Oops I Did it (Once AGAIN?!)

Sometimes we think we might never learn.  We make the same mistakes over and over and over.  And why?  Well it's because these mistakes are part of a habitual action that took years and years to create and will take years and years to deconstruct.  And every step is a small success...right?  Be gentle with yourself.


Growing up we didn't have a ton of sweets in the house.  My mom would bake cookies, breads and brownies here and there.  They were a treat more than a standard.  Halloween meant candy, which I loved.  And once I got into high school and could drive myself right over to the store where there were aisles of sweet stuff?  Uh-oh, trouble.  Who knows why I have such a sweet tooth.  I have a handful of theories:
1) I took a lot of antibiotics as a kid so maybe my intestinal flora got wiped, replaced by candida (yeast) that is constantly craving sugar and I am its stupid host listening and obliging.  Sounds scary right?
2) Because we didn't have a lot of sweets around the house, I knew it must be "bad for me" and so I went overboard with it in rebellion eventually becoming hooked on the stuff. 
3) The psychological factor.  Perhaps I crave more "sweet" in my life:  touching, hugging, kissing, kind words, holding hands, playfulness, forgiveness, compassion, smiles...you know...the SWEET stuff.  Sooo, instead of seeking that, chocolate and cookies are a much quicker "fix".  

Cravings. Hooked. Fix. Habit...Sounds like I am a drug addict-right? Well kind of. If I am going to overindulge in something, it is going to be sweets. And since my arrival in Moldova, I completely let my guard down in this area. New place, new faces, wanting comfort:  COOKIES. Tired from travel and learning a new language: COFFEE. Missing friends and family, hugs and smiles (not exactly handed out in these parts): CHOCOLATE. Relaxed and enjoying myself with my host sister: COOKIES with CHOCOLATE BUTTER (what!?-yes as tasty as it sounds).

After a good six months of this behavior, I finally hit a wall.  Around the holidays I started to develop some awful stomach aches. If I didn't eat, if I did eat, if I ate cookies, if I ate veggies...everything was painful. My body was speaking to me: "JULIE!!!  Enough is enough!"  And thankfully I (finally) listened. After almost two weeks of successfully cutting out flour, sugar, dairy (except for yogurt), chocolate, and coffee, I am on the road to much better digestion. Trust me, there is no way to say goodbye to things like chocolate or coffee forever, but they will stay on my "treat" list where they belong. Or so I hope and will try...
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A little over a year ago I posted a short and easy 3 Day Detox that I love but many of the ingredients just don't exist in Moldova. (Note to self, work on Moldovan version). And not too far along after that, I posted again about alignment and about my relationship to food, but this time as a proclamation that I was moving away from talking about it. I was burnt out. I stated, "I know all I need to know". Hahahaha...how I laugh now. The truth is I do know what to eat to be healthy. What I didn't approach was how to go about doing that. I knew I was headed for some health challenges in joining the Peace Corps and moving to a foreign land. I knew I would need to adjust my diet. But what I didn't see was that it wouldn't be the microbes and the bad food that would get me, it would be my own choices that would.  


Of course I should be a little easy on myself and understand that stress and yes, the microbes, do make health matters more challenging (oh and -7 degree weather! brrrr). But I guess what I am getting at is, I am BACK into food. Now that I have some healing to do, I am on the Internet looking for gluten-free recipes and am full of new ideas for yummy creations that don't require added sugar or flour. Sunflowers are one of Moldova's biggest crops, so here is to explorations in the world of sunflower seed flour! I think I will start with these. I will report back on my progress. Here's to continued learning, and to the JOY OF HEALTH. It is so sweet!


Om tat sat.

Oops...I Did it Again

Holiday food hangover? Yeah...Well it's not too late to do a little cleaning up! I whipped up a little post-pig-out plan that will also give a sneak preview into the "51% Diet". This 3-day plan is a vegan and gluten-free version as it's meant for cleansing. I was thinking today about how COOL it is that our bodies, when given a chance, will correct themselves and get back into perfect running order. It's rather remarkable. With this plan, we'll start at dinner on day 1, and go full throttle for the following 2 days, leaving the last dinner up to you. It's really a lot of food, just rather easy foods to digest, packed full of nutrients, super easy and inexpensive. This is kind of like Step 1...beginning to lighten the load on the colon, getting things moving, and speeding up metabolism. You'll notice I have you eating 5 times/day. This keeps the metabolism going, sort of like stoking the fire, always throwing a couple logs on; not too much to put OUT the fire and not too little in which again, the fire will go out.

When I was watching "Food Matters", David Wolfe explained how he helped is cousin who was severely overweight, lose over 150Lbs on a raw foods diet. (This next part isn't so pretty but pretty cool...). Apparently, after a week or so, said cousin was losing his extra weight (mostly comprised of fats and toxins) through his colon. He was having up to -I think he said- 12 bowel movements a day! So as one who frequently worries about the health of the colon, I find this is rather promising! That his colon, which if he was that overweight was likely gunked-up, became clean enough to take on the process of pulling the 'bad guys' out of his tissue cells, into the colon and out of the body is so awesome. If you only have a few extra pounds to shed, this process should be much less dramatic but also very cool. Now because of the severity of his condition and the amount of toxins he was eliminating, he sought the help of a colon therapist who administered cleansing enemas. In this process, different liquids are placed into the colon to assist with the cleansing process. Depending on your condition could be water, coffee, green juice or oil. This will take some serious pressure of of the kidneys and liver. Something to keep in mind.

Now, on to breaking the cycle of...an extra serving of sweet potatoes, and extra slice of pie, oh and grandma's cookies!!! (Would be tres rude to turn those down-right?).

Shopping List/Pantry Items

1Avocado ripe and ready to nosh

1 organic tomato

1 banana

large container of organic lettuce mix

1 orange

1 grapefruit (or 2 oranges if you're on Statins for cholesterol)

Bunch organic parsley

1 container organic hummus

2 cups organic rolled oats

1/2 cup organic raisins

1/2 cup organic dates

1/2 cup organic sunflower seeds

1/2 cup organic almond slivers

1 bag brown rice pasta

1 package tempeh

1 jar organic tomato sauce

1 bag organic corn chips

1 loaf gluten-free bread

1 jar organic peanut-butter

1 bottle organic balsamic vinaigrette (or make your own)

Your fave milk alternative (I like almond milk right now)

1 box Detox Tea

1 box Chamomile Tea

Menu*

Day 1 Dinner

• 1.5 cups uncooked brown rice pasta-boiled
• 1/2 package tempeh (first steam for 5 minutes, then lightly pan-fry with some good oil & water mixture)


• Add sauce from jar to tempeh & saute. Add pasta and freshly chopped parsley and serve.


• (Eat half and save half for lunch tomorrow)


• Cup chamomile tea 1 hour before bed
  

Day 2 Breakfast

• Upon waking drink 2 large glasses of room temperature water


• Soaked Oat Muesli (prepared night prior-1 cup oats, 1/4 cup raisins, 1/4 cup chopped dates, 1/4 cup almonds, 2 T sunflower seeds, cover Xs 2 with half milk, half water in glass container, put in refrigerator overnight, ready to eat in morning! Soaked grains, nuts and seeds are much easier to digest and yummy this way!

Day 2 AM Snack

• 1 piece gluten-free toast (I like Udi's)


• 1 T organic peanut butter


• 1/2 banana sliced on top


• 2 cup detox tea
  

Day 2 Lunch

• 2 cups lettuce mix


• Top with leftover pasta and tempeh dish & fresh chopped parsely


• Sprinkle with balsamic vinaigrette
  

Day 2 PM Snack

• 1 orange (I like to slice and really relish in the sweet juiciness!)
  

Day 2 Dinner

• Guacamole-1/2 avocado smashed, 1/2 tomato chopped, sprinkle with sea salt and fresh lime juice
  
• 1/2 cup hummus


• Handful of corn chip


• Cup of chamomile tea 1 hour prior to bed

Day 3 Breakfast

• 2 large glasses water at room temperature


• Soaked Oats Meusli

Day 3 AM Snack

• Same toast, PB, 1/2 banana


• Cup of detox tea

Day 3 Lunch

• Other half of avocado & tomato diced and placed upon:


• 2 cups lettuce mix


• Balsamic dressing
  

Day 3 PM Snack

• 1 grapefruit (I also love to slice this up and enjoy the juicy sweet/tart flavor. If I can't eat a whole one I save half for the next day)

Day 3 Dinner

• You choose! Listen to what your body wants, likes and made it feel good in the past meals/snacks

*This is meant to be a guide to eating an approximately half raw, vegen diet for a quick and gentle cleanse and not what to eat every day forever...

Other "Rules"

-Drink lots and lots of water

-If you have been experiencing any constipation, gas, or indigestion, buy some Triphala at a natural grocer and take with your tea before bed.

-Take whatever you like of this cleanse and implement into your daily routine going forward

-LOVE your Self, be GRATEFUL for nourishment, and keep it SIMPLE

-Keep up with the tea regimen until they are gone

-Notice that all liquids are either hot or room temp. Drinking cold beverages further solidifies foods in your system that require HEAT to break down. Your body works hard to get them into liquid form so cooling them down with cool beverages will disturb digestion.

OM OM OM!

It's Cookie Time!

Oh tasty morsels~nectar for the soul! I am attending a cookie-exchange party tonight and decided to bake up a delicious egg-free cookie that is as easy as it is scrumptious. It's also pretty low in sugar which is a plus! I try to make a lot of my baked-good recipes without eggs. This is for two reasons: first being that if I want to adapt/develop a recipe into a vegan version, it's important to understand how to substitute for eggs correctly. And second, the Yogic Diet, which I specialize in, does not include eggs. So while butter, milk, yogurt and a little cheese are considered OK, eggs do not fit the bill in the diet for the mind. The Yogic Diet is intended to not only keep the body in tip-top health, but also to keep the mind at even-keel. Food that can tend to either lower thought-vibrations (eggs, mushrooms, and rotten or over-ripe foods) or over-excite thoughts (onions, garlic, processed foods, caffeine, under-ripe and stale foods) are avoided so that it becomes easier to meditate. Interesting huh? I will be writing more about the 'energetics of food' as it's an area of great interest for me.

Here is the simple cookie recipe to try. Matched up with a nice cup of cocoa, tea or milk, will surely be a crowd-pleaser. I bet Santa would even really like these ;)

Basic Pecan Shortbread
Prep 45 min Chill 2hrs
Bake 10 min Oven 350

½ cup raw sugar
½ tsp. flaky sea salt
2/3 cup organic pecan pieces
16 Tbsp. organic unsalted butter, slightly soft
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 cups unbleached, unenriched flour (I plan to experiment with spelt, kamut, and GF flours too)
6 oz. white or dark chocolate

1. Pulse sugar and salt in dry bowl of food processor until fine and powdery. Add pecans; pulse until finely ground. Add butter in large chunks and vanilla. Pulse until butter is smooth. Add flour; pulse until forms soft dough. Transfer to bowl and knead briefly to even out mix.
2. Form a rectangle log about 12 inches long of dough. Wrap in wax paper. Refrigerate 2 hours or overnight.
3. Preheat oven to 350. Cut log into slices ¼ inch thick. Place at least one inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes until edges are golden.
4. Wait until cookies are nice and cool. Melt chocolate and drizzle over cookies.

*You can really top the cookies with whatever you like, or enjoy them plain. In the 3rd picture above, I topped some with a white chocolate frosting and coconut so they look like snow...and I love any excuse to use coconut:)

And an update on the Goat's Milk stuff. I have been having bits and morsels of goat cheese and yogurt and lo and behold, my body seems pretty cool with it. The bottom picture is my current favorite way to enjoy a little raw goat cheese: I toast a piece of Ezekial Cinnamon Raisin bread (this is a sprouted grain bread). Slice up some raw goat cheese (you could also spread some Chevre), top with walnuts and drizzle with honey. Pair with a warm cup of tea and DELISH! Amazing breakfast or snack.

Om shanti & Enjoy!