Breathing space...

Last night my booja chocolates kept me awake - arrghh! I am so sensitive to caffeine. So the new rule is no chocolate after dinner. I might have to start investigating decent carob recipes and products - anyone have any suggestions??

Feeling somewhat down this morning and i find i'm craving something soothing, creamy and sweet.

So heres my...

Creamy Cacao, Pollen Breakfast Smoothie 1 Banana 2-3 (soaked) dried dates. If you don't soak the dates you'll end up with bits. The soaking may also activate enzymes. 1 cup - 1 1/2 cold water, 1/2 cup ice (or to taste) 2 tbsp pecan butter or 1/4 cup pecans if you have a vitamix blender 1 tbsp ground flax seeds 1 tbsp hemp protein 1 1/2 tbsp cacao nibs 1 tsp bee pollen (test for allergy before first-time use, 1 grain under the tongue) Few drops natural Vanilla essence Add ingredients to blender and zoom! Oh btw if you don't have the best blender in the world add only 1/2 cup water at the start so all the 'bits' get processed then add the rest of the water/ice at the end. (adapted from Chocolate Almond smoothie in the 'Thrive diet' book)

Supplements: The usual suspects
Exercise so far - Wonderfully refreshing dog walk
Tea: Nettle, Yerba Mate, Mint.

Lunch:

Large salad: mixed green leaves, broccoli, red pepper, spring onion, walnuts, pumpkin seeds. Balsamic honey dressing. Mixed bean salad, mint dressing

I just had the most amazing shamanic mentoring session over the phone with Catherine Maguire. I totally recommend her!! More about this juiciness when its ripe!

Dinner: Not feeling very hungry. 1 cup salt/pepper crisps, 1/4 scoop vega, 1/2 oat apple Raw bar.

Excercise: Dog walk number 2.

What a good day, the sun blazed in a periwinkle sky and my garden is starting to come together. I haven't planted as much produce as i wanted to but i am please with the progress i have made. Especially since I moved and totally redesigned the borders. The roses are looking especialy beautiful, even the rocket and packchoy flowers look lovely; they totally bolted with the hot weather. Luckily i also planted lots of salad crops in the shade, you never can tell with the British summer which will be the better planting plan;sun or shade.



I also found the energy to do a bit of house work, and there are a few new beads in the kiln. I am please that only have one more bead from yesterdays batch still to post in my shop as the cleaning and processing are my least favorite parts of flameworking.

Oh and i found time to meditate - dang I'm good ;D

More pigging out - i think? I feel stuffed maybe i'm still eating to fast or the candida that flared up after the juice F'ast is causing this bunged up feeling. I've uped my probiotics, and i'm thinking of trying Soil based organisms (which is a fascinating subject). Until the juice thing i hadn't had a problem with candida for a really long time, i've really upset my body drinking so much fruit juice.

The raw breakfast went down well and i felt satisfied but light for a long time. I'll have to jig the recipe slightly tomorrow to intensify the flavour but the texture was great. The raw pancake was much lighter than expected, it looked much denser than it tasted.

I'm still interested in being a nutritionist/raw food coach/teacher so I'm working on giving that vision substance. To that end my short term goal is to try as many Raw breakfasts as  i can. If i have time I'll try and share this culinary adventure.

The last few days i have been feeling somewhat pissed of with the juice f'ast that i took part in. My thinking was somewhat down the lines " i didn't detox, didn't lose weight, and now i can't even stick to my raw diet; which had been going sooo well" *sulk*.

Well duh, I just realized that it's not the fault of the juice f'ast. Get this. During the juice fast i found myself with loads more energy, so i started some major DIY projects that i'd been putting of for years due to ill health and fatigue. So the f'ast finished but the DIY didn't. I still had allot of energy but not quite as much, but more importantly all the things that i'd put on hold (posting/making beads, laundry etc) had stacked up, and i was suddenly trying to do twice as much as before. Also i was not finding the time to make proper raw food meals - and i wonder why my body suddenly rebeled when put on a constant diet of salad.

So i'm glad i got to the bottom of that one. It gave me the will power to have my green juice first thing, my bowl of fruit for breakfast and i have promised myself a completely moreish and filling lunch; something like Sunflower seed beet pizza. Plus i will spend the day tidying and returning order to my disrupted life.

I slipped up and ate 5, yes, apple fritters with maple syrup. The saving grace of this was that they were made with spelt flour and not ordinary wheat. Still, not good. This morning, before i was fully awake, i was experiencing acid burn in my joints - balls! - I'd almost forgotten what that was like.

I'm desperate to get my hands on a Vita-mix blender.... and so i'm thinking of blowing the budget out of the water again. Feeling guilty just for considering it. The problem is that you really cant eat Raw creatively without some hefty investment.