hi there just stopped in to say hello and see how your day went!! hope all is well..take care and enjoy the day
love sach
xoxoxoxoxo

Much peace and love!!!
EarthAngel
Xoxo

Hi Everyone!

Pam, thanks for posting. I was just talking with my daughter, who is taking at class at Raw Soul in NYC taught by a lady who studied with Ann Wigmore, and she just learned that another way to make the rejuvelac taste better is to put lime juice in it when you start it. Apparently, this is just one of several ways that it can be flavored without interfering with the fermentation.

Inaia, thanks for your posts. I'll put one on your thread after I finish this.

As for me, things are great! Paying attention to food combining rules is helping. My general approach now is to not follow a "meal" schedule, but rather to eat a small serving just one kind of food, then a couple of hours later a small serving of another kind of food, and so on. So yesterday, it went like this:

- fruit smoothie (banana, orange, strawberry -- not ideal combining)
- spinach/tomato smoothie plus flax crackers
- salad with sprouted lentils, avocado slices, cilantro, lemon joice
- lots of cherries
- leftover hummus from yesterday with some more flax crackers
- an apple

Here's a picture of the salad, which was very delicious:



Today I've had so far:

- acidic fruit smoothie (orange, strawberry, kiwi)
- green soup: chard, spinach, cucumber, celery, cilantro, avocado, lemon juice
(with dulse flakes and flax crackers)

Here's a picture of my soup and crackers (I didn't eat all those crackers, I was just too lazy to use a serving dish):



I'm taking time to sit in a nice place (like my screen-porch) and eat calmly, while doing nothing else, and am also following the principal of not drinking water with meals.

Meanwhile, I'm getting ready to start growing wheatgrass by researching the various options (soil vs. hydroponic, mainily). I'm also hoping to grow buckwheat lettuce and sunflower, so that most of my chlorophyll can come from my own growings rather than relying on several-day-old leafy produce flown across the country (putting carbon in the atmosphere), handled by unknown people, etc. Also along these lines, I hope to plant a variety of edible weeds in my yard eventually.

Anyway, that's where I'm at today. This is a rapid evolution. I can't wait to see where it brings me.

Wow. What beautiful photos! That green soup looks amazing.


www.inaia.com

Hi Dad. FOf and I decieded you should open a raw food restaurant in Boston. And your pretty pictures proove it. YOU are doing so well. I'm really amazed by you. Let me know how your rejuvalac turns out. Love you.

xoxo,
Starfruit

Those were yummey looking foods. I will try the lime in the rejuvelac. Right now I have some formenting. The process takes some time I am craveing the rejuvelac. I botched the last batch and it molded. I am still learning. The wheat grass is simple yet one needs to watch any mold growth.
Love your enthusiasim it is getting catchey.

hey there..wow those pics are great..the soup looks soo yum!!
keep up the good work
take care
love sach
xoxoxxoxo

Much peace and love!!!
EarthAngel
Xoxo

Good Evening. So, last night I experienced a sudden wave of depression along with pretty major cravings for the old foods. This hadn't happened in a while so it kind of surprised me. At one point, I felt sort of desperate, and decided to try a square of raw chocolate to cheer me up. However, it made me feel worse. Oddly, at that point I started craving sauerkraut, so I had some and then started feeling better. Strange.

Today I've felt fine, and have eaten well. Here's what I've had:

- 1 grapefruit, 2 apricots, 1 peach, some cherries

- some almonds

- spinach, cucumber, celery, cilantro, lemon soup w/sunflower sprouts

- a banana and an apricot

- smoothie with lettuce, apple, sprouted buckwheat and rejuvelac, while eating some olives and some flax crackers (I noticed that one of the Ann Wigmore books has some recipes combining apple and greens in a smoothie so I figured it was OK food-combining-wise, but I'm not sure I liked it)

My only regret about my food today is that I ate a bit too much, especially the sunflower sprouts.

I still haven't decided how (or where) I want to grow wheatgrass, but I'm really starting to crave it, so I expect to start it any day now.

Have a nice evening (or whatever time it is where you are)!

Hey there leafdrinker...how are you doing?? have you decided on that wheatgrass planting spot yet??? starfruit says your home is looking amazing and a raw food heaven is this true heheh?? maybe you can open up your own resort/spa/retreat/healing place
take care!!
love ya
sach
xoxoxoo

Much peace and love!!!
EarthAngel
Xoxo

Hi Folks. It was great to have starfruit home, even though it was just for 24 hours, and especially fun to make nice raw food for her. EA, we're not quite at the "resort/spa" level yet but at least we have the sprouter, dehydrator, vita-mix and cuisinart, plus plenty of love. The wheatgrass operation will follow shortly.

I'm currently in Maine at my in-law's house. They're the kind of wonderful people who make lots of yummy cooked food for their guests, so I knew it would be a challenge to be here -- my first visit anywhere since adopting the raw diet. Nevertheless, I packed a box with the vita-mix, fruit and other supplies, and a cooler full of sprouts and greens, and arrived well-equiped and full of determination.

So dinnertime came, and I was getting ready to make some green soup to eat while everyone else had their filet of sole, peas and pasta, and I just couldn't do it. Their food looked so good, and mine seemed so horrible in contrast. Yet, I've had such a transformation since going raw, and feel so good about it overall, that I also couldn't stand the thought of eating cooked! Thus I found myself in a panic of emotional dissonance.

After a bit of counselling from my wonderfully supportive wife, I settled on a compromise: eat some raw hummus, sprouts and flax crackers, but also try a small bite of the cooked food. So I did that, and felt OK. I received the love of my in-laws through their food, and only got a minor stomach ache, which quickly cleared up after drinking a glass of rejuvelac (that stuff is amazing).

That was last night. This morning I had a fabulous green smoothie using mizuna, lettuce and beet greens freshly picked from my father-in-law's garden. What a joy to eat (drink) food that I just pulled from the ground myself! This really motivates me to get going on my indoor growing of wheatgrass, buckwheat lettuce and sunflower greens. (Our yard at home is too small and shady to grow much outdoors.) Having made it through last night's right of passage to raw guest-hood, I believe I can stay raw for the rest of this visit.

Have a good day everyone!

oo yay for fresh smoothie. You are doing great Dad. I can't wait to spend more time with you in July.

xoxo,
Starfruit

leafdrinker just how did your rejuvelac work out? I have not gotten any limes yet so I am making mine with the directions in one of anns old books. The smell is very pugnant I mixed honey in it and let it forment for a couple of days that makes it tast lemoney and a bit fizzy. Its just the smell that gets me' I wonder how you make it. I do agree though, the rejuvelac has its benifits and I think it is a great aid for digestion so I am drinking it useing a straw and trying not to smell it.
I have attempted to grow the grass and it is not to difficult if you have some old cafetaria trays you could put the soil on that and it grows real well. The birds like to eat the sprouts and my cats like to lay on the grass. You have to keep up with it though. My last batch of sprouts I had to through out due to mold. So I have to buy another tray of grass. The grass is something my family enjoys though.

My first batch of rejuvelac (which I just finished) was made with only about 1/3 cup of sprouted wheat berries to 3/4 gallon of water, so it is kind of a mild version. It tastes good and doesn't have much smell. I noticed that Ann Wigmore suggests filling your jar 1/4 full of wheat, which would be about 4 cups of wheat for a gallon jar, which sounds like way too much. (She liked to brew it 3 times for each set of berries, so maybe that's why.) For the batch I'm going to decant this afternoon, I used 1 cup of wheat, so we'll soon see how that is. Except for emergencies, I don't drink it plain. I use it instead of water in smoothies and soups.

Hi Leafdrinker. Seems you are doing awesome. God work on the compromise too. You are definitely inspiring me!


www.inaia.com

leaf drinker, I just had a great tasting rejuvelac. It was real fizzey and the pugnant flavor was not to noticable. I mixed to much honey in this last batch and it really fizzed up I am wondering if the stuff that floats in should be filtered out. I am not sure though don't want to lose any of the benefits from it. I tried to make seed cheese yet it looks horible. It seems to be a task to keep up with the rinsing of the sprouts and all, I had to toss out my batch of sprouted wheat seeds I was taking so much time in preparing the soil for growing them. Sounds like you are doing real good on this keep it up.

hey there...congrats on doing so well with the in-law dinner last night!! i am sure that is hard...i am working at my summer camp this summer and it is difficult for me as well!!
take care and keep up the good work
love ya
sach
xoxoxoxo

Much peace and love!!!
EarthAngel
Xoxo

We miss you here. Come back.

xoxo,
Starfruit

yeah leafdrinker where did you disappear to?? hope all is well with you!! take care and keep up that little spa/house you have
love ya
sach
xoxoxoxo

Much peace and love!!!
EarthAngel
Xoxo

Hello my friends, don't worry, I'm never far away. I thought I was done with orchestra gigs for the summer (in fact, I wanted to start this raw food thing earlier, but decided to wait until my last spring concerts were over), but then one came up, so I had a rehearsal sunday night and a concert last night.

As for food, when I eat 100% raw, I'm actually quite a different person than when I eat cooked food -- spiritual, serene, steady. It's much better in most ways, except that I haven't managed to reconcile these new feelings with the former competitive, aggressive edginess that has made me the principal violinist in both orchestras I play in. To make a long story short, I actually couldn't bring myself to practice for or go to this gig without eating some cooked food. I do hope that over the summer, I can bring these various forces into balance and reconcile the two energy modes.

I'm not even going to list what I ate, but it did the job, and didn't make me sick. The good news is, that's over now, so I'm back on the all-raw mission. Yesterday I went to Whole Foods and stocked up the fridge with lots of greens. This morning I tried a smoothie with fruit and arugula. It was very intense and not my favorite, but I drank it all. I can still taste the peppery arugula two hours later.

I could go on and on this morning, but since I'm behind on many other tasks besides this one, I must stop here. Have a great day everyone!

You are doing so well. You know I was reading some on line about a Raw food writer teacher Viktoras Kulvinskas and it said he is 90% raw. I thought that to be interesting.

Glad to see you back. Love you.

xoxo,
Starfruit

hey there..yay you are back!! glad all is well wtih you!! take care
love ya
sach
xoxoxo

Much peace and love!!!
EarthAngel
Xoxo

Good Morning. No profound thoughts today, just my food list.

Yesterday I started with the arugula smoothie mentioned above, which I didn't like but drank anyway. Later, I had the following items, at different times:

- an apricot
- some almond milk
- 1/2 avocado with buckwheat sprouts, lemon and nori -- really good
- some lentil sprouts and sauerkraut and flax crackers
- lots of cherries
- green soup (collards, cilantro, cucumber, tomato, avocado, lemon, rejuvelac) with flax crackers

Today I started with a grapefruit and an apricot, then later had a glass of blended sprouted wheat berries and rejuvelac, which was delicious and made me feel like I was having a bowl of cereal with milk. After that, I had a green drink with lettuce, cucumber and lemon, which was not delicious, but I got it down. I'm quite full, and should be content until mid-afternoon.

Meanwhile, I'm enjoying helping my wife transition to an increasingly raw diet, mostly by keeping her well-supplied with sprouts.

Thanks for reading and have a good day everyone!

Interesting day. Depression found me and overcame me late this morning and lasted most of the afternoon. I slept part of the time, and just sat doing nothing the rest. I felt completely empty, not caring about anything. I tried to think about what the cause might be, but didn't even care about that. Then (sorry for the gory details) around 5:00 I had a big @#$%& with lots of mucus, and instantly felt better, like someone just switched on the lights. So now I know for sure, I was just experiencing a round of detox, probably from the cooked food I had several days ago for several days in a row. I now remember that another time, after 2 days of all raw, I had a detox episode. I guess that's my cycle. This should motivate me to avoid the cooked stuff next time!


After the items mentioned in the prior post, I had hummus with nori and flax crackers for lunch, then later a fruit smoothie, and for dinner some marinated kale (oil, lemon, nutritional yeast, salt) and olives. Very satisfying day of ingesetion.

I'm glad it was just detox and that you are feeling better. I bet you wre detoxing the cooked food since you had a lot of upset feeling linked with that. YUmmy day. Did mom have nutrional yeast too? Love you.

xoxo,
Starfruit

hey there...glad it was detox and it is over for a while again!! congrats on your wife increasing her raw as well!! that is fantastic..keep up the good work
love ya
sach
xoxoxo

Much peace and love!!!
EarthAngel
Xoxo

Good morning. Yesterday I woke up feeling great, and started the day with a delicious smoothie I call my "bitter special": collards, grapefruit, a small banana (to cut the bitterness a tiny bit) and rejuvelac. Very satisfying.

For lunch I made a small soup by blending buckwheat sprouts, cilantro, tomato and lime (in other words, whatever I could find in the refrigerator), and it was delicious! I also had some leftover hummus, sauerkraut and almonds.

In the afternoon, I went to an organic juice bar that's about a 20-min drive (the only one anywhere near me) and had a double shot of wheatgrass. I got it down, but it made me feel nauseuos. I should probably have had a single. It also didn't taste as good as some other times I've had it, probably because the grass came from a bag in the refrigerator there, rather than being fresh-cut.

In the evening I had more leftover hummus, sauerkraut and some olives. I didn't feel well. Partly still reacting to the wheatgrass, partly my usual evening blahs. Deciding I might be detoxing too fast, I ate a little cup of lemon yogurt. It probably worked, who knows.

I woke up at 3:00 AM this morning and spent the next couple of hours worrying about this and that, including trying to figure out why exactly I'm doing this little food experiment, plus the usual thoughts about how soon the oil will run out, how quickly the oceans will rise, when the global infrastructure will collapse, what to do about it, and so on. As usual, the sunrise evaporated most of these worries, but I'm a bit sleepy today.

I had a smoothie for breakfast similar to yesterday's except with chard, so it was a tad sweeter than the one with collards.

Hey there.....well sounds like you are doing really well!! try to just take deep breaths and not worry too much....you are doing so amazing ...keep up the good work!!
love ya
sach
xoxoxoxo

Much peace and love!!!
EarthAngel
Xoxo

I know it's a burden but I think raw makes you much more sensitive to these things or at least more open and it's really wonderful in a way. So excited JP is on here now. Yay,

xoxo,
Starfruit

you need to start some grass of your own. You need to always drink your grass on an empty stomach. I don't noow about the pre chopped grass that sounds a bit funkey to me. So sorry. You are doing so well I am encouraged by your writeings. Please keep it up.

Good morning. I had a mixed day yesterday. Woke up feeling great, had another green+grapefruit smoothie for breakfast, loved it. At lucnchtime, I craved a cooked meal my wife was having (rice, tofu, kale), but resisted and made green soup instead. I liked it, but afterwards, I started feeling more frustrated than ever about having diet restrictions and having various people keeping track of "how I'm doing". I just felt rebelious. And I'm kind of tired of the usual line of thought "oh, that's just the detox talking". All feelings are valid and should be listened to. So I responded to those feelings with some dagoba dark chocolate and a couple of oatmeal cookies, which did the job nicely! Later in the day, I had more chocolate with a banana and an apricot. In the evening, I had some lentil sprouts and a few bits of smoked salmon. So overall, about a 90% raw day.

As you know if you've read me from the beginning, I've never had a particularly strong reason for being all-raw. It's been more of an experiment. Overall, so far, it has been very successful, and I'm likely to stay mostly raw from now on. However, I also now understand that there's a certain emotional pain threshold that I'm not willing to cross. So when I feel I need it, especially in social settings, or to sooth myself of other pain, or whatever, I'm perfectly fine with having some cooked "treats". That's where my balance point is. Everyone needs to find their own way.