Kombucha Diva's Blog

Raw Vegan Fat Free Eggplant Chips!

2012-01-25T14:33:00.000-08:00

Wow, this is an easy one, and a classic, too! It gets passed around the raw food forums often and its popularity rises with each new flavor "tweak". However, I'm going to give you the basics, and you can tweak to your heart's content! I make this recipe especially for my young kids and they love it!

These are amazingly simple crunchy little snacks that will give you the crisp of a potato chip in an oil free, potato free, and totally guilt free mouthful. You need only two ingredients: eggplant and apple cider vinegar.

Slice your eggplant thinly, and I mean THIN! A couple of centimeters is good; it doesn't have to be like paper, but the thinner, the better. Lay them out on a glass pan and give them a good soak in ACV. Now, if you like, you can add other herbs and seasoning to the ACV before you pour it on. Nutritional yeast, spice blends like mexican or curry, garlic powder, chipotle powder...if you like it, add it in. But the basic recipe makes a great salt and vinegar style chip. Adding salt is definitely optional and not recommended. The ACV has a great sweet and salty flavor, but a dash of Braggs Liquid Aminos will add a little more depth.

Soak these for at least a few hours or as long as you can, and then dehydrate overnight in your dehydrator or oven on the lowest setting with the door cracked open. I put mine to dehydrate around 7 pm and turn them off around 10 in the morning, but my dehydrator doesn't have a heat dial, so you can experiment at home. The great thing about these is your can't over-dehydrate- the longer you let them go, the more Pringles-esque they become!

I've only used the larger Mediterranean eggplants, so I do not know how an Asian eggplant will fare. It might be better, or it might not work at all! If you try it that way, be sure to post your results!

Congratulations, Giveaway Winners!

2012-01-24T12:46:00.000-08:00

Congrats to both of our winners! Your packages will be sent out ASAP!

If you haven't been notified at this point, I'm happy to tell you that you'll have another chance to win a new prize shortly. In the meantime, keep an eye on this blog through Facebook and Twitter to be the first to know about new giveaways, as well as important news in holistic health, nutrition, and herbal medicine!

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Mono Banana Diet? Raw Vegan Banana Island!

2012-01-22T21:25:00.000-08:00

Sounds crazy, right? Who in their right mind would eat nothing but bananas?

People who want to lose weight, detox, and kill junk food cravings!

Mono fruit diets are an amazing way to give your body a chance to catch up with all the poison it's been carrying around for years! This isn't pseudoscience- every day, your body is exposed to toxins, from inevitable chem trails from overhead planes, to avoidable like pesticides on food and chemicals in shampoos. Your body does have a wonderfully complex and capable system of detoxification and elimination for naturally occurring toxins, but when it comes to the man made toxins it simply throws it's hands up in frustration and resorts to storing this sludge in your fat cells. For years.

Going on a mono diet can give your digestive system and well deserved break, giving your body a chance to play catch up with all the gunk caught up in your gears, so to speak. The average American is carrying literal pounds of fecal matter in their intestines, and eating a pure fruit diet will help to loosen up the debris and carry a lot of it out.

When you eat one food and one food only, it really gives your taste buds time to think. In our modern culture, we thrive on thrill, and we jump from one food to the next looking for a new, flavorful pizzazz to hit our tongue, even in the span of one meal! Appetizers, side dishes, main course, dessert...all of it adds up to over-stimulation in the brain, and one big check that your digestive system simply can't cash. The human stomach was not designed to properly digest thirty different ingredients at once! By eating one nourishing food for several days at a time, you'll be re-training your tongue to recognize chemical additives and so-called "natural flavors" for what they are-nasty!- and letting your digestive system play it safe with just one ingredient, which can go a long way to healing a multitude of stomach and digestive symptoms.

Best of all, when you choose to mono a moderate to high calorie, high nutrition fruit like bananas, you can rest easy knowing you'll be meeting your basic needs for maintaining energy and health. Unlike strict water fasting or low calorie cleanses, you can safely eat as much as you like. In fact, you can eat as much as you can! It's nothing to eat 20 bananas in a day, and an adult woman would just barely have her caloric needs met, depending on the size of the bananas and her activity levels! Since bananas are low water, high calorie fruits with loads of fiber, you'll never be able to overeat. This can be an incredible healing journey for those who struggle with distorted eating patterns and fear of food. No need to count calories- count bananas to make sure you're eating enough!

A mono diet is one of the best compliments to a full body cleanse. If you are taking a pre-packaged cleanse like those from Dr Natura, or the simple herbal liver healing or gentle detoxification tea blends I create, a mono fruit diet is one of the best things you can do to ensure your cleanse gets as deep as possible. Lighten the load on your body and let it heal!

After some time passes, you'll want to increase your consumption of greens and other fruits, but while you're in the detoxification stage, you'll be drawing on your own stores of fat, B12, and other nutrients, so there's no need to worry about "building up" while your bod is in the process of "breaking down" a lifetime of illness and improper treatment. There are "banana island" support groups on raw vegan websites all over, so find a couple of people to share your experience with and let go of your fear of achieving true health!

Worried about what to eat after your cleanse? Or troubled by the sheer amount of herbal detoxes and supplements out there? I do offer private consultations as a certified Nutritional Consultant and Master Herbalist, so if you can't find help in your area, I would love to help you reach your health goals.

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Giveaway ends TONIGHT! Enter to win Herbal Baby Care Breastfeeding Balm!

2012-01-22T09:08:00.000-08:00

Don't forget to enter here! It's super simple, and you could WIN one of these:

My 100% Natural Breastfeeding Nipple Cream and Infant Care Balm! Two winners will be selected to win either a full size container or a sampler size! Here's the link!

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GIVEAWAY Starts NOW! Natural Mommy and Baby Care Product!

2012-01-15T14:53:00.000-08:00

The new giveaway has finally come, and I've got a brand new line of handcrafted natural shea butter and Caledula breastfeeding nipple cream and infant skin care salve! So, to spread the news, I'm giving away a full size right here, right now! This giveaway starts today, Sunday, January 15th, 2012 and ends in one week on Sunday, January 22, 2012 at 11:59 pm.

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

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Formulated specifically for breastfeeding mothers, this brand new, freshly poured product contains only 4 ingredients and contains NO concentrated essential oils and NO preservatives.

This unique formula is 50% luscious, pure Shea Butter from Ghana, an incredibly moisturizing nut butter that can help to improve or even eliminate dry, cracked nipples. The Shea Butter is melted down with Organic Coconut Butter which not only provides additional skin-softening and healing qualities, but also contains Caprylic Acid which helps to combat yeast infections such as thrush and other forms of candida.

This creamy butter base is mixed with bright yellow Calendula blossoms slow infused for months in extra virgin olive oil and strained, giving this cream it's sunny hue. Calendula is a safe, common herb and one of the most popular choices for topical healing. These three ingredients are set into a soft cream with small amounts of natural beeswax, only half as much as a standard salve to ensure easy spreadability and softening on contact so you don't have to rub your sore nipples any more than you have to!

In addition to acting as a powerful nipple soother and protectant, your New Mother's Nipple Cream also acts as a wonderful healing balm for your baby, as well! Use it for dry skin, diaper rash, and even cuts and scrapes for your older children. This super concentrated formula takes just a tiny amount and will last you a VERY long time. Remember to keep it in the fridge in hot weather!

I make my formulas one batch at a time to ensure top quality- no one wants an herbal product that's been sitting on the shelf for years! They make wonderful gifts for baby showers, baby blessings, or any holiday present for a breastfeeding Mommy. It will be the one gift she is thankful for the most! I've breastfed two babies years ago and I wish I'd had something like this on hand, and I think any breastfeeding Mommy will agree!

Ingredients: 100% pure Shea Butter from Ghana, Olive Oil infused with Calendula Blossoms, Organic Coconut Butter, Natural Beeswax

As a certified Master Herbalist, my herbal creations are the result of both research and intuition, and every single item is blended, tinctured, pressed, infused, and packaged by hand in tiny batches to ensure a high quality product.
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TWO WINNERS WILL BE CHOSEN! In the second picture, you can see one full size and one sample size white cosmetic tubs. In addition to one winner, one runner up winner will be chosen to win the sample size, as well.

HOW TO ENTER: You can enter up to three times.

1. Like "Morning Star Apothecary" on Facebook and leave a quick note on the giveaway post. Share with your friends and family- everyone knows someone who can use FREE stuff!

2. Become a public follower of this blog. It's easy, just click the "Follow" button to the right ---->
Leave a quick comment on this post to let me know that you're a follower.

3. Follow me on Twitter @kombuchadiva. Re-tweet for your friends and family!

Not only will you be entering to win, but you'll be the first to know about future giveaways, and be able to keep up on the latest tips on living a TRUE whole foods, natural lifestyle!

Pics of INSANE Raw Food Shopping Deals and Bargains!

2012-01-13T09:28:00.000-08:00

I had a comment on an older entry a little while ago asking me specifically where to shop for deals. Now, this comment came from my area, so anyone outside the Sacramento area will have much different results, but the point is, no matter where you live, there are likely steep discounts hiding right around the corner from you. Here is a list of the most common ways I've found to buy fruits and vegetables for rock bottom prices.

Check ALL of your local grocery chains. Out of several we have here, including Raley's, Safeway, and BelAir, Save Mart is the only company that discounts in my area (to my knowledge). Out of the SaveMarts in Sacramento, and there are many, only three that I know of discount enough perishables to warrant regular trips. So, if you're in an area with a SaveMart, make a few trips at different times of the day/different days of the week to see they've marked anything down. This might sound like a time and gas-waster, but time them with other errands. I'm taking my kids to their Grandmother's house later today, and there just happens to be an out of the way SaveMart less then a mile away. On the way home, I'll make a 5 minute stop inside and grab whatever's been stickered. If there's nothing, no gas wasted, and if there's a haul waiting for you, you'll be able to stock up! Not only am I able to buy bananas and greens this way on a semi-regular basis, I'm also able to pick up healthy vegan items for my non-raw family, like the portabello mushrooms here:

The organic iceberg lettuce in the picture leads me to me next topic: local ethnic markets! I have two in my area that I visit regularly. One is Eastern European/Russian in focus, and the other is Middle Eastern/Ethiopian. At both of them I can regularly find discounted fruits and vegetables. I picked up this organic head of lettuce for 50 cents last week! Within the last month I've gotten a box of large mangoes for $6.00, manila mangoes for 50 cents apiece, local oranges for 39 cents a pound, a 5 pound box of grapes for 4.99, and medium RIPE pineapples for $1.50. That's off the top of my head. These places are tiny, and tucked away in smaller neighborhoods or located just off of main streets. Your best bet is to hit Yelp or another online city search and make a list of places to visit when you've in the area. You'll know a good shop when you see one. Both of mine keep huge bins of fruit outside that line the entire front of the shop.

Next up: dollar stores! In my area, we have two chains, Dollar Tree, and 99 Cents Only. Dollar Tree has limited food and only stocks boxed and canned good for the most part, but 99 Cents Only is a gold mine for raw food vegans. I routinely, and I mean at least every 2 weeks, find deals like this:

Everything here was 99 cents each. They buy these in cases overstocked from local grocers who need to sell off their lettuce before it goes bad to make a profit, and 99 Cents Only buys them up and sells them for a buck! I can get organic greens of all kinds, including pre-washed salads like these, or 3 packs of organic romaine as of this week. Other non-organic produce includes 50 cent cucumbers, banana 5 packs, 2 pound bags of carrots, cabbage heads, and fresh or frozen berries. Since they buy up deals and not by demand, the supply isn't regular, so try to go weekly and buy up what you can.

Another way to go is discount outlet shops. We have several in our area including Big Lots! and Grocery Outlet. Grocery Outlet is by far my favorite, and I found an insane, rock bottom deal there last week that was so great I bought 5 cases:

Larabars are amazing transition foods or occasional treats for low fat raw vegans. They are made with nuts and fruit- and that's it. This particular variety is made with raisins, dates, walnuts, pecans, and cinnamon. Each case has 16 bars, which sell for about $1.50 each at places where they are sold such as Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. My frugal blog readers, I purchased these for $1.99 a case. No. Joke. They make perfect additions to my son's lunchbox, and even a treat for me! Since they only contain fruit and nuts, they're great for emergencies when you aren't able to find ripe fruit, like hiking, camping, long car trips, etc.

In addition, one of the Grocery Outlets in my area has a discount fruit rack. This week I was able to purchase two 5 pound bags of apples for just $1.99 each. But even at locations without the discount rack, they have a produce section with good deals on fruit regularly.

I hope this post has given you some leads on how to get started on discount shopping in your area. Keep watching for more raw food shopping hauls, an upcoming handcrafted herbal giveaway especially for breastfeeding Mommies, and more fruity adventures!

Juice Feast: Final Day

2011-12-24T19:58:00.000-08:00

Holy crap...it's over!

I'm drinking a cucmber-cilantro-carrot-coconut water juice while I write this. It's intense, to say the least. I've eaten more cucumbers in this last 9 days than I normally do in the span of 2 months. The cost of eating this way was completely manageable for a short term feast. Since many of the staples are on sale during the holidays, like celery, apples and cucumbers, it was a good time for it. Doubly so since the holidays are also accompanied by immune system destroying "treats" loaded with sugar and flour...it's no wonder they call it the flu season!

I started adding some of the pulp back into my drinks today, and my Christmas feast will consist of two varieties of mango- one of my absolute FAVE fruits! So, we made it to the end of the feast, but we're far from done with our holiday cleanse. Tomorrow we begin mono mealing water rich fruits until digestion is back to normal. Never break your feasts or fasts with heavy cooked foods! Start with orange juice with all the pulp retained, and move on to mono meals of mangoes, grapes, and other water rich fruits. After digestion resumes normally, add back in the bananas and dates! Instead of eating my greens, I am going to continue juicing them in the evening indefinitely. I am able to get in an insane amount of greens, and I like to eat several ounces and sometimes even a pound of them daily. With a green juice, I can be sure to get all the minerals and amino acids I need, even on the days when a green smoothie or a salad doesn't happen for me.

Next week I've got plans to visit The Green Boheme here in Sacramento to finally add some overt fats back into my diet. Interestingly enough, my nutritional scores on Cron-O-Meter showed I got plenty of essential fatty acids from my juice feast. Don't forget that fruits and vegetables contain trace amounts of fat, so it wasn't a fat free challenge, it was an overt-free challenge. I'm looking forward to having a nice raw gourmet dish with some soaked nuts and seeds!

Let's talk about what's changed for me since the beginning of the feast. At the top of my list of improvements is my teeth. I had a tooth that was really starting to hurt, and it gave me trouble on a daily basis. I'm very happy to report that I have felt no pain from the area since the second day of my juice feast, despite consuming plenty of fresh squeezed fruit juices. I've also noticeably lost inches all over my body, especially in my midsection. I've slept very well, and I feel...remineralized. I don't feel as intense of a pull towards greens and vegetables, and while I'm not sick of them by any means, I don't crave them nearly as much. I feel as though I've gotten a good dose of healing overall, and I know I've detoxed plenty. However, I can feel my true appetite breaking through the fog of emotional and habitual hunger, and it's time to start adding whole fruits and vegetables back in. My interest in holiday foods and even cooked vegan foods has diminished drastically. I just want to chew on some romaine, eat some raw tomatoes, and I'm really excited to eventually start eating off of my big bulk order of local organic Bautista dates I've got in the refrigerator.

Also, remember that big pile of unripe bananas? Check this out:

They're waiting for me!

Juice Feast: Days 5 and 6!

2011-12-23T09:53:00.000-08:00

I'm sipping on an apple-cucumber-celery-ginger juice as I'm writing this. Day 5 was not so fun. I'm having a hard time letting myself rest, and I keep getting frustrated with how little I'm accomplishing. I'm supposed to be letting my body heal, but the urge to "get stuff done" is strong. I completed about 35 minutes of weight training yesterday, which was fun, but my moods are a little erratic and the weird fuzziness in my mouth is now full fledged ick, and tastes bad. Brushing definitely helps.

Today was much better. I woke up feeling weird in my midsection, and I rubbed my stomach and found that any and all bloating and irritation in my digestive system is gone, and my stomach was MEGA flat. What a nice way to start the day. My clothes fit so much better. I don't have a huge amount of weight to lose like some people who do juice feasts, but I'm seeing a lot of water retention disappear rapidly, as well as any candida-caused tummy puffiness. I'm not using a scale for this feast because I'm not here to lose weight, I'm here to detoxify my body, but the good news is that excess weight is just a symptom that can usually be easily cleared up by detoxification. So, it's a win-win.

I spent 4 hours today grocery shopping for myself and my family, and not once did I feel pangs of hunger. I shop at a lot of discount markets where they sell some of the most horrific poison ever deemed safe for consumption, so it's always being shoved in my face at every endcap, but willpower is ALWAYS stronger when the body is filled with mineral-rich foods. That's why I always recommend green smoothie to all my clients, even the ones who aren't interested in raw foods. I drank 36 ounces of orange juice before I left, and made myself another juice when I got home. There's always Jamba Juice if I get stuck somewhere. They can make orange and carrot juice, as well as wheatgrass shots, although I'm already over halfway finished with my feast, so I don't really have to worry about it much longer. I'm really happy with how things are moving along, and I'm so happy that I decided to do this.

Juice Feast: Days 3 and 4 with Pics!

2011-12-20T09:55:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how fast the time is passing! Today is day 5, and there's only 5 more days until Christmas!

Day 3 was by far the best day yet. I was at a holiday cookie party all afternoon, which normally would have been a nightmare, but I brought two huge jars full of mineral-rich juice and kept my tummy full the entire time. It's amazing how satiating the juice is, and my body seems to really like it!

Day 4 is where things started to shift for me. Yesterday I had a burst of energy in the morning, followed by a general tiredness that washed over me in the afternoon. By evening, I was pretty listless, and tried watching a movie, but it wasn't as good as I'd thought it would be (The Change Up) and it ended up making my mood worse. I gave myself a short Reiki session after everyone had gone to bed, and that helped my mood a lot, and I slept through the night for the first time in a long time.

I've got an icky taste in my mouth and a fuzziness on my tongue that won't go away. Completely normal, but still slightly unpleasant. I'm also experiencing a resurfacing of various memories that, while not forgotten, aren't ones I think about commonly, and these memories are accompanied by strong surges of emotion that run the gamut between joy and sorrow. I let these come, and acknowledge them. Detoxification happens on all levels, and I'm happy that I've done this before, because I'm better equipped to deal with a wide variety of possibilities.

Today is day 5, and even though I slept well and my body feels awake, I still feel listless, and I don't really want to do anything. I made scrambled tofu for my kids as a treat, and it wasn't the least bit appetizing, so if you're worried about your willpower on a juice feast, I'm happy to report that both times I've juice feasted I was amazed at just how awful cooked food starts to smell and look after a few days. Though, I sometimes sit and think about all the fruit I'm going to tear through when I'm back in the land of the eating. I'm planning on having a juice for breakfast on Christmas, a green smoothie for lunch, and either a juice or another green smoothie for dinner, and starting mono mealing fruit the day after. I was planning on ordering a take out meal from The Green Boheme, but I think that even raw gourmet would definitely be too much for my stomach after 10 days of juice only. However, I have BIG PLANS to hit them up the week after Christmas and have a nice dinner!

I haven't been exercising since I started the juice feast, and I'm feeling like it's time I should. I miss it, and my body is asking for it, so since I'm taking in plenty of calories I'll indulge in some seriously fun rebounding this morning! Rebounding is one of the best exercises you can do, especially during a cleanse, because the motion encourages detoxification all the way down to the cellular level.

How about some pictures? This was one of my first meals: a bag of organic baby carrots I snagged for 60 cents, a large cucumber, a couple cups of grapes, and an entire bag of romaine lettuce. Romaine tastes very romaine-y, just so you know.

This is breakfast on day 3: 5 apples, a large cucumber, 1 head of celery, and half a bunch of kale.

Today I'm going to try and get something done. I played about 5 hours of Skyrim yesterday and defeated The Wolf Queen, so here's hoping I can achieve something similar in the real world today :)

Juice Feast: Days 1 and 2 + Menu!

2011-12-17T14:25:00.000-08:00

Right now, it's early afternoon on day two, and I'm sipping on this:

That is a juice made from green grapes, celery, cucumbers, and several ounces of local cilantro I got at the farmer's market this morning. It was SO GREEN I had to take a picture of it! Making juice has actually been pretty simple. It's not as much of a chore to juice with the Vitamix and a strainer bag, since I only have to wash the bag and the pitcher when I'm done, and I don't need to break down a whole juicer several times a day. However, after this morning's juice, I'm going to use my citrus juicer for my oranges from now on. Orange pulp doesn't work very well with the juicing bag.

I'm feeling better today, but yesterday was not so great. I usually have either a green juice or an orange juice for breakfast, so my body didn't get the whole "juice feasting" memo until halfway through the day, and by evening, I was feeling fuzzy around the edges and I was tired a lot earlier than normal. Went to bed at 9:30 and slept until 7:30 this morning. I went out to the farmer's market and got 3 huge bunches of cilantro about the size of my five year old's head, a big bunch of kale, a big bunch of yellow chard, 3 heads of celery, 6 pounds of carrots, and 20 pounds of oranges. Add to that my stash of cucumbers and apples at home, and I should be good for another few days.

This really isn't that hard. With some other fasts and cleanses, hunger is a big stumbling block, but I feel so full of juice all the time that I'm not craving anything else. My Cron O Meter nutrient scores are unbelievable. I get more nutrition by lunchtime than I was getting in a whole day before, and I was getting some pretty high scores even then.My high mineral intake is knocking cravings right out of the park.

Here's what I ate yesterday:
3 large cucumbers
10 apples
1 fennel bulb
2 cups green grapes
2 pounds carrots
2 small romaine heads
5 ounces baby spinach
4 stalks celery

I'm eating three meals a day, and each meal is roughly 500 calories worth of produce, so there's no chance I'm even close to starving myself. In fact I actually went a little bit over Cron O Meter's caloric intake recommendation yesterday. Win.

For those of you interesting in planning out a full cleansing schedule, here's mine. It might change over time as my needs change, but my overall framework goes something like this:

Wake up: Big glass of water with black walnut hull tincture (parasites)

1 hour later: Psyllium husk powder and Bentonite clay shake (colon cleanse)

10 am: 1 + quarts of juice

In between meals: herbal infusion made with herbs to support blood, lymph, kidney and liver cleansing

2 pm: 1 + quarts of juice

In between: more herbal tea

6 pm: 1 + quarts of juice

Before bed: 2 ounces of Aloe juice in water

I'm also drinking purified water throughout the day. It might seem like overdoing it, but it's actually very important to keep drinking plenty of water even though everything I'm eating has been juiced.

With day 2 halfway over, I'm feeling pretty confident about my ability to continue until Christmas Day. However, if I remember correctly, it wasn't until day 4 or 5 before I started to get into some deep cell detox, so I'm going to enjoy this easy going feeling while it lasts and get some more holiday presents put together.

Starting A New Juice Feast!

2011-12-15T09:40:00.000-08:00

Let's be honest- sometimes, in the winter, if you're not careful, you can end up a with a lot of unripe fruit and a dwindling supply of ripe ones to eat NOW. From December to about March, bananas take forever to get nice and spotty, and popular winter fruits like oranges and persimmons can sit for weeks before ready for consumption. Right now, I'm dealing with this:

A whole pile of bananas that won't be ripe for several days. What happens when the happy frugivore doesn't have perfectly ripened fruit? In this case, I take it as an opportunity to let my body do a little house cleaning, and get ready for the green juice paradise that is a Juice Feast!

Well, it's been so long that I think my first juice feast was one of my very first series on this blog! I believe it happened in September 2009, but it might have been 2010. It's been too long is the point! So, since cucumbers are on sale this week at 4 for $1.00, I've decided to start on a juice feast tomorrow that will take me all the way to Christmas Day.

I'm sure most of you have already read about or even tried a juice FEAST, but for anyone out of the loop, it's a way to completely detoxify and re-energize your body without fasting or giving up all of your daily activities, like one would have to do on a water fast. Since I'm going to be using my Vitamix and strainer bag to make awesome veggie, leafy green, and fruit juices three times a day at a minimum of 500 calories each, I'm going to be getting plenty of calories so I can keep up with my life and still get all the benefits of fasting. Hence, juice feasting!

If you've never done one, you just can't imagine the wonderful, tingly feeling of getting such a huge dose of chlorophyll (sunlight!), vitamins, minerals, phytonutrients, amino acids, EFAs, and everything else your body needs in one sip. Instead of making your digestive system work for those precious nutrients, let's give that hard working system a well deserved break. By juicing all of your food and doing all the digestive work before even swallowing your meals, your body is given the gift of time, and your body, as smart as the rest of nature, knows just what to do with this free time: clean out all the years of backed up junk you shoved into it.

Juice feasts can last a week, a day, or up to three months. There's no fear of starvation because in a juice feast you consume plenty of calories and get far more nutrients than you ever would by chewing your food.

So, what happens to all those pesticides, herbicides, sprays, chemtrail residues, food additives, dyes, makeup chemicals, air freshener hormone disruptors, and the like, all of which is trapped inside your body? During a juice feast, they are unearthed from your body and given the old heave-ho, and they come out whichever way is easier for your body at the time. Toxins can come out through your sweat, your eliminations, urine, mucous...and since the colon is an important area of elimination, it needs special attention on a juice feast. Most juice feast consultants will advise a series of enemas or colonic irrigation appointments, and that is a very efficient method. However, for short juice feasts or for those who just don't have the cash for a series of holistic treatments but still want to detoxify, you can substitute with an at home colon cleanse. Many companies make them, and my favorite, as always, is Dr. Natura's Colonix and Toxinout programs. These kits provide everything you'll need for a whole month!

This is just the juice feast introductory post! Over the next week and a half, I'll be sharing with you my daily juice feasting schedule, my personally designed program (based on my own individual needs, so no copying!), additional things I may be taking, and the good (and bad) juice recipes I come up with. If you want to see what happens and start planning for your own juicing journey, don't forget to subscribe and follow on Facebook and Twitter!

Fresh Raw Green Juice- Minus the Juicer!

2011-12-10T16:39:00.000-08:00

Who says you need a super expensive high powered juicer to enjoy the amazing simplicity of fresh veggie juice? I certainly don't, and since I'm all about saving as much money as possible, I use my blender! You'll need a high powered blender, one that can purify raw vegetables and fruits such as the Vitamix, which is what I have, but there are other options. My Vitamix is by far the most useful machine I've ever purchased, as well as the hardiest. I've been putting it through misery on a daily basis, sometimes twice a day, and it's never disappointed me yet!

You'll also need a good strainer bag made for raw foodists, such as a juice feast bag or a large nut mylk bag. I use this one, and at only 6 bucks, it's been a great investment.

This gorgeous green juice was made in a blender, not a juicer, and contains carrots, parsley, celery, romaine, and ginger root. I simply threw everything in the blender, crammed it down towards the blades with the tamper until it was completely liquified, and strained it through the bag. The whole process takes maybe ten to fifteen minutes, and the best is that I only have to clean a blender! As a former juicer owner, I know it's a big hassle to clean all the parts of the machine.

With dark, leafy greens being in season, why not do a weekend juice feast? With your blender and your strainer and a host of fruits and veggies, there's nothing stopping you from getting a huge dose of raw, vital phytonutrients! Even adding in a vegetable and leafy green juice a couple times a week is going to make a huge difference in your skin, hair, nails, energy levels, and your overall health and well being. Instead of settling for chewing on salad all day, why not run them through the juice bag and drink it down in a matter of seconds? There's no way you could chew your greens well enough to extract the amount of nutrients you can get by juicing, and trying will have you gnawing on greens for hours a day. Save your time, skip the salad, and double the amount of greens you would have eaten in the first place.

Raw Food Shopping on a Tight Budget/Giveaway News!

2011-12-08T10:29:00.000-08:00

Part Three of Raw Food Shopping on a Tight Budget! Scroll down for new GIVEAWAY news and a chance to choose the next prize!

Another installment on shopping for a simple raw food diet is here on the CHEAP is here! Here's a nice pic of my spoils :)

This is an absolute WIN as far as shopping at major grocery stores. See those green stickers? Produce MARKDOWNS! The largest size of Earthbound Farms organic greens retails between $5.00 - $6.00 in my area, and this one has been marked down to $2.99. It has to be eaten within the week, but that's the beauty of shopping this way for the raw food lifestyle: we need ripe raw produce NOW, and the grocery stores mark down ripe, raw produce that need to be eaten NOW. It's a win-win.

Next to the greens is a small container of sweet tomatoes marked down to $1.49 and a set of four organic yellow sweet bell peppers (a FRUIT!) for $1.99. And behind those is my favorite bargain- five bags of ripe, ready to eat bananas for only 99 cents a bag. At prices like these, eating a whole foods diet is actually cheaper than buying processed food. Each of those bags has about 10-12 bananas apiece, and many times they are all organic.

All in all, I paid about $11.50 for this pile of produce. Add on my $12.00 twenty five pound bag of oranges I buy that lasts me a week, we're looking at almost $24.00. I'll probably add about ten more dollars over the week in 99 cent bags of spinach, celery, and eating off of my backup dates I buy in bulk from my local California date farm, and I'm looking at roughly $35.00 a week. With a dietary foundation like this, I always have some money left over to splurge on a couple of mangoes or a bag of grapes, whatever happens to be on sale in my area. I also like to grab apples now that they've gone down in price.

The point is, I've successfully found a way to drive down the cost of fresh raw foods so much that it would ridiculous NOT to eat this way. I'm eating so many whole foods nutrients that I can cut way back on the amount of supplements I take, which saves me even more money!

In the next raw food shopping post, I'm going to delight your eyes with yet another picture of fruit, this time, the gorgeous Persimmon, and also share with you a way to go grocery shopping without setting foot in a store or even paying a dime!

Giveaway Update!

Don't forget to subscribe here on Google connect on the right hand side of the page, as well as on Facebook and Twitter, because I'm gearing up for another natural health giveaway! I've got three choices, and I want to know what YOU want to win! In you comments, let me know if you'd like a chance at winning a current popular health and wellness book, a popular supplement, or a handcrafted natural herbal healing product. The next giveaway is up to you! You can also let me know on Twitter or Facebook!

For my Fruity Friends...Raw Vegan / Fruitarian Jewelry!

2011-12-05T08:55:00.000-08:00

Oh, wow, I had a GREAT fruit haul this week and I took pictures! There's nothing sweeter than saving a ton of money on natural, whole, raw, ripe fruits and vegetables! I'll share those with you soon, but I just wanted to share this brand new vision with you all.

As you have probably gleaned from my haphazard postings, I really, really like fruit. So much so that I've been creating jewelry for the last few months inspired by my love for fruits. It's true, I've been making jewelry since high school, but only recently has my beading taken a slightly...fruity turn. My second Etsy store is the new home for my pieces, which I am now locally known for. Nothing can quite grab the eye like a brightly colored bracelet filled with adorable little fruits, and I get loads of compliments on my trademark citrus earrings! Instead of hogging all the fruit beads for myself, I thought I would make a few pieces inspired by the ones I've been sporting around town and share them with other fruitarians, frugivores, raw foodies, and other people who just love fruit THAT MUCH!

I hope you're all having a bright, fruity day! I woke up this morning to find FROST on my windshield! I've got to get out there and dig up those roots before the cold sets in! I've got my eye on a bramble of overgrown blackberry vines just waiting to be harvested for some wildcrafted Blackberry Root extract. See you soon with more adventures in living the holistic life for cheap!

Heal Yourself with WILD plants!

2011-11-29T11:03:00.000-08:00

There's a certain kind of magic in using wildcrafted herbs in teas, tinctures and salves, and it's not all a romanticized ideal. Wild plants aren't coddled like their cultivated counterparts, growing under optimal conditions on farms. No, the wild herb must fight to survive, digging her roots deep into the earth to draw up nutrients that tender plants growing under the care of humans just aren't motivated to do. They struggle for sunlight and water, growing hardier, and all that angst and turmoil makes for nutritious food and an amazing medicine!

The very best thing about wildcrafting plants is that it's something that can be done anywhere in the world. Virtually everyone reading this article has an abundant source of vitamins, minerals, and free medicine available to them, and best of all, you're likely one of the only people in your neighborhood interested enough to take advantage of this sustainable resource. I've yet to come across any like-minded foragers in my travels. The important thing to remember is that like endangered animals, there are many plants out there that are in serious danger of being overharvested to the point of extinction. Popular herbs like Echinacea and Goldenseal should be left alone if discovered in the wild and allowed to spread.

Our interest in this post lies with wild common plants, usually known as weeds or pests to gardeners busying themselves with appearances. To you and I, living in line with nature, many of these weeds are truly miraculous healers and nurturers.

It's so easy to find a dandelion, isn't it? I grew up making wishes on the puffy, seeded globes by blowing them into the wind, not even knowing I was helping to propagate one of the best sustainable sources of food and medicine in my area. Despite our childhood efforts, American livers are in a poor state, and yet a major resource for healing is -and has always been- beneath our feet. Dandelion root is a powerful liver tonic, safe and non-toxic, perfect for everyday use. The leaves of the Dandelion plant are sold at health food shops alongside bundles of Kale and Collard Greens, and are a rich source of minerals, including iron, calcium, and also contains over 400% of your daily intake of Vitamin K in just 1 cup of raw greens! Don't throw out those Dandelion plants when you rip them up from your front lawn! Blend the greens in your daily green smoothie (and throw in a few dates, because they are bitter!), and make a fresh decoction of the root or collect enough and make a simple folk tincture. Dandelion tincture is a wonderful way to support your body and is quite safe and extremely beneficial taken daily.

Remember that your city might and probably does spray pesticides along public walkways. In addition, herbs collected too near the side of the road may be poisoned with smog. Try your luck in large unkempt fields, your own backyard, a friend's parent's unmoved lawn, or natural parks with wooded area where chemicals aren't allowed. Generally, if the weeds are left alone to grow to a large enough size for collecting and are abundant, it is probably not sprayed. WASH your findings! Wildcrafting food should always be practiced sustainably, and never take more than a third of the plant life in any area. Leave tiny plants alone, and collect larger growth that is strong enough to grow back. Many weeds even thrive off being harvested and can grow back twice as strong and double in size!

Here is a simple yet powerful salve that I have created using only WILD, locally harvested Plantain!
Combining simple, local healing herbs with oils and butters can yield strong and effective salves that will outperform store bought toxin filled creams. You just have to look at the world in a way that you might never have before :)

*Remember to discuss your herbal supplements with your herbalist or natural health practitioner.

Thanksgiving- Turkey? or Tree Ripened Fruit?

2011-11-17T21:36:00.000-08:00

Here in America we have an interesting holiday called Thanksgiving, which I feel illustrates our attitude towards food and appetite quite nicely. On Thanksgiving, we starve ourselves all morning in anticipation for the yearly feast, usually ready between 1 and 4pm, and then we eat until we can't eat any more, capping off the day by dozing off in front of the television. Ironically, that last bit usually occurs while viewing a sports game, dazedly staring at muscular, fit athletes working up a sweat on the field. But we don't just stuff ourselves, we concentrate our efforts by eating the absolute worst foods available- bird flesh dripping with it's own bubbling fat stores (hello, carcinogens), soggy stovetop bread, canned gelatinous cranberry sauce, and if you're lucky, a few poor green beans and sweet potatoes that have been boiled down and baked until there's hardly any nutrition left to them. Ah....America.

In recent years I've enjoyed a nice Tofurkey or Quorn roast in the midst of our large traditional Thanksgiving, and every year it's met with the same upturned noses and reluctant taste tests from family and friends. Hey, I think they taste pretty good, but I used to think that about the yearly Thankgiving binge-fest, as well. Why do we continually perpetuate disordered eating? I understand that throughout history we've celebrated a harvest or a time of bounty by eating plenty when we could, but those days are long gone here in America, and trust me when I tell you that this is the LAST COUNTRY ON EARTH that needs a holiday centered around food. Food is available. There are no more nationwide food shortages at the moment. The highest percentage of Americans have never harvested a thing in their lives.

My Mom always says "Everything in moderation" in defense of the Thanksgiving menu, but I've recently come across an interesting quote that has me thinking twice about this tired old adage:

"Moderation? It's mediocrity, fear, and confusion in disguise. It's the devil's dilemma. It's neither doing nor not doing. It's the wobbling compromise that makes no one happy. Moderation is for the bland, the apologetic, for the fence-sitters of the world afraid to take a stand. It's for those afraid to laugh or cry, for those afraid to live or die."
~ Dan Millman

And of course, I can't forget the simply fabulous Oscar Wilde, who thought similarly:

“Everything in moderation, including moderation.”

I don't think that unhealthy food in moderation is sensible. Moderation has become an easy way out, a cultural excuse to have that extra brownie when no one is looking. Is gorging once a year on fatty, boiled, dead foods any different than a once a year drinking binge? Poison is poison- end of story. Many people justify a weekly treat like an ice cream or a doughnut as a reward, and this behavior is not only popular, it is promoted by health authorities! But who could justify a weekly cigarette? And why draw the line there?

So, throw caution to the wind and eat your fill of all the natural foods you care for. Go ahead- have that extra banana! It's Thanksgiving, and you've been good all year. Get another plateful of pineapple. You deserve it. Don't compromise your beliefs for the sake of "moderation". Go big, or go home.

P&B Shakes- Winter Full Body Cleanse!

2011-11-14T21:23:00.000-08:00

It's time to take a break from all the insanity and non-stop action of the Spring and Summer! It's true- humans need their "hibernation" time just like many other animals in their natural habitat, and just because we've put walls between ourselves and nature doesn't mean it isn't still inside of us. Now that the sunlight is slipping away, we can turn in earlier and turn within, as well.

Autumn and Winter are all about shedding our unwanted and unnecessary baggage. Watch the trees learn to let go of their leaves and consider letting go of toxic accumulation. The colder months are the perfect time to do a full body cleanse! The weather keeps most of us indoors, and our energy levels just aren't at their peak like they are in the hot summer months, so take advantage of the abundance of lazy energy. Right now I'm doing a long term cleanse with Psyllium Husks, Bentonite Clay, and my own Detoxification Tincture. Commonly known as P&B shakes, these generally consist of 1 teaspoon powdered Psyllium Husks (or 1 tablespoon unground husks) and about 1-2 tablespoons of liquid Bentonite Clay shaken well in 1 cup of water and then followed by another glass of pure water. It's so vital for you to drink plenty of water, especially during a cleanse, and with a P&B cleanse, 2 liters a day might not be enough for some people.

Here's my schedule, for those of you who like to put your own cleanses together. I'd recommend this if you've got the training, if not, then you're a perfect candidate for the Dr. Natura Colonix and Toxinout package, the ONLY cleanse that I pay money for.

Wake up: Cleansing tinctures or herbal infusions, parasite blends if needed.

1/2 hour later: P&B shake. You want to leave some time for the herbs to be absorbed, because the clay will stop them (and any other supplement) from working effectively. The clay and the Psyllium expand in water and will absorb anything in their path, including your expensive pills! Don't bother taking medications with these shakes, either. You'll have to wait about 2 hours after the shake, so definitely take anything you need beforehand.

Late morning and Afternoon: Another dose of herbs, along with some strong probiotics at least once.

Evening: 2-4 ounces of Aloe Vera juice just before bed. I've only recently begun adding this to my cleanses. It replaces senna or other laxatives one might find in a cleanse, and also helps to soothe the digestive tract and heal any irritation. This can be especially helpful if you're combating Candida, as the roots may have caused inflammation and possible damage to the intestines, like Leaky Gut Syndrome.

I'm to the point where I've done this so many times I'm pretty much winging it with whatever I happen to have at the moment. If you know what you're doing, I've found that creating a cleanse with simple ingredients, like clay and Aloe, can be just as effective as many off the shelf kits.

Have you ever used a natural cleansing kit? Which one did you try, and how were the results?

Fresh Raw Juice Groupon for Sacramento/Folsom!

2011-11-12T09:07:00.000-08:00

Check out this deal for fruit and veggie lovers in the Sacramento area! For just $10.00, you get a punch card for four 20-ounce fresh-squeezed juice blends (a $25 value)!

If you wanna double up on that, you can buy a punch card for 8 drinks for $22.00, as well. I've never been to Juice It Up!, but I'm definitely getting this Groupon to give them a try, especially since I spend so much time in Orangevale, just on the other side of the fence from Folsom. Freshly made fruit and veggie juices are insanely expensive, so take advantage of this Groupon to stay raw on the road!

Final Chance To Enter The Herbal Giveaway!

2011-10-31T13:46:00.000-07:00

Here's the post if you missed it- a Morning Star Apothecary pure and natural health a beauty set! Today is the last day to enter, so check out the post and leave your comments! Winner will be chosen tonight and notified tomorrow!

Part 2- Raw food shopping on a TIGHT budget!

2011-10-29T15:28:00.000-07:00

Well, I got a great haul at the farmer's market this morning, so I've got a few more pics and ideas on saving a ton of money while eating a nutrient dense diet.

Oranges are a great source of both minerals and vitamins, as well as calories for energy. I get these delicious local Valencias weekly, and I pay just $12.00 for 25 pounds! These bags will soon switch from Valencia to Navel, but all oranges are a steady source of nutrients through the winter in a lot of different areas. They make a great staple, so check your local growers for a good deal. My local grocery stores do NOT sell these at a reasonable price. They are usually at least $1.00 a pound, while I pay only half that for tree ripened local oranges that taste like agave nectar when juiced and don't have that strong tart aftertaste.

Tip #2: Farmer's Markets DO have better fruit for cheap! My market, which is TINY compared to some in larger cities, has a fruit stand that sells discount fruit bags. They bag up fruit that is ripe or ugly with small imperfections but otherwise totally delicious, and sell them for $3.00 for a 6 pound bag. That is an AMAZING savings! I got 6 pounds of white peaches and 6 pounds of pluots for $6.00 TOTAL.

I also frequently buy my persimmons this way. I get tons of them from a family member, but if you'll remember, I am cray cray for persimmons and eat them as much as possible during their depressingly short season. Oftentimes the super soft, ready to eat Fuyus don't sell well, and one stand in particular will start selling those in discount bags.

So, it's not just grocery stores that sometimes sell their ripe fruit at a steep discount, but local farmer's, as well. Like I said in part one, this is what I've found in my area, although no one advertises these sorts of deals. You'll have to get out there and look, ask around, and sometimes just get lucky. But once you build your reliable sources, you'll be swimming in food AND have plenty of money left over for a fun trip to a local raw food restaurant, which I had the pleasure of doing last week. Look forward to more cheap raw food deals, a visit to The Green Boheme in Sacramento, and the announcement of the winner of the Morning Star Apothecary 100th post giveaway! If you want to enter there's still time!

Raw food shopping on a TIGHT budget!

2011-10-28T19:21:00.000-07:00

Here's something we haven't done for awhile- shopping hauls! Instead of shopping for makeup or clothes, however, we're doing a series of raw food shopping haul blogs that will provide enough food for me to eat for an entire week! I shop twice a week. On Wednesdays I go to my usual stores and snag deals, and on Saturdays I go to my local farmer's market and fill in the gaps with local produce.

I love to share my tricks for stocking up on food, but I can't necessarily guarantee you'll be able to do exactly what I do unless you live near me. However, if you're trying to make a raw food diet affordable, you can absolutely learn from this post, even if you can't copy it word for word. What matters is finding your local tricks, and that might take some time. I first started on my raw food journey in 2008, so this is a couple of years worth of experimentation.

Tip #1: Grocery chains actually do discount overripe fruits. I've heard this repeated a lot on raw food forums, and it isn't true for ALL grocery chains, or even all stores within a chain, but somewhere near you, there may be one that does. I've found two, and both of them are Save Marts. We used to have Albertsons, but a few years ago they were bought out by Save Mart, and ever since then I've been getting ripe fruit at a great discount. It's not reliable, since they bag up the fruit when it's overripe, which is difficult to schedule. Going twice a week can yield awesome results, but some weeks I come up empty. It's hit or miss, but largely hit, and I can come away with something like this.

99 cent bags of ready to eat ORGANIC bananas! I snagged five of these the other day. I also regularly get bags of pre-washed lettuce, berries, and tomatoes. Every week it's something different, but the bananas are the most commonly available this way. Once, I got a perfectly ripe giant papaya for a buck!

I've got a ton of fruit shopping pics and info to share with you all, so don't forget to subscribe or check back with Twitter or Facebook! And if you haven't yet, there's still 3 days left to enter my 100th post free giveaway!

GONE Kombucha Diva's 100th Post Natural Health and Beauty GIVEAWAY!

2011-10-24T09:56:00.000-07:00

Recently, I celebrated my 100^th blog post! It's been a long ride and I'm so happy with where it's ended up and where it looks like we're headed, so to commemorate 100 posts, I am throwing a Morning Star Apothecary gift set GIVEAWAY!

This is a three piece set of all natural Morning Star Apothecary holistic herbal products I'm giving out to ONE lucky follower!

First up in the prize package is a 1 ounce bottle of my Organic Whole Body Detoxification tincture!

This broad spectrum full body cleanse targets the liver, kidneys, blood and lymphatic system, gently loosening old toxins and chemicals and assisting the body in eliminating them. This formula is also an amazing liver support formula, and is safe for long term use as it is licorice free and contains no laxatives. Yellow dock root also helps to fight parasite infestation internally, while Dandelion Root, Burdock Root, and Milk Thistle Seed purify the body on a cellular level. All of the herbs used in this formula are certified organic and of the highest quality.

Next, you will receive a large sized 2 ounce tin of my Intensive Would Healing Salve!

For wounds, cuts, bites, burns, rashes, scrapes and other owies both great and small, this antibacterial, anti septic and anti fungal healing salve will rapidly accelerate healing time and help to keep infection at bay. Perfect for both small cuts, abrasions and wounds both closed and open, this salve is made with olive oil steeped with Sage, Myrrh powder, and Comfrey for months before setting with beeswax, grapefruit seed extract, and pure essential oils of Tea Tree and Lavender, also known for their antimicrobial properties.

Finally, this prize package also includes a sampler size of my Whipped Lavender and Tea Tree Coconut Face and Body Lotion!

Based in a light and non greasy FOUR HERB infused grape seed and sunflower oil, the very foundation of this cream is steeped in herbal medicine to soothe acne and inflammation. Whipped at high speed with African Shea butter and Organic raw coconut butter, this luxurious cream also contains pure essential oils of Tea Tree and Lavender, lending a clean, soothing scent and antibacterial properties.

You can enter by simply following my blog and leaving me a comment on this post! Just click the Follow button to your right, and tell me in your comments what your favorite alternative healing method is, and you'll be entered to win!

DOUBLE ENTRY: If you'd like to be entered twice and double your chances of winning, click here to like me on Facebook and leave a quick note on the GIVEAWAY post to let me know you've just liked me! The winner will be chosen in just seven days, so enter now and spread the word! If you know someone who could benefit from winning these pure and natural herbal products, let them know how they can win! Holiday gifting is just around the corner! Retweet this, share it on your blog, and don't forget to like me on Facebook!

Completing a Miscarriage At Home...Naturally

2011-10-22T18:45:00.000-07:00

I know I've been blogging rather erratically lately, and I'm sure those of you who were following my 1000 Calorie Challenge series noticed it mysteriously disappeared. Now that I know what is happening to me, I'm ready to share my story.

I became pregnant in August, and found out at the beginning of September. This would be my third child. To be fair, I actually continued the 1000 Calorie Challenge for a few more weeks before fatigue prevented me from performing the incredibly demanding workouts. I decided it would be best if I reduce the intensity of my routine until the first trimester had passed, since I was also experiencing severe nausea. I switched to Chalean Extreme, a similar program that I felt would maintain my results until I was ready to continue.

Last Sunday, my water broke during a light kettle bell session, and I rushed to the ER where I had urine, blood, and ultrasound tests, which were repeated on Tuesday where it was confirmed that my Hcg levels were rapidly dropping and the pregnancy was in fact a blighted ovum. There was only a gestational sac, and no baby inside. I went home and prepared my herbal cabinet for a natural miscarriage. Armed with Susan Weed's "Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year," and my own extensive research on herbal miscarriage and abortion, I did my best to prepare.

I've never had a miscarriage, a pregnancy issue, or even a difficult labor. My first labor was 7 hours, and my second was a mere 2 and a half. To miscarry, especially when no one in my family has ever experienced one, was incredibly shocking. I wasn't sure what to expect, so I rummaged through my huge herbal tincture collection and found several ounces of Black Cohosh, which I planned to use if my body couldn't produce strong enough contractions to complete the miscarriage on it's own. To control bleeding and prevent hemorrhage, I went to my local health food store and purchased an ounce of Shepherd's Purse. In addition, I continued to drink strong infusions of Red Raspberry Leaf and Nettle, which keeps the uterine muscle toned and provides plenty of plant based iron and Vitamin K to control bleeding.

My water broke on Sunday, but I didn't begin to bleed until Thursday. In the morning I began spotting, and by the time afternoon rolled around I had bleeding similar to a normal menstrual cycle, yet little cramping outside of what I might normally feel. However, Friday brought with it an experience I wasn't prepared for.

No two miscarriages are the same. I've both read and heard of many women's experiences this past week, and mine was both totally different from those, and my own expectations. As I was sitting on the couch and visiting with my sister, my cramps suddenly began to intensify and peak every so often. The pain intensified, and I found myself keeping silent during the peaks and focusing on keeping relaxed and breathing. I was in fact having contractions and dilating, experiencing active labor as I have twice before. The blood flow increased dramatically. The contractions continued for hours, and during one particularly intense moment I felt my uterus clamp down hard, and instantly felt something detach with a small pop inside. At that point, I began to bleed uncontrollably, and passed large amounts of tissue. It was then that I asked for my Shepherd's Purse to be made into an infusion immediately.

Within a half an hour of drinking a small dose of the infusion, the flow of blood slowed to a more manageable pace. The contractions went on, and then dulled down for the evening, only to return in full force later that night, around 10:30 pm. With the strong actions of my uterus, the bleeding increased once again, only to slow by itself naturally within 2 hours after the passing of smaller amounts of tissue. After that, the blood flow slowed to mere spotting through the night.

It will be a week tomorrow since I discovered that I was losing my pregnancy, and only 24 hours since I physically miscarried. The bleeding picked up today as I performed simple chores and got a bite to eat, but so far I have not had anymore contractions. I am hopeful that my body will do what it is meant to, and remove the tissue on it's own. I had no need of the Black Cohosh, since my body was more than able to produce the motions necessary to expel the tissue. However, I will continue to monitor my progress, adjusting my herbal infusions as necessary. I am so thankful for my education, as it has provided me with the knowledge and the confidence necessary to do this my way. In a way, I am also thankful that my miscarriage was a blighted ovum, as this presents with very little tissue to expel as opposed to a non-viable pregnancy with a partially formed fetus.

There were so many things I wanted to do. I wanted to complete a raw vegan pregnancy, to experience another natural, hospital-free birth, to breastfeed longer. I wanted to hold this one more often, shun baby food and formula, and do everything even better than before. I don't know what it's like to miscarry a forming fetus, but there's a special kind of horror in discovering that you're pregnant with nothing. You test positive, your hormones rise and you feel nauseous and tired and happy, and you make plans and collect baby things, only to discover that there's nobody there. No one came.

However, I know that it will happen. Someday, I will achieve my goal of a healthy raw vegan pregnancy. With my second child, I was 50% raw and steadily increasing, and I've learned so much since then that it's mind boggling. I know that I can do this. In the meantime, I'm taking this opportunity and learning from my body's cues, however painful those may be. In honor of my uterus and it's amazing ability to cleanse itself, I am undergoing a full body cleanse. Using my stock of psyllium, bentonite, and my own Detoxification Blend, I am going to go deep and remove everything that keeps me from manifesting the future I deserve.

During the time I spent pregnant, I was overwhelmed with the desire to Create, and with that borrowed energy I crafted dozens of original pieces, including jewelry (like fruit inspired pieces!), art yarns, polymer clay creations, and more. I've decided to release those creations in the hopes that the energy I was given might be beneficial to others, even though it has left me for now. In time, those pieces can be found here.

I hope that this story can live on through the internet, and be passed from woman to woman for many years to come. It is by no means The Answer, but it's what happened to me. I hope to one day feel as though I've become somehow better or stronger because of all of this, but right now, I still need time.

New Nut Mylk/Strainer Bag!

2011-10-07T09:02:00.000-07:00

I just got this great bag on Etsy and I wanted to share it here with you guys. I have a smaller one from Mountain Rose Herbs which I use to strain big pots of tea, but since it's cotton it holds water a little too long and tends to drip and take forever to dry. Enter the nut mylk bag- made with BPA free mesh material, this thing is a dream to work with, and it strains very well, so well in fact that I am currently drinking pulp free orange/spinach juice that I made with my Vitamix.

Instead of buying another juicer since I loaned mine to my sister, I decided that my Vitamix was plenty powerful enough to pulverize the greens I'd rather not have to chew, like kale and chard. I just blend them up with an apple or lemon, and then transfer the whole pulpy mess into this bag and squeeze. I dare say, this method gets more juice out of the pulp since you can just keep squeezing manually till there's nothing left, and it only takes a couple of minutes to juice an entire Vitamix pitcher (and I've got the big one).

There's nothing more rewarding that drinking a huge juice breakfast with the knowledge that there aren't a stack of juicer parts waiting to be cleaned.

Joy Bauer's "Food Cures" Review

2011-10-06T10:06:00.000-07:00

Recently I received a copy of the newly revised and updated "Food Cures" by Joy Bauer, nutritionist and health expert on The Today Show. Before I received the book, I had honestly never even heard of Joy Bauer, nor this book, which was a New York Times bestseller. I know, I'm not sure where I was, either. I spend most of my time pursuing specialty nutrition topics such as raw foods and veganism, so the popular basic primers usually slip by me unnoticed. However, I'm actually pretty impressed with this book, and I'll tell you why.

Firstly, this isn't a book you'll ever have to sit down and actually read from cover to cover to get some benefit from it. It's almost perfectly designed for people who don't want to know anything more than what they need- and for that reason alone, it's already at the top of my list for clients who are just beginning their journey into health and healing. Each chapter focuses on an individual diagnosis or ailment, such as arthritis, weight loss, vision, memory, IBS, cancer prevention, and loads more. This is a huge book, topping out at over 500 pages in the index, but most people will simply pick up the book, find the chapter that they need, and follow the step by step instructions on how to reduce or eliminate their symptoms. It's so freaking easy.

What really made this book stand out for me was the information on anti-inflammatory diets for arthritis. This is something I've been sharing with friends, family, and clients for years with the large majority of people dubious about the idea that their diets were actually increasing or even causing their pain. Now I can simply refer them to a television personality who agrees with me. It's illogical, but the majority of people will take advice more seriously if it's from someone famous.

In addition to the information on dietary adjustments for inflammation, Joy has included herbal and supplement recommendations here, as well, and she and I couldn't agree more. In fact, the three herbs that Joy suggests for arthritis are, no joke, the exact three that I recommend and use in my anti-inflammatory tincture blends. This little snippet really sold me on the book.

The diet suggestions, while they may not be exactly what I would consider ideal, they are exactly what I teach to my clients who have no idea where to begin and need to take small and steady steps towards vibrant health. This is not a vegan or even vegetarian text, but it is vegetarian friendly, and you will find suggestions for alternatives here. Lots of loving attention is lavished on fruits and vegetables, and it's clear that Joy really understands and makes good use of the healing power of phytonutrients. Recipes are abundant, and several sections contain entire meal plans to help you get started on your individual nutritional healing plan. Also, obtaining as much nutrition as possible from fresh, whole foods is recommended over excessive supplementation, which I also agree with.

There are a few down points in this text for me, such as the heavy reliance on modern studies to "prove" the effectiveness of certain herbs that have been used successfully for centuries. For instance, Joy does not recommend that people take Gingko Biloba for memory problems simply because a study showed that it didn't work. Studies are rarely conducted on the effectiveness of herbs, since spending money on proving that free cures exist really defeats the entire purpose of funding a study. Oftentimes, the studies that are performed on herbs are not performed at the correct dosages, or use extracts instead of the actual plant matter. Furthermore, in order to conclusively prove something with a study, you need more than one. You need more than five. You need a entire body of work, and that's just not something that anyone's been interested in funding so far. There's a lot more money in proving that herbs don't work, and that expensive drugs do. I definitely don't think it's fair to negate centuries old medicine just because we can't figure out how it works.

Another part of this book that really knocked it down a peg was the constant reliance on dairy for calcium. Calcium in dairy is not properly balanced with magnesium, and furthermore the protein in dairy will produce acid when metabolized and in turn encourage your body to use up it's calcium as a buffer, and this calcium comes straight out of your bones. Add to that the studies that have linked IGF-1 in milk to Type 1 diabetes and the fact that the calcium in kale and other plant foods is absorbed in greater quantities in the human body than that in dairy, and you've got a whole host of reasons not to use it. I'm not even going to bother with all the ailments it's proven to cause. We'll save that for another post and just conclude here that I don't agree with Joy on this point.

However, it's a rare client that dives into these sort of changes overnight, and using this book could potentially start the average person on a lifelong journey towards true healing, and for that reason alone I think this is a great book. It's the perfect gift for that person in your family...you know the one. The one who tells you you're going to get sick from eating raw food around a mouthful of Taco Bell. This is the sort of thing that they can get on board with and will make a drastic difference in their health and well-being without appearing "extreme". Remember, we're trained to think that the state of dis-ease is normal, and it's hard to relate to that ideal once you've broken the illusion.