ON A PERSONAL NOTE: HOW I GOT STARTED

 

 

 

Written by contibutor Jean-Marie Payne of Btanjerine and A Simply Raw Life.  Jean-Marie is a cancer survior who turned to Raw/Vegan food to combat this terrible disease with success.  

 

How I got started

 

So, Switiching to an all Raw/Vegan lifestyle isn't easy. Back in July when I made the switch it was out of necessity and so the switch happened literally over night. One day I was eating my normal Standard American Diet and the next day I was eating Raw/Vegan. The thing that proved to be the easiest and simpliest way for me to change so quickly was smoothies. I was drinking 3 very large smoothies a day... Each one was probably 32-38 oz each... and let me tell you if you drink that much green juice a day, there just really isn't enough room for that much food... LOL!! But what was great about this was they tasted good and I didn't have to think much about food. Just blend and go. And my body didn't have to do too much work in digesting either. We started experimenting and we did chocolate smoothies, fruity smoothies, and even some with just veggies... and just to make it fun I would sometimes just pick a color and everything in my fridge that was that color had to go into the smoothie... You would be so surprised at what tastes good in a smoothie. One of my favorite finds was zucchini. It has no taste and is packed full of nutirents and so in my smoothie they would go...

 

My challenge to you is try drinking 2 large smmothies a day and see how you feel at the end of the week or 10 days... You too will be loving your green smoothies, your new out look on life, and your new body!! Let me know how you feel after you do your week challenge...

My favorite smoothies drink base:

 

SMOOTHIE DRINK BASE

 

1 Banana

Hand full of Kale

1 cup of Almond Milk

1/4 cup frozen green peas or 1/2 to 1 fresh zucchini

1 date

Add anything else and you are golden

(if you need more liquid add water)

 

Chocolate powder gives you a dreamy chocolate shake

Strawberries & pineapple & coconut flakes gives you a more tropical feel

Anything is possible!!!

 

I always tried to drink one smoothie without nuts. Here's what I would put in this one:

 

FRUIT & VEGETABLE SMOOTHIE WITHOUT NUTS

 

1 or 2 Carrots

1 celery stalk(which is great for depression or sad thoughts)

1 orange (peeled), hand full of spinach

1 apple, ginger(just a small piece) & water.

 

Blend in the blender or vitamix. and strain out half of the pulp. I think the fiber is good thats why I don't juice this one. But it is super fiberous so if you can stand it drink everything. But for me I would just strain out part of the fiber.

Don't forget to add parsley when you have it. It is a super food and it has only a few properties less than wheat grass. And the taste isn't too bad. 

 

And remember you can top off your smoothie with chia seeds, fresh berries. gogi berries, coconut and the like.  Skies the limit!

 

 

Enjoy!!

 

 

Join the discussion!

Do you have a story about how Raw or Vegan food changed your life or a fabulous smoothie recipe? We would love to hear what it is! Share it in the comments below. Links are welcome.

 

DETOX + BEAUTY WATER

Refreshing Beauty Water

Written by contibutor Britney Manuel of Btanjerine and A Simply Raw Life.



So as many of you know I am a Pinterest junkie, and amidst my pinning I’ve pinned this recipe for "sassy water" ummmm....several times let’s just say.  So when I saw it the other day for the umpteenth time I decided, “I need to make this!”  To my surprise the blog was in Russian, but you can scroll down until you see some letters you recognize.  You can check it out here.

Let’s admit it, sometimes its hard to drink as much water as one should.  But this snazzier take on a necessary beverage is like a little black dress for your water.  I found it made it easier and more enjoyable to drink my daily allotment of water.  

This water is a great detoxifier and some of the health benefits include:

• Ginger aids in digestion and can reduce your risk of constipation.

• Lemon works as a natural diuretic and promotes a healthy pH balance. 

• Cucumbers contain erepsin, an enzyme that helps your body digest protein and also supports the health of your kidneys due to their diuretic properties. 

• Chemicals in mint leaves also support digestion. .

For more info on this "sassy water" check out this article here.  It also supports having a flat belly, and i am all for that!

So here are the deets!

 

DETOX BEAUTY WATER

BITS & PIECES

1 cucumber (peeled + thinly sliced)

1 lemon (peeled + thinly sliced)

1 tsp ginger  (finely chopped)

10 mint leaves

THE PROCESS

Add sliced cucumber, sliced lemon, chopped ginger, and mint leaves to a pitcher.  Add 2 liters of water.  Let it seep for a few hours or overnight et voila!  Refreshing beauty water!

**NOTE: I don’t add the lemon peel because if it seeps for too long in the water it starts to taste bitter.  Also  after I drank all the water,  I refilled the pitcher and let it seep another night.  So I got 2 uses out of it.  Of course the flavor is not as strong as the first batch.

ON A PERSONAL NOTE... HOW EATING RAW SAVED MY LIFE

 

 

 

Written by contibutor Jean-Marie Payne of Btanjerine and A Simply Raw Life. Jean-Marie is a cancer survior who turned to Raw/Vegan food to combat this terrible disease with success.

 

As many of you may know, I have cancer, and that is the main reason for why I have taken on this new way if eating. But it wasn't until today that I truly realized that eating this way saved my life, and perhaps saved me from having to go through chemotherapy.  So here's a little back story.

 

In February/March of this year (2012) I noticed a lump randomly appear on my back. It was the size of a pea.  I was concerned, but I also was super busy with a 2 month old baby and a 2 year old, so I didn't have that much time to think about it. I did go to a doctor who told me it was a lipoma (a benign fatty tumor). Around this same time, I started working out with my trainer and I expressed to her that I was looking for ways to care for the kids and get a healthy meal in. She suggested smoothies.  She told me they are easy to make, clean up, and eat.  One healthy meal down without too much fuss, I liked it and ran with it. I had a shake a day for almost a month in a half. I always added kale or Swiss chard to my smoothie. During that month in half to 2 months the lump barely grew.

The following 2 months after that was a different story. One of my BFF's was getting married. I was at my parents for almost 3 weeks and on a family vacation. Let's just say my eating habits changed drastically! I was drinking tons of alcohol, eating dessert after every meal, and my meat consumption was through the roof!  In the next 2 1/2 months the same lump on my back grew to be the size of a plum. I had no idea, but I was feeding it!

On June 30th I had the "lipoma" removed and was informed that they made a mistake and that it was indeed cancer, a Sarcoma to be exact!   And I was going to need another surgery, and soon, it was “high grade” in their opinion!

This was a lot of information to digest. But one thing I knew was my diet had to change. A week or so after my diagnoses I called up Christine (of Just Glowing with Health). I needed her opinion on this, and how food could affect my health. She told me I needed to go raw. I needed to allow my body to spend as much energy as possible healing and as little energy as possible on digesting. I liked everything she had to say.  So the following day, I went raw. Little did I know that it would be exactly one week before my next surgery.

I knew and felt in my soul that all these raw veggies were healing me. But it wasn't until I heard a few things that I received confirmation of what I held true. The first realization that my diet was working for me was when I talked to the anesthesiologist the day of the surgery. He said I had the most incredibly rich blood.  He went on to say that this is not a bloody surgery so a blood transfusion is not even a thought but if it were I had so much blood to lose. He said it would be long time before blood was even a consideration.  I found his comments pretty interesting. And it made me feel good to know that if my blood was that rich then my whole body was probably doing pretty good too.

The second comment that took me by surprise was from my surgeon after the surgery. He told my husband and me, “all went well”.   And he was happy to say he didn't need to take a rib. Ok, at this point I'm looking at him a bit shocked. I had no idea a rib was up for grabs!  He told us that he wasn't sure how much the cancer would have spread around the infected area, and my rib was right there.

The worst thing one can do when they have cancer is cut it out and then leave a little behind. That makes cancer very, very mad. So in the 2 1/2 weeks that I waited for my next surgery that thing should have gone crazy!  After all it had already shown that it wasn't afraid of growth. It had grown like mad the past few months!  But all of a sudden it was stunted.  It was diagnosed as a high grade sarcoma. It should have metastasized to my lungs… but it didn't!  And now all I face is a little radiation to make sure the infected area is clean of the Sarcoma.

 

There is more to my story as I continue on my raw/vegan journey that I will share with you along the way.

 

You can see how eating raw veggies saved my life, and why it is so important for me to stick as closely to this diet as possible.

 

xJMP