Feelin' Great and Lettin' Go

I feel good today. With the exception of Dove chocolates and a chai tea, I've been sticking to raw. I just love the way I feel. The "Brain Fog" is gone. The past 5 years have been so hard, that I can't even begin to tell you. I truly believe that becoming a raw vegan will save my life and preserve my health for years to come. My day-to-day life is still as hectic as it ever was. But I am the one who has changed. And I am so grateful that God/Nature has provided the world with food that tastes good and sustains us.

I did readings yesterday at Mystickal Voyage. Before I went, I made some nutmeat and put it in nori rolls. This nutmeat is Jeffery Safron's recipe from The Complete Book of Raw Food. It is very simple. Walnuts (I used almonds), olive oil, garlic, liquid aminos, and sun-dried tomatoes. I cannot take credit for the rest of the food. The Yabba Pot cafe in Baltimore has wonderful raw food. That's carrot tuna, spinach salad, and seaweed salad on my plate.

And I feel like the Universe is supporting my decision. While at Mystickal Voyage doing readings, the owner, Lori got an Edible Flowers Basket. All the fruit is on skewers, shaped like flowers. Kale is behind it. I asked if they were going to keep the kale. They said no. I asked if I could take the kale. Goodness knows I use it almost daily in salads and in juices and smoothies. So they gave it to me! Below is the picture. They left me some fruit :-). It's time to let go of the past 5 years. I bless those years for bringing me my sons. They give me reason to live and to become a better person. When they are adults, I want them to look back at their childhood with happy fondness. Having a mom who is emotionally present and healthy and happy goes a long way in ensuring those memories. My husband and I have had each other to lean on through those years and I am grateful that I have a supportive spouse. I love you Rom. I am grateful for my in-laws for cultivating within me compassion, patience, and for showing me how not to handle life. I am grateful that The Mocha Angels did not give up on me, and constantly showed me how to handle life. "Manifest the life that you want by proclaiming it in the NOW." I get that now. The Mocha Angels book will be released in 2008. Many wonderful things will follow.

And as part of releasing not-so-happy times comes releasing weight put on during those times. I want to lose 25 pounds. I'm calling it "Operation SexyBack." Seriously! I got that from We Like It Raw (www.welikeitraw.com) They sell a T-shirt that reads: "Raw Food: Bringing Sexy Back." Okay, I couldn't wear that shirt with a straight face. I was like, "I wanna wear that t-shirt! I guess I better get my sexy back cause my sexy has left the building :-). So Operation SexyBack is about staying on raw, exercising, and taking better care of Althea. It's already started, but when I post my picture (for the first time anywhere in seven years) on this blog, SexyBack will officially begin.

Bless all of you who read my blog. Create a wonderful 2008.

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Feelin' Great and Lettin' Go

BEHOLD! The Green Smoothie :-)

Isn't it beautiful? The Green Smoothie! First, let me thank my stepfather for sending me the digital camera. It wasn't compatible with my computer. He suggested uploading a new driver. I did that last night, and whoal-la!

You like the smoothie? Here's the recipe:

- 2 oranges

- 2 bananas

- 3 collard leaves, de-stemmed

- 3/4 cup water

Blend until smooth.

If you are a newbie, start with one collard leaf. Of course, you can use kale or spinach. This is a little bitter, but I like it that way. The more you drink green smoothies, the more you want them!

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BEHOLD! The Green Smoothie :-)

Falafels

I made the falafels again just so you all could see them. The recipe is from The Joy of Living Live by Zakhah. The sauce is from Juliano's RAW. Right now, this is my favorite raw recipe. I could eat it every day.

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Falafels

Rant Turned Revelation

Okay, this was going to start off as a rant, but then I had a moment of clarity. I've been getting a lot of raw food "cook"books from the library. I got RAWvolution by Matt Amsden and love it. I remember last year, someone told me, "Oh, that book is too gourmet for you. You should start off with something simple."

Now that I've read Raw Food Real World by Matthew Kenney and Sarma Melngailis and RAW
by Charlie Trotter and Roxanne Klein, I realize that RAWvolution is nowhere near gourmet, period. When you have recipes like "Pumpkin and Squash Couscous with habanero harissa, currants, and almond oil" or "Marinated Exotic Mushrooms with Kohlrabi and Arugula," those are gourmet. So, at first, I was annoyed. I was like, "Who in the heck has time to make these recipes? Don't these people realize I have children?"

But then it hit me.
- First, not everyone has children. That is a choice I have made for myself and I am glad I made that choice.

- Second, there is a HUGE market for any cookbook that caters to parents. There's a REALLY good reason why Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld is a New York Times Number One bestseller. Parents want to feed their kids more veggies but don't know how.

- Third, (here's the big revelation) I could be part of that trend that helps parents get their kids to eat more veggies. My children have been vegan since birth. Now I'm giving them, slowly, more raw vegan food. I do not have all the answers. I'm working on myself first. But I know I can be of assistance the more I learn and transition my family from vegan to raw vegan. There are a few books out there. The one I have read is Storm and Jinjee Talifero's e-book Raising Raw Vegan Children (at www.thegardendiet.com).

- Fourth, gourmet raw recipes definitely serve a fantastic purpose. It shows people what is possible with raw food. And these people are true foodies. The "Banana Chocolate Tart with Caramel and Chocolate Sauce" in RAW looks so good I could climb through the pages and eat it. But I'll make it in about 10 years when my children are more independent. In the meantime, I'll stick with the Basic Recipes in the Appendix of RAW. I'll start with the Chocolate Fudge-Almond. Five ingredients. Blend in a food processor. Now that's what I'm talkin' about! I'll let you know how it turns out! ◦

Rant Turned Revelation

Thank you Heidi and Justin

I got a shout out in Raw Food, Right Now!'s Newsletter under New Blogs of Note for December 14, 2007:

New Raw Blogs of Note:
The Raw Mocha Angel. Meet Althea. She is a professional intuitive with a focus on angels and spirit guides. She recently started her raw blog after being inspired by us calling out to our readers to start their own raw blogs. She is blogging about her journey to becoming a full raw vegan.

Thank you so much! ◦

Thank you Heidi and Justin

Cheesecake

I made a raw cheesecake last night from Zakhah's Joy of Living Live. I put it in the fridge and tried it this morning. It was wonderful...even Alpha child liked it. I was so excited!

Still working on the camera. It's not compatible with my computer, but we are working on that. Talk soon! ◦

Cheesecake

I got a digital camera!

Pictures coming soon. And my oldest son loves my raw falafels! I have got to get a photo of him eating them. I am so excited! ◦

I got a digital camera!

WOOSH!!!

I'll keep it brief...if you've got constipation issues, let me tell you, a raw vegan diet will take care of that quickly. I don't wanna be gross, but I know a lot of people who are backed up out there. All I have to say is WOOOOOOOOOOSH!!!! Food goes in. Waste goes out faster than Superman can orbit around the earth. I'm done. ◦

WOOSH!!!

Been So Long

Sorry I've been away for a while. I couldn't post for a week because my phone line was having trouble. Accessing the Internet was quite slow. I have quite a few things to say, but I will break them up into multiple posts so they are easier to read.

I still feel great, even though I had a cooked veggie sandwich on Friday night, and I've been eating some of my family's cooked food. I can feel the difference. I have a stuffy nose now. So today, I'm sticking with green smoothies, since it's a Sunday and it won't be a high stress day.

I need to tell my Mystickal Voyage family that I am raw. (www.mystickalvoyage.com). I haven't said anything yet and I am wondering why. (MV is place that I do readings. A beautiful store to visit if you are in the Baltimore area.) It's a warm, friendly place that I love. Lori, the owner, is like a mother to me. And I am forever missing my own parents who live out of state. Cooked food is comfort food. Even though my stomach hurt after I had that sandwich, I'm attuned enough to myself to know really wanted something warm and comfy. I got it, but it cannot be a substitute for what I really want which is my loved ones around me more often. Emotional eating a is real thing. Food is love, culture, family, non-judgemental, and all-around an easy way to stuff down feelings.

So I found this email from Jinjee of The Garden Diet (www.thegardendiet.com) that I kept from May 26, 2006. It's about emotional satisfaction from live food.

"It can take time to be able to get your emotional satisfaction from living food. To some degree we all get a healthy does of emotional comfort from eating. Even if we are in the habit of eating cooked comfort foods, over time we can change the foods that give us these good feelings.

Establishing little rituals of place and time for the foods that you eat can help. For instance, sipping a smoothie while sitting in the sun, eating a salad in a beautiful bowl, chopping veggies with your children, preparing an elaborate raw taco or raw vegan sushi recipe and sitting down as a family, or drinking an after-work nut-milk-shake can all become soul satisfying habits!"

I would add, tell the people you love of your choice to be a raw vegan if even they think you are crazy; bring your own food when you visit places so you have something to eat, eat before you leave so you are not tempted to eat stuff you know is not good for you.

So for me, I have to tell Lori "no more chocolate" and if anyone sees me grab it, call me on it.I've been a raving chocoholic my entire life. Meat is no longer a temptation. Took about 17 years to get to that point, but I'm there. The final frontier is chocolate and sugar.... ◦

Been So Long

I feel wonderful!

Okay, this is going well. I am learning a few things. First, the kitchen must be stocked with staples. For me, some staples I see I am going to need are nori rolls, wakame, lemons, garlic, some type of nuts, and green leafys. Yesterday I had Harmony Spinach from Zakhah's Joy of Living Live (http://rawfoodinfo.com/catalog/books_thejoyoflivinglive.html) and Ginger Nori Rolls from Ani Phyo's book (www.aniphyo.com). I was in total heaven. Today I poured Basil dressing over my spinach and made sunflower cheese from Matt Amsden's RAWvolution. I put the cheese in a nori wrap, added basil, tomatoes, and spinach. Super good.

Also, I notice that if lunch is my heaviest meal, then I'm barely hungry at dinner. Both nights I've had fruit for dinner.

And the cravings. Damn...who the heck has spinach cravings? I have never craved spinach in my life and now, I want it every day. And salt...never in my life have I ever craved salt. Once again, there it is. I have no idea what that's about.

Oh..and Alpha son made his first raw dish. Plantains marinated in squeezed orange juice, salt, and red chili peppers. He was thrilled! And as soon as I get a digital camera, I'll be taking pictures! ◦

I feel wonderful!

The Biggest Secret to Staying Raw

I think this post by Karen Knowler is the best article I've seen about staying on a raw vegan diet. Do yourself a favor and read it.
http://karenknowler.typepad.com/living_in_the_raw/2007/11/the-biggest-sec.html#more

Karen Knowler, The Raw Food Coach publishes "Successfully Raw" - a free weekly eZine for raw food lovers everywhere. If you're ready to look good, feel great and create a raw life you love get your FREE tips, tools and recipes now at www.TheRawFoodCoach.com. ◦

The Biggest Secret to Staying Raw

My 98% Raw Thanksgiving

Last year, I promised myself I would have a raw thanksgiving in 2007. The only thing raw at the table last year was the Eggless Egg Dip I got from Raw Food, Right Now. This year, I made kale salad, apple crisp, and guacamole. I had blue chips with it, which is why I was not 100% raw. I've been having incredible salt cravings since Tuesday. Today I'll be getting some nori sheets and wakame to help with my cravings.

Also, yesterday was crazy. It started off sad but turned out great. Alpha child was still sick. I canceled my yoga class because none of us had a gotten any sleep. I had planned on going to a friend's house for Thanksgiving. I was making the apple crisp and that was it. I had no intention on cooking a dinner, period. Well, as children can do, things changed in an instant. I went to the store, thinking of a dinner in my mind as I went. Rom wanted biscuits and wheatloaf (both cooked vegan dishes). I only knew I had to have myself covered. I was in the kitchen between 10:00 am and 3:30pm. By 4:00pm we all ate dinner. Alpha child had waited all day for the apple crisp, but he ate mostly wheatloaf. But we had the apple crisp for breakfast this morning. My husband loved the apple crisp too. When he asks for seconds of anything, he likes it.

I learned that recipe from Lynda Carter of Alive and Raw (www.aliveandraw.com). Hers is the only living foods workshop I've taken. I highly recommend her. She's in Richmond, VA.

So I am grateful for yesterday. I was sad at first becuase I REALLY missed my extended family. I called everyone I love and I felt so much better. And my husband understood my malaise. I told him later that night how much I appreciated his concern. This morning I told the universe and angels how happy I was that we had the money for all the bounty of food and that we had each other to love. ◦

My 98% Raw Thanksgiving

What a Day!

Boy, I didn't see all this coming...yesterday afternoon, my 5 year old got a fever. Everything went south from there. All my attention was focused on him, and making sure my 2 year old didn't get sick either.

I was all raw yesterday. I had carrot tuna and kale salad for lunch and dinner. A green smoothie for lunch. This is important because I know it helped me get through today.

I got up at 2:20am this morning to go the bathroom. I heard Alpha child (as I'll call him) tossing and turning. I sent him to the bathroom. I gave him some natural cough syrup, which he promptly threw up. He felt hotter than he'd been all day but the thermometer kept reading 98.7. I knew that wasn't right. I put it in his mouth instead of under his arm. 103.2!!! Yikes. I didn't sleep again from that point. Rom and I went back and forth about taking him to the ER. I was ready to get us dressed and head out the door, but again, I knew I was missing something.

Via my Mocha Moms chapter, I'd heard that Himalayan Crystal Salt lamps help break fevers. I have a Himalayan Crystal Salt candle. Put a tea tree candle inside of it, light it, boom...candle is activated. I lit it and put it on the dresser right beside Alpha child's head. His fever went down within the hour. And it continued to fall all day long. But he never broke a sweat until about two hours ago. I've had that candle burning near him all day. Since he barely ate or drank anything, I am going to credit the Himalayan Crystal Salt candle for helping my baby.

I kept thinking, "God, I'm glad I'm back on raw." My clarity of thought at 3:00am was amazing. Chronic fatigue has plagued me for years due to some ongoing stressful situations, so I was thrilled to be so present this morning. I did sleep for about an hour and a half this afternoon along with Beta child. Rom was nice enough to come home from work early.

Today I had leftover carrot tuna and kale for breakfast and dinner. I also made apple/kale juice this morning. I had an apple-banana-collard smoothie this afternoon. Ooh! That was good.

The recipe is:
1 peeled and cut apple
2 bananas
handful of your green leafy veggie of choice
(spinach, collard, etc)
1 cup of water
Blend. Drink. Enjoy.

Alpha child has been asleep for a few hours, so I'm going to wake him up now. He is sweating and I am so thankful. But it's times like these where I truly miss my extended family. But for now, taking care of myself and being fully present (back to the mission statement) is where it's at.

Ciao! Gotta teach a yoga class in a little bit. ◦

What a Day!

My mission statement

Don't you just love typos? My mission statement is:

"I am raw vegan so that I can live to my highest potential, and be mentally, spiritually, and emotionally present with my family and friends." ◦

My mission statement

Living my best life

My first blog posting ever! I was encouraged my Heidi and Justin's Raw Food, Right Now blog to do this for myself.

Let me introduce myself: my name is Althea. I am 35 years old, and live in Maryland. I am a wife, mother, professional intuitive, published novelist, and yoga teacher. This blog is primarily about my staying on the raw vegan path of eating. Other things like metaphysics and my books may be discussed, but I will keep them in relation to being a raw vegan.

I am wife to Rom Wills, author of the international bestseller Nice Guys and Players, Becoming The Man Women Want. It's a wonderful self-help book for men. (I have to tell you all something funny...I told a married friend of mine, "the book is for guys who aren't gettin' any." She said, "oh, then I need to give that book to my husband!" I swear, I laughed for hours afterward.) Okay, back to my story :-).

We have two sons, ages 2 and 5. We also care for disabled relatives. My path to becoming a raw vegan is very long one. I was born into a classic soul food eating family in Detroit, Michigan. We had meat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks. My favorite snack growing up was tuna fish and cheese on a Ritz cracker.

Between the ages of eleven and twenty-one, I suffered from horrible menstrual cramps. I credit that monthly horror for putting me on this path. Every month, for seven to eight days, I would be in agony. I searched high and low for answers. I missed school and work because I couldn't bear to leave my bed. There were days I could barely walk, the pain would be running down my thighs. Finally, in 1993, at the age of twenty-one, I read a book called, "Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom" by Christiane Northrup, M.D. She mentioned how uric acid in meat could affect women's hormones and could affect menstrual cramps. FINALLY!

I'd had to leave work just the week before. I laid in bed with a migraine and suffered the worst pain of my life. Menstrual cramps are no joke. Nothing, until I was in labor with my children, could even compare to the pain. I felt like Dr. Northrup had given me my answer. I stopped eating meat and dairy at the end of that menstrual cycle. No animal products for thirty days (between cycles). When my next cycle rolled around, it lasted for 3 days, was light, and pain-free.

I'd found my answer.

From then, I'd been vegetarian off and on until 2004. My cycle always let me know when my body needed some cleansing. I have so much to say about all of this, which is why I started a blog!

So why raw vegan? I'd read Victoria Boutenko's "12 steps to raw" in 2004. I went raw for a week. Oh my God. Nothing but bliss. I went raw again in December 2006 for The Yabba Pot's Raw Challenge. Again, I had massive energy. So now I am back. Why? Because I want to live my best life. I've got books, yahoo groups, a supportive husband, so what excuse do I have? None.

So I created a mission statement that I put on my refrigerator: "I am a raw vegan so that I can life to my highest potential and be mentally, spiritually, and emotionally present for my family and friends." As a side note, I want to lose 25 pounds and fit into my wedding dress again. I want to get back to being fit and active.

Thank you for coming on this journey with me. ◦

Living my best life