day 21 of 30 green smoothie days in a row

i'm having one of those days where i'm just in awe of people who think cheaper food is better value. i realize most people don't want to think of where their food came from or how it was made but i'm continually amazed that people can think cheap food that you have to eat way more of and feel sick after, is the better deal. granted, i do tend to eat more food than i need, but i am working on that. when i don't focus on my enjoyment of eating and let my stomach tell me when to eat, i really don't need much. which is kind of annoying sometimes! but that's how you make a real food, organic lifestyle affordable. and make nutrition actually possible for your body!

so what has inspired this ramble? well, next week i'm planning to go down to seattle with a friend and i was just looking for some new places to go and have been focussed more on the gluten-free vegan choices. i have been to flying apron bakery so i was excited to see a place i hadn't been to before: jodee's desserts. jodee used to make all the raw desserts at thrive and last year opened her own place in greenlake. in effort to see if i could find out if she relies on cashews for her desserts (still don't know), i looked up her place on yelp.

i'm dumbfounded by some of the reactions. it reminds me of when i was demoing raw organic products like coconut water and people generally take things without inquiring what they are. or they see a name they recognize like "macaroon" and don't ask any questions. i suppose that having the same names as the indigestible stuff they are used to could be misleading. i have to remind myself that there are still people out there that don't know what gluten is or dairy (??? i know!) or sugar. reading "compared to something with actual butter, sugar, and all the "standard" ingredients you will find in baked goods, this isnt even close." kind of frustrates me as that isn't the point. it's like how i have felt being on this elimination diet for 2 months. though i can't eat some things, it's really not a big deal. i eat other things. and i enjoy other things. as a long-time vegetarian, i'm not looking for something that is going to taste exactly like meat. why? i'm over it. i don't want it! and though sometimes i have enjoyed "novelty" food, it isn't food i typically search out.

i was also taken aback by the but the flavor was a pungent artificial lime comment. um, this would definitely be the one place where they wouldn't be using artificial flavours!!! people are so detached from what food is and what it should taste like, they don't even know the flavours of real foods anymore? imagine kids growing up on watermelon gum, banana candy, apple lollipops and "pink" flavour finally trying some real fruits. what are they going to think?

i was trying to find prices for jugo juice and booster juice and all those places to compare as people also like to complain about paying $7 for a smoothie. i have always been amazed at being able to get a raw, organic, superfood smoothie at organic lives for just $7. i'm not sure what people expect food to cost. i feel so guilty when i think of how far some of my food choices have travelled to get to me! nevermind the packaging and shipping costs, what about the labour and production costs to the farmer? and maybe the smoothies at the chain places are $6, but what are you paying for? how much sugar is in one of those drinks? or dairy? i'm always amazed at the people who insist that a fruit smoothie needs a sweetener added to it. yuck! and that ice needs sugar to be able to blend. headache, anyone? why ruin a good (for you) thing? and wouldn't you rather pay a bit more for something that is going to sustain you in a good way rather than pollute your body?

i felt like an alien at work the day a lady was lamenting over her $6 jar of 'natural' peanut butter that was taken by airport security. i recall the times i have spent 3 times as much to get a jar of organic, raw almond butter! i appreciate the work involved to make such a thing and the cost to acquire raw and organic almonds! yes, it's exciting that the natural peanut butter is just made of peanuts (i remember when i first discovered whole foods and would make the trip out to west van so i could grind some peanuts for my own butter to take home!) but when i think of moldy legumes with pesticides, toasted to not taste the toxicity - yikes. i don't know how people are so hung up on it. especially when there are so many other options out there (like jungle peanuts! support heirloom crops! save plant variety!). and especially when so many people are deathly allergic. why would i want to ingest something that could put someone else at risk? i have thought about it many times on the bus... if i happened to have peanut breath or had touched peanuts and then someone with the allergy was nearby, could i risk harming them?

i recall sherry strong comparing fuel for your body to fuel for your car. you wouldn't put crap fuel in your precious car - why do you think it's okay for you? you can replace cars but your body is really the only one you're going to get! the most nutritionally-dense, organic foods you can eat will sustain you the best, heal you and keep you the most healthy! why eat something you're not so sure about?

i'm super excited for summer when i can be buying even more produce directly from local farmers. that's how you get cheap organic food! how else? well, i always suggest to people to even start with one organic thing. (perhaps one or all of the dirty dozen!) i really believe that if more people bought just even one thing that was organic, even more of a demand for organic will surface and the price will continue to go down! i'm so happy when i see organic produce for sale cheaper than conventional! that's how it should be! it sucks that the cost to certify as organic is so expensive. because really, to produce organic food, you don't need anything but knowledge! no pesticides or seeds to buy every year.

okay, i really need to cut myself off here and get into today's smoothie. ha. i'm still on a high from my liver/gallbladder cleanse! i feel so much more energetic and productive and content! and this all from giving my liver a bit more space to do its thing? oh yeah! i'm already super excited to do my next one! monday morning i wasn't so sure i could do it again but now... oh yeah! definitely!!!

so! today's green smoothie!

it was a blend of red leaf lettuce with some collard greens, mint and pear and one sambazon unsweetened organic acai berry smoothie pack and i ended up adding 2 frozen bananas. it was a weird taste. maybe too minty? but no reaction from paul so maybe it wasn't anything unusual.

day 19 of 30 green smoothie days in a row

wow. what a day.
so last night was my liver/gallbladder cleanse as per andreas moritz's book and wow, do i feel good (and relieved) now!

**a great post about liver/gallbladder cleansing can be found here**

i did my green smoothie later today because i was so excited to eat and drink other things first.

paul's request was more of a fruit taste which i figured i would have when i combined 2 kiwis, a head of green leaf lettuce, an apple, an avocado for creaminess and a couple pieces of dried mango. i still really tasted the lettuce so i tried to fix by adding a pear, some ground vanilla, lucuma and then some dried wheatgrass powder (i was feeling guilty about adding so many sweet things). so then i was left with a grainy smoothie which i added apple juice to for paul anyways! i should have just drank it as is for myself and then have done the juice addition for him. sigh. i know for next time. it's fine. i just wish i had kept it more simple. i enjoy simple tastes more!

so anyways.. this morning was the defining moment of my cleanse. i had to drink my final 2 glasses of epsom salt water (the WORST thing in the world. it is NOTHING like himalayan salts which people have asked and i probably would enjoy. it tastes like POISON.). my mom didn't think i would be able to do the olive oil/grapefruit last night before bed but that was like a nice salad dressing and was NOTHING like the epsom salt water. and 4 glasses of! by this morning, it was really a test of willpower and commitment and i feel so great for having passed! i found i could down the glass in 4 gulps but both times, the 3rd gulp was the hardest and i thought i would throw up. but wow, when i was done that 4th glass and my next thing to look forward to was my freshly squeezed orange juice after not eating since 1:30pm the previous day? heaven! i started thinking about the juice truck's newest smoothie offering of a "key lime pie". i didn't try it today (as i got a "creamsicle" at organic lives instead) but i hope to tomorrow if possible!

i am currently reading dr. gabriel cousens's conscious eating, which is brilliant and inspiring by the way, and this morning really was a true moment of appreciation for my food. i enjoyed that orange juice like never before (and it wasn't just because of my UFO squeezer) and i'm thinking i'll have to do it more often! but going without food and knowing that i was hungry and that i needed it and wanted it and that i would have to wait afterwards until i was allowed to eat, made me enjoy my fresh fruit juice moment all the more. i feel a bit silly as it wasn't even a full 24 hours of a fast but that is a lot for me. i get really edgy after 4 hours of no food even. (i feel bad for paul who was such a great sport these past 24 hours!)

so... i am happy to report i got to see many of the tiny liver bile stones! scary to think they were in me and there are still stones left. but it's encouraging to know that my prep for the night (i feel like the anticipation was the most thought-consuming!) and the wretched epsom salt water was all made worthwhile when it produced the results promised. i can do it again and i will. until i am stone-free!

i grossed out paul earlier by showing him one of the green pea-like pebbles. and i came home this afternoon to him proudly showing me his pebble he eliminated. which turned out to be a glob of his matcha powder that must have just been left in his mug. sigh. he is the best.

oh and... just have to say... the pre-cleanse colonic that day was not mortifying and uncomfortable like i expected. and i think i was flying on my way home as i made it home in record time with no effort ^_^ i am happy to report i do not dread my follow-up one in a couple days!

i really wish that i wasn't unusual in my quest for best health possible. i recommend everyone read both books i have mentioned. i marvel that people would opt to have their gallbladder removed, an ORGAN in their body, and not remove their problem! i don't see the harm, though i do see the discomfort and commitment necessary, in trying a natural method (or 2 or 3 or 4) first and then, as last resort only, opting for surgery or other drastic modern medicine methods.

i feel blessed with the opportunity to explore healthy options for myself as i don't appear to have a life-threatening disease to worry about. i am grateful i have challenged modern medicine's prescriptions for myself thus far and have felt and seen incredible results. i hope that my efforts will protect me as long as possible. i hope that my efforts and interests will inspire those around me to be proactive with their bodies' health as well!

day 15 of 30 green smoothie days in a row

today's smoothie was a whole bunch of dandelion leaves and because they have such a bitter medicine-like taste, i added some ginger, a pear and frozen banana and sampled it and then added frozen mango and an apple too! eek! but it worked! we had these this afternoon and i think dandelion would be better in the morning. just a thought.

day 11 of 30 green smoothie days in a row

i somehow forgot to take a photo of my parsley smoothie this morning! for me and paul, i had just over a cup of filtered water with about 2/3 of a huge bunch of parsley, a few remaining leaves of romaine, a sprinkle of frozen mango chunks, 1 anjou pear and 1 frozen banana.

guess i'll just have to add some other photos instead!

so... first... a pleasant surprise when i went for tea this morning at delany's and learned i could get an unsweetened green tea latte with soy. they leave out the vanilla syrup and it is truly unsweetened (unlike starbucks whose matcha still is sweetened. as an aside, anyone remember when starbucks used to add that wretched "melon"-flavoured syrup to their matcha? ech!). and i actually got soy when i ordered it. hurrah!

and now my lunch today. such a treat to get to be home for lunch! it's nice getting to make food for paul too ^_^ so this salad is: collard greens, kale, red cabbage, beet, red onion, radish, carrot, basil, and avocado with (cold-pressed) flax oil and fresh squeezed lemon. yum!