Thursday, January 25, 2007

Rebounding

I've been rebounding for well over a year now and love how it makes me feel! For those of you who aren't familiar with a rebounder, it looks like a mini trampoline.

The reason I started rebounding was because I have arthritis in the joints of my big toes and power walking, which is what I used to do, became too painful. Rebounding is not hard on the joints and you can definitely get your heart rate up, especially if you use weights. I've been following a program outlined in the book "Harry and Sarah Sneider's OLYMPIC TRAINER". By using weights, I get my strength training in at the same time as the cardiovascular, great timesaver! Their website is www.drfit.net

One of the many benefits of rebounding is that it really gets the lymph moving which helps to get rid of toxins and also, one of the most beneficial things for me, is that it enhances my digestion and elimination processes.

More another time.
Yvonne

Friday, January 19, 2007

My Raw Food Day

The following is what I ate today, and this was a pretty typical day.

I started off with a teaspoon of Green Kamut in a cup of magnetized water, the Green Kamut and the Magnetic Cup are available on my website. I don't take Green Kamut every day and actually had stopped for quite a few months, but when I don't have a good variety of greens on hand, such as dandelion, mustard and kale I like to supplement with Green Kamut. Next was ten minutes on the rebounder, exercise isn't my favourite thing, but I faithfully rebound every day.

Then is was time to make a big Green Smoothie - six small bananas, one apple, a cup of blueberries, two stalks of celery, romaine lettuce and a handful of leafy greens and a tablespoon of Maca. I ate half for breakfast, in a bowl with another cut up banana and sprinkled with ground flax, sesame and pumpkin seeds, and took the rest to work for lunch.

When I got home, about 3:00 pm, I ate ten, yes that's right ten, small mandarin organic oranges. They were so good I just couldn't get enough. Then about 5:00 pm I had a handful of macadamian nuts while I prepared my blended salad - one tomato, a couple of pieces of soaked sun-dried tomatoes, some cucumber, two small carrots, two stalks of celery, leafy greens to fill the blender, apple cider vinegar to taste and a little raw agave. I would have added 1/4 of an avocado but I didn't have a ripe one. I've just started eating these blended salads in place of a salad some evenings and I really enjoy them. I then took our dog, Dali, for a walk. She's a Border Collie and loves to run and seemed to especially enjoy it today in the fluffy freshly-fallen snow.

When I got back from our walk, I felt like I wanted something more to eat, some days I'm more hungry than others, so I blended up two bananas and some strawberries and thoroughly enjoyed my dessert!

Thanks for stopping by.
Until next time.
Yvonne

Tuesday, January 16, 2007

100% Raw - To Be or Not To Be

This is a question I struggled with for quite some time. I've been 80% - 90% raw since July 2000 and during that time had tried to be 100% raw quite a few times and would beat myself up when I "fell off the wagon". Looking back, knowing now it was a process I had to go through, the only thing I would do differently is not be so hard on myself. I realize now that it takes a long time to get over the addiction to cooked food and all the emotional attachments to it. It took quite a few tries, but I can honestly say I no longer have cravings for the final foods I had such a hard time giving up, namely popcorn, pizza and sweets.

Being 100% raw isn't for everyone but its the only thing that works for me. I find that if I'm eating some cooked food, I just want more and one thing leads to another and then I think "why bother?" but having come this far there's no turning back! Now that I'm committed to 100% raw, there isn't any question as to what I'm going to eat, if its not raw, I don't eat it. I'm not saying its always easy, but I think about it less and less. I thoroughly enjoy and look forward to my meals of fresh fruit, green smoothies and salads.

So if you're feeling discouraged, just take a deep breath and think about how well you're doing and the progress you have made, and you'll feel much better.

Until next time.
Yvonne

Monday, January 15, 2007

Live Pizza Recipe

My very first blog! I'd planned to start this at the beginning of January but other things took priority, like getting my webpage started, check it out at www.rawfoodrocks.com . It's still under construction but I'm getting there!

If you read my "About Us" page you know about my struggle with giving up pizza. Well, I've done some experimenting and came up with a raw pizza crust that my husband and I love and I'd like to share it with you. I'll add it to my recipe page shortly but here it is:

Crust:
Soak and sprout 1 cup raw buckwheat grouts, soak one day, sprout for two
1/2 cup almond meal (from strained nut milk)
1/2 cup ground flax seed, sesame seed and pumpkin
seed mixture (equal parts) or just ground flax seed
2 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp salt is desired
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
water if needed
Process the above in a food processor until a doughy consistency.
Makes 4 five inch pizza crusts.
Dehydrate for 4 - 5 hours.

I used this Topping Sauce from "Eating Without Heating"
Blend the following:
1 cup cashews
1/4 cup soaked raisins, I added the soaking water from raisins and tomatoes
1/4 cup soaked sun-dried tomatoes
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp Italian seasoning

Pour in a bowl and add 1 tsp dried onion, 1 tsp dry garlic and 2 tbsp nutritional yeast.
Spread on pizza crust and top with marinated mushrooms, onions and tomatoes.

We haven't had cooked pizza for a couple of months now and don't even miss it!

Until next time.
Yvonne