Green Drink

Between doing work and studying, I've been reading my very own Raw Gourmet recipe book (the one Michelle thoughtfully gave to me) by Nomi Shannon. The most common question people ask someone who largely subsists on raw vegan food is, "What the hell do you eat?!"

Well, in her book of raw foods and nori wraps and yam pies and liquid aminos, Shannon provides some answers! (...while raising questions in my mind about my desire to make raw meals, hah. I prefer to prepare simple foods for myself that require at most a peel or a wash. Guacamole is gourmet for me. To my credit, I suppose I've made some of the salads in her book, by accident, on my own. And the recipes do look easy enough. Okay, I'm excited again.) Anyway, her sample meal plan features the famous Green Drink that is an integral part of daily life at the Hippocrates Health Institute in West Palm Beach, Florida -- and green drinks, I can do.

Typical Daily Meal Plan:
Breakfast - Watermelon or Green Drink
Mid-AM - Green Drink
Lunch - Some sort of dark leafy green salad or other recipe in her book
Mid-PM - Green Drink
Dinner - Dark Leafy Green Salad (with dulse, hemp seeds, whatever veggies you like) or other recipe

The Green Drink Recipe: Really, anything goes. Make sure you throw in some dark leafy greens (the essential ingredient).

If you like, you may add some cored apples or peeled lemon and lime to sweeten the taste. This recipe calls for a juicer (to make juice), but if you have a vita-mix or high-powered and a bit of water, the result is sufficiently liquified.

1 tray of soil-grown sprouts (sunflower, buckwheat, broccoli, etc.)
Celery, cucumber
Kale, spinach, cabbage, carrot tops, mizuna, parsley, edible weeds or any other dark leafy green

Right. So, my smoothie of choice is the standard spinach smoothie -- a banana, some berries, optional other fruit I have in the house, water and lots of baby spinach (baby spinach purportedly contains lower levels of oxalic acid -- the stuff that combines with nutrients like calcium to form salts called oxalates that make your teeth feel clean/funny and which can prevent your body from absorbing iron and calcium. To improve iron absorption, spinach should be eaten with foods that contain vitamin C (fresh lemon))... it works for me.

Here are some comments I've been thinking about from an Oprah-related site (re: Dr. Oz's green drink episode). [It's a heartwarming message. Unless you read only the first comment.]:

Maureen Eastwood Says:
November 6th, 2007 at 11:00 am

At 73 I am so unhappy with my life. Fat, alone, and just miserable. I try to walk but it hurts when I am so fat. I used to use my above gr. pool. Too fat now. I saw this green drink and I want to live and be healthy so I will try it if NO MATTER WHAT IT TASTES LIKE. I have all the ing. here now so with Gods help…. I will get back with you in a week and let you know how I am doing. I am the only one in my family ALMOST healthy,,, just fat. Sister and Bro. have had heart surgeries, one has pulminary fibrosis, daughter trying to get into Mayo Clinic with serious healthy problems. Wish Me luck God Bless

Ally Says:
November 8th, 2007 at 2:51 pm

Maureen,

DON”T GIVE UP! There are a TON of us out here who support you 100%. For what its worth, I recently met a 67 year old man who told me the most amazing story.

Apparently at 61, he was fat and balding and getting old (well, that had been happening for a while, but I guess he suddenly woke up and realized it). He had just had a grandson and could barely play with him, because he lacked the energy. So one day, he just started walking. The first day, he walked to the house next door. Then to three houses down. Then to the end of the block. In a year, he was running a mile. By the second year, he had lost 100 lbs and ran his first marathon. When I met him, he had run 17 marathons and now he focuses just on swimming (since its easier on his knees) and yoga. What he told me was that firstly, you need determination and a goal, and you need to go SLOW. Don’t push yourself too hard and don’t get down on yourself.

I took his advice. At that time, I had injured myself horribly, and I’ve been swimming/walking regularly since then. Its true. You CAN do it. Just believe in yourself, start slow and do something that feels good and right everyday.

Imagining the Feeling For Better Performance

What happens in your brain when you visualize doing something well?  The same thing as when you actually DO the something well.  Your brain doesn't know the difference between something real and something repeatedly and vividly imagined.  [I meant to post studies about the physical effects of mental causes but I don't have time right now to find 'em.  Remind me later.  For now I'm going to go and play on the seawall in the rain.]

More anecdotal evidence that visualizing an aim and practicing it = results.  From Running Raw's blog:

On a wet and slippery track and without blocks to aid our start, there was little hope of breaking any speed records. I was really looking for another excuse to test out my Usain Bolt imagery that I had practiced on some very successful 200 meter repeats several weeks earlier. In the early 1980’s as I was learning how to cross country ski, I had the privilege of being on the same team as one of the greatest skiers in US history – Erik Vigsnes. He was poetry in motion. I was a lame duck trying to perform ballet. Whenever I got the chance, I would watch Erik ski… I would feel his rhythm… Feel his strength and relaxation… I would imagine what it felt like to ski with such grace and with such little effort… I would then put that feeling into my body and posture and try to emulate it… Not how he looked, but how he must feel. That practice has been one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever given myself. I’ve used it time and time again in many disciplines in my life – taking on another person’s feelings and moving inside of that experience. During the 2008 Olympics I sat awestruck as I watched Usain Bolt demolish the 100m world record with the most relaxed form I have ever seen. Since that time, I’ve watched that race over and over again, as I admired his form. I now had another model to emulate.

“Go” I shouted, and Michael and I took off. My arms and legs were shooting about furiously. It was not a pleasant experience nor a pretty sight. I clocked a 13.9, which was quite surprising under these conditions… But I wanted more. On the second repeat I remembered my Usain Bolt model and “bolted” into a much more powerful, and much longer stride… controlled and smooth. It felt fabulous. My speed increased throughout the 100m and I crossed the line in the fastest time I’ve ever run – 12.9 seconds. Twenty minutes later I used Mr. Bolt again to run a very comfortable 29.1 second 200 meters. I can’t wait to bring him into all my of workouts now.

Improve Your Sport Performance with Visualization Techniques

The Empowering Effect of Visualization in Sport and Life

Success Lessons from the Winter Olympics: Visualization

The Foods Consumed Today:

A strawberry-spinach-banana smoothie for breakfast. 25g of cashews. A kale & avocado salad with red bell peppers + tomatoes while talking on the phone with my Mother + Bjorn + Liesl.

A gala apple. A strawberry-banana smoothie. @ the computer.

A large mixed greens salad with clover sprouts, avocado, broccoli, olive oil, salt, walnuts & lemon juice.

A gala apple.

Another mixed greens salad with clover sprouts, red bell pepper, avocado.

A strawberry-banana-cacao-cayenne smoothie after watching Supernatural.

Community Garden Update:

Hey folks,

I just wanted to let you know that one of your fellow gardeners and VPSN volunteer, Mike, has set up a facebook group. You can join it here - Davie Village Community Garden Facebook Group.

As I'm sure you've all assumed, we've not yet moved forward with the developers on closing the license agreement. They were delayed in responding to us, and then our contact went on holiday. As far as I know, Andrew and I will be meeting with them this week on Thursday to discuss the license and raising the beds.

Thank-you all so much for your patience, I'm sorry that we haven't been able to move things along faster.

Have a great day,

Community Gardens Coordinator
Vancouver Public Space Network

--
"A society grows great when people plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in."

_____________________________________

Watched an interview about the popular Ringing Cedars book series that hails from Mother Russia (a series which I'd completely missed in all the 20 languages into which the books are translated). When/if I do read the books, I expect to have my eyes opened to "the importance of each family having their own food garden" (thanks, person from facebook gardening group). Okay -- so this way of thinking isn't new to me, but the story is, so that's ... different. Kind of like each new day. I sense a tangent coming on. Excuse me.

"Anyone who has developed such a relationship with the Earth and the plants in their garden has the opportunity to heal their body of every dis-ease. She says that dis-ease is the result of Man distancing himself from the balance and natural systems that take care of him." Ringing Cedars Series

Visionary Business

As my 27th birthday approaches, I feel like taking stock of my life's accomplishments and values and direction and evaluating whether or not it's too early to engage in mid-life crisis behaviour.  I don't feel like buying a ferrari just yet.

I've decided, to heck with the past. I'm appreciative of what I've learned (sometimes twice) and excited about the desires I've hatched thanks to my past experiences -- so yay for that.  So here I am now, inspired and eager to create more fun stuff.  The feeling of what I want is strong and I'm more clear about what excites me the most in life:  meaningful connections with select people, playing outside in nature, having fun and receiving praise -- I mean, being an uplifting example of one who lives and sometimes swims upstream but knows how to relax to get back on track; doing what I do, and doing it well.

I'm reading a couple of books on business by millionaire-with-ease, Marc Allen.  Here's an interview clip of him promoting his new book (I've read it; the best part of the book is what he imparts in his interview.  I hope he doesn't read this... although he does often remind that he strives to impart the whole of his wisdom in every interaction, soooo... success.): 

And here are some of the notes I've taken as I'm reading Visionary Business:

The company should spend money on things that will make the money grow (i.e. invest in growth of the individuals, to better express the company's mission statement)
Start-ups take twice as long and cost twice as much as you expect
A well-written business plan is far more than a tool for raising money: It is your map, your visualization of the future. The business plan is the guiding course for the ship. Where do we want to be in 1, 2, 5 years.
Every successful venture begins with a vision for it
The Business Plan:
1st: we describe our present circumstances
2nd: we describe where we want to be in 1, 2, 5 years, and present a map for getting there
Next make the company mission statement [to uplift, entertain, teach and learn]. The statement helps the company retain its focus and can be crucial in determining the company's direction and even its level of success.  [I think my mission statement is too vague but he says that's okay....]
Partnerships work only in unique situations. One person has to be completely responsible for the success or failure of the business. [haha I wonder how that works in a relationship...]

From Visionary Business (applicable to any undertaking, involvement, relationship, life situation...):

You have a unique purpose for living, and you have been given unique talents and abilities to accomplish that purpose... True success always involves personal fulfillment of some kind, and you are fulfilled only by working and living in harmony with your purpose in life.

Be sure all of the owners of the company, and ideally, employees as well, write their "ideal scenes" down on paper, and compare notes:

What do you want to be doing five years from now, assuming that your business has grown according to plan -- in fact assume that everything has gone fantastically well, and you have had success beyond your wildest dreams. What would your life look like? What would you be doing? Where would you live? What would a typical day look like? This simple exercise is a powerful visionary tool.

Raw Secrets Exposed

So today's food-related passage aimed at balancing the extremist in me, is from The Raw Secrets by Frédéric Patenaude:

For many people, raw-foodism has become a sort of religion where cooked food is evil and raw food is salvation. Many books have exaggerated the benefits offered by the raw diet and neglected practical application. Some raw foodists think that anything raw is better than anything cooked. They think that all they need to do is to eat raw foods and avoid cooked foods at all costs...

Many raw foodists, including myself, have promoted the concept that Dr. Doug Graham calls the Raw / Not Raw Philosophy. It is an oversimplification of all health principles into one criterion: "Is this raw?" Rather than wondering, "Is this healthy for me?" or, "What do I experience in my body after eating this," some raw-foodists only want to know, "Is this raw?" For vegans, the question is: "Is it vegan?"

Amen brutha. How does my body feel after eating this? I like that emotional responses are acknowledged as the best, most reliable measures of Right. I'm a girl, it's how I roll.

As an experiment I'll tone down the fats consumption and increase the fruit smoothies. I suspect I've been eating too many nuts and avocados according to Patenaude, but whatever -- I feel all right. I feel so good! (That's what people tell me when they hug me.) And tonight I rubbed my eye with a cayenne-powdered finger and my mouth is black from blueberry smoothies... but other than that, I look normal.

Here's a raw shot of an undressed salad caught with its veggie-nut pieces consorting with hemp seed nuts. The avocados only look innocent. Maybe somebody else should be the posterchild for this lifestyle.

A Hug a Day

Today was a repeat of yesterday (in menu terms) plus I scored a few hugs (my favourite). There were some people giving free hugs in front of the art gallery mere moments before tons of protestors for something-such marched over chanting something-such. Hugs are more important. Even the bus driver wanted one.

Appetites and Aversions

Nine days of eating raw foods. I feel most excellent. No little green men or righteous 80s dudes have visited me yet, but I remain naively optimistic that there are many, many vibrational frequencies more easily accessible to me in this raw food-induced state of wellbeing that are yet to be explored. Raw Foods for President! Vote for Change (of mental state)! Well, raw foods are inspiring but they wouldn't run a country. They'd be all over the food security issues, though.

This morning's green smoothie:

1 banana that I forgot to add until I was about to drink the smoothie
1 whole peeled grapefruit
1 tbsp. hemp seed nuts
2 cups spinach
a leaf of swiss chard
some water



This was last evening's view of English Bay that I drank with my eyes as I sat on one of the many birdpoop-saturated benches while talking on the phone to my Grandma. [Yes, the words birdpoop and drank should never be in the same sentence.]

Tim VanOrden

From Tim VanOrden's Running Raw Project:

Questions:

• What happens when you combine a raw vegan diet and athletics?
• Would this diet give you greater endurance and strength?
• Would it allow you to recover faster?
• Would it remove age as a factor?
• If all of this was possible, would other athletes take note?
• Would other athletes consider fruits and veggies over steroids and doping?

Mission:

• To see what's possible. To be what's possible.
• To unite people in a global effort to create a better world through sport.
• To promote health and ecological stewardship among athletes of all ages and abilities.
• To scientifically prove that an organic, plant-based diet, consisting of uncooked, unrefined, and unprocessed whole foods yields the highest performance for the human body.
• To get other high level athletes to consider the advantages of this diet.
• To get those athletes to endorse and promote the idea of whole food nutrition to the youth of America, who are in desperate need of dietary transformation.

This guy has a whack of helpful raw food videos on youtube.  I found his green smoothie offering and had to know more about this guy.  So then I watched his post-workout smoothie video.  

I'll try to find the link to his story...

P.S. Kale really does grow well in the winter months.  I had a little raisedbed garden in Strathcona in 2005.  Raw kale isn't my favourite, but now that I can blend it into something tasty, I have motivation to plant my old heritage seeds that have been sitting in my closet for 4 years.

His story:

Me again. I went raw vegan overnight for about 4 months at the end of 2003/2004 after reading some eastern mystic books and osho, haha. I had been feeling like crap and sleeping all day and had no motivation to do anything with my life. Anyway, I felt better right away and some fantastically odd yet exciting things transpired in my life. Namely, my inner resolve and strength of mind. Since there were a few things happening in my life, paralleling the raw food changes, I didn't initially credit the diet with my burst in energy and a renewed sense of purpose -- but perhaps it's worth sticking to.

One more: