interesting, budisim and christianity combined. just don't tell the baptists lol. I am going to check out that web site you mentioned. I am giveing it a goe today at eating raw. Yesterday I ate cooked foods but I took noats on how I felt so now I am going to eat raw and take noats on how I feel. The only thing is the coffee today. I will ween myself on the coffee as I start eating raw. I am actually excited to start it up again. I felt so good last summer by eating raw. I have been attempting gardening but the weather is acting like winter instead of summer and the plants are not growing like they should. Lots of digging, my back hurts. I think the dry fasting is a very effective tool, it seems less abrubt than all out fasting. What studies are you doing in college? I am contemplating starting college but not sure just what to study. I tend to like socialogy and writeing the best. Take care now
Pam

Hi Pam, I love sociology. I took 7 sociology classes. College is great. I'm so glad I decided to go. I'm the oldest student in the school and love it. The only thing I still get anxious about are tests. I had 3 exams in the last 3 weeks and put all my energy into studying them. It's the only way I can deal with them. Good luck to you in going. You could major in writing or sociology and minor in the other. Both are terrific. Just follow your bliss.

**

OK, I went 100 days 16 hour/day of dry fasting. I think it went really well. I made some advancements but I also noticed I started to over eat. I'm talking about stuffing myself. I still notice I have very dry skin and dry eyes in the morning, so I started reading about juice feasting and Norman Walker's view on juice. Now I'm trying to re-hydrate my cells by following a mixture of both. I would love to do a 92 day juice feast, but I don't see how I can right now. So, I'm following much of what they suggest with fruit at lunch and an evening salad.

Walker suggests 16 oz. of juice with meals. JF suggests 1 quart of juice for the meal. I tried that and couldn't drink the whole quart. It was just too much. 16 oz with meals is too much, too. I'm still trying to work it out, but at least I'm drinking lots of green juice.

Right now, I drink a quart of water with lemon juice when I wake up. Then I drink green juice between 8-9, noonish, and again around 3-4. I eat salad between 7-8 with water, sometimes juice. Can't always drink it because I'm full. I'm trying to adjust the size of my meals so I can get all my juice down. I'm sure I'll work it out. I've only been doing this for 2 weeks and not always successfully. That's OK. It's a journey not perfection.

I did reach one goal this week. My tongue is pink!!! It's no longer coated like it has been for the last couple of decades. I contribute it to both the dry fasting and the juicing. Can't wait to see what happens next!

Many blessings,

Mona

Once we understand ourselves, the rest of living falls in line.

Faith dares the soul to go beyond what the eyes can see.

I'm back to dry fasting. It seems to work out really well for me. I'm not juicing as much because I have the worst blender in the world. I blend greens then strain them. My juicer leaks most of the time, so I can't even use it right now. The thing is, it's fairly new. When my wonderful Oster juicer died--I tend to go through them--the only one at the store was a Black and Decker. I've had bad luck with Black and Decker anything in the past, but my husband talked me into it. Oh, well. So, until I get a blender that doesn't leak most of the time, I will continue to dry fast. It's actually gotten really easy and natural for me, so I have no complaints about doing it. Plus, my goal of a pink tongue has been fulfilled. My right eye is clearer than it has been in ages, my left eye is beginning to clear up. Funny how it's not happening at the same time. Maybe I just need to keep dry fasting until they're both clear. I sure feel more energenic, which is great.

The only other change I have made, due to blender problems, I'm eating more whole fruit instead of smoothies. Maybe that's really a good thing. Don't know. I do miss green smoothies though. When the blender doesn't leak, that's when I take advantage of it. I check by filling it with water before putting food in it.

Many blessing to you all.

Mona

Each new day offers a new opportunity

Expectations are preconceived resentments.

Refresh your spirit with everyday miracles.

It's been a while since I've written. Well, I finished school!!!! Yeah!!!!! The last semester was overwhelming. Now that it's over, I'm free to write again.

Last month, I went back to dry fasting the same way I did in the beginning of the year. I'm not counting the days this time. I decided to continue until my birthday in March and evaluate my progress at that time. So far, so good. I still want to eat everything in sight between 3-5pm. Right now, I'm snacking on some fruit and then a handful of nuts and drinking large amounts of water until dinner. My hubby and I eat around 7:00 every night.

Another thing I'm working on is cutting down the amount of smoothies I eat. Someone on another site made the comment that smoothies are great, but they are meant for really sick people who have a hard time with digestion. As our digestion system functions better, we should be able to eat whole foods. Now, whenever I make my smoothies, I got to admit, I think, "Ahh, baby food" because I like them thick. So, instead of throwing the fruit in a blender, I put it in a bowl. The OJ goes in a glass with all the pulp. It even feels different in my stomach. Btw, I'm not giving up green smoothies at this time, only my fruit ones.

I promised myself when I graduated I would stop using shampoo. I'm on my fourth day with no shampoo and my hair feels like there's a thick coating on it. It's gotten long enough to pull back so it doesn't look so bad. I'm plan on not dyeing it anymore, too. Thought I would let it go grey. I'm waiting for a friend to bring wheat grass seeds to me so I can grow them and rinse my hair with wheat grass juice. Until then, I'm using lemon juice.

Great to back. MIssed you all very much.

Love,

Mona

The distance is nothing; it is only the first step toward it that is difficult.

Hey Mona --
I use baking soda to wash my hair and lemon juice as a rinse and the combination works really well! The baking soda cuts the grease and the lemon reacts with any soda left and makes the hair really clean feeling.

Sundancer,
How do you use the baking soda? Do you dilute it in water?

Sharrhan:


[www.facebook.com]

I put about two tablespoons of baking soda (if I had short hair, I'd use 1T.) in a little ramekin and take it and 1/2 lemon in the shower. I mix the soda with water to make a paste and pour it in my hair, then I work it through the hair completely (I have long hair, so it takes a little while). Then I rinse it well and rinse the cup. Then I squirt the lemon juice into the cup, dilute it 1:1 with water and work that through my hair, adding a little water to make sure the lemon juice gets through all of my hair. Then rinse well because sometimes a little pulp gets stuck in my hair. I can go three days without my hair looking greasy (vs. 1 1/2 with shampoo).

Hi Sundancer,

Thanks for the great tip! I'll try it tomorrow. Funny thing, the only part of my hair that looks greasy is the back. The front and sides look clean.

Hi Sharrhan! Good to see you here.

Love,

Mona

I am grateful for this minute. My eternity may be in it.

You're welcome!!

Hi everyone,

When I was on hiatus from writing, I went on the 10-day cleanse that Frederic guided a bunch of us through. It was very good in many ways. I ate only fresh fruit and veggies. No oils, no avocados, no nuts, no salt, no spices, no herbs. What I found the hardest was not having oil, nut or olive, on my salads. There's something about a nice nut dressing or olive oil based dressing that makes the texture of the lettuce more appealing to me. I tried several oil free dressings but, they really didn't do it for me.

What I ended up doing after the cleanse was get heavily into making bean-free hummus and other mid-eastern salads. They were really garlic filled. Then a weird thing happened. I started getting heart palpitations. I got these all the time before I went raw. So, I stopped making middle Eastern food for a while and they went away. I recently started making the hummus again without garlic and so far, no palpitations. I find this interesting because I'm learning to hone in on the things my body is rejecting better. I love garlic and the flavor it brings to food. But the longer I'm raw and the more I cleanse, I learn that certain foods are not working for me. Hope you can still enjoy garlic. I miss it.



If you're interested:
Here's the url to my blog. Well, really it's my husband's blog. He's the brains behind it. It's about the church (he's an Episcopal priest), politics as he sees it (leftist-socialist), and our mission work in Panama. I take most of the pictures at our church functions. We're not normal missionaries by any means as Sharrhan can tell you. The most recent post is about my husband's last band that he was back in the punk/new wave days. We were both very much a part of that scene. He also writes about the Saints (many known and unknown), and every Friday he creates amusing stories with dog toys and nick-nacks that we have in the house. These toys have their own Facebook fan club page. Hope you check it out and enjoy it.

[padremickey.blogspot.com]

Till next time... much love,

Mona

If I have the courage to begin, I have the courage to succeed.

Mona,
You and your husband give me hope for the future of religion! ;-p Really, you guys are so refreshingly 'cool.'

Sharrhan:


[www.facebook.com]

cool blog mona hope to hear more about your journey the garlic was probably overstimulating you a bit .. i find i get like that with really FRESH garlic now .. cripes i almost had my socks blown off with my radishes this year ..normally i can eat them by the bunches full but man this year they were super hot and just didnt sit with me darn it cuz i likes radishes lol

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Hi Sharrhan and Jodi. Glad you enjoy the blog. My husband is posting his version on the Christmas story tonight with his toys. It's part of his Red Mr. Peanut Bank series. It's pretty amusing. I think the teletubbies are angels.

Jodi, that's interesting about what you said regarding really fresh garlic. I think it does over-stimulate me. Too bad because I love it. And radishes.... hmmm. I didn't think about them as a possible stimulus. I use some kind of large white radish when I was making dolmas. This was about the same time of the palpitations. Maybe I'll make dolmas again and see what happens.


I'm still dry fasting until sometime between 11:30 and 1:30 depending on my schedule. The only smoothy I'm eating is one green smoothy several times a week. All other fruit is cut into a salad. But I notice I would rather eat one kind at a time rather than mixing them. I really like the taste of them separately. I can understand why some people love to mono eat. That's something I didn't get before.

I used the baking soda on my hair and it's really shiny. It's not at all oily. That's it for now...


Love and serenity,

Mona
If you find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn't lead anywhere.

If you keep doin' what your doin' you'll keep gettin' what your gettin'.

Mona,
Your husband's blog is such fun! I love it. And I'm all for Padre Mickey giving the invocation at the Innauguration-- yeah!!

Sharrhan:


[www.facebook.com]

Hi Sharran,

Thanks. He'd be way better than the guy Obama has chosen. So glad you enjoy the blog.

Love,

Mona
padremickey.blogspot.com

Serenity is not the absence of conflict, but the ability to cope with it.

Glad the baking soda is working for you, Mona!

Happy New Year!

I've been soooooo busy. I have extra responsibilities with my mission work this time of the year. It's the custom in Panama to have the New Year "catch you in church" so every year we have a mass that ends at midnight. My husband, who is the rector of the church, and I played a duet; me on flute and him on recorder. After the service we went outside to watch the beautiful firework displays that lit up the sky all over the city. It's very impressive and reminds me of the Fourth of July when fireworks were still legal in the States.

So, I've been doing pretty well with dry fasting until between 11 am and noon. However, last night when we got home around 12:30am, I ate a banana and blueberry shake. It was as thick as a milkshake and I can eat part of it with a spoon. This is one of my favorite foods. Usually, I add fresh orange juice and pulp to it which adds a nice flavor.

I've somehow gained weight which seems to have stablized. I went from around 109 to 117. This is a good thing. I would love to gain another 5-10 pounds. The weight gain started with my 10-day "fast" that I did with the guidance of Frederic P... whose last name I don't remember off hand and can't pronounce anyway. I'm thinking about doing it again starting today. No oils, nuts or avocados for 10 days. I don't think I could do this forever, but I'm planning to try this a second time on my own. No matter how I try, I have returned to the habit of eating tons of nuts and oil on my salad. I feel very groggy and have an upset stomache afterward. So, that's why I am planning this. The only problem I have is salad without some oil-based dressing isn't that tasty.

That's it for now. Have a wonderful New Year everyone!

Love,

Mona

Live for today. Yesterday’s history. Tomorrow’s a mystery.

The mind is like a parachute, it works better when it's open.

You have to be willing to get rid of the life you have planned, so to have the life that is waiting for you.

Hi everyone,

I must say, after trying to go oil-free for 10 days and after eating my good, but oil free salad, I decided no more. Even though I liked the dressing, I had a hard time eating the salad without oil. So, I'm eating salad with oil or nut based dressing again. I'm still dry fasting in the morning.

I will be a camp with a bunch of middle school kids next week. Eating will be very interesting. The staff knows I'm a raw foodist so we'll see how it goes. There'll be lots of pipa, which I love. Maybe I'll be drinking lots of juice. I'll bring lots of oranges and bananas. The interior of Panama doesn't have all that much in the way of fruit, which I find very strange.

That's it for now. I have a meeting to run off to.

Serenity,

Mona

As I have received, so may I give.

Courage is the ability to change the familiar.

Mona, have you tries makeing a green smoothie? I notice I use oiles less when I blend the greens. Just a thought. Another thing is to blend some vegis and pour it over your salad like some tomatoe,garlic, and celery blended and poured over the salad maybe that would help eating the salad without oil. Best of luck

Pam

green smoothies are definately the easier way to go oilless ..

but we do need some fats of some kind in our diet to keep the joints healthy

without going OC (obsesive compulsive) about it maybe try a teeny teaspoon of oil with your dressings or more till your are comfy with the results

instead of a strait oil maybe an oily plant matter might give you a lift .. how bout a coconut dressing of some sort

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

Hi Jody and Pam. Those are great ideas. I eat green smoothies as my first meal of the day. I have tried mixing several veggies and/or fruits together for my salad dressings. They taste really good, including the one you suggested, Pam, but as a dressing really lack something for me and I don't enjoy the salad. As much as I love green smoothies, I really want to chew my last meal of the day and not drink it. There's something satisfiying about eating food that I chew. Even after drinking and "chewing" a smoothie, I want to chew on something more solid. Don't know what's going on there, really.

Right now the avocados that are available have a bitter flavor and not appealing. Must be the season or the type. We get about 10 different kinds of avocados here throughout the year. Most of the time they are wonderful. I would like to try a coconut dressing which may be more satisfying. That hadn't occured to me before. My favorite dressing is ground seseme seeds, fresh orange juice, cucumber or zucchini, salt and cumin. I guess I think I eat too much oil when I eat handfull of nuts during the day plus what I put on my dinner salad.

Thanks for the great suggestions. I really appreciate the care and kindness that you are expressing to me with your posts. I felt really happy and cared for when I read them.

Much Love,

Mona
padremickey.blogspot.com

Just for today I will try to live through this day only, and not tackle my whole life problems at once. I can do something for 12 hours that would appall me if I felt that I had to keep it up for a LIFETIME

Hello everyone,

I went to help out at a youth camp a couple of weeks ago and was able to eat salad and fruit everyday. Raw food vegan is not something understood by Panamanians. When the cook was preparing my salad I gently stopped him from boiling my carrots and cabbage on the first night. He then understood and gave me raw salads of tomatoes, cucumbers and carrots for lunch and dinner. Occasionally, he added lettuce or cabbage. I stayed in a house with a fridge and brought my blender and other fruit. I also provided my own salad dressing. Overall, it was a great week and I stayed raw until I went to the local restaurant which offered cooked stuff with salad. The cook at camp also served me really nice fruit salads for breakfast.

Inspired by Sharrhan's juice fast, I've added more juice to my diet. I'm making my green smoothies thinner by using more juice and water. They are still excellent. I made grape juice then apple juice with some grapes yesterday. My only problem is my juicer is not very good. It leaves so much juice in the pulp that I rejuice the pulp a couple of times. Hopefully, one of these days, I can get a better juicer that does the job on the first try. Mine's a Black and Decker.

Right now oranges are everywhere, so they're really cheap. I get a bag for a dollar. I like mixing the juice with grapefruit which is also cheap. It's so yummy I make this a couple of times a day.

By doing this, I've been able to cut way back on my nut/oil intake, which can get out of hand especially when I'm emotionally eating. This is a goal I've been striving for so I can be closer to 80/10/10.

Love,

Mona

It's never too late to be what you might have been.
The joy is in the journey, so enjoy the ride.

Hey Mona,
I just read your hubby's blog and laughed my bum off!!! Nope, it's still there! Goodness -- funny stuff!!!

Hi Sundancer,

Glad you enjoyed his blog. He has great wit and really fun to live with. Please feel free to pass his blog address around. We're really hoping the community grows. Feel free to make comments. We would love to get lots of discussions going.

Love,

Mona
padremickey.blogspot.com

Happiness is not getting what you want, it is wanting what you get.

hi mona, just checkin out your diary to see if you are doing o.k., I have been haveing some wheat grass lately and it really is a good thing and I have also been trying some maca, now that is some potent stuff. Have you tried these foods? I hope you are doing well
Love Pam

Thanks, Pampam. I haven't had meca, but I love wheatgrass juice. When I had it last time I was in the States, I couldn't believe how sweet it is. I tried growing it, but was unsuccessful. Could have been because of the humidity.

Well, this last week I have been suffering with a painful canker sore. So, I was able to fast for one day which did help some. Then my husband, bless is heart, brought back a bag of 40-50 grapefruits from a retreat. So, I'm on a grapefruit juice/banana drink fast during the day. I gave some grapefruit away, but I'm drinking 6 a day very slowly and carefully. Then at night, I'm drinking my salad. I've never had a blended salad until now. The thought just never appealed to me before. But, when I couldn't eat my salad last week, and I hate to waste food, I blended it with some water. It looked ugly, but tasted great.

This has been going on for a week. From what I read online, canker sores last between 10-20 days, depending on how large they are. Mine is really large and still sore after a week. What does this mean to me? I haven't had a canker sore in years and I used to get them all the time. I think because I went on a high greens diet, my body went into cleanse mode and so created the canker sore. So I accept it as part of my cleansing process and am just dealing with it the best I can.

Take care, everyone.

Love,

Mona

It is not the experience of today that drives people mad, it is remorse of yesterday and the dread of tomorrow.

Oh Mona, you poor kid! I had a really bad canker sore a few months back. I know how hard it is to chew anything with that going on. Mine took a couple weeks to start disappearing. Glad you figured out some blended drinks. I think that's what I ended up doing, too. It'll pass before you know it.

Sharrhan:


[www.facebook.com]

Hi Sharrhan, I'm doing better now, thanks. I was hoping to be in Cambridge this month but couldn't pull it off financially. So, God willing, I'll be there in the summer for a couple a days while Michael and I are on sabbatical. I would love for you to meet him. And I'm bringing my flute!

Here's my cheap shot at advertising:

I've been eating raw food for almost 5 years now. Wow! Can't believe it's been that long. Anyway, I'm also a missionary in Panama. My husband's blog is about our mission work but also very funny. We're not normal missionaries. His blog is testamony to that. We're going on sabbatical in April and will be in California for 4 months. During that time, we hope to visit our daughter who lives in the Boston area. But, because of the economy, donations are down. So my husband opened a store which sells t-shirts, coffee mugs, caps, etc. The pictures on the items aren't Christian, if you're worried about that. They are of his Friday Night Red Mr. Peanut Blogging, a regular feature. He makes up stories with dog toys, Red Mr. Peanut Bank, Gallito Mescalito (yes, named after mescaline because of his many colors) and other nick-nacks we have around the house. They even have a Facebook fan page.

Please visit the site, padremickey.blogspot.com, and check out the stories. Then please visit the store and buy shirts, mugs and whatever to help support us. Buy enough to give away as gifts to the teens in your life or friends.

Here's a random sample of some of the stories:

Friday Red Mr. Peanut Bank and Gallito Mescalito Blogging

[padremickey.blogspot.com]

[padremickey.blogspot.com]

[padremickey.blogspot.com]


Here's the store site:

[www.cafepress.com]


Thanks for any support you can give up. Also, if you're in the Bay Area or Northern California between April and August, maybe we can get together. Would love to meet you.

Love,

Mona

Don't give up before the miracle happens.

HOPE = Heart Open Please Enter

You guys are adorable, and Padre Mickey's blog is so funny!!!!!

I want to buy one of those cups with the Love Hippo on it!!, but I can't until I open a second bank account --- dear hubby is unfortunately deathly afraid if we do any online transactions somehow all our money will get stolen by someone hacking our computer for our banking data. (Sigh.) :-) I can't even use PayPal because his paranoia about online theft and hacking is so intense.

Mona, I'm SURE we will see you soon.:-)

And I love and totally believe in your motto: HOPE = Heart Open Please Enter

Sharrhan:


[www.facebook.com]

Thanks, Sharrhan! Sales are slow and we're really concerned about how we're going to eat while we're there. We're hoping sales pick up. We figure selling stuff would work better than asking for donations all the time. On the other hand, all donations we recieve are tax deductable. Please let all your friends know about our sale and web site.

I really want to see you when I visit the Boston area. We may be staying with friends in Cambridge instead of our daughter's place in Malden. I really want Michael to meet you and Jonathan. BTW, my daughter has a huskey that needs a new home. If you know anyone in the area who would be willing to give him a home, please let me know. He's really sweet and has papers.

I'm glad you enjoy my mottos. I have soooo many of them I like changing them all the time.

Love,

Mona
padremickey.blogspot.com



GRACE = Gently Releasing All Conscious Expectations
GOD = Give Others Dignity