This is your beginning...

What do you buy?

      Look at your last few grocery receipts or save your next few receipts from the grocery store. Circle all of the fresh ingredients…Is it  5%, 10%, 25% or more

Comment below what percent of those items are real?….This is a great exercise in opening your mind or “Awakening” to how you really eat. I know you may be in denial, don’t want to think about it….You know it’s not good. But just do this exercise and share it with me I'll send you a free menu planner.

     This can be your realization period. You don’t have to change anything.   Just think about how you feel. 

Are you mentally foggy and tired and want more energy?      Do you need motivation to do anything? 

      Wouldn't you like to feel great when you get up in the morning?    Want to shed a few pounds but can't?

Acknowledging your connection to food is a great starting point. Get out a notebook and write about your feelings. I did this for many years and it really helped me. I even did a vision board (check out that post too!)

      I’d wait till everyone went to bed then I binged on food I had tucked away…I just wanted to cry all the time, sad, lonely and scared. I needed something and found it. An inner strength grew inside me by writing my feelings down. And answers came to me and guided me to healthier menus. I realize now that I ate very badly and had 2 of my 4 children while eating this way. They are now struggling with their diets and acne and sugar cravings & Candida. There is nothing I can tell them that will help. I feel like I have failed them, & they won’t listen, yet…someday….they will…

 On the other hand, with my 2 younger children, I ate a better diet while pregnant and they are so much more open to eating well and they are healthier. I see this now…hindsight…

I was so intrigued by nutrition between them, I sought out a health food store and purchased books and have not stopped. I even worked at one for a while.

“And the day came when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.~ Anais Nin

The raw foods path is, of course, just one option for transforming our relationship to food. If you are considering a change that is so wonderful! I applaud you!!  Just reducing the quantities or adding more veggies or maybe a macrobiotic diet, or even a detox . I hope you will glean some incite to a better diet through my blog. I feel the most optimal way to eat for physical health in the human body in through raw foods. That is why I love it so much and why I will support others in choosing this path.

Please comment below on your receipts & I will send you a menu planner and just know this is your beginning...

KALE AND SALSA WRAPS

1/3 of a bunch kale

¼ bunch cilantro

2 tomato, quartered

1/8 th bunch green onion

dash cayenne pepper, (optional)

½ teaspoon olive oil

dash Celtic Sea Salt

¼ lemon, juiced

 Mix all ingredients except for kale for two to five seconds in blender.

 Wrap in kale leaves.

How to deal with pain....

Pain! We're all in pain. Living in this world, the mess it's in, being human, the mess we are, all the trauma we've all experienced. Pain is part of the human emotional palette. It is one of the colors of our emotional rainbow. We're meant to feel it. It deepens us. And it actually increases our capacity for joy.

But we're taught from the start not to feel pain. Stop crying. Take this pill. Our parents can't handle their own pain, so they certainly can't handle ours. We have to allow our children to feel their pain to be fully alive.

How do you deal with pain? I eat. My pain is all in my gut, where it doesn't belong, instead of in my heart, where it does belong.

Can we open our hearts to the pain? Can we embrace the beauty of our pain? Can we just allow ourselves to FEEL it? To "Be" with it? I think that's all we have to do, to deal with it, is to just be with it for a while.

We don't have to to go around in pain all day every day. No. But we do have to deal with it sometimes. And by dealing with it I don't mean we have to wallow in it or solve it or make it go away. Just feel it. Just be with it.

That's your happiness exercise for today. Be with your pain, whenever it comes up. Look at it. Notice it. Feel it. Let it talk to you. Let it tell you its stories. Don't judge it. Allow it space. Give it love. Let it be in your heart for a time, instead of stuffing it down in to your gut.

If no pain comes up, just be with whatever emotions do come up. Maybe some people are fine with pain, but don't allow themselves to feel happiness. So, whatever emotions arrive at your door today, honor them with some attention.

And may we find a new level of balance, peace, and poise emotionally that becomes reflected in our relationship to food.

 Journal all your feelings, let them flow out of your body and onto the page.

then when your ready to treat yourself to something special prepare yourself this delicious dish...

Chicken Au Champagne

INGREDIENTS

4 organic chicken breasts (with skin and bone)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
Chervil, tarragon, or thyme (optional)
1 shallot, quartered
1 cup Champagne (Veuve Clicquot Yellow Label Brut recommended)
 
Yield: 4 Servings

RECIPE

Place the chicken breasts in a roasting pan, and season them. Pour 1/2 cup of the Champagne over breasts. Make a slit in each breast and insert a piece of shallot.

Place the pan under the broiler, skin-side up, for 3 minutes, until the skin is nicely browned. Turn and broil the other side for 5 minutes.

Remove the chicken from the broiler, baste with the pan juices, and add the remaining 1/2 cup of Champagne. Adjust the oven temperature to 475 degrees and bake the chicken for 30 minutes, basting once or twice.

Serve over brown rice. Sautéed mushrooms add a special touch and go beautifully with Champagne. (In a warm frying pan with a touch of olive oil, add clean, roughly chopped mushrooms, and cook for a few minutes. Add a few drops of lemon juice, freshly chopped sage, seasoning to taste and 1 tablespoon of butter.) Pour the cooking juices from the chicken over the meat and rice. Serve the remainder of the bottle of Champagne (about 6 glasses) with the meal.

Few web links ...

Why we've been Emothional eating...


How to stop Emotional eating.

Managing emotions

Summer Orangey Tahini Dressing

This delightful light dressing only takes a few minutes to make. Its simplicity invites variation. Try adding 1-2 teaspoons tamari (a soy sauce made without wheat), or 2 teaspoons poppy seeds and 1/4 teaspoon Chinese 5-spice powder.

2 tablespoons raw tahini
1/2 cup fresh orange juice
1 teaspoon dulse flakes
1 teaspoon grated ginger root
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon curry powder
Pinch sea salt

In a small bowl, place the tahini
Add the orange juice gradually, blending it with the tahini
Add the dulse, ginger, cinnamon, curry, and salt

Yields approximately 1/2 cup

Serve over asparagus, or any fresh veggie salad of choice