Juicing for Autism study

Registration for Juicing for Autism study is now open at: https://juicingforautism.com/start. It is a free study. I signed up Jona and Raymond. Please visit the website for more information. Steve Prussack and Karen Ranzi are running the program. I interviewed Karen when I was Blog Editor at Raw Mom. She is a lovely woman. That is one of the reasons I decided to join.

Please share with others.

Love,
Althea ◦

Juicing for Autism study

My Babies!

I've imported all posts from "Healing My Sons" to this one. So many people ask me about my kids and how they are doing. It makes more sense to talk about them here. If you go to the "Autism" label on the right side of the blog, posts about them will show up. This is them on November 27 at the National Aquarium.

And speaking of them, Raymond had another seizure on Saturday morning. This was his first one since February 2011. We're going back to Johns Hopkins for a re-evaluation. I'll let you all know what happens.

We've been juicing from Drew Canole's fitlife.tv. I think he's redesigned the site because I can't find the recipes anymore. Here are the ones I have made:

Morning Call: 4 kale leaves, 1/2 broccoli with stems, 1/2 head of cabbage. (I add 1 whole peeled lemon. Makes it go down a whole lot easier.)

Waldorf Salad: 2 celery ribs, 2 green apples

Full Immunity: 2 cloves garlic, thumb size ginger, handful parsley, 3 carrots, 1 apple (surprisingly tasty) 

And this is what I've been eating lately. Harmony Spinach Salad, and a salad with Roasted Tofu.

This one is cauliflower sushi, spinach, and and a salad with Body Ecology Diet Dressing (3 tablespoons olive oil, 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt). 

I am also thinking of moving this entire operation to Wordpress. I want to intergrate mochaangels.com with a blog, making it an all-in-one site. If anyone has any experience with this, please share it with me.

Love,

Althea

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My Babies!

Tart Green Juice

Just sharing a juice a made last night. The juice was spread out between this one big mason jar and two smaller ones.

3 limes
1 head of celery
1 bunch of red swiss chard
2 small bunches of broccoli
4 apples

Very green. Very tart. If you're ready for a greener juice, give it a try. If it's too bitter, add more lime, or try lemons instead.


Love,
Althea
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Tart Green Juice

Juice Feasting!

Day 10, continued:
self care:
Queen Afua's Rejuvenating Mask

Day 11:
apple spinach romaine lettuce juice
carrot sweet potato juice
apple cucumber celery juice w/ Queen Afua Green Formula
apple celery juice w/ Queen Afua Green Formula
carrot juice w/ flax meal 
fit to a tea
water

self care:
Kundalini Yoga Spinal Energy Series
EFT, for chocolate and sugar cravings

Per yesterdays post, two sheets of paper are on my fridge: my favorite raw foods and drinks and the food I need to have in my home to make the favorites.

My favorites are:
Drinks
Skin Saver Juice (aloe vera, carrots, green pepper juice)
Apple carrot juice
apple celery cucumber any dark green lemon juice
peach spinach smoothie
Blood (beets, apples, lime juice)
Vanilla Milkshake
Orange Banana Smoothies

Salad Dressing
House Dressing
Vinaigrette
Ranch Dressing

Main Courses
Broccoli w. sesame sauce
carrot tuna
Dahl (not raw)
Zucchini Pasta
Mango kale salad
Zakhah Kale salad
Royal Seaweed Salad
Cauliflower salad
Portobello Wraps
Mediterranean Burgers
Sun dried Tomato Sushi
Tacos
Salsa
Sesame Noodles
Spicy Flax Crackers
Hummus

Sprouts
Hard Winter Wheat Berries

I did this so I have "go to" meals all the time. I took the food and drinks I love and compiled them all together. I made copies for both my home and my car. The shopping list helps me know what I need to keep in my home. This also helps me post-feast so I know what to purchase the last few days of the feast. When it's time to eat again, I have what I love around me.

Take the time to do the same. Having your favorite foods on hand will make your raw (or vegan) lifestyle easier.

Morning of Day 12, self care:
EFT
dry skin brushing
fit to a tea
carrot juice w/ flax meal

Realization: Mama needs more fat. When I was driving to see my old Mystickal Voyage buddies last night, I was lightheaded. I'm going to add smoothies/soups back to keep me more grounded.
Love,
Althea

Mocha Angel message: See good, hear good, speak good. (And EXPECT YOUR GOOD!) ◦

Juice Feasting!

Juice Feasting!

Day 10:
Carrot sweet potato juice w/ flax meal (x3)
apple spinach romaine lettuce juice (x2)
fit to a tea (x4)
orange juice
water

I've decided to juice feast, with robust enthusiasm, through my birthday on March 7. I will be turning 39 years old. That would make 21 straight days of juicing. Turns out that it takes 21 days to create a habit. Sounds good to me.

Tomorrow I'll photograph what I've put on my fridge. Most people have 7-8 "go-to" meals they make all the time. I came up with those for myself, and taped it to my fridge. I'll still blog through Sarma and Matthew's books, but having a focus of foods, and a regular list of staples is critical to long-term success as a raw vegan. I LOVE to create new dishes, which is why I create new things all the time. But being grounded in raw foods that I love is necessary.

Oh, and I have lost 7 pounds since starting the Raw Food Rehab Resolve to Evolve program.

Love,
Althea

Mocha Angel message for today:
Ask God not what He can do for you. Ask God what you can do for Him (or Her). :-) ◦

Juice Feasting!

Juicefeasting Transition Week

Day 7:
water
hot chocolate
apple lemon wheatgrass celery juices (x2)
apple broccoli celery romaine lettuce juice (x2)
(all juices had a tablespoon of flax meal and psyillum for bulk and heft)

Day 8
was Rom's birthday.
I did sample what I had made him, which was vegan mac & cheese, kale salad, Amaadi's gluten-free pasta salad, and black-eyed pea salad.....I bought vegan cupcakes and chicken wings (didn't eat the wings).
I also had carrot juice with flax meal and psyillum (x2)

Day 9
apple wheatgrass romaine lettuce cucumber lemon juice (x2)
carrot sweet potato juice (x2)
fit to a tea (an herbal tea I'm taking for my lungs. I'm neither endorsing nor reviewing the product. It was something my brother recommended and I do feel better already)

I got Matthew Kenney's Everyday Raw Desserts yesterday. I won it back in June from The Daily Raw Cafe. I had to bug the publisher about it, but they were gracious enough to send me the book. Won't be making anything out of if for a while.

On December 18, I wrote a post about SELF-LOVE. With this juice feast, I realized I need to show myself love in small ways. I'm dry skin brushing everyday. I'm doing a foot soak in the evenings. I'm doing EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) to break the emotional chains of the past.

Think of small ways you can show yourself love each and every day.

Love,

Althea

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Juicefeasting Transition Week

Juicefeasting Transition Week

Day 4, I had:

water
vanilla milkshake with psyillum and flax meal
apple wheatgrass cucumber celery lemon juice
carrot sweet potato juice
green sweet potato soup

I finally mowed down that wheatgrass! I added it an apple juice and it was refreshing.

But one tray yielded 3 ounces of juice, so I see the importance of keeping trays growing constantly. :-)

Love,
Althea

Mocha Angel messages: Believing in a God that you cannot see, feel, smell, or touch is the ultimate act of faith. But what is faith? Faith is the evidence of things unseen. But pay attention. God is much, much closer than you think. ◦

Juicefeasting Transition Week

Juicefeasting Transition Week

Day 3 I had:
water
apple banana swiss chard coconut oil smoothie
vanilla milkshake w/ psyillum and flax meal
orange banana smoothie
orange banana swiss chard smoothie
apple carrot ginseng liquid vitamin C ginger bee pollen juice
(at Liquid Earth)

I missed so many camera-ready moments on Day 3. Raymond had a consultation in the neurology dept. at Johns Hopkins. I will bring my camera next time when he has an EEG. I brought 3 mason jars of smoothies and drank them all. We met with a nurse practitioner and a resident. I must say both women were kind and thorough.

JHU is a mammoth place. It's not just one building. We were in the Outpatient Center, which is teeming with humanity. We had to take a number to be seen, and this is in one tiny department! I felt like I was in an assembly line. But I am going to follow through on everything with Raymond. And next time, pictures!

Love,
Althea

Mocha Angel message: Think about how much you love your parents, children, significant other, etc....Now multiply that times one million. That is how much the Universe loves you. ◦

Juicefeasting Transition Week

Juicefeasting Transition Week

Days 1 and 2

Me on Sunday morning, February 6, 2011. I thought I looked cute, but I look so tired. I'm still coughing too.
Day 1 I had:
water
vanilla milkshake
pleasing greens soup
broccoli soup
homemade veggie burger
apple/swiss chard/lemon juice (2x)
apple cider (hot)
apple/kale/lemon/psyllium/flax meal juice

Day 2, I had:
water
vanilla milkshake w/ coconut oil and psyillum
orange banana smoothie
pleasing greens soup (3x)
Broccoli soup
carrot/sweet potato juice
apple/kale/lemon/psyllium/flax meal juice

I made the mistake of not drinking anything until 10:30am. I was tired, cranky, teary, and ready to bite someone's head off. By noon, I said to myself, "If I don't eat something, I'm not going to make it through this day." I had a homemade veggie burger (from Vegan With a Vegeance) the diameter of an apple. I didn't eat anything else that day, and I haven't eaten anything today.

Don't start your fast the way I did. You are supposed to transition into it. Last week, I ate whatever I wanted. I taught a vegan cooking class on Sunday, January 30th (which was supposed to had been on Sunday, January 24th but I had the flu). The class went better than I had intended. Huge hit! But I was eating all this cooked food, good as it was, but that wasn't best for me.

The supporting characters: dry skin brushes for body and face.

Ann Wigmore has taught me how to grow wheatgrass!

Jona helping me juice.

Broccoli soup ingredients.

Four tray of wheatgrass at different stages of growth.

The first tray, now fully matured and ready to cut!

Love,

Althea

Mocha Angel message: God never abandons you. That is impossible. God is part of you, so rejecting God is a rejection of your self. Accept God as you accept yourself.

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Juicefeasting Transition Week

Juice Feasting

Last fall, I got a clear message to do an extended juice feast that is to begin today. I'm not revealing how long, but it is not 92 days. David Rainoshek, who created www.juicefeasting.com, suggests 92 days. Both Terilynn Epperson of The Daily Raw Cafe and Angela Stokes-Monarch of Raw Reform have completed that 92-day feast. I have Angela's juice feasters book and I'm using it as my guide.

To back up a moment: I wasn't feeling an extended juice feast at all. Not in the least. That is why I haven't discussed it until now. But after Raymond's seizure, I didn't sleep well for the next four days. Then I got the flu, again. Since 2006, I've had more upper respiratory infections than I can count. The lungs, as I have said before, are the seats of love and compassion. On the shadow side, they are the seat of grief. I have been told, more than once, that I am not allowing joy into my life. I'm stuck in the day-to-day mundane-ness of life. I can see that.

When I was laying in bed for three straight days from the sheer physical exhaustion of influenza, I said, "Okay, I surrender. I'll do it. You all obviously know more than I do."

Then I got a copy of Kris Carr's new book Crazy Sexy Diet. In the introduction, Dean Ornish, MD writes:

In 2009, the Nobel Prize for Medicine went to Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn for discovering telomerase, an enzyme that repairs and lengthens damaged telomeres, which are the ends of our chromosomes that control aging. Dr. Blackburn and her colleague, Dr. Elissa Epel, studied women who were under chronic emotional stress because they were taking care of children with autism or chronic diseases.

They found that the more stressed the women felt, and the longer they felt stressed, the lower their telomerase and the shorter their telomeres. This was the first study providing genetic evidence indicating that chronic emotional stress might shorten a woman's lifespan.

HELLO! Sometimes books speak to you. Dr. Ornish might as well have been sitting in my living room.

Kris Carr writes in her book:
The early signs and symptoms (of her cancer) were obvious, but I couldn't see them for what they were: a toxic lifestyle and environment that was causing physical and emotional stress. I had a bunch of chronic health problems, including zits, colds, chest infections, allergies, depression (prozac and wine helped that), dry skin, eczema, low sex drive (in my twenties!), bloating, constipation, abdominal pain, acid reflux, yeast infections, and fatigue--all distress signals from an imbalanced body.

Then today, I found out a friend of mine died. Dear Elizabeth was a phenomenal older woman. A survivor. But she had a stroke and passed away. Stress was the major cause of this stroke.

Juice feasting it is. I'll be drinking wheatgrass (and putting on my skin and doing implants), tea, vegetable broth, and juices. I may do smoothies and soups in the beginning. I'll be taking supplements to help with candida and parasites. I'll write how I am doing and feeling.

I want to share with my readers, but I'm not linking this to my Facebook page. I always share my posts on Twitter and Facebook. Not this time. People who subscribe want to know what's going on with me. I do not want to open myself up to "why, what for, and how long?" with people who do not understand.

I intend to be a Wellness Warrior. I'm taking the health of myself, and my family, into my own hands. I'm excited, pumped, and ready to heal. Thanks for coming along and supporting this journey.

Love,
Althea ◦

Juice Feasting

I'm growing my own wheatgrass :-)

I have to stop saying that I have a brown thumb. Every plant I touch doesn't grow. But I have a strong desire to grow my own wheatgrass, so I'm intending that I am a champion wheatgrass grower and I DO have a green thumb. Above is my very first tray. It grew! I did it!

My stuff: shallow planting trays, hard winter wheatberries, limestone, and soil.

Sprouting the first batch of seeds. Soak a cup of wheatberries for 12 hours. Sprout for 12 hours, then plant.
Water, then cover in complete darkness for 2-3 days. I'm covering them with black garbage bags, or you can cover with another tray.

This is batch #1. I have three other trays sprouting now. Wish me luck with them. My goal is to have wheatgrass growing in my home constantly.

Love,
Althea ◦

I'm growing my own wheatgrass :-)

Drinks that make you go "hmmmm"

...or more like "whooo!" or "ghaaa!" You know, juices and smoothies that make you pucker your lips together, then you say, "Damn, that's tart!" I've been saying that a lot lately. Sarma's "My Favorite Greens Shake" is bitter, sweet, and tart all at the same time. Would I make it again? Yes. Would I have ever thought to put grapefruit, cucumbers, lemons, limes, greens, sprouts, and stevia together in one blender? No. 

I only put 1/2 teaspoon of stevia because I'm in savory mode. The reader is free to add as much stevia or agave as she wishes. More of either sweetener would obviously make for a sweeter smoothie. In a few months, I'll add more stevia. I guess what I'm saying is for a non-alcoholic drink, it's got strong flavor.

This smoothie is made for the adventurous palate. Beginners, beware. You may never drink another green smoothie again. Intermediate and Advanced folks, blend away, and take your mouth on an unforgettable ride.

Skin Saver Juice: I'n not sure where I got this recipe from. Parsnip, celery, carrots, and green pepper. Again, I went "gaaah!" SAVORY!

Love,

Althea

Mocha Angel message:  Ask for clarity about a troublesome situation in your dreams. In the dream state, you are more receptive to messages than you are in the waking state. Give it a try tonight and see what answers are revealed to you.

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Drinks that make you go "hmmmm"

Adventures in Savory Raw Food

There's no apples in my house! This is so new to me! Juice with no fruit? But I am doing it family. I've made the plunge into savory raw food in order to heal my Candida. Above is Calcium Rich Cocktail from Juicing, Fasting, and Detoxing for Life by Cherie Calbom. It called for 1/2 a lemon as sweetener, but I added the other half in too :-). Cucumber, kale, parsley, celery, lemon, and ginger....it tastes as unsweet as you would think.

This is Peppy Parsley, from the same book. I also made Beautiful Skin Cocktail, and took photos, but somehow, they are missing from my camera. I'm sure my photog children deleted it off the camera. :-)

These are ingredients for Green Delicious from Green For Life by Victoria Boutenko. I didn't have Roma tomatoes, only sun-dried. I soaked them overnight, then made the smoothie the next morning. Again, I'm getting used to this "no sugar". It's weird, but I'll get there.

Love,
Althea

Mocha Angel message: From TUT: Whenever something doesn't work out the way you thought it would, Althea, instead of thinking that something went wrong, see it as something that went unexpectedly well, but for reasons that are not yet apparent.



Everything plays to your favor.


Score! The Universe ◦

Adventures in Savory Raw Food

Raw Food Real World / Raw Food Rehab

I've gotten the green light from Sarma and Matthew to blog through Raw Food Real World, as well as Sarma's solo book Living Raw Food. A few things have changed since, but I'll get to that in a moment.

Raw Food Real World is my favorite raw food book, bar none. I've made a few things from it in the past. But it always scared me. This is gourmet food to the hilt. But it also has scrumptious home meals and drinks too. I chose this one because I do want to be a raw chef. Until I make it to 105 Degrees and back to Carolyn's Raw Food Institute, why not go for the gusto? 

But here's the shift I've made: I've decided to eat only savory raw food for the rest of the 10 weeks left in the Raw Food Rehab program. (I'm careful with my words these days. "I only eat savory raw food" sounds better than "I'm not eating any sugar for 10 weeks!") I need to heal from Candida. Period. Eating savory raw, and using the food as my medicine is the way to go. I've created my own healing and food plan, which I'll assess every two days. I have a shopping list too. The list includes food from both Raw Food Real World and Living Raw Food. After the 10 weeks is over, I'll completely reassess and see if I want to add fruit and dessert back into my life.

The photos I've taken and food made were created in the midst of this decision:

Blue Grape Juice: I have never liked grapefruit, ever. But this drink adds honey and blue-green algae (I used spirulina). It's quite addictive.

I only made the salad dressing not the Greenmarket Salad. I found it tangy and rich. To keep the flavor, blend it each time you use it.

My new favorite dessert (when I start eating desserts again). Chocolate macaroons. WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! The recipe calls for leaving them in the dehydrator for 12-24 hours. For me, any longer than 6 hours is too long. (I was eating them right out of the dehydrator.) I prefer the macaroons dry on the outside and moist on the inside, like a warm cookie. I left them in for 18 hours. They were still sweet chocolaty goodness, but too dry for me. But these treat are decadent, rich, not too sweet, and very easy to make. Raymond was my sous chef. It was like making a cake batter. Kid-friendly and awesome.

Time to Go Juice: That is prunes and water blended together I'm about to pour into the juice. The recipe called for juicing the prunes, but that didn't work. I even soaked them in water, then ran through the juicer. Still didn't work. So that's where the idea of blending prunes and water together, then adding to the juice came from. Another winner.

Thai Green Juice: I love cilantro as much as Sarma does, so this juice was right up my alley. Pineapples, cilantro, collards, and limes. Makes you squish your lips together and say, "Wow! That is TART!" But if you like that fruit and veggie combination, you will LOVE this.

Spiced Oatmeal with Dried Fruit: Yes, the oat groats require 5 days of soaking. But it was worth the wait. Although I didn't have golden raisins to mix into the oat groats, the dish was sweet and cinnamony. Raymond loved it, and I would make this again.

I've made this Cinnamon Banana Shake since March. Rom asks me for it all the time, even now in the dead of winter. It tastes like the best vanilla milkshake you'll ever drink. Malty and ice cold. Keep frozen bananas in your fridge so you can make it 365 days a year.

Love,

Althea

Mocha Angel message: Do not allow fear to ruin your life or thwart your destiny. Fear is an illusion that has destroyed many lives. Don’t let your life be one of them. Faith in God, and yourself, is the only way to defeat fear.

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Raw Food Real World / Raw Food Rehab

Honeymoon Healer Juice

Transforming my kitchen into a healing space! This is what you'd see as you enter my kitchen. :-)

Yesterday I made a lot of green juices. But since I happened to have oranges and cranberries, I made a juice from Raw Food Real World by Sarma Melngailis and Matthew Kenney. (one of my favorite books, btw. I still owe this book a review.)

The finished product!

It couldn't be easier:

Honeymoon Healer
2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries
1 peeled lime
2 cups of orange juice
Juice cranberries, lime, and oranges.
Add 1-2 heaping tablespoons of raw honey.
You can add another lime for garnish.

It's called Honeymoon Healer because of the amount of cranberries, which are good for urinary tract infections. I just made it because I had the ingredients on hand! It's very tart, so if you like that type of drink, for it!

Love,
Althea

Mocha Angel message: 12/8/10: You are loved, truly, today, tomorrow, and forever more. ◦

Honeymoon Healer Juice

Raw Challenge and Your Produce Guy

Hi Everyone:

I hope you are all having a Merry December! There's a couple of things I wanted to share with you all.

On my intuition website, I'm offering 2011 Forecast Readings through January 30th. If you are interested, please go to www.altheahugheswills.com.

After three years, I decided to put a "donate" button on my blog. I make a whopping, are you ready for this?, twelve dollars a year blogging. I don't do it for the money. The Raw Mocha Angel is a labor of love
for me. If you feel like my blog has improved your life, and you feel moved to donate to its upkeep, then share whatever you are moved to donate. The button is here in this post, and on the right-hand side of my blog.

A few days ago, I got a YouTube friend request from Your Produce Guy. I checked him out and thought to share his YouTube Channel with you all. He teaches you  how to pick the best produce, and what to do with it once you have it. Your Produce Guy spent 16 years in retail produce sales and management. I don't know his real name, but he knows his stuff!

His YouTube Channel is: http://www.youtube.com/user/YourProduceGuy

And my friend Chef Skai has a 21-day raw challenge that started on December 1. Join her on Facebook to follow everything!
Skai's YouTube Channel is: http://www.youtube.com/user/yabbapot



Enjoy!
Love,
Althea ◦

Raw Challenge and Your Produce Guy

Amy A's Green Smoothies: Review + Giveaway!

Thanks to the power of Facebook, Amy Arnold, author of Amy A's Green Smoothies and I reconnected after 10 years. A lifetime ago, in the 1990s, Amy and I worked at America Online (aka, the Yahoo, Google, and Facebook of its day). Over a decade later, we both find ourselves in the wellness business!

Amy is the founder of VitalSelf, a health and wellness company in Virginia. (Make sure you read Amy's story here.) Her smoothie book was inspired by a challenge she made to herself. To celebrate her 44th birthday, she challenged herself to create 44 new green smoothies, one per day. She posted videos of her daily smoothies and inspired people all over the world. Now her smoothies are in a book! She even shares a few juice recipes too!

This slim volume is perfect for beginners. If you're like, "What is all this talk about green smoothies? Why should I be drinking them?" Then Amy's book is for you.

Her book includes:

-What makes green smoothies green?

-Top 11 reasons why green smoothies rock!

-The difference between green smoothies and green juices.

-5 steps to a perfect green smoothie.

All of her smoothies are funky, fruity, and kid-friendly. There's 62 recipes in all. My favorites are Summer Peach-Mango Delight, and Fresh HoneyRo (romaine lettuce and honeydew melon smoothie).

We are also gifted with 11 green juices, my personal favorites. You all know that juices rock my world. Amy's Green Lemonade (lemon, apples, ginger, garlic, kale and romaine) helped knock out my lingering cold.

This book is kid-friendly and colorful. The recipes are easy. There's no intimidation here. In short, Amy A's Green Smoothies is a lot of fun. You want to spend time with this book and experiment. Congratulations, Amy!

10 out of 10 Mocha Angels.

GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!!

TWO lucky people win ebook copies of Amy A's Green Smoothies!

- Leave a comment at the end of this post. Answer the question: “What is your children's favorite green smoothie, or your best smoothie for the "kid at heart?" :-)


- Leave a working email address that you actually check regularly. :-)

- If you have won a giveaway here in the last 6 months, you are not eligible to enter. (sorry!)


- Post your comment by 11:59pm EST, Thursday, December 2, 2010.


- I will pick the winners at random at Random.org. The winners will receive an email from me on Friday morning, December 3, 2010. I will announce the winners on The Raw Mocha Angel blog on that same day. If I do not hear from the winners within seven days, I will draw another winner.

Good luck!

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Amy A's Green Smoothies: Review + Giveaway!

28-Day Detox Days 1-10

So I didn't win in my Black Weblog Awards categories. Was I highly disappointed? Yes. But I am grateful for you all taking the time to nominate me and to vote for me. And thank you to all the new subscribers I got as a result of the contest. I know I have a great blog, and I appreciate all of you reading my posts.

Now on to detoxing! This post is not about what I made out of Penni Shelton's book Raw Food Cleanse, but how I feel. I drank freshly made juices days 1-7, and smoothies, soups, and juices days 8-10. Despite being sick, not once, but twice, in that short time, I still feel good. (Four days after "it-who-has-no-name" was gone, I got a cold, or what I thought was a simple detox healing crisis. Oh, no. It couldn't have been that simple. Last night I spent six hours in and out of the bathroom with, guess what, diarrhea. It was big fun. Not! Rom just brought me some Oscilloccinum and Echinacea.)

Despite the bathroom fun, fasting brings a remarkable physical and mental clarity. The physical changes are:
1) I need less sleep
2) I have more energy
3) I've dropped 7.8 pounds
4) My skin is brighter

Mental changes are:
1) I wake up in a better mood.
2) I can think clearer

I have much, much more energy for my sons. And I can tell I'm not easily frazzled. I am a very busy woman with waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much to do daily. But I can handle the stressors better.


I truly believe everyone should fast at least some point in their lives. You will not regret it. Start slow. A one day fast, on a day you can stay home is a good start. I plan to do a five-day juice/smoothie/soups fast once per season. Maybe three days, maybe five days.

Days 11-28 of the cleanse is all raw food. I'll let you all know how it's going along the way :-).

Love,
Althea ◦

28-Day Detox Days 1-10

Leah's Raw Food Feast

I connected with the wonderful Leah Salmon, The Naturally You Coach, on Facebook a few months ago. After reading about her, I knew I had to interview her for my blog. I read her books first and tried out the recipes.

They were a hit.

My oldest son loves juices and smoothies (he likes almost everything!) He is pictured before drinking Leah's Apple, Carrot, and Broccoli Juice, and a Carrot Juice.

This is a Mushroom and Walnut Burger from Leah's Raw Food Feast. This book teaches you how to be raw for nine days. Complete with recipes and a planning menu, depending on your Metabolic Type (explanation in my next post), this book is for the beginner. It guides you every step of the way with Leah's gentle guidance. This burger was easy to make and very, very good.

And you all know how I love a Kale Salad, of any kind. Again, it was easy. There are lots of complaints about raw food being complicated and expensive. It can be. But it doesn't have to be that way. Leah's book was full of easy recipes, with ingredients that can be found at your local grocer or farmer's market.

So guess what's next?

And interview with Leah Salmon and a giveway of her wonderful books!

Love,

Althea

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Leah's Raw Food Feast