with amazing essential fats. Plus the plan wasn't for him to wither away so I can't imagine what his weight would be if he wasn't eating avocados and nuts. Note to self: buy more avocados.

Our Produce Box has been awesome http://www.farmfreshtoyou.com/  That's where the avos have been coming from along with zucchinis, cilantro, lettuces, oranges, apples and broccoli.

I'm off to a climbing class while my fiance studies for finals! Yikes for both of us!

Which reminds me: Rum's office manager asked him if he thought now was really a good time to be doing a cleanse. Fortunately he was able to say yes, and that his focus and concentration is on point. Far better than it was even two weeks ago.  Side note: she asked this after he offered her a Bracker while she was eating a double double and fries.  Brackers are expensive! No sharing! Especially if it's going unappreciated! Crikey.

They finally decided to close the office for an hour so they could actually eat lunch. He works in eye care for a private practice and is basically seeing patients all day while files pile up on his desk, so he was lucky before if he could even grab a handful of nuts that doc keeps around the office.

The doctor he works for is active and healthy and surfs at lunch. It's the ladies that have drawers of chocolates.  Anyway, this is what lead to my fiance to starving all day, subsisting on coffee and a handful of nuts until 5 or 6PM when he would hit up a drive thru on his way to class.

Not no mo! Kare Kare put an end to that right quick. And he (we) couldn't be happier about it. I'll also just throw in that we have been living together since August and he has not been sick once, whereas before I was in the picture, he was on a first name basis with the crew over at the weekend drive up doctor place. I forget what they are called. Doctor's on Duty? Thank God that's in the past. Knock on wood.

Brackers!

Crunchy like crackers, filling like bread. Gluten free, vegan and raw foodie friendly ;)

Raw Cucumber Chop Chop

Cucumber, zucchini, celery, red onion, almonds, salad sprinkle seasoning, dash cayenne and kale n a crunch cheezyies. Voila!

It was bigger than this, I just ate half before I remembered to take the picture!

Regardless of Weight, Be Kind to Your Pancreas

It's Cleanse Day Nine.

My favorite client from SF called me an N-A-Z-I this morning. She can say things like that because she's Jewish (from Israel) but I'm not sure if that makes the statement better or worse! She's way more neurotic than I am but that's what I love about her.

If you have dealt with weight fluctuations in your life, you know you can not mess around with what you put into your body, so she takes this very seriously, which I also appreciate. She's in her 60's and was 30 pounds heavier in her 40's.  I'm in my 20's (well I'm 29, let's be real) and have also been 30 pounds heavier. I know what it's like to have my stomach get in the way of tying my shoes, nothing fitting, avoiding the scale, wanting to call in fat to work. Not Down. So when someone like her calls me a name like that, I get it.

While I'm on this topic of having gained weight and lost it let me just make one thing clear: "Creme brule can never be jello." Let's take me and my sister for instance. She's 5'11" probably about a buck 15 and just had a baby. I never thought she could get skinnier but somehow she did.

I could spend my time boo hooing about how they denied me at the modeling agency when I was 17 years old, 5'7" and under 100 lbs. In one breath the agent told me I was on my way to becoming a plus size model while turning to my sister and asking if she was interested. My sister can eat whatever she wants without gaining a pound, ever, even 10 years later. I don't boo hoo it because I'm not her.

Point being: I will always have to consume less calories than she does to stay at a weight even remotely close to hers. So if you and your best friend both weigh 130 but she's never had a weight issue, YOU WILL ALWAYS HAVE TO CONSUME LESS CALORIES THAN SHE DOES TO MAINTAIN THE SAME WEIGHT THAT SHE DOES. K? Done. No ifs, ands or buts, that's just how the cookie crumbles. Let her have the cookie and you be happy with your apple and 8 almonds.

On that note, your pancreas does not know weight. Let's take my favorite aunt for example, Aunt Jan. She's skinny but was eating oatmeal and toast for breakfast and white refined carbs all throughout the day. Guess who became Diabetic, her or or my aunts that are heavier, but are always watching their weight? You guessed it. Aunt Jan.

So don't be mad that your best friend or sister is skinny and can have their cake and eat it too. Be aware of the outcome of what sugar does to your body regardless of how much you weigh, ESPECIALLY if Diabetes runs in your family. In our cases, it's rampant, on both sides. (should have noted that in family history on Day 8). You wonder why my fiance weighs himself once in the morning and once a night? Fear of Fat. He has also been heavier and has witnessed fluctuations in his family members weight like you can't believe. You can fear the reaper but don't fear the scale. It's only a measure. A very accurate measure.

Rumil just text me. He had a 184.3 weigh in. We're not gym people although I have been utilizing our lap pool which is phenom.  I can see the difference in my body and I would say on a good week, I only hit the pool twice. It's a junior Olympic pool and my swim coach brother-in-law told me to go back and forth four times and count that as one lap. So I do that four times which is sixteen trips back and forth. The only problem now is that my bikini bottoms are falling off. I hate swimsuit shopping and there is no way in hell I'm wearing a speedo one piece. The swim cap is enough!

Zucchini Pasta w/ Cilantro Pesto and Stuffed Mushrooms

Slice 2 or 3 zucchinis very thin like pasta and toss with cilantro pesto. I topped it off with tomatoes and then used the left over pesto to stuff mushrooms that I dehydrated for a little over an hour.

Cilantro Pesto Recipe can be found here: fromsadtoraw.com

Love my so cal clients!

Some of my clients that live in the area have fruit trees so we are never short of fresh, juicy fruit, even in the winter!!

Postcards from Heaven

Since my mom passed away in 2003 she has come to say "Hi, I'm right here," in two forms.  One is a deer and the other is a ladybug.

I first felt her presence two days after her funeral in Monterey. A friend was driving me to class and I happened to glance into the forest and a deer was staring at me straight in the eyes; it penetrated my soul. I went straight to one of my professor's who was huge into mythology and spirits and stuff and cried like a baby.

The second time was after a really intense meditation at Garrapata in Big Sur. When I opened my eyes there was a little ladybug crawling on me and it made me cry tears of joy. When I almost got hit by a car crossing the street in San Francisco a few years later, there was a little ladybug crawling down the city sidewalk after I made it to safety across the street. Amazingness. 

And this happened the day before Mother's Day. She is everywhere. Here everyday.

Family History. Day Eight Begins

Now it's time to get serious. Family History.

My mom died when she was 50 years old.  Repeat 50. I was 21. That means I just had to deal with the 8th Mother's Day sans Mother and that ain't easy. She had Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis for fourteen years. "What is that," you ask? It's a super gnarly, degenerative disease that kills the muscle and nerve cells in her body, sends your dad over the edge into hard core drug abuse and basically destroys the whole family unity thing. When I was in 9th grade we had to have her admitted to a nursing home. So you know that whole hard decision about your parents going to a nursing home that most 40, 50 and 60 year old's can't handle?  Been there done that. In ninth grade. 

Back to ALS.  "What's the cause?" You ask. No one really knows.  Maybe living on a military base, maybe cigarettes, maybe cooking with foil, maybe diet soda of which she sucked back a case a day. Maybe just breathing in and eating all these terrible toxic poisons that around us everyday.  Seriously, no one really knows.

"Is there a cure?" Short answer. No.  Long answer, also no.

Moving on.

My fiance's Dad weighs 300+ pounds and has raging blood sugar levels, high blood pressure and of course, high cholesterol.  He puts about 1/4 inch of butter on any piece of bread/pita/tortialla he eats. When I gingerly mentioned maybe using a little less butter (I don't know how it happened, the words just came out of my mouth) he said, "You know, you get old and you die." With a chuckle.  Now that he's made it to 60 with a few minor heart attacks (nothing serious he says) he's outlived his father, his grandfather, his wife's father and grandfather and is apparently now old and will die.  Lovely.

Our time on this earth is short and we don't have the answer to how short. Or how long. But I want to make everyday a good one and be here for a long time.  I want my children (or dogs) to have old parents, I want us to be grandparents, or grand aunts and uncles.  I don't want anyone to die at 50 and I sure as hell don't want ALS, Cancer or Diabetes and the more research I do, the more I realize these diseases are environmental. So we're doing our part to stay away from the hazardous foods that cause these diseases.

Now my fiance wants to go see Forks Over Knifes. Victory. The higher his level of awareness is raised, the more knowledge he has about conventional meat, cheese and cancer and sugar and diabetes, the better off we are.  One day at a time. And today is a brand new day.

And on a side note: my dad went to rehab and just celebrated his 3rd year of sobriety. Talk about one day at a time, man.

Cleanse Gets Challenging...Days 5, 6, 7

I'm not going to lie.  Things with the cleanse have been rough.  I had a friend in from out of town an she, her mom and I were in the office, wine in tow, yelping vegetarian restaurants to have dinner at because I knew my fiance would not be able to handle ordering veg at a steak house.

We were perusing some Thai food options but I started to get worried. The oil, salt and fat content at restaurants is just too much and no good for cleansing. My friend had to wear a skimpy outfit in a few days at Bay to Breakers, her mom is trying to lose weight and I'm always pretty much watching it. I had suggested making dinner.  Enter: Viva La Resistance.

After Rumil arrived and made a cocktail, a second bottle of wine was opened and the clock was striking 7PM. I knew I had to act fast.  I just so happened to open a bag that had fresh asparagus and brussel sprouts fresh from the Farmer's Market! Fabulous! I had brought my brown rice along with my Mexican Brown Rice recipe that I had really been wanting to try.  My friend's mom had mentioned the night before she wanted to try brown rice so I thought this was the perfect opportunity. Then I was hit with: "Too much clean up." "Too much time." Enough with all that. 

After the sevenhundredmillionth time of requesting to make dinner, I made the executive decision.  Her mom ran to the market to get a few extra things and I got to prepping. As the rice was finishing up I did a quick blanch of the asparagus and brussel sprouts (separately) followed by about 4 heaping tablespoons of some bomb ass garlic mustard from Gilroy.  God Bless Gilroy.

I promised everyone that we would all have good weigh ins in the morning, especially since after the ladies and I had sushi Thursday each of experienced about a pound increase of weight.  I think we got a little crazy with the fruit and chili powder.  Mango is extremely high in sugar and not on the reducing program and the chili powder ingredients were listed in Spanish but I'm sure it was basically like spicy salt. I woke up to 126.5 pound weigh in. Stoked. Can't remember what Rumil's was, my friend never reported and her mom didn't respond to my text message of me wishing her a happy weigh in.  At least we ate in.

Saturday. We stayed the night in Coto and I was kind of rushed in the morning because I had to get from Coto to Irvine to Brea by 9:30 and had lost track of time. I had about 5 minutes to get ready at home so I quickly made an almond butter and banana sandwich.  If you know anything about almond butter you know fast and almond butter do not go hand in hand. 

Ran to my sister's, went to Heavenly Acres, a farm at a house in La Habra Heights ran by five siblings -the oldest being 18. My fiance stayed home and did homework and I arrived back at the house around noon.  We went to Mother's for lunch where I had the Yogi bowl (brown rice and steamed vegetables) and Rumil had vegan nachos. I'm not a fan of soy.  Fake cheese/meat/sour cream, whatever, is all soy. I thought a shot of wheat grass might help it down but the server never brought it.

Sunday.  My fiance's weight was up to 189. I didn't get on the scale which is weird for me. We slept in and went to his parents house for breakfast where we ate eggs.  I know this might not sound very good but for Rumil's middle eastern parents to be understanding that their very carnivorous son is avoiding meat and dairy is a really big deal. 

His uncle always goes vegan for Lent so I think that helped.  No sausage, no butter, no cheese.  That's pretty impressive for a meal at the parents.  We did have pita (whole wheat but I'm sure refined somehow, nonetheless) and some cilantro jalapeno hummus.

We shared a mango and some chopped veggies with red onion later that day for a snack. It looked like we were going to starve for dinner but then my FMIL called...HOMEMADE DOLMA'S??!?! SCORE!  Poor thing had been slaving in the kitchen since we had left at noon! Rumil stuck with the vegetarian dolmas which, again, is very impressive as these bad boys are extremely time consuming to make therefore only made a once or twice a year.

I was so psyched to go over there for dinner it inspired me to get everything ready for our lunch the next day.  Big huge enormous salad for Rumil, a ripe avocado for a sandwich (out of bananas), 2 kiwis, a Mercola Bar, and some Brackers (crunchy like crackers, filling like bread...raw foodie friendly made in Daly City by my Raw Food Mentor/RN Janice) along the way.

We had to have a serious heart to heart about the beer and liquor.  Seriously, it's just not working.
"Just 5 days, I begged." So now, the real cleanse begins.

Quick Salad Ideas...Cleanse Day Four

Quick Salad One:
lettuce
red onion
garlic
broccoli
tomato
cauliflower
cucumber
flax seed

Quick Salad Two:
chopped broccoli
red onion
cauliflower
hemp seed

Quick Salad Three:
celery and red bell peppers.

If you are a cheese eater, a little bit of fresh crumbled feta would be amazing on any of these, but you have to buy the real feta packed in water. I promise once you do, you will never go back to pre-crumbled feta. Ever.

I packed all of these up for my fiance today. I am so happy my fiance loves raw veggies.  He does, I swear, they just have to be rinsed, chopped and put in a pyrex with a reminder note for him to take them, but he does love them.

Almonds by keys, check. Mercola bar with almonds, check.

We are both sleeping soundly and he is still jumping out of bed. The fact that he was up and functional at 6 am two days in a row is a miracle. I just really hope he makes it through the day.

Planning, Preparing, and thoughts on Jucing

If there is one thing in addition to "lots of water today," I say over and over and over again to my clients, it's this: planning and preparing are your two biggest assets.  Like anything with life.  You don't just become a homeowner. You don't just lose weight. Your lunch doesn't just make itself.  You have to plan, prepare.

So my quick side note about preparing is to chop everything up in advance. I rinse and chop all my vegetables on Sunday and put them in a large container.  I rinse and spin my lettuce and store it right in the salad spinner lined with a paper towel. In the morning, since I am making my fiance's salad as well as mine, it's like a mini assembly line.  Grab the spinner, grab the chopped veggies, grab two pyrex and fill. Dash of Salad Sprinkle, dash of Cayenne, lids on and I'm out the door.

For this cleanse I entertained the idea of a juicer.  Okay, I'm just going to say it.  Forget the juicer. I don't have time for that in the morning, I already have a $500 blender, if we want a juice we can walk 3 blocks to Mother's and buy one from the juice bar. We like to eat.  We enjoy chewing.  I want all of the nutritional benefits from the whole fruit and vegetable therefore my vitamix does me just right.

I'm not knocking juicers. I love fresh vegetable juice, but 70-80% of the fruit and vegetable is discarded when removing fiber and skins. Organic produce is expensive.  Why waste it?

Vegetable Broth Recipe...Day Three of Cleanse

I knew my fiance was feeling an increase of energy when he bounced out of bed at 5:30 this morning. 

"I can't believe I have energy like this.  It's 6 in the morning and I feel amazing," he declared after he, quite literally, jumped out of bed.  Picture: me typing his comments on blackberry while he excitedly steps on the scale.

"ONEEIGHTYFIVEPOINTSEVEN?!"
"When was the last time you were there?" I ask.
"Never in my life.  I think I need to get on the Wii Fit.  I might have hit my goal. I may never eat meat again."  Music to my ears!

"How good does 185 look?" As he checks himself out in the mirror caressing his stomach, he says, "Energy and weight loss in one?!  You want coffee?"  If the man wants coffee, let him have it. Black of course. And water first which he poured himself this morning...unheard of as he is usually covering his head under the pillow trying to pretend like daylight hasn't come.

The energy is amazing, the weight loss is fabulous but his poop is funky. I had a nice solid movement at home but when I got to the office, holy smokes, I think I lost two more pounds! It feels so good to get all that backed up nastiness out of my body.  Nacho cheese Saturday, homemade macaroni Sunday. Mother's Day was crazier than our birthday party.

Rumil had so much energy he made my salad so I could do a quick rinse down and he even packed my pear in a little produce bag so it didn't get destroyed like yesterday's.  He offered to quickly heat me up some of my special homemade broth I made yesterday but I'd rather sip on it and have it be more of a ritual experience than gulp it down or worry about it spilling in my car.

I was really looking forward to a nice walk with Twiggy but after all that drama, I ate my half sandwich, we went on a quick jaunt through the hood and I got to work on my broth.  Lots of cilantro. Lots and lots of stems left over from the salsa I made for Cooking Club.  I would say that has been challenging (having it leftover) because it just goes so well with those organic tortilla chips from Costco. All I can think about when I look at the salsa is salty goodness, which many days is my afternoon snack.  While my broth was cooling I had some taco like romaine leaves that I used to dip in the salsa.  Again, close, but no dice.

Sip and Sweat Vegetable Broth:

All ingrdients are frozen vegetable "scraps."

Cabbage, chopped
Kale, torn with stem
Butternut Squash, cubed
Broccoli
Mushrooms
Bulb of Garlic, wacked
Jalapeno
Cayenne Pepper, Cumin, Mexican Seasoning/Italian Seasoning/Curry Powder, Fresh Cracked Pepper, Salt to taste. If you have fresh rosemary, thyme, cilantro, etc., throw that in there.

It really doesn't matter what vegetables you have. You can toss whatever you want into some filtered water...just enough to cover. Bring the water to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for at least one hour. It's amazing and I promise you will never buy store bought broth again. Ever.

Let's talk about sleeping.  Rumil fell right to sleep last night which is nothing short of a miracle. Between him flailing around like a salmon all night and Twiggy expecting pillow space, the sleep has not come easy. He's 6'3, I'm 5'8, Twiggy weighs 6lbs.  Put those 3 factors on a queen size bed and guess who gets pushed off? Me! Rumil is in the middle, Twiggy is in my spot and I'm hanging on for dear life kicking and pushing him back over to his side.

How can you wake up on the right side of the bed when you're sleep deprived so it is with much happiness that I can report both of us have slept through the night. Quite fantastic, see, Rumil has ADD (un-medicated) so he thinks the television or his iphone helps him fall to sleep. I always try to tell him that the television and phone continue to stimulate him but he says it helps him turn off the old noggin.  I say, say your prayers.  It's focus without stimulation and I always fall asleep mid prayer.

Trader Joe's Produce: A Shocking Dissapointment

Dear Trader Joe's Produce,

I don't love you.  Last night my fiance noticed the mango for our dessert was from a foreign country.  This morning I hastily picked off the "product of Chile" sticker on the kiwis (I don't want to hear it) and when I got to work I noticed my pear was from Argentina! Clearly this does not comply with my "Buy Fresh ~ Buy Local" mantra.

I don't want to mess around with my weekly organic produce delivery service because last time that happened I had 400 pieces of fruit and not a single vegetable.  Now I seem to be collecting white onions.  I usually shop at Mother's for supplemental fruits and vegetables between deliveries but I had to go cheap this time cause we needed lots. 

I almost passed out when I bought a 16oz can of raw almond butter for 5.99!  Flashback to Rainbow in SF where a 6oz jar will put you back 20 bucks.  That is more than the cost of the produce combined! I got out of TJ's with a 35 bill, 25 of which I paid for in 1's since I was the big winner of LRC at Saturday night's cooking club.

For lunch today I had a salad.  I knew I was going to miss the feta so I was sure to grab my Kale in a Krunch Cheesiyes for some added flavor. If you asked Rumil what those were, he wouldn't know.  For one, they are expensive, and for two, he'll swallow them whole. Other than the addition of the kale chips it was the typical vegetable chop salad: cauliflower, cucumber, tomato on a bed of green lettuce (produce box) with a dash of Salad Sprinkle by Frontier and Bragg's Ginger and Sesame Dressing. 

I'm not going to lie, it was not the best but I am full.  Oh, how could I forget the white onion and garlic I threw in there for added measure.  My favorite part was eating the little pieces of tomato with tiny pieces of minced garlic while imagining I was eating a Caprese Salad on a beach somewhere with a glass of Albarino.  Close, but no dice.

Needless to say I am super psyched to get to Heavenly Acres, a family owned and operated, pesticide/chemical free, organic farm in La Habra Heights this Saturday with my sis and niece.  You place your order by Friday at noon and the children (age 7-17) pick it the next morning while the bread bakes in the oven.  They say they're not slaves.  They like the work.

In the Name of Humanity

So last night's dinner of raw zucchini pasta with cilantro pesto along with cilantro pesto stuffed mushrooms (dehydrated for 30 minutes...time was not of the essence) was a huge success!  It was rich and we both ate it up.  I prefer to use a very small bowl while the size of Rumil's is about 4 times bigger, but hey, at least he's filling up on veggies, nuts and fruits instead of (insert whatever crazy meat/cheese concoction you can think of here). 

I should just briefly mention here that I do make him a salad everyday for lunch, along with a Mercola Bar and a jar of almonds right. Beyond that I'm not sure what he was eating as he goes from work straight to school.  He was making sandwiches, but after watching Food Inc. he went on a rampage and threw everything out.

My curiosity got the best of me and I inquired last week about what he had been doing instead of making sandwiches.  His response was much to my dismay: "Yesterday I got a chicken enchilada from Ralph's."  Really?  Just stop.

This is when I try to refrain from getting on my soap box.  Ralph's?  Meat from Ralph's?  The prepared food section from Ralph's?  I can't. I just can't.  I started on my, "This is about raising our level of awareness" tirade but knowing the cleanse was around the corner I opted for http://www.zipit.com/ instead.  What was I thinking?  Why did it take me so long to wonder what the heck he was eating? I do this for a living! Breathe.

I woke up quite hungry this morning which means I am definitely eating less at dinner.  I'm sticking with my usual lemon water with cayenne pepper before I have my pear and almonds. I feel much better now that I have been to the market and I'm really looking forward to an almond butter, banana and celery sandwich on Ezekiel's sprouted multi-grain bread with a dash of cinnamon when I get home.

My fiance and I are coming out of our Birthday Month, Easter, Cooking Club (build your own nachos...think nacho cheese/chili/jalapeno poppers wrapped in bacon - my friends were nice enough to make some non-bacon-wrapped ones for me) and Mother's Day. Think Loosey Juicey and pork tenderloin, so we're aware it's going to take some time to clean out the system.

We have some very nice, fresh eggs that I bought from the Farmer's Market of which we still have a few left. The farmer showed my sister pictures of his chickens roaming around so they cost a pretty penny, but it's in the name of humanity. I wanted to take them to the neighbor's (no, we don't know them) or to Rumil's office manager, but he would like to have them for breakfast.

Again, I thought we were doing a vegan cleanse and he doesn't think eggs qualify as meat or dairy.

Fiance's First Cleanse: Day One

My fiance survived day one of his first cleanse and I was so unprepared as far as groceries are concerned. Somehow I pulled it together. I think the difference being a chef and a baker is following directions. I have a knack for being able to pull together a shmorgish board of ingredients and making something fabulous.

As my version of cleanse and his version are a little different so were our diets before we began. I have been a vegetarian since 2004 and he was eating Mc Donald's until we met in 2009. So when I got home today and he was drinking a beer, I was a bit thrown off.

"Are you drinking a beer?"  I asked, perplexed. 
"Yes."  He answers just as confused.
"We're cleansing."  I said.
And that's when he lost it..."FROM ALCOHOL?! I thought it was just dairy and meat?  15 days with no alcohol, babe?"

Isn't that what a cleanse is?  I digress.  Let him have the cake on this one.  At least he's off dairy, meat, flour and refined sugar for awhile. Note: I never mentioned "raw cleanse" or "vegan cleanse."  Those words are scary to a meat eater.  I understand that. In my mind, we're on a raw cleanse.  In his mind, he's not eating meat or dairy. Thus his confusion on why I insisted we leave our organic tortilla chips at our friend's house the night of the cooking club.

I had come across Heal Yourself in 15 Days on Naturalnews.com so I read all of the articles and decided it was time for some spring cleaning...or as I like to call it, Getting right with Jesus.

I hope you can understand my excitement (delightment?) and sheer love for my fiance when he agreed to do the cleanse with me. He survived meat and cheese cravings, wanting to dig his teeth into something nasty and bam!  Day. One. Done.